Friday, July 23, 2010

EDITORIAL >>Benefits Extended

Whether you are a parent or the government, there is a time to be benevolent and a time to be tough. In the midst of the worst economic doldrums in 75 years, Congress decided this week that it was still time to be benevolent. Both the Senate and House of Representatives voted to extend unemployment benefits a while longer for 2.5 million Americans who lost their jobs in the 2008-’09 meltdown and haven’t been able to find new ones. Nearly 17,000 of them are in Arkansas, which has not been hit as hard as states with large manufacturing quotients.

It was the right thing to do, for both humanitarian and economic reasons. That is a lot of personal suffering, and the continued spending on food, utilities and mortgages is a small but important bootstrap for the economy, which still seems poised to plunge deeper from the precipice.

The unemployment extension sadly became a political rather than an economic or humanitarian issue. That was especially so in Arkansas, where every vote is now measured for its effect on the U.S. Senate race. Sen. Blanche Lincoln voted for the extension, along with most Democrats. Her opponent, Rep. John Boozman, voted against it, as always with the Republican leadership.

Republicans picked a fight over the unemployment extension on the hunch that people were madder about the federal budget deficit than they were concerned about those on the unemployment lines and their families. They may be right. They are looking over their shoulders at the tea-party movement, which stakes out the deficit as the overriding concern of the times.

Neither Lincoln nor Boozman wasted any time seeking an advantage from their votes. Lincoln said she did not believe the country should turn its back on Arkansas workers who had lost jobs through no fault of their own and are seeking jobs. She wanted Boozman to explain how he could turn his back on them.

Boozman embraced his party’s defense: If the government was going to spend $34 billion keeping food on the tables of the unemployed, it ought to cut the same amount from the rest of the stimulus program. That makes no economic sense. You help the currently unemployed by putting others out of work. In Arkansas, it would mean reducing help for medical care for the poor or halting aid that keeps highway workers, teachers and city policemen on the job.

Boozman said he was philosophically opposed to extending jobless benefits without countervailing cuts in spending elsewhere.

But he was not truthful. When it was a Republican president seeking to stimulate the economy by extending unemployment benefits, he always voted for it, once in 2002, twice in 2003 and twice in 2008. Those were the days when President George W. Bush, aided by a Congress of his own party, was building the massive deficits. Deficits became a big issue only when President Obama inherited them.

It may be time to recapitulate. In 2001, when Bush (and Boozman) took office, the United States was running a budget surplus of $86 billion — $236 billion if you added in the excess of Social Security tax receipts — and the year before Bush left office, surpluses had ended and the on-budget deficit had soared to $642 billion ($458 billion if you throw the Social Security surplus into the pot). Boozman was so unbothered by the deficits that he was voting unemployment extensions and boasting about helping the unfortunate.

The massive deficits are indeed a dilemma. Relieving suffering and giving the economy an injection run up the deficit. But that is temporary red ink, and although it will have to be repaid in the same way as the rest of the debt, the grave problem is the structural deficit, which arises from the tax-and-spend policies of the past decade, and the recession, which has reduced the government’s revenues by $500 billion a year. How can we revitalize the economy so that those revenues will be restored, and how can we eliminate the $600 billion-plus deficit produced by the rounds of tax cuts, two wars and a huge unfunded Medicare expansion during the Bush years? That is what ought to preoccupy Boozman, Lincoln, their parties and the president.

President Obama and his party seem as flummoxed as anyone about how to fix things. He has tried targeted tax cuts for businesses and working people and a modest stimulus program, and they have produced very modest results. But we know that the Republican plan will not work. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader who was in the state the other day raising money for Boozman, says the solution is big tax cuts for corporations and the investment class. Wednesday, he said there was no evidence that tax cuts reduced government revenues; rather, he said, they create jobs and produce more government revenue.

No evidence? He should look at the Treasury Department’s figures. When Bush and Congress (with the help of both Lincoln and Boozman) began to slash income taxes on high personal incomes and corporations, federal income tax receipts plummeted from $1.2 trillion in 2000 to $925 billion, and it took six years for revenues to reach even the 2000 level again. What clearer evidence could you expect? And during that period, fewer jobs were created than during any comparable period since World War II.

But we will not solve that problem now, or ever, by being penurious with the needy and a fragile economy.

TOP STORY > >Apartment complex approved

By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer

A new 23-building, 88-unit apartment complex at Loop and Military roads came closer to reality as the Jacksonville Planning Commission last week approved the landscaping and site plans and the preliminary plat.

The seven-acre project still must get its final plat approved, but all the issues about the apartments were worked out at last week’s commission meeting.

The apartment complex, called Courtyard Cottages, will include 22 four-plex buildings and a community-center building.

The main issue was street improvements.

Initially the city wanted the developer, Terry Burress, to make street improvements including curb-and-gutter work along Loop Road the length of the project.

The developer felt he was not responsible for the improvements because none of the units opened up to Military Road and cited numerous subdivisions that did not have to do the improvements.

The commission approved a compromise, having the developer do improvements between the entrances and exits to the complex.

Commissioner Susan Dollar said the commission needed to get together on the subject and be consistent on requiring street improvements.

“I hate to see us set a precedent,” Dollar said.

In other commission business:

Commissioners approved a request by Tommy Dodson to tear down an old home at 1516 S. Hwy. 161 that was grandfathered in many years ago when the highway property was rezoned commercial.

He plans to build a duplex on the property and needed commission approval since once a grandfathered structure is torn down, anything new is supposed to match the new rezoning, in this case commercial.

“This will be an improvement to the area,” said city Engineer Jay Whisker.

The commission approved a re-plat of a piece of property owned by Jim Durham, director of city administration.

In essence, the re-platting allows Durham to bring in a piece of neighboring land into his Red Fox Lane property all on one tax bill.

Durham said this is often done administratively and that commission approval wasn’t really necessary, but it was brought to them as part of the mayor’s transparency policy.

TOP STORY > >Apartment complex approved

By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer

A new 23-building, 88-unit apartment complex at Loop and Military roads came closer to reality as the Jacksonville Planning Commission last week approved the landscaping and site plans and the preliminary plat.

The seven-acre project still must get its final plat approved, but all the issues about the apartments were worked out at last week’s commission meeting.

The apartment complex, called Courtyard Cottages, will include 22 four-plex buildings and a community-center building.

The main issue was street improvements.

Initially the city wanted the developer, Terry Burress, to make street improvements including curb-and-gutter work along Loop Road the length of the project.

The developer felt he was not responsible for the improvements because none of the units opened up to Military Road and cited numerous subdivisions that did not have to do the improvements.

The commission approved a compromise, having the developer do improvements between the entrances and exits to the complex.

Commissioner Susan Dollar said the commission needed to get together on the subject and be consistent on requiring street improvements.

“I hate to see us set a precedent,” Dollar said.

In other commission business:

Commissioners approved a request by Tommy Dodson to tear down an old home at 1516 S. Hwy. 161 that was grandfathered in many years ago when the highway property was rezoned commercial.

He plans to build a duplex on the property and needed commission approval since once a grandfathered structure is torn down, anything new is supposed to match the new rezoning, in this case commercial.

“This will be an improvement to the area,” said city Engineer Jay Whisker.

The commission approved a re-plat of a piece of property owned by Jim Durham, director of city administration.

In essence, the re-platting allows Durham to bring in a piece of neighboring land into his Red Fox Lane property all on one tax bill.

Durham said this is often done administratively and that commission approval wasn’t really necessary, but it was brought to them as part of the mayor’s transparency policy.

TOP STORY > >Several candidates file for school races

By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer

With the filing period for the Sept. 21 school board elections closed, challengers seek to unseat two opponents of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers who are up for re-election, while at school districts in Lonoke County and at Beebe, incumbents face no challenge.

That could change, because write-in candidates can file through noon Wednesday.

In Pulaski County Special School District, Zone 5 board member Danny Gilliland is being challenged by Tom Stuthard, and Zone 5 board member Charlie Wood faces a challenge from Gloria Lawrence.

Both incumbents are outspoken opponents of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers and have sought to bar the union from negotiating teacher contracts.

Lawrence, a longtime district teacher and PACT member, said she retired last year and was moved to run by the board’s efforts to decertify the union as the teachers negotiating agent.

Stuthard doesn’t have a listed telephone number, but a PACT-friendly website describes him as a postal worker, retired Air Force and married to a Sylvan Hills math teacher.

In the Cabot School District, incumbent Wendell J. Msall Jr. is without opposition for his Position 4 seat.

Mark Russell has filed for the Position 3 seat he currently holds.

Although the standard term length is five years, Russell is running for a two-year term. Last year, he replaced Brooks Nash who died and now he has to run for election to complete the last two years of Nash’s term.

In Beebe, Lucy Mahoney has filed for re-election to her Position 4 seat.

In Lonoke, Chris James filed for the Zone 2 seat he currently holds. Darrell Park has filed for re-election in Zone 3.

Despite redrawing Zone 4, no one filed for the seat held by Kevin McKenzie, who can’t run for re-election because he now lives in Zone 2.

However, if no one runs for the position, McKenzie can continue to serve. That’s been the case for the past year.

In Carlisle, Cliff Schafer is running unopposed in Zone 7 and Bryan Oliger will run unopposed for the Zone 1, Position 1 seat.

In England, Linda Solee Tucker will run unopposed in Zone 2.

TOP STORY > >Several candidates file for school races

By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer

With the filing period for the Sept. 21 school board elections closed, challengers seek to unseat two opponents of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers who are up for re-election, while at school districts in Lonoke County and at Beebe, incumbents face no challenge.

That could change, because write-in candidates can file through noon Wednesday.

In Pulaski County Special School District, Zone 5 board member Danny Gilliland is being challenged by Tom Stuthard, and Zone 5 board member Charlie Wood faces a challenge from Gloria Lawrence.

Both incumbents are outspoken opponents of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers and have sought to bar the union from negotiating teacher contracts.

Lawrence, a longtime district teacher and PACT member, said she retired last year and was moved to run by the board’s efforts to decertify the union as the teachers negotiating agent.

Stuthard doesn’t have a listed telephone number, but a PACT-friendly website describes him as a postal worker, retired Air Force and married to a Sylvan Hills math teacher.

In the Cabot School District, incumbent Wendell J. Msall Jr. is without opposition for his Position 4 seat.

Mark Russell has filed for the Position 3 seat he currently holds.

Although the standard term length is five years, Russell is running for a two-year term. Last year, he replaced Brooks Nash who died and now he has to run for election to complete the last two years of Nash’s term.

In Beebe, Lucy Mahoney has filed for re-election to her Position 4 seat.

In Lonoke, Chris James filed for the Zone 2 seat he currently holds. Darrell Park has filed for re-election in Zone 3.

Despite redrawing Zone 4, no one filed for the seat held by Kevin McKenzie, who can’t run for re-election because he now lives in Zone 2.

However, if no one runs for the position, McKenzie can continue to serve. That’s been the case for the past year.

In Carlisle, Cliff Schafer is running unopposed in Zone 7 and Bryan Oliger will run unopposed for the Zone 1, Position 1 seat.

In England, Linda Solee Tucker will run unopposed in Zone 2.

TOP STORY > >Cabot ice-cream social is a big scoop!

By Jeffrey Smith
Leader staff writer

One of the coolest places to be on a hot Thursday afternoon was at the Cabot Chamber of Commerce’s after-hours ice cream social in the city council chambers.

The unofficial ice-cream tasters as well as the judges had a dozen homemade flavors to choose from.

Cabot Kiwanis Club made pina colada. The Junior Auxiliary of Cabot had strawberry cake and strawberry cheesecake. Lenders Title had pina colada and margarita. Cook Screen Printing had paved road, similar to rocky road ice cream, but with Oreo cookies.

The Cabot Fire Department had Red Hots cinnamon-candy ice cream. Spring Creek Health and Rehabilitation made grape. H and R Block had mint chocolate chip with chocolate dollar sign pieces. First Electric Cooperative had s’mores.

The city of Cabot had chocolate cheesecake and the Cabot mayor’s office had Buster Bars made with Oreo cookies, peanuts, ice cream and chocolate sauce.

Chamber director Billye Everett said, “It is a unique event. It is a lot of fun to sponsor. Our members are great to put so much effort into a successful event for other members of the chamber.”

The award for best decorated table went to the Junior Auxiliary of Cabot. The most unique ice-cream award went to the Cabot Fire Department with Red Hots cinnamon-candy ice cream.

Best overall ice cream award went to H and R Block’s mint chocolate-chip ice cream.

Pam Caple with H and R Block was excited about winning.

She said, “This is our first time getting involved with chamber activities and (we) look forward to participating in many more.”
Judging the myriad number of tasty and creative ice creams were Cabot Schools Superintendent Tony Thurman, Austin Mayor Bernie Chamberlain, Cabot Fire Chief Phil Robinson, Cabot Police Chief Jackie Davis, Lonoke County Judge Charlie Troutman, Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Williams and Cabot Chamber of Commerce vice president Teresa Durham.

They all said “yum” many times over.

SPORTS>>Name game has winners, lots of losers

By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor

Jason King, the other half of The Leader’s crackerjack sports department, faithfully comes to work each Monday during the summer with updates from the Friday night action at Beebe Speedway.

I don’t know auto racing from Shinola, but I do know that it is a sport with some great nicknames. Trumann driver Kyle Beard for example, is known as “The Silent Assassin.”

Funny, that’s what we call Jason when he comes back from lunch at Taco Bell, but it does make those of us around here wonder why certain athletes have such evil-sounding nicknames.

It may be the physical, aggressive nature of sports and an overlay of testosterone that leads competitors to come up with names promising death and pain.

They called Arkansas’ own Corliss Williamson, now head basketball coach at Central Arkansas, “Big Nasty.” Oakland Raiders defensive back Fred Williamson went by “The Hammer,” and heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey was called “The Manassa Mauler.”

I don’t know about you, but I suddenly feel all warm and cozy inside.

I won’t even get into the wrestling names. Well, yes I will.

Before the Arkansas Travelers fell in love with midget wrestling as a pregame promotion they tried out the full-size variety at Ray Winder Field in 2000. One of the wrestlers was a guy who wore a cook’s whites and spoke with a French accent lifted directly from Monty Python who called himself “The Madd Chef.”

Why two ds? I don’t know. Maybe the Chef was extra mad or an underachiever in cooking school.
During his match he seized the ring microphone to berate the booing crowd.

“I’m warning you people for the last time — shut up!” The Madd Chef said.

Those Frenchmen are quite eloquent. Especially the ones from Saline County.

But of course pro wrestlers, who basically adopt an entire persona, a character, need to have names for their alter egos. Can you imagine Hulk Hogan going by his given name of Terry Bollea?

I personally wish Hogan had stuck with “Thunder Lips,” perhaps the greatest wrestling name of all, from his character in “Rocky III.”

That reminds me of this made-up wrestling quiz we invented at the office when I worked at the statewide daily:
Vlad the Impaler is about to wrestle Bob Johnson. Which one is making his wrestling debut and wearing plain trunks? And for extra credit, who will win?

That reminds me of another quiz:
Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Lt. Jones beam down to a hostile planet. Which one will be killed? And for extra credit, what color shirt will he be wearing?

But I digress. Now that the Travelers go exclusively with midget wrestling, they have a heavily tattooed, heavily pierced bad-guy character nicknamed “Puppet the Psycho Dwarf.”

Makes you feel like going to the petting zoo, doesn’t it?

“Why are there no nice nicknames?” said Jason, a little too plaintively for me. From now on he will be known as Jason “The Whiner” King.

Actually there have been a lot of nice nicknames in sports — “Sweetness,” “Magic,” “Air,” “Potpourri” — but for every “Splendid Splinter” there seems to be a “Human Rain Delay,” the name shared by former big league hitter Mike Hargrove and pitcher Steve
Trachsel because of their excruciatingly long plate and mound appearances.

I don’t think baseball could function without nicknames, and the greatest players get the best ones. “The Bambino,” “The Von Ryan Express,” “The Rocket,” “The Kid,” “the Iron Man,” “The Yankee Clipper,” “The Umbrella Stand.”

Even baseball players you never heard of get nicknames, though usually it’s just a take on someone’s birth name. Travelers Manager Bobby Magallanes is “Mags” and pitching coach Ken Patterson is “K.P.”

Frequently a baseball player gets a nickname because someone adds a Y to his name. In his brief, failed stint with the Travelers, legendary Pine Bluff athlete Basil Shabazz was “Shabby,” which also describes his batting average, and I recently heard Frisco
RoughRiders manager Steve “Boo” Buechele call infielder Matt Lawson “Matty.”

Those wacky baseball guys over at Dickey-Stephens Park even have a couple nicknames for me, but I’m getting tired of “Sir,” and “Hey you.”

I want something original and catchy, something that encapsulates both my winning personality and my stellar career. But you can’t demand a nickname; it has to be earned and it must come to you naturally, in the flow of the moment.

At least that’s what the guys in the press box — “Frenchy,” “Hambone” and “Lt. Dan” —keep telling me.

SPORTS>>Jacksonville taps Reeves to take over in volleyball

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

For the second time in as many weeks, Jacksonville has reached back into the past to fill a coaching need.

Former Jacksonville volleyball coach Melissa Reeves is returning to the program she led from 2006-07. Reeves, who has been in the Jacksonville teaching ranks, replaces Justine Rial, who stepped down after two seasons to focus on teaching.

“Honestly, I missed it,” Reeves said. “I missed the kids, and the opportunity came up. There are new, exciting things happening at the school and we have a new administration.

“We’re not going to look at the past, we’re looking to the future and all of the positives. We’ll just have to see; hopefully we’ll have a good mix.”

Earlier this month Jacksonville filled its football coaching job with former assistant Rick Russell.

Reeves took over for Phil Bradley in 2006 and led Jacksonville to the state tournament in both of her seasons. She also served as an assistant to girls varsity basketball coach Katrina Mimms during that time.

Reeves stepped down from volleyball after the 2007 season but remained on the teaching staff. The former Lady Red Devil Rial, fresh out of Williams Baptist College, took over in her first coaching job and also had a successful two-year run.

Rial announced in the spring she was stepping down as volleyball coach and assistant softball coach to pursue a master’s degree and national teaching certification.

Reeves dealt with unspecified health issues during her hiatus but said she is ready to return courtside.

The ninth-grade volleyball team also has a new coach in Tracy Duncan, who will be an assistant to Mimms in basketball and head coach of the girls varsity soccer program.

Duncan is from Dardanelle and comes to Jacksonville after three successful years at Cedarville High School, where she was head coach in girls basketball, track and both cross-country programs.

Duncan’s track and girls cross country teams finished third in the state meets last year and she is in her ninth year of coaching. Kendra Seauheaver will be Reeves’ assistant on the volleyball team.

Jacksonville still has to find an assistant for softball, but now has most of its coaching vacancies filled with school starting in August.

The freshman and varsity squads, and anyone interested in playing volleyball, will meet at the Jacksonville High School auxiliary gymnasium on Thursday from 8-11 a.m. The coaches are having a mandatory parents night at 6 p.m. on Aug. 5 in the fieldhouse.

Reeves has met with her players once and introduced herself, but said she still has to get acquainted with everyone after her two-year hiatus.

“I talked to all the girls,” Reeves said. “We have 20-plus for the varsity and about 12 or 13 on the ninth-grade team. When I talked to them, they all seemed pretty excited about the new things going on.”

Reeves has been part of nearly a decade of postseason appearances for the Lady Red Devils, though she has a higher regard for her 2007 team which earned a No. 3 seed in the 6A state tournament and reached the quarterfinal round before falling to eventual state champion Benton.

The 2006 team took a No. 6 seed and fell out in the first round.

“I don’t coach to lose,” Reeves said. “You know my philosophy is that I don’t want us to go to the state tournament because everyone gets to go, I want us to go because we deserve to be there.”

SPORTS>>Cabot stops Benton in Legion first round

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Benton is a team notorious for comebacks, but Cabot Centennial Bank cut off the McClendon’s appliance team after two runs in the top of the ninth for a 10-7 victory in the first round of the American Legion senior state tournament at Vince De Salvo Stadium in Burns Park on Friday.

Cabot (23-11) got off to a fast start with three runs in the bottom of the first before breaking the game open with a four-run fourth to make it 7-3.

Centennial Bank pushed its lead to 9-3 in the bottom of the fifth, but starting pitcher Matt Evans finally wore out in the top of the eighth to bring Powell Bryant to the mound, and Benton adjusted quickly with four runs in the final two innings.

“That team is dangerous,” Cabot coach Jay Darr said. “We’ve played them twice, and they’re never out of it. They swing it well enough, and they always have good pitching. So it was a good one for the program.”

Evans walked Blake Childress and Joshua Creel to start the eighth, and Darr went to the mound but left Evans in. Evans then hit Brantley Abbott to load the bases with no outs, and this time, Darr brought in Bryant.

Childress and Creel scored on groundouts before Bryant struck out Steven Brooks to end Benton’s at-bat and leave a man stranded.

Benton cut further into the lead during its final at-bat when Austin Pfeiffer led off with a double to right and No. 9 hitter Austin Southworth hit a Bryant fastball over the left field fence for a two-run home run.

But Bryant refocused and struck out two of the last three he faces, while also inducing a popup to first, to lift Cabot into the winners bracket.

“Their No. 9, that’s the second home run he’s hit in the ninth inning of a ballgame two games in a row,” Darr said. “He’s legit, and their whole lineup is, so they showed a lot of fight to not give up in the end, and we had to bear down on the mound and make some pitches.”

Evans’ crowning moment on the mound came in the top of the fifth after Cabot’s three-run fourth. Benton loaded the bases with a walk, a double and a hit batter, but with two outs, Evans struck out Creel swinging to strand all three.

“Evans pitched through some innings where he had base runners,” Darr said. “He gave us a chance to win the ballgame in the end. I think we hit the ball consistently all game long. Their pitchers were in the zone, so that helped us out a little bit.”

Joe Bryant was 3 for 5 with a double, two RBI and two runs. Ty Steele was 2 for 5 with a double and an RBI for Cabot.

Benton leadoff batter Garrett Parker put up the first run in the top of the first when he walked and scored on Pfeiffer’s single to right field. Pfeiffer tried to advance to second but was tagged out in a rundown.

Cabot responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning.

Steele singled with one out, Matt Turner doubled and Steele scored on Matt Evans’ sacrifice fly to center. Tyler Erickson walked and Andrew Reynolds drove in Turner with a single to right and Cole Nicholson singled up the middle to drive in Erickson and make it 3-1.

SPORTS>>Cabot stops Benton in Legion first round

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Benton is a team notorious for comebacks, but Cabot Centennial Bank cut off the McClendon’s appliance team after two runs in the top of the ninth for a 10-7 victory in the first round of the American Legion senior state tournament at Vince De Salvo Stadium in Burns Park on Friday.

Cabot (23-11) got off to a fast start with three runs in the bottom of the first before breaking the game open with a four-run fourth to make it 7-3.

Centennial Bank pushed its lead to 9-3 in the bottom of the fifth, but starting pitcher Matt Evans finally wore out in the top of the eighth to bring Powell Bryant to the mound, and Benton adjusted quickly with four runs in the final two innings.

“That team is dangerous,” Cabot coach Jay Darr said. “We’ve played them twice, and they’re never out of it. They swing it well enough, and they always have good pitching. So it was a good one for the program.”

Evans walked Blake Childress and Joshua Creel to start the eighth, and Darr went to the mound but left Evans in. Evans then hit Brantley Abbott to load the bases with no outs, and this time, Darr brought in Bryant.

Childress and Creel scored on groundouts before Bryant struck out Steven Brooks to end Benton’s at-bat and leave a man stranded.

Benton cut further into the lead during its final at-bat when Austin Pfeiffer led off with a double to right and No. 9 hitter Austin Southworth hit a Bryant fastball over the left field fence for a two-run home run.

But Bryant refocused and struck out two of the last three he faces, while also inducing a popup to first, to lift Cabot into the winners bracket.

“Their No. 9, that’s the second home run he’s hit in the ninth inning of a ballgame two games in a row,” Darr said. “He’s legit, and their whole lineup is, so they showed a lot of fight to not give up in the end, and we had to bear down on the mound and make some pitches.”

Evans’ crowning moment on the mound came in the top of the fifth after Cabot’s three-run fourth. Benton loaded the bases with a walk, a double and a hit batter, but with two outs, Evans struck out Creel swinging to strand all three.

“Evans pitched through some innings where he had base runners,” Darr said. “He gave us a chance to win the ballgame in the end. I think we hit the ball consistently all game long. Their pitchers were in the zone, so that helped us out a little bit.”

Joe Bryant was 3 for 5 with a double, two RBI and two runs. Ty Steele was 2 for 5 with a double and an RBI for Cabot.

Benton leadoff batter Garrett Parker put up the first run in the top of the first when he walked and scored on Pfeiffer’s single to right field. Pfeiffer tried to advance to second but was tagged out in a rundown.

Cabot responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning.

Steele singled with one out, Matt Turner doubled and Steele scored on Matt Evans’ sacrifice fly to center. Tyler Erickson walked and Andrew Reynolds drove in Turner with a single to right and Cole Nicholson singled up the middle to drive in Erickson and make it 3-1.

SPORTS>>Local standout cruises to victory

RANDY BEAVER MEMORIAL JUNIOR GOLF TOURNAMENT

STORIES BY TODD TRAUB

Time may be running out on Hunter Smith in junior golf, but he made time stand still Wednesday.

In the next to last event of his junior career, Smith dominated his home course with a 10-stroke victory in the Randy Beaver Memorial ASGA Junior Golf Tournament at Cabot’s Rolling Hills Country Club.

Smith, of Cabot, shot a final-round 67 on the 18-hole, par-72 course. He matched his first-day 67 for an overall 134 and a clear victory over his closest pursuer Brik Brauberger, who shot a 144.

“I play it every day,” Smith said of Rolling Hills, the course that has been his home since he took up the game almost 15 years ago.

Smith, 17, an incoming senior at Cabot High School and the 2009 ASGA junior champion, showed his comfort level with shots like the one he hit approaching the green on the 380-yard No. 18.

Smith hit a sand wedge 100 yards and left himself a one-foot putt to birdie the par 4 hole.

“I birdied the last hole the last two days,” Smith said.

Whit Parker shot a 78-82—160 to win the boys 12-13 division and Peyton Herald shot an 80-76—156 to win the 14-15 age group.

It wasn’t all fun and games for Smith, despite his strong score. In Tuesday’s opening round he had to overcome a bogey on the 456-yard No. 3 hole and a double bogey on the 454-yard No. 12.

“Yesterday I had a double bogey and a bogey and today I thought I played a lot better than that,” Smith said Wednesday. “But I missed a few short putts. Still I’m pleased with 67s both days.”

No. 3 and 12 are par 4s, and the key for Smith was to do well on the par 5s like the 491-yard No. 2, with a slight dogleg to the left; the 507-yard No. 7; the 466-yard No. 11 and the 495-yard No. 16, with a ditch in front of the tee, a slight dogleg to the right and an out-of-bounds road behind the green.

With few other obstructions or hazards, Smith knew he had a chance to do well on the big holes if he kept the ball in the middle of the fairway.

“The par 5s, they’re real easy,” Smith said. “So I figured if I was going to stay in there and keep my lead, I had to birdie those holes so that helped me out a lot.”

It was the first year for the Randy Beaver Memorial, named after long-time club pro Randy Beaver, but it was another day at the office for Smith on the course he knows so well.

“I figured I had a little advantage over the field,” he said. “Kind of today I was just playing myself. The guys in my group got off to a slow start.”

Smith’s last ASGA junior event will be the stroke-play championship in Texarkana next week. He plans to focus on high school golf next year and, free from the state junior schedule, to try to qualify for as many out-of-state amateur events as he can.

“Because I wont be able to play juniors so I’ll just go play,” Smith said.

SPORTS>>Webb savors Rolling Hills visit

RANDY BEAVER MEMORIAL JUNIOR GOLF TOURNAMENT

STORIES BY TODD TRAUB

It was worth the trip for Katie Webb.

Webb ventured from Heber Springs to Cabot to win the girls division of the Randy Beaver Memorial ASGA Junior Golf Tournament at Rolling Hills Country Club in Cabot on Wednesday.

Webb, an incoming senior, shot a 69-72—141 in the two-day event on the 18-hole, par 72 course. She finished nine strokes ahead of Cabot’s Kaylee Benton.

“It was a lot of fun, I love playing with the girls I played with and I was just glad to play pretty good,” said Webb, who had Benton in her playing group.

The boys division had three age groups but the girls field included all players ages 13-17.

It was Webb’s first visit to Rolling Hills.

“I didn’t play a practice round,” she said. “I hadn’t ever played it before. I just kind of used my range-finder.”

Webb’s first-day 69 came despite a bogey on the 297-yard, par-5, No. 16 and she learned from her mistake on the second day.

“I hit it left and I had to take an unplayable,” Webb said Wednesday. “But today I hit a 3-wood and made par on it. Yesterday I made some really good putts and that kind of left me and today I played about the same and just didn’t make as many putts.”

Her first-day low score allowed Webb to relax on Wednesday and she was satisfied with shooting par.

“It was really nice to have a lead coming into the second day,” she said. “It took the pressure off. All I had to do today was just make par and not try to do anything special.”

Webb hit a 7-iron off the green to birdie the 137-yard, par-3, No. 6 — which features a lake hazard — on both days.

“When I was on the tee box, I just felt really comfortable with the club and it was really nice to have those birdies both days,” Webb said.

Benton shot a 76-74—150 for second and Madison Talley shot an 80-75—155 to finish third.

The tournament, in its first year, is named for long-time Rolling Hills club pro Randy Beaver.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

TOP STORY > >Otey ready for new job at Pentagon

By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer

Col. Greg Otey, commander of Little Rock Air Force Base until the change-of-command ceremony, is headed to the Pentagon as senior Air Force planner to the Air Force chief of staff.

He will help form recommendations to the Air Force Chief of Staff, who will then meet with the other service chiefs and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to work out an overall position, he said.

Otey will work with two other colonels, two civilians and a lieutenant colonel to oversee those recommendations.

“I’m excited for the opportunity,” Otey said Tuesday, “but sad to leave Little Rock Air Force Base, the mission and the people here.”

Otey, who is commander of the base’s 19th Airlift Wing, will formally hand over the guidon and command at 10 a.m. Aug. 2 to Col. Michael Minihan.

Minihan is the vice commander of the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base, California.

According to his Air Force biography, Minihan served as assistant to the commander for the combined efforts of all operations and support activities associated with the worldwide air mobility mission.

The C-5, KC-10, and C-17 assigned aircraft participate in air, land and aerial refueling operations, responding to Joint Chiefs of Staff-directed combat missions and supporting State Department-sponsored humanitarian-relief efforts worldwide.

Otey called the community—which was awarded the Abilene Trophy as the most supportive Air Mobility Command community in the country—“a community like none other.”

Otey was raised in Virginia, but in his 22-year Air Force career, this will be his first posting at the Pentagon.

“I tried to continue and lay the foundation of being a black knight, and we advanced that ball down the field.”

The 19th Airlift Wing is also known as the Black Knights.

Since he took command in January 2009, privatization of base housing finally got going in the right direction with new partners Hunt-Pinnacle.

“They are almost a year ahead of schedule,” Otey said.

The previous privatization effort, American Eagle, was a dismal failure, but Hunt-Pinnacle bought the housing contract.

“The Joint Education Center broke ground,” he said. “That’s huge.”

The new base exchange opened and Congress appropriated the money for a new security building.

“The (C-130) rodeo was a huge success for Team Little Rock and specifically for the 19th Airlift Wing. We consider this the best C-130 base in the world.”

During Otey’s command, the base had eight C-130s flying relief supplies and transporting soldiers to Haiti in the wake of the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed or injured an estimated half-million Haitians and left an estimated 1 million homeless.

Between 15 percent and 20 percent of the wing is deployed at all times in Afghanistan or Iraq, Otey said.

The base continued its support of efforts for better school buildings and better education locally.

“That’s something that will continue,” he said, “so that military kids can get the right kind of education.

“My kid’s 15 and he’s never lived in the same place for over two years. We’re looking to make it better for all and at the same time help military kids,” Otey said.

Lisa Otey, the colonel’s wife, attended numerous Pulaski County Special School District meetings, with the intention of helping get better facilities and education for children of the military and also the community.

As for the Abilene Trophy, “I knew how good this community was,” said Otey. “It’s good to see such a deserving community recognized as the best community in the Air Mobility Command.”

He also praised the community, members of the base/community council in particular, with its support of the base’s rodeo team.

“They threw a huge sendoff breakfast,” he said. “They came to see us off and they were on the sidelines cheering.

“When we won, they threw us a celebration party.”

He said the community also has “Airpower Arkansas,” a subset of the community council, which “raises a tremendous amount of money in support of the Air Show.”

And no nod to the community would be complete without citing the people of Jacksonville for taxing themselves to help build the Joint Education Center, which provides college classes for both airmen and local residents.

“We know of no other place in the Air Force that this has been done,” he said.

They taxed themselves and raised $5 million for the $14 million Joint Education Center.

He spoke highly of his counterparts at the base, Col. C.K. Hyde, commander of the 314th Air Education Wing, and Col. James Summers, commander of the National Guard’s 189th Airlift Wing.

‘They’ve been outstanding mission partners,” Otey said.

“It’s truly been an honor to be part of the Little Rock Air Force Base community and team. I am a blessed man.”

As for Minihan, his successor, Otey said, “You’re going to like him.”

TOP STORY > >Otey ready for new job at Pentagon

By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer

Col. Greg Otey, commander of Little Rock Air Force Base until the change-of-command ceremony, is headed to the Pentagon as senior Air Force planner to the Air Force chief of staff.

He will help form recommendations to the Air Force Chief of Staff, who will then meet with the other service chiefs and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to work out an overall position, he said.

Otey will work with two other colonels, two civilians and a lieutenant colonel to oversee those recommendations.

“I’m excited for the opportunity,” Otey said Tuesday, “but sad to leave Little Rock Air Force Base, the mission and the people here.”

Otey, who is commander of the base’s 19th Airlift Wing, will formally hand over the guidon and command at 10 a.m. Aug. 2 to Col. Michael Minihan.

Minihan is the vice commander of the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base, California.

According to his Air Force biography, Minihan served as assistant to the commander for the combined efforts of all operations and support activities associated with the worldwide air mobility mission.

The C-5, KC-10, and C-17 assigned aircraft participate in air, land and aerial refueling operations, responding to Joint Chiefs of Staff-directed combat missions and supporting State Department-sponsored humanitarian-relief efforts worldwide.

Otey called the community—which was awarded the Abilene Trophy as the most supportive Air Mobility Command community in the country—“a community like none other.”

Otey was raised in Virginia, but in his 22-year Air Force career, this will be his first posting at the Pentagon.

“I tried to continue and lay the foundation of being a black knight, and we advanced that ball down the field.”

The 19th Airlift Wing is also known as the Black Knights.

Since he took command in January 2009, privatization of base housing finally got going in the right direction with new partners Hunt-Pinnacle.

“They are almost a year ahead of schedule,” Otey said.

The previous privatization effort, American Eagle, was a dismal failure, but Hunt-Pinnacle bought the housing contract.

“The Joint Education Center broke ground,” he said. “That’s huge.”

The new base exchange opened and Congress appropriated the money for a new security building.

“The (C-130) rodeo was a huge success for Team Little Rock and specifically for the 19th Airlift Wing. We consider this the best C-130 base in the world.”

During Otey’s command, the base had eight C-130s flying relief supplies and transporting soldiers to Haiti in the wake of the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed or injured an estimated half-million Haitians and left an estimated 1 million homeless.

Between 15 percent and 20 percent of the wing is deployed at all times in Afghanistan or Iraq, Otey said.

The base continued its support of efforts for better school buildings and better education locally.

“That’s something that will continue,” he said, “so that military kids can get the right kind of education.

“My kid’s 15 and he’s never lived in the same place for over two years. We’re looking to make it better for all and at the same time help military kids,” Otey said.

Lisa Otey, the colonel’s wife, attended numerous Pulaski County Special School District meetings, with the intention of helping get better facilities and education for children of the military and also the community.

As for the Abilene Trophy, “I knew how good this community was,” said Otey. “It’s good to see such a deserving community recognized as the best community in the Air Mobility Command.”

He also praised the community, members of the base/community council in particular, with its support of the base’s rodeo team.

“They threw a huge sendoff breakfast,” he said. “They came to see us off and they were on the sidelines cheering.

“When we won, they threw us a celebration party.”

He said the community also has “Airpower Arkansas,” a subset of the community council, which “raises a tremendous amount of money in support of the Air Show.”

And no nod to the community would be complete without citing the people of Jacksonville for taxing themselves to help build the Joint Education Center, which provides college classes for both airmen and local residents.

“We know of no other place in the Air Force that this has been done,” he said.

They taxed themselves and raised $5 million for the $14 million Joint Education Center.

He spoke highly of his counterparts at the base, Col. C.K. Hyde, commander of the 314th Air Education Wing, and Col. James Summers, commander of the National Guard’s 189th Airlift Wing.

‘They’ve been outstanding mission partners,” Otey said.

“It’s truly been an honor to be part of the Little Rock Air Force Base community and team. I am a blessed man.”

As for Minihan, his successor, Otey said, “You’re going to like him.”

EDITORIAL >>Nobody rides free

All’s almost well that ends almost well, as Shakespeare might have said about the rhubarb over state politicians’ personal use of government vehicles.

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel and state Treasurer Martha Shoffner made fools of themselves and no doubt will suffer some political consequences, but in the end they did what was right and apologized with unusual contrition. Even state Land Commissioner Mark Wilcox, whose chutzpah started the mess, seemed to be determined to finally do what was right.

It was an amazing spectacle — some of the state’s deftest politicians shooting themselves in both feet and uttering inanities that shocked their fondest supporters. In the end, it curbed a small abuse of the taxpayers.

For many years, the seven state constitutional officers — all except the current governor, Mike Beebe — have been provided a new car by the state for their personal use. It was one of the perks of offices that paid ridiculously small salaries — $10,000 for the governor, $6,000 for the attorney general, $2,500 for the lieutenant governor and $5,000 for the other four elected officials.

Those salaries were lifted in 1975, although they have remained among the lowest in the country and far below the salaries of their top aides, cabinet members and hundreds of other state employees. The free use of state cars continued.

An Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter back in May surveyed the seven officials on what they did with their state vehicles: how often they used them for personal travel, how they treated them for tax purposes, etc. Wilcox, who occupies the least of the offices, had not one but two state vehicles. One was kept at his farm for exclusively personal use. He refused to talk to the reporter about it and later fired the employee who supplied the information to the reporter.

One of the officials, Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, said he treated the state car and its expenses as income and paid federal and state taxes on it, as he believed federal and state law required.

That infuriated McDaniel, a political rival, who seemed to think that Halter had made him look bad by obeying the law. He denounced Halter for paying income taxes on the state’s gift and said it meant that Halter was violating the state ceiling on the lieutenant governor’s income.

The reaction was quick and merciless. McDaniel apologized for his silliness, begged Halter’s forgiveness and turned in the keys to his state car.

Shoffner was outraged at Gov. Beebe’s response. He had claimed the state car as income when he was attorney general and did not drive a state car as governor.

Like all previous governors for more than half a century, he is driven to work and to functions by a State Police security detail.

Shoffner, who seemed to think Beebe’s propriety made her look bad, ridiculed his use of “manservants” and said she was going to keep her state car and seemed to dare the IRS to audit her and make her pay.

All these people are Democrats.

By the weekend, Shoffner was apologizing to Beebe and the State Police. She and the other constitutional officers were either turning in their state cars, amending their tax returns to pay taxes on the benefits, reimbursing the state for their personal travel in government vehicles or all three.

The taxpayer benefits from this imbroglio may increase. Eugene Sayre, the illegal-exaction gadfly who has sued the state and local governments often and successfully for skirting tax laws, filed a lawsuit seeking to stop all state government officials and employees from using state vehicles for personal pursuits without reimbursing the state for the fuel and maintenance.

He contends that the free personal use of state property is an illegal exaction under the Constitution. He clearly is right. No one knows the extent of the abuse — some college presidents and other privileged officials have long enjoyed the use of state-supplied cars, a perk that is common in the corporate world — but it is apt to be considerable change.

It won’t be enough to salvage the state budget in hard times, but we will know that our government is a little leaner and cleaner.

TOP STORY > >Wood runs on record

NANCY DOCKTER REPORTS ON PCSSD RACE

Charlie Wood, who is running for re-election as Zone 4 representative to the Board of Education for the Pulaski County Special School District, says he and fellow board members have a lot to be proud of. His goals for a second term would build on those accomplishments, he says.

“My number one goal is to continue to build on the progress we have made, the steps we have taken with the union,” Wood said in an interview this week.

Wood led the effort to marshal a majority board vote to end recognition of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers as the collective bargaining agent for district teachers. He is convinced the district will be better run once a personnel policies committee is up and running as the body representing teachers in policy making.

“How in the world are the other 300 or so districts in the state getting along without (the union) and people are thinking those districts are working better,” Wood said. “This is not a radical step, just common sense.”

Wood’s 2006 campaign brochure states: “These violations of stated policy border on the arrogance of a monarchy that is not to be questioned. In addition, there have also been blatant violations of contractual issues and agreements with teachers. Last year, the P.A.C.T. warned the District several times about obvious violations; but the District continued to turn a deaf ear. The outcome in court was so certain that we wonder at the District’s stubbornness?”

His critics say that he is guilty of the same behavior he campaigned against in 2006.

Wood, whose candidacy then had PACT’s endorsement, says he is not against a union’s right to organize, but does oppose a union – or management – when one side has too much power or demands too much. He says that in this case, it is PACT that is too demanding.

“I am not necessarily against the union, but the union has asked for more than most professionals in Arkansas,” Wood said.

“PACT is always trying to get more and I can’t see them ever making a substantial retreat from what they have been given in the past.”

Wood is particularly upset with the contract provision that allows teachers to carry over personal leave and vacation time from one year to the next.

One hundred and five teachers last year missed at least 30 days,” Wood said. “I don’t think that is acceptable, except in some horrible catastrophe, to miss that many days. When approached by their principals, the teachers said that contract allows it, and that is why I want the contract changed.”

Wood, an electrical engineer who has worked for Entergy for more than 30 years, says he can’t carry over his vacation time.

“I don’t see why teachers should be treated any differently and carry over their leave time forever,” he said.

Wood has been aggressive in his efforts to end union representation of district teachers.

His motion to do so at a special meeting of the school board on Dec. 8 successfully garnered the four votes needed, but Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Tim Fox ruled in April that the vote was null and void because the district failed to follow state law in the process to establish a PPC. Wood initiated an effort to replace current personnel policies with new ones that would give principals more control of teacher responsibilities and their evaluations.

A second vote by the board to decertify was again thrown out last week because of failure to follow state statute. Teachers have the right by law to review all proposed personnel policies before they go into effect – something yet to happen with the new policies.

“I was disappointed,” Wood said of Fox’s ruling. “I thought we had a good case. I would hate to say that Judge Fox is running for office and doesn’t want to make people mad … I don’t know, but I feel that he did not consider all the deliberate hardships and purposeful hindrances by PACT in putting the PPC in place,” Wood said.

Wood went on to say that he had received reports of harassment of the teachers who organized the election for representatives to the PPC.

“Teachers who did that were subject to all kinds of e-mails, phone calls, ugly text messages; they were near tears,” he said.

Wood said one thing he feels particularly good about is the light that has been shined on district finances with a state audit and efforts to improve financial oversight.

“It was first my idea – I said that we needed to get the state to audit us, and to (Tim Clark’s) credit, he followed up on it when he became board president,” Wood said. “The audit uncovered a lot of bad things, but that is better than being blissfully ignorant.”

Wood says other things he hopes to pursue in a second term include renewing an emphasis on vocational training as an option for students who are not college bound, as well as more online college and advanced placement courses to attract high-achieving students back to the district. A physical-fitness advocate and longtime coach, Wood would also like to see more physical education in the school day.

Wood is proud of the board’s unanimous decision to hire Charles Hopson as superintendent.

“I think he will prove to be very capable and will do good things for the district,” Wood said.

TOP STORY > >Wood runs on record

NANCY DOCKTER REPORTS ON PCSSD RACE

Charlie Wood, who is running for re-election as Zone 4 representative to the Board of Education for the Pulaski County Special School District, says he and fellow board members have a lot to be proud of. His goals for a second term would build on those accomplishments, he says.

“My number one goal is to continue to build on the progress we have made, the steps we have taken with the union,” Wood said in an interview this week.

Wood led the effort to marshal a majority board vote to end recognition of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers as the collective bargaining agent for district teachers. He is convinced the district will be better run once a personnel policies committee is up and running as the body representing teachers in policy making.

“How in the world are the other 300 or so districts in the state getting along without (the union) and people are thinking those districts are working better,” Wood said. “This is not a radical step, just common sense.”

Wood’s 2006 campaign brochure states: “These violations of stated policy border on the arrogance of a monarchy that is not to be questioned. In addition, there have also been blatant violations of contractual issues and agreements with teachers. Last year, the P.A.C.T. warned the District several times about obvious violations; but the District continued to turn a deaf ear. The outcome in court was so certain that we wonder at the District’s stubbornness?”

His critics say that he is guilty of the same behavior he campaigned against in 2006.

Wood, whose candidacy then had PACT’s endorsement, says he is not against a union’s right to organize, but does oppose a union – or management – when one side has too much power or demands too much. He says that in this case, it is PACT that is too demanding.

“I am not necessarily against the union, but the union has asked for more than most professionals in Arkansas,” Wood said.

“PACT is always trying to get more and I can’t see them ever making a substantial retreat from what they have been given in the past.”

Wood is particularly upset with the contract provision that allows teachers to carry over personal leave and vacation time from one year to the next.

One hundred and five teachers last year missed at least 30 days,” Wood said. “I don’t think that is acceptable, except in some horrible catastrophe, to miss that many days. When approached by their principals, the teachers said that contract allows it, and that is why I want the contract changed.”

Wood, an electrical engineer who has worked for Entergy for more than 30 years, says he can’t carry over his vacation time.

“I don’t see why teachers should be treated any differently and carry over their leave time forever,” he said.

Wood has been aggressive in his efforts to end union representation of district teachers.

His motion to do so at a special meeting of the school board on Dec. 8 successfully garnered the four votes needed, but Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Tim Fox ruled in April that the vote was null and void because the district failed to follow state law in the process to establish a PPC. Wood initiated an effort to replace current personnel policies with new ones that would give principals more control of teacher responsibilities and their evaluations.

A second vote by the board to decertify was again thrown out last week because of failure to follow state statute. Teachers have the right by law to review all proposed personnel policies before they go into effect – something yet to happen with the new policies.

“I was disappointed,” Wood said of Fox’s ruling. “I thought we had a good case. I would hate to say that Judge Fox is running for office and doesn’t want to make people mad … I don’t know, but I feel that he did not consider all the deliberate hardships and purposeful hindrances by PACT in putting the PPC in place,” Wood said.

Wood went on to say that he had received reports of harassment of the teachers who organized the election for representatives to the PPC.

“Teachers who did that were subject to all kinds of e-mails, phone calls, ugly text messages; they were near tears,” he said.

Wood said one thing he feels particularly good about is the light that has been shined on district finances with a state audit and efforts to improve financial oversight.

“It was first my idea – I said that we needed to get the state to audit us, and to (Tim Clark’s) credit, he followed up on it when he became board president,” Wood said. “The audit uncovered a lot of bad things, but that is better than being blissfully ignorant.”

Wood says other things he hopes to pursue in a second term include renewing an emphasis on vocational training as an option for students who are not college bound, as well as more online college and advanced placement courses to attract high-achieving students back to the district. A physical-fitness advocate and longtime coach, Wood would also like to see more physical education in the school day.

Wood is proud of the board’s unanimous decision to hire Charles Hopson as superintendent.

“I think he will prove to be very capable and will do good things for the district,” Wood said.

TOP STORY > >Challenger ‘unhappy’

NANCY DOCKTER REPORTS ON PCSSD RACE

A retired teacher is challenging Charlie Wood for his seat on the Board of Education for the Pulaski County Special School District.

Gloria Lawrence, who retired in June after almost 29 years as a teacher and filed Monday as a candidate, says that she decided to seek the Zone 4 position because of concerns about the financial condition of the district and the board’s continued efforts to sever ties with the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers as the collective bargaining agent for the district’s teachers.

Lawrence retired this year after 23 years at Sylvan Hills Middle School, where she was a gifted and talented teacher and also instructed in geography, Arkansas history and world history. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in education from Arkansas State University.

A Sherwood resident for 25 years, Lawrence is married to Jim Lawrence, a retired U.S. Army colonel. They have three grown children and six grandchildren, three of whom attend public schools in Sylvan Hills.

Lawrence, a longtime PACT member (her membership automatically ended when she retired), says that a year ago she had been considering retirement for family reasons, then the board vote Dec. 8 to decertify the union convinced her it was time.

As the board tried to move forward to establish a personnel-policies committee to replace the union as bargaining agent, she made up her mind to run.

“Of course, I am upset by all that has gone on, but it is also a way to serve the kids,” Lawrence said. “I look at things from a student’s perspective since I am fresh out of the classroom and the teacher’s point of view too. I have a lot of experience that I can bring to the table.”

Lawrence says she is troubled by the discord she has observed on the board and says it is time for a change. One of her top priorities, if elected, would be fostering and maintaining a positive relationship among all district stakeholders.

“There are a lot of hurt feelings, and we need some new faces to start working together,” Lawrence said. “I would like for us to come together as a team. You have to be able to agree to disagree and work together for what the board decides.”

As for healing the deep rift between PACT and the board, Lawrence said, “It is going to take both sides. Both have made mistakes.”

Lawrence said that she has heard complaints from parents that certain board members “have been talked down to and not listened to.”

“Some have contacted Tim Clark, others Charlie Wood – it’s not any one person,” Lawrence said. “I would serve the parents of Sherwood and be willing to listen.”

Lawrence questions some of the spending decisions made by the current board — $81 million for a new high school in Maumelle and paying Rob McGill $87,000 when his term ended as acting superintendent, as well as some hiring decisions by the district – for school-attendance secretaries, an interim liaison at Jacksonville High School and a New York lawyer to help fight PACT in court.

Besides the $440 per hour paid lawyer Lyle Zuckerman, what about his expenses – travel and lodging – when he comes here, Lawrence wonders. She expects the state Board of Education to place PCSSD back on the “fiscally distressed list.”

“I am really worried about all the money that is being spent,” Lawrence said, adding that the last few months of this past school year, markers, copy paper and other basic classroom supplies were totally depleted. She wants to see more schools equipped with computers. Her classroom at Sylvan Hills Middle School had no computers except for the six-year-old one on her desk.

“And we had one projector – that was all the technology I had in my room,” Lawrence said. “The math and literacy labs were busy all of the time. I was able to get into the math lab only once the entire year.”

Lawrence said at one point she sold ads in the yearbook to get the money to buy computers, but “after I got out of that, I had no means for getting computers.”

Lawrence says she supports the decision to build a new Sylvan Hills Middle School because the existing school is in such poor shape. As for the board’s budgeting of $81 million to construct a new high school in Maumelle, that does strike Lawrence as “reckless spending.”

“Maybe I don’t have enough information, but it seems to me that we could have three nice schools for $81 million,” Lawrence said.

“I am a taxpayer and have a dog in this fight too,” said Lawrence, whose three grandchildren attend PCSSD schools in Sherwood.

Other priorities for Lawrence are improving test scores, increasing district enrollment, more transparency in decision making, better facilities, safer schools and fewer discipline problems and an enhanced public image for the district. Lawrence says her phone has been “ringing off the wall” with calls offering support for her campaign. She is eager to get out and start knocking on doors.

“I have taught here so long and been here so long, I hope that my name carries a long ways,” Lawrence said.

First thing Tuesday morning, she got a phone call from a man saying he is upset about the school district.

It was her father, pulling a stunt, saying that she had better get ready for people calling her every 30 minutes.

Lawrence says she is temperamentally suited to handling hot-button situations.

“I am really easygoing and don’t get mad very easily,” Lawrence said. “I stay really calm, even in a bad situation. I don’t yell, holler and scream, even in the classroom. I learned a long time ago so that what people say just rolls off my back.”

TOP STORY > >Missing mascot helps fight cancer

By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer

“Lucky,” a beloved pig statue at the Bar-B-Que Shack in Jacksonville, was taken away recently and is being held for ransom — donations — to raise money for breast-cancer research and awareness.

Gary and Pat Green, owners of the Bar-B-Que Shack, were told by the captors if they want to see Lucky again, they would have to come up with at least $5,000 in ransom money. The pig has been missing since June.

Pat Green said she is partial to Lucky. The last time she saw Lucky was on June 24 inside the restaurant.

“Lucky has been with us since 1997,” Green said.

“He was given to me as a gift from Georgia (Lewis), my sister,” she said.

In the past, the Greens have taken Lucky to Jacksonville’s Christmas parades and to the Jacksonville Business Expo. But his permanent residence is at the Bar-B-Que Shack. Green said he’s dressed up during Christmas in a Santa suit but he is usually spotted in his country cowboy outfit.

Lucky has been seen and photographed at several area businesses this month.

“We hope for a safe return for Lucky. He is a sentimental heirloom,” Green said.

If the Greens can come up with the ransom money, Lucky will be returned unharmed. The “pigknappers” agreed to donate the money collected to the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation in Lewis’ name.

Lewis, 40, who lives in North Pulaski County is battling a breast cancer type known as triple negative. She said it is an aggressive cancer, named just a few years ago. It lacks the common cellular characteristics that fuel other forms of breast cancer, therefore it is a challenge for physicians to treat the cancer. It requires a combination of chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

Lewis said the cancer is found in young women. It is known to spead to the lungs, brain, bones, ovaries and GI track.

Tomorrow, Lewis will have her fourth chemotherapy treatment of five.

“I receive a three-week regimen of chemotherapy. It takes me down for two weeks, and for one week, I get to be me,” she said.

Lewis had a blood transfusion last week and said she felt fantastic.

“I have renewed faith in humanity. When I had chemo, I had 75 get-well or thinking-of- you cards. They allow me to remember that I’m not in this alone,” she said.

She discovered the tumor while she was getting ready for work and felt a lump on her left breast. Three weeks later, on Feb. 12, she was diagnosed with cancer. She had a lumpectomy in March.

She said after getting a call from her surgical oncologist, “All I could think of…life as I know it… would never be the same.”

Lewis said, “Today, I thank God every day, because I stopped doing things I did and refocused. I’m a better person because of it.”

After her final chemotherapy treatment in August, she will have six weeks of radiation.

“It’s been a long road. How-ever, you have to appreciate the journey. There is a spiritual growth, a time of reflection that brings you back to your core values,” Lewis said.

Lewis was manager of the Bar-B-Que Shack from 1998 to 2002 at its former West Main Street location. She went back to school and earned a bachelor’s degree in cytotechnology from UAMS in 2006.

She is a cell specialist. Lewis worked in marketing for home- infusion therapy service.

Patrick Thomas, owner of Arkansas Outdoor Power Equip-ment, is celebrating 10 years in business. He wanted a way to give back to the community to celebrate. Thomas said he was thinking about helping a charitable cause and was considering Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

While speaking with the Greens about ideas on a fundraiser, he learned about Lewis and her battle with breast cancer. From there the campaign to find Lucky was born.

So far $500 in ransom donation money has been collected.

If $20,000 is collected, Thomas will shave his head when Lucky is returned to the Bar-B-Que Shack.

An update on where Lucky has been recently spotted can be seen on the website www.arkansas-ope.com/HELP_FIND_LUCKY.html.

Cash contributions toward Lucky’s release from his captors can be made at these Jacksonville locations:
The Bar-B-Que Shack, 1000 S. Hwy 161; Kwik Kopy, 17 Crestview Plaza; Tax Shelter, 1310 John Harden Drive; Arkansas Outdoor Power Equipment, 617 S. First St. and Centennial Bank, 10 Crestview Drive.

TOP STORY > >Missing mascot helps fight cancer

By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer

“Lucky,” a beloved pig statue at the Bar-B-Que Shack in Jacksonville, was taken away recently and is being held for ransom — donations — to raise money for breast-cancer research and awareness.

Gary and Pat Green, owners of the Bar-B-Que Shack, were told by the captors if they want to see Lucky again, they would have to come up with at least $5,000 in ransom money. The pig has been missing since June.

Pat Green said she is partial to Lucky. The last time she saw Lucky was on June 24 inside the restaurant.

“Lucky has been with us since 1997,” Green said.

“He was given to me as a gift from Georgia (Lewis), my sister,” she said.

In the past, the Greens have taken Lucky to Jacksonville’s Christmas parades and to the Jacksonville Business Expo. But his permanent residence is at the Bar-B-Que Shack. Green said he’s dressed up during Christmas in a Santa suit but he is usually spotted in his country cowboy outfit.

Lucky has been seen and photographed at several area businesses this month.

“We hope for a safe return for Lucky. He is a sentimental heirloom,” Green said.

If the Greens can come up with the ransom money, Lucky will be returned unharmed. The “pigknappers” agreed to donate the money collected to the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation in Lewis’ name.

Lewis, 40, who lives in North Pulaski County is battling a breast cancer type known as triple negative. She said it is an aggressive cancer, named just a few years ago. It lacks the common cellular characteristics that fuel other forms of breast cancer, therefore it is a challenge for physicians to treat the cancer. It requires a combination of chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

Lewis said the cancer is found in young women. It is known to spead to the lungs, brain, bones, ovaries and GI track.

Tomorrow, Lewis will have her fourth chemotherapy treatment of five.

“I receive a three-week regimen of chemotherapy. It takes me down for two weeks, and for one week, I get to be me,” she said.

Lewis had a blood transfusion last week and said she felt fantastic.

“I have renewed faith in humanity. When I had chemo, I had 75 get-well or thinking-of- you cards. They allow me to remember that I’m not in this alone,” she said.

She discovered the tumor while she was getting ready for work and felt a lump on her left breast. Three weeks later, on Feb. 12, she was diagnosed with cancer. She had a lumpectomy in March.

She said after getting a call from her surgical oncologist, “All I could think of…life as I know it… would never be the same.”

Lewis said, “Today, I thank God every day, because I stopped doing things I did and refocused. I’m a better person because of it.”

After her final chemotherapy treatment in August, she will have six weeks of radiation.

“It’s been a long road. How-ever, you have to appreciate the journey. There is a spiritual growth, a time of reflection that brings you back to your core values,” Lewis said.

Lewis was manager of the Bar-B-Que Shack from 1998 to 2002 at its former West Main Street location. She went back to school and earned a bachelor’s degree in cytotechnology from UAMS in 2006.

She is a cell specialist. Lewis worked in marketing for home- infusion therapy service.

Patrick Thomas, owner of Arkansas Outdoor Power Equip-ment, is celebrating 10 years in business. He wanted a way to give back to the community to celebrate. Thomas said he was thinking about helping a charitable cause and was considering Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

While speaking with the Greens about ideas on a fundraiser, he learned about Lewis and her battle with breast cancer. From there the campaign to find Lucky was born.

So far $500 in ransom donation money has been collected.

If $20,000 is collected, Thomas will shave his head when Lucky is returned to the Bar-B-Que Shack.

An update on where Lucky has been recently spotted can be seen on the website www.arkansas-ope.com/HELP_FIND_LUCKY.html.

Cash contributions toward Lucky’s release from his captors can be made at these Jacksonville locations:
The Bar-B-Que Shack, 1000 S. Hwy 161; Kwik Kopy, 17 Crestview Plaza; Tax Shelter, 1310 John Harden Drive; Arkansas Outdoor Power Equipment, 617 S. First St. and Centennial Bank, 10 Crestview Drive.

TOP STORY > >Auditor in Cabot hired by council

By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer

The Cabot City Council on Monday night waived advertising for requests for qualifications from certified public accountants and voted to hire Cal Aldridge to go over city books to get ready for the turnover that is coming in less than six months at city hall.

At the beginning of 2011, both the mayor and city clerk-treasurer will be new.

Although the council agenda called for discussion of a resolution asking for qualifications to hire a CPA, Aldridge was already on the job, and a resolution waiving the requirement had also been prepared for the meeting.

Mayor Eddie Joe Williams has been paying Aldridge with the salary that had gone to Karen Davis, the city’s director of operations. Davis resigned at the end of June for a position with the school district and her old job is being filled by an employee who was already working for the city.

The city needs someone to go over city books, correct problems and be available for the transition coming in January, the mayor said. He called the prospect of having new people in both offices “scary.”

“He’s more than qualified,” Williams said of Aldridge. “We’ve used him more than once in Parks and rec and A&P (the advertising and promotion commission) has used him too.”

Alderman Ed Long agreed.

“I think it’s a fantastic idea. I think it’s what the city needs,” Long said.

Alderman Eddie Cook, a candidate for mayor, has been supportive of Aldridge going over city books since he started a few weeks ago. Cook, who also serves on A&P, said Aldridge was “more than professional.”

In addition to Cook, former Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh and Bill Cypert, secretary and spokesman for the Cabot Water and Wastewater Commission, also are running for mayor.

So far, Norma Naquin, who runs the office at Cabot Public Works, has formally announced for clerk-treasurer. And Tammy Yocom, deputy city treasurer and office manager for the clerk-treasurer office, has said she will announce soon.

The resolution on the agenda said the city needed “an audit of the city clerk’s financial records.”

Clerk Marva-Verkler, speaking away from the microphone and in low tones, told the mayor that the resolution took her by surprise and that if her books need to be audited, the books at other departments such as fire and police also should be.

“It’s not just the city clerk’s books that need auditing,” she told Williams.

Williams assured her it wasn’t what it sounded like.

“He’s not performing a full-blown audit. We’re hiring him to make the transition,” the mayor said.

The books have always had glitches that have caused problems, he said, and Aldridge has already found and fixed a couple of them.

Besides, the mayor said, if Aldridge was allowed to conduct a full audit, the city would not be eligible for the free audit provided by the state.

Alderman Patrick Hutton was the only council member who voiced any concern over hiring Aldridge. Hutton wanted to know how much Aldridge would be paid and whether the amount would be more than the mayor’s $20,000 limit.

Williams responded that Aldridge is paid by the hour and that he wouldn’t allow the amount to exceed his spending limit.

In other business, the council passed a new sign ordinance and an ordinance banning hunting on city property. The ordinances become city law in 30 days.

The biggest change in the city sign law is with banners. Under the provisions of the new sign ordinance no business will be allowed more than one banner at a time.

The ordinance also bans some common signs like those on wire stakes that are stuck into the ground. It also bans handmade signs or banners attached to shrubbery, light poles and the like and signs attached to or painted on vehicles that are parked in the same spot for more than 48 hours.

Tattered banners were a leading contributor to the city aldermen deciding to overhaul the sign ordinance. Alderman Rick Prentice, chairman of the council subcommittee that worked on the new ordinance, said during a subcommittee meeting that all it took was a tour of the city to realize that something needed to be done.

Police Chief Jackie Davis asked in March for the ordinance banning hunting on city property. He told the council’s fire and police committee at that time that the new ordinance is needed because the city has no law against shooting bows and arrows and the 200-acre city park where the BMX track is located is full of deer and turkey. Hunting in the park is common but it hasn’t been a big problem, he said. However, the walking trails are now open and hunters could place walkers at risk.

Last year the committee considered an ordinance to ban shooting bows and arrows but didn’t pass it.

The new ordinance doesn’t include private property, so bow-hunting is still legal in Cabot except on city property. The fine for bowhunting on city property is $250.

SPORTS>>Time short for Falcons to interview head coach

By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor

North Pulaski has decided to use a conventional, but accelerated, process to fill its vacant head football-coaching job.

The school will advertise the position and has opened it to applicants while hoping to have a decision made early next week.

“They are applying this week and there will be interviews on Friday and then hopefully by next week we’ll know something,” athletic director Tony Bohannon said Thursday morning.

The North Pulaski job was left open when Rick Russell departed after one season to take over as football coach at crosstown rival Jacksonville. Russell was on the Jacksonville staff for 14 years and left there last year for North Pulaski.

At Jacksonville, Russell is replacing Mark Whatley, who coached five years and is joining the Springdale High School staff as offensive coordinator.

With just over a week before practice begins, the Falcons were under pressure to name a coach quickly.

There was the option of promoting an assistant on an interim basis or taking some other stopgap measure, but Bohannon, who stepped aside as head coach to make way for Russell last year, said the North Pulaski administration decided to conduct a search for a long-term coach now.

“There’s several options you could look at but that’s what the administration decided to do,” Bohannon said.

The Falcons, who play in the 5A-Southeast Conference, were 1-9 under Russell last year with their victory coming in a conference game against Little Rock McClellan, which has since moved up a classification.

North Pulaski has won four games the past six years.

SPORTS>>Promoter hopes for sunny skies

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Those who knew Scrapp Fox recall him as a guy with a sunny personality.

But there has been nothing sunny about the memorial race that bears the former local driver’s name.

The annual crown-jewel event for open-wheel modifieds at Beebe Speedway began in 2003 and has been rained out at least once every year since.

The 2004 race was rained out three times and the field for the 2005 race was lining up for the feature when flash flooding hit southwestern White County.

And little has changed since new promoter Harold Mahoney took over the track in late 2008. Last year’s eventwas originally scheduled for the middle of June, but was pushed back to July 3 because of rain.

“I think we’ve postponed it two or three times the last couple of years,” Mahoney said. “We’ve moved it back a little bit this year.

We usually see rain when we run this deal. It can rain Monday or Tuesday, but I don’t want to see any on Friday.”

Vilonia driver Curtis Cook won last year’s race after leading flag-to-flag in front of Dale Proctor and Jack Sullivan. Cook and four-time defending track champion Randy Weaver are the two previous winners of the event and are expected to be on hand Friday.

Andy Brown, winner of the inaugural event in 2003 and in 2005, has not competed at Beebe in over three years, while 2006 SFM champ Jared Landers now drives a late model in the North Carolina area for Sprint-Cup star Clint Bowyer.

Walt Butler and Peyton Taylor, Scrapp Fox champions in 2004 and 2007 respectively, have made sporadic appearances in recent months.

A handful of non-regular drivers showed up last week to shake down their machines for the Scrapp Fox Memorial, including Ben Waggoner, Tony Anglin, Brandon Hunter, Jacob Cooper, Sam Osman, Phillip James and Micah Gavin.

This is the third year for the race as a one-day event. From 2003-2007, it was a two-day event held with heats on Thursday and the feature on Friday.

The 2006 race also had a preliminary feature on Thursday night that set the first half of the A-main lineup.

This year’s race will have heats and inverted heats, which will be scored by passing points just as they have in the past. The purse is $2,000 to the winner and $300 to start.

Should the weather cooperate, the next obstacle is the summer heat. High temperatures cause the track to slick over at a faster pace, but Mahoney has gone with a different approach to track preparation in recent weeks and has been pleased with the results.

“I try to make it as smooth as I can,” Mahoney said. “But the biggest thing is trying to get as much water in it as I can. With the temperatures we’re having right now, it’s pretty hard to keep it from drying up. We do our best, but Mother Nature has a say in that.”

As a local promoter, Mahoney is a bit uncomfortable taking on the time-honored tradition of picking the winning driver for a crown-jewel event. He eventually chose Weaver when backed into a corner, but was also quick to point out Cook could be considered a favorite if the track becomes dry-slick.

Mahoney added that veteran driver Mike Bowers of North Little Rock is capable of winning regardless of track conditions.

Mahoney correctly predicted Cook to win last year’s race.

The statistics this season support Mahoney’s choice of Weaver, who leads with seven victories compared to three for Cook and two for Bowers.

“Weaver can run that top, Cook is good when it gets black, and Bowers, he’s tough no matter what the track does,” Mahoney said. “But the way it’s been going, I say it’s possible that Weaver could win if the track has that outside line he likes. If the track has an outside, he can give anyone a run for their money.”

SPORTS>>Promoter hopes for sunny skies

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Those who knew Scrapp Fox recall him as a guy with a sunny personality.

But there has been nothing sunny about the memorial race that bears the former local driver’s name.

The annual crown-jewel event for open-wheel modifieds at Beebe Speedway began in 2003 and has been rained out at least once every year since.

The 2004 race was rained out three times and the field for the 2005 race was lining up for the feature when flash flooding hit southwestern White County.

And little has changed since new promoter Harold Mahoney took over the track in late 2008. Last year’s eventwas originally scheduled for the middle of June, but was pushed back to July 3 because of rain.

“I think we’ve postponed it two or three times the last couple of years,” Mahoney said. “We’ve moved it back a little bit this year.

We usually see rain when we run this deal. It can rain Monday or Tuesday, but I don’t want to see any on Friday.”

Vilonia driver Curtis Cook won last year’s race after leading flag-to-flag in front of Dale Proctor and Jack Sullivan. Cook and four-time defending track champion Randy Weaver are the two previous winners of the event and are expected to be on hand Friday.

Andy Brown, winner of the inaugural event in 2003 and in 2005, has not competed at Beebe in over three years, while 2006 SFM champ Jared Landers now drives a late model in the North Carolina area for Sprint-Cup star Clint Bowyer.

Walt Butler and Peyton Taylor, Scrapp Fox champions in 2004 and 2007 respectively, have made sporadic appearances in recent months.

A handful of non-regular drivers showed up last week to shake down their machines for the Scrapp Fox Memorial, including Ben Waggoner, Tony Anglin, Brandon Hunter, Jacob Cooper, Sam Osman, Phillip James and Micah Gavin.

This is the third year for the race as a one-day event. From 2003-2007, it was a two-day event held with heats on Thursday and the feature on Friday.

The 2006 race also had a preliminary feature on Thursday night that set the first half of the A-main lineup.

This year’s race will have heats and inverted heats, which will be scored by passing points just as they have in the past. The purse is $2,000 to the winner and $300 to start.

Should the weather cooperate, the next obstacle is the summer heat. High temperatures cause the track to slick over at a faster pace, but Mahoney has gone with a different approach to track preparation in recent weeks and has been pleased with the results.

“I try to make it as smooth as I can,” Mahoney said. “But the biggest thing is trying to get as much water in it as I can. With the temperatures we’re having right now, it’s pretty hard to keep it from drying up. We do our best, but Mother Nature has a say in that.”

As a local promoter, Mahoney is a bit uncomfortable taking on the time-honored tradition of picking the winning driver for a crown-jewel event. He eventually chose Weaver when backed into a corner, but was also quick to point out Cook could be considered a favorite if the track becomes dry-slick.

Mahoney added that veteran driver Mike Bowers of North Little Rock is capable of winning regardless of track conditions.

Mahoney correctly predicted Cook to win last year’s race.

The statistics this season support Mahoney’s choice of Weaver, who leads with seven victories compared to three for Cook and two for Bowers.

“Weaver can run that top, Cook is good when it gets black, and Bowers, he’s tough no matter what the track does,” Mahoney said. “But the way it’s been going, I say it’s possible that Weaver could win if the track has that outside line he likes. If the track has an outside, he can give anyone a run for their money.”

SPORTS>>Gwatney knocked out as NLR holds on

By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor

A complete game by starter Will Harris and some late offensive punch lifted the North Little Rock Colts past Jacksonville Gwatney Chevrolet in an elimination game at the Senior Legion Zone 3 District Tournament in North Little Rock on Saturday.

Harris pitched nine innings and North Little Rock hit two home runs on its way to 10-3 victory that knocked Jacksonville out of the tournament at Vince De Salvo Stadium in Burns Park.

“You better have some workhorses; you better have some guys with some guts,” North Little Rock coach Drew Rogers said of the nine-inning victory won in 95-degree heat and humidity.

Harris scattered 10 hits, walked one and struck out six, holding Gwatney scoreless after the fifth inning. Rogers said he was only hoping for five or six innings from Harris, but felt Harris was getting stronger as the game went on.

“He’s a horse, he’s been doing it all year,” Rogers said.

The Colts scored six runs in their final four at-bats and Cody Ward and Derek Houser homered in North Little Rock’s three-run fifth.

“That’s just what we’ve been working for this whole tournament,” Rogers said. “If these guys come out thinking about our approach at the plate they’ll be successful.”

Arm-weary Jacksonville used four pitchers, with starter Jared Toney taking the loss as he gave up four runs, three earned, in 3 1/3 innings.

“We got as far down as we could go, really,” Jacksonville coach Bob Hickingbotham said of his pitching staff. “We just didn’t get it done, that’s as simple as it is.”

Jesse Harbin doubled and scored on A.J. Allen’s single in the Jacksonville first. North Little Rock tied it in the bottom of the inning when John Edwards walked andscored on Ward’s single to right.

Jacksonville left fielder Xavier Brown hit a two-out single in the second, reached third on D’Vone McClure’s double to left and scored to make it 2-1 when Edwards mishandled the throw in to shortstop for an error.

North Little Rock had the bases loaded in the third, but Alex Gosser lined to first baseman Caleb Mitchell, who doubled off base runner Tyson Tacket to end the inning.

Nick Rodriguez was hit by a pitch to lead off the Jacksonville fourth and McClure was safe on a bunt up the line when he avoided first baseman Zach Ketchum’s tag.

Brown then popped up a bunt attempt and was between Houser, the catcher, and Ketchum as they tried to make the catch, with the ball coming down to hit Brown in foul ground.

Rogers argued without success for an interference call, but, after a long at-bat, Brown struck out and Houser threw out Rodriguez as he strayed too far off second. McClure then grounded out to end the threat.

“You get out of that with one or less runs, that’s really, really good,” Rogers said.

The missed scoring chance proved critical for Jacksonville.

Toney walked the bases full and Harbin came in from shortstop to relieve him with one out in the North Little Rock fourth.

Ketchum greeted Harbin with a two-run double to left and Edwards added an RBI groundout to make it 4-2.

Harbin singled and scored on Brooks Howard’s fielding error at third in the Jacksonville fifth, but North Little Rock came back with another three-run inning.

Ward, the designated hitter, hit his leadoff home run over the right-field wall and Houser hit a two-run shot to left that made it 7-3.

Houser hit a two-run double in the North Little Rock seventh and Cormier added an RBI single, and Ward singled and scored on a passed ball in the eighth to make it 10-3.

“We hit the ball decent in the last two or three innings,” Hickingbotham said. “We just couldn’t get two together.”

SPORTS>>Weaver picks up seventh victory

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Randy Weaver is headed in the right direction, but the same could not be said for one of his competitors at Beebe Speedway on Friday night.

Weaver, the modified points leader, won his seventh feature race of the year while Jeff Porterfield picked up his eighth victory in hobby stocks.

The most bizarre moment of the night came on lap eight of the feature when Ricky Anderson and Cabot’s Kip Glaze spun in turn one while fighting for the ninth spot. Anderson had just surrendered eighth to Jody Jackson when contact with Glaze sent him spinning up into the pit entrance while Glaze’s No. 46 car came to a rest in the middle of the corner.

The accident happened behind the leader Weaver, but as Anderson re-fired his car, he drove down the front stretch the wrong way and approached Weaver’s F1 car, which was idling beneath the flag stand as track officials cleared the Glaze car in turn one.

Anderson pulled alongside Weaver and had words before storming off the track still in the wrong direction and entered the pits through the pit exit at a dangerously high rate of speed.

Anderson was disqualified from the event and given a two-week suspension.

But Weaver did not let the incident affect his control up front, as he led the remaining 12 laps in front of Cooper and Findley. He hit lap traffic by lap 17 and ended up with a straightaway advantage by race’s end.

Friday’s card featured a mix of continued dominant performances in some classes and resurgent front-runners in others.

Cabot drivers came up big as Todd Joslin took his second victory in the E-mod division and Mike Millwood won his fourth triumph of the year in mini stocks.

The factory feature came down to a duel between hometown drivers as Ricky Wilhite passed veteran Larry Wise on lap seven for his fourth victory.

The modified feature was a mix of track regulars and out-of-town drivers who showed up to shake down their machines for this week’s Scrapp Fox Memorial.

One of those non-regulars, Jacob Cooper, won his heat race and took fast qualifier for the 20-lap feature alongside northeast Arkansas driver Tony Anglin, with locals Weaver and Todd Greer in row two.

The early fast mover was Robert Baker, who quickly made his way from the fifth starting spot to challenge Cooper for the lead on lap one. But Baker’s was one of six cars involved in a lap-five pileup in the exit of turn four that also involved Mikey Bolding, Donnie Stringfellow, Tony Anglin and local drivers Jason Flory and Jody Jackson.

Bolding and Baker were done for the night. Anglin pitted and eventually returned while the other three cars were also able to continue.

Weaver worked the high side once he got up to Cooper’s rear bumper and assumed the point on lap six when he got the better run out of turn two.

Bryant driver Casey Findley fought his way from an eighth-place start into the top five by lap four and battled with Greer for the third spot for most of the remaining race. He eventually took the spot on lap 12 for his best finish at Beebe in a limited number of appearances this season.

Greer held on for fourth while Beebe’s Jackson was the hard charger with a fifth-place finish after starting 11th.

Mt. Vernon driver Ben Waggoner finished sixth and Chuck McGinty took seventh place. Stringfellow was eighth while Micah Gavin and Glaze rounded out the top 10.

Joslin’s victory in the E-mod feature was flag-to-flag in the caution-shortened event.

Flagman William Essex waved the yellow five times, which set up a green-white-checker finish on lap 12.

Joslin won the second heat and lined up on the outside pole alongside Lane Cullum for the feature. Joslin took the hole shot entering turn one on the initial start and never looked back while Cullum battled with Robert Woodard most of the way for second after an early challenge from Searcy driver Joey Gee.

Cullum held on for second in front of Woodard while Gee claimed fourth and McRae driver Blake Jones finished fifth.

Millwood also started from the outside pole in his dominant mini-stock victory. Millwood took the top spot over Shack Shackleford on the first lap and led the entire 15-lap distance. Shackleford finished second in front of Cabot’s Doyle Blankenship and Johnny Brown while Jim Atcheson completed the top five.