TOP STORY >> City patriarch T.P. White dies

T.P. White (seated) was honored for his long service with his own street sign at a recent ceremony at Jacksonville City Hall. With him are Mayor Gary Fletcher (left) and Public Works Director Jimmy Oakley.

 By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader executive editor

T.P. White, 94, who moved to Jacksonville after he helped demobilize Camp Robinson at the end of the Second World War, died Thursday.

The only place he could rent a home after the war was in Jacksonville, he told The Leader in 2012, and he stayed there for 70 years, helping to build a small community with the arrival of other veterans and Little Rock Air Force Base a few years later.

The air base will celebrate its 60th anniversary in October. White was one the last remaining city fathers who saw the construction of the air base in Jacksonville, where he was a longtime planning commission chairman and alderman.

He was a veteran of the Second World War and the Korean War.

White was born on Oct. 15, 1920, in Yeagar, Okla. He attended school there and at the University of Oklahoma.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 53 years, Pauline Brooks White, and a grandson, Tyler Cypress.

A retired car dealer, he was on the Jacksonville Planning Commission for 34 years. He helped plan new subdivisions and Hwy. 67/167, which was built in the 1960s.
The city named the access road along Hwy. 67/167 T.P. White Drive.

“Not many people have an access road named after them,” said Rep. Bob Johnson (D-Jacksonville), who praised White’s devotion to his adopted city.



“He cared about the people of Jacksonville,” Johnson said. “He was always about helping the town. He loved this city. We all looked up to him.”

When he first ran for the Pulaski County Quorum Court, Johnson said White told him, “Always serve the citizens of the county. You take care of the people, and they’ll take care of you.”

White opened a Buick dealership in his front yard in the early 1950s, Johnson said. White tried to sell his dad, Dr. Albert Johnson, a Buick, but the doctor said he liked Oldsmobiles better because they were faster.

White challenged Dr. John-son to a race on the flightline at Little Rock Air Force Base, when it was still being built and there was little security fence around the base. Dr. Johnson drove his Oldsmobile and White was in a new Buick.

“They raced three times,” Johnson said, laughing, “and T.P. won every time.” Dr. Johnson bought the Buick.

White had facial surgery three years ago to remove a cancerous tumor. Wearing a bandage on the left side of his face, he still met regularly with a group of other seniors at the

Jacksonville Walmart, where they reminisced about the old days over coffee in the corner McDonald’s near the store’s entrance.

White would talk about growing up in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl and moving to California with his family when the war started. He went to work for Douglas Aircraft. He said his initials didn’t stand for anything, until Douglas insisted he needed a first name and called him Thomas.

A few of the McDonald’s crew shared their thoughts on Friday.

Dana Browning and Harold Olive called White a good friend.

Olive said, “He was really honest, a good man. He was a real nice fella. I don’t know of anybody that had anything bad to say about  him.”

Browning and Olive agreed that was for a car dealer who had stayed in that trade for so long to come out of it with a good reputation.

Browning said, “He was a fair, honest guy” and Olive added, “A very trusted man...Never bothered nobody.”

Browning recalled White saying he was in the first 5,000 Reserve soldiers deployed to South Korea at the start of the Korean War. “What he used to tell me was that they got shipped to Korea in the middle of the winter and they didn’t have any winter uniforms for ’em. You know, in that day and time, the military had been cut from World War II.

“He said he was never so cold in his life...He said he thought he was going to absolutely freeze to death.” White escaped frost bite and didn’t lose any limbs, unlike many of his fellow servicemen.

Bob Hall, another member of the group, said, “I respected him very highly, and we’ll miss him...He was a real treasure for this community.”

He also joked, “We enjoyed solving the problems of the world, but there’s not much indication of it.”

Sharon Jolly said, “He was a good man. Had plenty of stories to tell. We all enjoyed him...Now we won’t know who to vote for” because White would also tell the group what he thought of the local politicians because he knew them and the old families of Jacksonville.

About 35 seniors belonged to the group when they first started meeting more than 20 years ago in the old Walmart across the highway.

Hall, the oldest, is 96, and the youngest is 78. The group includes veterans of three wars: the Second World War, Korea and Vietnam.

They used to celebrate their birthdays with cakes and candles, but they need so many candles now, they were a fire hazard, so no more cakes or candles.

White was past president of the Jacksonville Round-Up Club, the first booster club, as well as the Lions Club, Sertoma Club and the Employees Federal Credit Union.

In 1947, T.P. joined First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, where served as a deacon, Sunday school superintendent, member of the building committee and trustee.

In 1952, he helped start the Jacksonville City Planning Commission. He served for 34 years, under five different mayors, and was chairman for 21 years. He also served on Metroplan for many years. He helped found the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce and was parade marshal of the annual Christmas parade for 25 years.

He was frustrated that the North Belt Freeway was never completed from the bean fields on Hwy. 67/167 in Jacksonville to I-40 in North Little Rock, although it was on the drawing board decades ago when he served on the planning commission.

White was chosen Sertoman of the Year in 1992 and helped start other Sertoma clubs. This year, Sertoma awarded a scholarship in his honor.

He also helped to found Foxwood Country Club and served as its president. He was a longtime member of Pathfinder and has a Pathfinder Services for the Disabled facility named in his honor in Haskell (Saline County).

There was a memorial service Aug. 29 at First Baptist Church led by Bro. Cliff Hutchins.

Sarah Campbell contributed to this report.

SPORTS >> Lady Bears open with nice victory

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

Sylvan Hills got the volleyball season off to a good start Tuesday with a 3-1 win on the road at Maumelle.

The Lady Bears suffered a couple of lapses in intensity during the game, the first coming at the very beginning when Maumelle jumped out to a quick and sizeable lead.

“The nice thing about it was that we made a nice comeback in that first game and were really able to maintain that momentum into the next one,” said Sylvan Hills coach Harold Treadway. “The bad thing was, we didn’t really come out as focused as we should have.”
After falling behind 10-2 in game one and still trailing 20-15 late in the set, the Lady Bears went on a 10-1 run to take the opener.

Their dominance didn’t stop in game two, as Sylvan Hills scored the first six points en route to an easy 25-13 win. That game may have been too easy, because Treadway felt like his team suffered another lack of focus in game three.

“I thought we’re rolling now,” Treadway said of the game-two momentum. “Then we go out and lose the third game, just with a bunch of mental mistakes. In a game like this, those come from just a lack of focus.”

Treadway was able to get the team’s focus back during the break before game four, and Sylvan Hills avoided a game five on the road.

“Another good thing is I don’t think we ever weren’t playing hard,” Treadway said. “I thought we played hard, we just lost a little bit of focus at certain times and we’re still learning to play together.”

Treadway’s team features several sophomores and six players who transferred from North Pulaski over the summer. That many new people playing together for the first time makes team chemistry a focus during early practices, and is a cause for patience from the head coach.

“As far as attitudes and getting along, everybody is blending together very well,” Treadway said. “But we still haven’t found that leader on the court that’s going to step up and encourage everybody. Right now everybody’s doing a good job of encouraging everybody, but a team needs that one people look to. And not just when things are going good, but sometimes even when they’re not going so good. I think eventually we’re going to come around. Right now it’s just going to take a little time.”

SPORTS >> Flags stop offense in Red Devils’ scrimmage

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

The Jacksonville football team made several good plays in its preseason scrimmage game against Mena on Monday, but also made several mistakes that will have to be corrected in order to have a successful season.

The key statistic of the game was numerous penalties that totaled almost 200 yards against the Red Devils. The format of the scrimmage featured a first half of controlled situations where each team traded drives that started on the other team’s end of the field. Offenses were allowed to take a little longer than the normal 25-second play clock to get a snap off.

The second half of the scrimmage featured about 17-minutes, or about a quarter and a half, of live action football. Though score wasn’t kept, all the scores added together in both halves of the event gave Mena a 24-21 advantage at the end.

Jacksonville got the ball first and things went badly right out of the gate. All three of the first three plays went backwards or for no gain, setting up a fourth and 12 from the Mena 42. Brandon Hickingbotham then connected with receiver Stevie Eskridge over the middle for a 14-yard gain and Jacksonville was on the move.

A strong run by senior Malcolm Crudup set the Red Devils up with first and goal at the 6, and sophomore Danny Smith barreled in from there. Tyler Hooper made the extra point for Jacksonville.

Mena also converted a fourth down on its first drive, though a much shorter one than Jacksonville faced. Quarterback Ryan Ozanich did most of the work for the Bearcats. Whether on a called option read or a designed pass play, Ozanich tucked and ran for most of Mena’s yardage.

The Bearcats, the 2014 Class 4A runners-up, also scored on a short run to end their first drive. The extra point failed for Mena, as did every other one the Bearcats attempted.

That was Mena’s only score of the first half of the competition. Mena managed just one first down on its next two possessions combined, as Jacksonville’s defense enjoyed its strongest segment of the scrimmage.

Jacksonville scored on its second possession, but not its third. The second score was also a short run by Smith.

Jacksonville’s third possession is when the penalties began to mount, and that carried over into the timed portion of the scrimmage.

Jacksonville was on the cusp of another touchdown after having reached the 8-yard line on first down. But three penalties and a sack backed them up almost to midfield before the drive ended.

Jacksonville scored once an added the extra point in three possessions of game-like action. Mena scored on all three drives, but failed every extra point to win the timed portion 18-7.
Jacksonville coach Barry Hickingbotham was not pleased with all the penalties, but was glad to have the practice game in order to identify potential weak spots that have to be addressed.

“It’s a great teaching tool for us,” said Hickingbotham. “That’s the good thing about it. We haven’t had one of these in a while. It gives a chance to go to the film room and point things out and get things corrected before it all starts to count.

“The penalties have to stop. You just can’t win with that many penalties. That was the most disappointing thing.”

There were some tangible things to be pleased with as well, and they weren’t lost on the head Red Devil.

“I thought the biggest positive out of the game was how our running backs ran the  football,” Hickingbotham said. “I think we’re going to have some good depth there without any dropoff no matter who we put back there. I thought

“Defensively, I thought the secondary was the strong point. They weren’t able to do much in the passing game because our coverage was pretty good. And I thought Stevie Eskridge was our most consistent receiver out there. Overall we didn’t do a very good job of catching the ball, but Stevie was a reliable guy for us.”

Jacksonville opens the regular season against last year’s Class 6A runner-up Benton. Kickoff at Jan Crow Stadium is scheduled for 7 p.m.

SPORTS >> Youthful Lady Rabs stumble out of gate

By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter

The first week of volleyball play was a rough one for the Lonoke Lady Jackrabbits, as they went 0-3 in conference action, losing to Arkansas Baptist and Clinton before dropping a 3-0 match at Central Arkansas Christian on Thursday. Scores in Thursday’s match were 25-9, 25-21 and 25-17.

Lonoke played at Arkansas Baptist on Monday and at home against Clinton on Tuesday. The Lady Rabbits did beat Class 3A Jessieville on Wednesday, but it was a benefit game and doesn’t count as a regular season game.

Lady Rabbits coach Laura Park was hoping her team could go into today’s Spikefest Tournament with a win, but the Lady Mustangs, who improved to 2-0 overall and in conference play with Thursday’s win, didn’t let that happen.

“I did not expect to be 0-3,” said Park. “I knew it was going to be rough. Our first two matches we played were really close, but this one, we just started out in a whirlwind it seemed like. For some reason we couldn’t pass a ball tonight.”

The first game of Thursday’s match got out of hand in a hurry, as the Lady Mustangs jumped out to a 21-6 lead. Lonoke finally broke serve and Lady Rabbit sophomore Gracie Mason served consecutive aces before CAC took back serving rights.

CAC freshman Faith Elder then went to the serving line and served the final three points to set the final score of game one. Game two was much more competitive, and was the most competitive game of the three.

The Lady Mustangs jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but Lonoke battled back and took its first lead of the game at 10-9. CAC, though, regained serving rights on the next volley, and maintained the lead for the majority of that game, but didn’t get very much separation on the scoreboard till the end of the game.

Lonoke tied it up at 13-13, 14-14 and 17-17, and even took the lead at 18-17. But the Lady Mustangs retook the lead two points later, and pushed their lead to as much as 24-19.
The Lady Rabbits scored their final two points on the next two volleys, which came on a block and service point by senior Jarrelyn McCall. CAC broke serve the next volley and, in turn, scored its 25th point to end game two in its favor.

Lonoke got off to a solid start in the third game, jumping out to a 9-3 lead, but CAC came roaring back. The Lady Mustangs regained serving rights to make the score 9-4, and sophomore outside hitter Cicley Young served six-straight points before her next serve went too far and out of bounds. That made the score 10-10.

The two teams traded points to a 12-12 tie before CAC began to separate itself on the scoreboard. The Lady Mustangs scored nine-straight points to lead 21-12 before Lonoke broke serve on a corner kill by Kennedy White.

Mason then went to the serving line and served three-straight points, two of which were aces, to bring the Lady Rabbits within 21-16 of CAC’s lead. The Lady Mustangs responded by scoring the next three points before Lady Rabbit senior Ashlyn Allen scored Lonoke’s final point of the night with a corner kill.

The next point went to CAC, which ended the game and the match in the Lady Mustangs’ favor.

CAC’s Lauren Horton led all players with seven kills Thursday, and she and teammate Taylor Kittinger served four aces each. McCall led Lonoke with five kills Thursday. Mason had team-highs with four aces and five assists, and Daisha Edmonson had a team-high four blocks.

Lonoke will look to get its first official win of the season at the Spikefest Tournament in Little Rock today. The Lady Rabbits’ first game will be at 9 a.m. at Episcopal Collegiate School.

Lonoke plays next at Pulaski Robinson on Monday before resuming conference play at home against West Helena on Tuesday. Both varsity games Monday and Tuesday will begin at 6 p.m.

SPORTS >> Beebe overcomes bad start

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

What started out as a nightmare turned into a pretty good performance in the Beebe football team’s benefit scrimmage game Tuesday at Harding Academy. The preseason practice game was a microcosm of the whole 2014 season for the Badgers, disastrous early due mostly to turnovers, before turning things around and dominating later on.

The two teams traded 12-play possessions, where each team gets 12 plays regardless of the outcome of a play or series during that time. Drives started at the 30-yard line, and Beebe took possession first, and it went south right away. Beebe fumbled the snap on the very first play but was able to cover. Fullback Trip Smith picked up nine yards on second down.

He then fumbled on second down, but the Badgers covered it 7 yards downfield for a first down. Beebe fumbled the snap again on the next play and the Wildcats covered it, forcing the Badgers to reset at the 30-yard line.

Smith then broke loose off tackle for a 70-yard touchdown run, and added the two-point conversion.

Starting again from the 30, two plays gained 11 yards for a first down, but the eighth play was the fourth fumble. This time the Wildcats scooped it up and scored. The next play was a mix up that resulted in a busted play and a 1-yard gain by Justin Burlison. Smith got 4 yards on the next play. On third and 7, the 11th play of the possession was another fumble return for a touchdown by the home team.

The final play of the possession was positive for the Badgers, as Smith picked up 14 yards up the middle.

“It looked like we never practiced a day in our life,” said Beebe coach John Shannon about the first possession. “You can’t spot teams 21 points and expect to win a lot of ball games. The second 12 (plays) I thought we looked a whole lot better. We scrimmaged four times, went to a bunch of team camps and I don’t remember one fumble. Then we come out here and fumble what, four times on the first eight plays? We feel like we can be pretty good, but if we turn the ball over like that we won’t beat anybody.”

Smith’s fumble down field was the result of a defender knocking the ball loose. Two fumbles were on the center exchange, and two came on the dive play.

“Some of it, I think, was just Burlison, being his first time to start at quarterback, was a little nervous,” Shannon said. “He wasn’t getting down the line. He was hesitating. They were blasting their tackles, and the halfbacks are taught when the tackles blast, to veer out. Burlison was stopping short and wasn’t getting out there and we were reaching to make those handoffs.

“I think we got the snap issue fixed and he did a lot better job on the second possession, and I thought we looked really good from that point on.

“Plus, you know, I don’t want to make excuses for him, but this is the first time he’s played in a week. He’s been out of practice with bronchitis. So that might’ve been part of it.”

Harding Academy scored on its first possession despite very little momentum. Two big fourth-down plays were the key to the drive. On fourth and 4 on its first set of downs, HA completed a 45-yard pass down the right sideline to the Beebe 21.

The next three plays gained just 1 yard, but the Wildcats connected for a 16-yard strike on fourth down to set up first and goal at the 4. Beebe then jumped off sides twice to move the ball to the 1, where HA scored on the next play.

That was about all the success the Wildcats would enjoy offensively the rest of the night.

Beebe’s second team offense overcame two 5-yard penalties to march down to the HA 24 before losing a fumble on the next-to-last play. The Badgers’ second-team defense dominated. HA converted just one first down on its last play of the possession.

Beebe’s first team offense started out much better on its second possession. Halfback Jo’Vaughn Wyrick scampered 70 yards untouched for a quick score. Two more plays resulted in a first down, but the next two lost 10 yards. On third and 20, Smith went 50 yards up the middle to the HA 20-yard line. Wyrick finished that off on the next play for another score.

After resetting, Wyrick caught a rollout pass for a 20-yard gain and Smith finished the possession with a 6-yard run.

HA’s first offense managed three first downs, but could not score on its second possession. Beebe’s second offense scored on a 45-yard run by Bo Smith.

Beebe opens the regular season in just three days. The Badgers will take on Greenbrier at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at War Memorial Stadium.

SPORTS STORY >> Bears’ offense shines Monday

By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter

Sylvan Hills High School held its benefit jamboree with three other teams Monday night at Bill Blackwood Field in Sherwood, and in the Bears’ game, the hosts eked out a 21-20 win over Class 4A Pulaski Robinson.

The other two teams were Class 7A Little Rock Catholic and Class 5A Greenbrier. Catholic and Greenbrier played each other for a half before Sylvan Hills and Robinson closed the night with a half of play.

For the Bears, Monday was their second exhibition game played in four days, as they held their annual Blue-White scrimmage game on Friday.

“We played better with that group than we did on Friday night in our Blue-White game,” said Sylvan Hills coach Jim Withrow. “We just got to get more consistent. We’ve got to get better fundamentally.”

Defensive play is one area Withrow wasn’t entirely pleased with Monday night. The Bears’ D allowed the Senators’ offense to convert two fourth and long plays that left the coaching staff shaking their heads.

“We gave up some big plays on fourth down,” Withrow said. “Fourth and long we gave up some big plays. We just can’t do that. We kind of showed our youth on those plays. You just can’t do that stuff. You’ve got to do better than that.”

Neither team entered Monday’s exhibition at full strength. Robinson held out two of their top playmakers while Sylvan Hills kept some players out that have been recovering from injuries, including three of their starting offensive linemen, as well as players on defense.

That didn’t take away from the competitiveness of the scrimmage, though, nor did it take away from the offense’s production.

“It was a good scrimmage,” Withrow said, “a lot of athletes, a lot of good plays. We played real well, offensively. We had one series where we didn’t score. We had fourth and 1 and we didn’t make it. We should’ve checked out of it, but we’ll learn from it and hopefully move on.”

The only time the Bears didn’t score was on their last possession. Their first score came on a 3-yard TD run by junior quarterback Jordan Washington.

The next Bears offensive series, Washington connected with Brandon Bracely for a 45-yard touchdown, and Jamar Porter had the final TD of the night for Sylvan Hills on a 1-yard plunge.

The Bears were without three starting offensive linemen, so Withrow said he was pleased with that production.

“Coach (Denny) Tipton does a great job with those linemen, having them ready. I thought the backs ran hard. Jordan threw it well. So it was a pretty good job by everybody.”

That didn’t include the two fourth and long conversions given up by the defense, which is very young up front and in the secondary.

“That was the one thing I was really disappointed at,” Withrow said. “We need to do a better job running routes in our passing game. There are other things we could do better, but you know, I thought the kids competed.

“I thought we played really good in spurts on defense. I thought the kids made some plays here or there. At the end of the night, Hunter Phillips just smoked a guy on the sideline. I mean, took his helmet off. I thought everybody played hard.

“They all realize we’re still competing for positions. It’s good to get something on tape now. We’ll take a look at it, clean some stuff up. We know what game speed’s like. (Robinson) is a potent offensive group. They’re going to score some points. It was a good test for our guys, so I was pleased with it.”

SPORTS STORY >> Jackrabbits host Bison, Hornets in scrimmage

By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter

The Lonoke Jackrabbits played host to Carlisle and Maumelle in a benefit scrimmage Monday night at James B. Abraham Stadium, and even though it was an exhibition, the atmosphere resembled a Friday night regular season game.

The format for the scrimmage was the three teams played each other for a half, with normal time-keeping rules. Carlisle and Maumelle took the field first, and the 5A Hornets dominated from start to finish en route to a 41-0 win over the 2A Bison.

Lonoke played Maumelle in game two, and that matchup was much more competitive. The Jackrabbits jumped out to a 13-0 lead over the Hornets, but Maumelle came roaring back in the second half and held off a late Lonoke surge to narrowly beat the hosts 22-21.

The Jackrabbits then played old rival Carlisle in the third and final game of the evening. Lonoke played its second-string players for the bulk of the game, but still managed to outpoint Carlisle 15-7.

Offensively, Carlisle managed to move the ball against Maumelle early, but turnovers thwarted promising drives. The Bison defense had no answer for the Hornets’ offense, as the 2A school was simply outmatched by the 5A school’s size and playmakers. Lonoke, though, outplayed the Hornets early, on both sides of the ball.

Maumelle’s first series ended with Lonoke’s Justin Meadows scoring the first six points of that game on a 40-yard interception return. Casey Martin kicked the PAT to give Lonoke a 7-0 cushion.

Meadows struck again on the Rabbits’ first offensive possession in the new Flexbone offense. Lonoke was facing third and 16 at its own 31, but Meadows, who has 4.3 speed, took a right toss from quarterback Savonte Rountree and dashed 69 yards down the visitors’ sideline for his second touchdown of the game.

The PAT was no good, giving Lonoke a 13-0 lead. Maumelle’s next possession ended with a stellar interception by Jackrabbit senior corner Deondray Joyner, but Lonoke turned it over as well on its next possession.

The Hornets then answered with a Dai-Kwon Armond touchdown pass to senior standout receiver Demarian Johnson that was good for 30 yards and was perfectly thrown over Johnson’s shoulder. The PAT made it 13-7 Lonoke, and that was the score at the break.

Maumelle’s first possession of the second half was a lengthy one, but ended with a 20-yard TD pass. The PAT gave the Hornets their first lead at 14-13 with 5:16 to play.

Lonoke senior tailback Josh Coleman got the Rabbits’ next drive off to a promising start with a run the netted close to 20 yards. Lonoke’s next two offensive plays weren’t as promising, though, as the Rabbits were suddenly faced with third and 15.

On the next snap, Rountree threw into tight coverage and connected with Martin, who then broke away from the Hornet secondary for a 67-yard TD strike with 4:09 remaining.

Lonoke went for two, and Rountree plowed in the two-point try, which gave the hosts a 21-14 lead. Maumelle answered, though, with a great drive that ended with running back Jacob Acklin scoring from 16 yards out. He then added the two-point try to give the Hornets the 22-21 lead with 2:51 remaining.

The Rabbits put together another good drive on their final possession and managed to get fairly deep into Maumelle territory. But, Rountree was sacked on third down at the Maumelle 21 with 39 seconds remaining.

Facing fourth and 16, Lonoke coach Doug Bost sent out the field goal unit. The 38-yard field goal kicked by Martin went wide left, and Maumelle took a knee to end the highly competitive scrimmage between the two teams.

“That was some good competition,” said Bost, “a good 5A team for us to get ready to go into Star City. We had a couple of balls thrown that went for big plays. We were running in between the tackles with Coleman, and Savonte looked good. We were able to get outside a couple of times. Overall, I’m pleased.”

Bost did point to fumbles and penalties as something the team needs to correct before the actual season starts next Friday.

“We put five balls on the ground,” Bost said. “We didn’t lose any, but we did put five on the ground, and penalties puts us behind the chains. That’s not what you need on this offense.”

In the Lonoke/Carlisle game, the Jackrabbits opened with their second-string offense after Carlisle failed to score on the game’s first possession. That Jackrabbit offense had little trouble moving the ball downfield via the run game and Lonoke soon scored on a 1-yard TD run by quarterback Will Miller. The two-point try was good, giving Lonoke an 8-0 lead.

The Bison offense, also switching to the Flexbone this year, moved the ball on its next drive, but fumbled it over to the Lonoke defense with 2:14 left in the period. At the end of the quarter, Lonoke maintained its 8-0 lead.

Lonoke’s first-teamers came into the game at the start of the final 12 minutes. That offense moved the ball down field with little trouble, and even had two plays that resulted in touchdowns of over 40 yards. However, penalties negated those scores.

The Jackrabbits still scored, though, on that possession, which came on an 11-yard TD pass from Rountree to Martin with 6:18 remaining. The PAT made it 15-0 Lonoke.

Starting at its own 25, Carlisle had one more opportunity to find the end zone. Quarterback Ty Golleher had several grind-it-out runs that led to first downs on the drive, and with 8.7 tics remaining, Golleher took a quarterback keeper outside his left tackle and into the end zone for the Bison’s first score of the night.

The PAT was good, and that set the final score.

“We’ve got to do a lot of work on tackling,” said Carlisle coach Jack Keith. “Offensively, we were able to move the ball, but we put the ball on the ground too many times. If we take care of that and keep moving the ball we’ll be alright. We’ve just got to do a better job of tackling and controlling the ball.”

Even though the scrimmage didn’t go as well for his team as Keith would’ve liked, he did like the way his offense ended the night with the touchdown at the very end of the exhibition, and said his inexperienced group should really benefit in the long term from that level of competition.

“That was a big confidence boost right there,” Keith said. “Lonoke’s a heck of a ball club. They’ve got a lot of athletes. To be able to drive it down and punch it in is big for us.

“I think we got a lot out of it. There won’t be many teams we see that’s as athletic as Maumelle. Seeing somebody that plays at that level and being able to be on the field with them, it gives you a good look and it’s something we can’t re-create in practice.”

SPORTS STORY >> Panthers cruise in benefit

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

The Cabot football coaches took a cautious approach to the Panthers’ complete domination of Lake Hamilton in Monday’s preseason scrimmage at Panther Stadium. In the controlled event where the teams traded 15-play drives regardless of scores or failure to convert first downs, Cabot scored nine touchdowns to zero for the Wolves.

Lake Hamilton’s only score came after a 15-play drive failed to accomplish much, and the coaches agreed to let the Wolves’ special teams unit attempt a field goal, which it made to end its first drive.

After that, Cabot scored its nine touchdowns on five drives. The first team had three possessions and scored six times. The second team had one possession and also scored twice, though the final two touchdowns were a mixture of first and second team offensive players against Lake Hamilton’s first-team defense. The other touchdown was an interception return for a touchdown by defensive lineman Lino Garcia.

Cabot coach Mike Malham was pleased with the outcome, but hesitated to say it’s a sign of things to come.

“Their coach had said he didn’t think they were going to be as strong this year as some of the teams they’ve had,” Malham said. “And I think he was right. Of course our second group was so much better than theirs, I think that’s where we really poured it on them.”

Malham also wasn’t pleased with his team’s two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, both on the first team.

“I was pleased with the effort, but we’ve got to cut out all the stupid things we do,” Malham said.

Garcia’s interception re-turn of a tipped pass was the first touchdown of the game.

Cabot’s offense then scored two touchdowns on its first 15-play possession after holding Lake Hamilton. The first was a 15-yard run by junior fullback Alex Roberts on the drive’s eighth play. After the touchdown, the team reset at its own 25 and got back to the Lake Hamilton 15-yard line with one play left. That’s when junior quarterback Jarrod Barnes hit Dylan Smith in the corner for Cabot’s second score.

Caleb Schulte hit the third of his nine successful extra points to give Cabot the imaginary 21-0 lead.

Cabot’s second unit took the ball next for 15 plays.

Sophomore Cody Skinner ran the second-team offense while last year’s backup quarterback, senior Jess Reed, played halfback. That group picked up 30 yards in six plays before Skinner went 45 yards on the option keep for the fourth touchdown of the scrimmage.

After resetting at the 25, Reed picked up 7 yards on the next play. Halfback Austin Morse then broke loose on the dive play for a 68-yard touchdown run.

Still with six plays left, Cabot’s second team experimented with the passing game for the remainder of the possession, picking up about 30 yards on 3 of 5 attempts with one short run. Sawyer Stalnaker caught all three passes.

The second team defense not only kept Lake Hamilton’s second unit from scoring, it held the Wolves to just two first downs in 15 plays. It also forced two fumbles and covered one.

Lake Hamilton’s first offense tried to go to the air more often on its second possession, but the Cabot defensive line was in the backfield frequently. Defensive end Kolton Eads picked up two sacks. The Wolves countered Cabot’s strong end rush with the draw play, which was its most successful play of the game. While the draw picked up some good yardage, it failed to produce any momentum, and Cabot stuffed Lake Hamilton again.

On Cabot’s second series for the first team, the Panthers took nine plays to go 75 yards with Roberts plunging in from 2-yards out. On the very next play, Morse went 75 yards on one play on a counter handoff for the Panthers’ seventh touchdown of the game.

The next drive of the same possession is when Cabot lost its composure. Offensive lineman Luke Ferguson drew the first unsportsmanlike penalty when he instigated a scuffle after a 12-yard run by Roberts. It resulted in two Lake Hamilton players kicking Ferguson in the helmet while he was down. Other players jumped into the fray, but only Ferguson and one Lake Hamilton player was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. Cabot coaches still benched Ferguson for the remainder of the game.

A few plays later, Barnes picked up the same penalty for shoving a defender after a play ended on a whistle when Barnes was stood up, but not brought down, near the Cabot sideline. He also sat for the rest of the scrimmage, but Skinner looked good running the first team as well.

On the first team’s third series, Skinner led the team on scoring drives of seven and eight plays. Halfback Braxton Burton broke a dive play for 35 yards and junior halfback Williams Niles carried three times for 20 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown run on the seventh play.

Cabot went back to practicing the pass with its final eight plays. After an incompletion, Skinner hit Stalnaker for 28 yards, and then kept for 28 more. Two more option keepers picked up 15 yards with one play remaining. Morse scored this third touchdown on a counter from 4 yards out.

Cabot will play its regular-season opener next Friday at home against archrival Conway.

EDITORIAL >> How Asa can fix it

We must give Gov. Hutchinson credit for searching high and low for a way to bring recalcitrant legislators in his party along for the ride to provide everyone, including the poorest Arkansans, good medical care when they get sick.

But as the governor’s own self-imposed deadline for finding a solution approaches, everything he does to salvage medical insurance for some 260,000 Arkansans at the bottom of the economic ladder seems to make matters worse or else more complicated and self-defeating.

That includes his bungled directive to cancel coverage for tens of thousands of the very poor who do not quickly give the government new up-to-date evidence of their financial straits and a string of half-baked ideas for reducing Medicaid costs and forcing people with very low incomes or their employers to bear more of the insurance costs.

But we must go back to Hutchinson’s first ringing statement about Arkansas’ health-care reform after a year of electioneering during which he gave no clue about what he would do about it. As he took office, he called the benefits from the state’s innovative way of implementing the central feature of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) “facts that we cannot deny, should not deny, and should rejoice in.” Clearly, he wanted to continue the program that his party called “the private option” and felt the state needed badly to do it for budget as well as humanitarian reasons.

Knowing that the big Republican majority in both houses of the legislature now carried enough foes of the so-called “private option” that they could kill it, he asked them to continue it for just one year. Meantime, he, health-care experts and the legislators would come up with ways to improve or replace it. What he meant, obviously, was make enough changes in the program that it could be called a Republican program, not really Obamacare, which remains immensely unpopular for its namesake if nothing else.

The biggest feature of Obamacare for Arkansas was the expansion of Medicaid to cover adults whose family incomes were so low that they could pay no part of insurance premiums—a number estimated at near 300,000.

A few Republican leaders in the 2013 legislature suggested that Arkansas exercise the option to do that, but rather than place all those people in the traditional Medicaid program, where the government pays hospitals and clinics directly for treating poor or disabled people, they proposed that the poor buy private insurance policies like most other people and government pay their premiums. Only the very sick would be covered by traditional Medicaid. Gov. Mike Beebe and the Obama administration bought the private option, and the legislature enacted it.

By January 2015, when Hutchinson took office, the program’s success was manifest: 260,00 Arkansans were covered for the first time, desperate community hospitals and the big medical institutions found themselves no longer in trouble, health-care jobs increased, disability rolls declined, the state uninsured rate fell from 22 percent (one of the nation’ highest) to 9 percent (one of the nation’s lowest), and the state treasury found itself in such clover from hundreds of millions of new federal dollars and insurance taxes that the legislature cut nearly everyone’s taxes. But the program’s future was suddenly bleaker because a number of Republicans who ran against Obama and the private option were elected to the legislature.

Playing to that crowd (who, really, could fault the strategy?), Hutchinson instructed the Department of Human Services to send form letters to everyone on the Medicaid rolls who didn’t have up-to-date income data in the files or whose income on current government data seemed to have changed a little. If they didn’t reply with solid evidence in 10 days their insurance was canceled. Hutchinson said he expected 50,000 people to be cut off, which seemed likely to mollify the foes of Medicaid at least a little.

But the agency was in such turmoil that it couldn’t process those who did get the mail and respond quickly and thousands who plainly qualified for Medicaid lost their insurance. What the governor and the agency did went far beyond what the Affordable Care Act and older Medicaid rules anticipated or allowed to assure the integrity of the program.

It was an unfortunate blunder and there doubtless will be a lawsuit that will require the state to correct it. The greater danger lies in what Hutchinson proposes to do to make the big Medicaid program palatable to enough of his party’s extremists to continue it at a special session this fall or winter or the fiscal session in January.

The high-powered corporate consultants that they hired for a million dollars to tell the state what’s wrong with the private option produced a report last week that did the opposite. Rather than placing an intolerable burden on the state’s taxpayers in 2017 and beyond when the state must start sharing Medicaid costs, the program actually will make the treasury even more flush than it has been because the federal aid and tax receipts from the Medicaid expansion will far outweigh the state’s costs. But the foes of the private option aren’t likely to be mollified.

So Hutchinson tossed out a few ideas for changing the PO that he was thinking about. Among them: Deny medical benefits to people who are out of work, force very low-income workers to get on their employer’s insurance plan if there is one and have the government pay some of the premium for them, make people who earn slightly more than poverty wages to pay premiums, make people apply for jobs or work training to qualify for medical assistance, eliminate payments to transport poor people to the hospital or doctor, force people into unpopular managed-care plans, lower Medicaid reimbursement rates (already the lowest) to doctors and hospitals, or just shift people off the private option to straight Medicaid as Obamacare originally expected.

Some of those ideas aren’t workable because they violate the law, like denying medical access to people who are out of work. The rest do little to make the program more efficient or else just add to Medicaid’s bureaucratic complexity. The governor has fresh reasons not to do that. We hope he’s inspired by better ideas. Too much depends upon it. — Ernie Dumas

TOP STORY >> Shelter’s needs voiced

By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer

Nicole Begley, executive director of the Lonoke County Safe Haven shelter for domestic violence victims, introduced herself to the Austin City Council on Monday and spoke about the nonprofit’s needs. The shelter’s location is undisclosed to protect its residents.

Begley, hired in January to manage the shelter, said the nonprofit “has been doing a lot of work on getting out in the community” and increasing awareness.

She also announced that she would host the next training for shelter volunteers at 6 p.m. Sunday at Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Cabot. The director said she would also be willing to host training at a church in Austin if asked.

Begley explained that she is running the shelter with a staff of four. That is why recruiting volunteers is its focus. The nonprofit is also seeking additional funding to hire more staff.

Safe Haven has launched a 1001 Good Samaritan Campaign. Its goal is to convince at least 1,001 people to donate $10 a month.

The shelter needs people to work one-on-one with the women, to teach them life skills, the director continued. Volunteers are also needed to transport them because many come without vehicles.

The women are required to attend appointments to receive benefits like SNAP (food stamps), Begley explained.

She gave an overview of the shelter, too. Begley said it can house 16 women or 18 if some of the residents are their kids. Two beds are empty, and the shelter has been that full since the middle of July, she noted.

Alderman Matt Sheets asked how the shelter is funded. Begley said the nonprofit receives federal grants, donations from area churches and financial support from the city of Austin and other towns.

Sheets also asked if the shelter offered volunteer work that was not one-on-one with the residents. He sponsors the Key Club and said youth involved in it are always looking for opportunities to be of service.

Begley said the youth could sort donated items and help re-open Safe Haven’s Cabot thrift store by staffing it. The store has been closed since last fall.

Begley added that there are some issues with the building, like black mold in the bathroom, that county officials might be able to help her with. She told the council to use, if they have any, their connections with the county to help.

Begley also said the nonprofit would like to open another shelter in the southeastern part of the county but that building another facility was a five-year goal.

On a related note, Police Chief Jim Kulesa told the council during his report that domestic violence victim Laura Webb of Cabot, who helped push for the new law called Laura’s Card, had already spoken to him about having a speaker come to the schools for domestic violence awareness month.

Kulesa said his officers were in training Monday night for Laura’s Card, a new law requiring police to notify victims of their rights, which had to be requested by victims before.

Law enforcement will also be required to conduct lethality assessments showing victims of domestic violence how at risk they are of being murdered by their abusers.

In other business:

Mayor Bernie Chamber-lain reported that the city’s $200 check to cover a processing fee for conducting a special census had been lost. A new check has been received, and she will have a cost estimate for performing the census to present to the council next month.

The city’s annual budget could see a $50,000 boost in turnback revenue — $250,000 over the next five years — after a special census is held, the mayor said previously.

General Improvement Funds provided by Sen. Eddie Joe Williams (R-Cabot) are expected to cover the cost of conducting the census, which is estimated at $40,000.

Chamberlain said Monday that Austin could choose to be a first-class city, which would require it to provide more services, if the population reaches 2,500. But it doesn’t have to be a first-class city until there are 3,500 residents.

TOP STORY >> Comcast told to pay more

By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer

Who’s trying to skin the city? That’s what Sherwood Mayor Virginia Young wants to know.

Is it Comcast or the auditors Sherwood hired to look into the amount Comcast owes the city?

The city paid the auditing firm $8,000 to review franchise fees that Comcast might owe the city. Auditors said the firm owed the city $71,000.

But Mike Wilson, president of Comcast in Arkansas, showed Alderman Charlie Harmon where the company had a “favored nation” clause in its contract and couldn’t be charged a higher fee than anyone else. According to Wilson, the company is willing to pay the city $34,200 under the condition that the city signs a new 10-year agreement with the firm and audits all other companies in the same manner that it audited Comcast.

The mayor was perturbed with Comcast’s proposal, presented at the council meeting Monday night.

“We don’t negotiate with other firms that owe us money. Did we get taken by the auditors? Does Comcast owe us $71,000 or not?” she asked.

Harmon said chances were that the auditors didn’t know about the clause in the contract. She felt they should have and did not want to accept the firm’s proposal. “First, it’s none of their business whether we audit another company or not,” Harmon said.

The council agreed and voted, with Alderman Kevin Lilly abstaining, to send the company a counter proposal accepting the $34,200 and agreeing to work out a new contract, but with no further compromises or concessions. City Attorney Stephen Cobb will take the offer to Comcast and report back to the council.

In other council business:

The city attorney, seeing that the council chambers was packed with residents announced that the ordinance restricting recreational vehicles had been pulled for the time being and that a rezoning issue for a portion of Kiehl Avenue was also not on the agenda.

After that announcement, about 25 percent of the audience left.

Aldermen approved the sale of city property on Trammel Road to the Brushy Island Hunting Club, which wants the property for better access to the 40 acres they own behind it. No hunting will be done on the purchase property, as most of it is inside city limits.

The club originally offered $18,500, the price the city paid for the property about a year ago when it was planning to use it for a police gun range before an outcry that caused them to halt those plans. The mayor asked the club to pick up closing costs from this sale and from when the city bought the property, about $600 total, so there would be no money lost.

But Alderman Ken Keplinger reminded the council that the city had done about $3,000 worth of improvements, including fill dirt, before stopping the range project. The club offered to raise its purchase price another $3,000 to cover the improvements.

The council approved a rezone request that would allow indoor boarding of pets in C-3 and C-4 commercial zones. It would also allow outdoor kennels in those areas on a case-by-case basis. The change came about when Groomingtails wanted to move its business to a larger location.

“We discovered that our ordinance only allow veterinarians to board pets,” explained City Engineer Ellen Norvell. “I’m sure it was not intentional to disallow grooming services, so that’s why the zoning change was requested.”

The council unanimously approved the zoning request.

Aldermen approved a resolution to purchase a camera and related equipment to record Sherwood meetings for replay or streaming on the city’s website. No date was set to start filming meetings.

TOP STORY >> Ex-Cabot official in key post

Ryan Benefield, a former Cabot city engineer, will be the next deputy director of the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission. He is replacing former deputy director Jonathan Sweeney, who served the agency for 39 years.

Executive director Randy Young made the announcement. The commission has a staff of about 90 employees who are responsible for efficient water resource development, conservation and management.

Benefield has worked at the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality for 11 years and has been an ADEQ deputy director for the past six and a half years.

Before joining ADEQ, Benefield was a project manager for Terracon, a consulting engineering firm. The professional registered engineer will join ANRC on Aug. 31.

TOP STORY >> Area representatives seeking re-election

Four area legislators have announced they’ll seek another term in the state House of Representatives.

Rep. Bob Johnson (D-Jacksonville) is running for a second term in Dist. 42.

Rep. Joe Farrer (R-Austin) is seeking re-election in House Dist. 44, which includes parts of Lonoke, Faulkner and White counties.

Rep. Tim Lemons (R-Cabot) is seeking re-election in House Dist. 43, which includes most of Cabot and the central part of Lonoke County.

Rep. Camille Bennett (D-Lonoke) is seeking a second term in Dist. 14.

Johnson, a certified public accountant, says he wants to continue the work he started in the legislature last year. Topping his list of priorities are state income-tax exemptions for military retirees and the right to carry concealed weapons without a permit for all active military.

He said anyone in the military is qualified to carry a weapon and should not have to apply for a state concealed permit. He said all military members have earned the right to carry a concealed weapon after the shootings at military installations in Little Rock and Chattanooga.

Johnson, who served five terms as justice of the peace on the Pulaski County Quorum Court, said he’s also organizing a caucus of central Arkansas legislators to promote jobs, roads and schools in the area.

The caucus includes nine representatives and three senators. They want to promote economic development and improve Hwy. 67/167, which could become a northern corridor of I-130, Johnson said.

“We need to bring jobs here,” Johnson continued. “We can have more impact as a group.”

Johnson serves on several committees, including Legislative and Military Affairs, Joint Committee on Public Retirement and Social Security Programs, Public Transportation and Aging and Children and Youth.

In the 2015 legislative session, Johnson supported an increase in public school teacher pay.

“We started some good things in 2015 and want to continue the work in 2017,” he said.

Farrer said he focused his efforts in the 2014 legislative session on lowering taxes, bringing jobs to Arkansas and being an advocate for first responders, specifically fire and police.

He said the legislature passed the largest income tax cut in Arkansas history, but there is still more work that can be done.

Farrer, interim chief executive officer of North Metro Medical Center, serves on a committee that is evaluating Medicaid expansion under the so-called private option. The legislature will consider abolishing the program, which provides health insurance to about 200,000 working-poor Arkansans.

“I will continue to work tirelessly as an advocate for common sense policy in Little Rock. The new Republican majority has made it possible to pass legislation that reduces the size and scope of government, decreases the tax burden on hard-working Arkansans, and advocates for our public servants.

“Moving forward, I will continue to represent the values and needs of District 44 in Little Rock,” he said. “As I travel the three counties in my district, I constantly hear the same messages of ‘we need more jobs’ or ‘taxes are just too high.’ As my record shows, these issues matter to me, and I will continue the fight for more jobs and lower taxes.”

Lemons is the owner of Lemons Engineering Consultants in Cabot.

Before his election as state representative in 2014, he served for six years on the Lonoke County Quorum Court.

“My service in the House of Representatives has been the most rewarding experience of my life. My platform will continue to be a Republican for common sense government,” Lemons said.

During his first term in the House, Lemons sponsored and passed legislation that created the state’s first suicide prevention council, increased autism awareness, and revised the county’s appropriation process, which freed up approximately $100,000 for each county without increasing taxes. He also sponsored three pieces of legislation to strengthen the right to possess arms.

Lemons was a co-sponsor on several pieces of legislation that became law, such as Gov. Hutchinson’s middle-class tax cut and the 2015 School Safety Act. He was a strong supporter of the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act.

While at the Capitol, Lemons serves on the Revenue and Tax Committee, where he is the vice chair of income tax for personal and corporate; City, County and Local Affairs Committee; Energy Com-mittee; Boys State Advisory Committee and the Arkansas Legislative Council. He was recently appointed to the Alzheimer’s Advisory Council and is one of only two legislators appointed to the newly created Arkansas Special Education Task Force.

“As an engineer, I take a common-sense approach to solving problems. I’ve done my best to do the same when addressing issues as a legislator,” said Lemons. “This style, along with my business background and community involvement, has allowed me to be a strong voice and solid advocate for our area in the state legislature.”

Lemons has served on the board of directors of CASA, is a past board member on the Arkansas Association of Counties Legislative Committee, a member of the Lonoke County Republican Committee and a member of First Baptist Church.

He has also served on the Metroplan TCC Board, board of directors of thes Cabot and Ward chambers of commerce, as a board member on Cabot Parks and Recreation, chair for Cabot- Arkansas Community of Excellence Board, as a volunteer for Special Olympics, a volunteer for Project Lead the Way at Cabot High School and has held leadership positions on church committees.

Lemons and his wife, Janice, have two children, Erica, a realtor in the Cabot area and co-owner of the Trendy Tulip (along with Janice), and Seth, a broadcast journalism major at UALR working as audio director for KARK and KLRT in Little Rock.

Lemons added, “I appreciate the opportunity to serve the citizens of Cabot and Lonoke County in the state legislature and ask for their continued support in my re-election campaign.”

Bennett defeated Repub-lican Buddy Fisher, a minister, by 88 votes in 2014. She succeeded longtime Rep. Walls McCrary (D-Lonoke).

The district includes Carlisle, Coy, Furlow, Hum-noke, Humphrey, Keo, Lonoke, Scott, Tucker and Wabbaseka in Lonoke, Jefferson and Pulaski counties.

Bennett, a former elected Lonoke city attorney, received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and her law degree from the University of Missouri School of Law in Columbia, Mo.

She has been assigned to the Judiciary and State Agencies and Governmental Affairs committees.

Bennett is a member of the United Methodist Church, the American Heart Association and the Central Arkansas Rescue Efforts for Animals.

She is married to Wayne Otis Bennett Jr. of Lonoke.

EDITORIAL >> JNP district gets warned

Saying the districts aren’t making satisfactory progress in achieving unitary status, U.S. District Judge Price Marshall on Thursday ordered the Pulaski County Special School District, Jacksonville-North Pulaski School District and the Joshua Intervenors to meet monthly to work out specifics of school facilities plans and report back to him in December.

The case assigned to the judge is the desegregation case where PCSSD is the last defendant and the Joshua Intervenors are the plaintiffs.

It’s not about the Jacksonville-North Pulaski detachment, but sometimes you couldn’t tell that sitting in court.

Detachment issues bump up against and sometimes bleed over into desegregation issues and vice-versa, and the judge has his hands full resolving them.

Joshua Intervenors’ attorney John Walker has complained regularly to the judge that his group has been excluded from conversations about issues that affect desegregation and achieving the unitary status necessary to get both districts dismissed from court oversight.

Jacksonville-North Pulaski hasn’t done all it could to include the intervenors in their discussions. They stumbled by hiring as an assistant superintendent a white man over a slightly more qualified black woman. That resulted in PCSSD Superintendent Jerry Guess refusing to offer that job. Marshall on Thursday reconfirmed Guess’ status as the decision maker for both districts.

Joshua has had no part in resolving and creating the school facilities master plan. Walker complains that determining where schools will go and deciding which to improve and which to build are desegregation issues.

But the intervenors come into court not seeming to know or understand master facility plan mechanics that even casual observers of the JNP school board meetings know.

For years, the PCSSD school board agendas — back when there was a board — always included the Joshua Intervenors on the agenda for comments. If anyone actually attended, they spoke less than a handful of times over several years.

Walker has complained that he doesn’t know what’s going on with the JNP facilities master plan. That’s his fault as well as theirs.

Jacksonville has accomplished a lot over the past couple of years, first with Bobby Lester, then with Tony Wood ramrodding the effort to get everything necessary done before taking complete control next July 1 and actually educating students.

The board did it by going as fast and as far as they could, and, while it’s not always pretty and perhaps not always completely transparent, they have moved the district forward on a credible timetable.

It’s sausage-making 101.

But now the judge has ordered JNPSD, PCSSD and the Joshua Intervenors to meet monthly to create a rough draft of a master facilities plan for both districts.

JNP has hired a consultant who may be the leading authority in understanding master facilities plans and qualification for the state’s matching fund partnership program. To us, it makes good sense. To Walker, it’s cronyism.

Judge Marshall has been thoughtful, incisive, good natured and helpful in discharging his duties as regards the desegregation suit and, as necessary, the detachment process.

In ordering the monthly meetings about the master facilities plan between the parties, he suggested that the host of each meeting should provide pie and drinks, implying that they need to stop being argumentative and pull in tandem to accomplish the task.

They are to report back to Marshall with their rough drafts on Dec. 16. The judge means business.

TOP STORY >> Hemingway museum to hold dinner

A dinner and wine tasting benefitting the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center in Piggott (Clay County) will be held at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18 in Jonesboro at Arkansas State University’s Cooper Alumni Center, 2600 Alumni Blvd.

Tickets for the “Taste of Hemingway’s Italy” are $100. Tables of eight are $750. Reservations must be made by Sept. 11 by calling 870-598-3487 or emailing HPMEC director adamlong@AState.edu.

The evening will begin at 6 p.m. with hors d’oeuvres and the dinner and wine tasting follows at 7 p.m. The theme for the evening will be “A Taste of Hemingway’s Italy,” and the courses will be derived from Venice.

The family of Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway, his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, owned a home in Piggott. The writer would vacation at the home, which includes a studio where he wrote part of “Farewell to Arms.”

The home has since been restored and is now a museum under the care of ASU at 1021 W. Cherry St. in Piggott. Tours are on the hour from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Friday and 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday.

The dinner will serve as a kickoff for the museum’s upcoming trip to Italy and Switzerland that will take participants in the footsteps of “A Farewell to Arms.” Details of the trip, which is open to the public, will be revealed at the dinner.

For more information about the trip or the dinner, call 870-598-3487.

TOP STORY >> Louisiana Purchase exhibit in LR

Commissioner of State Lands John Thurston has announced the opening of a new exhibit featuring the survey of the Louisiana Purchase. The exhibit is in the Commissioner of State Lands Office, Room 109 of the State Capitol. Visitors may tour the exhibit from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

“This is the bicentennial of the beginning of the Louisiana Purchase Survey,” Thurston said. “Several other organizations are hosting events later in the year, but my office is presenting a snapshot of a surveyor’s life and what they might have seen as they began their survey, especially in southeast Arkansas, where the initial point was established.”

Following the 1803 purchase from France that more than doubled the size of the United States, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the Lewis and Clark expedition, the Hunter-Dunbar Expedition and other explorations of the new land. It wasn’t until 1815, though, that President James Madison ordered that the land be surveyed to prepare for orderly development and settlement.

In October 1815, Principal Deputy Surveyor William Rector contracted with two other deputy surveyors to begin work. Prospect Robbins and Joseph Brown began their journeys on Oct. 27, 1815. Robbins set off north from the mouth of the Arkansas River, on the fifth north-south line (Fifth Principal Meridian) to be surveyed in the United States. Brown’s course began several miles upriver, at the mouth of the St. Francis River, and ran due west on what was termed the “baseline.”

On Nov. 10, 1815, Robbins reached the baseline and sent a message for Brown, who had already traveled farther west, to return. Together, they marked the intersection of the baseline and the Fifth Principal Meridian. This intersection served as the initial point of the first survey. Lands in Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, North Dakota and parts of Minnesota and South Dakota are measured from that point.

“We all know the basic history of the Louisiana Purchase and the survey,” Thurston said. “But most of us rarely think about the day-to-day life of the surveying teams, the equipment they carried or the tools they used. This exhibit gives a small window into that life.”

The exhibit includes several documents from the Commissioner of State Lands records, as well as physical artifacts surveyors used. Documents include original journals, field notes and maps from the 1815 survey.

Items in the exhibit include an 18th-century flintlock musket, a reproduction flintlock and a surveyor’s compass made by 19th-century silversmith and instrument maker Goldsmith Chandlee. “The compass was actually used in Arkansas in the mid-1800s,” Thurston said.

Other items include camping and cooking supplies, a journal for the surveyor’s field notes and models of animals native to the wilderness that the teams traveled through in the survey’s early days. Those range from voles and squirrels to various species of snakes and an alligator.

The exhibit was developed with cooperation from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center, the Historic Arkansas Museum and historical re-enactors Timothy and Sharlene Richardson.

“We appreciate the assistance from all of these groups,” Thurston said. “The artifacts they have loaned us have built this exhibit into something that will be interesting to all ages.”

TOP STORY >> Judge: New district must obey orders

By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer

“This is not a new day,” U.S. District Judge Price Marshall said Thursday, giving the Jacksonville-North Pulaski School District a slap on the wrist, saying it was still subject to desegregation Plan 2000 and to the desegregation agreement settlement that, among other things, authorized detachment of a Jacksonville-area district.

JNP attorney Scott Richardson told the court that the new detachment agreement — approved by both districts, Education Commissioner Johnny Key and the state Board of Education this month — was intended to replace much of the earlier agreement, giving the Jacksonville board the authority to operate pretty much autonomously.

Not so, Marshall said. He said Pulaski County Special School District Superintendent Jerry Guess remains the final word on all desegregation-related actions contemplated by the new Jacksonville district.

Period.

“If and when collaboration fails, the decision maker is Guess,” he said, subject to review by the court. “He is the chief administrative officer (for JNP) until July of next year. (The two districts are) a single administrative unit until then.”

“There is great enthusiasm for ‘a new day,’” said Marshall, “but there was a day before yesterday and 10 years before that. The world did not begin with the decision for a new district.”

He said Richardson and JNP seemed to “second-guess, nitpick and quibble over” issues resolved in the post-creation agreement.

“The court perceives a slippage by the new district after being created and agreeing to oversight; it was coming back to the well,” Marshall said.

Speaking for the Joshua Intervenors, attorney John Walker said Joshua was not consulted or a party to the new detachment agreement between the two districts, an agreement that will involve desegregation issues such as staffing.

“In my view, PCSSD’s and Joshua’s argument is correct on staffing issues,” Marshall said.

The conflict was brought into sharper focus when, in July, at the recommendation of its new superintendent, Tony Wood, the JNP board hired Jeremy Owoh, who is black, as an assistant superintendent and Bobby E. Lester, who is white, also as an assistant superintendent.

A black woman, Janice Walker, the principal of Warren Dupree Elementary, scored two points higher than Lester in the assessment. The Jacksonville NAACP and Walker called foul.

Because the new district is not totally autonomous, Guess said bypassing Walker could hamper both districts’ efforts to achieve unitary status and refused to authorize it. Lester later withdrew his application for the job, and currently Owoh and JNP chief of staff Phyllis Stewart are “taking up some of the slack,” she said.

Lester is the son of former PCSSD Superintendent Bobby Lester, who served as interim JNP superintendent until Wood took over July 1. Wood was familiar with the younger Lester from the time they worked together for the state Education Department.

Richardson, for the JNP board, said it was its own district now and could make its own decisions — that it was a new day.

Marshall said that, for matters related to desegregation, Guess was still “the final word, captain of the ship.”

He declined to rule on the matter since it involved conflicting laws and was at the moment a moot point.

“This is a very difficult issue that has divided the courts,” Marshall said previously, commenting that he wasn’t sure the issue could be resolved.

As for signing off on the new detachment agreement, Marshall said, “I want to mull (the detachment agreement) further.” Until then, it’s the court’s order that the prior agreement holds.

MEET ON FACILITIES

Saying the districts weren’t making the progress he had hoped in achieving unitary status, Marshall ordered the Pulaski County Special School District, Jacksonville-North Pulaski School District and the Joshua Intervenors to meet monthly to work out specifics of school facilities plans and report back to him at the Dec. 16 status conference.

“I’m not sure we’re making the best use of time in these status conferences. Instead of moving down the road, it’s become an opportunity to fight.”

To help set the tone, he suggested that the host group for each meeting provide “pie and drinks.”

PCSSD’s proposed 5.6-mill property tax increase to fund an ambitious facilities building program failed at the polls May 12, meaning the district had to cut back to what Guess called “Plan B.” That plan focuses on replacing Mills High School and moving Fuller Middle School into the old Mills building.

Marshall said he wanted more details on Plan B, including a timeline.

He also wants more information on the JNP facilities plan. Walker has maintained that building and deciding on sites for new schools, for instance, made the plan a desegregation issue.

Marshall said he wants to know more about where the new district’s new schools are going to be.

Jacksonville-North Pulaski, starting from a plan developed previously by PCSSD and from a tentative facilities plan submitted to the state last February, has hired as a consultant Charles Stein. Stein, who retired as director of the state Transportation and Facilities Department June 30, was in charge of evaluating master facilities plans for participation in the state’s financial matching program.

To be eligible for matching funds for the 2017-19 period, the JNP long-range facilities plan must be submitted by Feb. 1, 2016, and the application for specific projects must be submitted by March 1.

Walker told the court that neither district had included the Joshua Intervenors in facilities discussions or planning.

That will change, assuming the districts follow the judge’s instructions.

Walker also told the court that JNP had already chosen an architect and contractor that were “not minority friendly.”

He said JNP decisions were fraught with favoritism and nepotism.

The JNP board has authorized Wood to advertise a request for qualifications for those positions, to narrow them down to three applicants for each position and to make them available to the board for the purposes of selection.

After the Thursday hearing, Stewart identified the three firms under consideration for each of the two positions.

Of the seven applications for construction manager, Wood chose Adevco with CDI of Little Rock, Baldwin and Shell of Little Rock and Doyne Nabholtz Partnership of Conway.

Of the dozen architectural firms that sent qualifications, Wood chose three Little Rock firms — Lewis Architects and Engineers, Wittenberg Delony and Davidson, Inc., and Witsell Evans Rasco Architects.

SPORTS STORY >> PA to repeat in 5A-Central

By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter

The 5A-Central Conference was a compelling one in 2014, and even so in the offseason. Pulaski Academy once again rolled through the conference undefeated on its way to another state championship.

Beebe started the year 0-4, but finished the regular season by winning five of its last six games to earn the No. 2 seed in the 5A state playoffs, where they advanced to the semifinals.

Before the playoffs started, the Badgers were given a win for their fourth loss of the season against McClellan, who had to forfeit two games because of an ineligible starter. That, and the fact they upset previously unbeaten Sylvan Hills in week nine helped Beebe lock up the two seed from the Central.

Sylvan Hills was expected to give PA a challenge for the top spot, as the Bears opened their season with a perfect 8-0 record, but injuries decimated their chances down the stretch, and as a result, they lost their final three games, including their first round playoff game.

In the offseason, North Pulaski put an end to its football program because participation numbers were incredibly low for a 5A team, and that lowered the conference to seven teams.

As far as what team The Leader expects to claim the conference championship this season, until someone knocks this team off, it’ll keep getting picked to claim the league crown.

1) Pulaski Academy Bruins

There’s a saying that goes ‘to be the best, you got to beat the best.’ Well, that’s the case here, and no one in this conference has ever beaten the Bruins on the gridiron since the 5A-Central Conference was formed three years ago. But PA’s conference winning streak didn’t start there.

Pulaski Academy has won a whopping 35 consecutive conference games and five-straight conference championships, and none of their conference games were close in 2014. Coach Kevin Kelley has set high standards for the program, and has built it into one that’s gained national recognition.

The Bruins returns six starters on offense and five on defense from last year’s state championship team. They did lose some key starters – their quarterback, leading receiver, among others, to graduation, and their second-leading receiver from last year, who’s also the coach’s son, tore his ACL at a recent 7-on-7 tournament.

He’s a senior, but is not expected to miss the entire season. On top of that, the Bruins have plenty of other playmakers back for 2015, and should be in good position for yet another league title.

2) Beebe Badgers

The Badgers had a remarkable run from midseason on, and are hoping to build on that success this season. Injuries plagued the team early last year, but once those guys got healthy, or healthy enough, the Badgers became more of the team that many were expecting to see.

They’ve got two 1,000-yard backs (Trip Smith and Jo’Vaughn Wyrick) returning for their senior seasons, which has given the team a preseason ranking as high as No. 3 in Class 5A by some publications.

Beebe, though, has to replace almost its entire offensive line, a three-year starter at quarterback, and a total of eight starters on that side of the ball. The Badgers do have six returning starters on defense, and if the team can stay healthy, it could perhaps give PA a challenge when the two teams meet this fall.

3) Jacksonville Red Devils

The Red Devils had a rough start to their 2014 season, losing six of their first seven games before winning their final three to earn a playoff berth. The team jumped out to a 14-0 lead against perennial 5A power Batesville in the first round of the 5A playoffs, but the tradition-rich Pioneers responded with 33 unanswered points to put an end to Jacksonville’s season.

Jacksonville has seven starters returning on offense for second-year head coach Barry Hickingbotham, and four on defense. The Red Devils always have athletes on both the line and the skill positions, but some of those players are unproven at the varsity level.

Depth on offense should be a key strength for the Devils this season, but it remains to be seen how the unproven front seven on defense will fare once league play begins in week four.

4) Sylvan Hills Bears

As mentioned, Sylvan Hills was a state championship contender last season before injuries led to the team’s demise down the stretch. The Bears opened the season with eight-straight wins, but lost their final three, including their first round playoff game.

Granted, those three losses were against three of the four semifinalists in 5A, including the two teams that played for the state championship. But the Bears would’ve made things more interesting had they been healthy.

Head coach Jim Withrow has 70-plus players on his team this season, but 23 seniors graduated in May, and only three starters return on offense, and five on defense. A good chunk of those younger players will have to learn and develop quickly if the Bears hope to make a run at a league title this season.

5) Little Rock McClellan Crimson Lions

McClellan won five games last year, but had to forfeit two of its wins because of an ineligible starting player. As a result, the team officially finished the year 3-7. Head coach Maurice Moody is in his third year at the school, and has developed his team into one that coaches around the league have taken notice of.

The Crimson Lions have eight returning starters on offense and six on defense, and the speed and size to do well this season. The lack of depth, though, could hurt the team’s chances if injuries occur. Regardless, though, McClellan’s football team is no longer a gimme win for other teams.

6) Mills Comets

The Comets had a down year last season, finishing 3-7 and missing the playoffs. Only one starter on offense and four on defense return to the team in 2015. The Comets lost an All-State running back and All-Conference quarterback to graduation.

Mills will have some playmakers on its team, but so will every other team in this conference. Expect another tough year for Mills.

7) J.A. Fair War Eagles

It’s been a long time since the War Eagles were relevant on the football field. The team hasn’t won a game on the field since week one of 2013. They did receive a win in 2014 as one of McClellan’s forfeits, giving the team an official 1-9 finish for the second consecutive season.

The team does have some experience returning this year, but very little depth and the team as a whole is undersized for a 5A-Central team. Comparing it to recent years, expect a similar season for the War Eagles in 2015.

SPORTS STORY >> Panthers embrace position changes

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

In the second week of preseason practices, the Cabot Panthers lost returning defensive end Bryce Crockom to a knee injury. It was originally thought the injury would have the 5-foot-7, 160-pound senior out for up to six weeks, but the loss was lessened recently after arthroscopic surgery revealed the torn meniscus was not as bad as originally thought. Crockom is now expected to return in three to four weeks, but there have still been major shakeups in the lineup in this week’s practices.

Projected starting fullback Kolton Eads has been working at Crockom’s position, while junior transfer Alex Roberts has shared carries at fullback with Eads.

Roberts, 5-6, 155, has impressed Cabot coach Mike Malham since his arrival, but he also still might play some defense in the secondary.

“Right now we’re definitely going to have Kolton at defensive end,” said Malham. “If Roberts has to play defense, we’ll probably rotate them at fullback, too. Kolton’s looked pretty good on defense. He’s strong and pretty fast.”

Cabot defensive coordinator Randall Black likes having Eads on his side of the ball, and is even more excited about the opportunities available when Crockom returns.

“Kolton’s getting better and better,” said Black. “The thing about him is, he’s going to work hard. He’s still thinking a little too much, but that’s just from not being used to it. He’s a lot better than when we started working him over there and he’s going to keep getting better. And when Crockom gets back, it’s going to give us some options and some diversity that’ll just make us better.”

Roberts transferred from Alaska, where he played for a much smaller 4A school in much different weather. Despite impressing the coaches, he admits the adjustment hasn’t been easy. Immediately after the team ran five gassers to close Thursday’s practice, a winded Roberts expressed the difficulties.

“It’s a lot more humid down here,” said Roberts. “Right now it feels like I’m breathing in chicken grease. But overall it’s been really good. Since I’ve got here I’ve had a lot of coaches supporting me and team members who were really good to me.”

Roberts has also had an eye-opener just about football in the south.

“It’s taken a lot more serious down here,” Roberts said. “It’s a lot better program than the one I was in. We didn’t have a lot of really great programs and teams are kind of scattered around. We have about seven or eight teams we’d play every year. And there’s a couple more bigger people here than up there. It’s more physical.”

Cabot runs gassers in units depending on position. Eads and Roberts both show their work ethic during those conditioning drills.

“They’re both at the front of their groups every time we run gassers,” Malham said. “They’re both guys that give 100 percent at whatever they’re doing, and that’s what you need.”

The Panthers take the field against another team for the first time on Monday when they host Lake Hamilton in a benefit scrimmage game at Panther Stadium. That controlled scrimmage is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. at Panther Stadium.

SPORTS STORY >> Panther tennis rolls in opener

By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter

Cabot High School played host to Beebe in the two teams’ first official tennis match of the year Thursday, and the Panthers and Lady Panthers were stellar in their 2015 debut, winning 18 of the 22 matches played.

“For over 20 matches and to only lose four courts, that’s pretty good,” said Cabot coach Mary Emily Nash. “We’re really excited about how it went. We normally do nonconference matches just to gauge our kids.

“Some of them we’re not sure yet whether they’re going to play doubles or singles, but they all really exceeded my expectations. To have a team that’s mostly made up of juniors, I thought we did very well.”

Team scoring in a high school tennis match is usually decided by combining the outcome of the No. 1 and 2 doubles and singles matches. In the boys’ singles division, Cabot’s Clayton Ellis and Max Mathis won their respective matches.

Ellis beat Beebe’s Chase Underwood 8-5, and Mathis beat Garrett Glynn 8-1. In the top two boys’ doubles matches, Cabot’s Turner Bankston and Bryant Cason beat Beebe’s team of JP Savage and Garret Gardenhire 8-2, while Panther players Parker Gibson and Trey Wagnon beat Beebe’s Braydon Fort and Blake Childress 8-1.

That gave the Cabot boys a 4-0 sweep over Beebe in the official match score.

In the girls’ division, the Lady Panthers finished a match shy of earning a sweep. They officially beat the Lady Badgers 3-1. Cabot’s Emily Sumler won her singles match against Taylor Harris 8-1, and the Lady Panthers’ team of Lauren Roberts and Sadie Lea beat Beebe’s Brienne Jackson and Erin McNully 8-6.

In the No. 2 girls’ doubles match, Carly Carpenter and Julie Hill came out on top over Beebe’s Victoria Tarkington and Katie Pacheco. They won that match 8-5. Beebe’s lone win for the official match score came when the top Lady Badger singles player, Allie Lane, beat Cabot’s Jessica Vaughan 8-5.

Those scores are what counted for the match’s team scores, but Nash was pleased with how her group did as a whole, winning all but four matches.

“They all did really well,” Nash said. “I don’t know that anyone necessarily surprised me, because I have expectations for them to win.”

The match didn’t go as well as Beebe coach Brian Davis would’ve liked, but with it being the first match of the year, and a nonconference one at that, Davis said he used some different combinations among his doubles teams in order to see what combinations would work best.

“My No. 1 girl (Lane) won 8-5,” said Davis. “The rest of my top six (players) had some close losses and some not so close losses. We’re trying new teams together, so the first time you’re playing with a new partner it’s always going to be different.

“I saw enough good stuff out there that I was pleased with. We’ll probably try some of these team-ups again.”

Beebe returns experience on its girls’ team, but the boys, as a team, enter this season with little experience at the varsity level.

“Our girls are mostly all back from last year,” Davis said. “So we kind of knew where we stood there. We lost four of our top six boys from last year to graduation. So we knew we had a lot of stuff there to figure out with the guys – trying to figure out who’s going to play singles, who’s going to play doubles, which doubles teams would work.

“We’ve got a lot of experimenting to do in our next match. If they keep getting better at this rate, I think by the end of the season they’ll be in really good shape.”

Beebe’s schedule this year will be made up almost entirely of nonconference matches. In Beebe’s conference, the 5A-Central, only Beebe and Pulaski Academy have enough participants to form a team, so the Badgers’ and Lady Badgers’ matches this year will be against several different teams, including those in their previous conference, the 5A-East.

“We came from a conference that had eight or nine teams, and it is us and PA,” Davis said. “Our (conference) tournament was us and PA, and one kid maybe from Mills. Our conference tournament used to be two days, now it’s half a day.

“We’ve called a lot of people nearby. We’ll be playing Searcy and Harding Academy and some other local people. We’re playing some of our old rivals. We’re going to Nettleton next week, and Batesville’s coming to us after that.

“Our nonconference schedule is against people we’ve matched up OK with before. It’s competitive. We don’t want to play somebody we know we’re going to roll over or somebody that’s going to roll over us. We want to have good, competitive matches. That’s where we’re going to learn stuff.”

On the flip side, Cabot’s conference has plenty of participants, and plenty of competition, according to Nash. She added, though, that despite the stiff competition within that Class 7A league, she likes her group’s chances.

“Our conference is really, really tough,” Nash said. “We’ll be seeing teams that have been playing since they were 5 and 6 years old. Sometimes that’s hard to compete against, but if anybody can compete against them, this group can.

“We’ve been practicing since May to get ready, so we’re ready to get our reps in.”

Other Cabot players that earned wins in their matches Thursday were, in girls’ singles competition, Olivia New, Kaitlynn Follett, Ryane Thurman and Madeline Chosich. In girls’ doubles, the Lady Panther teams of Vaughan/Ally Bevis and Follett/Thurman won their matches.

Among the Cabot boys, Nathan Ellis, Bryant Cason, Parker Gibson and Wagnon won their singles matches. Besides doubles wins by Bankston/Cason and Gibson/Wagnon, the only other boys’ doubles match of the night was won by the CHS team of Mathis and Nathan Ellis.

For Beebe, Underwood lost his first match of the night, but later rebounded with an 8-5 win over Bankston. For the Beebe girls, other than Lane’s victory, two other Lady Badgers earned wins. Jaycee Hall won a 6-0 match against Cabot’s Chosich, and Noor won an 8-4 decision over Gracie New.

Cabot’s next tennis match will be a nonconference one at Vilonia on Monday at 3:30 p.m. Cabot’s first conference match will be Sept. 3 at home against Little Rock Central.

Beebe’s next match will be the same time on Monday at Searcy. Beebe’s first conference match against Pulaski Academy will be Sept. 10 in Little Rock.