Friday, July 11, 2008

TOP STORY > >Jacksonville could get two new schools

By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer

Architects have visited the sites of a proposed new Jacksonville middle school and a new elementary school near Little Rock Air Force Base, even if Pulaski County Special School District doesn’t know where it will get the $40 million or more needed for construction.

With the Jacksonville World Class Education Association promoting the new middle school and the base lobbying hard for the elementary school, the board in January placed both on its state-mandated, 10-year facilities master plan, beginning construction in the 2009-2010 school year, contingent upon obtaining funding.

Pulaski County is a relatively wealthy county, so the state will pay only about 12 percent of the construction costs. The rest is the district’s responsibility.

In the past few days, the Little Rock architectural firm Witsell, Evans and Rasco visited the preferred sites for the two buildings, according to Larry O’Briant, the district’s chief financial officer.

“We’re looking for preliminary site designs for the two Jacksonville schools,” said O’Briant.

“We have to have a preliminary design by August 1,” he said. The design can be greatly modified after that, but something needs to be on paper to show progress, he added.

KEEP FUNDS

The state has been asking some districts to forego committed funds for projects they haven’t moved forward on, O’Briant said. PCSSD doesn’t want to find itself in that position.

One of the two schools in question is a new school at the site of the current Jacksonville Girls Middle School, intended to accommodate middle school students either as two single-gender schools under one roof or else one coeducational school.

That’s been identified as a prominent location easily seen from major thoroughfares.

The other is a new elementary school intended to replace Tolleson and Arnold Drive elementaries. It is to be built on land provided by Little Rock Air Force Base, outside the fence near Tolleson. Arnold Drive, about 50 years old, is on the base.

O’Briant told the board that North Pulaski High School’s long-needed $601,000 field house was nearing completion.

SHERWOOD SCHOOL

Utility work has begun on the new $25 million Sherwood Middle School, O’Briant said. “We’re working on the preliminary design and should see something soon. After the preliminary design, will meet with a site-design committee,” he said.

At marathon meetings totalling about eight hours Tuesday, Superintendent James Sharpe told the board that district patrons have made it clear that safety and security of students are their top priorities.

Ivory Tillman, who convened a NAACP meeting at the Jacksonville Middle School two weeks ago, told the board that those issues also topped the list for patrons attending his meeting.

DISCIPLINE CONSULTANTS

Craig Douglass, the district’s public relations contractor, reported that he was soliciting proposals from a pair of companies, one of which would lobby for federal funds in Washington and look for grants to pay for upgrading security and the other one that consults on school-security issues.

Some schools get millions in such grants and programs, Sharpe told the board. Why not PCSSD?

Board members Gwen Williams and Mildred Tatum said they were reluctant, noting that one company wants $10,000 a month for six months and suggested that the money would be better spent hiring more security.

Tatum’s son heads the district’s security division.

“We must invest in security and achievement,” said Sharpe.

Brenda Bowles, who has convened meetings after a fight this spring at Mills High School, said students, parents and teachers suggested faster turnaround time on discipline, more active security including additional use of metal detectors and more prominent placement of security guards. Among other suggestions was a closed campus.

NO DIRECTION

Also Tuesday, PCSSD’s attorney for desegregation purposes, Sam Jones, told the board he expected additional meetings in the next week or 10 days with the attorney general’s office and lawyers for the Little Rock and North Little Rock school districts toward ending the desegregation agreement.

With a nod to Tatum, Jones acknowledged he doesn’t have the authority to agree to anything.

“I have no direction from the board,” he said. “I’m just going to listen.”

The board unanimously approved increasing the price of school lunches to offset increased food prices. The move will result in an additional $331,565.

Elementary school lunches would be increased 25 cents a day to $2, while secondary school prices will increase 50 cents to $2.25 a day.

Breakfasts will increase 25 cents, costing $1.25.

TOP STORY > >Arnold Drive among best in U.S. math

By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer

Arnold Drive Elementary School fourth- and fifth-graders are among the top math students in the nation based on recently released SAT-10 scores. The school’s third-graders did well, too, along with Westside Elementary students in Searcy.

The SAT-10 assessment was given to every third- through eighth-grader in the state in April and compares Arkansas students to students across the nation. The test, for the first time, was combined into the state’s Benchmark exams. The Benchmark compares how well a student does in relationship to what the state is teaching at that grade level.

On the SAT-10, students were scored in mathematics, reading comprehension, comprehensive language and science (grades 5 and 7 only). Overall, students did best in math and worst in language.

If a student had a national percentile ranking of 75, that meant that he or she scored better than 75 percent of the students in that grade level across the country, while 25 percent scored better than that student.

At Arnold Drive, the fourth-graders averaged a national percentile ranking of 85 in math, meaning only 15 percent of fourth-graders across the country scored better. The fourth-graders also had an NPR of 79 in reading comprehension. The school’s fifth-graders scored an NPR of 80 putting them in the top 20 percent across the county. The third-graders had an NPR of 74 in math.

Westside fourth-graders in Searcy were in the top 20 percent of the nation in both math and reading comprehension, scoring an NPR of 82 in both areas. Westside third-graders had a 72 NPR in math.

At the other end of the spectrum, Harris Elementary fourth-graders had an NPR of 9 in language, meaning a large majority of fourth-graders across the country scored better.

Jacksonville Elementary fourth-graders only had a 14 NPR in language.

JACKSONVILLE

At Bayou Meto Elementary, the third-graders averaged an NPR of 64 in math, 51 in reading and 41 in language. Fourth-graders had a 72 in math, 69 in reading and 42 in math, while the fifth-graders averaged 71 in math, 58 in reading, 42 in language and 57 in science.

At Warren Dupree, the third-graders had an NPR of 56 in math, 47 in reading and 44 in language, while fourth-graders had 60 in math, 55 in reading and 23 in language. Fifth-graders averaged 51 in math, 50 in reading, 39 in language and 36 in science.

Jacksonville Elementary third-graders had an NPR of 31 in math, 26 in reading and 16 in language. Fourth-graders scored 44 in math, 42 in reading, 14 in language, while fifth-graders had 29 in math, 35 in reading, 27 in language and 26 in science.

Tolleson third-graders averaged a 57 NPR in math, 47 in reading and 33 in language. Fourth graders had a 69 in math, 71 in reading and 45 in language, while fifth-graders averaged 60 in math, 61 in reading, 51 in language and 47 in science.

Murrell Taylor third-graders had a 42 NPR in math, 39 in reading and 22 in language, while fourth-graders had 41 in math, 37 in reading and 14 in language, while fifth-graders had 36 in math, 38 in reading, 29 in math and 29 in science.

Cato Elementary third-graders had an NPR of 63 in math, 50 in reading and 37 in language, while fourth-graders had 54 in math, 54 in reading and 27 in language. Fifth-graders averaged 64 in math, 62 in reading, 45 in language and 57 in science.

Pinewood third-graders had an NPR of 44 in math, 45 in reading and 31 in language, while the fourth-graders jumped to 61 in math, 65 in reading, but fell to 23 in language. Fifth-graders had 57 in math, 46 in reading, 39 in language and 48 in science.

Arnold Drive third-graders had an NPR of 74 in math, 62 in reading and 42 in language. Fourth graders had 85 in math, 79 in reading and 49 in language, while fifth graders had 80 in math, 61 in reading, 47 in language and 68 in science.

Harris had the worst scores in the area with its third-graders averaging a 17 NPR in math, 34 in reading and 15 in language.

Fourth-graders had a 34 in math, 31 in reading and 9 in language, while fifth-graders had 25 in math, 15 in reading, 17 in language and 20 in science.

Jacksonville Middle School, girls’ campus, sixth-graders had an NPR of 39 in math, 38 in reading and 34 in language. Seventh –graders had 35 in math, 39 in reading, 35 in language and 37 in science, while eighth-graders had 36 in math, 45 in reading and 30 in language.

The sixth-graders on the boys’ campus of Jacksonville Middle School had a 40 NPR in math, 26 in reading and 20 in language, while the seventh-graders had 39 in math, 34 in reading, 26 in language and 41 in science. Eighth-graders had 44 in math, 33 in reading and 24 in language.

SHERWOOD

Sherwood Elementary third-graders had an NPR of 53 in math, 46 in reading and 34 in language, while fourth-graders had 59 in math, 59 in language and 37 in language. Fifth-graders had 61 in math, 54 in reading, 48 in language and 57 in science.

Sylvan Hills Elementary third-graders had a 61 NPR in math, 49 in reading and 33 in language, while fourth-graders had 64 in math, 62 in reading and 30 in language. Fifth-graders had 50 in math, 50 in reading, 29 in language and 43 in science.

Oakbrooke third-graders had an NPR of 44 in math, 44 in reading and 29 in language. Fourth –graders jumped to 69 in math, 70 in reading and 35 in language, while the fifth-graders had 60 in math, 60 in reading, 47 in language and 52 in science.

Sylvan Hills Middle School sixth-graders had an NPR of 46 in math, 40 in reading and 34 in language, while the seventh-graders had 40 in math, 46 in reading, 38 in language and 46 in science. Eighth-graders scored 53 in math, 50 in reading and 36 in language.

Northwood sixth-graders had an NPR of 64 in math, 43 in reading and 39 in language, while seventh-graders had 50 in math, 47 in reading, 36 in language and 51 in science. Eighth-graders had 52 in math, 44 in reading and 35 in language.

BEEBE

Beebe third-graders had a 61 NPR in math, 52 in reading and 34 in language.

The fourth-graders had the best math and reading scores in the district with a 75 in math, 69 in reading and 42 in language.

Fifth-graders had 62 in math, 65 in reading, 44 in language and 63 in science, while sixth-graders had 68 in math, 51 in reading and 48 in language.

Seventh-graders had a 63 in math, 62 in reading, 51 in language and 63 in science, while the eighth-graders had 69 in math, 65 in reading and 50 in language.

SEARCY

Westside Elementary students had the best scores in the districts, closely followed seventh- and eighth-graders.

Westside third-graders had an NPR of 72 in math, 63 in reading and 53 in language, while fourth-graders had 82 in math, 82 in reading and 57 in language.

Sidney Deener third-graders had a 62 NPR in math, 57 in reading and 47 in language, while fourth-graders averaged 69 in math, 70 in reading and 44 in language.

McRae third-graders had an NPR of 66 in math, 60 in reading and 41 in language, while the fourth graders had 68 in math, 70 in reading and 38 in language.

Southwest Middle School fifth-graders had a 70 NPR in math, 75 in reading, 55 in language, and one of the best science scores in the state with a 76. The sixth-graders had a 73 in math, 57 in reading and 61 in language.

Ahlf Junior High seventh-graders had a 71 NPR in math, 68 in reading, 61 language and 66 in science, while eighth-graders had 77 in math, 65 in reading and 55 in language.

STATE AVERAGES

Statewide, third graders had a 56 NPR in math, 48 in reading and 34 in language, while fourth graders had 65 in math, 64 in reading and 33 in language.

Fifth graders averaged a 61 NPR in math, 56 in reading, 41 in language and 52 in science, while sixth graders had 64 in math, 46 in reading and 44 in language.

Seventh-graders, across the state, averaged 56 in math, 53 in reading, 45 in language and 54 in science, while eighth graders scored a 64 in math, 53 in reading and 41 in language.

Editor’s note: This is the second part of a two-part article about local test scores. Information about Cabot, Lonoke, Carlisle and England schools appeared in the Wednesday Leader.

TOP STORY > >Siblings finally meet after 50 years apart

By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer

Separated for 50 years and a continent away, Tommy Tompkins of Cabot met his German sister, Sonja Lefevre-Burgdorf, for the first time last September in Germany. She reciprocated with a visit to Cabot last weekend.

“Only God could have orchestrated this,” said Tompkins, an information technologist.

Born in 1957 in Ansbach, Ger-many, Tompkins was originally named Karl Heinz Probst by Anna Opitz, his birth mother.

Less than a week after his birth, Tompkins was adopted by Betty and the late Ed Tompkins of Jacksonville. Ed Tompkins was with the Army stationed in Germany with his family. They moved back to the United States when Tommy was nine months old.

Tompkins knew he was adopted and said he wondered if he had any brothers or sisters.

Burgdorf was 4 years old when Tompkins was born. She never saw Tommy, but said she knew her mom was going to the hospital to give birth. When her mother came home after her stay, Burgdorf was told he had gone to America.

“I knew there was a birth. I carried a doll and told everyone it was my little brother,” Burgdorf said.

When she was growing up, Burgdorf said she couldn’t talk a lot about her brother with her mother.

Burgdorf said her mother worked hard for little money at a farm across from an Army base in Ansbach. Burgdorf’s parents met when her mother was 20 and her father was 47. Burgdorf’s father, a Belgian, worked for the U.S. Army in shipping and logistics. Burgdorf said they were together for five years until she was born. He left and went to France.

Opitz was a single parent when she was caring for Burgdorf and gave birth to Tompkins, who was fathered by an American serviceman in the Army stationed in Ansbach. While Opitz was in her pregnancy, the serviceman requested a transfer to move to another base in Germany.

Burgdorf, who works as an administrator for the European Union parliament in Luxembourg, said she started in the 1990’s trying to find information about her younger brother. She went to a local parliament office in Ansbach where the address of
Tompkins’ adoptive parents was still on file. Since she was a sibling, she was given the information.

With the information, Burgdorf got in touch with a German woman living in Sante Fe, N.M., who helps individuals reconnect to their adoptive families.

In 2007, Burgdorf’s mother, Anna, was turning 80 and Burgdorf decided it was time to contact Tompkins. Burgdorf’s husband, Joachim, was searching the Tompkins name on the Internet and found a phone number for Tammy Tompkins of Doug Wilkinson Realty.

“I always dreamed to visit the town where I was born,” said Tommy Tompkins.

Last year, Jim and Marcia Dornblaser of Jacksonville were going to Germany with a group of four couples.

Of the scheduled places to visit were Cochem on the Mosel River, to see the Alps and the Black Forest, and to stop at Trier, the oldest city in Germany.

Earlier that same day, at her office at Doug Wilkinson Realty, Tammy Tompkins, Tommy’s wife, had received a call from Burgdorf to inquire if it would be appropriate to send a letter to Tommy. Burgdorf had written the letter beforehand and it arrived two weeks later.

“I was overwhelmed with her ability to communicate her feelings and thoughts. I knew then we had to meet,” said Tommy Tompkins.

Tompkins and Burgdorf soon started emailing and calling each other. Tompkins learned that Burgdorf and her husband lived in the village of Tawern, near the French border.

The group arrived in Frankfurt and the next day, they drove to Burgdorf’s house.

Burgdorf had posted welcome signs along the route to the village. “It was such an incredible feeling. It’s hard to describe. With our friends we had a great celebration for several hours,” said Tompkins.

Later the same day, Tompkins with his wife and Burgdorf went to visit their birth mother, Anna Opitz. at her apartment for seniors in Trier. Burgdorf said, “I wanted (Tommy) to meet her for herself and not for me.”

Opitz speaks only German. When she met Tommy, she said to him in English, “Don’t be mad at me.”

Since reuniting, Tompkins said his three children have been ecstatic after learning about having an Aunt Sonja.

“We talk every Saturday,” Tompkins said. “We’ve bridged the water and are consistent in our relation.”
This past week Burgdorf flew to the United States for her first time, visiting New York for a week before spending several days with Tompkins and his family.

TOP STORY > >Siblings finally meet after 50 years apart

By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer

Separated for 50 years and a continent away, Tommy Tompkins of Cabot met his German sister, Sonja Lefevre-Burgdorf, for the first time last September in Germany. She reciprocated with a visit to Cabot last weekend.

“Only God could have orchestrated this,” said Tompkins, an information technologist.

Born in 1957 in Ansbach, Ger-many, Tompkins was originally named Karl Heinz Probst by Anna Opitz, his birth mother.

Less than a week after his birth, Tompkins was adopted by Betty and the late Ed Tompkins of Jacksonville. Ed Tompkins was with the Army stationed in Germany with his family. They moved back to the United States when Tommy was nine months old.

Tompkins knew he was adopted and said he wondered if he had any brothers or sisters.

Burgdorf was 4 years old when Tompkins was born. She never saw Tommy, but said she knew her mom was going to the hospital to give birth. When her mother came home after her stay, Burgdorf was told he had gone to America.

“I knew there was a birth. I carried a doll and told everyone it was my little brother,” Burgdorf said.

When she was growing up, Burgdorf said she couldn’t talk a lot about her brother with her mother.

Burgdorf said her mother worked hard for little money at a farm across from an Army base in Ansbach. Burgdorf’s parents met when her mother was 20 and her father was 47. Burgdorf’s father, a Belgian, worked for the U.S. Army in shipping and logistics. Burgdorf said they were together for five years until she was born. He left and went to France.

Opitz was a single parent when she was caring for Burgdorf and gave birth to Tompkins, who was fathered by an American serviceman in the Army stationed in Ansbach. While Opitz was in her pregnancy, the serviceman requested a transfer to move to another base in Germany.

Burgdorf, who works as an administrator for the European Union parliament in Luxembourg, said she started in the 1990’s trying to find information about her younger brother. She went to a local parliament office in Ansbach where the address of
Tompkins’ adoptive parents was still on file. Since she was a sibling, she was given the information.

With the information, Burgdorf got in touch with a German woman living in Sante Fe, N.M., who helps individuals reconnect to their adoptive families.

In 2007, Burgdorf’s mother, Anna, was turning 80 and Burgdorf decided it was time to contact Tompkins. Burgdorf’s husband, Joachim, was searching the Tompkins name on the Internet and found a phone number for Tammy Tompkins of Doug Wilkinson Realty.

“I always dreamed to visit the town where I was born,” said Tommy Tompkins.

Last year, Jim and Marcia Dornblaser of Jacksonville were going to Germany with a group of four couples.

Of the scheduled places to visit were Cochem on the Mosel River, to see the Alps and the Black Forest, and to stop at Trier, the oldest city in Germany.

Earlier that same day, at her office at Doug Wilkinson Realty, Tammy Tompkins, Tommy’s wife, had received a call from Burgdorf to inquire if it would be appropriate to send a letter to Tommy. Burgdorf had written the letter beforehand and it arrived two weeks later.

“I was overwhelmed with her ability to communicate her feelings and thoughts. I knew then we had to meet,” said Tommy Tompkins.

Tompkins and Burgdorf soon started emailing and calling each other. Tompkins learned that Burgdorf and her husband lived in the village of Tawern, near the French border.

The group arrived in Frankfurt and the next day, they drove to Burgdorf’s house.

Burgdorf had posted welcome signs along the route to the village. “It was such an incredible feeling. It’s hard to describe. With our friends we had a great celebration for several hours,” said Tompkins.

Later the same day, Tompkins with his wife and Burgdorf went to visit their birth mother, Anna Opitz. at her apartment for seniors in Trier. Burgdorf said, “I wanted (Tommy) to meet her for herself and not for me.”

Opitz speaks only German. When she met Tommy, she said to him in English, “Don’t be mad at me.”

Since reuniting, Tompkins said his three children have been ecstatic after learning about having an Aunt Sonja.

“We talk every Saturday,” Tompkins said. “We’ve bridged the water and are consistent in our relation.”
This past week Burgdorf flew to the United States for her first time, visiting New York for a week before spending several days with Tompkins and his family.

TOP STORY > >City will see relief from traffic jams

By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer

Several road projects in Cabot funded by a $2 million bond issue are taking shape and could be alleviating traffic problems soon.

Mayor Eddie Joe Williams said asphalt will likely be put down on Locust Street next week to widen that main thoroughfare to three lanes. The work should be completed by the time school starts, he said.

That street is important now, but Williams said it will be even more so when the new railroad overpass opens by the end of the year at the earliest.

The railroad overpass will connect Hwy. 367 to Hwy. 38. That $7.2 million project is not part of the $2 million voters approved for streets. However, it was part of the total $28 million bond issue that is supported by the same one-cent sales tax.

The city’s part of the mostly federally funded project was about $1 million.

“When the overpass opens, we feel the traffic will pick up significantly,” Williams said.

Gene Summers Construction has signed a letter of intent to start widening Hwy. 89 this week on either side of the traffic light at Rockwood, the mayor said. Going toward downtown Cabot, an extra lane will be added to the freeway. On the other side of the traffic light, a turn lane will be added as far as Northport.

That $150,000 project will be paid from the $2 million bond issue voters approved almost three years ago. The city has until the end of November to spend or substantially obligate the money or it must be used to pay down the debt. But the mayor says he foresees no problem.

Although bond money will pay for the work on Hwy. 89, Williams said as the area develops, the city will require new businesses area develops, the city will require new businesses to pay their portion, so the city will recoup most if not all of the funds.

On the other end of Rockwood where it intersects with Highway 5, the county is paying about $90,000 to have a traffic light installed so that left hand turns are not so treacherous.

Lonoke County Judge Charlie Troutman said this week that the great number of accidents there since S. Rockwood opened eighteen months ago is the reason the light is going up.

“The state police pushed for this,” Troutman said. “We’ve had about an accident a week there since it opened.”

The light should be operational in about two months,” he said.

At the end of 2007, more than two years after city voters approved $2 million in bonds supported by a one-cent tax to pay for street improvements, about $1.5 million of those funds still remained. At that time, the city had paid $175,000 for the right-of-way to extend Elm Street and $250,000 to complete S. Rockwood, which connects Highway 5 to Wal-Mart.

Earlier this year, the city council voted to sell the property the city took by eminent domain for the Elm Street right-of-way, and the road will be built instead on the right-of-way the city already owned.

Williams said so far there have been no offers to buy the four-tenths of an acre, but it will likely become more desirable when Elm Street is completed.

Williams said the street will be opened as soon as city workers build a gravel base. It will be paved as money becomes available, he said.

The city took the small parcel of land by eminent domain in 2006 and was court ordered in March 2007 to pay owner Larry Nipper $175,000, which was $90,000 more than he had offered to settle for without going to court.

Some of the council members who took office in 2007 referred to the judgment as “the nightmare on Elm Street.”

Stubby Stumbaugh, who was mayor when the council condemned the property, said it was needed because the platted right-of-way the city already owned for the street did not meet and to join them would create a dangerous “dog leg” curve about midway.

Two years later, a survey to determine where the street will eventually be built shows that only one-tenth of an acre is needed to build a street with a small curve.

TOP STORY > >Golf course funds uncertain

By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer

A $6.1 million interim loan that Sherwood’s Public Facilities Board approved last Monday is still not a sure thing.

The five-member board approved a proposal from Twin City Bank to loan the city the funds to purchase the 106-acre condemned North Hills Country Club provided the bank agreed to three changes.

The bank has amended and resubmitted its proposal.

The facilities board will meet again at noon this Monday in the Sherwood council chambers to reconsider the loan with the bank’s changes.

The bank, which was the only lending facility to submit a bid, offered the city what it called an interim loan of up to $6.1 million. The exact amount the city will need will be determined in court the end of July when a jury decides what the city should have to pay for the golf course it took under its eminent domain procedures.

Once an exact amount is deter mined and used, the facilities board could then get a bond issue to cover the loan or continue with the loan.

The bank said the loan money would be used to cover 100 percent of the cost of buying the North Hills property, plus pay off any legal fees related to the purchase.

The board would have a choice of interest rates, either 6.5 percent fixed or a variable rate at 1 percent above the prime rate, which currently would work out to 6 percent.

However, board members had three concerns with the bank’s proposal: The prepayment penalty, the length of the loan and the bank’s request that the city move some of its deposits to the bank.

The bank’s proposal called for a 24-month loan and required the board to pay a 2 percent penalty if the loan was paid off in less than 24 months.

The proposal also called for both the board and the city to move deposits to Twin City Bank.

The facilities board agreed that it could move its funds to the bank, but had no power to influence the city to do the same.

“We can ask them and they can say no,” chairman Linda Napper said.

Board member Jack Wilson made a motion to accept the financing provided that the bank would eliminate the prepay penalty, stretch the length of the loan from 24 to 36 months and not require the city to move its deposits to the bank.

LeeAnn Jennings and Annette Van Pelt, vice presidents with Twin City Bank who represented the bank at Monday’s bid opening, said they would take the board’s recommendation back to the bank.

Whether or not the bank agreed to the terms won’t become public until Monday’s meeting.

Tim Grooms, an attorney working with the city to acquire the defunct golf course property, has said the appraisals on the property run from just under $3 million to more than $5 million.

TOP STORY > >District goes after union

By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer

The Pulaski County Special School District Board fired a warning shot across the bow of the district’s powerful teachers’ union in eight hours of public meetings Tuesday and paused just shy of decertifying the support staff union—a decertification that may have been postponed, not averted.

“I vote to terminate negotiations with (Pulaski Association of Support Staff) and decertify it as the bargaining agent for the support staff,” said board member Danny Gilliland. It was on Gilliland’s motion in May 2007 that the board suddenly moved to reinstate PASS as the bargaining agent.

School board president Charlie Wood said he would never approve a support staff contract longer than five pages.

“We can postpone it for one month, but I think the issue is settled,” said Wood.

PASS, which also includes bus drivers, wants a 3.5 percent pay increase and a 3.5 percent step/grade increase, which would cost the district another $1 million, according to Chief Financial Officer Larry O’Briant.

The administration has recommended a 1.66 percent increase for support staff, plus longevity increases.

Four of the seven school board members said they would vote to decertify the Pulaski Association of Support Staff as the support staff’s bargaining agent, just before Jacksonville board member Bill Vasquez proposed discussing the contract at a special board workshop. Vasquez’ motion was unanimously approved.

The two sides are far apart and it may be that nothing short of capitulation by the union will prevent its decertification.

The district has been slow to implement expensive changes since emerging last year from fiscal distress and state Education Department oversight, and the contract proposed by Superintendent James Sharpe says the district must begin cutting $16 to $20 million — its share of the $60 million annual state desegregation supplement — from its $190 million annual budget. That could be even more difficult than it seems since salaries and benefits probably account for more than $150 million of that, according to figures provided by O’Briant.

Wood and board member Pam Roberts said with large cuts in desegregation aid likely looming, the district was not in a position to grant large pay increases or to sign new multi-year contracts. The teachers typically negotiate a three-year contract and PASS was asking for a three-year contract.

“I’m not going to approve additional pay increases,” Roberts said.

“We’re going to have to contract negotiations with teachers soon,” Wood said. “It’s time to deal with the teachers directly.”
O’Brian told the board he believes revenues will be up a bit next year, despite the loss of about $900,000 in state aid based on the enrollment loss of about 150 students.

Legislation proposed by state Rep. Will Bond of Jacksonville authorizes the phasing out of the desegregation money over as many as seven years.

Federal District Judge Bill Wilson could release PCSSD, North Little Rock and Little Rock districts from the agreement within months. Wilson has already ruled that Little Rock is essentially desegregated and both North Little Rock and PCSSD have applied to be considered unitary, or desegregated.

Sharpe opened the four-hour board workshop that preceded the regular monthly meeting by saying, “We need to stand up to such meanness as PACT has tried to permeate,” citing a letter served on him at dinner by the teachers’ union.

PACT president Marty Nix responded that the administration and board don’t provide sufficient student discipline, ignore district policy and a court ruling requiring them to abide by the wishes of site-based school councils and violated the teachers contract.

The teachers say they are blamed for the district’s financial woes and other problems. “When did we become the enemy,” asked union representative Nix, reading a poem in which each verse ended in that refrain.

The Pulaski Association of Class Room Teachers (PACT) and PASS went on strike in 2003. The teachers settled with the board, leaving PASS alone on the picket line and in January 2004, the school board decertified PASS as the bargaining agent of the support staff.

In a related issue, the board could approve Sharpe’s recommendation to save the district $2.1 million over three years, by outsourcing school bus driving to First Student, formerly Laidlaw.

The drivers are adamantly opposed to the change, telling the board members that no one will care for the children like they do and emphasizing problems they say First Student has had elsewhere.

One suggested that some First Student drivers elsewhere are trying to join the Teamsters Union. “Who would you rather negotiate with, PASS or the Teamsters?” asked one.

While there is considerable support on the board to outsource the school-bus driving, the board gave transportation director Brad Montgomery until the next meeting to cut 6 percent from his budget, which would negate much of the savings anticipated from outsourcing.

The drivers, including PASS president Emry Chesterfield, said they thought the matter had been put to rest and were surprised to be back before the board fighting for their jobs.

“We’re not going to stand and let you run over us,” Chesterfield said. “First Student is sucking you in. Whatever decision you make, we’re all going to pay the price.”

“I thought we took it off the table,” said board member Gwen Williams, a stalwart union supporter.

“Mr. Sharpe, can you guarantee us you’re not going to outsource bus driving?” she asked.

“I have to come up with how to exist without $16 million to $20 million (a year),” Sharpe said. “We can save $2.3 million. I have to look at outsourcing.”

He said he had to find savings outside of the classroom, places like transportation, maintenance and food services.

“The priority has to be students, not jobs,” he said.

First Student has tried to counter the concern of current bus drivers by agreeing that virtually all would be retained as district employees under a two-tier system where new hires would be phased in as First Student employees. But if drivers remain district employees, it reduces the savings to the district by 60 percent to 70 percent for the first year, Sharpe said.

SPORTS>> Sims strikes out 18 batters in Bruins’ win over Gwatney

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

The Sylvan Hills’ defense didn’t do much work on Tuesday night, but that’s because they really didn’t have to. Blain Sims took care of Gwatney Chevrolet batters with a total of 18 strikeouts during an 11-2 win for the Optimist Bruins at Dupree Park. The Chevy boys did manage six hits against Sims during the senior American Legion contest, but second baseman Terrell Brown was the only one to find his way around all the bases for both Jacksonville scores on the night.

Gwatney stayed relatively close until the final frame, when a three-run home run by T.C. Squires put the game out of reach. Squires’ blast over the left field wall followed a RBI double by Matt Rugger that plated Chris Eastham to give the Bruins a 7-2 lead.

Sylvan Hills scattered scores against Gwatney starting pitcher Clayton Fenton during the first six innings. Clint Thornton led off the game with a walk, and advanced on a single by Matt Turpin. Fenton then fanned the next two batters, but a double to left by Jake Chambers drove in Thornton and Turpin to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead after one.

Jacksonville looked poised to match its local rival in the bottom of the first when leadoff batter Adam Ussery singled on Sims’ second offering of the game, but a pair of strikeouts before a walk to Patrick Castleberry, and another K left both runners stranded, starting a trend that helped earn Sims the easy win for his complete-game effort.

Trouble started early on for the Chevy boys, when standout first baseman Jason Regnas went down with an injury duringhis only at-bat to end the first inning.

The Bruins extended their lead in the top of the second with a pair of doubles from Nathan Eller and Thornton.

Chambers added another run to make it 4-0 in the top of the third. He reached on a double, and came in on a fielding error on Rugger’s ground ball.

Gwatney finally got on the board in the bottom of the third inning when Brown doubled to center, then came in on a single by Castleberry. Sylvan Hills wasted no time making that run up and then some in the top of the fourth inning, as Ross Bogard singled to score Thornton, who benefited from another Jacksonville error during his at-bat, and Turpin tagged up on a sacrifice fly by Garrett Eller after reaching on a double to give the Bruins a 6-1 lead.

Brown came away with his second hit of the game to lead off the bottom of the fifth. This one, a double into center, was followed by another double to center by Castleberry to drive him in. That closed the gap to 6-2, but it was as close as the Chevy boys could get.

Garrett Eller began the SH scoring spree in the top of the seventh when he was struck by a pitch. Eastham followed with a single, and a double by Rugger sent Eller in for the first run.

Squires followed with the biggest hit of the game for Sylvan Hills. Nathan Eller walked to set up the final score from there. Eller stole his way to third before coming in on an error at first to set the final margin.

Sims sealed the deal with his final three strikeouts of the night in the bottom of the seventh, but not before Jacksonville gave it one final go with a walk for Matt McAnally and a single by Castleberry.

Chambers was 2 of 3 for the Bruins with two doubles and two RBI. Turpin was 2 of 4 with a double. For Jacksonville, Castleberry was 3 of 3 with two RBI and Brown was 2 of 4 with two runs scored. Sims took the win for Sylvan Hills with 19 strikeouts, six hits allowed, two walks and two earned runs through seven innings.

SPORTS>> One-hitter leads Cabot in opener

By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports editor

Andy Runyan’s not complaining but he does wonder if his pitchers have done something to make the baseball gods angry.

For the fourth time this season, one of his Cabot Community Bank pitchers came within an eyelash of a no-hitter. On Thursday night in the first round of the Zone 4 American Legion Junior tournament, it was Tyler Erickson who flirted with a no-no, losing it on a bloop single to Nathan Pearson with one out in the fifth inning. But Erickson, in his first full outing of the summer, preserved the shutout and the win as Cabot advanced with a sweat-free 5-0 win over Mayflower at Burns Park.

“Tyler was outstanding,” said Runyan, whose Community Bank club improved to 21-5-1 and took on Maumelle in the second round of the double-elimination tournament yesterday afternoon after Leader deadlines. “We knew he could go out there and put something like that together. I askedhim after the first inning how he felt. He said it was the best he felt all year.”

While Erickson dealt from the mound, Cabot struggled at the plate, managing just five hits against Mayflower’s own tough hurler in Shane Fowler.

“My hat’s totally off to their pitcher,” Runyan said. “He threw a great game. He was spotting his fast ball and getting his breaking ball across. We haven’t seen a breaking ball like that all year.”

Cabot benefited from four Mayflower errors, including one in the first inning when they scored twice. Joe Bryant walked and went to second on Cole Nicholson’s infield hit. When Powell Bryant grounded out to short, Joe Bryant headed to third and then just kept on running, sliding in to home ahead of the throw from the Mayflower first baseman.

Matt Turner then sent a long fly ball into deep center that the outfielder dropped, allowing Nicholson to score to make it 2-0.

Erickson pitched around an error and a hit batsman in the second and a 2-out error in the third. In the second, Erickson got an assist from catcher Andrew Reynolds, who picked Fowler off first base.

Community Bank bunched three of its hits in the third inning, padding the lead to 4-0. Chase Thompson led off with a single and Matt Evans walked. After a double steal, Joe Bryant slashed a 2-run single to left. Cabot added a final run in the fourth on two errors sandwiched around Andrew Reynolds’ infield hit.

Erickson carried the no-hitter into the fifth, but with one out, Pearson looped a soft liner over shortstop for Mayflower’s only hit.

“He came in shaking his head, but I told him, hey, at least it wasn’t a bunt,” Runyan said.

Pearson was quickly erased when Reynolds delivered a strike to the bag at second on an attempted steal.

“Andrew has been a little disappointed with himself at the plate, but as a guy who’s an old catcher, if you can catch like he’s been doing, you’re going to play for me,” Runyan said. “He’s handled the pitchers well and neutralized the running game of the other team. And he’s been picking people off right and left.”

Community Bank’s other fine defensive play came in the sixth when first baseman Matt Turner caught a runner off second base after a ground out and threw him out at third.

Erickson struck out six, walked two and hit a batter.

SPORTS>> Gwatney makes short work of foe

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

A solid performance on the mound by Stephen Swaggerty and consistent batting by the Chevy boys gave Jacksonville Gwatney Chevrolet a run-ruled win in the first-round junior American Legion zone tournament on Thursday. Gwatney handed Morrilton a 13-3 loss in five innings to advance to the second round of the winner’s bracket after waiting out a thunderstorm of nearly an hour before taking the field.

Morrilton threatened to make a game of it in the top of the third inning by tying things up after falling behind early 3-0, but Jacksonville answered in the bottom of the third inning with a five-run flurry that shifted all the momentum back in the Chevy boys’ corner.

Gwatney coach Bob Hickingbotham was pleased with Thursday’s effort, and seemed confident about his team’s chances deeper into the tournament.

“We hit really well,” Hickingbotham said. “We had a couple of guys get two hits, and (Jared) Toney had three. Swaggerty did a good job on the mound. He had a few bumps in the road, but other than that, he did a good job.

“We feel like we have four or five (pitchers) that can go. We plan on using as many as we can and as many as we have to.

Changing in this kind of ballgame is really beneficial to you. Not because the guy is not doing a good job out there, just to give them something different to think about for an inning or two, and that’s what you try to do, really. We’re proud of them, and whether it’s Conway or North Little Rock we have (Friday), we’re going to be ready to play.”

The Chevy boys proved ready to play from the start on Thursday. Swaggerty fanned two Morrilton batters to pitch around a single in the top of the first.

Gwatney leadoff man A.J. Allen set up the first Jacksonville run with a walk to start the bottom of the first, and advanced when Terrell Brown was struck with a pitch. Allen eventually scored on a bases-loaded walk to Patrick Castleberry, and Jared Toney brought in Brown with a single to make it 2-0.

Brown took it right on the helmet from Morrilton starting pitcher Miles Faulkner in the first, beginning a rough afternoon at the plate for the Gwatney shortstop. His next trip up in the second resulted in a shanked hit that ricocheted off the plate and hit his left shin.

He stayed in, though, and hit a sacrifice fly to center that plated Jeffrey Tillman, who was hit by a pitch to start the inning.

Morrilton rallied in the third. Swaggerty hit John Robertson with a pitch to put the first runner on, and a walk to McGhee had runners at first and second with one out. Second baseman Phillip Henderson brought both runners in on a single to right field, and he came in moments later on a Jacksonville fielding error to tie the score at 3.

But the Chevy boys blew the game out of the water with some outstanding hitting in the bottom of the third. Castleberry took his second walk of the game to lead off, and advanced on a single by Tommy Sanders. Toney plated Castleberry with a double, and Hayden Simpson singled to score Sanders to make it 5-3.

But Gwatney was just getting started. Tillman grounded a single to left to bring in Toney, and put the Chevy boys back to the top of their lineup with Allen.

Allen didn’t disappoint, sending another single into left to score Simpson to make it 7-3.

Brown doubled into left-center to bring in Tillman and Allen to extend the lead to six.

Gwatney needed four runs in the bottom of the fifth to go home early, and singles by Toney and Simpson to start out the frame set Tillman up to get the Chevy boys halfway there. Tillman singled down the left field line to score Simpson and Toney.

Kenny Cummings, on in place of Brown, got just one at bat but made it count with a ground single up the middle. A bases-loaded walk to Tommy Sanders plated another and Thurman ended the game with a single to second that scored Cummings for the final run.

Toney was 3 of 3 with a double, two RBI and two runs. Tillman was 2 of 2 with five RBI and three runs, and Simpson went 2 of 3 with a RBI and two runs.

SPORTS>> Sylvan Hills All-Stars capture state

By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports editor

The spray from a dozen root beer bottles wasn’t going to be enough for this moment.

This one would require an entire bucket of ice water, too.

Gerry Eddlemon received the dousing of his players and coaches with glee after his Sylvan Hills Razorback All-Stars took home the Cal Ripken 7-8-year-old state championship on Tuesday night at the Sylvan Hills Sports Complex with a 9-7 win over Bryant.

The title came a little more than three months after tornadoes ripped apart the Razorbacks’ home ballpark and less than two months after the Sylvan Hills Bears won the 6A state high school championship.

“One thing we told our kids is, the Sylvan Hills sign meant a little more this year than ever because of the tornado,” Eddlemon said. “We got a great bunch of kids and parents. The kids have worked hard. Last week, we really, really pushed them. They came through and we’re proud of them.”

The Razorbacks went undefeated through a bracket featuring 48 teams when the tournament began on July 4. They beat Bryant twice in two nights to win the title, taking an 11-6 win in the winner’s bracket finals on Monday.

On Tuesday night, as on Monday, the Razorbacks jumped to a big lead early. They put up five runs in the first inning, which included an RBI double by Justin Glasco and a 2-run single by Brandon LeDoux.

But Bryant rallied for four in the bottom half, then tied the game in the third. Sylvan Hills had base runners throughout the early innings, but lost two on the base paths on one play in the third, and another one at the plate in the fifth. But the fifth inning is when the Razorbacks took the lead for good, scoring a run on Xavier Roberson’s line drive single to left to bring in Ryan Lumpkin with the go-ahead run.

Sylvan Hills used its solid defense to set down Bryant in order in the fifth, putting them within three outs of the title. The Razorbacks, though, set about getting some insurance in the sixth, which turned out to be critical. Glasco and ZachDouglass singled and Nick Fakouri was safe on a fielder’s choice to load the bases with no outs.

Christian Hendrickson lined a 2-run single to the fence in left. Fakouri made it 9-5 when he scored on Austin Hess’ bunt single.

The final out didn’t come easy for the Razorbacks after Bryant put a runner at first with two outs. For the second straight night, Larry Thompson homered, making it 9-7. An infield single brought the tying run to the plate, but shortstop Douglass fielded a grounder and flipped to second baseman Glasco for the force and the win.

“The middle infield has done a great job for us,” Eddlemon said. “We knew if we hit the ball, we felt there was nobody that could touch us because our defense is so solid.”

Anchoring that defense was third baseman Nick Fakouri, who made several outstanding plays in the final two games, as well as catcher Christian Hendrickson.

“Christian is a solid catcher,” Eddlemon said. “I promise you this, all the teams are scared to steal because of Christian. He does an excellent job. And Fakouri at third has made the throws when we needed them.”

That just left hitting, which Eddlemon admitted was a concern coming into the tournament. He said the coaches focused on hitting, and it appeared to pay off. Roberson, Glasco, Douglass, Hendrickson and Hess each picked up two hits on Tuesday. Hendrickson drove in three runs, while LeDoux brought home two more.

Eddlemon said coming up short in two previous tournaments might have been the springboard to this week’s success.

“We played in Lonoke a couple of weeks ago and lost to Bryant and took third place,” he said. “Then we took second in the Rose City tournament. Those tournaments helped us build as a better team because we knew what we needed to do to win.

“We figured we had a chance to win this. We pretty much knew the top five teams and we knew we could compete with them.”
In Monday night’s winner’s bracket finals, Sylvan Hills got RBIs from Fakouri, Hess and Nick Wenger to score four in the first inning. The Razorbacks added two more in the second. Lumpkin and Hayden Seward scored on RBIs from Brody Johnson and Roberson.

But Bryant scored three in the third and added two more in the fifth to narrow the margin to 6-5. Sylvan Hills erupted for five big insurance runs in the fifth, getting an RBI from Roberson, an RBI single from Douglass and a 2-run single from Hess as the Razorbacks went on to past an 11-6 win.

Roberson led the way with two hits, two runs and two RBI, while Wenger added a pair of hits. Hess drove in three runs.

The Razorbacks got more great defense in the contest, including a falling-down catch of a popup by Fakouri to end the first inning. He also made a long throw across to end a bases-loaded threat in the third. Douglass picked off a sharp grounder to record the first out of the fifth, while Glasco made a falling-down catch of a pop up to end the inning.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

EDITORIAL >>Initiatives good and bad

Arkansas is one of only 24 states that have an initiative process that allows the citizenry to write and enact laws, and it makes it rather hard by requiring the signatures of a lot of voters to put a proposal on the ballot. The high threshold — 8 percent of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election — is supposed to keep everyone with a rash or simply nutty idea from putting it before voters who do not have the time to inform themselves.

The wisdom of that threshold proved itself again Monday when the backers of a proposed act to punish immigrants failed to get the required 62,000 signatures to put it on the November ballot. They fell far short of petition requirements, which might be poor organization but which we like to think reflected the good judgment of voters. The short but far too simple explanation of the proposal was that it would prevent people who are in the country illegally from receiving public benefits.

Gov. Beebe pointed out that much of the nightmarishly long proposition was already state or federal law and if it were enacted the state would be saddled with duplicative or in some cases conflicting laws. What it would have done is require the state government to establish new bureaucracies at a high cost to taxpayers to try to enforce what the federal government does or fails to do. The sponsors wanted to capture and inflame the hysteria in some quarters over the growing number of Hispanic workers.

Now people in the voting booth this fall will not have to parse that bewildering proposition to figure out if it would be good public policy. They would not have much chance, of course, because you are allowed three minutes in the booth, but the reasoning behind these propositions is that people will simply vote their gut emotions: Illegal immigrants? Vote against them.

A similar rationale lies behind two other initiative propositions that probably will make it on the ballot: an act to prevent unmarried couples from adopting children or serving as foster parents and a constitutional amendment to legalize lotteries and other forms of gambling that the legislature might want to authorize. The well-heeled lottery campaign raised far more signatures than are required and is almost certain to be on the ballot. We will have for the first time a straight up-or-down vote on a lottery.

The adoption and foster-parenting act fell well short of the legal signatures, but a loophole in the initiative and referendum law — perhaps 15,000 of the signatures are illegal — gives them a 30-day hiatus to recover and get the extra signatures to get it certified to the ballot.

The adoption/foster-parenting proposition counts on popular loathing for gays and lesbians. The backers try to put an anti-gay proposal (example: gay marriage) on the ballot every two years. It gets out a good conservative vote.

This one is particularly harmful because it would restrict the choices that state child-welfare people can make for thousands of neglected children. The state has a shortage of willing adoptive and foster parents and a record of abuse. The state has a history of scandalous treatment of foster children, by heterosexual custodians, but this would make it illegal to put children in the homes of caring people if for some reason they do not have a valid marriage license. Though the ideal would be stable married couples, studies have shown that children thrive emotionally in the homes of unmarried couples. The proposal would remove that option for desperate children.

We think that voters ultimately will side with the children and not with the social ideologues.

The lottery amendment is apt to pass. The campaign will be well financed and the net proceeds of the lottery are for a purpose that no one can be against: college scholarships. Lotteries raise a moral issue: Should state government be in the business of encouraging people, particularly the poor, to gamble their money on a long shot at instant wealth, even if youngsters will benefit from the net proceeds? Everyone will act upon his or her own moral compass about that. Our guess, based on opinion polls, is that most voters will say yes. Except for a few and the very poor, small-time gambling is a harmless vice.

This lottery proposition raises a couple of troubling issues. First, the sponsors vastly overstate the proceeds that will flow to the colleges. But lottery backers, which include the gaming industry, always overstate the proceeds. It will not be $100 million a year, but it could be $40 million to $50 million. Having our own lottery will keep some capital in the state because people who want to buy tickets will not have to cross the state line. Of course, part of the proceeds will flow out of Arkansas to the gaming contractors who will get the business.

A larger issue for some people may be the breadth of the proposition. The drafters chose not to define a lottery, which means that the amendment would repeal the current constitutional prohibition against gambling. The courts have interpreted lotteries broadly to mean gambling. If the legislature subsequently chose to legalize casinos, as it once did (Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller vetoed the bill in 1969), the cloud over its legality would be removed.

This is still not the clean, simple initiative to authorize a state-run lottery that lots of people wanted. When the gambling industry is involved, nothing is ever simple and clean. But the issues will be clearly explicated this time and for the first time since 1964 we should have a clear expression from the voters on legalized gambling.

TOP STORY > >Donated fans are going quickly

By NANCY DOCKTER
Leader staff writer

If you are in need of a donated fan or air conditioner, you had better apply quickly to local agencies, because the supply is limited.

For residents of Jacksonville, the best bet may be Watershed Human and Community Development Agency. The Little Rock organization still has a limited number of fans and air conditioners for individuals who can show true medical and financial need.

First consideration will be given to bedridden individuals with no air conditioning, the elderly, mothers with small children and those with serious health problems.

Folks living in White County who need a window air conditioner might check with the White River Area Agency on Aging in Batesville, which plans to give away window air conditioning units purchased with a $3,000 grant from Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel. The agency serves a 10-county area, so that will buy about one unit per county, estimates executive director Ed Haas.

The agency will be very selective about who gets one. Households with existing air conditioners, even a broken one, are not eligible.

“We are looking for folks who don’t have air conditioning at all and have a medical condition that warrants it,” Haas said.

Watershed was one of 16 agencies and churches across Arkansas who received funds as part of a $50,000 grant from the attorney general. CareLink, that serves Pulaski and Lonoke counties, was a recipient of the same grant, but the 37 air conditioning units purchased are already earmarked for elderly persons served by that agency.

The Jacksonville Senior Center will be glad to distribute donated fans to those in need. Right now, the center has only two fans on hand and welcomes “gently used or new 20-inch box fans to give to people who need them,” said Betty Seales, the center’s assistant director. For seniors looking for a place to escape the heat, the center is open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

If relief from summer electric bills is what you need, the Central Arkansas Development Council may be able to help. To be eligible, a household’s income must be at or below 125 percent of the federal poverty line and not have received utility-bill assistance from the council this year.

With the advent of summer, precautions should be taken to avoid heat stroke and other heat-related illnesses. The elderly, people with health problems, and young children are those most at risk. However, prolonged exposure to heat and humidity without replenishment of fluids and salts can cause illness, even in the healthy and fit. Heat cramps result from salt depletion due to heavy perspiration. Heat exhaustion is the most common heat-related illness; symptoms include weakness, nausea, dizziness and confusion.

Sunstroke – or heat stroke – is a life-threatening condition requiring emergency medical care. A victim’s temperature-regulating mechanism stops working and may result in permanent damage to internal organs. Symptoms are dry skin, high fever, delirium, and seizures. First aid includes cold baths, wet sheets, and application of ice.

Each year, about 370 deaths nationally are attributed to heat. In 2007, 10 deaths in Arkansas were caused by heat, according to death-certificate data from the Arkansas Center for Health Statistics. The year on record with the most Arkansas deaths due to heat was 1980, with 153 fatalities. Conditions increasing risk of heat-related illness include obesity, heart disease, mental illness, poor circulation and prescription drug and alcohol use.

So far this year, temperatures in central Arkansas have not yet approached the extremes of last August, when for 10 days, including one stretch of eight days, the highs were 100 degrees or above. The summer outlook for this area, according to the NOAA Southern Regional Climate Center, is “near-normal precipitation and a 33 percent chance of above normal temperatures.”

Extreme temperatures like those of last year are not expected, but then neither were the blistering days of 2007. Last summer’s forecast only “indicated a warm and dry summer overall,” said Chris Buonanno, science and operations officer for the National Weather Service, Little Rock.

Heat spells like the one last year result when high pressure sets in over a region. Rainstorms are diverted around the system, while the air below only gets hotter day by day. Eventually, soil and plants dry out, halting evaporation and its cooling effect on the environment. According to Buonanno, that is basically what happened in 2007, when July was drier than normal, setting up conditions for the August heat wave.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac, which has been issuing weather forecasts since 1792, also did not see the August 2007 heat wave coming.

The long-term forecast for last summer anticipated August average temperatures only one degree above average. Solar activity, local weather history, and a secret formula crafted by the almanac’s founder, Robert B. Thomas, are used to arrive at the seasonal forecasts formulated more than a year in advance.

The almanac claims “80 percent accuracy,” according to spokesperson Ginger Vaughan. For summer and fall 2008, the almanac predicts that July will be a degree cooler than average, balanced by a slightly warmer August, followed by a drier and cooler September and an unusually warm, dry October.

TOP STORY > >Hustlin’ Lu should give back bonus and resign

Luther Hardin, the tireless self-promoter who’s itching to run for governor after Mike Beebe finishes out his second term, should give back the $300,000 bonus he received from his pliant board of trustees just for staying on as president of the University of Central Arkansas.

After he returns the tainted money, he should resign.

His pals who sit on the UCA board were grateful that Hardin wouldn’t accept the presidency at another institution, presumably the University of Arkansas, which didn’t want him anyway. The bonus was extorted from cash-strapped students who pay exorbitant textbook fees and tuition so their president and former state senator can live lavishly — and free at the president’s mansion — and plot his political comeback.

Hustlin’ Lu is making a cool quarter million a year on the taxpayers’ dime — which is what many people make around here in 10 years — plus perks and expenses. On top of all that, he does commercials not only to promote his school but also to build his name recognition when he runs for governor in five years or so.

In addition to his bonus, he’s received at least that much in free political advertising. When Hardin comes on TV, it’s time to switch to another channel or take the dogs out for a walk.

Hardin and his board at first denied he received the bonus, but when nosy reporters uncovered the truth, they apologized and promised not do it again. The entire management at UCA needs shaking up, and the money saved should go to professors and to lower tuition and fees.

There’s no telling how many secret raises are approved on our college campuses and government agencies, but the state press should find out. The Freedomof Information Act, which Lu helped write in his younger days, should shed some more light on this and other crimes and misdemeanors.

Hardin, like Beebe, is a native of White County, but unlike Beebe, Hardin switched parties and became a Republican a decade ago out of sheer opportunism.

He’s a failed politician — he was a state senator from Russellville but lost a race for the U.S. Senate to succeed David Pryor.

After Hustlin’ Lu switched parties, Gov. Huckabee made him director of the state higher education department until the UCA gig became available.

Ever grateful to Iron Mike, Hustlin’ Lu went campaigning for the former governor in New Hampshire and elsewhere.

Huckabee did all right in the presidential primaries, but his record caught up with him, so now he’s an expert commentator on Fox News as he plots another race for president, hoping John McCain will lose. Hustlin’ Lu will probably help Huckabee when he runs for president again. Hardin could keep his job at UCA for a while, but what university would want him after this scandal?

He’ll never become governor, but then there’s always the possibility of a cabinet post in the Huckabee administration. He’d fit right in.

TOP STORY > >Test results from SAT-10 above norm

By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer

Recently released results of this year’s SAT-10 test given to every third- through eighth-grader in the state in April show that Cabot students are well above the state average, and fourth-graders at Magness Creek and sixth-graders at Cabot’s Academic School of Excellence are among the top in the nation.

The test, which this year was ingrained into the Benchmark exams, compares Arkansas students to students across the nation, while the Benchmark compares how well a student does in relationship to what the state is teaching at that grade level.

On the SAT-10, students were scored in mathematics, reading comprehension, comprehensive language and science (grades 5 and 7 only). Overall, students did best in math and worst in language.

If a student had a national percentile ranking of 75 that meant that he scored better than 75 percent of the students, in that grade level across the country, while 25 percent scored better than that student.

At Magness Creek Elementary, the average national percentile ranking (NPR) for fourth-graders in math was 85 and 81 in reading, putting them in the top fifth of the nation’s fourth-graders.

Sixth-graders at the Academic School of Excellence did even better with a 96 NPR in math, meaning just 4 percent of the sixth- graders across the nation did better. ACEsixth-graders also had an 81 in reading.

CABOT

At Eastside Elementary, third-graders averaged a 71 NPR in math, 57 in reading and 48 in language. Fourth-graders had a 74 in math, 72 in reading and 38 in language.

Central Elementary third-graders had a 74 NPR in math, 63 in reading and 55 in language. Fourth-graders had a 67 in math, 72 in reading and 33 in language.

Westside third-graders fell in the middle with a 55 NPR in math, 46 in reading and 33 in language. Fourth-graders jumped up to a 71 in math, 69 in reading and 47 in language.

Southside third-graders had a 60 NPR in math, 59 in reading and 42 in language. Fourth- graders had a 77 NPR in math, 76 in reading and 48 in language.

Northside third graders had a 65 NPR in math, 48 in reading and 37 in language. Fourth- graders scored 75 in math, 67 in reading and 45 in math.

West Central third-graders had 52 NPR in math, 46 in reading and 32 in language. Fourth- graders had 67 in math, 66 in reading and 32 in language.

Magness Creek third-graders had a 75 NPR in math, 65 in reading and 55 in language. Fourth-graders scored an 85 in math, 81 in reading and 61 in language.

Stagecoach third-graders had a 72 NPR in math, 62 in reading and 54 in language. Fourth-graders had 74 in math, 71 in reading and 39 in language.

Fifth-graders at Cabot Middle School South had a 68 NPR in math, 66 in reading, 48 in language and 66 in science. Sixth- graders had a 75 in math, 56 in reading and 57 in language.

Cabot Middle School North fifth graders had a 64 NPR in math, 68 in reading, 47 in language, 69 in science. Sixth graders had a 70 NPR in math, 56 in reading and 57 in language.

Seventh-graders at Cabot Junior High South had a 68 NPR in math, 63 in reading, 53 in language and 63 in science. Eighth- graders had 76 in math, 63 in reading and 54 in language.

Seventh-graders at Cabot Junior High North had a 66 NPR in math, 60 in reading, 50 in language and 63 in science. Eighth graders had 74 in math, 62 in reading and 47 in language.

LONOKE

Lonoke’s third-graders had a 59 NPR in math, 50 in reading and 39 in language, while the fourth-graders averaged 70 in math, 67 in reading and 33 in language.

Fifth-graders had a 59 NPR in math, 65 in reading, 47 in language and 52 in science. Sixth- graders averaged 63 in math, 43 in reading and 36 in language.

Seventh-graders had a 63 NPR in math, 55 in reading, 44 in language and 58 in science, while eighth-graders had 66 in math, 50 in reading and 39 in language.

ENGLAND

England’s third-graders had a 47 NPR in math, 43 in reading and a 29 in language, while the fourth-graders had 63 in math, 58 in reading and 23 in language.

Fifth graders averaged a 57 NPR in math, 56 in reading, 39 in language and 41 in science.

Sixth-graders scored a 53 NPR in math, 35 in reading and 37 in language, while seventh graders had 56 in math, 40 in reading, 36 in language and 46 in science. Eight-graders had 54 in math, 34 in reading and 28 in language.

CARLISLE

Third-graders averaged a 63 NPR in math, 55 in reading and 40 in language. Fourth-graders had 78 in math, 77 in reading and 52 in language, while fifth-graders scored 65 in math, 62 in reading, 50 in language and 69 in science.

Sixth-graders had a 72 NPR in math, 50 in reading and 52 in language, while seventh-graders had 58 in math, 60 in reading, 55 in language and 52 in science. Eighth-graders had 62 in math, 57 in reading and 41 in language.

STATE AVERAGES

Statewide, third graders had a 56 NPR in math, 48 in reading and 34 in language, while fourth graders had 65 in math, 64 in reading and 33 in language.

Fifth-graders averaged a 61 NPR in math, 56 in reading, 41 in language and 52 in science, while sixth graders had 64 in math, 46 in reading and 44 in language.

Seventh-graders, across the state, averaged 56 in math, 53 in reading, 45 in language and 54 in science, while eighth-graders scored a 64 in math, 53 in reading and 41 in language.

Editor’s note: Pulaski County Special School District, Beebe and Searcy SAT-10 scores will appear in the weekend edition of The Leader.

TOP STORY > >School filings start early

By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer

Candidates who wish to run for local school board positions must file their petition during the period from Friday, July 11 through noon on Friday, July 18.

This year’s filing deadline is 60 days before the school board election and 15 days earlier than the filing deadline of previous years.

The only open school board seat in Cabot is Position 5, a five-year term held by Alan Turnbo.

Turnbo was first elected in 1998 and is the Cabot school board’s current vice president. Reportedly, he will seek the seat again.

In Beebe, the Position 2 seat held by Tommy Vanaman is open. In Beebe, candidates run at large for positions. Vanaman’s term is five years and he is running again.

The Zone 7 Pulaski County Special School District seat held by Gwen Williams comes open in September.

Williams said recently that she would seek reelection.

Two seats will be opening up on the Lonoke School District Board. In Lonoke, Mike Brown says heintends to file for reelection to the Zone 1, Position 4 seat he holds.

Miles Lilly, appointed when Jimmy Threat moved out of the district and resigned, has said he won’t run for the Zone 2, Position 1 seat he now holds.

In the PCSSD, only Williams’ Zone 7 seat affects north Pulaski patrons.

That zone includes patrons whose children formerly would have attended Adkins Elementary School, now a pre-kindergarten program, and Harris and Scott elementary schools.

The other seat coming open covers Maumelle area schools and is currently held by Pam Roberts.

Three other school board members have north Pulaski County patrons in their districts, but those seats don’t come open this year.

In Zone 5, Danny Gilliland’s constituents include those who would attend Arnold Drive, Bayou Meto, Cato, Dupree and Tolleson elementary schools, North Pulaski High School and Northwood Middle School.

In Zone 4, school board president Charlie Wood’s constituents include those who would attend Sherwood and Sylvan Hills elementary schools, Sylvan Hills Middle School and Sylvan Hills High School.

In Zone 6, Bill Vasquez’s pa-trons are in attendance zones for Jacksonville, Pinewood and Taylor elementary schools, Jacksonville Boys and Girls Middle Schools and Jacksonville High School.

Staff writers Heather Hartsell and Joan McCoy contributed to this report.

TOP STORY > >Smaller cities keep thriving

By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer

Is the nationwide bank-loan fiasco and economic slowdown hitting central Arkansas?

The building-permit numbers seem to say yes in a big way, at least in larger cities.

Sherwood is down $9 million from the same time period last year, Cabot is down nearly $5 million and Jacksonville is down $4.7 million.

In Sherwood, 98 single-home permits worth $18.26 million were issued during the first five months of 2007. During the same time period this year, 80 permits have been issued worth $9.21 million, a drop of $9 million.

Cabot issued 118 single-family and commercial permits in the first five months of 2007 worth a total of $13.76 million. For the first five months of 2008, Cabot has issued 67 permits worth $8.89 million, down $4.97 million.

In the first five months of 2007, Jacksonville issued 77 single-home permits worth a total of $8.08 million, but in the same January to May period of this year, the city has issued just 26 single-family home permits worth $3.38 million, a value drop of close to $4.7 million.The 26 total permits issued through May of this year are two fewer than were issued just in March 2007.

Smaller cities like Austin and Ward are bucking the downward trend. Ward is up about $700,000 and Austin up about $500,000. In Ward, 49 permits were issued in Janaury through May 2007 fora total value of $2.75 million. For the same time period this year, 48 permits have been issued with a value of $3.34 million.

Even though the permit numbers are down slightly this year for Austin, their value is up. In 2007, through May, Austin issued 50 building permits with a total value of $5.5 million. For the same time period this year, the city has issued 43 permits worth $6 million.

Lonoke’s numbers are running slightly ahead of last year. The value of permits issued in that city through the first five months of 2007 was $1.69 million and in 2008 its at $1.74 million.

JACKSONVILLE

In May the city issued 13 building permits worth a total of $456,000. Among the permits issued were:

A $130,000 single-family home permit issued to Garrett Construction to build at 406 Forest Glen Cove.

A $115,000 single-family home permit issued to Allgood Custom Homes to build at 5616 Aviator.

A $115,000 multi-family home permit issued to Haggard Construction to build at 913 and 915 Ruth Ann.
SHERWOOD

During May, Sherwood issued 77 permits for a total value of $2.81 million, down almost $4 million from May 2007 and for the year the city is running about $6.96 million behind 2007 in total value of permits.

Among permits issued in May were:

A $245,000 single-family home permit issued to Dussex Construction to build at 9257 Johnson.

A $237,000 single-family home permit issued to A-Plus Builders to build at 8433 Garnet Cove.

A $198,000 single-family home permit issued to Wilson Custom Construction to build at 10839 Loop Road.

A $182,300 single-family home permit issued to Shelton Bell Custom Built Homes to build at 9217 Johnson Drive.

A $169,500 single-family home permit issued to SDH Custom Homes to build at 9541 Journey Drive.

A $162,000 single-family home permit issued to Dellinger Construction to build at 3209 Clearwater Ct.

A $160,000 single-family home permit issued to Engel Construction to build at 2716 Serenade Dr.

A $155,000 single-family home permit issued to Medlock Construction to build at 9200 Wilhite Ave.

Two $140,000 single-family home permits issued to Wiggins Co., to build at 7909 and 8133 Austin Gardens Ct.

A $130,000 single-family home permit issued to Engel Home Builders to build at 233 Pumice Dr.

Two $123,417 single-family home permits issued to Custom Construction to build at 2109 and 2100 Sage Meadows Circle.

A $120,000 single-family home permit issued to J&M Builders to build at 9101 Wilhite Ave.

A $110,000 single-family home permit issued to Medlock Construction to build at 9008 Wilhite Ave.

A $104,000 single-family home permit issued to Wilson Custom Construction to build at 9201 Wilhite Ave.

Two $100,000 single-family home permits issued to Nuage Residential Contractor’s to build at 1813 and 1908 Windridge Ct.

CABOT

During May, Cabot issued eight permits worth $1.17 million. Permits issued included:

A $344,190 commercial permit issued to Greer Properties to build at 107 Plaza Blvd.

A $151,500 single-family home permit issued to Nathan Irsch to build at 59 Cossacot Circle.

A $146,375 single-family home permit issued to Paul Shield to build at 16 Emily Cove.n

A $136,375 single-family home permit issued to R&G Investments to build at 26 Tradewinds.

A $103,025 single-family home permit issued to Rausch Coleman Homes to build at 19 Daytona Dr.

A $102,125 single-family home permit issued to Rausch Coleman Homes to build at 18 Talladega Dr.

A $98,000 commercial permit issued to Country Romance to build a warehouse at 920 W. Main.

An $85,500 single-family home permit issued to RKB Construction to build at 2806 Browning Circle.

BEEBE
Beebe had a strong March with 21 building permits issued, and 16 of those for single-family homes. But only three permits were issued in April and two in May. The May permits include:

A $660,000 commercial permit issued to Delk Construction to build kindergarten classrooms.

A $130,000 single-family home permit issued to Pam and Jayson Fletcher to build at 101 Griffin Dr.

AUSTIN

Austin issued five permits during May worth about $700,000. The single-home permits during May include:

A $248,720 permit issued to Ridgepoint Home to build at180 Crystal Lake Road.

A $114,366 permit issued to KC Homes to build at 251 Lariat Drive.

A $114, 366 permit issued to Weathers Inc. to build at 242 Lariat Drive.

A $107,800 permit issued to Moore & Moore to build at 208 Plum Dr.

A $104,958 permit issued to Moore & Moore to build at 172 Peach St.

WARD

Ward issued nine permits in May and seven of them were for single family homes. Those permits included:

A $95,000 permit issued to Paul Stokes to build at 10 and 12 Sundown Dr.

A $90,575 permit issued to Howard-N-Howard Construction to build at 15 Magnolia Lane.

A $83,600 permit issued to Howard-N-Howard Construction to build at 20 Birchwood Dr.

An $80,800 permit issued to Howard-N-Howard Construction to build at 22 Magnolia Lane.

A $76,675 permit issued to Royal Concept Custom Homes to build at 65 Willow Lake.

Two $51,400 permits issued to Jeremy Greer to build at 147 and 153 Cook St.

SPORTS>>Local athletes compete in Hershey Track and Field

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Patrick Biggs, Michael Henson and Brittney Eskridge each earned second-place finishes in the Hershey’s Track and Field state meet last week.

The three, along with four other area athletes, qualified for the meet in Russellville at the regional meet in Jacksonville in April.

Biggs took second in the 200 meters in the 11-12-year-old division. He also picked up a fourth in the standing long jump and a sixth in the 100 meters.

Henson’s second place came in the 13-14 division long jump and he added a fourth place in the softball throw.

Eskridge was second in the 9-10 softball throw, and also picked up a fourth in the 50 meters.

Stevie Eskridge was fourth in the 9-10 softball throw.

Cassandra Smith finished third in the 9-10 softball throw. Robert Harris and Chanell Roy tied for third in the 11-12 softball throw. Harris took home fourth in the 100 meters.

SPORTS>>Local athletes compete in Hershey Track and Field

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Patrick Biggs, Michael Henson and Brittney Eskridge each earned second-place finishes in the Hershey’s Track and Field state meet last week.

The three, along with four other area athletes, qualified for the meet in Russellville at the regional meet in Jacksonville in April.

Biggs took second in the 200 meters in the 11-12-year-old division. He also picked up a fourth in the standing long jump and a sixth in the 100 meters.

Henson’s second place came in the 13-14 division long jump and he added a fourth place in the softball throw.

Eskridge was second in the 9-10 softball throw, and also picked up a fourth in the 50 meters.

Stevie Eskridge was fourth in the 9-10 softball throw.

Cassandra Smith finished third in the 9-10 softball throw. Robert Harris and Chanell Roy tied for third in the 11-12 softball throw. Harris took home fourth in the 100 meters.

SPORTS>>Community Bank falls in 9 innings to Panthers

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

GREENBRIER — What was supposed to be a doubleheader was reduced to one very long game and a three-inning scrimmage.

Cabot fought Greenbrier through nine innings and four pitchers, but a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth inning was enough for the AA Panthers to claim a 4-3 win over the Community Bank junior American Legion team on Monday night at Panther Field.

Greenbrier answered Cabot scores in the first and fifth innings to force extra innings, and Cabot’s 10 stranded base runners through the final four frames proved fatal.

Community Bank went through its third pitching change moments into the bottom of the ninth inning after the Panthers opened with a base hit and a walk, and Greenbrier took advantage by collecting two more base-on-balls to send the winning run across three-and-a-half hours after the opening pitch.

“We’re disappointed to lose the way we did,” Cabot coach Andy Runyan said. “We had all the chances in the world during those last four innings, but when you leave 10 runners on base, with the possible max being 12, that’s just lack of clutch hitting. Our pitchers all threw pretty good games against a pretty darn good AA team.

“We were one clutch hit away, but instead, we lose in a disappointing fashion.”

Runyan’s biggest concern following Monday night’s tough loss was how it might affect his top-seeded squad tomorrow when zone tournament play begins at Burns Park. Cabot (19-5-1) opens play with a 5 p.m. battle with Mayflower.

“I told them that with four starters from the AAA team that we did some things right tonight,” Runyan said. “But I told them,
‘I’m going to be honest with you, you’ve got to be tough enough that this won’t ruin a good season.’ We’ve got some things to work out before Thursday, and we’ll get that done, but we can’t let a night like tonight have any bearing on what we do from here on out.”

The game started out promising enough for Cabot, with leadoff batter Joe Bryant singling and scoring two batters later when three-hole hitter Cole Nicholson grounded up the middle for an RBI single. The Panthers answered with a pair of singles and a run of their own in the bottom of the first to tie the game at 1-1 after one.

The pitching staff had its work cut out during the contest. Chase Beasley held the mound through the first three innings for Cabot until Nicholson took over to start the bottom of the fourth. Powell Bryant was the third CB hurler, relieving Nicholson in the bottom of the seventh. Bryant didn’t give up any hits until the ninth, when reliever Jacob Luckett inherited two one with no outs.

Community Bank went hitless from the second inning until the fifth. Beasley walked and came around on Joe Bryant’s double. Bryant then stole third and scored on a passed ball to make it 3-1.

Greenbrier did the same thing in the bottom of the fifth that it did to start the game — answered right back. A leadoff triple led to a passed-ball score for one run, and a walk, followed by a bunt and two Cabot errors gave the Panthers the tying score at 3-3.

Cabot left the bases loaded in both the sixth and eighth innings.

Joe Byrant led Cabot, going 2 of 4 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored.

SPORTS>>Little Rock rallies past Chevy boys

By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports editor

It was a weekend of frustration for Gwatney Chevrolet at its own tournament this past weekend as the Chevy boys let several late leads get away from them.

The most heartbreaking was a 7-5 9-inning setback to Little Rock Blue on Friday afternoon in a game the Chevy boys came within an out of winning. Even worse, Blue trailed 4-0 entering the sixth inning. That’s when it all fell apart for the Chevy boys.

Tyler Wisdom, who had cruised along, allowing just two hits through the first five innings, surrendered a single and a home run to Taylor Brown to lead off the sixth, narrowing the lead to 4-2.

Relief pitcher Matt McAnally got a pop out, but Dustin Ward followed with a home run, and one single and one double later, the game was knotted at 4.

The Chevy boys immediately reclaimed the lead on a Terrell Brown single, a Patrick Castleberry double and Jason Regnas’ RBI single to center. It appeared Castleberry had scored as well when he slid around the Blue catcher, but the umpire ruled him out and Gwatney had to settle for a 5-4 lead heading into the final inning.

McAnnally retired the first two in the seventh, but a walk and Tim Watson’s double tied it.

The Chevy boys had the winning run at second after Michael Harmon singled and moved to second on a sacrifice with two outs in the eighth, but they couldn’t punch him across.

Clayton Fenton came on in relief in the ninth and, after fighting back from a 3-0 count to strike out the leadoff man, gave up a single. Watson, who tied the game with a double in the seventh, put Blue in front with another double, then came around himself on Ward’s single.

Gwatney jumped to a 1-0 lead in the first on a hit batter, two walks and Regnas’ infield RBI single.

Though the Chevy boys added another run in the second on a bases-loaded walk to McAnally, they left the bases jammed and stranded eight over the first four innings — 11 overall.

Gwatney padded its lead on a single by Ricky Tomboli, Daniel Henard’s RBI double and Harmon’s RBI single in the fifth.

Wisdom struck out one and walked three while allowing four hits and two earned runs over five innings. McAnally surrendered four hits, two walks and three earned runs while fanning two over three innings. Fenton took the loss.

Harmon led Gwatney with three hits. Henard added two.

Gwatney opened the tournament with a 16-10 loss to Benton on Thursday. The Chevy boys beat Benton late on Friday for their only tourney win before being eliminated by Russellville, 6-2, on Saturday.

Gwatney had another late lead against Russellville after McAnally had delivered RBI hits in both the first and third innings to put the Chevy boys up 2-1. But Russellville tied it in the sixth, then scored four in the seventh.

Regnas struck out 10 over six innings for Gwatney.

SPORTS>>Little Rock rallies past Chevy boys

By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports editor

It was a weekend of frustration for Gwatney Chevrolet at its own tournament this past weekend as the Chevy boys let several late leads get away from them.

The most heartbreaking was a 7-5 9-inning setback to Little Rock Blue on Friday afternoon in a game the Chevy boys came within an out of winning. Even worse, Blue trailed 4-0 entering the sixth inning. That’s when it all fell apart for the Chevy boys.

Tyler Wisdom, who had cruised along, allowing just two hits through the first five innings, surrendered a single and a home run to Taylor Brown to lead off the sixth, narrowing the lead to 4-2.

Relief pitcher Matt McAnally got a pop out, but Dustin Ward followed with a home run, and one single and one double later, the game was knotted at 4.

The Chevy boys immediately reclaimed the lead on a Terrell Brown single, a Patrick Castleberry double and Jason Regnas’ RBI single to center. It appeared Castleberry had scored as well when he slid around the Blue catcher, but the umpire ruled him out and Gwatney had to settle for a 5-4 lead heading into the final inning.

McAnnally retired the first two in the seventh, but a walk and Tim Watson’s double tied it.

The Chevy boys had the winning run at second after Michael Harmon singled and moved to second on a sacrifice with two outs in the eighth, but they couldn’t punch him across.

Clayton Fenton came on in relief in the ninth and, after fighting back from a 3-0 count to strike out the leadoff man, gave up a single. Watson, who tied the game with a double in the seventh, put Blue in front with another double, then came around himself on Ward’s single.

Gwatney jumped to a 1-0 lead in the first on a hit batter, two walks and Regnas’ infield RBI single.

Though the Chevy boys added another run in the second on a bases-loaded walk to McAnally, they left the bases jammed and stranded eight over the first four innings — 11 overall.

Gwatney padded its lead on a single by Ricky Tomboli, Daniel Henard’s RBI double and Harmon’s RBI single in the fifth.

Wisdom struck out one and walked three while allowing four hits and two earned runs over five innings. McAnally surrendered four hits, two walks and three earned runs while fanning two over three innings. Fenton took the loss.

Harmon led Gwatney with three hits. Henard added two.

Gwatney opened the tournament with a 16-10 loss to Benton on Thursday. The Chevy boys beat Benton late on Friday for their only tourney win before being eliminated by Russellville, 6-2, on Saturday.

Gwatney had another late lead against Russellville after McAnally had delivered RBI hits in both the first and third innings to put the Chevy boys up 2-1. But Russellville tied it in the sixth, then scored four in the seventh.

Regnas struck out 10 over six innings for Gwatney.

SPORTS>>Renegades race to state title

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

First-year softball programs tend to struggle and suffer through growing pains, but don’t expect the Sherwood Renegades to be receiving much sympathy from their veteran foes anytime soon.

In its inaugural season, the Renegades ’96 fast-pitch softball team captured the USSSA state title over the weekend only a week after taking the Arkansas Amateur Softball Association (ASA) state crown. Add a perfect 11-0 season record in league play against primarily 14-U teams, and the picture becomes clearer that this upstart team’s growing pains have pretty much subsided.

It took three games against the Mustangs to capture the championship last Sunday. TheMustangs handed them their first loss in three tournaments during the winner’s bracket finals, but the Renegades bounced back for a 2-1 win in the ‘if’ game. The two teams faced off one final time in the championship game, with the Renegades waiting out a two-hour rain delay, and fighting through extra innings to win 6-3.

Brittany Hubbard provided the key hit in the finals with an RBI double that broke the tie, bringing in the universal runner in the overtime affair.

Renegades coach Rowdy Broadway said the quick road to success is no accident.

“We’ve got a great core of girls,” Broadway said. “They have really learned the meaning of being team players. They have really adjusted to each other. They have put in a lot of hard work and effort. If I called a practice tomorrow at 5 … all 12 of them would be there.”

The Renegades began tournament play with a 6-3 win over Nonstop. Ashley Broadway’s two-run double was the offensive spark, and was backed by Michelle Sorenson’s 8-strikeout performance.

Sorenson is one of three hurlers for the Renegades, along with Whitney Jarvis and Jeana Canady. The infield includes first baseman Allie Clark, second baseman Logan Stevenson, shortstop Jordie Flippo and third baseman Kaylie Roberts. Brittany Hubbard and Breanna Sanders share time as catcher for the Renegades, and Hannah Shaw, Courtney Douglass and Broadway make up the outfield.

Strong defense was a theme for the Renegades throughout the 16-team tournament. The second-round game against the River Valley Rippers also came down to clutch pitching, as Sorenson struck out the final two batters of the game with the tying run at second base in a 3-2 Renegade win.

That put them in the semifinals against Bryant Express. The Express rallied for two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, but came up a run short as the Renegades advanced to the winner’s bracket finals with a 4-3 win.

Their overall record for the season stands at 29-16, with many of those losses coming in early tournament play. The Renegades managed a number of second and third-place finishes in their first weeks of existence before their breakthrough tourney win at the ASA regionals in Maumelle on June 13 and 14.

That qualified them for ASA state in Bentonville during the final weekend of June, which they eventually claimed for their first state crown. From the start of the ASA regional, in fact, the Renegades have amassed a 23-1 record through three tournaments and league play.

Broadway said his practices are strenuous, but have paid big dividends so far.

“We spend a lot of time on real-life scenarios,” Broadway said. “We don’t do a lot of the simple hit and throw drills. We will set up base runners and designate a certain number of outs, and see how they play through the situation to know what corrections we need to make.

“The last three weeks, we have done a lot of batting drills with a machine and wiffle balls, with the ball on a rope, and with a machine and baseballs to let them hit balls at a higher speed for hand-eye coordination.”

The Renegades will be in tournament play this weekend at the Sherwood Sports Complex in a memorial scholarship fundraising tournament, and will take the rest of July and the entire month of August off before returning to action in September.

SPORTS>>Sylvan Hills runs the table

By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports editor

It took just three pitches – and three sparkling defensive plays – for the ‘AAA’ Sylvan Hills Bruins to put the finishing touches on their come-from-behind win over North Little Rock on Saturday afternoon.

The Bruins tied the game in the sixth and took the lead in the seventh. But with the top of a potent Colts lineup due up in the bottom half of the seventh, the game seemed far from over. Actually, it was just three pitches away.

First pitch from Nathan Eller: A rocket headed to left-center but picked off by leaping shortstop Mark Turpin, who caught it in the webbing of his glove.

Second pitch: A shot headed for the gap in right-center but spectacularly caught by diving center fielder Ross Bogart.

Third pitch: A high chopper charged by third baseman T.C. Squires, whose hard throw beat Travis Bearden and secured the Bruins’ 3-2 win in the winner’s bracket of the Gwatney Chevrolet Fourth of July Classic at Dupree Park.

The win was the Bruins third in as many games in the tournament and propelled them into the championship game on Sunday.

But rains washed out the finals and the tournament ended without a champion.

In addition to his extra-bases-saving grab in the seventh, Bogart led the Bruins’ 10-hit attack by going 4 of 4 and scoring the go-ahead run in the seventh.

Sylvan Hills starter Brandon Chastain recorded the first two outs of the first inning before a walk, a double and two singles provided all the scoring for the Colts in the contest.

Chastain allowed only one more base runner the rest of his stint, but was pulled for Eller in the fourth inning.

The Bruins suffered in futility through the early portion of the game, leaving two runners on base in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings. A walk, an error, Bogart’s bloop single and Garrett Eller’s groundout narrowed the Colts’ lead to 2-1 in the third.

Nathan Eller pitched around a pair of one-out singles in the fourth, the inning ending whenTurpin made a diving snag of Clark Sims’ shot toward center. Sims lined out three times, including when Nathan Eller robbed him of a hit leading off the game.

Eller pitched around a one-out walk in the fifth and a leadoff single in the sixth.

The Bruins finally tied the game in the sixth. Matt Rugger looped a single into shallow right, then took second on the right fielder’s throwing error. That proved critical as pinch hitter Korey Arnold’s grounder to short – which might have been a double play with Rugger still at first – moved Rugger to third base with two outs. Clint Thornton then grounded a 3-2 pitch into left to tie it.

Bogart led off the winning rally in the seventh for Sylvan Hills by slapping the first offering into right for his fourth hit of the game. Garrett Eller bunted him to second, and a walk to Squires and a single by Nathan Eller loaded the bases. With two outs, Arnold came through with a single past the third baseman to give the Bruins the lead.

Eller got the win, allowing three hits in four scoreless innings. He struck out three and walked one.

SYLVAN HILLS 3, BENTON 1

Sylvan Hills did all its damage early, then held on in Saturday’s winner’s bracket game.

The Bruins got four of their five hits over four consecutive batters in the first inning, then went almost completely silent against Malvern High standout Kevin White, who fanned 13.

But those three first-inning runs proved more than enough behind a combined 3-hitter by Blain Sims and D.J. Baxendale.

White issued a leadoff walk in to Clint Thornton and one out later Baxendale beat out an infield hit. Bogart lined a single into right to score Thornton and Garrett Eller followed with a solid single through the hole between first and second.

Baxendale made it 2-0 when he scampered across on a wild pitch, and Matt Rugger followed with the Bruins’ fourth consecutive single to make it 3-0.

Sylvan Hills had a good chance for more after T.C. Squires walked to load the bases with one out. But White settled down to record the first two of his 13 strikeouts. The only base runners to reach over the next five innings were on a strikeout/passed ball and a hit batsman.

Sims pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the second, then walked the first two in the fourth. But he retired the next three to preserve the shutout and the 3-run lead.

Benton broke through in the fifth on a walk and a Steven Brooks triple.

Baxendale, who injured his ankle at the plate in the third, was able to shake it off and come on in relief of Sims in the sixth, striking out four of the seven batters he faced and allowing one hit.