SPORTS>>Donated game helping needy

By todd traub

Leader sports editor

It’s an economic indicator that doesn’t get the same publicity as jobless rates or consumer-confidence indexes.

But at the Cabot Meat Market, where proprietors Cindy and Greg McNerlin help process wild game for the Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry program, it is clear times have been tough.

Cindy McNerlin said donations of deer to the popular program, supported by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, are down this holiday season even as she has seen an “overwhelming” increase in business.

“Donations have not been as much because with the economy, everyone is trying to fill up their freezers,” McNerlin said.

Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry is a non profit, 501C organization that began in 2000. Entering the current deer season, AHFH had provided approximately 1 million meals to those who are in need.

The McNerlins’ business is one of the close to 60 processors in Arkansas participating in the program.

Cabot Meat Market processed 1,600-2,000 pounds of donated deer meat last year, and while this year’s estimate is off that pace so far, McNerlin said she thought donations were beginning to pick up as the modern-gun deer season entered its final weekend.

“We have been starting to see a little more,” she said on a brisk Friday morning as she, Greg and a squad of employees scurried about preparing food for delivery.

AHFH president Ronnie Ritter said that, statewide, donations were steady and should match last year’s 34 tons.

“It’s kind of a mixed bag this year,” Ritter said. “Some processors are up this year and some are down. I think we’re going to be at or above what we did last year. Maybe a little bit more because I added a few processors early in the season.”

Ritter said he wouldn’t know exact numbers until the program received its end of season counts, which depend as much on hunting success as they do the generosity of hunters.

“Hunting, you never know,” Ritter said. “I’ve hunted most all my life and you go out, the weather’s good and you don’t harvest a deer.”

AHFH does not distribute the donated meat but works through close to 110 food pantries, churches and other distribution agencies in the state.

“Whatever we can find in their county,” Ritter said.

Cindy McNerlin, who has participated in the program for five years, said many of this year’s donated meat requests are coming from churches like First Baptist in Cabot.

“I’ve had a lot of them this year,” she said. “A lot of churches. They’re in desperate need.”

Hunters can donate all or part of their harvested deer at the Cabot Meat Market or other participating processors. McNerlin said the meat is processed into one-pound portions for ease of distribution and meal preparation.

In recent years, processors have also been given approval to give away unclaimed meat in whatever form it is prepared. McNerlin estimated between 30-40 people each year fail to pick up their deer steaks, sausage or other goodies, and in the past the food just went to waste.

“That’s just sickening, all this meat is getting thrown away,” McNerlin said.

Ritter said the unclaimed meat donations are restricted to the year of the most recent hunt because of health concerns. A hunter with a freezer full of old meat cannot simply give it to the AHFH to empty out his freezer.

“It’s too much of a risk,” Ritter said.

Ritter said deer hunters have embraced the program for a number of reasons.

“In most parts of the state you can harvest up to five deer,” Ritter said. “And that’s more than they want to eat.”

Plus, Ritter said, many hunters are sportsmen who hunt for pleasure and need to do something with their game. AHFH gives such sportsmen a worthwhile outlet.

The program also benefits from the September-October, urban hunts used to control deer populations. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission issues additional doe tags, and in some areas it is mandatory that the first doe harvested be donated to AHFH.

“We typically get a lot of those deer,” said Ritter, who estimated urban hunts provided 140 deer to the program last year.

The modern-gun deer hunting season ends Sunday, though there are a few specialty hunts left on the calendar. To find a local processor or get information on donating, hunters can visit the AHFH website arkansashunters.org.

SPORTS>>Jacksonville defends home in tournament

By Jason king

Leader sportswriter

This year, the Red Devil Classic basketball tournament will have a full bracket on the boys side. After two years of featuring only Jacksonville and Little Rock Catholic, six teams will take part.

The host Red Devils, fresh off their tournament victory in Conway’s Wampus Cat Invitational last weekend, will face Brinkley in the first round Monday night.

The tournament has been moved up one week. In prior years it has been held the week after Christmas but will be played Monday through Wednesday this year.

Red Devils coach Victor Joyner said he is happy to see a full bracket once again, but his feelings were not hurt in the old system when Jacksonville played Catholic two consecutive days.

“It was wonderful,” Joyner said. “We got to play a quality team twice in a row. It wasn’t a complete vacation, but it felt like one. But that’s why we moved it up earlier, to get more teams, and everybody gets three games.”

This year’s tournament features Jacksonville, Catholic, Little Rock Christian, Little Rock McClellan, North Pulaski and Brinkley.

Joyner said the tough competition in the Wampus Cat Invitational and the upcoming Red Devil Classic will be a benefit for Jacksonville once it starts play in the 6A-East Conference.

“That’s the whole purpose,” Joyner said. “Everyone knows how tough our conference is — it’s tough every single night. Every night, it’s a playoff atmosphere. We can’t play enough quality teams before conference starts up.”

The Red Devil Classic was one of the few holiday tournaments in the area until recent years. But other tournaments began to emerge to sap potential participants in the classic, something that also happened to Joyner when he coached across town at North Pulaski.

“A couple of teams bowed out because a lot of new tournaments popped up,” Joyner said. “Some of the schools that were coming to our tournaments found someplace a little bit closer. That’s kind of what happened when I started putting on tournaments over at North Pulaski.

“No one was doing them at that time, then, all of a sudden, teams were doing tournaments at that same time, and it became a struggle to find teams.”

The Red Devils were 7-0 entering Friday’s non-conference game with North Pulaski. It was to be Jacksonville’s last before opening tournament play Monday.

“They’ve been playing hard and practicing hard since Labor Day,” Joyner said of his players. “They just work hard. We had a bunch of guys come back who had some playing time last year. Not everyone, but we had a big majority of our core back.

“They needed some more experience, and a lot of them got it over the summer playing AAU.”

Joyner credits the team’s even-keeled attitude for much of the early success.

“They are one of the easiest teams to coach I’ve had,” Joyner said. “They’re just quiet guys. Like Raheem Appleby, he’s their leader, and he’s a quiet guy, and the rest are kind of like that too.

“You tell them something once or twice, and they’re going to do it the way you want it done.”

EDITORIAL >>PSC moves on efficiency

We don’t get many chances to compliment the state Public Service Commission, which regulates Arkansas’ investor-owned utilities and cooperatives, but today we give the commissioners a medium-sized salute.

The last time we took notice of them, the commissioners—two of the three, at least—had bollixed the big Hempstead County coal-fired power plant case by giving a combine headed by Southwestern Electric Power Co. (Swepco) a permit to build the big generating plant in the pristine wilderness of Hempstead County without much proof that it was needed, any regard for its environmental consequences or weighing cleaner sources of power. The commissioners let the project get so far along that even the state’s unanimous appellate courts and a federal judge could not stop it.

But last week, the commission ended a 33-year drought and ordered the electric and gas utilities to take steps to improve efficiency and conservation of power and move the state toward cleaner alternative sources of energy. We say drought because the legislature in 1977, when the nation was reeling under the Arab oil embargo, ordered the PSC to direct the utilities toward conservation and renewable energy sources. The PSC never got around to doing it until now.

The commission established energy-efficiency standards that will help the utilities and their customers save energy and thus save money and the environment. Immediately, Entergy and the other electric-power producers will have to take steps to lower their power sales—by one-fourth of one percent in 2011, by half of one percent in 2012 and three-fourths of one percent in 2013. They can do that in many ways—for example, by helping their customers weatherize their homes and businesses and convert to more efficient appliances and equipment—and the state will remove the disincentives for doing that. Utilities will be able to recover the costs of taking those steps and reducing their sales on the front end without having to resort to rate filing. The incentive for power companies in the past was to build new generating plants because the cost would go into the rate base and the company could get a return on the investment through higher rates.

The commissioners issued a sustainable-energy action guide for the future and 10 separate orders to set the state on a course to take advantage of new energy technology, convert the power grid to natural-gas and electric cars and meet tougher conservation standards.

The cynic in us must point out that the efficiency standards—a quarter of a percentage point reduction in kilowatt sales per year—are well below what many other states have done. California acted 35 years ago and has kept its per-capita power usage flat for 30 years, a period of furious economic and population growth (before the great economic collapse of two years ago). But for Arkansas even this is a giant step—doing anything is a giant step. And it is more than any other Southern state is doing.

All of this may sound a little familiar to people in this neighborhood. Wally Nixon of Jacksonville has pushed for conservation and alternative energy solutions for 35 years, as an attorney for the attorney general and the old Public Service Commission, a consultant for Entergy Corp. and lately for the new and (we hope) reinvigorated Public Service Commission. The big industrial power users tried this fall to force Nixon and the Public Service Commission chairman, Paul Suskie, off the case by contending that they had a conflict of interest, given Nixon’s long work and crusade for efficiency. It’s wrong, you see, to have anyone who is knowledgeable and public spirited influencing the commission’s wisdom.

The big industries like Riceland Foods didn’t want to be told they had to conserve energy. Indeed, the commission last week let them opt out of the mandatory conservation goals, but they must all have a plan and prove that they met it.

The nation now is doing little in the face of the climate and energy crisis. With the help of Arkansas’ delegation—all except Rep. Vic Snyder—Congress last year defeated a comprehensive energy act that was supposed to push the country into renewable and cleaner energy and wean it from the foreign oil cartel. But our little commission stepped up to do a small part in our corner of the globe. It deserves our compliments for a change.

TOP STORY > >Delegation visits air base

By GARRICK FELDMAN

Leader executive editor

Arkansas’ newest senator and congressmen toured Little Rock Air Force Base on Monday and affirmed their commitment to help the base carry out its missions.

Sen.-elect John Boozman (R-Ark.), who is now the Third District congressman, and Rick Crawford and Tim Griffin, two Republicans who will represent the First and Second District, respectively, attended a luncheon of the Little Rock Air Force Base Community Council. They also toured the base with Col. Mike Minihan, the commander of the 19th Airlift Wing, and other base officials.

Minihan noted some $60 million in improvements spent recently on the base. Boozman said supporting the base is one of his priorities.

The incoming senator and congressmen are expected to make regular visits to the base, as did their predecessors, including outgoing Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.), who serves on the Armed Services Committee.

In an interview with The Leader, Griffin said one of his priorities in Congress will be to repeal the new health law and balance the budget with several spending cuts such as ending pensions for all incoming members of Congress like himself.

Griffin said he would introduce legislation to eliminate all pensions for future members of Congress. Not only would that save the government money, but it would spur term limits since there would be less of an incentive to stay in Congress for a long time, he said.

Pensions are calculated according to length of service. Ending pensions “helps to address the problem of term limits,” he added.

Griffin, a former interim U.S. attorney, said he supports extending the Bush-era tax cuts for all incomes.

“We must maintain the current tax rates so that families and job creators won’t be burdened with higher taxes, especially in this challenging economic climate,” he said.

He hailed Monday’s ruling by a federal judge invalidating the mandate requiring all Americans to buy health insurance.

“It doesn’t necessarily surprise me,” he said of the ruling. “This is just the first step in addressing problems with the health law. I’ve been very specific about my opposition to the health-care law. I will work to repeal the law.”

The approach to health-care reform should have started with “we must do no harm. We violated that rule,” he insisted.

He said, “Health reform was a big part of my campaign. But this particular law is not what we need. It doesn’t control costs. It creates new entitlements that we cannot afford. They failed to address the biggest problem — costs.”

“We need market-based solutions,” Griffin continued “We need interstate competition. We need tort reform.”

He said it was a mistake to raise health-care costs by increasing government spending and adding more programs.

Griffin said businesses are in limbo since they don’t know what regulations are in the new law.

“I’ve had numerous business folks say to me we’ve set so much aside for health care, and now there will be more,” Griffin said.

In addition to cutting government regulation, he wants to reduce spending, even if it’s only symbolic. “But it’s a start,” he said.

“We must do with less,” he added. “Every cut matters and would demonstrate we’re willing to make sacrifices. We’re in a dire situation.

“Congress has no credibility on spending,” he said. “We don’t have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem. This will be the focus of what I’ll do in Congress.”

Griffin said he is optimistic for now. He believes “we have a window of opportunity.”

TOP STORY > >New budget gets revision in Cabot

By JOAN McCOY

Leader staff writer

Bill Cypert, Cabot’s incoming mayor, is making changes to the proposed $9.7 million 2011 budget that he believes will make the city more appealing to investors and more pleasant for the workers, changes that will cost almost $50,000.

He wants to renovate the foyer in the Cabot Chamber of Commerce office, replace the carpet in the commons room used by the city and the chamber, add seating in the council chambers at the city annex for the press and city attorney and tint the windows at city hall so it’s not so hot during the spring and fall. Those improvements will cost $17,600.

He also wants about $30,000 to pay overtime for firefighters so the fire chief and assistant chief don’t have to fill in when firefighters don’t come to work.

Cypert attended a budget and personnel committee meeting Monday night where council members signed off on the changes.

Mayor Eddie Joe Williams took office four years ago when the general fund was in the red and cut personnel to save on wages so the city now has about $3 million in savings. Williams didn’t stay for the three-hour meeting but when interviewed later, it was clear that he was not pleased with the changes.

“My dad taught me that if you watch the pennies, the dollars will take care of themselves. That’s how I managed my household and put four girls through college without student loans. And that’s my advice to the council now; watch the pennies,” Williams said.

“I know I’ve been called cheap,” the mayor said. “I’m not. I’m a fiscal conservative who makes sure we get a good return on the money we spend.”

Cypert said his planned improvements for the chamber of commerce office, in a building owned by the city, are needed to help economic development in the city. Representatives of businesses considering locating in Cabot come to the chamber of commerce first, he said. So the offices need to be presentable. The improvements are estimated at $8,550.

“We’re a first-class city. We need to look like it,” he said.

That same reason applies to the $3,500 it is expected to cost to replace the folding tables and plastic chairs in the council chambers that are set out before meetings for the city attorney and press.

“It’s a matter of professionalism,” he said.

But the estimated $5,550 for tinting the windows at city hall is for the comfort of the staff. Cypert said incoming Clerk-Treasurer Tammy Yocom brought the problem to his attention. The offices were remodeled about five years ago during former Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh’s administration. Walls were moved but the heating and cooling system was not realigned to fit the new spaces.

Cypert said he asked Jerrel Maxwell, public works director, to look into upgrading the system and Maxwell came back with an estimate of $47,000. By comparison, $5,550 to put tinted plastic on the windows is a bargain, he said.

The $30,000 Cypert wants for overtime for firefighters is mostly about morale, he said.

To keep cost down, Williams cut the overtime and gave Chief Phil Robinson the option of bringing in part-time firefighters from other departments. The mayor said paying for part-time help was less expensive for the city than paying time and a half for overtime.

But instead of filling those part-time slots, Robinson and Assistant Fire Chief Mark Smart filled in themselves when two firefighters were off sick for an extended period and three stayed for several weeks with their newborn babies. Since the two chiefs are paid salaries and not by the hour, they worked free for a total of more than 1,600 hours.

Cypert said that isn’t fair to them, but mostly it was bad for the other firefighters who strongly objected to having to live in the same quarters with their bosses.

“It was causing some morale issues,” Cypert said. “I heard about it during the campaign too.”

In the past three months, the city has added three firefighters whose wages will be paid for two years with a grant. Williams said he is concerned that in addition to the $30,000 in overtime, the city will have to pay an estimated $150,000 in salaries for the new firefighters when the grant is gone.

The budget and personnel committee was agreeable to the $30,000 for overtime just as it approved the remodeling Cypert asked for. But Cypert told the committee that even though he wants the overtime in the budget, that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be used.

Cypert also expressed concern Monday night about the $500 a month that the city pays to Safe Haven, the shelter in Lonoke County that takes in abused women and their children.

Since 2005 the city has had a service agreement with Safe Haven that includes such service from the shelter as transportation, education and operating a hotline.

But the agreement clearly calls the fee the city pays a donation, which Cypert says he believes is illegal.

Alderman Ann Gilliam spoke for continuing funding the shelter saying $500 is a very small fee for someone’s life, a child’s life.

Cypert suggested leaving the agreement as it is until January and reassess at that time. But Alderman Rick Prentice said that since the agreement has not been questioned by the state after five audits, the solution is to simply rewrite the agreement and take out the reference to the fee being a donation.

Neither of the other non-profits had asked for help from the city.

“If they need it, they should come ask,” Prentice said.

TOP STORY > >Defense set to make its case in trial of two men

By STEPHEN STEED

Special to The Leader

Tony Milner, 39, of North Little Rock testified Tuesday in federal court in Little Rock that he suspected, but wasn’t certain, that George Wylie Thompson was a felon when Milner sought to purchase a weapon for Thompson from a North Little Rock alderman, a federally licensed firearms dealer at the time.

Milner is a key witness for prosecutors in their case against Thompson, of Cabot, and Sam Baggett, the North Little Rock alderman. Milner testified Tuesday on all three underlying themes of the overall case against Thompson and Baggett: illegal weapons sales, illegal bookmaking operations, and marriage fraud.

Milner said that in January 2007, he went to Baggett’s barbershop, which doubles as his gun shop, to purchase a Taurus Raging Bee .218-caliber revolver for Thompson. He said he filled out the required paperwork, checking a box falsely stipulating that the weapon was for himself.

He said Thompson was present. “I never gave him (Baggett) money for the gun,” Milner said. He walked out with the gun, had a scope mounted on it, then passed it on to Thompson, he testified.

Milner has since pleaded guilty to bookmaking charges and to purchasing a firearm for a felon.

Asked on the stand by Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Hoey if he knew Thompson was a felon, Milner said, “I didn’t know it at the time, but I thought he probably was.” Milner testified he has known Thompson about 15 years.

On re-direct, Hoey had Milner concede that he’s not a federally licensed firearms dealer – unlike Baggett – and therefore didn’t know the intricacies of the law.

Whether Baggett knowingly sold the weapon to Thompson, a felon, or illegally through a third party like Milner, is the key to prosecutors’ case and to Baggett’s defense.

Thompson faces eight charges, including being a felon in possession of guns and ammunition, possession of unregistered silencers, conducting an illegal gambling operation, and marriage fraud. Baggett faces six charges, including selling guns to a felon and making false statements to federal agents.

Baggett’s attorney, John Wesley Hall of Little Rock, contends that Baggett didn’t know of Thompson’s felony convictions until May 12, 2009, when authorities raided Thompson’s properties in Cabot and on the Pulaski-Lonoke County line.

Agents seized 147 weapons, some 80,000 rounds of ammunition, and five silencers – none of which can be possessed legally by a felon.

The government on Tuesday also showed jurors a receipt, signed by Milner, for the handgun from Baggett’s shop. On the receipt, there was a handwritten note: “I am buying this gun for myself and not for any other person.” Milner said the note is not in his handwriting and that he didn’t recall if the handwritten note was on the receipt at the time he signed it.

Prosecutors contend that Baggett, Thompson, or both, produced the note in an effort to cover up the sale of a firearm to a felon.

Milner also testified he played a part in Thompson’s bookmaking operation — by distributing betting cards among Thompson’s clientele, picking up those bets, and disbursing winnings as needed. Thompson’s attorneys, Jason Files and Blake Hendrix, both of Little Rock, concede he is a bookmaker but say his operation didn’t fall within the federal definition of an illegal bookmaking operation.

Milner also said he and Thompson worked together in arranging a sham marriage between Milner and Quirong “Yo Yo” Wu, a Chinese citizen who was seeking U.S. citizenship in. Wu entered this country on a tourist’s visa in 2007.

Milner and Wu were married at the Lonoke County Courthouse. He said he was to receive a total of $25,000 from the woman, while Thompson was to get $5,000.

Milner said he’s still married to Wu – but hasn’t seen her in two years. A federal agent with the Department of Homeland Security testified that she is a fugitive, whereabouts unknown. Marrying a U.S. citizen is “one of the quickest and easiest” routes for a documented alien to become a citizen, although it still takes years, the agent, Bruce Passborn testified.

Jurors heard a recording of a telephone call between Thompson and Milner in which they discussed at what point Milner and Wu could get divorced and when Wu could have her green card. The call, which was recorded by agents with a court-authorized wiretap, was made even before the marriage took place.

Milner said that in exchange for his testimony, prosecutors didn’t charge him with marriage fraud.

Defense lawyers questioned the credibility of Milner – and several other prosecution witnesses who have entered plea bargains in the case, mostly related to gambling – because of the possibility of leniency. Both teams of defense lawyers had Milner acknowledge that he lied to agents during their first interview with him in July 2009 – lies also acknowledged by prosecutors.

Prosecutors rested their case shortly after Milner’s testimony concluded Tuesday afternoon.

The defense’s case will run at least through today, depending on whether Baggett, Thompson, or both, testify. U.S. District Judge Bill Wilson has said he wants the jury to have the case before the end of the week.

On Monday, Cary Gaines, who formerly served with Baggett on the North Little Rock City Council, testified that Baggett knew Thompson was a convicted felon at the time Baggett allegedly arranged to sell weapons and ammunition to Thompson.

Baggett this week. Gaines’ sentencing date is in April.

Gaines was scheduled to join Thompson on trial next year on charges they conspired to rig contractors’ bids on city projects. He owed Thompson for gambling debts at the time.

Gaines testified that at one time, in about 2007, at Baggett’s barbershop in the Levy neighborhood of North Little Rock, Thompson told Baggett and Gaines a “war story” about his time in prison.

Thompson was convicted in 1989 on federal drug charges, and in state court in 2003, again on drug charges.

Thompson has since been convicted a third time – last fall, in federal court, on drug-trafficking charges.