Friday, August 22, 2008

TOP STORY > >Jacksonville district is seen as a ‘win-win’

By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer

Proponents of detaching Jacksonville and much of north Pulaski County from the Pulaski County Special School District have crafted a district boundary they hope will be approved at the next meeting of the PCSSD school board.

The map has been discussed with the mayors of Jacksonville and Sherwood and has been used by consultants for tax and revenue purposes in figuring the feasibility of such a new district, according to state Rep. Will Bond. Bond’s maneuvering in the state House of Representatives over the past six years has pushed PCSSD and North Little Rock School Districts toward taking the steps needed for release from the current court-ordered desegregation agreement. The Little Rock School District already has been declared unitary—or desegregated—by U.S. District Judge Bill Wilson, but the Joshua Intervenors have appealed that ruling.

Using the map and the most recent available school enrollment statistics, Stewart Education Consulting has completed a 32-page draft report that finds splitting the district into two would be a win-win situation.

According to the map, the new district would have roughly 6,000 students, and PCSSD about 12,000.

Jay Whisker, Jacksonville’s director of administration and former city engineer, has drawn the boundaries of that proposed district, which were used to calculate the feasibility of a stand-alone Jacksonville/north Pulaski County school district and to show it can be done without harming PCSSD.

Whisker said Tuesday that he was unaware of any opposition to those boundaries, which he drew up in consultation with Sherwood Mayor Virginia Hillman and Jack-sonville Mayor Tommy Swaim. Hillman wants the Sherwood attendance zones contiguous with Sherwood city limits, including the recent annexation of Gravel Ridge.

“The Sherwood mayor did not want Northwood Middle School and Cato Elementary in our district and doesn’t want any of the city limits of Sherwood in our district,” Whisker said.

So, according to the boundaries Whisker drew, a new district would be bounded by Sherwood and Faulkner County on the west, Faulkner County on the north and Lonoke County on the east. The southern boundary is Jacksonville’s southern city limit and Wooten Road to Lonoke County.

The following schools would be in the proposed new district:

Arnold Drive Elementary, Bayou Meto Elementary, Homer Adkins Pre-K, Jacksonville Elementary, Murrell Taylor Elementary and Pinewood Elementary.

Also, Tolleson Elementary, Warren Dupree Elementary, Jacksonville Boys Middle School, Jacksonville Girls Middle School, North Pulaski High School and Jacksonville High School.

Using those boundaries, the feasibility study explores projected revenues, tax rates, facilities needs and teacher salaries, among other data. Stewart’s study is under review before it will be presented to PCSSD board members in time for the next regular meeting, Bond said.

Unless it is radically revised from the current draft, the study will conclude that it is in the interest of both the proposed Jacksonville school district and the remaining PCSSD to split.

As currently written, Donald M. Stewart’s financial analysis finds that both districts would be financially sustainable and that it is to the financial advantage of PCSSD to separate from Jacksonville.

“The division into separate districts will create an atmosphere of unity and cooperation that will mitigate the divided support currently found under the present conditions,” the report concludes. “The resulting districts could and should create a ‘win-win’ situation for everyone involved.”

Stewart’s report concludes that PCSSD and those in favor of forming a Jacksonville district should immediately start an orderly process to divide the two independent districts.

It recommends the employment of an administrative team to address various issues and that a process be developed to help divide the real estate and personal property assets including buildings, transportation equipment and maintenance, and operation equipment.

Division of existing staff and of operation, capital and building- fund balances, of the remaining desegregation funds from the state and questions regarding special student transfer provisions would also need to be addressed, according to Stewart.

“We’ve had Band-Aids and roof fixes, but not much significant done to Jacksonville-area buildings in recent years,” Bond said.

“It’s really time for us to get this done.

“I really believe this is going to happen,” Bond said. “We’re really close. It has been common sense for many years.”

Bond said a Jacksonville district would be the culmination of a 30-year effort. “It takes a tremendous community effort to get this done,” he said, but “it’s the right thing to do for our kids.”

TOP STORY > >PCSSD numbers up 199 from ’07

By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer

After the fifth day of school, enrollment at Pulaski County Special School District is up for the first time in recent history, according to Robert Clowers, director of educational accountability.

Clowers said the district will take an eight-day count next week to confirm the new enrollment of 18,068—up 199 from last year.

“This is very encouraging,” he said. He thought advertising and better test scores contributed to the increase.

Elementary school enrollment, including pre-kindergarten, was up 339 from last year, while secondary schools lost about 140 students, including 38 from the Jacksonville Girls Middle School and another 23 from the boys school.

Here’s how area schools fared, starting with the elementary schools. Arnold Drive—268 students, up from 257; Bayou Meto—380, up from 374; Homer Adkins Pre-K--96, down from 101; Jacksonville--540, up from 537.

Murrell Taylor—405, down from 428; Pinewood—405, up from 394; Cato—346 up from 341; Warren Dupree—287, down from 302.

Middle schools:

Jacksonville boys—341, down from 346; Jacksonville girls—344, down from 382; Northwood—637 up from 618; Sylvan Hills—673, up from 660.

High schools:

North Pulaski—858, up from 920; Jacksonville—1058, up from 1029; Sylvan Hills—978, up from 899.

TOP STORY > >Charter school moves forward in Jacksonville

By NANCY DOCKTER
Leader staff writer

The prospect of a local charter school drew more than 100 people to the Jacksonville Community Center on Wednesday night. The diverse crowd included blacks and whites, the young and old. Some were parents, some not yet, some clearly too old to have school-age children.

By and large, it was a unified group of folks wanting something better for public education in Jacksonville. They are counting on a charter school to deliver that change.

Michael Ronan, president and CEO of Lighthouse Academies, Inc., the organization providing the educational model for the proposed school, promised that he and his team of educators would not disappoint. He described a learning environment “infused with the arts in which children learn with all their senses so that they retain more quickly and longer,” where failure and dropping out are never an option, and all would graduate fully prepared to go to college, not needing freshman remedial courses.

Ronan founded the nonprofit organization Lighthouse Academies 10 years ago, after a 30-year career as a school teacher and administrator, to provide leadership to individuals and groups wanting to start a charter school, primarily in underserved urban areas. The first school opened in the South Bronx in New York City. Now there are nine others in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and the District of Columbia.

Jacksonville organizers for a Lighthouse Academy plan to file an application with the Arkansas Board of Education (ADE) by the end of this month, requesting a charter to open the school in fall 2009. They will know the ADE’s decision by the end of the year. The school would be supported by public funds as part of the Pulaski County Special School District.
Students attending the school, however, could live in a school district, city or county other than where the school is located.

The first year, the school would be kindergarten through sixth grade with a total of 344 students. Kindergarten would have two classes of 22 students each. All other grades would have two classes of 25 students each. A grade would be added each year through high school for a total eventually of 644 students. Ronan emphasized that high academic achievement will require everyone –students, their parents and teachers – to be fully engaged and “focused on excellence, every day.”

“You won’t see the dropout rate you see in Jacksonville schools today,” he said. “You have to say no to that – can’t even think about it.”

So how does Ronan plan to engage the underprivileged kids, who often struggle in school, but stand to benefit the most from the kind of learning environment he described? All backgrounds and levels of academic achievement are encouraged to apply.

“We want to make sure everyone in the community knows about the school – go door to door, hang flyers on door knobs,” he encouraged.

Failures and dropouts at Lighthouse Academies are unheard of, he maintained, because the staff is “relentless” about engaging parents in their children’s education and helping students overcome deficiencies and excel.

Ronan described what is in place at other Lighthouse Academies that have helped pull up lagging test scores and make sure kids are ready for college. All students take the same courses, which are considered essential for college success. The arts, primarily visual but also music, movement and drama, are an integral part of learning, whether it be in geography, literature, history or science. Art could take the form of an illustrated book, collage or finger puppet to help reinforce a phonics lesson.

“Art engages students in a different way, so what they see and hear makes more sense to them and sticks with them,” Ronan said.

Student assessment includes the Stanford series national achievement tests, state testing, and additional tests every nine-week period to give teachers “real time data” to zero in how a student is doing and where extra help is needed, Ronan said. A full-time instructional coach at every school analyzes data and advises teachers. Parents get report cards too on how well they are engaged in their child’s education. Students who are failing generally have parents “who don’t take that much interest in them,” Ronan said. Parents are expected to attend conferences each grading period, and at the start of each school year to discuss goals with the child’s teacher.

Parents may also participate as volunteers, as elected representatives on a school’s board of directors, or may form a parent organization.

“We are relentless in engaging parents in their child’s education, because that is the key thing – for the parent to believe the child can be successful, to be involved,” Ronan said.

Many students entering a charter school have some catching up to do. Deficiencies are addressed by after-school tutoring, Saturday school, and summer enrichment camp, as well as a school day and school year longer than what is customary in public schools. The school day for all grades, including kindergarten, is eight hours long, and the school year is 190 days.

Teachers stay with the same group of students for two years, from first grade on, to maximize learning and avoid “a lot of time lost at the first of the school year when teachers are learning where students left off,” Ronan said.

The emphasis is on “art-infused” academics, Ronan said, so a formal physical education program is a lesser budgetary priority. “But we do get the students moving during the day,” he promised.
Another lesser budgetary priority is school buses. The school will have one bus, but the school is “not likely to create an elaborate transportation system,” Ronan said. As for extracurricular activities, a lot is going on at other Lighthouse Academies – from tennis to chess club. It is all according to the interests of the students, community resources, and the energy that parents, teachers, and volunteers want to put into it.
Expectations are high for students’ behavior. Suspensions and expulsions do occur at Lighthouse Academies. All students wear uniforms, which parents are expected to purchase.

“A clear code of conduct with logical consequences, not just a punitive system” is the order of the day, Ronan said. “We teach them how they should have responded so that they can learn from their mistakes.”

Assistance is provided to students with special needs – including physical challenges, autism, and attention deficit disorder or other learning difficulties. These students are welcome and “participate in the program as they can,” Ronan said.

Teachers are recruited through a national search; all candidates are evaluated on a demonstration lesson and their response to the critique. The school principal hires and sets salary according to a teacher’s qualifications. Salaries are “competitive with the local teacher salary structure,” and benefits include retirement and health insurance, Ronan said. Union representation is a choice to be made by the teachers.

The principal also has the authority to give – and withdraw – incentive pay, based upon that teacher’s students’ progress.

“Performance determines whether (a teacher) stays at a school or not,” Ronan said.

Because enrollment is limited, and interest likely will exceed available space, a lottery is planned for next May, if the charter is awarded. Children of all founding board members and teachers, however, will be guaranteed a spot, and any sibling of a child whose name is drawn also will be able to attend the school.

Jacksonville native Charla Gutte decided to come to the meeting Wednesday night when she heard that Ronan was to speak.

Years ago, as a new teacher in Massachusetts, he was her superintendent for 12 years.

“He was wonderful; I can’t say enough good things about him,” Gutte said. “I know what this guy is all about. He’s good.

They’ve got a good resource in him.”

Rebel Wilson, who has a 1-year-old son and serves on the Jacksonville Lighthouse Academy board, said she is looking forward to the day that Jacksonville will have its own school district, with schools that will provide a clean, safe, happy environment and will prepare students for college. Right now, because the “Pulaski County Special School District is not doing an adequate job of taking care of our children, the community is losing good families” who choose to live elsewhere, she said. ”A charter school is a step in the right direction, though it isn’t going to be able to help every child.”
Karen Carlisle of Jacksonville observed that the art-infused approach was a lot like the instruction her now-grown daughter received in a Montessori school.

“It was very effective, I know from experience,” she said. “If I had school-age children, I definitely would be interested. We need to have more educational opportunities in Jacksonville, so we can keep kids in public schools.”

Basing his comments on his daughter’s experience at a Little Rock charter school, Warren Dupree favors a charter school for Jacksonville.

“LISA Academy has a very similar program,” he said. “The experience has been very positive – solid grounding in the basics and college prep. There is no doubt it would be a great thing for Jacksonville.”

Leslie Ivy plans to apply for her son to attend the charter school. Her only regret is that space is limited. She is not satisfied with how things have gone so far in the public schools for her son, who is “advanced, but needs a special learning environment.”
George Biggs, president of the Jackson-ville Lighthouse Academy board of trustees and director of parks and recreation for the city of Jacksonville, got involved in the initiative once he learned a little about the organization’s guiding principles.

“I have always been an advocate for education for all children, and I found everything to be sound. It has a good logical foundation,” he said.

TOP STORY > >Aldermen endorse idea of a separate district

By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer

The Jacksonville City Council approved a resolution Thursday night supporting carving out a separate school district from the Pulaski County Special School District.

Local groups of city leaders, concerned parents and residents pushing for the separate district have been battling the PCSSD board over the proposed new district.

Surveys for years have pointed to the county schools in Jacksonville as a negative plume in the city’s cap. The last new school to be built in Jacksonville was about 35 years ago and the impression is that the district puts more of its money in schools south of the city rather than to facilities in Jacksonville.

The resolution, the second one in the past three years, was unanimously approved by the council.

The resolution, which supporters will use in their next presentation before the district board, states that Jacksonville “values each child’s right to a quality education and having a quality school system within each community that is attractive to prospective residents.”

The resolution went on, “The Jack-sonville City Council has long been dedicated to the needed enhancement of the educational process and personal attention currently offered and provided to students with the city.”

A major point stated in the resolution is the city’s lack of control over its schools. “All citizens of our community are affected by the lack of local control of the school system currently available to students within the city.

The council believes the new school district can be created “with minor disruption to students or teachers and at no additional local or state costs.”
In other council business:

Aldermen agreed to waive competitive bidding to purchase a $26,000 bearing assembly for one of the six main pumps in the wastewater plant.

Thea Hughes, wastewater utility manager, said the pumps are twenty years old and the only company that has the part is the manufacturer of the pump. She added that this was the first bearing unit to go out in the pumps.

The council approved the fire department’s plan to join an equipment-buying consortium out of Texas enabling the department to get many pieces of equipment at cheaper prices because of the group’s buying power. One example cited was a fire engine, in which the department would save about $35,000 ordering it through the consortium.

The council approved the rezoning of a parcel of land on North First Street, south of Bible Baptist near Woolfort Street. The 3.6-acre lot had a mixed zoning of R-1 (single-family homes), C-2 (light commercial) and R-4 (mobile homes). The entire lot was changed to R-3 (multi-family) to allow the construction of duplexes.

In his monthly report to the council, Police Chief Gary Sipes said his department responded to 3,165 complaint calls in July. Police arrested 357 arrests and made 44 juvenile contacts.

In July, more than $153,000 worth of items was reported stolen, while $31,577 worth of items was recovered.

Fire Chief John Vanderhoof’s monthly report to the council stated that his department responded to 126 rescue calls, 44 still alarms, 36 general alarms and had 231 ambulance runs in July.

Estimated fire loss for July was $567,400, while fire savings was estimated at $268,000.

Independent auditors re-viewing the city’s 2007 budget reported that Jacksonville was financially sound and moving forward

TOP STORY > >Developers must finish work faster

By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer

An ordinance now before the Cabot City Council could force commercial developers to move quickly on the work they have asked the city to approve.

The ordinance, which was read once during the Monday night council meeting and will have to be read two more times before it is passed, would give developers six months to start projects that the planning commission approves at the site plan level.
If there are circumstances that could reasonably slow the starting of a project, the staff at public works could grant a six- month extension. But if work isn’t started by then, the project would have to go before the planning commission again.

Mayor Eddie Joe Williams said the ordinance is needed because developers often get plans approved and then wait several years to build.

The commercial development at the intersection of Highways 5 and 89 was approved 10 years before it was built and by that time there wasn’t enough water available to adequately fight fires. The Waffle House on Main Street was approved five years before it was built, he said.

Williams said unless the law is amended, the city has no way to stop commercial development in areas where water and have sewer capacity has been used, traffic is too heavy and the laws about curbs and gutter have changed.

In other business, the council heard a presentation by Capt. David Walton with the fire department about a new emergency vehicle that was put into service July 15. It cost $15,000 to convert a pickup formerly used to fight brush fires into an emergency medical vehicle equipped with everything needed to stabilize heart attack victims or pry motorists from their mangled vehicles.

The fire department rolls on every emergency medical call, just like the ambulance service. And often, the fire department gets there first. Walton told the mayor and council that the pickup fits into tighter spaces than the fire trucks used previously. It also is more economical to drive and using it saves wear on fire trucks.

The 60-feet of hydraulic line used to operate the Jaws of Life enabled rescuers to park on the pavement and cut a man out of a car that had left the road and landed in a tree near Ward. Before, the heavy equipment would have been carried in.

“It has worked beyond my wildest dreams,” he said, adding that the department would like to equip more trucks of SUVs.

The council voted unanimously to reappoint Ron Craig to the planning commission, but not without some controversy.

The mayor said shortly after he took office that he would replace commissioners whose terms expire rather than reappoint unless there were extenuating circumstances. In the case of Craig, he said the extenuating circumstance was that he hadn’t served a full term but had replaced another commissioner who had resigned.

Matt Webber, who was replaced on the planning commission a year ago when his term expired, told the mayor that he took him off the commission not because of a desire to allow new people with new ideas to serve but because he dared to challenge developers. Williams assured Webber that he had no idea what he was talking about but also told him, “As the mayor, I reserve the right to change my mind. Only a fool would say he wouldn’t change his mind.”

TOP STORY > >Cabot sees big jump in enrollment

By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer

The Cabot School District is growing. On the first day of school, enrollment was up 300 from the first day of last term, 9,049 to 9,349. By the second day, 177 more had been added. To make sure all those students receive a quality education, Dr. Tony Thurman, school superintendent, told the board Tuesday night that much of the administrators’ retreat, held July 21-22, revolved around aligning general procedures, curriculum and assessment throughout the district.

“We must be careful to not become a district of independent operators at each site instead of a cohesive, focused system,” Thurman told The Leader in a later interview. But he also said the push to align the schools should not detract from their uniqueness.

“We encourage each school to develop its own personality or culture. That is what makes each school unique and special,” he said. How the students are taught is still individualized. All teachers teach in their own style. But what they teach and when they teach it is standardized across the district.

And for the past three years, students in each grade are all tested at the same time to determine both how well they are learning and how well the teachers are teaching.

With input from Cabot teachers, the tests are prepared by The Learning Institute in Hot Springs. Unlike the standardized tests required by the state, the results are known in hours, not months.

“We can’t wait until the end of the grading period to realize that certain students are not mastering specific learning objectives,” Thurman said. “These formative assessments provide teachers with the information they need to make instructional decisions for their classrooms.”

This year, Thurman has said he wants teachers to put more emphasis on using the data they receive from the tests.

In other business, the board voted to keep Coke as a provider of cold drinks on campus for the next three years. Coke machines are already on campus, Thurman told the board and the only drinks that can now legally be sold are water, juice and diet drinks. And the only drink that can be sold in 20-ounce bottles is water.

Thurman also reported that traffic is running smoother this year than last especially at the intersection of Lincoln and Pine near the high school where a new traffic light with a protected left-hand turn has been installed.

TOP STORY > >Election-commission chairman walks out

By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer

“The Lonoke County Election Commission no longer has the capability to conduct countywide elections,” commission chairman Larry Clarke angrily told the quorum court on Thursday, before storming out of the meeting, then resigning.

“This is the direct result of the loss of storage and office space in the Cabot Mini Mall,” according to Clarke.

He said the loss of election commission space was part of a power struggle between County Judge Charlie Troutman, a Democrat, and county Republicans.

Larry Clarke, a Republican, said he would be replaced by former election commissioner and former Cabot Mayor Stubby
Stumbaugh, or else someone appointed by Stumbaugh.

Clarke’s wife, Lynn Weeks Clarke, is a Republican justice of the peace in Lonoke County. She and her fellow Republicans have been engaged in an increasingly mean political struggle with Troutman, both sides playing hardball.

Troutman on Friday denied that taking the space from the election commission and giving it to the State Police was related to Lynn Clarke’s confrontations with him.

Larry Clarke, who did the lion’s share of the work to bring Lonoke County elections from the dark ages to the high-speed digital world, said that Troutman had kicked the commission out of its already inadequate space and given it to the State Police.

Only a few years ago, it took four days to get election results, but in the primaries last May, election officials began packing up about 9:30 p.m.

It’s unclear who will run the electronic election in Clarke’s absence, but if it’s election software company ES and S, Clarke says that will be quite expensive.

School board elections are in September and testing of the county’s 104 machines for the November election should begin in early October, Clarke said.

Usually amiable, Clarke was loud and declarative, accusing Troutman of reneging on promises to provide permanent storage space for the Ivotronic touch-screen voting machines, probably at the county courthouse annex.

“This equipment is worth close to a half million dollars for 32,000 voters and they can’t pony up 12 grand a year for storage/office space,” Clarke said later. “That’s incompetence.”

While Larry Clarke was talking, Troutman got up and left the room.

“I had to relieve myself and I’m trying to send a message,” said Troutman Friday. “I don’t give a damn (about Clarke’s accusations),” he said.
“I was totally shocked that those machines were put in a JP’s garage,” Troutman said.

“We had machines in my home two years, 40 of them, waiting for the judge to find storage space. I’ve conducted logic and accuracy tests on sidewalks in Cabot and in my driveway,” Clarke said. “This is inappropriate for a county this size.”

“I stored that at home for two years because judge, you promised me space. You promised me space in this building,” Clarke said of the courthouse annex.

Troutman said he never promised space in the annex for the machines.

Currently, some voting machines are in the garage portion of the annex, but it’s neither heated nor climate controlled and other county equipment is stored there.

Clarke said the annex was not a good permanent solution because as a CSEPP facility, Office of Emergency Services Director Jimmy Depriest needed to keep the building secure, while the election commissioners and workers were volunteers who needed to do their work on nights and weekends.

Lynn Clarke is running for reelection in November against Democrat Barry Weathers, so Troutman said state law requires taking her name off the ballot if her husband is running the election.

Troutman said that the commission had somehow tested the logic and accuracy of the machines in every race dating back to 2004, when the county first got the machines, and he thought they’d do so again.

“An election will go on as always,” Troutman said. “Ever since we had these machines, where did they check? I’m sure come November 4, the election will go on.”

The judge has in recent months vetoed one action taken led by Republicans on the court and also overturned another action by convening a county court, of which he is judge.

The Republicans, for their part, have been bringing to the quorum court meetings allegations of what they say is malfeasance or illegal self dealing by the judge.

Troutman has been under investigation by the State Police for about one year to see if he broke the law by using county equipment, employees and materials to chip-seal part of a drive at a service station owned by his son and his daughter-in-law, Jodie Troutman. She is a justice of the peace.

Troutman said that his son had let the county use several parcels of land around the county to store and transfer chip-seal materials and that it was only fair to do that favor. Plus, he said, his son paid the county.

“Everybody in this room expects the results accurate and on time,” Clarke said. “The election commission is asking for assistance because of zero cooperation from Charlie Troutman.”

Clarke said sufficient, secure, climate- controlled storage for the computerized voting machines could be leased in the Cabot area for $12,000 a year.

JP Larry Odom said he knew of two places the commission could use for office and storage space in the Cabot area, but declined to say where because he wanted to talk first to the owner.

Odom, a Republican, is nonetheless on the outs with the other Republicans, and Clarke said Odom was just trying to support Troutman, a Democrat. He called Odom a county judge wannabe.

TOP STORY > >Election-commission chairman walks out

By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer

“The Lonoke County Election Commission no longer has the capability to conduct countywide elections,” commission chairman Larry Clarke angrily told the quorum court on Thursday, before storming out of the meeting, then resigning.

“This is the direct result of the loss of storage and office space in the Cabot Mini Mall,” according to Clarke.

He said the loss of election commission space was part of a power struggle between County Judge Charlie Troutman, a Democrat, and county Republicans.

Larry Clarke, a Republican, said he would be replaced by former election commissioner and former Cabot Mayor Stubby
Stumbaugh, or else someone appointed by Stumbaugh.

Clarke’s wife, Lynn Weeks Clarke, is a Republican justice of the peace in Lonoke County. She and her fellow Republicans have been engaged in an increasingly mean political struggle with Troutman, both sides playing hardball.

Troutman on Friday denied that taking the space from the election commission and giving it to the State Police was related to Lynn Clarke’s confrontations with him.

Larry Clarke, who did the lion’s share of the work to bring Lonoke County elections from the dark ages to the high-speed digital world, said that Troutman had kicked the commission out of its already inadequate space and given it to the State Police.

Only a few years ago, it took four days to get election results, but in the primaries last May, election officials began packing up about 9:30 p.m.

It’s unclear who will run the electronic election in Clarke’s absence, but if it’s election software company ES and S, Clarke says that will be quite expensive.

School board elections are in September and testing of the county’s 104 machines for the November election should begin in early October, Clarke said.

Usually amiable, Clarke was loud and declarative, accusing Troutman of reneging on promises to provide permanent storage space for the Ivotronic touch-screen voting machines, probably at the county courthouse annex.

“This equipment is worth close to a half million dollars for 32,000 voters and they can’t pony up 12 grand a year for storage/office space,” Clarke said later. “That’s incompetence.”

While Larry Clarke was talking, Troutman got up and left the room.

“I had to relieve myself and I’m trying to send a message,” said Troutman Friday. “I don’t give a damn (about Clarke’s accusations),” he said.
“I was totally shocked that those machines were put in a JP’s garage,” Troutman said.

“We had machines in my home two years, 40 of them, waiting for the judge to find storage space. I’ve conducted logic and accuracy tests on sidewalks in Cabot and in my driveway,” Clarke said. “This is inappropriate for a county this size.”

“I stored that at home for two years because judge, you promised me space. You promised me space in this building,” Clarke said of the courthouse annex.

Troutman said he never promised space in the annex for the machines.

Currently, some voting machines are in the garage portion of the annex, but it’s neither heated nor climate controlled and other county equipment is stored there.

Clarke said the annex was not a good permanent solution because as a CSEPP facility, Office of Emergency Services Director Jimmy Depriest needed to keep the building secure, while the election commissioners and workers were volunteers who needed to do their work on nights and weekends.

Lynn Clarke is running for reelection in November against Democrat Barry Weathers, so Troutman said state law requires taking her name off the ballot if her husband is running the election.

Troutman said that the commission had somehow tested the logic and accuracy of the machines in every race dating back to 2004, when the county first got the machines, and he thought they’d do so again.

“An election will go on as always,” Troutman said. “Ever since we had these machines, where did they check? I’m sure come November 4, the election will go on.”

The judge has in recent months vetoed one action taken led by Republicans on the court and also overturned another action by convening a county court, of which he is judge.

The Republicans, for their part, have been bringing to the quorum court meetings allegations of what they say is malfeasance or illegal self dealing by the judge.

Troutman has been under investigation by the State Police for about one year to see if he broke the law by using county equipment, employees and materials to chip-seal part of a drive at a service station owned by his son and his daughter-in-law, Jodie Troutman. She is a justice of the peace.

Troutman said that his son had let the county use several parcels of land around the county to store and transfer chip-seal materials and that it was only fair to do that favor. Plus, he said, his son paid the county.

“Everybody in this room expects the results accurate and on time,” Clarke said. “The election commission is asking for assistance because of zero cooperation from Charlie Troutman.”

Clarke said sufficient, secure, climate- controlled storage for the computerized voting machines could be leased in the Cabot area for $12,000 a year.

JP Larry Odom said he knew of two places the commission could use for office and storage space in the Cabot area, but declined to say where because he wanted to talk first to the owner.

Odom, a Republican, is nonetheless on the outs with the other Republicans, and Clarke said Odom was just trying to support Troutman, a Democrat. He called Odom a county judge wannabe.

EDITORIAL >>Lu Hardin must resign

Could anyone, least of all Lu Hardin, have missed the point of Rush Harding III’s pointed observations Thursday that he was very sure that Hardin would put the University of Central Arkansas ahead of his personal interests? In other words, Hardin would surely resign as president of the university rather than force the institution to sicken under the cloud of his misconduct. Rush Harding is the lion on the school’s board of trustees and until recently the president’s most earnest champion.

But the spectacle on the Conway campus continued with Hardin skipping a meeting with the Faculty Senate on account of his health and then showing up for a funfest in his honor at Little Rock’s downtown Peabody Hotel, where the president’s falsehoods, deceptions and greed were treated as one big funny episode. Hardin seemed shocked by a reporter’s question about whether he had considered resigning. He had not, even for a moment.

Hardin picked the sunnier meeting to attend, which is perhaps what his health needed. He is recovering from serious eye surgery. The Faculty Senate meeting, where he was supposed to explain his conduct more fully, was no funfest. The professors reviewed a report on interviews with three administrators, who reaffirmed that they had no part in preparing a memo recommending secret annual bonuses for the president that Hardin sent the board of trustees over their names.

Let us recapitulate the summer’s developments. At a closed meeting in May, the board gave Hardin a $300,000 bonus on top of his $250,000 salary and more than $150,000 in annual perks, including premium Charmin toilet paper for the president’s home instead of the industrial grade bought under contract for the rest of the university. In doing so, the board violated at least three state laws, but Hardin had assured them the trustees that everything was really legal. When the big payout leaked to faculty members and the media, Hardin insisted that it was not true. When the facts came out, he apologized and gave the money back to the school.

The big bombshell landed when a trustee released the record, which included a secret memo to the board from the three administrators making the case for paying Hardin an extra $150,000 every year as “deferred compensation.” Here is the appearance: Hardin was so hungry for another $150,000 that he was willing to counterfeit a memo from three unknowing aides arguing that laws could be bypassed to give Hardin the extra cash without the public or the faculty ever knowing it.
At an institution whose mission and status depend upon the integrity of its scholarship, the falsified memo had to be an earthquake. Faculty and students who falsify their work usually do not get a second chance.

Faculty senators Thursday said they found almost no support for the president, only anger, and trustees said Hardin’s future depended upon his ability to assuage faculty rancor.

As always happens when there is blood in the water, faculty members introduced other complaints against the president: political favoritism in hiring, intervention by the president’s office to have failing grades removed for certain students and favoritism in granting scholarships. Hardin was furious later, perhaps justly, when he was informed of it. He said he had never personally altered a grade, which of course is not what was alleged.

He said scholarships were awarded fairly and there was no favoritism in hiring.

But everyone was already aware of his hiring this summer of the young daughter of a trustee as the university’s associate counsel without a search.

As for grade changing, we must trust and hope that Hardin’s denial was genuine. But we do know that in his previous job as director of the state Department of Higher Education, which has budgetary dominion over all the campuses, Hardin telephoned at least one chancellor to ask him to alter the grade of the offspring of a friend. In the world from which Hardin came, politics, a favor like that is the coin of the realm, but in academia it has to be simple corruption.

Hardin ought to resign to stop the hemorrhaging. He needs to tend to his own health if it is too much to ask that he tend to the health of the school that he loves.

SPORTS>>Losses leave Lady Falcons scrambling

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

The numbers are a bit thin, but there is no shortage of hitters on this year’s North Pulaski Lady Falcons volleyball team.

Sophomores make up the majority of this year’s team, but the talent in the young group has Lady Falcons coach Amanda Hill excited about her team’s prospects this season.

“We’ve been at it for almost three weeks now,” Hill said. “Things are slowly coming along. We’re young; the majority of our team is 10th graders, but it’s the 10th-grade group that won their conference last year. We’re having to learn a new offense
this year and put those things together, but it’s coming along.”

Hill started with a hearty 19 players at the start of camp, but a number of players left due to eligibility issues, and another exited for disciplinary reasons, leaving her with just 13 girls.

Along with the talented underclassmen, there will be some experience at the front, with 6-0 junior Rae Robinson returning, as well as senior Laura Dortch, who spent much of last season out injured. She is back at full health this year, and Hill hopes she will provide leadership on the offensive front.

Sophomores Shayla Clements and Kaylee Belcher move up from last year’s River City Conference-winning freshman team to varsity this year. Clements, a hitter, brings solid power to the line, and Hill says that Belcher promises to be the best setter she has had at NP.
With Clements joining Robinson at the front, and Belcher’s precision at setter, Hill hopes the kill percentage will increase this year.

“We have more hitters than we had last year, and the setter that we have can place the ball where it needs to be,” Hill said.

“When you have a good setter, the hitting will always be better. We have more hitters, so I’m expecting to see more points scored out of our hits.”

Senior Kalayah Anderson will fill the critical libero position this season, bringing proven experience to the defensive backcourt.

It will be the Lady Falcons’ first season back in the 5A Southeast Conference after two seasons in the 5A-East, along with local schools Beebe and Sylvan Hills. Hill expects the Lady Bears to be the team to beat in conference this year, and also said that Beebe will be a team on the rise.

The move is a good one, according to Hill, who said the prospect of not having to play against powerhouses such as Wynne and Nettleton on a weekly basis helped the motivation factor coming into fall practice.

As far as depth, or lack thereof, Hill said that team health will most likely be the determining factor for the Lady Falcons this season.

“It’s a long season; kids get hurt,” Hill said. “In volleyball, it’s not like another sport where you can just put a kid out there to play a forward position. Those are skilled positions, so when you have one or two setters, or just one hitter for that spot when that goes down, it can really mess your season up, so I’m definitely worried about that.”

SPORTS>>Lights bright on Broadway

FAYETTEVILLE — There was big news on Broadway.

Not New York’s Broadway. Arkansas’ Broadway. Ramon Broadway to be exact.

The bright lights are on Broadway as a first-team cornerback. Razorback defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said the sophomore for now has moved ahead of senior captain Jamar Love at boundary corner.

Robinson said “nothing is etched in stone” as far as which one will start in the season opener against Western Illinois, Aug. 30 at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

Nor is anything settled at safety, with junior Matt Harris now contesting senior Dallas Washington at tight (strong) safety and also likely to continue contending with freshman free safety Elton Harris, recently advancing ahead of Harris.

“If all of a sudden we make those position changes and we change our depth chart, you’d like to think that the guy that’s moved from a one to two is going to bristle up and try to compete and come back and be a one,” Robinson said.

It’s obvious he wants Love more than just to bristle up.

“We didn’t feel like he’d been playing up to his consistency,” Robinson said. “So we had to make that move to hopefully sit down there burn a fire underneath his butt.”

Meanwhile, Broadway stands first team.

A third-year sophomore, Broadway lettered last year mainly on special teams but also logged some time in the secondary and broke up a pass and recovered a fumble.

During the August preseason, Broadway not only has been making the big plays with interceptions but also doing the little things consistently, Robinson said.

“Right now,” Robinson said, “he’s playing at a level that is consistent, and that’s what we’re looking for.”

Broadway knows Robinson and cornerbacks coach Lorenzo Ward always look for more.

“I feel like I’ve had a decent camp,” Broadway said. “There are things I could have done better. Me and Coach Ward got in the film room and worked on technique.”

On the offensive line, sophomore Wade Grayson of Harrison continues competing with senior incumbent Mitch Petrus at first-team guard and also in emergency preparation at backup center behind Jonathan Luigs, the senior two-time All-American and 2007 Rimington Award winner.

Grayson said “it’s still kind of even” as he and Petrus split first-team time.

What kind of time does that leave Grayson at center?

“I’m pretty much guard right now,” Grayson said, “but they still have got me working on some center stuff. After practice and before practice they’ve got me doing snaps and working on my calls. I just don’t work on it during practice.”

Seth Oxner, the redshirt freshman from Monticello with whom Grayson has twice traded places in guard-center swaps, takes the backup center reps in practice.

However, offensive line coach Mike Summers does want Grayson prepared at center, too.

“Knowing center from earlier helped me a lot,” Grayson said. “Knowing center helps you know both guard positions because you pretty well have got to tell them what to do.”

Is he game-ready to play center if needed?

“Uh, I wouldn’t go that far,” Grayson said. “But I am getting there. A few things I need to work on getting the calls right but the basic stuff, I’ve got all that down. As far as game-plan, I feel a little bit behind.”

What about snapping?

“We’ve been working on those,” Grayson said. “They were good the first few days of practice and they started getting bad. We couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Finally me and Coach Summers started snapping together and we got it all figured out now.”

With true freshman running back De’Anthony Curtis of Camden Fairview still not able to practice because of last week’s knee injury, fellow true freshman Dennis Johnson of Texarkana logged lots of work this week behind fourth-year junior starting running back Michael Smith.

“Dennis Johnson is the one that’s gotten a lot of reps here lately and has really done some good things,” running backs coach Tim Horton said. “I think we’ll see a lot out of him. He’s starting to learn the offense better. He’s going to play and play a lot and play early.”

SPORTS>>Whatley, Malham prepare for clash

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

They were promoting a brawl, but everyone was on his best behavior on Friday morning at First Arkansas Bank for the “Backyard Brawl” press conference.

The event heralded the season-opening clash between Cabot and Jacksonville on Tuesday, Sept. 2 at Jan Crow Stadium in Jacksonville.

“This is always a big game for me because I started my coaching career at Jacksonville under Bill Reed for three years before I got the head coaching job at Cabot,” said Cabot head coach Mike Malham, entering his 28th season at the Panther helm.

“This is always a big game in my mind. When we were in the same conference, I can remember through the 90s and even up to 2000, it was always Cabot and Jacksonville playing for the conference championship, and the winner usually took the crown.”

Whatley followed Malham at the podium, and agreed that the game has real significance for the two teams and the two schools.

“We have two communities that are very involved in their school districts,” Whatley said. “They support their young people in every phase, academically and athletically. Fortunately, we get to open up against the number one preseason football team.

We’re excited. We’re going to be a young football team, and there’s one thing about it, we’ll find out real quick where we stand when we get out there.”

The winner of this year’s game will receive a traveling trophy they will hold on to until next season, similar to the Boot Trophy shared by the University of Arkansas and LSU. The trophy, designed by Paul Conway of Crown Trophy in Cabot, features a bronze football that tapers down onto a wooden base, where plaques denoting each year’s winner are placed.

Jacksonville athletic director Jerry Wilson, Cabot AD Johnny White, Red Devils Jeff Tillman, Micah Davis and Nick Priest, as well as Cabot Panthers Zach Coy and Nick Pledger were all on hand for the event.

Bank CEO Larry Wilson opened the conference by touching on the tradition of the rivalry that goes back over 50 years, and shared how he and his classmates used to drive to Cabot in a caravan to see the game when he was a student of Jacksonville High School.

Whatley remembered being a senior on the Red Devils team when Malham reported for his first year of assistant coaching.

“It’s still intimidating to walk out on the field with that man, but I’m looking forward to it,” he said.

Wilson closed the press conference with a laugh, sharing part of a conversation with Whatley and Malham before the meeting in which Malham hinted that he might show up at tonight’s red-white game at Jan Crow in order to scout the Red Devils’ defense.

Whatley didn’t miss a beat:

“I don’t know why coach. You only have four plays that you’re going to run, I don’t know why you’re worried about what we’re doing. You’re just going to come out and run those four plays.”

Malham quipped, “Well, we’ve added two more for this year.”

SPORTS>>Bouncing back

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Revenge has been the motto for the Arkansas Rhinos this week as they prepare to host the Memphis Panthers tonight at Red Devil Field. The two teams met back in mid-July, with the Panthers taking a 19-12 win on a late-game drive after Arkansas led most of the contest.

The Rhinos lost more than their first game on that night. Star running back Brennon Metcalf sustained a broken leg late in the first half, sidelining him for the rest of the year.

That caused a momentary lapse in the Rhinos’ offensive attack, as the Rhinos gained only 75 yards the following game against Nashville.

Head coach Oscar Malone said he thinks the offensive woes are behind them now, with the emergence of running back Jerald Marshall. Marshall led Arkansas with 194 yards rushing and the Rhinos’ only score of the game last week in a narrow 7-6 win over Tri-City Clarksville.

“We made some changes for last week, and it paid off with 300 yards of offense,” Malone said. “We’re going to make some more changes this week and see if we can’t get 400. Maybe I’m being a little greedy, but we want to try and put up as many points as we can.”

Most of that 360-plus yards came on the ground. QB Jeremiah Crouch was on the mark with his passing last week, but found only one consistent target in Kamal Broadway. Broadway pulled in all four Rhinos’ receptions, and Malone is looking to get more hands in the mix tonight.

He is looking to wide receivers Jamaal Pippins (6-2, 200) and Lance Smith (5-10, 190) to help out with some short-yardage passing, and said that tight end James Miles (5-10, 215) will contribute. Miles has had a great week of practice, according to Malone, and should be able to take some of the load off of Broadway.

Last week wasn’t all good news for the Rhinos. With a season-high number of penalties levied against them, several of which killed promising offensive drives, Malone not only made the team run all day Monday, he also dealt out three suspensions for the first half of the Memphis game tonight.

“We put out suspensions this week. We just don’t allow that kind of stuff,” Malone said. “They’ll sit out for the first half, and if that doesn’t work and they get hit again, they’ll be out for a game or two. They’ll get the message one way or another.”

Defensively, Memphis brings a 3-3-5 package that Malone said can be overcome with motion and misdirection. He also hopes that Marshall can repeat his superman performance from last week again today.

“I think he can go out and do it again,” Malone said. “His running has gotten better. We just need the guys up front blocking to do a little better job for him. Of course, a lot of those yards he got on his own.”

The Rhinos and Panthers will face off at 7:30 p.m. for military appreciation night at Red Devil Field. Admission will be $3 for all adults.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

TOP STORY > >Gwatney threw a big shadow without blocking the light

Story by JOHN HOFHEIMER/Leader senior staff writer

That Bill Gwatney cast a big shadow was evident Monday afternoon when a governor, a former president, three U.S. senators and a choir full of state lawmakers attended his funeral in the majestic sanctuary of Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church in Little Rock.

That several hundred mourners — including employees, business people, childhood friends, Democratic regulars and others joined the family, filling not only the cathedral, but two overflow halls — is evidence that he cast that shadow without blocking the light.

Laughter filled the great room when Rev. Victor H. Nixon called Gov. Mike Beebe to the dais, accidentally identifying him as “Gov. Mike Huckabee.”

“Thank you monsignor,” Beebe responded to more laughter, pretending to misidentify Nixon as Monsignor O’Donnell, who later led the Lord’s Prayer.

“Bill Gwatney gave love,” Beebe told the mourners. “You can’t get loyalty without giving loyalty.”

Beebe handpicked his old friend first to serve as his campaign finance director, then as chairman of the Democratic Party of Arkansas.

“He worked for a better future for our state,” the governor said. “His heart was softer and warmer than he liked to let people know.

“He chose public service because from those to whom much is given, much is expected,” Beebe said.

“He had a quick, discerning mind, a quick wit and a big heart to exhibit and receive love,” the governor said.

“We’re all sitting here trying to make some sense of this,” said former President Bill Clinton. “He should have been coming to my funeral, not the other way around.”

Gwatney was 48, Clinton is 62.

“We can really only keep him alive if the love is manifested in our lives,” Clinton said.

The former president said he was grateful to Gwatney for the any-willing-provider legislation he helped guide through the state Senate—similar to a bill that the Clintons were unsuccessful in getting passed in Congress.

“I’m grateful for his helping Mike Beebe become governor,” he added.

“I liked him, I admired him and I’m grateful for him,” Clinton concluded.

He cited Gwatney’s support for Hillary in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Later, outside the church, Hillary Clinton said that Gwatney would have turned 49 the same day that she’s slated to speak at the Democratic convention and she had planned to stop by his birthday party to help celebrate.

“Sunday a week ago, by God’s grace, we all gathered in Memphis and shared lunch and that’s the last time I saw him alive,” said Russell Gwatney, his brother.

“We hugged each other and said ‘I love you,’” he said.

It was apparently in the context of Gwatney’s job as Democratic chairman that Timothy Dale Johnson of Searcy walked into his office late last Wednesday morning and shot him several times in the chest. Gwatney was pronounced dead at University of
Arkansas for Medical Sciences at 3:49 p.m.

If there are clues to Johnson’s motive, Little Rock police are not releasing them.

The state Crime Lab has not finished Johnson’s toxicology report, and the state has not released its report into the fatal shootout between three state troopers and two policemen with Johnson, Gwatney’s alleged killer.

It was certainly in context of that job that members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka arrived to protest Gwatney’s funeral, saying God killed Gwatney to punish him and Democrats and the United States for accepting homosexuals.

Nixon alluded to the protesters in his sermon, saying, “(Gwatney’s murder) was not God’s will,” and that God was not using Gwatney’s death as “a tool to punish us. God loves Bill.”

The Westboro group frequently protests at funerals of dead soldiers, again saying it was God’s punishment for a country that tolerates homosexuality. And as usual, the Patriot Guard motorcycle group arrived as counter demonstrators.

About a dozen Little Rock police guarded the corner where both sets of demonstrators were, just 50 yards from where the governor and the Clintons entered and left the building.

About 950 to 1,000 people attended the funeral, according to church spokesperson Scharmel Roussel.

“The sanctuary was seated beyond capacity,” she said, including the choir loft. Folding chairs lined the aisles and people stood where they could.

She said the funeral was similar in size and scope to Lt. Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller’s about two years ago.

Gwatney’s funeral was Web cast live on two Web sites and televised live on two local television stations.

“The crowd and amount of interest indicate how well loved he was,” she said.

TOP STORY > >Gwatney threw a big shadow without blocking the light

Story by JOHN HOFHEIMER/Leader senior staff writer

That Bill Gwatney cast a big shadow was evident Monday afternoon when a governor, a former president, three U.S. senators and a choir full of state lawmakers attended his funeral in the majestic sanctuary of Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church in Little Rock.

That several hundred mourners — including employees, business people, childhood friends, Democratic regulars and others joined the family, filling not only the cathedral, but two overflow halls — is evidence that he cast that shadow without blocking the light.

Laughter filled the great room when Rev. Victor H. Nixon called Gov. Mike Beebe to the dais, accidentally identifying him as “Gov. Mike Huckabee.”

“Thank you monsignor,” Beebe responded to more laughter, pretending to misidentify Nixon as Monsignor O’Donnell, who later led the Lord’s Prayer.

“Bill Gwatney gave love,” Beebe told the mourners. “You can’t get loyalty without giving loyalty.”

Beebe handpicked his old friend first to serve as his campaign finance director, then as chairman of the Democratic Party of Arkansas.

“He worked for a better future for our state,” the governor said. “His heart was softer and warmer than he liked to let people know.

“He chose public service because from those to whom much is given, much is expected,” Beebe said.

“He had a quick, discerning mind, a quick wit and a big heart to exhibit and receive love,” the governor said.

“We’re all sitting here trying to make some sense of this,” said former President Bill Clinton. “He should have been coming to my funeral, not the other way around.”

Gwatney was 48, Clinton is 62.

“We can really only keep him alive if the love is manifested in our lives,” Clinton said.

The former president said he was grateful to Gwatney for the any-willing-provider legislation he helped guide through the state Senate—similar to a bill that the Clintons were unsuccessful in getting passed in Congress.

“I’m grateful for his helping Mike Beebe become governor,” he added.

“I liked him, I admired him and I’m grateful for him,” Clinton concluded.

He cited Gwatney’s support for Hillary in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Later, outside the church, Hillary Clinton said that Gwatney would have turned 49 the same day that she’s slated to speak at the Democratic convention and she had planned to stop by his birthday party to help celebrate.

“Sunday a week ago, by God’s grace, we all gathered in Memphis and shared lunch and that’s the last time I saw him alive,” said Russell Gwatney, his brother.

“We hugged each other and said ‘I love you,’” he said.

It was apparently in the context of Gwatney’s job as Democratic chairman that Timothy Dale Johnson of Searcy walked into his office late last Wednesday morning and shot him several times in the chest. Gwatney was pronounced dead at University of
Arkansas for Medical Sciences at 3:49 p.m.

If there are clues to Johnson’s motive, Little Rock police are not releasing them.

The state Crime Lab has not finished Johnson’s toxicology report, and the state has not released its report into the fatal shootout between three state troopers and two policemen with Johnson, Gwatney’s alleged killer.

It was certainly in context of that job that members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka arrived to protest Gwatney’s funeral, saying God killed Gwatney to punish him and Democrats and the United States for accepting homosexuals.

Nixon alluded to the protesters in his sermon, saying, “(Gwatney’s murder) was not God’s will,” and that God was not using Gwatney’s death as “a tool to punish us. God loves Bill.”

The Westboro group frequently protests at funerals of dead soldiers, again saying it was God’s punishment for a country that tolerates homosexuality. And as usual, the Patriot Guard motorcycle group arrived as counter demonstrators.

About a dozen Little Rock police guarded the corner where both sets of demonstrators were, just 50 yards from where the governor and the Clintons entered and left the building.

About 950 to 1,000 people attended the funeral, according to church spokesperson Scharmel Roussel.

“The sanctuary was seated beyond capacity,” she said, including the choir loft. Folding chairs lined the aisles and people stood where they could.

She said the funeral was similar in size and scope to Lt. Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller’s about two years ago.

Gwatney’s funeral was Web cast live on two Web sites and televised live on two local television stations.

“The crowd and amount of interest indicate how well loved he was,” she said.

TOP STORY > >Charter supporters to meet

By NANCY DOCKTER
Leader staff writer

Tonight at 6 p.m. at the Jacksonville Community Center, plans for a local charter school will be presented by local residents who have been working on the proposal for more than a year. If the organizing committee’s application for a charter is approved by the Arkansas Department of Education, the school will open in the fall of 2009.

Parents, students and teachers are invited to attend the meeting, where the charter school concept as an alternative to the existing public schools will be discussed.

“We are interested in explaining to the public what a charter school is and is not, and to make clear that a charter school is a public school. Anyone can come to a charter school at no cost,” said Mike Wilson, spokesperson for the group.

The proposed school is tentatively being called Jacksonville Lighthouse Academy because the planners solicited assistance in developing their proposal from Lighthouse Academies, Inc., a Massachusetts-based organization that has helped launch charter schools around the country. There are currently 10 Lighthouse Academies, Inc. schools, located in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, New York, and the District of Columbia, according to the organization’s Web site.

“This is not a pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps project, but a project with expertise and experience,” Wilson said. “This is what these people offer us.”

The proposed school would initially serve kindergarten through fifth grade, with enrollment capped at 250 for the first year.

A grade would be added each year thereafter. The school would be open across district, city, and county boundaries, allowing not only Jacksonville students but those from surrounding areas to apply. If the number of applicants exceeds the number of spaces, students would be selected randomly.

The vision for the school is to create a challenging learning environment that will prepare students to succeed in college, Wilson said.

“There will be strict discipline and high, high expectations for student achievement and college prep – things that all parents want for their children and that they are not getting from the public schools.”

A charter school is a state-regulated public school, the purpose of which is to provide educational alternatives to communities.

The ADE grants a charter for five years, after which renewal is based upon how well the school has met state-accountability mandates.

An open enrollment-charter school can be established by a government entity, community, institution of higher learning, or non-sectarian group. Arkansas state law limits the number of open-enrollment charter schools to 24. Currently, there are seven vacancies.

Wilson says that the application to the ADE is ready to go but only awaits selection of a site for the school.

“I think (the group) has narrowed it down to two or three sites and would like to get some public reaction of these locations, to see how people like them,” he said.

The Pulaski County Special School District will have until Sept. 30 to respond to the ADE regarding any concerns or objections to the Lighthouse Academy application. The Arkansas Board of Education will convene in November or December to decide which applicants to grant a charter.

Eleven entities have filed letters of intent with the state to apply for an open-enrollment school charter. Besides the Lighthouse Academy, another proposal is in the works for a Jacksonville-based charter school, headed up by two local private school educators, Buster Lackey of Sherwood and Dave Sanders of Maumelle.

Since word has gotten out about the two charter school proposals, Wilson has received numerous calls from persons living in Jacksonville as well as other communities expressing interest in enrolling their children. The calls have come “from a diverse mix of folks, racially and socio-economically,” he said.

“I am gratified by that because we have been determined to see that the charter school would be open to all kids of all backgrounds,” Wilson said.

A Web site is being constructed “where folks can express their viewpoints and ideas” and get involved in various aspects of the project as it develops over the next year, Wilson said.

Mayor Tommy Swaim, who will facilitate the meeting tonight, said that “the people of the city of Jacksonville need to have the opportunity to decide whether they are interested in a charter school process.”

A charter school in his mind would not interfere with his “ultimate goal of a separate school district for north Pulaski County and Jacksonville.”

TOP STORY > >Officers quit after wreck

By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer

One police officer has left the Beebe Police Department and another has turned in his resignation in the wake of a controversy over whether Alderman Janice Petray received special treatment following a rear-end collision in July because she was dating one of the officers.

Police Chief Wayne Ballew said this week that Steve Benton left the department last Thursday. Tony Bryant also resigned effective Aug. 23. Benton and Bryant were hired from the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Department in June 2007 as part of a makeover of the Beebe Police Department in which patrol officers, a dispatcher and finally a police chief lost their jobs.

The revamped department was touted as experienced and responsible, a group of officers dedicated to protecting and serving the city’s residents. Ballew said he regrets that the recent controversy could diminish the good reputation he has tried to build for his department over the past year.

Petray, who has served almost six years on the council and is planning to run for a fourth term, was not cited July 23 after she rear-ended Mallory Davis at the traffic light at Dewitt Henry and Pecan.

Although Petray, who was dating Benton, said she had not been drinking and might have appeared dazed because of the airbag, witnesses said she appeared to be under the influence of alcohol.

Mayor Mike Robertson said he learned about the incident more than a week after it happened and instructed Ballew to investigate it thoroughly. Robertson said he didn’t want it brushed aside.

Petray was driving a red, convertible, 2004 Honda S20 when she struck the silver 2007 Toyota Tundra pickup driven by Davis of Beebe. Davis’ pickup traveled 145 feet after the impact.

Michael Wolford, a part time patrol officer was the first on the scene of the wreck.

Wolford did not give Petray a ticket for the wreck, but he wrote in a statement the next day after Ballew saw discrepancies in the accident report, that Petray appeared to be drinking.

“I felt during my investigation of the accident that I was unable to do my job due to my superiors (Cpl. Tony Bryant and Sgt. Steve Benton) convincing me that Ms. Petray was fine and that she was sitting still at the stop light when I knew she wasn’t,” Wolford wrote in his statement.

“I feel that I was unable to do my job due to the circumstances. I was persuaded to make decisions I normally would not if I was by myself.

“My investigation revealed that Ms. Petray had struck the back of Ms. Davis’s vehicle. Ms. Davis had been sitting at the red light. The light turned green and she proceeded to go through the light when Ms. Petray strikes her in the rear. I believe that the accident was caused due to Ms. Petray being under the influence of a controlled substance.”

One of the new vacancies will be filled by Kevin McCoy, a Searcy police officer who lives outside of Beebe and wanted to work closer to home. The other position has not been filled.

Petray said after the incident became an issue for the department that she asked before she started dating Benton if it would cause problems and assured the city’s other elected officials that if they didn’t want her to date Benton, she wouldn’t.

She said Monday that the mayor told her Friday there were openings in the police department and that she knew because of her personal relationship with Benton that he had resigned. But she said she had no comment about the resignation.

Ballew said he does not intend to set a policy against his employees dating council members.

“I think it will eventually cause controversy,” he said. “But can to tell someone who they can date and can not date? I don’t think so.”

TOP STORY > >Officers quit after wreck

By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer

One police officer has left the Beebe Police Department and another has turned in his resignation in the wake of a controversy over whether Alderman Janice Petray received special treatment following a rear-end collision in July because she was dating one of the officers.

Police Chief Wayne Ballew said this week that Steve Benton left the department last Thursday. Tony Bryant also resigned effective Aug. 23. Benton and Bryant were hired from the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Department in June 2007 as part of a makeover of the Beebe Police Department in which patrol officers, a dispatcher and finally a police chief lost their jobs.

The revamped department was touted as experienced and responsible, a group of officers dedicated to protecting and serving the city’s residents. Ballew said he regrets that the recent controversy could diminish the good reputation he has tried to build for his department over the past year.

Petray, who has served almost six years on the council and is planning to run for a fourth term, was not cited July 23 after she rear-ended Mallory Davis at the traffic light at Dewitt Henry and Pecan.

Although Petray, who was dating Benton, said she had not been drinking and might have appeared dazed because of the airbag, witnesses said she appeared to be under the influence of alcohol.

Mayor Mike Robertson said he learned about the incident more than a week after it happened and instructed Ballew to investigate it thoroughly. Robertson said he didn’t want it brushed aside.

Petray was driving a red, convertible, 2004 Honda S20 when she struck the silver 2007 Toyota Tundra pickup driven by Davis of Beebe. Davis’ pickup traveled 145 feet after the impact.

Michael Wolford, a part time patrol officer was the first on the scene of the wreck.

Wolford did not give Petray a ticket for the wreck, but he wrote in a statement the next day after Ballew saw discrepancies in the accident report, that Petray appeared to be drinking.

“I felt during my investigation of the accident that I was unable to do my job due to my superiors (Cpl. Tony Bryant and Sgt. Steve Benton) convincing me that Ms. Petray was fine and that she was sitting still at the stop light when I knew she wasn’t,” Wolford wrote in his statement.

“I feel that I was unable to do my job due to the circumstances. I was persuaded to make decisions I normally would not if I was by myself.

“My investigation revealed that Ms. Petray had struck the back of Ms. Davis’s vehicle. Ms. Davis had been sitting at the red light. The light turned green and she proceeded to go through the light when Ms. Petray strikes her in the rear. I believe that the accident was caused due to Ms. Petray being under the influence of a controlled substance.”

One of the new vacancies will be filled by Kevin McCoy, a Searcy police officer who lives outside of Beebe and wanted to work closer to home. The other position has not been filled.

Petray said after the incident became an issue for the department that she asked before she started dating Benton if it would cause problems and assured the city’s other elected officials that if they didn’t want her to date Benton, she wouldn’t.

She said Monday that the mayor told her Friday there were openings in the police department and that she knew because of her personal relationship with Benton that he had resigned. But she said she had no comment about the resignation.

Ballew said he does not intend to set a policy against his employees dating council members.

“I think it will eventually cause controversy,” he said. “But can to tell someone who they can date and can not date? I don’t think so.”

TOP STORY > >Ministers will fight permit to sell liquor

By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer

Kopan, the Korean-Japanese restaurant and sushi bar that opened recently on Main Street in Cabot, has applied for a private-club liquor license. If the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board approves the application, Kopan will become the first restaurant open to the public in Lonoke County to serve alcohol.

Alcoholic Beverage Control granted a private club license to Win Knight on March 31, contingent on the actual construction and approval by the state Health Department for a restaurant in Ward, but opponents appealed to circuit court and the restaurant has not been built.

Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Williams said last week in a memo to city council members that he met with local pastors and “the overwhelming consensus was that they are against Kopan receiving a liquor license.”

Williams said a letter to the ABC would request that the permit be denied so Lonoke County could remain a dry county.

“While some may argue that this would be a good source of tax revenue for the city, any amount of revenue cannot recover the lives that are lost through alcohol,” the mayor wrote.

Alderman Teri Miessner, a vocal supporter of private-club liquor licenses, said the letter the mayor intends to send to the ABC does not reflect how she feels about the matter.

Cabot has 22,000 residents, she said, and many of them consume alcohol. They buy it at the liquor stores just over the Pulaski County line. They go to restaurants in Jacksonville, North Little Rock and Little Rock to have wine or beer with their steaks.

Cabot needs revenue for streets and a new fire station, Miessner said. The upscale restaurant that Kopan wants to be could provide some of the tax revenue to pay for those needs.

“People don’t mind paying tax on their cigarettes and alcohol. We can tax their habits. We can’t keep taxing their water and their homes,” she said. “And the last time I looked, the pastors weren’t the only taxpayers in Cabot.”

Michael Langley, ABC director, said Tuesday that when he receives a request for a private- club liquor license, he notifies the local mayor, prosecutor and police chief, who in turn notify interested parties.

“Opposition matters,” Langley said. “If enough people object, the director denies the application and it will go before the board for a full hearing.”

If, as in the case of the restaurant planned in Ward, the board grants the liquor license, the losing side has the option of appealing to circuit court, he said.

The state has issued four private-club liquor licenses in Lonoke County, two for clubs in Cabot’s Greystone, one for Rolling Hills Country Club in Cabot and one for Mallard Point in Lonoke. White County, north of Lonoke County, is also dry, and Langley said only one restaurant there has received a private-club license, Kelly’s in Bald Knob. The other four licenses are held by a country club in Searcy, a VFW in Searcy, a VFW in Beebe and the Eagles Lodge in Searcy.

TOP STORY > >Cabot pays withholding taxes to IRS

By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer

Telephone calls from the Internal Revenue Service that have plagued Cabot Parks Director Larry Tarrant since he was hired in April will end this week since the city council has agreed to pay up to $150,000 in federal taxes, interest and penalties.

The council voted unanimously Monday night to pay back taxes of $97,449.60 owed for the last quarter of 2006 and all of 2007 plus interest and penalties as the IRS requires. Exactly how much is not clear.

City Attorney Jim Taylor has been working with Tarrant and the parks commission to resolve the matter. Taylor told the council that the penalties might be waived but the interest will likely have to be paid.

This is the second time the city council has paid expenses for the parks which are run by an independent commission. In December 2006, former Parks Director Carroll Astin told the council that he needed help with a $100,000 shortfall that resulted in great part from the opening a year earlier of the new community center. Astin told the council he underestimated the electric bill, hired too many employees and charged too little for the programs. He also said too many ball tournaments cost parks $25,000.

When Tarrant asked the council for $150,000 to pay the IRS, Alderman Teri Miessner’s question was short and to the point:
“What happened?” Miessner asked.

But the answer was not forthcoming. Parks have been under State Police investigation since Sarah Rye, the parks bookkeeper was arrested earlier this year for embezzling $8,063.44.

Tarrant, who was director of parks programs before he replaced Astin, said essentially that he was out of the loop when the money was withheld from employees’ paychecks, but not sent to the IRS.

“What happened before, I couldn’t say,” Tarrant said. But he said he has paid the federal income tax for 2008: $28,812 in the first quarter and $37,819 in the second quarter.

Tarrant said an audit of the books by Cal Aldridge brought some of the problems to light. Alderman Ed Long said he needed assurance that the problems in bookkeeping have been resolved. Both Tarrant and Parks Commissioner Glenn Howe assured him that financial records are watched closely now.

Without using his name, Howe said Astin withheld information about finances from the commission.

“The prior director didn’t tell us all we needed to know and the commission didn’t dig like it should,” he said.

Howe also talked about the high cost of operating the community center. The electric bill alone is about $250,000 a year.

The community center simply cannot support itself, Howe said. It has to be subsidized by other park programs.

But the hope is that it eventually will at least break even.

Tarrant told the council that revenue is up about $40,000 over this time last year, so parks would be able to pay back the money it needed from the city council.

Howe assured the council members that the new commission is taking a more active role in running the parks and that Tarrant is taking a very active role in the finances as evidenced by the fact that revenue is up and expenses are down.

“I think these problems are behind us if we could just get the debt off,” he said.

SPORTS>>Touchdown Club announces 2008 slate of speakers

The Little Rock Touchdown Club has announced its 2008 list of guest speakers. Former Dallas Cowboy player and coach Dan Reeves leads things off on Monday.

Reeves is a certain future Hall of Fame inductee with a record-setting nine Super Bowl appearances as a player, assistant, and head coach. Reeves played in two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys under Tom Landry, winning in 1971.

He coached in three Super Bowls as an assistant under Landry, winning in 1977. As head coach of the Denver Broncos, he coached Hall of Fame QB John Elway to three Super Bowls. He then led the Atlanta Falcons to their first Super Bowl appearance in franchise history in 1999.

No player or coach has appeared in more combined Super Bowls than Dan Reeves. He is currently the color analyst for Westwood One which broadcasts an NFL game of the week.

Sept 2 – Chris Mortenson

Mortenson is ESPN’s award-winning journalist and one of the most respected and accomplished reporters covering the NFL.

Mortenson provides television reports for ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown, Monday Night Countdown, SportsCenter, ESPN Radio, and ESPN.com. Previously he served as an NFL columnist for The Sporting News and as a contributing writer for Sport magazine. His son Alex currently plays QB for Arkansas.

Sept. 8 - Gino Torretta

Torretta won the Heisman Trophy in 1992 as quarterback for the Miami Hurricane. He also played on the 1989 & 1991 National Champion Hurricane teams. During his senior season, the 6’3 205 lb. Torretta passed for 3,000 yards and captured the Johnny Unitas Award, the Davey O’Brien Award, the Maxwell Award, and the Heisman.

His record as a starting QB was 26-1. He is the CEO of Touchdown Radio broadcasting and will be providing color analysis of the Arkansas vs. Texas game in Austin, Tex. He is the first Heisman trophy winner to appear at the Little Rock Touchdown Club.

Sept. 15 – Major Ogilvie

Ogilvie is an Alabama Crimson Tide football hero who led the team to two National Championships as running back under the legendary Bear Bryant, including an MVP performance against Arkansas in the 1979 Sugar Bowl and a 1981 Cotton Bowl MVP game against Baylor.

His four-year record at Alabama was 44-4 with national championships in 1978 and 1979. A winner even in high school, his last two years at Mountain Brook High in Alabama, he was 27-0 with two state championships and a No. 1 national high school ranking. Over his final six years of playing football, his teams had a combined record of 71-4, with a combined four national and state championships. He currently works for Block USA in Alabama, which also operates a manufacturing facility in Little Rock.

Oct. 6 – Pat Dye

Dye, a Little Rock Touchdown Club favorite from his 2006 visit, is the former Auburn Tiger head coach and SEC veteran. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2005.

His career record as a head coach was 153-62-5 (70.7 percent) including 99-34-4 at Auburn. He won four SEC titles and became only the fourth coach in SEC history to win three straight SEC titles (1987-89).

He coached Heisman winner Bo Jackson from 1982-85, was named SEC coach of the year in 1983, 1987, and 1988, and served as Auburn’s athletic director from 1981-1992. In 2005 he had the playing surface at Jordan-Hare Stadium named in his honor.

Oct. 13 – Grant Teaff

Teaff, a College Football Hall of Fame inductee in 2001, is considered by many to be the greatest coach in the history of Baylor University. Since 1993 he has served as the executive director of the American Football Coaches Association, an organization representing the thousands of college football coaches across the country and is often consulted by the NCAA and media regarding rule changes and developments that take place in college football.

Baylor had been 7-43-1 the five years before Teaff arrived in 1972. By 1974, he was named coach of the year, with the Bears winning eight games and the SWC Championship for the first time since 1924, and defeating Texas for the first time in 17 years.

Oct. 20 – Pete Cordelli

Cordelli is a color analyst for the Ole Miss Rebel football and basketball network. He a former assistant coach under Lou Holtz.

His coaching stops included Arkansas, Minnesota, Notre Dame, TCU, Memphis St., Kent St., and Western Michigan. He also served as a scout for the Dallas Cowboys.

Oct. 27 – Ivan Maisel

Maisel is an award-winning and nationally recognized senior writer for ESPN.com. In addition to covering college football for the ESPN Website, he also contributes to ESPN’s SportsCenter, ESPNEWS, ESPN Radio, and ESPN The Magazine.

Maisel served as a senior sportswriter for Sports Illus-trated and CNNSI.com for five years. He has also covered college sports for Newsday, Dallas Morning News, and the Sporting News. His 22 years on the national college football beat is the longest uninterrupted tenure of any writer in the country.

He has written several books including “The Maisel Report: The Most Overrated and Underrated Players, Coaches, Games, Stadiums, and Traditions in College Football” which will be released this fall. During the past two years he has done extensive stories on the University of Arkansas football program.

Nov. 3 – Gus Malzahn

Malzahn is a native Arkansan who currently serves as the offensive coordinator at the University of Tulsa. During Malzahn’s first year at Tulsa last season, the Golden Hurricanes had the No. 1 ranked offense in the country in total yards per game.

Tulsa also became the first team in NCAA history to have a 5,000-yard passer, 1,000-yard rusher and three 1,000-yard receivers.

In 2006, as offensive coordinator of the University of Arkansas, Malzahn helped lead the Razorbacks to the SEC Western Division championship. As a high school coach he won three state titles including an undefeated 14-0 season and a top ten national ranking at Springdale High School.

Nov. 10 – Razorback assistant coach to be announced.

SPORTS>>Where does Michael Phelps go from here?

By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports editor

When Milorad Cavic remarked — fairly innocently, I think — that the sport of swimming might be better served if he, and not Michael Phelps, won the 100-meter butterfly at the Olympics last Friday, I believe I know what he meant.

He meant that it might make Phelps seem suddenly human and his previous feats last week all the more amazing.

Because, let’s face it, when an athlete begins to dominate a sport so thoroughly that his name becomes synonymous with the sport itself, the blasé factor is bound to enter in.

Look at Tiger Woods. He wins a major in standard fashion and it’s just one more step along the way toward his inevitable goal of surpassing Jack Nicklaus in the majors win column. Ho-hum.

Yes, the feat itself, once Woods accomplishes it, will be a thing of great celebration and marvel. But unless there is some special circumstance, some piece of drama attached to the spectacle of another Tiger major — as there was when he hobbled to the U.S. Open championship in June — it will probably occasion only a knowing shake of the head among fans who’ve come to expect it.

That sense of inevitability detracts from the greatness of the feat, especially for us laymen who don’t quite understand just what it takes to reach such Olympian heights. Believe it or not, with a little luck, Tiger might already have surpassed Nicklaus’ record 18 majors. He has finished second five times. That, to me, heightens his achievements, reminding us just how difficult it is to win.

At the Olympics, Phelps’ narrow and dramatic — and, when you see the final five meters of the race, seemingly impossible — win over Cavic in the butterfly re-emphasized Phelps’ amazingness. The word awesome has been overused — to describe milk shakes, new bands and American Idol contestants — to the point of oblivion, but Phelps has helped put meaning back into the word.

Without that stunning rally — if, say, Phelps had won going away and demolished another world record in the process — it would have been just one more gold medal among the other seven.

I wondered, as I watched Bob Costas interview Phelps on Sunday night, if there isn’t some sort of inevitable letdown for an athlete like Phelps. I wondered if the guy who surprises himself and everyone else and sneaks in to win an unexpected bronze doesn’t derive more enjoyment and satisfaction than Phelps does from all eight of his gold medals.

American gymnast Sasha Artemev, for instance, wasn’t even supposed to be on the team. But when both Hamm brothers pulled out with injuries, he got his chance and helped deliver the U.S. team to a surprise bronze medal. Will he savor that more than Phelps will his 14 lifetime golds? Do 14 combined gold medals make each individual one a little less special?

And where does Phelps go from here? Only 23 years old, his greatest accomplishment more than likely already behind him, what’s next? The 2012 Olympics? He says he’s going. He’ll be 27 and he would likely have dual motivations: to add to his record 14 golds and post a number in the same league as Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak (The Untouchable League) and to dominate at an older age when his accomplishments will not be blurred by that aura of inevitability.

Dara Torres, who turned in such an inspiring performance at age 41, may have put a blemish on any golds Phelps might win at the relatively young age of 27 in 2012.

I suppose it’s presumptuous to try to imagine Phelps’ motivation from this point forward. But after years of training for a goal, there has to be a letdown after realizing its fruition over seven brief, if glorious, days.

Other Olympic Observations:

Is it possible the IOC can put a moratorium on technological advances, especially in swimming? Between a swimming venue that provides the ultimate advantage to the athletes —greater depth and greater wake absorption — to those new sleek bodysuits, records are not only being beaten, but blitzed.

This also encourages the aforementioned blasé factor as people begin to wonder how much of what we’re witnessing is attributable to great athleticism and how much to great engineering.

What are we headed for? Jet skis in 2012? Water-free pools in 2016?

I’ve never been a big Olympics fan and part of the reason is the sheer number of events. I’m the kind of guy who, given too many choices, opts out completely.

I’ve probably watched more Olympics this year than ever before, but some of the events just leave me scratching my head.

Archery? Sabre? Take a game like badminton. What do badminton players do the rest of the quadrennium when the Olympics are not being staged? Is there a national or international badminton league? Are these just casual players who stage Olympic trials during backyard barbeques? Might I be on the 2012 team?

More and more, certain sports seem to be randomly dreamed up by someone sitting around the office with nothing to do.

Synchronized diving comes to mind. I’ve got it. Why not synchronized discus for the 2012 games? Or beach archery?

SPORTS>> Early score just enough for Rhinos

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

A 13-yard touchdown run by Jerald Marshall at the 5:10 mark of the first quarter ended up as the Arkansas Rhinos’ only score of the game, but it was just enough to pull out a 7-6 win against the Tri-City Clarksville Knights on Saturday at Red Devil Field.

Daniel Brown was the defensive hero when he stuffed a potential go-ahead 2-point conversion attempt by the Knights late in the game.

The Rhinos’ touchdown culminated a march of 80 yards in eight plays and six minutes for what proved the winning score after they turned the ball over on their first possession of the game.

Marshall was the Rhinos’ workhorse all night. He carried 21 times for 194 yards, and was the only consistent chain mover all night.

At 5-10 and 212 pounds, Marshall may not be the biggest runner in the North America Football League, but Rhinos head coach Oscar Malone said his contribution to the team has been vital since joining the squad just before the second game of the season.

“Jerald has really stepped itup,” Malone said. “If we can ever get some kind of crease going for him, he can really do some things. He’s not a huge runner, but he definitely plays bigger than what he is.”

Further scoring opportunities were plentiful for the Rhinos, especially in the third quarter, but two straight touchdown plays were called back for penalties. What would have been Marshall’s second TD run of the night was called back on a hold, and a 30-yard pass from Jeremiah Crouch to wide receiver Kamal Broadway one play later came back on the same infraction.

That led to a 56-yard field goal attempt by Garrett Morgan with 2:22 left in the third, but Morgan sent the ball just under the crossbar.

Penalties ended up as the theme for the night, as the Rhinos were flagged 15 times for 115 yards, while the Knights had seven flags for 60 yards. There were several more offsetting personal foul penalties.

In all, Malone was pleased to see the increase in offensive yardage, but was upset over the frequent laundry on Saturday.
“It’s all about having the right attitude,” Malone offered. “The defense has done great, but offensively, when you get out of shape, you get lazy. We kept pulling down, and getting caught. It’s not a hold until you get caught, we just got caught a little too often.”

Tri-City’s offense stumbled all night at the hands of the Rhinos defense, led by Enrico Williams’ 11 ½ tackle performance, but the Knights’ special teams were able to sneak one by on Arkansas’ punt unit with 7:51 left to play in the contest on an 81-yard punt return by Tim Whorton after another Rhinos’ drive stalled due to penalties.

The Knights attempted a fake on the extra-point attempt, but Rhinos defender Daniel Brown stopped holder Brian Richardson in his tracks.

Brown also netted an interception to start the third quarter. The Knights took possession to start the second half, and quickly moved into Rhinos’ territory on a pair of pass plays, but Tri-City QB Jonathon Asworth’s throw into the Arkansas secondary resulted in a pick by Brown.

It was the only turnover in the Rhinos’ favor all night, and killed the only offensive momentum shown by Clarksville in the entire contest.

Marshall led the Rhinos offensively. Crouch completed 4 of 10 pass attempts for 84 yards and an interception. Broadway had four receptions for 84 yards. Tony Phillips had seven carries for 41 yards. The Rhinos had 366 yards of total offense.

Arkansas is now 3-2 on the season, and will host the Memphis Panthers this Saturday at Red Devil Field for military appreciation night. Tickets will be $3 for all attending, including adult admission.

The Panthers handed Arkansas its first loss of the season in a 19-17 decision in late July.