By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Charitable bingo becomes legal July 31, but plans to tax bingo cards may swallow most of the charity groups’ income in the area.
State rules call for an excise tax of one penny on every bingo face, which is one standard game grid, which could eat into a group’s profits. Most bingo cards contain a number of bingo faces. A box of bingo cards with 9,000 bingo faces, normally cost about $25, but the tax on that box will be $90, increasing the box price to $115. There’s also an additional 10 percent tax on the sale of all other bingo related items. Non-profit organizations can sponsor bingo and raffle events only if the organization has applied for a license from the state.
Of the 92 statewide applicants to date, seven are from the local area. They are the Loyal Order of Moose Lodge in Sherwood, the Amvets Post in El Paso, Jacksonville Knights in Cabot, the King’s Outreach of Arkansas in Cabot, the American Legion Post in Lonoke and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post.
The state started accepting applicants after voters in November 2006 approved, by 69 percent, a constitutional amendment to allow charitable bingo games and raffles. Between November and now, the state has been fine-tuning the rules, regulations and taxing of the games.
The Moose Lodge in Sherwood has also been getting ready since November, adding a 100-vehicle parking lot in back of their facility at a cost of $250,000, and redoing the bingo room.
“We’re not here to run bingo,” said Bob Douglas, the lodge’s administrator. “It’s just a sideline, but it will generate money for us to do things in the community.”
How much money?
“That’s a crap shoot,” Douglas said. “It depends how many other groups are offering bingo on the same nights we are.”
By law, nonprofit organizations may only offer bingo two nights a week and only five hours a night. “That was done to help keep the commercial people out,” Douglas said, adding that the Moose Lodge will offer bingo on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. We’ll play 30 to 35 sessions a night,” he said.
The Michael Ray VFW Post in Jacksonville plans to have their bingo games on Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons.
“We are getting calls every day from people wanting to know when we are starting,” said Don Reynolds, the post commander. “Bingo used to be a big to-do, but we don’t know for sure what it’ll do now.” Many years ago the VFW Post sponsored bingo when it was illegal, and most people looked the other way when nonprofit groups held the bingo games.
“We got busted and officials confiscated and destroyed all of our bingo equipment,” Reynolds said. “It was not one of our finer moments.” Arkansas Bingo Supplies in Sherwood, one of four licensed distributors in the state, is already close to selling a million bingo faces. “We haven’t sold that many yet,” said John Watson, who owns the company along with his father and brother-in-law, “but we’ve had to dip into our reserves, so we’ve had to re-order to make sure we have enough on hand at all times.”
Watson said bingo players don’t usually play just one card or face. “They play five to 50 at a time. Charities will be going through a lot of paper,” he said. “That means that tax will cut into the charities’ profit line,” Watson said, adding that he hopes the state will lessen the tax.
“It’s a learning process for everyone right now,” he said.
Watson and his family have sold cars, operated a pawnshop and developed subdivisions in central Arkansas since the early 60s. His company not only sells cards, markers and other bingo items, but also leases bingo machines. “Some of these charitable organizations are small outfits and can’t afford to put out $1,500 or more for the machines. This helps them and us,” he said.
Douglas may not know how much money the Moose Lodge will generate, but he knows how the fraternal lodge plans to spend it.
Fifty percent will be on local charities and groups like Keep Sherwood Beautiful, police and fire department charitable activities, and the Sylvan Hills High School dance team and golf team; 25 percent will go to larger state charities like Arkansas Children’s Hospital; and 25 percent will be split between three lodge projects including the Boy Scouts, a children’s facility at Yellowstone and a Moose retired center in Florida.
The VFW has no set formula. “We are always getting requests and we help who we can,” Reynolds said. The post does help the Boy Scouts, Fishnet Mission, the VA Hospital, sheriff’s department and the state police.
Monday, July 16, 2007
TOP STORY >>Idea of hamburger tax appetizing
IN SHORT: Commission, aldermen and public will discuss Monday a two-cent levy to fund marketing and promotion plans for the city.
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
A proposed two-cent tax on prepared foods, also known as a hamburger tax, tops the Jacksonville Advertising and Promotions agenda for its 6:30 p.m. Monday meeting at city hall.
Monday’s meeting will also include city aldermen who plan to vote on the tax idea at their Thursday night meeting. The council has enough votes at the moment to pass the tax.
Residents are also invited to give input at Monday’s meeting.
Advertising and promotion commissioners have been working on the tax idea for about nine months and sent the idea to the city council for discussion at its July 5 meeting. Aldermen split between instant approval of the tax and giving residents more time to give them input.
The proposed two-cent tax would, according to state Department of Finance and Administration figures, raise about $550,000 a year. That would be added to the city’s advertising and promotion commission’s current budget of $88,000 a year —garnered from a two-cent hotel room tax—to promote and market the city.
Cabot, to the north, and Sherwood to the south both have a prepared food tax in place to help fund their advertising promotion commissions.
Sherwood has had a two-cent tax for about 15 years that the residents voted in. By law, cities have the option of approving up to two cents of a prepared food tax just by council vote, or by a vote of the residents.
Sherwood’s tax brings in about $450,000 a year. The first $300,000 ($25,000 a month) of that goes to help maintain the city’s recreation center and $75,000 goes to the commission’s holiday display of lights called the Enchanted Forest.
“The money covers advertising, the cost of displays, upkeep and the electric bill,” said Cheryl Ferguson, the city’s advertising and promotion commission. An additional $19,000 is budgeted to the parks department for events, awards, tournament bids and advertising, $11,500 in salaries and $45,900 for contingencies.
Cabot has had 1.5 percent prepared food tax since 1993, voted in by council action. Later residents voted to dedicate a third of that tax to paying off the bonds needed to build the city’s community center.
Cabot’s tax generates about $514,000 a year.
Slightly more than $204,000 is automatically earmarked for community center payments. About $130,000 goes to the city’s parks and recreation department. About half for maintenance, $30,000 to add lights to city soccer fields and $27,000 for ball-field fencing.
The chamber of commerce gets $40,000 a year to help promote the city, and $25,000 is budgeted for improvements to the Cabot football field. Other activities supported, in whole or part, by A and P money include Cabot City Beautiful, Cabot High School Junior ROTC, the July 4th celebration and the Avenue of Dreams.
Jacksonville Alderman Marshall Smith, who chairs the advertising and promotion commission, told the council at its last meeting, “The tourism study we commissioned last year recommended the tax as a way to raise more money to promote the city. If we don’t do it, we’re not showing much faith in the study.”
The commission has suggested that it use half the $550,000 projected 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 commission has slated $20,000 for the patriotic spectacular show to increase promotion of the activity 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 get $22,000 of the new money to help get the necessary permission to display static aircraft and to help toward maintenance of that aircraft display. The commission plans to 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. Alderman Gary Fletcher voiced concerns about the new tax at the council 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,” he said.
Jacksonville Alderman Terry Sansing didn’t like the timing. “The state just cut three cents on grocery tax and here we are wanting to add two cents on prepared foods,” he said, and a UALR task force has just recommended that the county ask residents for a 0.25-percent tax to fund jail operations.
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
A proposed two-cent tax on prepared foods, also known as a hamburger tax, tops the Jacksonville Advertising and Promotions agenda for its 6:30 p.m. Monday meeting at city hall.
Monday’s meeting will also include city aldermen who plan to vote on the tax idea at their Thursday night meeting. The council has enough votes at the moment to pass the tax.
Residents are also invited to give input at Monday’s meeting.
Advertising and promotion commissioners have been working on the tax idea for about nine months and sent the idea to the city council for discussion at its July 5 meeting. Aldermen split between instant approval of the tax and giving residents more time to give them input.
The proposed two-cent tax would, according to state Department of Finance and Administration figures, raise about $550,000 a year. That would be added to the city’s advertising and promotion commission’s current budget of $88,000 a year —garnered from a two-cent hotel room tax—to promote and market the city.
Cabot, to the north, and Sherwood to the south both have a prepared food tax in place to help fund their advertising promotion commissions.
Sherwood has had a two-cent tax for about 15 years that the residents voted in. By law, cities have the option of approving up to two cents of a prepared food tax just by council vote, or by a vote of the residents.
Sherwood’s tax brings in about $450,000 a year. The first $300,000 ($25,000 a month) of that goes to help maintain the city’s recreation center and $75,000 goes to the commission’s holiday display of lights called the Enchanted Forest.
“The money covers advertising, the cost of displays, upkeep and the electric bill,” said Cheryl Ferguson, the city’s advertising and promotion commission. An additional $19,000 is budgeted to the parks department for events, awards, tournament bids and advertising, $11,500 in salaries and $45,900 for contingencies.
Cabot has had 1.5 percent prepared food tax since 1993, voted in by council action. Later residents voted to dedicate a third of that tax to paying off the bonds needed to build the city’s community center.
Cabot’s tax generates about $514,000 a year.
Slightly more than $204,000 is automatically earmarked for community center payments. About $130,000 goes to the city’s parks and recreation department. About half for maintenance, $30,000 to add lights to city soccer fields and $27,000 for ball-field fencing.
The chamber of commerce gets $40,000 a year to help promote the city, and $25,000 is budgeted for improvements to the Cabot football field. Other activities supported, in whole or part, by A and P money include Cabot City Beautiful, Cabot High School Junior ROTC, the July 4th celebration and the Avenue of Dreams.
Jacksonville Alderman Marshall Smith, who chairs the advertising and promotion commission, told the council at its last meeting, “The tourism study we commissioned last year recommended the tax as a way to raise more money to promote the city. If we don’t do it, we’re not showing much faith in the study.”
The commission has suggested that it use half the $550,000 projected 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 commission has slated $20,000 for the patriotic spectacular show to increase promotion of the activity 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 get $22,000 of the new money to help get the necessary permission to display static aircraft and to help toward maintenance of that aircraft display. The commission plans to 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. Alderman Gary Fletcher voiced concerns about the new tax at the council 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,” he said.
Jacksonville Alderman Terry Sansing didn’t like the timing. “The state just cut three cents on grocery tax and here we are wanting to add two cents on prepared foods,” he said, and a UALR task force has just recommended that the county ask residents for a 0.25-percent tax to fund jail operations.
TOP STORY >>Council may vote to buy Armory land
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Williams has struck a deal with a development company for 15.5 acres to build a National Guard armory and will ask the city council Monday evening to approve the purchase.
At almost $26,000 an acre the land inside the industrial park on Highway 367 is less expensive than the $30,000 per acre the mayor said he expected to pay.
Ordinarily, such a purchase would have to be considered at least by the council’s budget committee before it went before the full council, but Williams said he is asking the chairmen of all three council committees to allow the purchase to go immediately to the full council.
Williams said Friday after signing the agreement with North Cabot Development to buy the land for $399,000, that the state has agreed to pay $340,000 of that amount.
The remaining $59,000 would have to be budgeted over the next year or so. Currently, the city has about $350,000 in reserve, so budgeting for the land for the armory won’t be a hardship, he said.
Once the property is purchased, the deed will be signed over to Arkansas National Guard, which will have the construction of the $8 million armory placed in line for federal funding within the next five years.
Williams says building the armory is “the single biggest thing for Cabot in recent history” which will have an economic impact on the city of $1 million or more a year.
If it is built in the industrial park, it will be visible from the new railroad overpass which should be under construction within the next two months. Since the overpass will be used by school buses, Williams said the location will be good for recruiting. He said he also hopes it will have a positive impact on his efforts to get federal money to build a north interchange that is part of his three-phase plan to connect Highway 5 to U.S. 67-167.
Leader staff writer
Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Williams has struck a deal with a development company for 15.5 acres to build a National Guard armory and will ask the city council Monday evening to approve the purchase.
At almost $26,000 an acre the land inside the industrial park on Highway 367 is less expensive than the $30,000 per acre the mayor said he expected to pay.
Ordinarily, such a purchase would have to be considered at least by the council’s budget committee before it went before the full council, but Williams said he is asking the chairmen of all three council committees to allow the purchase to go immediately to the full council.
Williams said Friday after signing the agreement with North Cabot Development to buy the land for $399,000, that the state has agreed to pay $340,000 of that amount.
The remaining $59,000 would have to be budgeted over the next year or so. Currently, the city has about $350,000 in reserve, so budgeting for the land for the armory won’t be a hardship, he said.
Once the property is purchased, the deed will be signed over to Arkansas National Guard, which will have the construction of the $8 million armory placed in line for federal funding within the next five years.
Williams says building the armory is “the single biggest thing for Cabot in recent history” which will have an economic impact on the city of $1 million or more a year.
If it is built in the industrial park, it will be visible from the new railroad overpass which should be under construction within the next two months. Since the overpass will be used by school buses, Williams said the location will be good for recruiting. He said he also hopes it will have a positive impact on his efforts to get federal money to build a north interchange that is part of his three-phase plan to connect Highway 5 to U.S. 67-167.
TOP STORY >>School administration makes principal moves
IN SHORT: Two principals at elementary schools have resigned, and personnel changes have been made at the high school after transfer requests were made by staff members.
By HEATHER HARTSELL
Leader staff writer
The faces of the Cabot school administration will be a bit different when school starts in August after two elementary principals resigned and numerous other changes were made following an executive meeting of the Cabot School Board Wednesday evening.
All changes are effective immediately.
“The elementary resignations and administrative changes at Cabot High School have allowed for existing staff to request different placements for the upcoming school year,” said Dr. Tony Thurman, Cabot superintendent.
Blaine Alexander resigned as principal of Magness Creek Elementary School, a position he has held since 2004.
Alexander was the first of four principals in the state, and the first ever for the Cabot district, to achieve master-school-principal status in March.
Denise Rankin also resigned from her position as principal of Eastside Elementary that she had held for three years.
According to Thurman, both Alexander and Rankin have both moved to the Pulaski County Special School District, a district whose elementary principals have less days on contract compared to Cabot elementary principals that work a 245-day contract.
In order to fill the now vacant positions, existing qualified Cabot staff was rearranged to fill the voids.
Kelly Whiddon will replace Alexander as principal at Magness Creek. Whiddon has served as principal at Southside Elementary School for two years, coming to Cabot from PCSSD. Tanya Spillane will replace Rankin as principal of Eastside Elementary, where she has been an academic coach for four years.
Spillane previously taught elementary school in New Mexico and middle school in Cabot.
Lisa York will move from assistant principal at Magness Creek to principal at Southside Elementary, replacing Whiddon.
Joanne Blalock and Jerry Vaughn are swapping positions.
Blalock will move from principal of Middle School South to principal of Central Elementary; Vaughn will move from principal at Central Elementary, a position he has had for the past six years, to principal of Middle School South, continuing his 26 years in the Cabot district.
“All existing administrators who have changed positions in the district requested to do so and all changes were made with the full support of the administrator,” Thurman said. “Changes were not mandated; the administrators made the decision that they would like to make a change,” he added.
By HEATHER HARTSELL
Leader staff writer
The faces of the Cabot school administration will be a bit different when school starts in August after two elementary principals resigned and numerous other changes were made following an executive meeting of the Cabot School Board Wednesday evening.
All changes are effective immediately.
“The elementary resignations and administrative changes at Cabot High School have allowed for existing staff to request different placements for the upcoming school year,” said Dr. Tony Thurman, Cabot superintendent.
Blaine Alexander resigned as principal of Magness Creek Elementary School, a position he has held since 2004.
Alexander was the first of four principals in the state, and the first ever for the Cabot district, to achieve master-school-principal status in March.
Denise Rankin also resigned from her position as principal of Eastside Elementary that she had held for three years.
According to Thurman, both Alexander and Rankin have both moved to the Pulaski County Special School District, a district whose elementary principals have less days on contract compared to Cabot elementary principals that work a 245-day contract.
In order to fill the now vacant positions, existing qualified Cabot staff was rearranged to fill the voids.
Kelly Whiddon will replace Alexander as principal at Magness Creek. Whiddon has served as principal at Southside Elementary School for two years, coming to Cabot from PCSSD. Tanya Spillane will replace Rankin as principal of Eastside Elementary, where she has been an academic coach for four years.
Spillane previously taught elementary school in New Mexico and middle school in Cabot.
Lisa York will move from assistant principal at Magness Creek to principal at Southside Elementary, replacing Whiddon.
Joanne Blalock and Jerry Vaughn are swapping positions.
Blalock will move from principal of Middle School South to principal of Central Elementary; Vaughn will move from principal at Central Elementary, a position he has had for the past six years, to principal of Middle School South, continuing his 26 years in the Cabot district.
“All existing administrators who have changed positions in the district requested to do so and all changes were made with the full support of the administrator,” Thurman said. “Changes were not mandated; the administrators made the decision that they would like to make a change,” he added.
TOP STORY >>$6.4M bid for Cabot overpass accepted
IN SHORT: Pine Bluff company will build the project that has been in the works for 10 years.
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
The construction bids are in for a railroad overpass in Cabot that was planned about 10 years ago.
Southern Pavers Inc. of Pine Bluff is the apparent low bidder at $6.4 million. David Nilles, a spokesman for the state highway department which will oversee the project, said Friday that the overpass should be completed by late 2008. Construction is expected to begin within six to eight weeks, he said.
The city will pay 20 percent of the cost. The balance will be paid with federal money.
The overpass, which will connect Highway 367 to Highway 38, is the first phase of a three-phase plan to eventually connect Highway 5 to Highway 38 and add a north interchange on U.S. Highway 67-167. Phase two would connect the overpass to a north interchange and phase three would connect the overpass to Highway 5.
On Highway 367, the overpass will be inside Cabot city limits, but on Highway 38, it will be in Austin’s.
Some opponents of the overpass say it will help Austin grow. Williams does not disagree, but he says growth anywhere in the area is good for business in Cabot. Several locations were considered 10 years ago when Mayor Eddie Joe Williams (then a city council member) and Alder-man Ed Long started working on the project that will eventually close the Polk Street railroad crossing that was the site of a fatality in 1988.
But Williams maintains that the location that was chosen near Polk Street is the best one because it leaves downtown intact.
Metroplan, which distributes federal money for road projects, estimates the overpass together with a north interchange will take 4,000 to 5,000 cars a day out of downtown Cabot.
The overpass alone will not relieve downtown traffic, but it will keep about 100 buses off the railroad track.
Williams said Friday that 10 years ago, Cabot was number 13 on the list in the state to get federal money for a railroad overpass.
But when the school district agreed to use the overpass instead of crossing the railroad tracks, the proposed project moved up in priority.
Former Mayor Joe Allman was instrumental in getting the city council to agree to set aside money for the city’s part of the construction costs.
But after he left office, the $260,000 in savings did not continue to grow.
In 2005, Williams, who had already announced his candidacy for mayor, addressed the city council about funding the project.
The council responded by including $800,000 for the overpass in a $28 million bond issue that is funded by a one-cent sales tax.
Union Pacific Railroad has agreed to pay 5 percent of the cost of the actual bridge over the railroad, an estimated $75,000.
But Williams said this week that he has written to railroad officials asking them to increase that amount.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the overpass was held in late February, but the bidding was delayed because the computer programs now in use could not read the engineering study for the project that was completed about eight years ago.
To date, the project has cost $237,000 -$40,000 for right-of-way acquisition and $197,000 for engineering.
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
The construction bids are in for a railroad overpass in Cabot that was planned about 10 years ago.
Southern Pavers Inc. of Pine Bluff is the apparent low bidder at $6.4 million. David Nilles, a spokesman for the state highway department which will oversee the project, said Friday that the overpass should be completed by late 2008. Construction is expected to begin within six to eight weeks, he said.
The city will pay 20 percent of the cost. The balance will be paid with federal money.
The overpass, which will connect Highway 367 to Highway 38, is the first phase of a three-phase plan to eventually connect Highway 5 to Highway 38 and add a north interchange on U.S. Highway 67-167. Phase two would connect the overpass to a north interchange and phase three would connect the overpass to Highway 5.
On Highway 367, the overpass will be inside Cabot city limits, but on Highway 38, it will be in Austin’s.
Some opponents of the overpass say it will help Austin grow. Williams does not disagree, but he says growth anywhere in the area is good for business in Cabot. Several locations were considered 10 years ago when Mayor Eddie Joe Williams (then a city council member) and Alder-man Ed Long started working on the project that will eventually close the Polk Street railroad crossing that was the site of a fatality in 1988.
But Williams maintains that the location that was chosen near Polk Street is the best one because it leaves downtown intact.
Metroplan, which distributes federal money for road projects, estimates the overpass together with a north interchange will take 4,000 to 5,000 cars a day out of downtown Cabot.
The overpass alone will not relieve downtown traffic, but it will keep about 100 buses off the railroad track.
Williams said Friday that 10 years ago, Cabot was number 13 on the list in the state to get federal money for a railroad overpass.
But when the school district agreed to use the overpass instead of crossing the railroad tracks, the proposed project moved up in priority.
Former Mayor Joe Allman was instrumental in getting the city council to agree to set aside money for the city’s part of the construction costs.
But after he left office, the $260,000 in savings did not continue to grow.
In 2005, Williams, who had already announced his candidacy for mayor, addressed the city council about funding the project.
The council responded by including $800,000 for the overpass in a $28 million bond issue that is funded by a one-cent sales tax.
Union Pacific Railroad has agreed to pay 5 percent of the cost of the actual bridge over the railroad, an estimated $75,000.
But Williams said this week that he has written to railroad officials asking them to increase that amount.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the overpass was held in late February, but the bidding was delayed because the computer programs now in use could not read the engineering study for the project that was completed about eight years ago.
To date, the project has cost $237,000 -$40,000 for right-of-way acquisition and $197,000 for engineering.
TOP STORY >>Air Force looks into developer shortfalls
IN SHORT: Privatization work has stopped at Little Rock Air Force Base and at other locations as military officials investigate construction delays.
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
While airmen from Little Rock Air Force Base put their lives on the line in 30-year-old C-130s in the skies above Iraq and Afghanistan, at home they are losing the battle with a Connecticut developer who seems unable to build and upgrade promised base housing for them and their families.
Work has stopped and the Air Force is investigating why American Eagle Communities LLC is months behind paying subcontractors to build new family housing at Little Rock and Moody Air Force bases. But it’s not yet ready to pull the plug.
Construction at Little Rock Air Force Base stopped May 7 for non-payment of contractors and suppliers, several months after work ceased at Moody for the same reason. Work is expected to stop within days at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida, according to Mike Hawkins, spokesman for the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment.
American Eagle Communities is also the developer at Patrick. American Eagle Communities is now about two years behind on the six-year Little Rock project, according to Brig. Gen. Sel. Rowayne Schatz, base commander.
The Carabetta family, either alone or as managing partner of American Eagle Communities, is the developer of four Air Force privatization projects—those three and one at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts. The Hanscom project has been plagued by delays, according to Hawkins.
LOCAL CONTRACTORS
Locally, at least two Jacksonville-area subcontractors have filed liens with the bonding company to get their money.
Austin Readimix is trying to collect “six figures” for the cement it delivered, money particularly important to his young business, according to owner Tommy Austin Jr.
“We’ve gotten a different story every time,” said Austin, who has unpaid invoices dating back to January. “They keep giving us false promises from the git-go,” he said. “The pay is slow, the paper trail takes 120 to 150 days to get your money,” he said.
JR Construction of Cabot is another subcontractor that has filed a lien with the bonding company. Efforts to reach a spokesman for JR Construction were unsuccessful.
Tom Brockway, project manager for American Eagle Communities’ Little Rock Family Housing, said he was only aware of the two companies so far.
Little Rock Family Housing has only a handful of new homes and a community center to show for American Eagle Communities’ grandiose promises in August 2004 to build or remodel 1,200 Little Rock Air Force Base homes. Brockway said he shut the job down for now to protect contractors and suppliers from further losses.
Brockway said he hopes to restart the job by September, using the same contractors. “By now we should have had 95 homes completed, we have 25. I have no reason to believe we can’t complete the job by 2011, but it’s not where I would like it.”
25 HOMES COMPLETED
In addition to the 25 homes that have been completed and occupied, about 70 concrete slabs have been poured; the contract calls for 468 new homes and 732 homes remodeled by 2011.
Representatives from Ameri-can Eagle Communities LLC, a partnership between Carabetta Enterprises, of Meriden, Conn., and Shaw Infrastructure Inc. of Baton Rouge, are meeting late this week with the company that issued $102 million bonds toward the $127 million job, according to Brockway. So far, no one will say publicly where the problem is.
In 1996, Congress enacted the Military Housing Privatization Initiative as part of a growing desire to better address the needs of American service personnel and their families. The initiative was designed to remedy the problem of deteriorated military-owned housing and a lack of appropriate private housing.
There are currently 42 Air Force bases pursuing housing privatization options and about 76 percent of military housing is being completed through privatization.
10,000 HOMES
The Carabettas with Shaw, through their various limited liability companies, are committed to build or remodel about 10,000 homes on bases and installations around the country, and all four Air Force jobs have either shut down, will be shutting down or are having troubles paying contractors, according to Hawkins.
In 2004, American Eagle also was awarded the privatization contract for Beale Air Force Base, near Sacramento, but was dropped “due to some legal questions,” according to the base public affairs officer.
Carabetta also has privatization contracts with Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri and Northwest Communities on Puget Sound.
Despite Carabettas’ 25-year history of bankruptcy, corruption allegations, unpaid contractors, slowly paid contractors, unfinished projects, unhappy partners and lawsuits, the Air Force determined that past performance was satisfactory for all four Carabetta/Shaw projects, according to Hawkins.
PROGRAM SUCCESSFUL
“By every meaningful measure, the Air Force housing privatization program is a huge success,” said Hawkins. “These difficulties are unique to this particular developer and are not found anywhere else in this very successful housing-privatization program.
“The cost to build and renovate the 1,200 units at Little Rock is $126.9 million, of which $102.4 million is sourced from bond financing and owner equity,” Hawkins said. “The remaining $24.5 million is in the form of a government direct loan, which to date has not closed or been disbursed.
“The housing-privatization program has allowed the Air Force to ensure availability of 10,781 units of quality, affordable housing for our military members and their families over the last eight years.
The Air Force has obligated $216.2M in direct loans instead of the $3.13B that would have been required had the units been constructed using traditional military construction funds. It has also meant that our people are in affordable, quality housing much quicker than if we were to pay for it with tax money and manage the construction ourselves. It’s a huge win for our men and women in uniform, their families, and the taxpayers.”
The project owner has received nothing for these projects, according to Hawkins. The construction company for each project gets approximately 4 percent of construction costs and the management company gets about 4 percent of the total rent revenue.
STAKEHOLDERS
Hawkins said the Air Force is not ready to give up on American Eagle Communities yet.
“While project defaults are options, we see them as the last resort and it would be inappropriate for us to comment on their likelihood as we continue to work in good faith with all parties concerned,” Hawkins said.
He said the privatization projects were not traditional military construction contracts, but rather 50-year real estate transactions between the developers and the Air Force whereby the developers agree to offer privately owned homes for rent to military families in exchange for an initial government capital investment (conveying existing housing/land) and rental payments by military occupants of housing.
Each of the projects is a stand-alone project with different bondholders and financial structures. The impact and actions necessary to move the projects forward will be determined by the specific legal documents involved in those transactions, according to Hawkins.
“We work on a daily basis with the bondholders, the project owner, and other stakeholders to resolve the issues at hand as expeditiously as possible,” Hawkins said. The Air Force detected performance problems early and encouraged the bondholders to become more involved in the projects. As a result, the bondholders engaged the developer in performance discussions. Their past performance has been evaluated on several projects they have proposed since award of Little Rock, and it will be considered during evaluation of any proposals they submit for future military housing privatization projects, he said.
“The Air Force does have legal remedies,” Hawkins said, “but is not pursuing such remedies at this time.”
THE COMPANIES
The Carabetta family, through its CEI Investment Corp. or through American Eagle Communities LLC, a partnership with Shaw Infrastructures, won privatization contracts for at least seven projects to own, demolish and replace some housing, remodel other housing and manage the property for members of the military and their families at bases from Florida to Puget Sound, Washington.
Shaw Infrastructures, Inc. is a subsidiary of The Shaw Group, a Fortune 500 company listed on the New York Stock Exchange as SGR. Shaw has a long history of Defense Department infrastructure jobs. According to its website, Shaw is involved in at least seven military housing-privatization contracts, about half of them in partnership with Carabettas.
Carabetta Enterprises, or CEI Investment Corp, says it has completed 150 housing developments nationwide, totaling 36,189 homes over the past 50 years.
A spokesman for American Eagle Communities and The Shaw Group didn’t return telephone calls for this story.
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
While airmen from Little Rock Air Force Base put their lives on the line in 30-year-old C-130s in the skies above Iraq and Afghanistan, at home they are losing the battle with a Connecticut developer who seems unable to build and upgrade promised base housing for them and their families.
Work has stopped and the Air Force is investigating why American Eagle Communities LLC is months behind paying subcontractors to build new family housing at Little Rock and Moody Air Force bases. But it’s not yet ready to pull the plug.
Construction at Little Rock Air Force Base stopped May 7 for non-payment of contractors and suppliers, several months after work ceased at Moody for the same reason. Work is expected to stop within days at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida, according to Mike Hawkins, spokesman for the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment.
American Eagle Communities is also the developer at Patrick. American Eagle Communities is now about two years behind on the six-year Little Rock project, according to Brig. Gen. Sel. Rowayne Schatz, base commander.
The Carabetta family, either alone or as managing partner of American Eagle Communities, is the developer of four Air Force privatization projects—those three and one at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts. The Hanscom project has been plagued by delays, according to Hawkins.
LOCAL CONTRACTORS
Locally, at least two Jacksonville-area subcontractors have filed liens with the bonding company to get their money.
Austin Readimix is trying to collect “six figures” for the cement it delivered, money particularly important to his young business, according to owner Tommy Austin Jr.
“We’ve gotten a different story every time,” said Austin, who has unpaid invoices dating back to January. “They keep giving us false promises from the git-go,” he said. “The pay is slow, the paper trail takes 120 to 150 days to get your money,” he said.
JR Construction of Cabot is another subcontractor that has filed a lien with the bonding company. Efforts to reach a spokesman for JR Construction were unsuccessful.
Tom Brockway, project manager for American Eagle Communities’ Little Rock Family Housing, said he was only aware of the two companies so far.
Little Rock Family Housing has only a handful of new homes and a community center to show for American Eagle Communities’ grandiose promises in August 2004 to build or remodel 1,200 Little Rock Air Force Base homes. Brockway said he shut the job down for now to protect contractors and suppliers from further losses.
Brockway said he hopes to restart the job by September, using the same contractors. “By now we should have had 95 homes completed, we have 25. I have no reason to believe we can’t complete the job by 2011, but it’s not where I would like it.”
25 HOMES COMPLETED
In addition to the 25 homes that have been completed and occupied, about 70 concrete slabs have been poured; the contract calls for 468 new homes and 732 homes remodeled by 2011.
Representatives from Ameri-can Eagle Communities LLC, a partnership between Carabetta Enterprises, of Meriden, Conn., and Shaw Infrastructure Inc. of Baton Rouge, are meeting late this week with the company that issued $102 million bonds toward the $127 million job, according to Brockway. So far, no one will say publicly where the problem is.
In 1996, Congress enacted the Military Housing Privatization Initiative as part of a growing desire to better address the needs of American service personnel and their families. The initiative was designed to remedy the problem of deteriorated military-owned housing and a lack of appropriate private housing.
There are currently 42 Air Force bases pursuing housing privatization options and about 76 percent of military housing is being completed through privatization.
10,000 HOMES
The Carabettas with Shaw, through their various limited liability companies, are committed to build or remodel about 10,000 homes on bases and installations around the country, and all four Air Force jobs have either shut down, will be shutting down or are having troubles paying contractors, according to Hawkins.
In 2004, American Eagle also was awarded the privatization contract for Beale Air Force Base, near Sacramento, but was dropped “due to some legal questions,” according to the base public affairs officer.
Carabetta also has privatization contracts with Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri and Northwest Communities on Puget Sound.
Despite Carabettas’ 25-year history of bankruptcy, corruption allegations, unpaid contractors, slowly paid contractors, unfinished projects, unhappy partners and lawsuits, the Air Force determined that past performance was satisfactory for all four Carabetta/Shaw projects, according to Hawkins.
PROGRAM SUCCESSFUL
“By every meaningful measure, the Air Force housing privatization program is a huge success,” said Hawkins. “These difficulties are unique to this particular developer and are not found anywhere else in this very successful housing-privatization program.
“The cost to build and renovate the 1,200 units at Little Rock is $126.9 million, of which $102.4 million is sourced from bond financing and owner equity,” Hawkins said. “The remaining $24.5 million is in the form of a government direct loan, which to date has not closed or been disbursed.
“The housing-privatization program has allowed the Air Force to ensure availability of 10,781 units of quality, affordable housing for our military members and their families over the last eight years.
The Air Force has obligated $216.2M in direct loans instead of the $3.13B that would have been required had the units been constructed using traditional military construction funds. It has also meant that our people are in affordable, quality housing much quicker than if we were to pay for it with tax money and manage the construction ourselves. It’s a huge win for our men and women in uniform, their families, and the taxpayers.”
The project owner has received nothing for these projects, according to Hawkins. The construction company for each project gets approximately 4 percent of construction costs and the management company gets about 4 percent of the total rent revenue.
STAKEHOLDERS
Hawkins said the Air Force is not ready to give up on American Eagle Communities yet.
“While project defaults are options, we see them as the last resort and it would be inappropriate for us to comment on their likelihood as we continue to work in good faith with all parties concerned,” Hawkins said.
He said the privatization projects were not traditional military construction contracts, but rather 50-year real estate transactions between the developers and the Air Force whereby the developers agree to offer privately owned homes for rent to military families in exchange for an initial government capital investment (conveying existing housing/land) and rental payments by military occupants of housing.
Each of the projects is a stand-alone project with different bondholders and financial structures. The impact and actions necessary to move the projects forward will be determined by the specific legal documents involved in those transactions, according to Hawkins.
“We work on a daily basis with the bondholders, the project owner, and other stakeholders to resolve the issues at hand as expeditiously as possible,” Hawkins said. The Air Force detected performance problems early and encouraged the bondholders to become more involved in the projects. As a result, the bondholders engaged the developer in performance discussions. Their past performance has been evaluated on several projects they have proposed since award of Little Rock, and it will be considered during evaluation of any proposals they submit for future military housing privatization projects, he said.
“The Air Force does have legal remedies,” Hawkins said, “but is not pursuing such remedies at this time.”
THE COMPANIES
The Carabetta family, through its CEI Investment Corp. or through American Eagle Communities LLC, a partnership with Shaw Infrastructures, won privatization contracts for at least seven projects to own, demolish and replace some housing, remodel other housing and manage the property for members of the military and their families at bases from Florida to Puget Sound, Washington.
Shaw Infrastructures, Inc. is a subsidiary of The Shaw Group, a Fortune 500 company listed on the New York Stock Exchange as SGR. Shaw has a long history of Defense Department infrastructure jobs. According to its website, Shaw is involved in at least seven military housing-privatization contracts, about half of them in partnership with Carabettas.
Carabetta Enterprises, or CEI Investment Corp, says it has completed 150 housing developments nationwide, totaling 36,189 homes over the past 50 years.
A spokesman for American Eagle Communities and The Shaw Group didn’t return telephone calls for this story.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
EDITORIALS>>Insuring Arkansans
If the health-care crisis yielded to simple solutions, Arkansas at least would be home free by now. But the state learned once again that even the offer of a big federal subsidy will induce few employers to insure their workers.
Gov. Beebe struck out Monday on a tour of the state to urge businesses to take advantage of ARHealthNet, the state-sponsored insurance program that was begun with fanfare late last year. When Gov. Mike Huckabee and his health director, Dr. Joe Thompson, unveiled the plan after obtaining a waiver from the federal Medicaid division, we expressed doubt that it would amount to much. We hoped we were wrong. They talked about covering 80,000 workers with the limited-benefit plan. That would be a sizable segment of the roughly 378,000 Arkansans who have no health insurance. Employers could buy into Medicaid for their low-income workers (wages up to 200 percent of the federal poverty line) by paying only 27 percent of the cost of medical benefits; Washington would pay the other 73 percent. Employers would essentially be paying the state’s low matching share of Medicaid for their workers.
For such a wonderful opportunity, there were a couple of rubs. First, businesses do have to pay something and most consider that with their tight margins even the 27 percent is too much. Second, to participate a company has to insure its other employees, too, rather than providing benefits only to its poorest employees. They have to do that with private plans for which they and their employees pay the full load.
After seven months, only 178 businesses have enrolled to cover 655 workers, roughly four per business. Beebe and Thompson, who is his new surgeon general, think that the program just needs promoting. We hope so. But experience is not encouraging. Eight other states started a similar program with about the same cheerless results. Arkansas’ earlier initiatives proved even more disappointing. After spending $500,000 preparing it and promoting it, the state abandoned a drug-discount program several months ago because not enough people expressed an interest to drive much of a discount.
Previous legislation establishing small-business insurance pools going back 15 years proved worthless. To make a dent in the problem, there will have to be mandatory participation, a concerted effort at cost control and a real financial participation by state government if it is a state program. A half-dozen states — mainly big ones but also tiny Maine — are moving toward that with mixed results. In the end, it must be a federal remedy because only the national government can impose both effective cost controls and the financing that an equitable universal system requires. —Ernie Dumas
Gov. Beebe struck out Monday on a tour of the state to urge businesses to take advantage of ARHealthNet, the state-sponsored insurance program that was begun with fanfare late last year. When Gov. Mike Huckabee and his health director, Dr. Joe Thompson, unveiled the plan after obtaining a waiver from the federal Medicaid division, we expressed doubt that it would amount to much. We hoped we were wrong. They talked about covering 80,000 workers with the limited-benefit plan. That would be a sizable segment of the roughly 378,000 Arkansans who have no health insurance. Employers could buy into Medicaid for their low-income workers (wages up to 200 percent of the federal poverty line) by paying only 27 percent of the cost of medical benefits; Washington would pay the other 73 percent. Employers would essentially be paying the state’s low matching share of Medicaid for their workers.
For such a wonderful opportunity, there were a couple of rubs. First, businesses do have to pay something and most consider that with their tight margins even the 27 percent is too much. Second, to participate a company has to insure its other employees, too, rather than providing benefits only to its poorest employees. They have to do that with private plans for which they and their employees pay the full load.
After seven months, only 178 businesses have enrolled to cover 655 workers, roughly four per business. Beebe and Thompson, who is his new surgeon general, think that the program just needs promoting. We hope so. But experience is not encouraging. Eight other states started a similar program with about the same cheerless results. Arkansas’ earlier initiatives proved even more disappointing. After spending $500,000 preparing it and promoting it, the state abandoned a drug-discount program several months ago because not enough people expressed an interest to drive much of a discount.
Previous legislation establishing small-business insurance pools going back 15 years proved worthless. To make a dent in the problem, there will have to be mandatory participation, a concerted effort at cost control and a real financial participation by state government if it is a state program. A half-dozen states — mainly big ones but also tiny Maine — are moving toward that with mixed results. In the end, it must be a federal remedy because only the national government can impose both effective cost controls and the financing that an equitable universal system requires. —Ernie Dumas
EDITORIALS>>Some taxes should go up
Every week brings new announcements of investment in the exploration of the vast Fayetteville shale gas play and, far more quietly, fresh complaints about the horrors that follow it: the waste pits, polluted ground water, the surface degradation and the weak secondary roads and city streets that are pounded into rubble by the heavy equipment.
Economic development nearly always carries some costs, but good government will always ameliorate them by stern regulation and sometimes taxation. Old-timers in south Arkansas remember the years of the oil boom, when a few got rich, others got better-paying jobs and the land and streams took a beating. Creeks and branches turned to saltwater and sludge and valleys took on the ghostly appearance of bombed-out Dresden: long stretches of whitened dead tree trunks and blackened earth that supported only the scrappiest vegetation. The state eventually passed pollution laws and established regulation over discharges, and over many decades a little verdure returned to the valleys in Union, Columbia and Lafayette counties and a little life found its way back into the streams. The legislature passed modest severance taxes on oil that paid for some of the reclamation. Now the oil bonanza is mostly gone.
Lots of personal riches will follow the shale development although the companies that drill and then pipe the gas to Midwestern industries and homes will take most of the profits out of the state as well. Gov. Beebe is hearing the complaints now as well as the euphoria, and he told a radio audience that the exploration companies ought to be paying their share to cover road and environmental damage. But they won’t. Stepped-up enforcement of highway weight limits, which Beebe promised, won’t do the job either. The state Department of Environmental Quality is drafting rules to govern the drilling and cleanup. Presumably, the regulations will include fines for violations. If they follow the Arkansas pattern, they will not be harsh enough to make a lot of difference. The companies tried and almost succeeded this year in passing legislation to limit what property owners who were abandoned by their government could recover by suing heedless developers.
Gov. Beebe, reflecting what we fear is his leadership style, said he sure wished that the state had a real severance tax on natural gas but that he was unwilling to ask the legislature to pass one. It would take a three-fourths vote in each house and that is impossible to achieve, he said. He recalled that Gov. Bill Clinton proposed a modest tax in 1983 and that he, as a state senator, had voted for it but that the House of Representatives defeated it. He implied that Clinton was a more potent leader than he and that at Clinton’s pinnacle he could not get a necessary reform done. Beebe suggested that someone draft an initiated act and get it on the ballot. He would support it. Well, somebody should, but what about Mike Beebe? We recall two such instances: Bill Clinton pushing a public initiative for ethics reform after the legislature defeated it and Mike Huckabee organizing an initiative drive for a big health-care program after the lawmakers defeated it. That was leadership.
The severance tax has a moral imperative. It’s not just a way to raise money for public works and reclamation of lands. Those who profit from the removal of a finite public asset that can never be replenished owe something back to the public trust. It is certainly not three-tenths of one penny for a thousand cubic feet, the absurd current law.
Economic development nearly always carries some costs, but good government will always ameliorate them by stern regulation and sometimes taxation. Old-timers in south Arkansas remember the years of the oil boom, when a few got rich, others got better-paying jobs and the land and streams took a beating. Creeks and branches turned to saltwater and sludge and valleys took on the ghostly appearance of bombed-out Dresden: long stretches of whitened dead tree trunks and blackened earth that supported only the scrappiest vegetation. The state eventually passed pollution laws and established regulation over discharges, and over many decades a little verdure returned to the valleys in Union, Columbia and Lafayette counties and a little life found its way back into the streams. The legislature passed modest severance taxes on oil that paid for some of the reclamation. Now the oil bonanza is mostly gone.
Lots of personal riches will follow the shale development although the companies that drill and then pipe the gas to Midwestern industries and homes will take most of the profits out of the state as well. Gov. Beebe is hearing the complaints now as well as the euphoria, and he told a radio audience that the exploration companies ought to be paying their share to cover road and environmental damage. But they won’t. Stepped-up enforcement of highway weight limits, which Beebe promised, won’t do the job either. The state Department of Environmental Quality is drafting rules to govern the drilling and cleanup. Presumably, the regulations will include fines for violations. If they follow the Arkansas pattern, they will not be harsh enough to make a lot of difference. The companies tried and almost succeeded this year in passing legislation to limit what property owners who were abandoned by their government could recover by suing heedless developers.
Gov. Beebe, reflecting what we fear is his leadership style, said he sure wished that the state had a real severance tax on natural gas but that he was unwilling to ask the legislature to pass one. It would take a three-fourths vote in each house and that is impossible to achieve, he said. He recalled that Gov. Bill Clinton proposed a modest tax in 1983 and that he, as a state senator, had voted for it but that the House of Representatives defeated it. He implied that Clinton was a more potent leader than he and that at Clinton’s pinnacle he could not get a necessary reform done. Beebe suggested that someone draft an initiated act and get it on the ballot. He would support it. Well, somebody should, but what about Mike Beebe? We recall two such instances: Bill Clinton pushing a public initiative for ethics reform after the legislature defeated it and Mike Huckabee organizing an initiative drive for a big health-care program after the lawmakers defeated it. That was leadership.
The severance tax has a moral imperative. It’s not just a way to raise money for public works and reclamation of lands. Those who profit from the removal of a finite public asset that can never be replenished owe something back to the public trust. It is certainly not three-tenths of one penny for a thousand cubic feet, the absurd current law.
SPORTS>>Cabot AAA topples NLR Colts
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The Cabot Class AAA American Legion team needed two extra innings to get it done, but came away with a huge win over North Little Rock 8-6 Friday night at Vince De Salvo Stadium in Burns Park.
Cabot trailed the Colts 6-3 entering the top of the sixth inning, but pulled to within one score in the sixth, and tied the contest with one more run in the seventh to send the game into extra innings. “We just weren’t playing very good baseball,” Cabot coach Andy Runyan said of his team’s early struggles. “The boys clawed back in the game and started playing better. We just haven’t had very good luck at that field.
“I don’t think we’ve won a game there since I’ve started coaching, so we have some bad mojo there for some reason. The kids fought through it and did a good job.”
North Little Rock was poised for a blowout in the opening frame, scoring four runs against Cabot southpaw Justin Haas. The Clark College signee had an unusual struggle in the bottom of the first, but recovered to keep the Colts off the scoreboard in the three subsequent innings until being relieved by Josh Brown in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Brown closed out the inning without allowing a hit, paving the way for Sean Clarkson to take the mound in the sixth inning. Clarkson gave up three hits on his way to collecting the save, but no NLR runners would score.
Although Haas gave up an unfortunate nine hits, in his defense, the six runs collected by the Colts were also aided by four Cabot errors while he was on the mound. The fielding improved with the pitching in the late going, with no further errors committed in the remaining five innings.
Cabot did not come alive offensively until the top of the third inning, when three runs pulled Post 71 to within a single score at 4-3. North Little Rock did not answer until the bottom of the fifth inning with two more scores made the score 6-3 in favor of the Colts.
Cabot slowly climbed its way back in the game with a pair of runs in the sixth inning, and finally pulled even in the seventh to send the game past its scheduled seven innings.
Both teams went scoreless in the eighth, but Post 71 captured their first lead of the game in the top of the ninth inning when Sam Bates hit a two-run home run with two outs. That put North Little Rock in the unfamiliar position of facing a two-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth.
The Colts needed two scores to stay alive in the bottom of the ninth, but Clarkson would have none of it. He shut NLR down in the ninth with runners on first and third , striking out the final Colts batter to secure the incredible comeback win. Cabot is now 10-9 overall and 3-1 in zone play.
Jackson Chism led Cabot at the plate, going 3 for 4 with one run and a stolen base. Sam Bates scored the biggest hit of the game with a homerun, ending up 2 for 4 with two RBIs. Shayne Burgan was also 2 for 4 with a double and a RBI.
Cabot played against Faulkner County at Conway last night after Leader deadlines in a Class AAA doubleheader.
Leader sportswriter
The Cabot Class AAA American Legion team needed two extra innings to get it done, but came away with a huge win over North Little Rock 8-6 Friday night at Vince De Salvo Stadium in Burns Park.
Cabot trailed the Colts 6-3 entering the top of the sixth inning, but pulled to within one score in the sixth, and tied the contest with one more run in the seventh to send the game into extra innings. “We just weren’t playing very good baseball,” Cabot coach Andy Runyan said of his team’s early struggles. “The boys clawed back in the game and started playing better. We just haven’t had very good luck at that field.
“I don’t think we’ve won a game there since I’ve started coaching, so we have some bad mojo there for some reason. The kids fought through it and did a good job.”
North Little Rock was poised for a blowout in the opening frame, scoring four runs against Cabot southpaw Justin Haas. The Clark College signee had an unusual struggle in the bottom of the first, but recovered to keep the Colts off the scoreboard in the three subsequent innings until being relieved by Josh Brown in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Brown closed out the inning without allowing a hit, paving the way for Sean Clarkson to take the mound in the sixth inning. Clarkson gave up three hits on his way to collecting the save, but no NLR runners would score.
Although Haas gave up an unfortunate nine hits, in his defense, the six runs collected by the Colts were also aided by four Cabot errors while he was on the mound. The fielding improved with the pitching in the late going, with no further errors committed in the remaining five innings.
Cabot did not come alive offensively until the top of the third inning, when three runs pulled Post 71 to within a single score at 4-3. North Little Rock did not answer until the bottom of the fifth inning with two more scores made the score 6-3 in favor of the Colts.
Cabot slowly climbed its way back in the game with a pair of runs in the sixth inning, and finally pulled even in the seventh to send the game past its scheduled seven innings.
Both teams went scoreless in the eighth, but Post 71 captured their first lead of the game in the top of the ninth inning when Sam Bates hit a two-run home run with two outs. That put North Little Rock in the unfamiliar position of facing a two-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth.
The Colts needed two scores to stay alive in the bottom of the ninth, but Clarkson would have none of it. He shut NLR down in the ninth with runners on first and third , striking out the final Colts batter to secure the incredible comeback win. Cabot is now 10-9 overall and 3-1 in zone play.
Jackson Chism led Cabot at the plate, going 3 for 4 with one run and a stolen base. Sam Bates scored the biggest hit of the game with a homerun, ending up 2 for 4 with two RBIs. Shayne Burgan was also 2 for 4 with a double and a RBI.
Cabot played against Faulkner County at Conway last night after Leader deadlines in a Class AAA doubleheader.
SPORTS>>Class A in place of old for Gwatney program
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Gwatney Chevrolet class A American Legion team is in a situation that no Jacksonville baseball team has been for several years. It is in the finals of the Zone 3 tournament without a loss, and playing a team it has already beaten 12-5 earlier in the tournament.
The Gwatney team advanced to the championship round with a 12-6 victory over Cabot Sunday evening at Maumelle. The championship round was originally set for Monday night, but was rained out for two days and rescheduled for 5 p.m. tonight in either Maumelle, Conway or Jacksonville.
There hasn’t been a Jacksonville American Legion team advance to the state tournament in this century, and now Conway is left with the task of beating Gwatney twice in one day in order to advance to next week’s state tournament.
A new rule this year automatically puts the state tournament host in the state tournament, which means that if the state tournament host doesn’t reach the finals of its zone tournament, only that zone’s champion will advance to state. This year North Little Rock hosts the class A state tournament, so the Colts will play in state. That means that the Zone 3 runner up loses its normal spot in state to North Little Rock.
Neither Jacksonville coach Travis Lyda, nor Conway likes the set up, but Jacksonville has been focused on winning the tournament anyway.
“It’s been a while since Jacksonville baseball has been in this situation,” Lyda said. “I don’t think these kids are getting caught up in all that other stuff. They’re just out here worrying about winning.”
Winning is indeed what the team has been doing. The Gwatney team has averaged exactly 12 runs per game through four games in the tournament. The low game was a 7-5 thriller against North Little Rock in the second round. The high was a 17-4 shellacking of Morrilton in the tournament’s opening game. Two 12-run efforts followed in wins over Conway and Cabot. The Chevy Boys have given up exactly five runs per game.
“When you’re averaging a six or seven run margin you’re doing at least some things right,” Lyda said after Sunday’s win over Cabot. “We’re still not playing as good as we could be playing. At one point and time or another, we’ve gone to sleep in every game so far.”
That lull came in the later stages of its second round game. Jacksonville led North Little Rock 7-1 through five innngs, but the Colts rallied to make it 7-5 in the sixth.
In the seventh, North Little Rock loaded the bases with one out, but pitcher Clayton Fenton got a strikeout and a routine grounder to second base to preserve a complete-game victory.
“He’s just a tough kid and a competitor,” Lyda said. “That umpire had the smallest strike zone I’ve ever seen, and earlier in the year that probably would have frustrated him quite a bit. He stood out there, toughened up and threw the ball where he had to call strikes. That’s one kid that you can say has grown up a lot this summer.”
Despite the small strike zone, Fenton finished the game with a 6-1 strikeout to walk ratio.
On Saturday, Jacksonville beat the Log Cabin Democrat team 12-5 on the strength of a huge sixth inning. Jacksonville saw a 5-0 lead disintegrate into a 5-5 knot in the fifth. It answered with seven in the sixth.
“We’ve won in a lot of different ways, but we’ve always found a way to get the job done,” Lyda said. “We just want to make sure we keep doing them. We want state.”
Conway has played the entire tournament with the advantage of not having to use a pitcher in the first round. Greers Ferry got the first-round schedule mixed up and didn’t show up for its game on Thursday, resulting in a 7-0 forfeit.
The Log Cabin team used its ace against Greenbrier on Friday, and started its No. 2 against Jacksonville on Saturday. It used three pitcher in a last-inning comeback win over North Little Rock, but the rain delay helped the team rest its key hurlers.
“That helped them more than it did us because we’ve basically got all our pitchers ready,” Lyda said.
A Jacksonville win puts them in the state tournament, which begins Thursday at Burns Park.
Leader sports editor
The Gwatney Chevrolet class A American Legion team is in a situation that no Jacksonville baseball team has been for several years. It is in the finals of the Zone 3 tournament without a loss, and playing a team it has already beaten 12-5 earlier in the tournament.
The Gwatney team advanced to the championship round with a 12-6 victory over Cabot Sunday evening at Maumelle. The championship round was originally set for Monday night, but was rained out for two days and rescheduled for 5 p.m. tonight in either Maumelle, Conway or Jacksonville.
There hasn’t been a Jacksonville American Legion team advance to the state tournament in this century, and now Conway is left with the task of beating Gwatney twice in one day in order to advance to next week’s state tournament.
A new rule this year automatically puts the state tournament host in the state tournament, which means that if the state tournament host doesn’t reach the finals of its zone tournament, only that zone’s champion will advance to state. This year North Little Rock hosts the class A state tournament, so the Colts will play in state. That means that the Zone 3 runner up loses its normal spot in state to North Little Rock.
Neither Jacksonville coach Travis Lyda, nor Conway likes the set up, but Jacksonville has been focused on winning the tournament anyway.
“It’s been a while since Jacksonville baseball has been in this situation,” Lyda said. “I don’t think these kids are getting caught up in all that other stuff. They’re just out here worrying about winning.”
Winning is indeed what the team has been doing. The Gwatney team has averaged exactly 12 runs per game through four games in the tournament. The low game was a 7-5 thriller against North Little Rock in the second round. The high was a 17-4 shellacking of Morrilton in the tournament’s opening game. Two 12-run efforts followed in wins over Conway and Cabot. The Chevy Boys have given up exactly five runs per game.
“When you’re averaging a six or seven run margin you’re doing at least some things right,” Lyda said after Sunday’s win over Cabot. “We’re still not playing as good as we could be playing. At one point and time or another, we’ve gone to sleep in every game so far.”
That lull came in the later stages of its second round game. Jacksonville led North Little Rock 7-1 through five innngs, but the Colts rallied to make it 7-5 in the sixth.
In the seventh, North Little Rock loaded the bases with one out, but pitcher Clayton Fenton got a strikeout and a routine grounder to second base to preserve a complete-game victory.
“He’s just a tough kid and a competitor,” Lyda said. “That umpire had the smallest strike zone I’ve ever seen, and earlier in the year that probably would have frustrated him quite a bit. He stood out there, toughened up and threw the ball where he had to call strikes. That’s one kid that you can say has grown up a lot this summer.”
Despite the small strike zone, Fenton finished the game with a 6-1 strikeout to walk ratio.
On Saturday, Jacksonville beat the Log Cabin Democrat team 12-5 on the strength of a huge sixth inning. Jacksonville saw a 5-0 lead disintegrate into a 5-5 knot in the fifth. It answered with seven in the sixth.
“We’ve won in a lot of different ways, but we’ve always found a way to get the job done,” Lyda said. “We just want to make sure we keep doing them. We want state.”
Conway has played the entire tournament with the advantage of not having to use a pitcher in the first round. Greers Ferry got the first-round schedule mixed up and didn’t show up for its game on Thursday, resulting in a 7-0 forfeit.
The Log Cabin team used its ace against Greenbrier on Friday, and started its No. 2 against Jacksonville on Saturday. It used three pitcher in a last-inning comeback win over North Little Rock, but the rain delay helped the team rest its key hurlers.
“That helped them more than it did us because we’ve basically got all our pitchers ready,” Lyda said.
A Jacksonville win puts them in the state tournament, which begins Thursday at Burns Park.
SPORTS>>Gwatney rallies, defeats Cabot A
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Jacksonville found itself in another unusual situation early in Sunday’s game against Cabot. The Post 71 team had Jacksonville down for the first time in the tournament. In fact, Cabot had Gwatney on the ropes, holding a 5-0 lead in the second inning.
“They jumped on us with both feet and I knew it was going to be interesting to see how this group would respond to that,” Lyda said. “This wasn’t a case of getting down one or two runs, this was 5-0 and we were playing too tight. I think we got a little nervous until we had us a little meeting over there on the third baseline. We woke up a little bit after that and started playing a little smarter baseball.”
Jacksonville didn’t play smart in the first two innings, especially on offense. Gwatney put runners on base, but two were picked off by pitcher Tyler Sorrells, and one was caught stealing by catcher Ben Wainwright to thwart Jacksonville scoring threats.
Wainwright opened the scoring in the top of the first inning with a long solo home run down the power alley in left field.
“He scared the squirrels with that one,” Lyda said of Wainwright. “He did the same thing to us at our park. He’s a great young ball player.”
Wainwright. “He did the same thing to us at our park. He’s a great young ball player.”
Cabot added four runs in the top of the second inning off Jacksonville starter Stephen Swaggerty. Swaggerty hit Anthony Rye to start the inning and Ken Harness reached on a 3-6 fielder’s choice.
Travis Dorsey walked and Chase Beasley bunted the runners into scoring position. Nine-hole hitter C.J. Jacoby then singled to drive in both runners and give Cabot a 3-0 lead. Leadoff hitter Matt Williams drew a walk, and Cabot turned a bad play into a run during the next at bat.
Swaggerty picked off Williams at first base. Williams didn’t have a chance to get back to first, so he broke for second, which was occupied by Jacoby. Jacksonville first baseman Jason Regnas gave chase on Williams, but then fired off target to third in an attempt to get Jacoby. Jacoby trotted home to make it 4-0, and Jeremy Wilson then singled to score Williams and give Cabot a 5-0 lead.
Wainwright then stepped to the plate and hit a hard grounder down the third baseline, where Gwatney’s Seth Tomboli snagged the ball from the seat of his pants and threw Wainwright out at first to end the rally.
“That was a big play because Swaggerty was in a little bit of trouble,” Lyda said. “He was literally about one pitch away from being pulled, and Tomboli made that play.”
Gwatney got one back in the bottom of the second when A.J. Allen’s fly ball to centerfield was just deep enough to score Caleb Mitchell, who had led off the inning with a walk. Swaggerty then sat Cabot down in order in the third, and Jacksonville’s rally began.
Gwatney got three singles, drew three walks and took advantage of three Cabot errors in the bottom of the third to claim a 6-5 lead.
Tomboli got the big hit of the inning, a bases-loaded, two-out single that scored two runs and kick-started the rally.
Jacksonville got two more base hits and Cabot committed two more errors in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 9-5. Right fielder Clayton Fenton led off with a single to left field. Two batters later Terrell Brown reached on an error. Jason Regnas followed that with a two-RBI single to centerfield. Regnas later scored on the second error of the inning.
Cabot got a run back in the fifth inning. Beasley reached on an error and scored on an RBI base hit by Williams.
Jacksonville answered right back with three more runs in the sixth to set the final margin. Two walks, two more Cabot errors and another RBI base hit by Regnas did the damage for Gwatney.
Tomboli took the mound in the seventh. He got into some trouble right away, giving up a single and a walk with one out, but struck out the next two batters to slam the door on a comeback attempt.
Regnas reached every time up to the plate in the game. He finished 2 for 2 with three RBIs, two runs scored, a walk and was hit once. Jacksonville got just three earned runs in the game. Sorrells went the distance for Cabot, giving up seven base hits while walking eight and striking out five.
Swaggerty threw six innings to get the win. He gave up five earned runs on six hits, four walks and three hit batters.
Leader sports editor
Jacksonville found itself in another unusual situation early in Sunday’s game against Cabot. The Post 71 team had Jacksonville down for the first time in the tournament. In fact, Cabot had Gwatney on the ropes, holding a 5-0 lead in the second inning.
“They jumped on us with both feet and I knew it was going to be interesting to see how this group would respond to that,” Lyda said. “This wasn’t a case of getting down one or two runs, this was 5-0 and we were playing too tight. I think we got a little nervous until we had us a little meeting over there on the third baseline. We woke up a little bit after that and started playing a little smarter baseball.”
Jacksonville didn’t play smart in the first two innings, especially on offense. Gwatney put runners on base, but two were picked off by pitcher Tyler Sorrells, and one was caught stealing by catcher Ben Wainwright to thwart Jacksonville scoring threats.
Wainwright opened the scoring in the top of the first inning with a long solo home run down the power alley in left field.
“He scared the squirrels with that one,” Lyda said of Wainwright. “He did the same thing to us at our park. He’s a great young ball player.”
Wainwright. “He did the same thing to us at our park. He’s a great young ball player.”
Cabot added four runs in the top of the second inning off Jacksonville starter Stephen Swaggerty. Swaggerty hit Anthony Rye to start the inning and Ken Harness reached on a 3-6 fielder’s choice.
Travis Dorsey walked and Chase Beasley bunted the runners into scoring position. Nine-hole hitter C.J. Jacoby then singled to drive in both runners and give Cabot a 3-0 lead. Leadoff hitter Matt Williams drew a walk, and Cabot turned a bad play into a run during the next at bat.
Swaggerty picked off Williams at first base. Williams didn’t have a chance to get back to first, so he broke for second, which was occupied by Jacoby. Jacksonville first baseman Jason Regnas gave chase on Williams, but then fired off target to third in an attempt to get Jacoby. Jacoby trotted home to make it 4-0, and Jeremy Wilson then singled to score Williams and give Cabot a 5-0 lead.
Wainwright then stepped to the plate and hit a hard grounder down the third baseline, where Gwatney’s Seth Tomboli snagged the ball from the seat of his pants and threw Wainwright out at first to end the rally.
“That was a big play because Swaggerty was in a little bit of trouble,” Lyda said. “He was literally about one pitch away from being pulled, and Tomboli made that play.”
Gwatney got one back in the bottom of the second when A.J. Allen’s fly ball to centerfield was just deep enough to score Caleb Mitchell, who had led off the inning with a walk. Swaggerty then sat Cabot down in order in the third, and Jacksonville’s rally began.
Gwatney got three singles, drew three walks and took advantage of three Cabot errors in the bottom of the third to claim a 6-5 lead.
Tomboli got the big hit of the inning, a bases-loaded, two-out single that scored two runs and kick-started the rally.
Jacksonville got two more base hits and Cabot committed two more errors in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 9-5. Right fielder Clayton Fenton led off with a single to left field. Two batters later Terrell Brown reached on an error. Jason Regnas followed that with a two-RBI single to centerfield. Regnas later scored on the second error of the inning.
Cabot got a run back in the fifth inning. Beasley reached on an error and scored on an RBI base hit by Williams.
Jacksonville answered right back with three more runs in the sixth to set the final margin. Two walks, two more Cabot errors and another RBI base hit by Regnas did the damage for Gwatney.
Tomboli took the mound in the seventh. He got into some trouble right away, giving up a single and a walk with one out, but struck out the next two batters to slam the door on a comeback attempt.
Regnas reached every time up to the plate in the game. He finished 2 for 2 with three RBIs, two runs scored, a walk and was hit once. Jacksonville got just three earned runs in the game. Sorrells went the distance for Cabot, giving up seven base hits while walking eight and striking out five.
Swaggerty threw six innings to get the win. He gave up five earned runs on six hits, four walks and three hit batters.
TOP STORY >>Schools reaching perfection
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
The number of students statewide who are proficient in algebra at the end of the course dropped 4 percent, down to a proficiency rate of 61 percent.
But don’t tell that to the Lonoke Middle School or Ahlf Junior High algebra students in Searcy. In Lonoke 33 percent scored proficient and the other 67 scored advanced, for a 100 percent pass rate.
John Tackett, Lonoke’s assistant superintendent, said, “We are very excited about the scores.” He attributed the students’ performance to a good foundational math program. “We push for mastery and give students a chance to achieve it. We use an assessment program that is aligned with the state frameworks and is used by the teachers to direct instruction,” he said.
Tackett added that if a student tests proficient in “say six out of 10 areas, the student is given the chance to study, practice and retests in the other four areas.”
Ahlf Junior High students did even better than Lonoke students, all 100 percent of the algebra students scored advanced, and 84 percent of the Searcy High School students scored proficient or advanced.
All students are required to take the end-of-course exams in algebra and geometry after completing the course. The tests are given in January and April. Most students in the local area took the exams in April.
In geometry, it was students from Cabot Junior High South leading the pack, with all 75 students tested scoring proficient or advanced.
Cabot Junior High North had 98 percent of its geometry students make the grade, nearly 40 percent points better than the state average of 59 percent, which was a one-point drop from the previous year.
Teresa Chance, the district’s director of curriculum, attributed the great test scores to the hard work of the teachers and students. “We try to get the everyday instruction and assessment aligned so we are doing the right things every day. The bonus is good test results. The day in and day out work in the classroom makes the difference,” Chance said.
As good as students did in algebra and geometry testing, they struggled with the 11th grade literacy exam. The state average was 51 percent, up from three straight years where only 45 percent of juniors scored proficient or advanced.
Searcy and Cabot juniors scored much better than the state average, with 74 percent of the Searcy students proficient or advanced and 69 percent of Cabot’s juniors proficient or advanced.
Algebra
Algebra students at Beebe Junior High School outpaced those at the high school on the end-of-course exam.
At the junior high level, 85 percent of the algebra students scored proficient or advanced, while 67 percent of their high school counterparts made the cut.
In Searcy, all 25 algebra students at Ahlf Junior High scored advanced, and 88 percent of the 219 high school students taking the exam scored proficient or advanced.
All of Lonoke Middle School’s 27 algebra students scored proficient or advanced, but just 58 percent of the high school’s 102 algebra students were proficient or better.
Cabot Junior High South and North algebra students were neck-and-neck with 84 percent of South’s students making the cut and 83 percent of North’s students making it.
At the high school, 41 percent of the algebra students were proficient or advanced. Also, 84 percent of the students at Cabot’s Academic Center of Excellence scored proficient or better.
Pulaski County Special School District’s algebra students scored about 25 percentage points under the state average, despite four area middle schools doing well. At Sylvan Hills Middle School, 96 percent of the algebra students scored well and 93 percent also did so at Northwood Middle School.
Students on the boys campus of Jacksonville Middle School outpaced the girls campus, with 80 percent of the boys turning in proficient or better scores compared to 69 percent of the girls.
But the district’s high schools greatly tugged the average down. Of the 281 students tested at Jacksonville High School, just 17 percent were proficient or better, 25 percent made the cut at Sylvan Hills High School and 35 percent did so at North Pulaski High School.
Geometry
Of the 240 Beebe High School geometry students taking the end-of-course state exam, 66 percent scored proficient or better. In the Searcy School District, the percentage jumped to 86 percent making the grade.
In Lonoke, 52 percent of geometry students scored proficient or advanced, seven points below the state average. In Cabot, 79 percent of all geometry students scored proficient or better. Cabot Junior High School South led the charge with 100 percent of its students proficient or advanced, followed by 98 percent at Cabot Junior High North.
At the high school, 72 percent scored well enough, but just 56 percent did so at the Academic Center of Excellence.
The PCSSD average of 39 percent proficient or advanced was 20 points below the state average.
Of the 216 students tested at Sylvan Hills High School, 49 percent scored proficient or advanced, while 42 percent did so at North Pulaski High School and just 27 percent at Jacksonville High School.
Literacy
In the area of literacy, just slightly more than half of the state’s high school juniors are proficient or advanced. Searcy and Cabot juniors are about 20 points above that, while in Lonoke, Beebe and PCSSD; the average is about eight to 10 points below the state average.
In Searcy, 74 percent of juniors are literacy proficient or advanced. In Cabot, about two-thirds of the juniors make the cut.
But in Lonoke, it’s just 40 percent and in Beebe it’s 49 percent.
IN PCSSD the percent of juniors scoring proficient or advanced in literacy is 41 percent, with 43 percent of Sylvan Hills High School juniors making the grade, 42 percent at North Pulaski High School and 33 percent at Jacksonville High.
Seventh grade
On the seventh-grade benchmark exams, the state average was 58 percent proficient or advanced in math and 57 percent in literacy.
Beebe and Searcy seventh graders bested the state average. In Beebe 70 percent were proficient or advanced in math and 69 percent made the cut in literacy. In Searcy, 74 percent did well in math and 76 percent scored proficient or advanced in literacy.
Cabot also did better than the state average. Of Cabot’s 725 seventh graders, 72 percent scored proficient or better in math and 69 percent did so in literacy.
In Lonoke, 67 percent of the seventh graders scored proficient or better in math and 56 percent did so in literacy.
In PCSSD, just 41 percent made the cut in math and 52 percent in literacy. At Sylvan Hills Middle School, 50 percent of the students scored proficient or better in math and 60 percent did so in literacy.
At Northwood, 39 percent made the cut in math, while 57 percent did so in literacy.
At the boys campus of Jacksonville Middle School, just 27 percent scored proficient or better in math and 29 percent did so in literacy.
On the girls’ campus, 23 percent made the grade in math and 45 percent did so in literacy.
Eighth grade
The state average for the eighth-grade benchmark exam was 48 percent scoring proficient or advanced in math and 63 percent in literacy. In Beebe, 68 percent of eighth graders scored proficient or better in math and 66 percent did so in literacy. In Searcy, it was 71 percent proficient or better in math and 77 percent in literacy.
In Cabot, 62 percent of the eighth graders made the cut in math and 74 percent did so in literacy. Lonoke had 48 percent score proficient or better in math and 68 percent in literacy.
In PCSSD, the district eighth-average was just 29 percent proficient or advanced in math, but 56 percent proficient or better in literacy.
At Sylvan Hills Middle School, 33 percent made the cut in math and 65 percent in literacy, while at Northwood it was 30 percent making the grade in math and 62 percent in literacy. At the boys’ campus of Jacksonville Middle School, it was 27 percent proficient or better in math and 38 percent in literacy. On the girls’ side it was 18 percent proficient or better in math and 57 percent making the cut in literacy.
Corrections: In Saturday’s story on benchmark scores from the third through the sixth grade, three sets of scores from Arnold Drive Elementary were miscalculated. The third-grade literacy score was reported at 42 percent proficient or advanced, but actually was 68 percent. The fourth-grade math score was reported as 87 percent proficient or advanced, but actually it was 97 percent, the top fourth-grade score in math in PCSSD. Fourth-grade literacy was reported at 79 percent proficient or advanced, but was actually 69 percent.
Leader staff writer
The number of students statewide who are proficient in algebra at the end of the course dropped 4 percent, down to a proficiency rate of 61 percent.
But don’t tell that to the Lonoke Middle School or Ahlf Junior High algebra students in Searcy. In Lonoke 33 percent scored proficient and the other 67 scored advanced, for a 100 percent pass rate.
John Tackett, Lonoke’s assistant superintendent, said, “We are very excited about the scores.” He attributed the students’ performance to a good foundational math program. “We push for mastery and give students a chance to achieve it. We use an assessment program that is aligned with the state frameworks and is used by the teachers to direct instruction,” he said.
Tackett added that if a student tests proficient in “say six out of 10 areas, the student is given the chance to study, practice and retests in the other four areas.”
Ahlf Junior High students did even better than Lonoke students, all 100 percent of the algebra students scored advanced, and 84 percent of the Searcy High School students scored proficient or advanced.
All students are required to take the end-of-course exams in algebra and geometry after completing the course. The tests are given in January and April. Most students in the local area took the exams in April.
In geometry, it was students from Cabot Junior High South leading the pack, with all 75 students tested scoring proficient or advanced.
Cabot Junior High North had 98 percent of its geometry students make the grade, nearly 40 percent points better than the state average of 59 percent, which was a one-point drop from the previous year.
Teresa Chance, the district’s director of curriculum, attributed the great test scores to the hard work of the teachers and students. “We try to get the everyday instruction and assessment aligned so we are doing the right things every day. The bonus is good test results. The day in and day out work in the classroom makes the difference,” Chance said.
As good as students did in algebra and geometry testing, they struggled with the 11th grade literacy exam. The state average was 51 percent, up from three straight years where only 45 percent of juniors scored proficient or advanced.
Searcy and Cabot juniors scored much better than the state average, with 74 percent of the Searcy students proficient or advanced and 69 percent of Cabot’s juniors proficient or advanced.
Algebra
Algebra students at Beebe Junior High School outpaced those at the high school on the end-of-course exam.
At the junior high level, 85 percent of the algebra students scored proficient or advanced, while 67 percent of their high school counterparts made the cut.
In Searcy, all 25 algebra students at Ahlf Junior High scored advanced, and 88 percent of the 219 high school students taking the exam scored proficient or advanced.
All of Lonoke Middle School’s 27 algebra students scored proficient or advanced, but just 58 percent of the high school’s 102 algebra students were proficient or better.
Cabot Junior High South and North algebra students were neck-and-neck with 84 percent of South’s students making the cut and 83 percent of North’s students making it.
At the high school, 41 percent of the algebra students were proficient or advanced. Also, 84 percent of the students at Cabot’s Academic Center of Excellence scored proficient or better.
Pulaski County Special School District’s algebra students scored about 25 percentage points under the state average, despite four area middle schools doing well. At Sylvan Hills Middle School, 96 percent of the algebra students scored well and 93 percent also did so at Northwood Middle School.
Students on the boys campus of Jacksonville Middle School outpaced the girls campus, with 80 percent of the boys turning in proficient or better scores compared to 69 percent of the girls.
But the district’s high schools greatly tugged the average down. Of the 281 students tested at Jacksonville High School, just 17 percent were proficient or better, 25 percent made the cut at Sylvan Hills High School and 35 percent did so at North Pulaski High School.
Geometry
Of the 240 Beebe High School geometry students taking the end-of-course state exam, 66 percent scored proficient or better. In the Searcy School District, the percentage jumped to 86 percent making the grade.
In Lonoke, 52 percent of geometry students scored proficient or advanced, seven points below the state average. In Cabot, 79 percent of all geometry students scored proficient or better. Cabot Junior High School South led the charge with 100 percent of its students proficient or advanced, followed by 98 percent at Cabot Junior High North.
At the high school, 72 percent scored well enough, but just 56 percent did so at the Academic Center of Excellence.
The PCSSD average of 39 percent proficient or advanced was 20 points below the state average.
Of the 216 students tested at Sylvan Hills High School, 49 percent scored proficient or advanced, while 42 percent did so at North Pulaski High School and just 27 percent at Jacksonville High School.
Literacy
In the area of literacy, just slightly more than half of the state’s high school juniors are proficient or advanced. Searcy and Cabot juniors are about 20 points above that, while in Lonoke, Beebe and PCSSD; the average is about eight to 10 points below the state average.
In Searcy, 74 percent of juniors are literacy proficient or advanced. In Cabot, about two-thirds of the juniors make the cut.
But in Lonoke, it’s just 40 percent and in Beebe it’s 49 percent.
IN PCSSD the percent of juniors scoring proficient or advanced in literacy is 41 percent, with 43 percent of Sylvan Hills High School juniors making the grade, 42 percent at North Pulaski High School and 33 percent at Jacksonville High.
Seventh grade
On the seventh-grade benchmark exams, the state average was 58 percent proficient or advanced in math and 57 percent in literacy.
Beebe and Searcy seventh graders bested the state average. In Beebe 70 percent were proficient or advanced in math and 69 percent made the cut in literacy. In Searcy, 74 percent did well in math and 76 percent scored proficient or advanced in literacy.
Cabot also did better than the state average. Of Cabot’s 725 seventh graders, 72 percent scored proficient or better in math and 69 percent did so in literacy.
In Lonoke, 67 percent of the seventh graders scored proficient or better in math and 56 percent did so in literacy.
In PCSSD, just 41 percent made the cut in math and 52 percent in literacy. At Sylvan Hills Middle School, 50 percent of the students scored proficient or better in math and 60 percent did so in literacy.
At Northwood, 39 percent made the cut in math, while 57 percent did so in literacy.
At the boys campus of Jacksonville Middle School, just 27 percent scored proficient or better in math and 29 percent did so in literacy.
On the girls’ campus, 23 percent made the grade in math and 45 percent did so in literacy.
Eighth grade
The state average for the eighth-grade benchmark exam was 48 percent scoring proficient or advanced in math and 63 percent in literacy. In Beebe, 68 percent of eighth graders scored proficient or better in math and 66 percent did so in literacy. In Searcy, it was 71 percent proficient or better in math and 77 percent in literacy.
In Cabot, 62 percent of the eighth graders made the cut in math and 74 percent did so in literacy. Lonoke had 48 percent score proficient or better in math and 68 percent in literacy.
In PCSSD, the district eighth-average was just 29 percent proficient or advanced in math, but 56 percent proficient or better in literacy.
At Sylvan Hills Middle School, 33 percent made the cut in math and 65 percent in literacy, while at Northwood it was 30 percent making the grade in math and 62 percent in literacy. At the boys’ campus of Jacksonville Middle School, it was 27 percent proficient or better in math and 38 percent in literacy. On the girls’ side it was 18 percent proficient or better in math and 57 percent making the cut in literacy.
Corrections: In Saturday’s story on benchmark scores from the third through the sixth grade, three sets of scores from Arnold Drive Elementary were miscalculated. The third-grade literacy score was reported at 42 percent proficient or advanced, but actually was 68 percent. The fourth-grade math score was reported as 87 percent proficient or advanced, but actually it was 97 percent, the top fourth-grade score in math in PCSSD. Fourth-grade literacy was reported at 79 percent proficient or advanced, but was actually 69 percent.
TOP STORY >>Hillman, Harmon in runoff
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
The five-candidate race for Sherwood mayor is down to two—the interim mayor and the city clerk. City Clerk Virginia Hillman bested interim Mayor Bill Harmon by 10 votes on Tuesday, but neither was able to get 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff.
The runoff election will be July 31, and early voting will start Monday at the Pulaski County Courthouse, according to election commission officials.
With all 10 precincts reporting, Hillman collected 1,252 votes, or 32.4 percent, followed by Harmon with 1,242 votes, or 32.2 percent, and Richard Devine with 926 votes or 24 percent.
Doris Anderson had 403 votes, or 10.4 percent, and Victor Sierra had 37 votes, or 1 percent.
Harmon, 80, said he felt he ran a strong campaign. “We figured we’d be in a runoff, and we figured it would be with Virginia, but thought we’d be on top going in. We now have three hard weeks of work to get our message out,” Harmon said
Hillman, 43, was pleased with the results and said the next three weeks will be very busy. “We are on our way and think we’ll be successful,” she said.
Harmon served 10 years as a city alderman, then 14 years as mayor, opting to retire rather than run again in 2006.
Alderman Dan Stedman won the mayor’s spot, but resigned in April, citing health issues. Harmon was appointed the interim mayor a week later. Hillman was first appointed to city clerk in 2001. Hillman was re-elected to that position in 2002 and 2006.
Devine, 54, a realty specialist and negotiator for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer, said he was disappointed and elated all in the same light with the results of his first run for public office. “It was a positive experience and I met a lot of good people,” Devine said.
Anderson, 52, an applications and systems manager with the Arkansas Department of Labor, also felt good about her campaign. “I’ll continue to be the same outspoken person I have always been, plus now I have more than 400 new friends in the city,” Anderson said. Sierra, 57, retired from the Air Force and Union Pacific, called the race a learning experience. “I got a chance to talk to a lot of people, I plan to stay involved and may
Leader staff writer
The five-candidate race for Sherwood mayor is down to two—the interim mayor and the city clerk. City Clerk Virginia Hillman bested interim Mayor Bill Harmon by 10 votes on Tuesday, but neither was able to get 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff.
The runoff election will be July 31, and early voting will start Monday at the Pulaski County Courthouse, according to election commission officials.
With all 10 precincts reporting, Hillman collected 1,252 votes, or 32.4 percent, followed by Harmon with 1,242 votes, or 32.2 percent, and Richard Devine with 926 votes or 24 percent.
Doris Anderson had 403 votes, or 10.4 percent, and Victor Sierra had 37 votes, or 1 percent.
Harmon, 80, said he felt he ran a strong campaign. “We figured we’d be in a runoff, and we figured it would be with Virginia, but thought we’d be on top going in. We now have three hard weeks of work to get our message out,” Harmon said
Hillman, 43, was pleased with the results and said the next three weeks will be very busy. “We are on our way and think we’ll be successful,” she said.
Harmon served 10 years as a city alderman, then 14 years as mayor, opting to retire rather than run again in 2006.
Alderman Dan Stedman won the mayor’s spot, but resigned in April, citing health issues. Harmon was appointed the interim mayor a week later. Hillman was first appointed to city clerk in 2001. Hillman was re-elected to that position in 2002 and 2006.
Devine, 54, a realty specialist and negotiator for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer, said he was disappointed and elated all in the same light with the results of his first run for public office. “It was a positive experience and I met a lot of good people,” Devine said.
Anderson, 52, an applications and systems manager with the Arkansas Department of Labor, also felt good about her campaign. “I’ll continue to be the same outspoken person I have always been, plus now I have more than 400 new friends in the city,” Anderson said. Sierra, 57, retired from the Air Force and Union Pacific, called the race a learning experience. “I got a chance to talk to a lot of people, I plan to stay involved and may
TOP STORY >>Prep work preventing usual floods
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
Heavy rainfall in Cabot this week didn’t cause the usual flooding, and Mayor Eddie Joe Williams gives credit to Jerrel Maxwell, his director of public works, and street department workers who have been busy since January cleaning ditches, opening the ends of culverts and replacing culverts when necessary.
“I just can’t say enough good about the work they are doing,” Williams said Monday. “In January, Jerrel and I rode through these subdivisions and there was flooding everywhere. We had a deluge this morning and it was heartwarming to find not one of those locations in serious trouble.”
Williams said they drove during the Monday rain through the usual trouble spots – Elm Street, Timberwood, West Oaks, Diamond Creek and Nalley Road – and where water should have been threatening homes there was only water running down the ditches.
Despite the $20,000 in increased monthly revenue for the street department that the city has gained from last year’s special census, Williams hasn’t overlaid any streets.
Instead, he has asked Maxwell to have his workers concentrate on problems that cost little more than man hours to correct, like digging out ditches that didn’t drain properly and jacking open culverts that were caved in so the water couldn’t get through.
The new money is going in the bank for next year’s projects, the mayor said.
When Williams took office in January, he laid off the city engineer, the computer-aided draftsman and the engineer who worked as public works director.
Maxwell, whose background is construction, ran public works under former Mayor Joe Allman, and Williams put him back in that position at a salary of about $20,000 per year less than the position had paid for the past four years.
Williams said Tuesday that the experts he laid off in January might have been good at drawing plans, but he needed someone who could get the work done.
“We had a CAD guy,” he said. “Now we’ve got Dan Wilhite shooting the grade of ditches.”
Maxwell said part of the flooding was caused by ditches that had filled in with sediment preventing rainwater from running downhill.
To make them flow again, workers determine the grade with a transit and dig them out where needed, he said. Maxwell said he can’t keep the ditches from filling when it rains, but his workers have been able to make the water run down faster. “We’re doing everything we can to keep people’s houses from being flooded,” he said.
Leader staff writer
Heavy rainfall in Cabot this week didn’t cause the usual flooding, and Mayor Eddie Joe Williams gives credit to Jerrel Maxwell, his director of public works, and street department workers who have been busy since January cleaning ditches, opening the ends of culverts and replacing culverts when necessary.
“I just can’t say enough good about the work they are doing,” Williams said Monday. “In January, Jerrel and I rode through these subdivisions and there was flooding everywhere. We had a deluge this morning and it was heartwarming to find not one of those locations in serious trouble.”
Williams said they drove during the Monday rain through the usual trouble spots – Elm Street, Timberwood, West Oaks, Diamond Creek and Nalley Road – and where water should have been threatening homes there was only water running down the ditches.
Despite the $20,000 in increased monthly revenue for the street department that the city has gained from last year’s special census, Williams hasn’t overlaid any streets.
Instead, he has asked Maxwell to have his workers concentrate on problems that cost little more than man hours to correct, like digging out ditches that didn’t drain properly and jacking open culverts that were caved in so the water couldn’t get through.
The new money is going in the bank for next year’s projects, the mayor said.
When Williams took office in January, he laid off the city engineer, the computer-aided draftsman and the engineer who worked as public works director.
Maxwell, whose background is construction, ran public works under former Mayor Joe Allman, and Williams put him back in that position at a salary of about $20,000 per year less than the position had paid for the past four years.
Williams said Tuesday that the experts he laid off in January might have been good at drawing plans, but he needed someone who could get the work done.
“We had a CAD guy,” he said. “Now we’ve got Dan Wilhite shooting the grade of ditches.”
Maxwell said part of the flooding was caused by ditches that had filled in with sediment preventing rainwater from running downhill.
To make them flow again, workers determine the grade with a transit and dig them out where needed, he said. Maxwell said he can’t keep the ditches from filling when it rains, but his workers have been able to make the water run down faster. “We’re doing everything we can to keep people’s houses from being flooded,” he said.
TOP STORY >>Domestic Violence
By PEG KENYON
Leader staff writer
In the aftermath of a domestic disturbance, Chesrick Martin, 25, of Jacksonville wrecked his ex-girlfriend’s car after a high-speed chase with the Jacksonville Police Department.
When girlfriend Erica Young broke off their relationship, Martin become irate and threatened to steal and wreck Young’s car. He took off in her 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt last Friday, and police soon began a pursuit that ended with a wreck at the intersection of Loop and Military roads when he failed to stop at the stop sign.
The police chase began after Young filed a complaint on the unauthorized use of her vehicle by Martin at the Jacksonville police station. While filing the report, an officer spoke with Martin on Young’s cell phone, telling the officer “come find me, and if you find me it’s going to be a high-speed chase.”
Before he took off in Young’s car, he caused a disturbance at 313B Bellevue Circle, the home of Young’s mother. A witness told police she heard glass breaking and saw a muscular black male slam a trashcan against the front window of the residence. She then heard screaming and yelling and more glass breaking.
Martin was arrested on one felony count of possession of a firearm, one felony count of fleeing, two felony counts of criminal mischief and one misdemeanor count each of the unauthorized use of a vehicle, reckless driving, resisting arrest and driving on a suspended driver’s license.
He was transferred to the Pulaski County Detention Center and later bonded out.
But that incident was just one of many domestic calls the police have dealt with this year. Jacksonville’s first homicide of the year was the result of domestic violence. Marlin Marbley, 24, remains in jail on a $500,000 bond despite his plea of not guilty to a felony count of first-degree murder.
His victim, 24-year-old Cassondra Leigh Speer of Jacksonville, lived with him at Plantation Village Mobile Home Park.
In June, a Lonoke woman was fatally shot with a shotgun blast to the abdomen by her husband. In Sherwood, a pregnant woman was beaten by her boyfriend.
According to Pat Blackstone, program director for the Arkansas Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 16 women have died so far this year from apparent domestic violence.
In 2006, 17 deaths were attributed to domestic violence during the entire year.
“Don’t wait for the yelling, screaming, running out of the house and the gunshots,” Blackstone warns. She recommends reporting disturbances before it is too late to help the victim.
Blackstone says victims of domestic violence must speak out and tell their friends, neighbors, relatives and even school officials if children are involved.
“This sets up a support system for the victim of domestic abuse,” she said. A short safety plan should also be developed when dealing with domestic abuse.
“Avoid being cornered in the kitchen. There are items there that could be used as weapons, and don’t get confined in a small area like a bathroom either,” Blackstone said, adding that if one gets caught up in a domestic abuse situation, the victim should get to a room where there is an exit.
Two 24-hour domestic abuse hotlines are available in the central Arkansas area. Victims may call the Little Rock Women and Children First hotline in Little Rock at (501) 376-3219, or the Lonoke County Safe Haven hotline at (501) 941-4357.
And although it may not always end the violence, Blackstone said a domestic abuse victim can seek an order of protection to prevent the alleged abuser from coming near the victim.
“An order of protection will not stop a bullet,” she said. Law-enforcement agencies are constantly dealing with domestic violence as there is no set time of the year, month or week when the acts occur.
“Domestic disturbances never take a vacation,” Lt. Martin Cass, public information officer for the Jacksonville Police Department, said.
“The first thing we recommend is when things are getting heated up, one party should leave because this allows for a cooling-off period,” he said.
Between May 1 and June 18 there were 201 calls into the Jacksonville dispatch center; of those, a few may not have been a domestic, but possibly a civil situation, Cass said.
The 201 calls in 45 days averages out to only about one-and-a-half domestic disturbances handled by the JPD on each shift, he said. In the unincorporated areas, in Pulaski County north of the Arkansas River, the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office since May 1 has handled about 48 calls involving incidents resulting in charges of battery against someone.
“The vast majority of them were regarding domestic disturbances,” John Rehrauer, public information officer for the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office, said.
Rehrauer also indicated that there has been no increase in domestic disturbances as summer gets underway this year. “There’s been no spike either way,” he said.
He recommended to victims of domestic abuse to make a paper trail by reporting actual incidents.
“The paper trail will then reveal a pattern of abuse,” he said.
But he does not want people calling in and making up incidents of domestic abuse just to establish a pattern.
“Obviously, try to get away and don’t continue the argument if you are involved in a domestic,” Rehrauer said.
Sherwood registered 20 domestic calls during May, according to Lt. Cheryl Williams, public information officer for the Sherwood Police Department.
“I wouldn’t say it’s our biggest problem, but we take domestic calls very seriously because of the high potential for danger,” she said.
Sherwood’s last homicide, which occurred about two years ago, stemmed from an apparent domestic disturbance between a husband and wife.
“The wife shot him in the back as the husband was packing a bag to leave,” Williams recalled. The wife, Carolyn Cooper, was arrested and convicted in 2006.
Williams believes eradicating domestic abuse won’t happen because “we’re all human,” she said. But she does believe family members should discuss domestic violence, and even anger-management classes by counselors could help.
Putting it all in perspective, Blackstone summed it this way:
“One of the first things we tell women is they do not deserve to be abused,” Blackstone said.
Although this advice was directed toward women, other domestic disturbance incident reports do list men as victims as well, but only rarely.
Leader staff writer
In the aftermath of a domestic disturbance, Chesrick Martin, 25, of Jacksonville wrecked his ex-girlfriend’s car after a high-speed chase with the Jacksonville Police Department.
When girlfriend Erica Young broke off their relationship, Martin become irate and threatened to steal and wreck Young’s car. He took off in her 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt last Friday, and police soon began a pursuit that ended with a wreck at the intersection of Loop and Military roads when he failed to stop at the stop sign.
The police chase began after Young filed a complaint on the unauthorized use of her vehicle by Martin at the Jacksonville police station. While filing the report, an officer spoke with Martin on Young’s cell phone, telling the officer “come find me, and if you find me it’s going to be a high-speed chase.”
Before he took off in Young’s car, he caused a disturbance at 313B Bellevue Circle, the home of Young’s mother. A witness told police she heard glass breaking and saw a muscular black male slam a trashcan against the front window of the residence. She then heard screaming and yelling and more glass breaking.
Martin was arrested on one felony count of possession of a firearm, one felony count of fleeing, two felony counts of criminal mischief and one misdemeanor count each of the unauthorized use of a vehicle, reckless driving, resisting arrest and driving on a suspended driver’s license.
He was transferred to the Pulaski County Detention Center and later bonded out.
But that incident was just one of many domestic calls the police have dealt with this year. Jacksonville’s first homicide of the year was the result of domestic violence. Marlin Marbley, 24, remains in jail on a $500,000 bond despite his plea of not guilty to a felony count of first-degree murder.
His victim, 24-year-old Cassondra Leigh Speer of Jacksonville, lived with him at Plantation Village Mobile Home Park.
In June, a Lonoke woman was fatally shot with a shotgun blast to the abdomen by her husband. In Sherwood, a pregnant woman was beaten by her boyfriend.
According to Pat Blackstone, program director for the Arkansas Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 16 women have died so far this year from apparent domestic violence.
In 2006, 17 deaths were attributed to domestic violence during the entire year.
“Don’t wait for the yelling, screaming, running out of the house and the gunshots,” Blackstone warns. She recommends reporting disturbances before it is too late to help the victim.
Blackstone says victims of domestic violence must speak out and tell their friends, neighbors, relatives and even school officials if children are involved.
“This sets up a support system for the victim of domestic abuse,” she said. A short safety plan should also be developed when dealing with domestic abuse.
“Avoid being cornered in the kitchen. There are items there that could be used as weapons, and don’t get confined in a small area like a bathroom either,” Blackstone said, adding that if one gets caught up in a domestic abuse situation, the victim should get to a room where there is an exit.
Two 24-hour domestic abuse hotlines are available in the central Arkansas area. Victims may call the Little Rock Women and Children First hotline in Little Rock at (501) 376-3219, or the Lonoke County Safe Haven hotline at (501) 941-4357.
And although it may not always end the violence, Blackstone said a domestic abuse victim can seek an order of protection to prevent the alleged abuser from coming near the victim.
“An order of protection will not stop a bullet,” she said. Law-enforcement agencies are constantly dealing with domestic violence as there is no set time of the year, month or week when the acts occur.
“Domestic disturbances never take a vacation,” Lt. Martin Cass, public information officer for the Jacksonville Police Department, said.
“The first thing we recommend is when things are getting heated up, one party should leave because this allows for a cooling-off period,” he said.
Between May 1 and June 18 there were 201 calls into the Jacksonville dispatch center; of those, a few may not have been a domestic, but possibly a civil situation, Cass said.
The 201 calls in 45 days averages out to only about one-and-a-half domestic disturbances handled by the JPD on each shift, he said. In the unincorporated areas, in Pulaski County north of the Arkansas River, the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office since May 1 has handled about 48 calls involving incidents resulting in charges of battery against someone.
“The vast majority of them were regarding domestic disturbances,” John Rehrauer, public information officer for the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office, said.
Rehrauer also indicated that there has been no increase in domestic disturbances as summer gets underway this year. “There’s been no spike either way,” he said.
He recommended to victims of domestic abuse to make a paper trail by reporting actual incidents.
“The paper trail will then reveal a pattern of abuse,” he said.
But he does not want people calling in and making up incidents of domestic abuse just to establish a pattern.
“Obviously, try to get away and don’t continue the argument if you are involved in a domestic,” Rehrauer said.
Sherwood registered 20 domestic calls during May, according to Lt. Cheryl Williams, public information officer for the Sherwood Police Department.
“I wouldn’t say it’s our biggest problem, but we take domestic calls very seriously because of the high potential for danger,” she said.
Sherwood’s last homicide, which occurred about two years ago, stemmed from an apparent domestic disturbance between a husband and wife.
“The wife shot him in the back as the husband was packing a bag to leave,” Williams recalled. The wife, Carolyn Cooper, was arrested and convicted in 2006.
Williams believes eradicating domestic abuse won’t happen because “we’re all human,” she said. But she does believe family members should discuss domestic violence, and even anger-management classes by counselors could help.
Putting it all in perspective, Blackstone summed it this way:
“One of the first things we tell women is they do not deserve to be abused,” Blackstone said.
Although this advice was directed toward women, other domestic disturbance incident reports do list men as victims as well, but only rarely.
TOP STORY >>Residents stonewall two plans
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
A slew of Stonewall and Foxwood subdivision residents stalled two proposed Jacksonville developments for at least a month.
The residents were at the Jacksonville Planning Commission meeting Monday night fighting a rezoning request that would allow development of a garden-home subdivision and sketch plats for a single- and multi-family development off Edinburgh Road.
“Don’t go goofing up my neighborhood,” said John Williams, a Jacksonville police officer. “This goes in and a lot of us are moving. I understand it’s about the developer making money, and he has that right, but don’t stick the knife in my back to make your dollar,” Williams said.
Williams and a number of other residents were at the meeting to do battle against plans for the Edinburgh subdivision. The initial plans called for about 10 single-family homes to be built south of Edinburgh Road and at least 30 duplexes to the north. The single-family homes and the duplexes follow the current zoning requirements, but residents still didn’t want the duplexes and were also concerned that all the traffic would feed off Edinburgh.
Because of the Splash Zone, the area already gets a large amount of traffic and children are everywhere, residents told the commissioners.
Commissioners asked Tommy Bond, who was representing the owner of the property, Jim Peacock, to try to address the concerns of the residents and bring the plan back next month.
Commissioner Emma Knight asked Bond if the development could be just single-family homes, even though multi-family units were allowable. Bond said he would discuss the idea with the owner and come back with a more palatable plan.
More than half the crowd was at the city hall meeting to fight plans to rezone about 19.5 acres, known as Foxwood Gardens from R-0 (single-family homes) to R-2 (duplexes). Bond, representing the property owners, quickly amended the request to go to R-1 (single-family homes with smaller lots).
“We have no intentions of building multi-family units in this subdivision. Plans are to build a gated community of garden homes and the homes would range from 1,500 to 2,500-square-feet,” he explained to the riled crowd.
Plans called for about 80 new homes on the acreage.
City administrator Jay Whis-ker, who served six years as the city engineer and still represents the engineering department at planning commission meetings, explained to the crowd and commissioners that the rezoning request only affected the size of the lots. “At R-0 the lots are 75-by-120 feet, at R-1 the lots are 60-by-100 feet. If the rezoning goes through, it’ll add about 10 to 15 additional homes to the development,” he said.
The largest concern of the residents was the only one street would be used to enter and exit the gated subdivision. “That’s a lot of traffic to be tuning in and out that close to a school,” said Charles Evans of 1801 Steeplechase.
The planned exits and entrances to the subdivision are at the dead end of Steeplechase Drive, and where Foxwood turns east and west, close to Pinewood Ele-mentary. According to Bond, only one of the entrances would be used by residents, the other would be for emergency vehicles. Don Hall, of 1513 Foxwood, said. “Kids congregate in that area for school buses and the only sidewalk is on that side. The extra traffic would create a very dangerous situation.”
Dan Broughton, of 1300 Fox-wood Drive, was concerned about the home sizes. “There’s a lot of difference between a 1,500-square- foot home and a 2,500-square-foot home, and that means a lot of difference in the dollar value. We don’t want our property values going down,” he said.
Even though the subdivision design was a separate issue from the rezoning, the commissioners asked Bond to bring the request back next month with a more complete plan to help determine whether the subdivision would be a good fit for the area or not.
Commissioner Chad Young felt the garden-home subdivision was needed in Jacksonville, “but it’s a tight squeeze here.”
Commissioners will tackle both issues at its 7 p.m., Aug. 13 meeting at city hall.
In other planning commission business:
Commissioners approved the rezoning of the Bellevue Subdivision, Phase IV from R-1 (single-family homes) to R-2 (duplexes). They also approved the final plat for the subdivision.
Leader staff writer
A slew of Stonewall and Foxwood subdivision residents stalled two proposed Jacksonville developments for at least a month.
The residents were at the Jacksonville Planning Commission meeting Monday night fighting a rezoning request that would allow development of a garden-home subdivision and sketch plats for a single- and multi-family development off Edinburgh Road.
“Don’t go goofing up my neighborhood,” said John Williams, a Jacksonville police officer. “This goes in and a lot of us are moving. I understand it’s about the developer making money, and he has that right, but don’t stick the knife in my back to make your dollar,” Williams said.
Williams and a number of other residents were at the meeting to do battle against plans for the Edinburgh subdivision. The initial plans called for about 10 single-family homes to be built south of Edinburgh Road and at least 30 duplexes to the north. The single-family homes and the duplexes follow the current zoning requirements, but residents still didn’t want the duplexes and were also concerned that all the traffic would feed off Edinburgh.
Because of the Splash Zone, the area already gets a large amount of traffic and children are everywhere, residents told the commissioners.
Commissioners asked Tommy Bond, who was representing the owner of the property, Jim Peacock, to try to address the concerns of the residents and bring the plan back next month.
Commissioner Emma Knight asked Bond if the development could be just single-family homes, even though multi-family units were allowable. Bond said he would discuss the idea with the owner and come back with a more palatable plan.
More than half the crowd was at the city hall meeting to fight plans to rezone about 19.5 acres, known as Foxwood Gardens from R-0 (single-family homes) to R-2 (duplexes). Bond, representing the property owners, quickly amended the request to go to R-1 (single-family homes with smaller lots).
“We have no intentions of building multi-family units in this subdivision. Plans are to build a gated community of garden homes and the homes would range from 1,500 to 2,500-square-feet,” he explained to the riled crowd.
Plans called for about 80 new homes on the acreage.
City administrator Jay Whis-ker, who served six years as the city engineer and still represents the engineering department at planning commission meetings, explained to the crowd and commissioners that the rezoning request only affected the size of the lots. “At R-0 the lots are 75-by-120 feet, at R-1 the lots are 60-by-100 feet. If the rezoning goes through, it’ll add about 10 to 15 additional homes to the development,” he said.
The largest concern of the residents was the only one street would be used to enter and exit the gated subdivision. “That’s a lot of traffic to be tuning in and out that close to a school,” said Charles Evans of 1801 Steeplechase.
The planned exits and entrances to the subdivision are at the dead end of Steeplechase Drive, and where Foxwood turns east and west, close to Pinewood Ele-mentary. According to Bond, only one of the entrances would be used by residents, the other would be for emergency vehicles. Don Hall, of 1513 Foxwood, said. “Kids congregate in that area for school buses and the only sidewalk is on that side. The extra traffic would create a very dangerous situation.”
Dan Broughton, of 1300 Fox-wood Drive, was concerned about the home sizes. “There’s a lot of difference between a 1,500-square- foot home and a 2,500-square-foot home, and that means a lot of difference in the dollar value. We don’t want our property values going down,” he said.
Even though the subdivision design was a separate issue from the rezoning, the commissioners asked Bond to bring the request back next month with a more complete plan to help determine whether the subdivision would be a good fit for the area or not.
Commissioner Chad Young felt the garden-home subdivision was needed in Jacksonville, “but it’s a tight squeeze here.”
Commissioners will tackle both issues at its 7 p.m., Aug. 13 meeting at city hall.
In other planning commission business:
Commissioners approved the rezoning of the Bellevue Subdivision, Phase IV from R-1 (single-family homes) to R-2 (duplexes). They also approved the final plat for the subdivision.
TOP STORY >>Woman detained in I-40 bus crash
A distraught woman who forced a Greyhound bus to crash into the woods off I-40 in Lonoke County on Monday is being held at the state hospital for a mental evaluation.
After the tests are completed, authorities said, Victoria Combs, 27, will be taken to the Lonoke County Jail, where the allegedly delusional passenger could be charged for forcing the bus off the highway and into marshy woods. The woman, who is from Oklahoma, tried to seize control of the steering wheel from the driver, but no one was killed.
The State Police, Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office and South Bend Volunteer Fire Department crews were at the scene continuing their investigations past midnight Monday.
Lt. Jim Kulesa, of the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office, said, “Deputy David Houser was out there until 11:30 p.m. helping with the scene.
“When Combs is booked at Lonoke, she will receive her first court appearance date,” Kulesa added. The bus was pulled from the woods in two hours by Rich’s Wrecker Service and parked at the towing company’s lot in Lonoke.
George Rich, company owner, said, “Greyhound is making arrangements to move the bus by Wednesday morning. It will go to Kentucky for rebuilding or Dallas for disposing. The steering is damaged, the nose is smashed and the windshield came out.”
Eleven people were taken to hospitals after the crash at about 5:45 p.m., according to state police Cpl. Adrian Ray, including the passenger who tried to take control of the bus.
“It was like we were lifted off the ground, and we were flying through the trees,” passenger Paula Smith, 41, of Indianapolis, said after the crash.
The woman who grabbed for the steering wheel of the westbound bus fled out the door after it came to rest sharply tilted to one side, but other passengers chased her down and held her until police arrived, according to an account from one passenger.
On Tuesday, State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said Combs was being held at the Arkansas State Hospital as doctors test her “mental capacity to distinguish who she is and where she is,” as well as what she remembered from the crash. Sadler said none of the injuries from the crash appeared to be life-threatening. He said Combs would be arrested and taken to the Lonoke County Jail after her release from the hospital.
The accident occurred near the Remington Road intersection with I-40 just east of the Pulaski-Lonoke County line, about 30 miles east-northeast of Little Rock, Sadler said. The bus traveled about 25 yards into the brush and, after the crash, could barely be seen from the highway.
A spokeswoman for Greyhound said 49 people were aboard the bus. The bus began its trip at Richmond, Va., and its eventual destination was Dallas.
Passenger Charlotte Simmons, 29, of Hot Springs said Combs had been acting erratically since she boarded the bus in Nashville, Tenn.
“She got on with a police escort, saying she was afraid someone was going to kill her,” Simmons said.
An employee with the Nashville police who declined to give her name said a check by the department found no dayshift officers who reported putting a woman on the Dallas-bound bus. Officials with the department did not immediately return calls for comment Tuesday.
Sadler said troopers received conflicting statements from both passengers and the driver about whether the woman boarded the bus in Nashville or Memphis, Tenn. Calls to Memphis police were not immediately returned Tuesday.
About 25 minutes before the crash, Combs went to the front of the bus and complained to the driver that other passengers were spraying drugs in her face, and her face was burning, Simmons said. The driver pulled over at a rest stop and went to the back of the bus to investigate the complaint, Simmons said. When the bus got back on the road, Combs returned to the front, sitting on the steps near the door.
“Then Combs got up, grabbed the wheel and we all just went flying,” Simmons said.
State Police received a call from someone on the bus at 5:44 p.m., Sadler said, reporting that a passenger “had become unruly and was attempting to take control of the bus.”
A state trooper was dispatched to find the bus, but before the officer located the vehicle, another call came in at 5:46 p.m. reporting that the bus had crashed.
According to Sadler, a small fire may have broken out immediately after the crash, but was quickly extinguished. The bus came to rest tilted sharply onto its right side, with the door opening into a marshy area, Simmons said. She said most of the passengers climbed out the windows on the other side - though the woman who had caused the wreck used the door, with other passengers following quickly in pursuit.
About 6:30 p.m., police flagged down another Greyhound bus that had some empty seats and it took some of the passengers from the wrecked bus to the North Little Rock terminal. A half-hour later, an Executive Coach bus, chartered by Greyhound, arrived to pick up the remaining passengers.
The driver of the wrecked bus, Wayne Owens of Royse City, Texas, who appeared to have scratches on one of his arms, boarded the chartered bus without speaking to reporters. Greyhound spokeswoman Anna Folmnscee said the bus company would make sure the passengers’ needs were met, including providing hotel rooms if necessary.
On Oct. 3, 2001, a man slashed the driver of a Greyhound bus in Tennessee with a knife, causing a crash that killed seven people, including attacker Damir Igric, a 29-year-old Croatian.
The accident shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks shut down all bus service for several hours and prompted calls to better protect drivers from passengers.
Leader staff writer Jeffrey Smith and the Associated Press contributed to this article.
After the tests are completed, authorities said, Victoria Combs, 27, will be taken to the Lonoke County Jail, where the allegedly delusional passenger could be charged for forcing the bus off the highway and into marshy woods. The woman, who is from Oklahoma, tried to seize control of the steering wheel from the driver, but no one was killed.
The State Police, Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office and South Bend Volunteer Fire Department crews were at the scene continuing their investigations past midnight Monday.
Lt. Jim Kulesa, of the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office, said, “Deputy David Houser was out there until 11:30 p.m. helping with the scene.
“When Combs is booked at Lonoke, she will receive her first court appearance date,” Kulesa added. The bus was pulled from the woods in two hours by Rich’s Wrecker Service and parked at the towing company’s lot in Lonoke.
George Rich, company owner, said, “Greyhound is making arrangements to move the bus by Wednesday morning. It will go to Kentucky for rebuilding or Dallas for disposing. The steering is damaged, the nose is smashed and the windshield came out.”
Eleven people were taken to hospitals after the crash at about 5:45 p.m., according to state police Cpl. Adrian Ray, including the passenger who tried to take control of the bus.
“It was like we were lifted off the ground, and we were flying through the trees,” passenger Paula Smith, 41, of Indianapolis, said after the crash.
The woman who grabbed for the steering wheel of the westbound bus fled out the door after it came to rest sharply tilted to one side, but other passengers chased her down and held her until police arrived, according to an account from one passenger.
On Tuesday, State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said Combs was being held at the Arkansas State Hospital as doctors test her “mental capacity to distinguish who she is and where she is,” as well as what she remembered from the crash. Sadler said none of the injuries from the crash appeared to be life-threatening. He said Combs would be arrested and taken to the Lonoke County Jail after her release from the hospital.
The accident occurred near the Remington Road intersection with I-40 just east of the Pulaski-Lonoke County line, about 30 miles east-northeast of Little Rock, Sadler said. The bus traveled about 25 yards into the brush and, after the crash, could barely be seen from the highway.
A spokeswoman for Greyhound said 49 people were aboard the bus. The bus began its trip at Richmond, Va., and its eventual destination was Dallas.
Passenger Charlotte Simmons, 29, of Hot Springs said Combs had been acting erratically since she boarded the bus in Nashville, Tenn.
“She got on with a police escort, saying she was afraid someone was going to kill her,” Simmons said.
An employee with the Nashville police who declined to give her name said a check by the department found no dayshift officers who reported putting a woman on the Dallas-bound bus. Officials with the department did not immediately return calls for comment Tuesday.
Sadler said troopers received conflicting statements from both passengers and the driver about whether the woman boarded the bus in Nashville or Memphis, Tenn. Calls to Memphis police were not immediately returned Tuesday.
About 25 minutes before the crash, Combs went to the front of the bus and complained to the driver that other passengers were spraying drugs in her face, and her face was burning, Simmons said. The driver pulled over at a rest stop and went to the back of the bus to investigate the complaint, Simmons said. When the bus got back on the road, Combs returned to the front, sitting on the steps near the door.
“Then Combs got up, grabbed the wheel and we all just went flying,” Simmons said.
State Police received a call from someone on the bus at 5:44 p.m., Sadler said, reporting that a passenger “had become unruly and was attempting to take control of the bus.”
A state trooper was dispatched to find the bus, but before the officer located the vehicle, another call came in at 5:46 p.m. reporting that the bus had crashed.
According to Sadler, a small fire may have broken out immediately after the crash, but was quickly extinguished. The bus came to rest tilted sharply onto its right side, with the door opening into a marshy area, Simmons said. She said most of the passengers climbed out the windows on the other side - though the woman who had caused the wreck used the door, with other passengers following quickly in pursuit.
About 6:30 p.m., police flagged down another Greyhound bus that had some empty seats and it took some of the passengers from the wrecked bus to the North Little Rock terminal. A half-hour later, an Executive Coach bus, chartered by Greyhound, arrived to pick up the remaining passengers.
The driver of the wrecked bus, Wayne Owens of Royse City, Texas, who appeared to have scratches on one of his arms, boarded the chartered bus without speaking to reporters. Greyhound spokeswoman Anna Folmnscee said the bus company would make sure the passengers’ needs were met, including providing hotel rooms if necessary.
On Oct. 3, 2001, a man slashed the driver of a Greyhound bus in Tennessee with a knife, causing a crash that killed seven people, including attacker Damir Igric, a 29-year-old Croatian.
The accident shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks shut down all bus service for several hours and prompted calls to better protect drivers from passengers.
Leader staff writer Jeffrey Smith and the Associated Press contributed to this article.
OBITUARIES >> 7-11-07
Nancy Griffin
Nancy Griffin, 59, of Cabot died July 8. She was born June 21, 1948 in Arkansas. She was preceded in death by her advocate and special friend, Edith Witcher.
She is survived by her guardian and special friends Inez and Joe Strayhorn of Beebe, Larry and Wanda Gibson and family, Tommy and Charlotte Cagle and Betty Thurmond, all of Cabot; along with the staff, clients and friends of Dunda’s Place Group Home in Forrest City and Gordon Tubbs Pathfinder in Cabot.
She lived a life as normal as possible, she loved going to church, singing, all kinds of music and Special Olympics. Nancy attended and participated in the Arkansas State Special Olympics at Harding University in Searcy in May 25, where she won a gold medal in her competitive activity. Nancy was very proud of all of her medals. She loved her Special Olympics so much that those who didn’t know her would think her medals were from the Olympics.
Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, July 11 with family receiving friends from 6 to 8 pm. Funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Thursday, July 12 at Old Austin Baptist Church with burial immediately following at Old Austin Cemetery in Ward.
Memorials in memory of Nancy Griffin may be sent to Dunda’s Place Group Home, P.O, Box 1857, Forrest City, Ark., 72335 or to Gordon Tubbs Pathfinder, 412 Cleveland, Cabot, Ark. 72023.
Arrangement will be by Thomas Funeral Service.
Violet Dailey
Violet Oressa Stone Dailey, 81, of Cabot, died July 7. She was born April 10, 1926 in Booneville to the late Earnest Clarence and Arthar Odessa Williams Stone. She was a retired Church of God minister’s wife and a beloved mother.
She is survived by her son, John Leslie Dailey of Pine Bluff; daughter, Sherry Joan Wilkins of Cabot; brothers, Isaac Glenn Stone of Texarkana, Texas, and Earnest Clarence Stone, Jr. of Waynesboro, Tenn.; four grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents; sisters, Eunice Estell Stone and Bernice Lydia Cartwright; son, Lendell Leland Dailey and husband Rev. Leland Leslie Dailey.
The funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday, July 11 at Cabot Funeral Home Chapel with Brother A.T. Davis officiating. Interment will follow at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Cabot. Arrangements are by Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home.
Mary Tarno
Mary Tarno, 80, of Romance died July 10. She was born Aug. 25, 1926, at Alicia to George Alvin and Ora Ethel Gosley Crumpton. She was a dedicated wife, mother and grandmother.
Mary was preceded in death by her husband, Robert “Bud” Tarno; a daughter, Lois Ann Tarno; one great-grandchild, Timothy Eric Tarno, Jr.; her parents; two sisters, Irene Gosha and Ruby Nunnley; two brothers, Alvis Crumpton and Roy Crumpton.
She is survived by her sons, Bobby Glen Tarno and wife Ginger of Ward, Robert Gary Tarno and wife Erica of Romance, and Randy Tarno and wife Nell of Romance; a daughter, Vivian Jo Tarno of Romance; a brother, Boyd Crumpton; two sisters, Lois Wilson and Alene Murphy; 15 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren.
Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 11 at Westbrook Funeral Home in Beebe. Funeral will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, July 12 at Westbrook Funeral Home with burial in Meadowbrook Memorial Gardens in Beebe.
David Branson
David Carl Branson, Sr. 67, of Jacksonville died June 30. He retired as a flight simulator technician for the Air Force after almost 27 years. He continued his career as a civil service employee and as a flight simulator technician for 10 more years.
He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Mary; two sons, David Jr. and wife Terri, and Steven, all of Jacksonville; his brother, James Branson of St. Louis; grandchildren, David Carl III, Megan Nicole, Steven Michael, Jr., and Sarah Michelle Branson; and several nieces and nephews.
Graveside services will be at 11 a.m. Friday, July 13 at Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, July 12 at Huson Funeral Home in Sherwood.
Deborah Kuykendall
Deborah Louise Kuykendall, 53, of Jacksonville passed away July 3.
She was born March 2, 1954 in Little Rock to B. J. Kuykendall and the late Hariet Pierce Kuykendall.
She is survived by her father and her step-mother, Rosemary Schmidt; two daughters, Gillian and Avery Ellis of Oregon; a sister, Chris Anne Danley and her husband Jerry of Jacksonville; friend Patricia Swagerty and a host of uncles, aunts, great uncles and great aunts. Funeral arrangements are by Cabot Funeral Home.
Herbert Griffith
Herbert Arthur Griffith, 67, departed this life July 9 in Hazen. He was preceded in death by his parents and grandparents.
Survivors include his wife, Margie; two sisters; and two grandchildren. Arrangements by Wood Funeral Home of Jacksonville.
Billy Cox
Billy Joe Cox, 66, died July 1.
He was preceded in death by his parents and siblings Darrell and Nola May. He is survived by his wife, Carolee Dunn Cox; children, Billy Joe Cox, Jr. of Minnesota, Michelle Ann Talley and Rebecca Lynn Crothers, both of Kansas; step-daughters, Cynthia Hayes and Julie Sharp both of Benton; grandchildren, Samantha Tally and Henry Joe Tally of Kansas; step-grandchildren, Kaylee Sharp and Garrett Sharp, both of Benton; his siblings, Ron and Don of Missouri, Midge and Peggy of Iowa, and Maxine of Utah, and many nieces and nephews.
Funeral services were July 6 at Boyd Funeral Home Chapel with interment following in Pine Crest Memorial Cemetery in Alexander.
Nancy Griffin, 59, of Cabot died July 8. She was born June 21, 1948 in Arkansas. She was preceded in death by her advocate and special friend, Edith Witcher.
She is survived by her guardian and special friends Inez and Joe Strayhorn of Beebe, Larry and Wanda Gibson and family, Tommy and Charlotte Cagle and Betty Thurmond, all of Cabot; along with the staff, clients and friends of Dunda’s Place Group Home in Forrest City and Gordon Tubbs Pathfinder in Cabot.
She lived a life as normal as possible, she loved going to church, singing, all kinds of music and Special Olympics. Nancy attended and participated in the Arkansas State Special Olympics at Harding University in Searcy in May 25, where she won a gold medal in her competitive activity. Nancy was very proud of all of her medals. She loved her Special Olympics so much that those who didn’t know her would think her medals were from the Olympics.
Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, July 11 with family receiving friends from 6 to 8 pm. Funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Thursday, July 12 at Old Austin Baptist Church with burial immediately following at Old Austin Cemetery in Ward.
Memorials in memory of Nancy Griffin may be sent to Dunda’s Place Group Home, P.O, Box 1857, Forrest City, Ark., 72335 or to Gordon Tubbs Pathfinder, 412 Cleveland, Cabot, Ark. 72023.
Arrangement will be by Thomas Funeral Service.
Violet Dailey
Violet Oressa Stone Dailey, 81, of Cabot, died July 7. She was born April 10, 1926 in Booneville to the late Earnest Clarence and Arthar Odessa Williams Stone. She was a retired Church of God minister’s wife and a beloved mother.
She is survived by her son, John Leslie Dailey of Pine Bluff; daughter, Sherry Joan Wilkins of Cabot; brothers, Isaac Glenn Stone of Texarkana, Texas, and Earnest Clarence Stone, Jr. of Waynesboro, Tenn.; four grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents; sisters, Eunice Estell Stone and Bernice Lydia Cartwright; son, Lendell Leland Dailey and husband Rev. Leland Leslie Dailey.
The funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday, July 11 at Cabot Funeral Home Chapel with Brother A.T. Davis officiating. Interment will follow at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Cabot. Arrangements are by Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home.
Mary Tarno
Mary Tarno, 80, of Romance died July 10. She was born Aug. 25, 1926, at Alicia to George Alvin and Ora Ethel Gosley Crumpton. She was a dedicated wife, mother and grandmother.
Mary was preceded in death by her husband, Robert “Bud” Tarno; a daughter, Lois Ann Tarno; one great-grandchild, Timothy Eric Tarno, Jr.; her parents; two sisters, Irene Gosha and Ruby Nunnley; two brothers, Alvis Crumpton and Roy Crumpton.
She is survived by her sons, Bobby Glen Tarno and wife Ginger of Ward, Robert Gary Tarno and wife Erica of Romance, and Randy Tarno and wife Nell of Romance; a daughter, Vivian Jo Tarno of Romance; a brother, Boyd Crumpton; two sisters, Lois Wilson and Alene Murphy; 15 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren.
Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 11 at Westbrook Funeral Home in Beebe. Funeral will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, July 12 at Westbrook Funeral Home with burial in Meadowbrook Memorial Gardens in Beebe.
David Branson
David Carl Branson, Sr. 67, of Jacksonville died June 30. He retired as a flight simulator technician for the Air Force after almost 27 years. He continued his career as a civil service employee and as a flight simulator technician for 10 more years.
He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Mary; two sons, David Jr. and wife Terri, and Steven, all of Jacksonville; his brother, James Branson of St. Louis; grandchildren, David Carl III, Megan Nicole, Steven Michael, Jr., and Sarah Michelle Branson; and several nieces and nephews.
Graveside services will be at 11 a.m. Friday, July 13 at Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, July 12 at Huson Funeral Home in Sherwood.
Deborah Kuykendall
Deborah Louise Kuykendall, 53, of Jacksonville passed away July 3.
She was born March 2, 1954 in Little Rock to B. J. Kuykendall and the late Hariet Pierce Kuykendall.
She is survived by her father and her step-mother, Rosemary Schmidt; two daughters, Gillian and Avery Ellis of Oregon; a sister, Chris Anne Danley and her husband Jerry of Jacksonville; friend Patricia Swagerty and a host of uncles, aunts, great uncles and great aunts. Funeral arrangements are by Cabot Funeral Home.
Herbert Griffith
Herbert Arthur Griffith, 67, departed this life July 9 in Hazen. He was preceded in death by his parents and grandparents.
Survivors include his wife, Margie; two sisters; and two grandchildren. Arrangements by Wood Funeral Home of Jacksonville.
Billy Cox
Billy Joe Cox, 66, died July 1.
He was preceded in death by his parents and siblings Darrell and Nola May. He is survived by his wife, Carolee Dunn Cox; children, Billy Joe Cox, Jr. of Minnesota, Michelle Ann Talley and Rebecca Lynn Crothers, both of Kansas; step-daughters, Cynthia Hayes and Julie Sharp both of Benton; grandchildren, Samantha Tally and Henry Joe Tally of Kansas; step-grandchildren, Kaylee Sharp and Garrett Sharp, both of Benton; his siblings, Ron and Don of Missouri, Midge and Peggy of Iowa, and Maxine of Utah, and many nieces and nephews.
Funeral services were July 6 at Boyd Funeral Home Chapel with interment following in Pine Crest Memorial Cemetery in Alexander.
Monday, July 09, 2007
SPORTS >>Jacksonville AAA dominates Sheridan
IN SHORT: The older Gwatney Legion team pounded the Yellowjackets Tuesday in a rain-shortened game at Dupree Park.
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Jacksonville’s A and AAA teams split a rain-soaked doubleheader with Sheridan Tuesday at Dupree Park. The A team struggled through lackluster performances in just its second game in 18 days, losing 9-2 after taking the early lead in the first inning.
The AAA Chevy boys turned in one of their best-hitting games of the season, beating the Yellowjackets 7-2 in a game that was called due to increasingly heavy rain in the bottom of the fourth inning, which was just enough of play to count as an official game.
Jacksonville got its offense rolling in the second inning, but it was a big third frame that did in the visitors.
In the second, Seth Tomboli singled to centerfield and scored two batters later when Sheridan mis-communicated and failed to field a high fly ball to left-centerfield off the bat of Daniel Henard.
Gwatney got six runs in the third on just two base hits, including four runs before getting a hit. Blake Mattison started things off by being the first of three Jacksonville players to get hit by a pitch in the frame. Jason Regnas reached on an error at third base that he helped along. The throw from third to first was up the first base line and forced the Sheridan first baseman to stretch up the line to make the catch. Regnas barreled over the intruding fielder and the ball sailed into the fence beside the visitors’ dugout on a one-hop.
Cameron Hood popped up to second base fro the first out, but the rally was still far from over. Zach Thomas was then hit to load the bases and Brian Thurman reached on a fielder’s choice that scored Mattison. Tomboli then walked to load the bases again, and Eric Berry took one for the team to drive in the second run of the frame.
Thurman also tried to score all the way from second on Berry’s sacrifice, but was called out at home plate. The throw beat Thurman to the plate, but the tag was off target as Thurman’s hook-slide avoided the tag. Nevertheless, Jacksonville added three more runs in the frame to claim complete control of the contest.
Henard stepped up after Thurman’s out and doubled to centerfield to drive in two runs. Adam Ussery then singled to center to finish the scoring in the frame. Ussery was picked off at second base to end the inning.
The intensity of the rain picked up at the start of the fourth inning, but after a long discussion, the decision was made to continue play. Jacksonville pitcher Casey Winstead did his job in the frame, sitting Sheridan down in order quickly to make it official.
Gwatney appeared on the brink of another rally when the plate umpire called the game. Mattison led off the bottom of the fourth with a triple and Regnas walked just before the game ended with no outs.
Winstead finished the four innings with only three hits allowed, four walks and three strikeouts.
Jacksonville picked up six base hits with Henard and Mattison hitting for extra bases.
The win lifts the Gwatney AAA team to 6-14 on the season.
The A squad saved its pitching for the currently ongoing zone tournament in Maumelle, but also played poorly in its loss. The Gwatney A team committed four errors that led to six unearned runs. The loss dropped the squad to 10-8-1.
The elder Chevy boys are off this weekend while the A team plays its zone tournament in Maumelle. They will be back on the field next Tuesday with a road game at Little Rock Continental Express. They will travel to Maumelle on Wednesday, and won’t be back home until Monday, July 16 when they host Bryant.
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Jacksonville’s A and AAA teams split a rain-soaked doubleheader with Sheridan Tuesday at Dupree Park. The A team struggled through lackluster performances in just its second game in 18 days, losing 9-2 after taking the early lead in the first inning.
The AAA Chevy boys turned in one of their best-hitting games of the season, beating the Yellowjackets 7-2 in a game that was called due to increasingly heavy rain in the bottom of the fourth inning, which was just enough of play to count as an official game.
Jacksonville got its offense rolling in the second inning, but it was a big third frame that did in the visitors.
In the second, Seth Tomboli singled to centerfield and scored two batters later when Sheridan mis-communicated and failed to field a high fly ball to left-centerfield off the bat of Daniel Henard.
Gwatney got six runs in the third on just two base hits, including four runs before getting a hit. Blake Mattison started things off by being the first of three Jacksonville players to get hit by a pitch in the frame. Jason Regnas reached on an error at third base that he helped along. The throw from third to first was up the first base line and forced the Sheridan first baseman to stretch up the line to make the catch. Regnas barreled over the intruding fielder and the ball sailed into the fence beside the visitors’ dugout on a one-hop.
Cameron Hood popped up to second base fro the first out, but the rally was still far from over. Zach Thomas was then hit to load the bases and Brian Thurman reached on a fielder’s choice that scored Mattison. Tomboli then walked to load the bases again, and Eric Berry took one for the team to drive in the second run of the frame.
Thurman also tried to score all the way from second on Berry’s sacrifice, but was called out at home plate. The throw beat Thurman to the plate, but the tag was off target as Thurman’s hook-slide avoided the tag. Nevertheless, Jacksonville added three more runs in the frame to claim complete control of the contest.
Henard stepped up after Thurman’s out and doubled to centerfield to drive in two runs. Adam Ussery then singled to center to finish the scoring in the frame. Ussery was picked off at second base to end the inning.
The intensity of the rain picked up at the start of the fourth inning, but after a long discussion, the decision was made to continue play. Jacksonville pitcher Casey Winstead did his job in the frame, sitting Sheridan down in order quickly to make it official.
Gwatney appeared on the brink of another rally when the plate umpire called the game. Mattison led off the bottom of the fourth with a triple and Regnas walked just before the game ended with no outs.
Winstead finished the four innings with only three hits allowed, four walks and three strikeouts.
Jacksonville picked up six base hits with Henard and Mattison hitting for extra bases.
The win lifts the Gwatney AAA team to 6-14 on the season.
The A squad saved its pitching for the currently ongoing zone tournament in Maumelle, but also played poorly in its loss. The Gwatney A team committed four errors that led to six unearned runs. The loss dropped the squad to 10-8-1.
The elder Chevy boys are off this weekend while the A team plays its zone tournament in Maumelle. They will be back on the field next Tuesday with a road game at Little Rock Continental Express. They will travel to Maumelle on Wednesday, and won’t be back home until Monday, July 16 when they host Bryant.
SPORTS >>Cabot stays alive with easy victory
IN SHORT: The Post 71 Class A team beat Morrilton to advance to third-round play in the Zone 2 American Legion tournament in Maumelle.
By RAY BENTON AND JASON KING
Leader sports staff
The Cabot Class A American Legion team staved off elimination from the Zone 2 tournament Friday by beating Morrilton 9-1 and knocking the Cogswell Motors team out of the tournament. Cabot’s Post 71 squad, now 9-6-1, lost its opener to North Little Rock 7-1, but stayed alive Friday and advanced to play at 5 p.m. today against the loser between Conway and Greenbrier.
Anthony Rye went the distance on the mound for Cabot. Rye’s performance was more than enough to hold struggling Morrilton to only one run in the top of the second inning.
“We’ve been shorthanded in the tournament so far,” Cabot coach Jay Darr said. “We only had 10 players yesterday, and nine today. But I told them just now that it’s not who doesn’t show up, but who does shows up. We had a lackluster pre-game, and we got on them some. They came out ready to play after that. They responded more than we expected.”
Rye gave up a hit to start out the game, but recovered to retire three of the next four batters to prevent an early Morrilton score.
Cabot leadoff batter Chase Beasley reached on an error, and advanced to third on a single from two-hole hitter C.J. Jacoby to start the second inning. Cabot tricked its way to the opening score, sending Jacoby to second for a steal, then sending Beasley home when Morrilton catcher Terrance Heaggins took the bait with a throw to second base.
Jacoby scored on a single to left center by Ben Wainwright to make it 2-0, and Wainwright then added the final score of the first when a double into deep left from Ken Harness cleared the way.
Morrilton scored in the next frame with an RBI single by Deuce Kottner to make it 3-1.
It would be as close as Morrilton would get to keeping the game close from that point on.
Cabot added a pair of runs in the third inning from Ben Wainwright and Harness. Wainwright was sent in by a Harness double, and Harness scored with a single down the first base line from Michael Cochran.
Morrilton was outplayed from the start, but didn’t start beating themselves until the bottom of the fifth inning. Up to that point, only two errors had been commited by the Morrilton defense. They would double up and add one before the bottom of the fifth was over, and Cabot took advantage by increasing their lead to eight.
Rye led off the fifth for Cabot by reaching on an error at third base, but was tagged out on a fielder’s choice moments later. Harness got the first actual hit of the inning with a fly into center that was good for a single.
Cabot had runners at first and third, but with two outs hanging over its head. Morrilton had a chance to stop any further runs from Cabot, but an error at the plate on a bunt by Shane Caviness scored Harness, and another error led to runs from Caviness and Tyler Sorrells after a Sorrells’ single brought in Cochran.
Cabot saved its best defensive play for last, turning a 1-5-3 double play to end the game in the top of the seventh inning. Cabot finished with nine runs, 10 hits and two errors. Morrilton had one run, seven hits and five errors.
Cabot will take on either Greenbrier or Conway today at 5 p.m. in a must-win game in order to advance to the semifinals.
In Thursday’s loss, Cabot got the early lead with a single run in the top of the first inning. Beasley on got when his infield grounder to second base was poorly thrown to first. Two sacrifice grounders moved Beasley to third. With two outs, Rye singled to right field to drive in the runner. Another single to right put runners on first and second. A third consecutive two-out single, this one to left field by catcher Travis Dorsey, prompted Rye to try to score, but he was thrown out at home.
By RAY BENTON AND JASON KING
Leader sports staff
The Cabot Class A American Legion team staved off elimination from the Zone 2 tournament Friday by beating Morrilton 9-1 and knocking the Cogswell Motors team out of the tournament. Cabot’s Post 71 squad, now 9-6-1, lost its opener to North Little Rock 7-1, but stayed alive Friday and advanced to play at 5 p.m. today against the loser between Conway and Greenbrier.
Anthony Rye went the distance on the mound for Cabot. Rye’s performance was more than enough to hold struggling Morrilton to only one run in the top of the second inning.
“We’ve been shorthanded in the tournament so far,” Cabot coach Jay Darr said. “We only had 10 players yesterday, and nine today. But I told them just now that it’s not who doesn’t show up, but who does shows up. We had a lackluster pre-game, and we got on them some. They came out ready to play after that. They responded more than we expected.”
Rye gave up a hit to start out the game, but recovered to retire three of the next four batters to prevent an early Morrilton score.
Cabot leadoff batter Chase Beasley reached on an error, and advanced to third on a single from two-hole hitter C.J. Jacoby to start the second inning. Cabot tricked its way to the opening score, sending Jacoby to second for a steal, then sending Beasley home when Morrilton catcher Terrance Heaggins took the bait with a throw to second base.
Jacoby scored on a single to left center by Ben Wainwright to make it 2-0, and Wainwright then added the final score of the first when a double into deep left from Ken Harness cleared the way.
Morrilton scored in the next frame with an RBI single by Deuce Kottner to make it 3-1.
It would be as close as Morrilton would get to keeping the game close from that point on.
Cabot added a pair of runs in the third inning from Ben Wainwright and Harness. Wainwright was sent in by a Harness double, and Harness scored with a single down the first base line from Michael Cochran.
Morrilton was outplayed from the start, but didn’t start beating themselves until the bottom of the fifth inning. Up to that point, only two errors had been commited by the Morrilton defense. They would double up and add one before the bottom of the fifth was over, and Cabot took advantage by increasing their lead to eight.
Rye led off the fifth for Cabot by reaching on an error at third base, but was tagged out on a fielder’s choice moments later. Harness got the first actual hit of the inning with a fly into center that was good for a single.
Cabot had runners at first and third, but with two outs hanging over its head. Morrilton had a chance to stop any further runs from Cabot, but an error at the plate on a bunt by Shane Caviness scored Harness, and another error led to runs from Caviness and Tyler Sorrells after a Sorrells’ single brought in Cochran.
Cabot saved its best defensive play for last, turning a 1-5-3 double play to end the game in the top of the seventh inning. Cabot finished with nine runs, 10 hits and two errors. Morrilton had one run, seven hits and five errors.
Cabot will take on either Greenbrier or Conway today at 5 p.m. in a must-win game in order to advance to the semifinals.
In Thursday’s loss, Cabot got the early lead with a single run in the top of the first inning. Beasley on got when his infield grounder to second base was poorly thrown to first. Two sacrifice grounders moved Beasley to third. With two outs, Rye singled to right field to drive in the runner. Another single to right put runners on first and second. A third consecutive two-out single, this one to left field by catcher Travis Dorsey, prompted Rye to try to score, but he was thrown out at home.
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