It is settled then. The Arkansas Supreme Court has the power to immediately review the work of the General Assembly and the governor on public education, and it is going to do it. That should be a fine victory for the public schools, the children and all of us who believe that the caliber of their schooling holds our future as well as theirs.
But now that the question of the court’s jurisdiction is settled — to the extent that there was ever any question that the court could do anything that a majority wanted to do - we fear that it is a pyrrhic victory. The court was more narrowly and bitterly divided than we have ever seen it. The accusations back and forth among the justices were not what we normally describe as “strongly worded” opinions. They were personal and resentful, which tells us that the court may not be able to make its mandate stick.
A bare 4-to-3 majority granted a petition for the court to dissolve its mandate in the Lake View school case and take a look at the deliberations of the just-finished legislative session to see if the General Assembly and the governor complied with the court’s order in 2002 that they bring all Arkansas schools up to constitutional snuff. The Constitution requires that the state provide suitable, efficient and equal educational opportunities for every child in Arkansas.
This will be the court’s third reflection in three years on how well the state government is meeting its responsibility to school children, and three members of the court believe one was all that the court was lawfully supposed to undertake. The minority, led by the new chief justice, Jim Hannah, says that the court was finished with the case when it ruled unanimously that the schools were operating unconstitutionally and that the legislature and governor needed to fix it.
They argue that the schools that believe that the state did not fulfill the mandate must file a fresh lawsuit in Pulaski Circuit Court. To continually review legislative work themselves, Justice Hannah said, makes the Supreme Court a super legislature and abridges the separation of powers. The court commits itself, the minority suggested, to second-guessing the legislature every time that it meets from now until doomsday.
But this is really not the court’s third pass at a constitutional review of the schools but the fifth in our generation, and we may be forgetting a genuflection or two at the issue. In 1983 and again 10 years later, the Supreme Court declared that the schools were operating in violation of the Constitution. In the first two instances, the court was largely judging the equity of how schools were funded from one corner of the state to another, from poor Lake View to Bentonville, which pays its football coaches more than the entire faculty and administration of many school districts. The Lake View case goes deeper, to the suitability or adequacy of school programs, a standard that obviously is forever changing in an economic order that knows no borders.
The majority — Justices Robert L. Brown, Thomas A. Glaze, Betty Dickey and Donald Corbin - were mindful of that 25-year-history of court orders and disobedience, beginning with the first trial in the original Dupree case in 1980. To tell schools and the whole state that this process would have to start once more and work its way back up to the Supreme Court in, say, 2008 or 2009 seemed, well, foolish. Their remedy may be extraordinary in the annals of Arkansas jurisprudence, but it seems rational to laymen. Where is the wisdom in delaying an unpleasant task when it may be addressed now?
So the majority turned once again to two former justices, who will take testimony on the school laws of 2005 and the condition of the schools and then compare them with the general prescriptions of the Supreme Court in its 2002 order. Who can envy the task of Bradley D. Jesson of Fort Smith and David Newbern, the court-appointed masters?
They will answer to a court that cannot possibly be satisfied and that disagrees in almost seven directions about what the task ahead is. One of the four majority judges seemed to have switched sides from last June, when he was inclined to close the case because the legislature at a special session in 2004 had done right by the schools.
Another, Betty Dickey, who was appointed by Gov. Huckabee to complete an unexpired term, was shaky this week. She voted with the majority with great reluctance. But she at least tried to be consistent. Huckabee wanted the court to keep the case open a year ago when he was mad at the legislature, and she did that.
On the day of this decision, her patron and former employer (she was Huckabee’s legal counsel), who now wants the case closed, denounced her and the other three, although not by name. Justice Dickey is not apt to stay the course if the masters suggest big shortcomings by the legislature and the governor.
Huckabee’s other appointee, Carol Dalby of Texarkana, predictably went his way. The court, it must be remembered, did not declare the legislature and governor in default, yet. The schools that petitioned for the review merely made allegations, and Jesson and Newbern will advise the court by Sept. 1 whether those allegations are true. If they are, the feuding justices then will decide what to do about it.
In similar straits last week, the Kansas Supreme Court - unanimously — gave the legislature and governor until July 1 to put another $143 million into the school budget for the next school year or else, presumably, shut the schools down.
Three Arkansas justices clearly find such a notion repugnant and we suspect that a fourth would follow.
Our own view is that the legislature did fall short. Clearly, it did not meet its own standard, which was $2 billion or more in improvements in school facilities. It appropriated only $104 million and made no provision for future additions unless the state again runs a huge surplus. It might have given voters a recipe for permanently meeting the facility needs through intermittent bond issues, much in the way that the legislature did a dozen years ago when it provided for periodic bonds for water improvements around the state.
The masters can hardly ignore the legislature’s failure to provide even a dime more money for schools the next school year under the state equalization formula. Forty percent of Arkansas schools will receive less state aid in 2006 than in 2005. Legislators, Gov. Huckabee and Attorney General Mike Beebe, who must defend the first two in court while he runs for governor, have a defense for that failing, but it is a hard sell.
But for a court so splintered, querulous and nervous, a poor job may begin to look just good enough.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
EDITORIAL>> An apology
The United States Senate, by an unrecorded voice vote, formally apologized Monday to the families and descendants of thousands of men and women who were lynched over a century of grim history. The Senate’s declaration of contrition for the lawless murder mostly of blacks might have been made for all of us, whose forebears said little and did nothing. But the Senate spoke only for the institution. Between 1882 and 1968 the Senate blocked more than 200 bills that sought to make lynching a federal crime.
Not all Southern senators signed onto this resolution, but we are happy that Arkansas Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor did, and they were eloquent about it. We will quote Sen. Lincoln:
“This was a moment in our nation’s history that was at odds with the principles upon which we were founded - a moment at odds with our future. When we acknowledge the misdeeds of our past and demonstrate a willingness to learn the lessons from those actions, we build upon the many things that unite us all to make our nation an even greater place to live.”
Other states from Texas to Georgia were stained by many more lynchings in that disgraceful time than Arkansas, but hate and intolerance were not absent from our midst.
The grimmest words in all our libraries can be found in the pages of the Arkansas Gazette where its reporters recounted with utter matter-of-factness the deeds of mobs and vigilantes from the 1880s through the Depression. The accounts sometimes were tinged with the excitement of game coverage.
In 1927, suspicion was cast on a young black man named John Carter as the person who had assaulted two white women at Little Rock. He was tortured, riddled with bullets, dragged through the teeming streets of downtown Little Rock behind a car and his body set afire on a pyre of planks ripped from a black church. One man directed the heavy traffic around the scene with a charred arm torn from Carter’s body. No one was ever charged.
Does it count as lynching when vigilantes slaughter hundreds of sharecroppers, their wives and children in Phillips County on the rumor that a black uprising against white plantation owners was in the works? That was in 1919, and no one was punished except a few of the blacks who escaped the massacre. The U. S. Supreme Court ordered them freed in 1923 and they were two years later. For a full and horrifying account read Grif Stockley’s wonderful book, “Blood in Their Eyes.”
No, there is no requiting those horrific deeds, none better anyway than simply acknowledging that they happened and being vigilant that they never happen again, neither on our soil nor in the prison camps run in the solemn name of the United States.
Not all Southern senators signed onto this resolution, but we are happy that Arkansas Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor did, and they were eloquent about it. We will quote Sen. Lincoln:
“This was a moment in our nation’s history that was at odds with the principles upon which we were founded - a moment at odds with our future. When we acknowledge the misdeeds of our past and demonstrate a willingness to learn the lessons from those actions, we build upon the many things that unite us all to make our nation an even greater place to live.”
Other states from Texas to Georgia were stained by many more lynchings in that disgraceful time than Arkansas, but hate and intolerance were not absent from our midst.
The grimmest words in all our libraries can be found in the pages of the Arkansas Gazette where its reporters recounted with utter matter-of-factness the deeds of mobs and vigilantes from the 1880s through the Depression. The accounts sometimes were tinged with the excitement of game coverage.
In 1927, suspicion was cast on a young black man named John Carter as the person who had assaulted two white women at Little Rock. He was tortured, riddled with bullets, dragged through the teeming streets of downtown Little Rock behind a car and his body set afire on a pyre of planks ripped from a black church. One man directed the heavy traffic around the scene with a charred arm torn from Carter’s body. No one was ever charged.
Does it count as lynching when vigilantes slaughter hundreds of sharecroppers, their wives and children in Phillips County on the rumor that a black uprising against white plantation owners was in the works? That was in 1919, and no one was punished except a few of the blacks who escaped the massacre. The U. S. Supreme Court ordered them freed in 1923 and they were two years later. For a full and horrifying account read Grif Stockley’s wonderful book, “Blood in Their Eyes.”
No, there is no requiting those horrific deeds, none better anyway than simply acknowledging that they happened and being vigilant that they never happen again, neither on our soil nor in the prison camps run in the solemn name of the United States.
EDITORIAL>> Beebe enters the fray
A full year ahead of the Arkansas primaries, all the major commanders if not their armies are now in the field. He may not be the last Democrat to enter the race for governor in 2006, but Attorney General Mike Beebe, who made it official yesterday, will be the Democratic candidate for governor barring being caught in flagrante delicto doing something dreadfully impolitic.
Being unusually frank might do it, too. And it doesn’t take much cand or to do a politician in. Choosing your words carefully, which Beebe has done all his public life, sometimes is not enough in a campaign against ruthless opponents. Unless we misjudge him, Beebe will not make sweeping, bold and controversial proposals as a candidate. In that respect, he will be like the two Republican candidates, Lt. Gov. Winthrop Paul Rockefeller and former Congressman Asa Hutchinson.
But the other day, in answer to a question about school taxes if the courts should order considerably higher funding to comply with the Constitution, Beebe said Arkansas had reached the saturation point on sales taxes, which is the way the state has funded incremental increases in school spending for 70 years. It is the only broad-based state tax that can be levied by a simple majority of the legislature, but the Arkansas sales tax is high in relation to nearby states.
In a pinch caused by court orders, Beebe said, the best Arkansas could do would be to raise property taxes, which requires a vote of the people.
It would be incumbent on state leaders, he said, to go out and persuade voters of the need and propriety of the tax. The property tax is terribly unpopular, but the tax rate in Arkansas is among the lowest in the 50 states. Broadening the base of the sales tax to cover some services also would be preferable to raising the tax rate, he said. Now, Beebe was not proposing to raise those taxes but suggesting the most equitable of a range of very bad options. But if you listen to Hutchinson, Beebe wants to raise your property taxes.
Hutchinson issued a statement saying he would oppose raising taxes on the possessions of farmers and homeowners.
When Rockefeller, in similar woolgathering remarks, speculated that raising the currently invisible severance tax on natural gas if the courts put the state under the gun, Hutchinson condemned him and said he would never permit severance taxes to be raised. Gas producers now pay a tax of three tenths of a penny for a thousand cubic feet of gas - by far the lowest rate in America.
So what tax would Hutchinson propose to increase if the state were under court order to spend a lot more on its children? He will, of course, not say. All taxes are too high. When he’s pressed, we predict, Hutchinson will come out foursquare for cutting the waste and fat out of government.
Meantime, the cast and the script for the 2006 campaign are fixed. Whatever precautions he takes, Beebe will be the taxer and spender, Hutchinson the tight-fisted foe of taxes, Rockefeller the absentee in the argument. The negative candidate always sets the terms of the debate. Welcome to the campaign, General Beebe.
Being unusually frank might do it, too. And it doesn’t take much cand or to do a politician in. Choosing your words carefully, which Beebe has done all his public life, sometimes is not enough in a campaign against ruthless opponents. Unless we misjudge him, Beebe will not make sweeping, bold and controversial proposals as a candidate. In that respect, he will be like the two Republican candidates, Lt. Gov. Winthrop Paul Rockefeller and former Congressman Asa Hutchinson.
But the other day, in answer to a question about school taxes if the courts should order considerably higher funding to comply with the Constitution, Beebe said Arkansas had reached the saturation point on sales taxes, which is the way the state has funded incremental increases in school spending for 70 years. It is the only broad-based state tax that can be levied by a simple majority of the legislature, but the Arkansas sales tax is high in relation to nearby states.
In a pinch caused by court orders, Beebe said, the best Arkansas could do would be to raise property taxes, which requires a vote of the people.
It would be incumbent on state leaders, he said, to go out and persuade voters of the need and propriety of the tax. The property tax is terribly unpopular, but the tax rate in Arkansas is among the lowest in the 50 states. Broadening the base of the sales tax to cover some services also would be preferable to raising the tax rate, he said. Now, Beebe was not proposing to raise those taxes but suggesting the most equitable of a range of very bad options. But if you listen to Hutchinson, Beebe wants to raise your property taxes.
Hutchinson issued a statement saying he would oppose raising taxes on the possessions of farmers and homeowners.
When Rockefeller, in similar woolgathering remarks, speculated that raising the currently invisible severance tax on natural gas if the courts put the state under the gun, Hutchinson condemned him and said he would never permit severance taxes to be raised. Gas producers now pay a tax of three tenths of a penny for a thousand cubic feet of gas - by far the lowest rate in America.
So what tax would Hutchinson propose to increase if the state were under court order to spend a lot more on its children? He will, of course, not say. All taxes are too high. When he’s pressed, we predict, Hutchinson will come out foursquare for cutting the waste and fat out of government.
Meantime, the cast and the script for the 2006 campaign are fixed. Whatever precautions he takes, Beebe will be the taxer and spender, Hutchinson the tight-fisted foe of taxes, Rockefeller the absentee in the argument. The negative candidate always sets the terms of the debate. Welcome to the campaign, General Beebe.
OBITUARIES
E.L. Luttrell
Elwyn “E. L.” Leroy Luttrell of Beebe was born July 8, 1912, at Tishamingo, Miss., and died Monday, June 13. He was a veteran of World War II, a building contractor and a Baptist.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Flora Morine Perry; mother, Ada Modeana Bruton; father, Walter Raleigh Luttrell; sisters Mary Helen Thorne and Grace Mae Luttrell; and brother, James Edward Orville Luttrell; and one grandchild.
He is survived by one daughter, Patricia Louise Luttrell Halfacre of Pleasant Grove; four grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren and two sisters, Mattie Faye Croney of Widener and Ruth Louise Moseley of Memphis.
Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe, and from 11 a.m. Thursday until service time at First Baptist Church, Caldwell. Funeral will be 2 p.m. Thursday at the church, with burial in Hughes Cemetery.
Doris Stanley
Doris R. Stanley, 77, of Pleasant Plains died June 13. She was a housewife and a Baptist.
She is survived by her husband, John Marvin Stanley; two daughters, Regenia Matheny of Pleasant Plains and Phyllis Hensley of Batesville; five grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. Doris was preceded in death by her son, Marvin L. Stanley.
Visitation will begin 10 a.m. Thursday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe.
Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Funeral will be 2 p.m. Friday at Roosevelt Baptist Church, Pleasant Plains with burial in Roosevelt Cemetery.
Esther Eubanks
Esther Louise Eubanks, 86, died June 11.
She was a member of First Baptist Church in Beebe. Survivors include two sons, Jim Eubanks and wife Sandra of Beebe and Gary Eubanks and wife Gloria of Jonesboro; one daughter, Marie Miller of Fort Smith; six grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; two sisters, Doris Armstrong of South Carolina and Sue Coclasure of Lonoke and one brother, Ken Nelson of Lonoke.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at Wattensaw Baptist Church with interment in Wattensaw Cemetery.
Pallbearers will be grandsons and nephews. Memorials may be made to Wattensaw Baptist Church. Funeral arrangements under the direction of Boyd Funeral Home.
Sara Berry
Sara Nichole Berry, 20, of Austin, passed away June 7. She was born July 26, 1984, in Jacksonville. She was preceded in death by her grandmother Carolyn Darlene Maddox.
Survivors include husband Chris Berry of North Little Rock; children Kaitlyn Michelle Berry and Allen Michael Berry both of Austin; mother, Rita Perkins of Austin; father and stepmother Dana and Marla Perkins of North Little Rock; two brothers, Philip Perkins of Cabot and Marlen Clark of North Little Rock; grandparents, Myrna Perkins of Sherwood, Philip Perkins of Bryant, Bob and Wanda Maddox of Moline, Ill.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, with entombment at Rest Hills Cemetery. Arrangements by Thomas Funeral Service.
Alma Leggitt
Alma Lee Leggitt, 79, of Jacksonville, died June 10. She was born on Sept. 25, 1925 in Des Arc to the late William and Bertie Tremey Dobbs. She was a homemaker and a member of the First Assembly of God Church in Jacksonville. She was also preceded in death by a brother, Charles Thomas Dobbs.
She is survived by her husband, Dewey Leggitt; step-children, Monty Leggitt of Conway, Ted and Jerry Leggitt both of Jacksonville, Joanna Rowley of Jacksonville and Shirley Henry of North Little Rock; brother, William Junior Dobbs of St. Louis, Mo.; sisters, Pauline Branham of St. Louis and Clara Sue Quinn of Brinkley and a host of step-grandchildren, nieces, nephews and friends.
Funeral services were held Monday at First Assembly of God Church in Jacksonville, Rev. Royce Lowe officiating. Interment will follow in Rest Hills Cemetery in North Little Rock.
Funeral arrangements are under direction of Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
Bertha Ahrens
Bertha Odean Ahrens, 86, of Jacksonville died June 14 at Rebsaman Medical Center. She was born May 29, 1919 in Searcy to the late Oscar C. and Stella Emily Davis Lamb.
She was also preceded in death by two brothers, Vernon Lamb and O. C. Lamb and a sister, Edna Wortham. Ahrens was a Lutheran and a homemaker.
She is survived by her husband, Edward H. Ahrens; a daughter, Julia Frances Whitsell and a son, Robert Scott Ahrens, both of Jacksonville; sister, Ima P. Gridley; nine grandchildren, Julia K. Leistra, Paula G. Reshel, Sherry Lynn Alberson, Laura Griffith, Lisa Randals, Jeremy Ahrens, Dale Ahrens, Dacota Ahrens, and Lindsey Ahrens; five great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. Memorials may be made to Jacksonville Care Channel. Private services will be at a later time. Arrangements are under direction of Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
Melvin Tullos
Melvin Charles Tullos, 71, a long-time resident of Cabot, died June 8 at Springcreek Living Center in Cabot.
He was a member of Old Austin Baptist Church. He was preceded in death by his wife, Ruth, and parents Earl and Lela Tullos, a brother Faber, and sister Joyce Ogburn.
He is survived by one son Steve and two step-sons, Mark and Larry Free, five brothers, Eugene of Campbell, Mo., Dwight of Little Rock, Kenneth, Darrell, and Doyle all of Cabot, and three sisters, Marilyn Mahoney, Linda Gramlick, and Doris Brewster all of Cabot; and grandsons Joshua, Cody and Tyler Tullos. Services were held Friday at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Cabot.
The family would like to express sincere appreciation to the staff at Springcreek Living Center for the excellent care provided during Melvin’s stay at the living center. Arrangements by Thomas Funeral Service.
Elwyn “E. L.” Leroy Luttrell of Beebe was born July 8, 1912, at Tishamingo, Miss., and died Monday, June 13. He was a veteran of World War II, a building contractor and a Baptist.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Flora Morine Perry; mother, Ada Modeana Bruton; father, Walter Raleigh Luttrell; sisters Mary Helen Thorne and Grace Mae Luttrell; and brother, James Edward Orville Luttrell; and one grandchild.
He is survived by one daughter, Patricia Louise Luttrell Halfacre of Pleasant Grove; four grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren and two sisters, Mattie Faye Croney of Widener and Ruth Louise Moseley of Memphis.
Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe, and from 11 a.m. Thursday until service time at First Baptist Church, Caldwell. Funeral will be 2 p.m. Thursday at the church, with burial in Hughes Cemetery.
Doris Stanley
Doris R. Stanley, 77, of Pleasant Plains died June 13. She was a housewife and a Baptist.
She is survived by her husband, John Marvin Stanley; two daughters, Regenia Matheny of Pleasant Plains and Phyllis Hensley of Batesville; five grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. Doris was preceded in death by her son, Marvin L. Stanley.
Visitation will begin 10 a.m. Thursday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe.
Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Funeral will be 2 p.m. Friday at Roosevelt Baptist Church, Pleasant Plains with burial in Roosevelt Cemetery.
Esther Eubanks
Esther Louise Eubanks, 86, died June 11.
She was a member of First Baptist Church in Beebe. Survivors include two sons, Jim Eubanks and wife Sandra of Beebe and Gary Eubanks and wife Gloria of Jonesboro; one daughter, Marie Miller of Fort Smith; six grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; two sisters, Doris Armstrong of South Carolina and Sue Coclasure of Lonoke and one brother, Ken Nelson of Lonoke.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at Wattensaw Baptist Church with interment in Wattensaw Cemetery.
Pallbearers will be grandsons and nephews. Memorials may be made to Wattensaw Baptist Church. Funeral arrangements under the direction of Boyd Funeral Home.
Sara Berry
Sara Nichole Berry, 20, of Austin, passed away June 7. She was born July 26, 1984, in Jacksonville. She was preceded in death by her grandmother Carolyn Darlene Maddox.
Survivors include husband Chris Berry of North Little Rock; children Kaitlyn Michelle Berry and Allen Michael Berry both of Austin; mother, Rita Perkins of Austin; father and stepmother Dana and Marla Perkins of North Little Rock; two brothers, Philip Perkins of Cabot and Marlen Clark of North Little Rock; grandparents, Myrna Perkins of Sherwood, Philip Perkins of Bryant, Bob and Wanda Maddox of Moline, Ill.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, with entombment at Rest Hills Cemetery. Arrangements by Thomas Funeral Service.
Alma Leggitt
Alma Lee Leggitt, 79, of Jacksonville, died June 10. She was born on Sept. 25, 1925 in Des Arc to the late William and Bertie Tremey Dobbs. She was a homemaker and a member of the First Assembly of God Church in Jacksonville. She was also preceded in death by a brother, Charles Thomas Dobbs.
She is survived by her husband, Dewey Leggitt; step-children, Monty Leggitt of Conway, Ted and Jerry Leggitt both of Jacksonville, Joanna Rowley of Jacksonville and Shirley Henry of North Little Rock; brother, William Junior Dobbs of St. Louis, Mo.; sisters, Pauline Branham of St. Louis and Clara Sue Quinn of Brinkley and a host of step-grandchildren, nieces, nephews and friends.
Funeral services were held Monday at First Assembly of God Church in Jacksonville, Rev. Royce Lowe officiating. Interment will follow in Rest Hills Cemetery in North Little Rock.
Funeral arrangements are under direction of Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
Bertha Ahrens
Bertha Odean Ahrens, 86, of Jacksonville died June 14 at Rebsaman Medical Center. She was born May 29, 1919 in Searcy to the late Oscar C. and Stella Emily Davis Lamb.
She was also preceded in death by two brothers, Vernon Lamb and O. C. Lamb and a sister, Edna Wortham. Ahrens was a Lutheran and a homemaker.
She is survived by her husband, Edward H. Ahrens; a daughter, Julia Frances Whitsell and a son, Robert Scott Ahrens, both of Jacksonville; sister, Ima P. Gridley; nine grandchildren, Julia K. Leistra, Paula G. Reshel, Sherry Lynn Alberson, Laura Griffith, Lisa Randals, Jeremy Ahrens, Dale Ahrens, Dacota Ahrens, and Lindsey Ahrens; five great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. Memorials may be made to Jacksonville Care Channel. Private services will be at a later time. Arrangements are under direction of Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
Melvin Tullos
Melvin Charles Tullos, 71, a long-time resident of Cabot, died June 8 at Springcreek Living Center in Cabot.
He was a member of Old Austin Baptist Church. He was preceded in death by his wife, Ruth, and parents Earl and Lela Tullos, a brother Faber, and sister Joyce Ogburn.
He is survived by one son Steve and two step-sons, Mark and Larry Free, five brothers, Eugene of Campbell, Mo., Dwight of Little Rock, Kenneth, Darrell, and Doyle all of Cabot, and three sisters, Marilyn Mahoney, Linda Gramlick, and Doris Brewster all of Cabot; and grandsons Joshua, Cody and Tyler Tullos. Services were held Friday at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Cabot.
The family would like to express sincere appreciation to the staff at Springcreek Living Center for the excellent care provided during Melvin’s stay at the living center. Arrangements by Thomas Funeral Service.
SPORTS>> Jacksonville gets back on track with sweep of SH
By Ray Benton
Leader staff writer
Gwatney A team continued their winning ways Sunday afternoon, defeating Sylvan Hills 10-3. Sylvan Hills made the first strike by getting a walk, an error by Jacksonville, and a double to score one.
The Chevy boys came back in the second inning with two hits and two stolen bases, tying the score 1-1. Sylvan Hills responded by two singles, a walk, and a stolen base to go up 2-1 in the second inning. A single and a Sylvan Hills error tied the score in the third 2-2. The fifth inning blossoms for Jacksonville with a walk, a single, two doubles and a Sylvan Hills error to make it 7-2.
Sylvan Hills scored one in the fifth with a walk and a single. An error and two stolen bases to make it 7-3.
Jacksonville put the icing on the cake in the sixth with two walks, two hits and a stolen base by Zach Thomas to up the score 10-3. Devin Cole went the distance for the Gwatney win. The Chevy boys finished with nine hits and one error. Sylvan Hills had five hits and three errors. Head Coach Hickingbotham said again Sunday, “This club just gets better and better every game.”
Eleven hits by Gwatney and six by Sylvan Hills told the story in a 9-6 Jacksonville win Sunday afternoon.
In the first inning Sylvan Hills scored three unearned runs on Gwatney’s three errors. Jacksonville came alive in the second inning with four hits along with a Sylvan Hills error to take a 4-3 lead. Gwatney got two hits in the third only to leave three stranded.
A single, and a double by Sylvan Hills gave them two more runs to make it 5-4 in the third.
In the fourth inning, a single and a double by Gwatney evened the score 5-5. But Sylvan Hills rallied with a walk and a double to make it 5-6. The Chevy boys erupted in the sixth inning with three singles, an error on Sylvan Hills and a suicide squeeze play to make it 9-6. Sylvan Hills started a come back in the seventh inning with two hits only to be stranded, ending the game.
Gwatney’s Seth Boatman came in as relief pitcher to take the win. Jeremy Williams, Tyler Uptegrove and Tim Payne each had two hits. Randy Peeples was 2 for 5 for the game. Hickingbotham said, “the relief pitching staff of Matt Crane and Seth Boatman did a great job finishing up the game”.
Saturday’s slugfest between Gwatney’s A team and Maumelle’s A team produced 14 hits for Gwatney and eight for Maumelle. Nine innings of play used up three of Gwatney’s pitchers with Jordan Payer taking the 7-6 win.
Maumelle came back and made it interesting in the seventh by tying the score 6-6. Gwatney finally broke the stalemate in the ninth with two hits and a double to win 7-6. Zach James was 4 for 5 and Tyler Upptegrove was 3 for 5.
The AAA club didn’t fare as well, losing a close game to the Maumelle squad.
Three errors in the infield and three missed balls by the catcher gave the Maumelle AAA club two unearned runs which was enough to win 2-0 over Gwatney.
Brad Green of Gwatney pitched a magnificent game, giving up just two hits and striking out six.
Maumelle’s pitcher gave up four hits and struck out seven of the Jacksonville batters.
A single in the first inning, a walk and three passed balls was enough for Maumelle to score its first run. In the second inning, Gwatney came back with two hits only to be stranded.
The second inning started with an error by Gwatneys first baseman Brandon Clements. A single put a Maumelle runner on first and second.
But a base running error put an end to Maumelle’s rally and got Jacksonville out of a jam.
Gwatneys’ Kyle Clark led off with a single in the fifth but was left stranded. Two walks by Gwatney and two errors by Seth Boatman at shortstop gave Maumelle its’ second run to finish the fifth inning.
The sixth inning also left Gwatney stranded with Walter Winer singling to first base. The Chevy Boys held Maumelle to no runs in the sixth. Gwatneys’ final attempt at a comeback failed in the seventh, ending with a line drive to the first baseman doubling up the Gwatney runner on first.
Walter Winner was 2 of 3 for the game.
“We didn’t get the hits when we needed them,” Hickingbotham said.
Leader staff writer
Gwatney A team continued their winning ways Sunday afternoon, defeating Sylvan Hills 10-3. Sylvan Hills made the first strike by getting a walk, an error by Jacksonville, and a double to score one.
The Chevy boys came back in the second inning with two hits and two stolen bases, tying the score 1-1. Sylvan Hills responded by two singles, a walk, and a stolen base to go up 2-1 in the second inning. A single and a Sylvan Hills error tied the score in the third 2-2. The fifth inning blossoms for Jacksonville with a walk, a single, two doubles and a Sylvan Hills error to make it 7-2.
Sylvan Hills scored one in the fifth with a walk and a single. An error and two stolen bases to make it 7-3.
Jacksonville put the icing on the cake in the sixth with two walks, two hits and a stolen base by Zach Thomas to up the score 10-3. Devin Cole went the distance for the Gwatney win. The Chevy boys finished with nine hits and one error. Sylvan Hills had five hits and three errors. Head Coach Hickingbotham said again Sunday, “This club just gets better and better every game.”
Eleven hits by Gwatney and six by Sylvan Hills told the story in a 9-6 Jacksonville win Sunday afternoon.
In the first inning Sylvan Hills scored three unearned runs on Gwatney’s three errors. Jacksonville came alive in the second inning with four hits along with a Sylvan Hills error to take a 4-3 lead. Gwatney got two hits in the third only to leave three stranded.
A single, and a double by Sylvan Hills gave them two more runs to make it 5-4 in the third.
In the fourth inning, a single and a double by Gwatney evened the score 5-5. But Sylvan Hills rallied with a walk and a double to make it 5-6. The Chevy boys erupted in the sixth inning with three singles, an error on Sylvan Hills and a suicide squeeze play to make it 9-6. Sylvan Hills started a come back in the seventh inning with two hits only to be stranded, ending the game.
Gwatney’s Seth Boatman came in as relief pitcher to take the win. Jeremy Williams, Tyler Uptegrove and Tim Payne each had two hits. Randy Peeples was 2 for 5 for the game. Hickingbotham said, “the relief pitching staff of Matt Crane and Seth Boatman did a great job finishing up the game”.
Saturday’s slugfest between Gwatney’s A team and Maumelle’s A team produced 14 hits for Gwatney and eight for Maumelle. Nine innings of play used up three of Gwatney’s pitchers with Jordan Payer taking the 7-6 win.
Maumelle came back and made it interesting in the seventh by tying the score 6-6. Gwatney finally broke the stalemate in the ninth with two hits and a double to win 7-6. Zach James was 4 for 5 and Tyler Upptegrove was 3 for 5.
The AAA club didn’t fare as well, losing a close game to the Maumelle squad.
Three errors in the infield and three missed balls by the catcher gave the Maumelle AAA club two unearned runs which was enough to win 2-0 over Gwatney.
Brad Green of Gwatney pitched a magnificent game, giving up just two hits and striking out six.
Maumelle’s pitcher gave up four hits and struck out seven of the Jacksonville batters.
A single in the first inning, a walk and three passed balls was enough for Maumelle to score its first run. In the second inning, Gwatney came back with two hits only to be stranded.
The second inning started with an error by Gwatneys first baseman Brandon Clements. A single put a Maumelle runner on first and second.
But a base running error put an end to Maumelle’s rally and got Jacksonville out of a jam.
Gwatneys’ Kyle Clark led off with a single in the fifth but was left stranded. Two walks by Gwatney and two errors by Seth Boatman at shortstop gave Maumelle its’ second run to finish the fifth inning.
The sixth inning also left Gwatney stranded with Walter Winer singling to first base. The Chevy Boys held Maumelle to no runs in the sixth. Gwatneys’ final attempt at a comeback failed in the seventh, ending with a line drive to the first baseman doubling up the Gwatney runner on first.
Walter Winner was 2 of 3 for the game.
“We didn’t get the hits when we needed them,” Hickingbotham said.
SPORTS>> Panthers see better play with two twinbill splits
IN SHORT: Cabot takes one each from Jacksonville and Vilonia
By Ray Benton
Leader staff writer
The Cabot Panthers’ class AA American Legion team put together a few respectable performances over the weekend. After losing four straight games, Cabot earned doubleheader splits with Jacksonville’s AA team and Vilonia Friday and Saturday respectively.
Friday’s win was particularly pleasing for two reasons. The main reason is that it snapped a losing streak that saw the Panthers beaten badly three times.
A secondary reason was the fact that some of the Panther legion players’ high school teammates were in the opposite dugout on Hickingbotham Field.
“They were definitely aware of that,” Cabot coach Paul Fuller said. “I think that probably did give them some extra motivation.”
That motivation did little to help Cabot through the first four innings. Jacksonville pitcher Trey Smith was on fire. Smith gave up just two hits, only one of which got out of the infield, and struck out eight Cabot players over the first four innings.
The good news for Cabot was that its pitcher, Justin Haas, was throwing just about as well as Smith, and held Jacksonville scoreless through four also.
Jacksonville sent Seth Boatman to the mound in the fifth inning. Boatman had not pitched in over a month, and his rustiness showed. He walked Haas with one out, then hit Mitchell Durant. A perfect sacrifice bunt by Chad Bryant moved the runners up for Logan Lucas, who hit an infield single to score one run.
Jacksonville answered with two in the bottom of the same inning. Gwatney first baseman Brandon Clements hit a high pop-up to shallow centerfield, where no one claimed the ball and it dropped between three fielders.
Zach Thomas followed with a single to right field and Tyler Uptergrove reached safely on a perfect bunt to load the bases.
Clements then scored when Haas was called for a balk. A sacrifice by leadoff hitter Josh Mansfield scored Thomas to put Gwatney ahead 2-1.
Another infield single and a series of errors led to five Cabot unearned runs in the top of the sixth inning.
Shawn Trammel started off with an infield single and Shayne Burgan reached on an error by Uptergrove. Uptergrove’s throwing error led to Trammell being caught in a rundown between second and third, but third baseman Kyle West overthrew his teammate and sent the ball into right field, allowing Trammel to score on the play.
Kaleb Killough lined out to left field for the first out of the inning, and Justin Free followed that with an RBI single to left to score Burgan.
Boatman then issued back-to-back walks to Haas and Durant to load the bases. Boatman then struck out the next batter, but leadoff hitter Lucas singled to right field to drive in two runs. An error at shortstop off the bat of JC Weir brought in the final run of the inning for Cabot.
Jacksonville scored one in the bottom of the sixth. Randy Peeples doubled to lead off the inning and scored two batters later on an error at second base to set the final margin.
Jacksonville pulled out game two with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to win 3-2, but Fuller was still pleased with how his team played.
“That second one was just a hard-luck deal,” Fuller said. “I thought we played pretty well and really had ‘em where we wanted ‘em. But we made some mental errors on the base paths and that just killed us. We’re starting to come together a little bit though. It helps that we’re finally playing other AA teams. We’d been playing teams that just out-manned us. We’re getting better and gaining some confidence.”
Trammell went 3 for 4 in the game one win, including a double in the seventh inning.
Lucas went 2 for 4 and was the only other player with multiple hits in the game.
Chris Goss went 2 for 3 to lead Cabot in its 5-2 victory over Vilonia Saturday. Killough got the win on the mound, giving up just two hits and zero earned runs.
Cabot picked up five hits in the win.
The Panthers host Stuttgart at Brian Conrad Complex Thursday. Game one of the scheduled doubleheader begins at 6 p.m.
By Ray Benton
Leader staff writer
The Cabot Panthers’ class AA American Legion team put together a few respectable performances over the weekend. After losing four straight games, Cabot earned doubleheader splits with Jacksonville’s AA team and Vilonia Friday and Saturday respectively.
Friday’s win was particularly pleasing for two reasons. The main reason is that it snapped a losing streak that saw the Panthers beaten badly three times.
A secondary reason was the fact that some of the Panther legion players’ high school teammates were in the opposite dugout on Hickingbotham Field.
“They were definitely aware of that,” Cabot coach Paul Fuller said. “I think that probably did give them some extra motivation.”
That motivation did little to help Cabot through the first four innings. Jacksonville pitcher Trey Smith was on fire. Smith gave up just two hits, only one of which got out of the infield, and struck out eight Cabot players over the first four innings.
The good news for Cabot was that its pitcher, Justin Haas, was throwing just about as well as Smith, and held Jacksonville scoreless through four also.
Jacksonville sent Seth Boatman to the mound in the fifth inning. Boatman had not pitched in over a month, and his rustiness showed. He walked Haas with one out, then hit Mitchell Durant. A perfect sacrifice bunt by Chad Bryant moved the runners up for Logan Lucas, who hit an infield single to score one run.
Jacksonville answered with two in the bottom of the same inning. Gwatney first baseman Brandon Clements hit a high pop-up to shallow centerfield, where no one claimed the ball and it dropped between three fielders.
Zach Thomas followed with a single to right field and Tyler Uptergrove reached safely on a perfect bunt to load the bases.
Clements then scored when Haas was called for a balk. A sacrifice by leadoff hitter Josh Mansfield scored Thomas to put Gwatney ahead 2-1.
Another infield single and a series of errors led to five Cabot unearned runs in the top of the sixth inning.
Shawn Trammel started off with an infield single and Shayne Burgan reached on an error by Uptergrove. Uptergrove’s throwing error led to Trammell being caught in a rundown between second and third, but third baseman Kyle West overthrew his teammate and sent the ball into right field, allowing Trammel to score on the play.
Kaleb Killough lined out to left field for the first out of the inning, and Justin Free followed that with an RBI single to left to score Burgan.
Boatman then issued back-to-back walks to Haas and Durant to load the bases. Boatman then struck out the next batter, but leadoff hitter Lucas singled to right field to drive in two runs. An error at shortstop off the bat of JC Weir brought in the final run of the inning for Cabot.
Jacksonville scored one in the bottom of the sixth. Randy Peeples doubled to lead off the inning and scored two batters later on an error at second base to set the final margin.
Jacksonville pulled out game two with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to win 3-2, but Fuller was still pleased with how his team played.
“That second one was just a hard-luck deal,” Fuller said. “I thought we played pretty well and really had ‘em where we wanted ‘em. But we made some mental errors on the base paths and that just killed us. We’re starting to come together a little bit though. It helps that we’re finally playing other AA teams. We’d been playing teams that just out-manned us. We’re getting better and gaining some confidence.”
Trammell went 3 for 4 in the game one win, including a double in the seventh inning.
Lucas went 2 for 4 and was the only other player with multiple hits in the game.
Chris Goss went 2 for 3 to lead Cabot in its 5-2 victory over Vilonia Saturday. Killough got the win on the mound, giving up just two hits and zero earned runs.
Cabot picked up five hits in the win.
The Panthers host Stuttgart at Brian Conrad Complex Thursday. Game one of the scheduled doubleheader begins at 6 p.m.
NEIGHBORS>> Learning to swim
IN SHORT: Cabot Parks and Recreation offers lessons to kids of all ages
By Sara Greene
Leader staff writer
From the doggie paddle to the butterfly stroke, Cabot Parks and Recreation’s aquatics programs offer swimming lessons for all skill levels.
“I’m estimating we have about 300 children signed up for swimming lessons,” said head swim coach Debbie Skidmore. “We have 120 signed up for the Cabot Piranhas swim team right now.”
The Learn to Swim program starts out with a Mom and Tot course for 4 year olds and their mothers. The course focuses on familiarizing parents and children with swimming and survival skills.
Level I teaches non-swimmers ages 5 and 6 on survival swimming and getting used to the water.
Level II is for the same age group and focuses on learning freestyle swimming and underwater maneuvers.
Level III is for swimmers ages 7 and 8 to develop stroke technique, diving and underwater swimming. Level IV focuses technique, diving and underwater swimming for swimmers age 9 and above.
Level V is for 7 year olds and up. It teaches competitive strokes for recreation and members of the Cabot Piranhas swim team.
Skidmore says teaching swimming is a passion that all five swim coaches share.
“We see so much progress in two months,” said Skidmore.
“The students go from being scared of the water to swimming laps.”
The Cabot Piranhas swim team was started in 1999 and is for children ages 5 to 18.
The program emphasizes learning proper stroke techniques, increasing endurance and having fun. The team has three skill levels, bronze, silver and gold.
The Cabot Piranhas compete in swim meets each weekend culminating with a competition July 29-31 at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
To become a Piranha, children under 6 must be able to swim the length of the pool aided by a kickboard.
Children age 7 and 8 must be able to swim the length of the pool. Children age 9 and above must swim the length of the pool twice.
“We really need a bigger pool, we’ve outgrown this one,” Skidmore said.
Skidmore says many swim team members join swim teams in Little Rock to swim year round.
Year-round access to a swimming pool is one of the biggest challenges for swim team members.
“The children get out of shape when they don’t swim in the winter,” Skidmore said.
“Swimming is just as physically demanding as football.”
The Cabot Piranhas’ next swim meet will be at 5 p.m. Friday at the Lonoke Community Center’s pool.
By Sara Greene
Leader staff writer
From the doggie paddle to the butterfly stroke, Cabot Parks and Recreation’s aquatics programs offer swimming lessons for all skill levels.
“I’m estimating we have about 300 children signed up for swimming lessons,” said head swim coach Debbie Skidmore. “We have 120 signed up for the Cabot Piranhas swim team right now.”
The Learn to Swim program starts out with a Mom and Tot course for 4 year olds and their mothers. The course focuses on familiarizing parents and children with swimming and survival skills.
Level I teaches non-swimmers ages 5 and 6 on survival swimming and getting used to the water.
Level II is for the same age group and focuses on learning freestyle swimming and underwater maneuvers.
Level III is for swimmers ages 7 and 8 to develop stroke technique, diving and underwater swimming. Level IV focuses technique, diving and underwater swimming for swimmers age 9 and above.
Level V is for 7 year olds and up. It teaches competitive strokes for recreation and members of the Cabot Piranhas swim team.
Skidmore says teaching swimming is a passion that all five swim coaches share.
“We see so much progress in two months,” said Skidmore.
“The students go from being scared of the water to swimming laps.”
The Cabot Piranhas swim team was started in 1999 and is for children ages 5 to 18.
The program emphasizes learning proper stroke techniques, increasing endurance and having fun. The team has three skill levels, bronze, silver and gold.
The Cabot Piranhas compete in swim meets each weekend culminating with a competition July 29-31 at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
To become a Piranha, children under 6 must be able to swim the length of the pool aided by a kickboard.
Children age 7 and 8 must be able to swim the length of the pool. Children age 9 and above must swim the length of the pool twice.
“We really need a bigger pool, we’ve outgrown this one,” Skidmore said.
Skidmore says many swim team members join swim teams in Little Rock to swim year round.
Year-round access to a swimming pool is one of the biggest challenges for swim team members.
“The children get out of shape when they don’t swim in the winter,” Skidmore said.
“Swimming is just as physically demanding as football.”
The Cabot Piranhas’ next swim meet will be at 5 p.m. Friday at the Lonoke Community Center’s pool.
TOP STORY>> Voters will decide on Jacksonville's library
IN SHORT: Voters will decide July 5 whether or not Jacksonville is to have a new multipurpose building to replace the 36-year-old library, which is the oldest in the Central Arkansas Library System.
By Brian Rodriguez
Leader staff writer
A Little Rock architectural firm on Monday unveiled designs for a new Jacksonville library that would cost about $2.5 million. Voters will decide whether to fund the library during a special millage election on Tuesday, July 5.
The architectural firm of Witsell, Evans and Rasco showed their plans during a meeting in the Esther Dewitt Nixon Library in Jacksonville, featuring a multi-purpose section for use after library hours, a larger workspace for library employees, study rooms and reading alcoves.
"We’ve got some really, really exciting things going on here in Jacksonville," said Mark Wilson, the Jacksonville representative on the Central Arkansas Library System board. "I think the architects have a lot of passion for their project."
The architects said it would cost about the same to build a new library than to renovate the existing building.
The most discussed part of the presentation was the proposed roof shown in the color renderings — an architectural rarity with the roof sloping from the front and back toward the center of the building.
Charles Witsell, a partner in the WER firm, said the design was used for the triple purpose of imposing monumental size to the side facing Main Street, giving the reading room and the library shelves a high roof, and allowing more window space for reading light.
“When you look outside of the building, it may look a little odd, but when you go inside of the building and there’s light, it’s great,” Wilson said. “With a library, I feel like that’s the bigger issue, how you feel inside the library.”
The pitch would drain the water to the center, said Witsell, and downspouts would then move the water out toward a sewer or drainage ditch to carry the water away from the building.
Most of the argument against the roof came because the center of the proposed roof seemed to have a flat section that reminded the crowd of flooding problems last fall, when the drainage system in the current flat roof leaked and closed the library for about 40 days.
Witsell said Tuesday afternoon that the firm was still in the design stages and other roof designs would be considered to ensure the city is happy with the plans for a new building.
"We certainly saw that it had a negative response so we are indeed going to be looking at different designs," he said. "We listened to the community last night and we certainly will do that."
"Keep in mind I asked the architects to do something very difficult," said CALS director Bobby Roberts, "to draw up a plan with no lot."
An earlier report by the architects showed that not counting land purchase, it would cost more to completely renovate the current building than to build a new one.
The report showed, including the cost to move and rent a temporary location while work was done, expanding and renovating the current building would cost just under $2.5 million.
The cost comparison was broken down to $185 per square foot to expand and renovate the current building, or $170 per square foot to build a new one. Witsell said land purchase was not added to the building cost because a site has not been chosen to get a cost estimate, and if the city is lucky, a site could be donated.
The current library was built in 1969 with 9,265 square feet and was renamed the Esther D. Nixon Library in 1992.
"This is a building that I think has served the community well, but it has worn out," Roberts said. "It’s just simply outlived its usefulness."
The average CALS library building, excluding the Nixon Library, is five years old and has about 14,000 square feet.
"This is like a baseball game – you get a win or you don’t," Roberts said, referring to the millage election. "There’s not going to be a second chance on that."
A positive vote in the election would fund a one-mill tax increase that would generate about $165,000 per year to fund up to a $2.5 million bond for a new library building.
The bond would include paying for a land purchase, equipping the land, and constructing a new library building.
Under the one-mill increase, a home appraised at $100,000 is assessed at 20 percent, or $20,000.
Millage increases are 1/1,000th of the assessed value, so a one-mil increase on that home would cost 1/1,000th of $20,000.
Millage increases are collected once a year, so a $100,000 homeowner would pay $20 per year until a bond was paid.
"I think all you can do is tell people it’s a value to the community," Roberts said.
By Brian Rodriguez
Leader staff writer
A Little Rock architectural firm on Monday unveiled designs for a new Jacksonville library that would cost about $2.5 million. Voters will decide whether to fund the library during a special millage election on Tuesday, July 5.
The architectural firm of Witsell, Evans and Rasco showed their plans during a meeting in the Esther Dewitt Nixon Library in Jacksonville, featuring a multi-purpose section for use after library hours, a larger workspace for library employees, study rooms and reading alcoves.
"We’ve got some really, really exciting things going on here in Jacksonville," said Mark Wilson, the Jacksonville representative on the Central Arkansas Library System board. "I think the architects have a lot of passion for their project."
The architects said it would cost about the same to build a new library than to renovate the existing building.
The most discussed part of the presentation was the proposed roof shown in the color renderings — an architectural rarity with the roof sloping from the front and back toward the center of the building.
Charles Witsell, a partner in the WER firm, said the design was used for the triple purpose of imposing monumental size to the side facing Main Street, giving the reading room and the library shelves a high roof, and allowing more window space for reading light.
“When you look outside of the building, it may look a little odd, but when you go inside of the building and there’s light, it’s great,” Wilson said. “With a library, I feel like that’s the bigger issue, how you feel inside the library.”
The pitch would drain the water to the center, said Witsell, and downspouts would then move the water out toward a sewer or drainage ditch to carry the water away from the building.
Most of the argument against the roof came because the center of the proposed roof seemed to have a flat section that reminded the crowd of flooding problems last fall, when the drainage system in the current flat roof leaked and closed the library for about 40 days.
Witsell said Tuesday afternoon that the firm was still in the design stages and other roof designs would be considered to ensure the city is happy with the plans for a new building.
"We certainly saw that it had a negative response so we are indeed going to be looking at different designs," he said. "We listened to the community last night and we certainly will do that."
"Keep in mind I asked the architects to do something very difficult," said CALS director Bobby Roberts, "to draw up a plan with no lot."
An earlier report by the architects showed that not counting land purchase, it would cost more to completely renovate the current building than to build a new one.
The report showed, including the cost to move and rent a temporary location while work was done, expanding and renovating the current building would cost just under $2.5 million.
The cost comparison was broken down to $185 per square foot to expand and renovate the current building, or $170 per square foot to build a new one. Witsell said land purchase was not added to the building cost because a site has not been chosen to get a cost estimate, and if the city is lucky, a site could be donated.
The current library was built in 1969 with 9,265 square feet and was renamed the Esther D. Nixon Library in 1992.
"This is a building that I think has served the community well, but it has worn out," Roberts said. "It’s just simply outlived its usefulness."
The average CALS library building, excluding the Nixon Library, is five years old and has about 14,000 square feet.
"This is like a baseball game – you get a win or you don’t," Roberts said, referring to the millage election. "There’s not going to be a second chance on that."
A positive vote in the election would fund a one-mill tax increase that would generate about $165,000 per year to fund up to a $2.5 million bond for a new library building.
The bond would include paying for a land purchase, equipping the land, and constructing a new library building.
Under the one-mill increase, a home appraised at $100,000 is assessed at 20 percent, or $20,000.
Millage increases are 1/1,000th of the assessed value, so a one-mil increase on that home would cost 1/1,000th of $20,000.
Millage increases are collected once a year, so a $100,000 homeowner would pay $20 per year until a bond was paid.
"I think all you can do is tell people it’s a value to the community," Roberts said.
TOP STORY>> School board upholds cuts
IN SHORT: PCSSD employees lose their plea Tuesday to have their step pay increases and paid holidays restored, but they threaten a possible lawsuit.
By John Hofheimer
Leader staff writer
Pulaski County Special School District employees failed to convince the school board on Tuesday to reject the administration's freezing of step pay increases and elimination of paid holidays. The board stuck with the new fiscal distress improvement plan, approved unanimously by the board in special session on Monday, to cut spending for the next school year by $8.5 million while restoring—without any discussion in public—the 11 assistant principal positions the board cut in its original improvement plan April 20.
The state Board of Education designated the district as being in fiscal distress April 11, based on its calculation that the district’s operational fund balance would be $5 million in the hole at the end of the next school year.
The district has two years to remedy to the problem or face measures including consolidation, replacement of the superintendent or takeover by the state.
In the April version of the improvement plan, the board thought it reduced expenditures by $11.7 million, only to discover this month that the calculations and projections were inaccurate and the actual reduction would be closer to $8.5 million.
The cuts reduce the projected 2005-2006 school budget from $143.5 million to $135 million, with a projected fund balance June 30, 2006 of about $8 million.
“This allows us a thin cushion,” said interim Superintendent Robert Clowers.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, the district will have about 5.9 percent of its budget in its fund balance at the end of the next fiscal year, but there is no state-recommended or mandated percentage. Balances in Arkansas range from about 3.6 percent to 52 percent, according to John Archetko, acting chief financial officer for the district.
Archetko, who met with Education Department representatives, said the state wants the district to live within its means, avoid debt and create a plan that’s doable.
The largest savings are from freezing step pay increases and eliminating paid holidays.
There was great support among board members for restoring paid holidays and unfreezing step increases as soon as the district is back on solid financial footing, but Archetko warned that only if voters approve a maintenance and operations bond issue is the district again likely to have the kind of money it needs.
Because the savings were recalculated to be about $3.5 million less than originally projected, because the board fired Superintendent Donald Henderson and appointed Robert Clowers interim superintendent and because it wanted more explanation about proposed cuts, the state Education Department gave the school district until June 15 to submit an amended fiscal distress improvement plan.
That revised plan, approved after considering board member Jeff Shaneyfelt’s amendments to restore some paid holidays to non-teaching staff and to bolster discipline by keeping the director of student services and athletics position, spared the 11 assistant principal positions, which were slated to be cut by the original improvement plan.
The largest among the cuts in the plan being submitted to the state Education Department is $3.3 million saved by freezing all step increases to teachers and others.
Eliminating the 11 assistant principals, a suggestion of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers, would have saved the district an additional $850,000. Apparently Clowers discussed keeping the assistant principals in individual meetings or telephone calls with board members, because cutting the assistant principals was not among cuts proposed and adopted Monday night.
Elimination of all paid holidays to all employees saved $1.9 million and another $1 million by paying off the early-retirement incentive. Hiring substitute teachers instead of contracting that to Kelly Services was projected to save another $500,000.
Purchase of new textbooks was reduced $500,000, reductions to the transportation department will save $248,507. The maintenance budget was trimmed by $124,000, $116,000 was saved by reverting Harris from a year-round school to regular schedule and cutting the director of student services and athletics saved the district $101,854.
By John Hofheimer
Leader staff writer
Pulaski County Special School District employees failed to convince the school board on Tuesday to reject the administration's freezing of step pay increases and elimination of paid holidays. The board stuck with the new fiscal distress improvement plan, approved unanimously by the board in special session on Monday, to cut spending for the next school year by $8.5 million while restoring—without any discussion in public—the 11 assistant principal positions the board cut in its original improvement plan April 20.
The state Board of Education designated the district as being in fiscal distress April 11, based on its calculation that the district’s operational fund balance would be $5 million in the hole at the end of the next school year.
The district has two years to remedy to the problem or face measures including consolidation, replacement of the superintendent or takeover by the state.
In the April version of the improvement plan, the board thought it reduced expenditures by $11.7 million, only to discover this month that the calculations and projections were inaccurate and the actual reduction would be closer to $8.5 million.
The cuts reduce the projected 2005-2006 school budget from $143.5 million to $135 million, with a projected fund balance June 30, 2006 of about $8 million.
“This allows us a thin cushion,” said interim Superintendent Robert Clowers.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, the district will have about 5.9 percent of its budget in its fund balance at the end of the next fiscal year, but there is no state-recommended or mandated percentage. Balances in Arkansas range from about 3.6 percent to 52 percent, according to John Archetko, acting chief financial officer for the district.
Archetko, who met with Education Department representatives, said the state wants the district to live within its means, avoid debt and create a plan that’s doable.
The largest savings are from freezing step pay increases and eliminating paid holidays.
There was great support among board members for restoring paid holidays and unfreezing step increases as soon as the district is back on solid financial footing, but Archetko warned that only if voters approve a maintenance and operations bond issue is the district again likely to have the kind of money it needs.
Because the savings were recalculated to be about $3.5 million less than originally projected, because the board fired Superintendent Donald Henderson and appointed Robert Clowers interim superintendent and because it wanted more explanation about proposed cuts, the state Education Department gave the school district until June 15 to submit an amended fiscal distress improvement plan.
That revised plan, approved after considering board member Jeff Shaneyfelt’s amendments to restore some paid holidays to non-teaching staff and to bolster discipline by keeping the director of student services and athletics position, spared the 11 assistant principal positions, which were slated to be cut by the original improvement plan.
The largest among the cuts in the plan being submitted to the state Education Department is $3.3 million saved by freezing all step increases to teachers and others.
Eliminating the 11 assistant principals, a suggestion of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers, would have saved the district an additional $850,000. Apparently Clowers discussed keeping the assistant principals in individual meetings or telephone calls with board members, because cutting the assistant principals was not among cuts proposed and adopted Monday night.
Elimination of all paid holidays to all employees saved $1.9 million and another $1 million by paying off the early-retirement incentive. Hiring substitute teachers instead of contracting that to Kelly Services was projected to save another $500,000.
Purchase of new textbooks was reduced $500,000, reductions to the transportation department will save $248,507. The maintenance budget was trimmed by $124,000, $116,000 was saved by reverting Harris from a year-round school to regular schedule and cutting the director of student services and athletics saved the district $101,854.
TOP STORY>> Cabot sets tax vote for new center, overpass
IN SHORT: Lonoke County Election Commission approves July 12 balloting on millage hike.
By Joan McCoy
Leader staff writer
The Lonoke County Election Commission has approved a July 12 special election in Cabot to increase the city millage to pay for a railroad overpass and build a community center.
Voters will be asked to vote for or against increasing the millage from 3.5 to 4.5 to raise $700,000 for the city’s part of the federally-funded $5 million overpass and for or against increasing the millage to raise $2 million to help pay for the community center.
The overpass, to be built north of the Polk Street railroad crossing, is touted as the only means of keeping buses off the tracks and as the first step toward a north interchange that would connect Highway 38 to Highway 5.
The community center was expected to cost $3.5 million, including $500,000 for site preparation. But last fall the low bid came in at $4.2 million and the price could be even higher now.
If approved the millage increase would add about $20 to the tax on a $100,000 home. The ordinance calling for the election says the millage will be rolled back when the bonds that will pay for the construction projects are retired.
The millage increase is expected to raise about $160,000 a year.
If voters turn down the increase in taxes, the city will not be able to build the community center, and the overpass will have to wait at least until 2008, said Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh.
The council has the authority to raise the millage without voter approval, but if they did, city voters could always bring a petition for referendum and force an election.
A year ago voters approved paying for the community center with existing taxes, saying overwhelmingly that 1 percent of the city’s 1.5 percent hamburger tax and an existing half-mill should be used to pay for the center.
“I think this [upcoming election] is an opportunity for city residents to say we want the center and we’re willing to pay for it,” he said.
Early voting will be from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, June 27 through July 11 at the Lonoke County Courthouse.
On election day, polls will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the following polling sites:
Cabot City Ward 1 – Richie Road Gym, 432 Richie Road.
Cabot City Ward 2 – Cabot First Baptist Church, 306 W. Pine.
Cabot City Ward 3 – Victory Baptist Church, 501 N. Lincoln.
Cabot City Ward 4 – Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, 3105 Hwy. 89 S.
If voters approve raising the millage for one project, but not the other, all the new revenue would be applied toward the selected project.
By Joan McCoy
Leader staff writer
The Lonoke County Election Commission has approved a July 12 special election in Cabot to increase the city millage to pay for a railroad overpass and build a community center.
Voters will be asked to vote for or against increasing the millage from 3.5 to 4.5 to raise $700,000 for the city’s part of the federally-funded $5 million overpass and for or against increasing the millage to raise $2 million to help pay for the community center.
The overpass, to be built north of the Polk Street railroad crossing, is touted as the only means of keeping buses off the tracks and as the first step toward a north interchange that would connect Highway 38 to Highway 5.
The community center was expected to cost $3.5 million, including $500,000 for site preparation. But last fall the low bid came in at $4.2 million and the price could be even higher now.
If approved the millage increase would add about $20 to the tax on a $100,000 home. The ordinance calling for the election says the millage will be rolled back when the bonds that will pay for the construction projects are retired.
The millage increase is expected to raise about $160,000 a year.
If voters turn down the increase in taxes, the city will not be able to build the community center, and the overpass will have to wait at least until 2008, said Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh.
The council has the authority to raise the millage without voter approval, but if they did, city voters could always bring a petition for referendum and force an election.
A year ago voters approved paying for the community center with existing taxes, saying overwhelmingly that 1 percent of the city’s 1.5 percent hamburger tax and an existing half-mill should be used to pay for the center.
“I think this [upcoming election] is an opportunity for city residents to say we want the center and we’re willing to pay for it,” he said.
Early voting will be from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, June 27 through July 11 at the Lonoke County Courthouse.
On election day, polls will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the following polling sites:
Cabot City Ward 1 – Richie Road Gym, 432 Richie Road.
Cabot City Ward 2 – Cabot First Baptist Church, 306 W. Pine.
Cabot City Ward 3 – Victory Baptist Church, 501 N. Lincoln.
Cabot City Ward 4 – Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, 3105 Hwy. 89 S.
If voters approve raising the millage for one project, but not the other, all the new revenue would be applied toward the selected project.
TOP STORY>> Air base gets top planners' attention
IN SHORT: The staff at Metroplan is looking at ways to accommodate an influx of new jobs and personnel at Little Rock Air Force Base. Ideas include widening Hwy. 67/167 from Jacksonville to Cabot, as well as parts of Hwy. 89.
By John Hofheimer
Leader staff writer
Widening Hwy. 67-167 between the North Belt Loop and Hwy. 89 at an estimated cost of $124 million will be a high priority if 4,000 new jobs come to Little Rock Air Force Base over the next few years, according to a recommendation of Metroplan staff on Tuesday.
“We’re pleased that they are looking and making sure that the air base is covered,” said Jacksonville Engineer Jay Whisker, who serves on the Metroplan technical coordinating committee. “Its nice when communities get together and we can all benefit from having the air base.”
He said he was pleased Metro-plan was considering the widening of Hwy. 67/167 between Vandenberg Boulevard near the air base and Hwy. 89 in Cabot. One accident or one small problem can back up traffic to Cabot, he said.
No one expressed serious opposition during Metroplan’s transportation advisory council meeting to consideration and reordering of a dozen projects that could be affected by the expected increase in jobs at the base, but the council stopped short of sending the plan on to the Metroplan board of directors.
It would cost an estimated $197 million to complete all 12 projects, with only $48 million currently projected to be available, according to Casey Covington, a Metroplan traffic planner. Most of the proposed changes involve increasing traffic capacity to and from the front and back gates at the base.
“Getting people to the back air base gate is just as important for folks moving into the west side of Jacksonville,” Whisker said, noting growth at Forest Oaks and Base Meadows subdivisions and the approval by the Jacksonville Planning Commission Monday night of the Lost Creek subdivision.
Broken up into three separate projects to meet increased traffic use with additional base personnel, an estimated 2,000 vehicles a day would be projected to travel on each if the new jobs materialize as a result of the base realignment and closure process.
Ten million dollars already is committed to widen the highway to six lanes from the North Belt Freeway to Redmond Road. An additional $32 million would be available to widen it from Redmond to Vandenberg if the Metro 2030 long-range transportation plan is adopted in August.
The segment from Vandenberg to Hwy. 89 would cost $82 million and the staff has recommended that as a high priority should the jobs materialize.
The Metroplan/Highway De-partment plan already calls for widening Hwy. 107 from Jack-sonville/Cato to General Samuels at a cost of $3 million and the widening of Graham Road from Main Street to Loop Road, also $3 million.
If money is available, the widening of Hwy. 107 from General Samuels to the air base would be a high priority and cost about $4 million. A lower priority would be the widening of Hwy. 107 from the air base to Republican Road—a $10 million project.
The widening of Hwy. 89 from U.S. 67/167 to Hwy 367 in Cabot also is rated a high priority if there is air base expansion, at a cost of $4 million.
The widening of Hwy. 321 from Hwy. 67/167 to Hwy. 89 is rated a low air base priority, but improvement of the interchange is considered important in the context of the air base.
By John Hofheimer
Leader staff writer
Widening Hwy. 67-167 between the North Belt Loop and Hwy. 89 at an estimated cost of $124 million will be a high priority if 4,000 new jobs come to Little Rock Air Force Base over the next few years, according to a recommendation of Metroplan staff on Tuesday.
“We’re pleased that they are looking and making sure that the air base is covered,” said Jacksonville Engineer Jay Whisker, who serves on the Metroplan technical coordinating committee. “Its nice when communities get together and we can all benefit from having the air base.”
He said he was pleased Metro-plan was considering the widening of Hwy. 67/167 between Vandenberg Boulevard near the air base and Hwy. 89 in Cabot. One accident or one small problem can back up traffic to Cabot, he said.
No one expressed serious opposition during Metroplan’s transportation advisory council meeting to consideration and reordering of a dozen projects that could be affected by the expected increase in jobs at the base, but the council stopped short of sending the plan on to the Metroplan board of directors.
It would cost an estimated $197 million to complete all 12 projects, with only $48 million currently projected to be available, according to Casey Covington, a Metroplan traffic planner. Most of the proposed changes involve increasing traffic capacity to and from the front and back gates at the base.
“Getting people to the back air base gate is just as important for folks moving into the west side of Jacksonville,” Whisker said, noting growth at Forest Oaks and Base Meadows subdivisions and the approval by the Jacksonville Planning Commission Monday night of the Lost Creek subdivision.
Broken up into three separate projects to meet increased traffic use with additional base personnel, an estimated 2,000 vehicles a day would be projected to travel on each if the new jobs materialize as a result of the base realignment and closure process.
Ten million dollars already is committed to widen the highway to six lanes from the North Belt Freeway to Redmond Road. An additional $32 million would be available to widen it from Redmond to Vandenberg if the Metro 2030 long-range transportation plan is adopted in August.
The segment from Vandenberg to Hwy. 89 would cost $82 million and the staff has recommended that as a high priority should the jobs materialize.
The Metroplan/Highway De-partment plan already calls for widening Hwy. 107 from Jack-sonville/Cato to General Samuels at a cost of $3 million and the widening of Graham Road from Main Street to Loop Road, also $3 million.
If money is available, the widening of Hwy. 107 from General Samuels to the air base would be a high priority and cost about $4 million. A lower priority would be the widening of Hwy. 107 from the air base to Republican Road—a $10 million project.
The widening of Hwy. 89 from U.S. 67/167 to Hwy 367 in Cabot also is rated a high priority if there is air base expansion, at a cost of $4 million.
The widening of Hwy. 321 from Hwy. 67/167 to Hwy. 89 is rated a low air base priority, but improvement of the interchange is considered important in the context of the air base.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
FROM THE PUBLISHER>> B.B. King: World’s greatest entertainer
Riverfest rivals Memphis in May, while Handys honors artists
BY GARRICK FELDMAN
When it came to musical variety, last weekend’s Riverfest rivaled the much bigger Memphis in May a month ago. The crowds are much better behaved here — the overpriced Memphis in May attracts mostly adolescents drawn to adolescent music — and when you have B.B. King as your headliner, Riverfest was bound to succeed, even with some rain.
King, voted blues entertainer of the year at the W.C. Handy Blues Awards ceremony in Memphis, performed his hits for an hour and paid tribute to his favorite president. Instead of “Every Day I have the Blues,” usually his first song, he opened with “Why I Sing the Blues,” continued with “Bad Case of Love,” “Early in the Morning,” “Rock Me, Baby,” “Key to the Highway,” “The Thrill Is Gone,” and even included the politically incorrect “Ain’t It Just Like a Woman” (popularized by Brinkley’s Louis Jordan, one of B.B.’s favorites) and we even heard U-2’s “When Love Comes to Town.”
Backed by a rousing band, the king of the blues was in fine form, although he’s showing his age: King, who is a diabetic, will be 80 in September and performs sitting down. Even so, he’s still the world’s greatest entertainer.
As for Memphis in May, it was muddy and claustrophobic, as usual, but it was nice to see Ike Turner, who is in his 70s, is still putting on a good show, although he’ll never find another Tina, although many have auditioned for the job.
The Handy awards ceremony in downtown Memphis, a few days after Memphis in May, saw many of our favorites make an appearance, although not all of them performed, often because the show ran too long and the artists left.
Kenny Neal and Billy Branch, who won best acoustic album for their Alligator CD “Double Take,” came onstage around 1 a.m. and were soon told to stop, which upset Branch, who went into a tirade. Who can blame him?
The great Sam Lay, drummer for Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, waited backstage, but he never got the call to perform. Lay, who is from Alabama, stormed off with his wife and drove to Augusta (Woodruff County) to visit his in-laws.
A Handy nominee, Lay has a new CD out called “I Get Evil” (Random Chance Records), and he sings and play drums, too.
Several winners and nominees did perform, including Mavis Staples, who won for best blues and soul album (“Have a Little Faith”) was named best soul blues artist; Charlie Musselwhite, who won for best contemporary blues album (“Sanctuary”) and was named best contemporary blues artist and blues harmonica player; Pinetop Perkins, who won for best traditional blues album (“Ladies Man”) and was named best traditional blues artist.
Perkins, who is 92, played a little piano, while Honeyboy Edwards, who’ll be 90 this month and was named best acoustic blues artist, played a few minutes onstage before he had his portrait taken backstage and headed back to Chicago that night in his manager’s car.
Amiri Baraka, aka Leroi Jones, the firebrand poet and critic, seemed lost at the proceedings. Baraka, who had written an anti-Semitic poem about 9/11, was supposed to receive an award for his book “Blues People,” but apparently no one recognized him except for this reporter.
Still wearing winter tweeds, Baraka, who must be in his 70s, seemed much smaller since his black power days in the 60s and was largely forgotten until his appalling poem on 9/11. He should have received his award the night before, but he didn’t know that, so he may have left Memphis empty-handed.
The great soul-blues singer Little Milton Campbell has his own take on 9/11. Standing back stage, he told us, “When 9/11 happened, that was the only time we were one. There was no black and white. We were all Ameri-cans. Then we went right back to where we were.”
Koko Taylor, who won for best traditional blues artist, wasn’t well enough to perform. But after accepting her award, she defined blues for us.
“The blues is having a hard time,” she said. “I know what I’m singing about. I experienced everything I sing about.”
Other winners and their categories: John Lee Hooker, Jr., new artist debut for “Blues with a Vengeance;” Holmes Brothers, blues band; Willie Kent, bass; Willie (Big Eyes) Smith, drums; Bob Margolin, guitar; Roomful of Blues, blues horns; Robert Randolph (who played at Riverfest and Memphis in May) blues instrument; Jim Tullio and Jim Welder, “Have a Little Faith,” blues song; Gary U.S. Bonds, “Back in 20,” comeback blues album; Shemeika Copeland, contemporary blues artist; Hound Dog Taylor, “Release the Hound,” historical blues album, and Bobby Rush, soul blues artist.
BY GARRICK FELDMAN
When it came to musical variety, last weekend’s Riverfest rivaled the much bigger Memphis in May a month ago. The crowds are much better behaved here — the overpriced Memphis in May attracts mostly adolescents drawn to adolescent music — and when you have B.B. King as your headliner, Riverfest was bound to succeed, even with some rain.
King, voted blues entertainer of the year at the W.C. Handy Blues Awards ceremony in Memphis, performed his hits for an hour and paid tribute to his favorite president. Instead of “Every Day I have the Blues,” usually his first song, he opened with “Why I Sing the Blues,” continued with “Bad Case of Love,” “Early in the Morning,” “Rock Me, Baby,” “Key to the Highway,” “The Thrill Is Gone,” and even included the politically incorrect “Ain’t It Just Like a Woman” (popularized by Brinkley’s Louis Jordan, one of B.B.’s favorites) and we even heard U-2’s “When Love Comes to Town.”
Backed by a rousing band, the king of the blues was in fine form, although he’s showing his age: King, who is a diabetic, will be 80 in September and performs sitting down. Even so, he’s still the world’s greatest entertainer.
As for Memphis in May, it was muddy and claustrophobic, as usual, but it was nice to see Ike Turner, who is in his 70s, is still putting on a good show, although he’ll never find another Tina, although many have auditioned for the job.
The Handy awards ceremony in downtown Memphis, a few days after Memphis in May, saw many of our favorites make an appearance, although not all of them performed, often because the show ran too long and the artists left.
Kenny Neal and Billy Branch, who won best acoustic album for their Alligator CD “Double Take,” came onstage around 1 a.m. and were soon told to stop, which upset Branch, who went into a tirade. Who can blame him?
The great Sam Lay, drummer for Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, waited backstage, but he never got the call to perform. Lay, who is from Alabama, stormed off with his wife and drove to Augusta (Woodruff County) to visit his in-laws.
A Handy nominee, Lay has a new CD out called “I Get Evil” (Random Chance Records), and he sings and play drums, too.
Several winners and nominees did perform, including Mavis Staples, who won for best blues and soul album (“Have a Little Faith”) was named best soul blues artist; Charlie Musselwhite, who won for best contemporary blues album (“Sanctuary”) and was named best contemporary blues artist and blues harmonica player; Pinetop Perkins, who won for best traditional blues album (“Ladies Man”) and was named best traditional blues artist.
Perkins, who is 92, played a little piano, while Honeyboy Edwards, who’ll be 90 this month and was named best acoustic blues artist, played a few minutes onstage before he had his portrait taken backstage and headed back to Chicago that night in his manager’s car.
Amiri Baraka, aka Leroi Jones, the firebrand poet and critic, seemed lost at the proceedings. Baraka, who had written an anti-Semitic poem about 9/11, was supposed to receive an award for his book “Blues People,” but apparently no one recognized him except for this reporter.
Still wearing winter tweeds, Baraka, who must be in his 70s, seemed much smaller since his black power days in the 60s and was largely forgotten until his appalling poem on 9/11. He should have received his award the night before, but he didn’t know that, so he may have left Memphis empty-handed.
The great soul-blues singer Little Milton Campbell has his own take on 9/11. Standing back stage, he told us, “When 9/11 happened, that was the only time we were one. There was no black and white. We were all Ameri-cans. Then we went right back to where we were.”
Koko Taylor, who won for best traditional blues artist, wasn’t well enough to perform. But after accepting her award, she defined blues for us.
“The blues is having a hard time,” she said. “I know what I’m singing about. I experienced everything I sing about.”
Other winners and their categories: John Lee Hooker, Jr., new artist debut for “Blues with a Vengeance;” Holmes Brothers, blues band; Willie Kent, bass; Willie (Big Eyes) Smith, drums; Bob Margolin, guitar; Roomful of Blues, blues horns; Robert Randolph (who played at Riverfest and Memphis in May) blues instrument; Jim Tullio and Jim Welder, “Have a Little Faith,” blues song; Gary U.S. Bonds, “Back in 20,” comeback blues album; Shemeika Copeland, contemporary blues artist; Hound Dog Taylor, “Release the Hound,” historical blues album, and Bobby Rush, soul blues artist.
OBITUARIES>> June 8, 2005
PHILLIP SAYLES
Specialist Phillip Nicholas “Nick” Sayles, 26, of Jacksonville, died May 28 in Iraq. He was born May 2, 1979, in Little Rock, to Charles and Pearl Sayles, who survive him.
Nick was the oldest of three children. He was the grandson of the late Earl and Lois Sayles and J. P. and Lucille Lentz.
He was preceded in death by his uncles, Tom Sayles, Jim Sayles, and Tom Barnes.
Nick is also survived by his brothers, Joseph Aaron Sayles of Crocker, Mo., and Wesley Patrick Sayles of Jacksonville; aunts, Don-na Lentz of Cabot, Helen Barnes of Crocker, Mo., Carol Sayles and Teri Sayles, both of Little Rock, and Mildred Sayles of Hensley; uncles, John Lentz and Joe Lentz, both of Cabot, and Don Sayles of Hensley; great aunts, Mildred Hammons of Jacksonville, Emma Jean Purtle, and Ruby Finch of North Little Rock. Nicholas had many loving cousins, including Tyler and Travis Barnes of Crocker, Mo., Joshua Lentz of Cabot, Gabe and Israel Lentz of Beebe, Tracy Slobig of Cabot, Dana Wiggins of Danville, and Tammy Rees of Jonesboro.
Nick attended North Pulaski High School and was enrolled in ROTC classes at Jacksonville High School for three years where he excelled in leadership, which he brought to the program.
He was known by his superiors and comrades for his dependability. Nick earned several awards while serving in ROTC and graduated in 1997 from Cabot High School.
Nick began his military career in May 2002, as an infantryman and earned the rank of specialist. Nick was assigned to 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade 25th Infantry Division in Fort Lewis, Wash., where he took computer training and then taught others.
He trained and became a sniper before his deployment to Mosul, Iraq. While in Mosul, Nick worked in the operations section of the 1st Battalion 24th Infantry Headquarters, drove, and operated computers for the battalion commander. He then moved to a job out on the line with Bravo Company.
Nick was a member of First Assembly of God in Jacksonville. Nick was an exceptional person.
He demonstrated outstanding performance as a soldier and as an individual while employed in numerous capacities in the military and civilian life, earning the confidence of his leadership and peers. He was the epitome of an infantryman, earning numerous awards and badges, including the Bronze Star and Purple Heart awarded posthumously, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal (Iraq), the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal (Iraq), Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Expert Infantryman’s Badge and Sniper Distinction.
Funeral services were held Monday at Zion Hill Baptist Church in Cabot with Rev. Terry Fortner, Pastor Royce Lowe and Nick’s former youth pastor Dale Dahl officiating. Interment will be in Sumner Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, make memorials to the Nick Sayles R.O.T.C. Scholarship Fund at Twin City Bank or Community Bank.
RUTH WILSON
Ruth Nixon Wilson, 86, of Jacksonville passed away Sunday, June 5 at her home.
She was born Feb. 25, 1919 in Little Rock to Hugh and Cora Mae McNair Nixon.
After graduating from Little Rock High School in 1937, she attended Southwestern (now Rhodes) College in Memphis.
She transferred to the Univer-sity of Arkansas where she graduated in 1941 with a degree in romance languages.
She was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority. She was elected to the honorary academic fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa.
In February of 1942, she married Pat Wilson and soon began her career as a loving housewife and mother.
Mrs. Wilson was a faithful member of First Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville where she served over 30 years as the church organist. Over the years, she contributed her time and talents to the school PTA’s, various church committees and “circle” groups and Little Rock Air Force Base Officers Wives Club. Mrs. Wilson was a charter member of the Rebsamen Hospital Auxiliary.
During the 1960’s, Mrs. Wilson and several of her friends began an informal needlepoint and cross stitch group referred to as the “Needlenuts.”
They traveled nationally and internationally together, met for lunch, swapped recipes, and created many beautiful cross stitch pieces that they shared with family and friends. Mrs. Wilson was preceded in death by her husband, Kenneth Pat Wilson, on January 2, 2002; her parents; a brother, Dr. Ewing Nixon and a sister, Mae Kathryn Nixon.
She is survived by her three children, Mike Wilson of Jacksonville, Kathy Roberts of Little Rock, Larry Wilson of Jacksonville; nine grandchildren, Kenneth Wilson, Jan Williams, Liza Wilson, Mary Kathryn Williams, Scott Williams, Patrick Wilson, Matt Wilson, Corrie Gladstein and Mark Wilson; five great-grandchildren, Sullivan Williams, Jack and Emily Wilson, Caroline and Joe Gladstein.
Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church with Dr. David Dyer officiating. Interment will follow at Bayou Meto Cemetery in Jacksonville.
Her grandsons will serve as pallbearers.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials be made to the First Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville, the Esther DeWitt Nixon Library in Jacksonville or a charity of the choice of the donor.
Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
THURMAN GARNER
Thurman L. “Dub” Garner, 77, of Jacksonville passed away on Sunday, June 5. He was a cowboy and a Mason.
He is survived by three sons, Bobby L. Garner and his wife Cheryl of North Little Rock, Michael T. Garner of Jacksonville, and Joel C. Garner of Cabot; one brother, Bobby R. Garner of Jacksonville; one sister, Fae Jones of Jacksonville; four grandchildren, Jason C., Zeblin, and Justin Garner and Jodi Haggard; and two great-grandchildren, Bry-son and Zoe Garner. He was preceded in death by his parents, a brother, A.O. Garner, and his wife, Rachel Garner.
Funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at North Little Rock Funeral Home Chapel. Burial will be in Rest Hills Memorial Park.
Family will receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at North Little Rock Funeral Home.
Lawrence Henry
LAWRENCE HENRY
Lawrence Gerald Henry, 17, of Romance, passed away May 26.
He was born April 11, 1988 in Little Rock to Glen and Brenda Carol Morgan Honey. He attended Cabot schools where he played baseball and football in the seventh, eighth and ninth grades. He loved to hunt, fish and cook.
He was preceded in death by his great-grandparents, Joseph and Jewell Higgins and Charles and Ethel Morgan. Lawrence is survived by his parents, a sister, Brittany Henry of Ward and a half-brother, Aaron Henry of Cabot.
His grandparents, Diana and Billy Ray Ashley of Jacksonville and Roy and Velta Morgan of Quitman survive him as well as an aunt, Patricia Lockridge; cousins Erica McDermont of Kansas, Monica Jenson of Jacksonville and J.J. Lockridge of Jacksonville and a special friend, Rachael Herrin.
Funeral services were held May 31 at Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home chapel with interment in H&H Family Cemetery in Romance.
Arrangements by Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home.
JAMES RAMBO
James Curtis Rambo, 54, of Lonoke, died Saturday, June 4.
Survivors are his children, Curtis Edward Rambo and Tiffany Nicole Rambo of Pine Bluff, Cristi Dulaney of Florida; sisters, Janice and husband Grant Goff of Beebe, Diane Williamson and Mary and husband Chris Vines of Lonoke. He was preceded in death by parents, Mary V. and Curtis L. Rambo and grandparents, Ollie L. and J.D. Shackael. Cremation arrangements are by Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe.
Arrangements were made through Huson Funeral Home in Sherwood.
Specialist Phillip Nicholas “Nick” Sayles, 26, of Jacksonville, died May 28 in Iraq. He was born May 2, 1979, in Little Rock, to Charles and Pearl Sayles, who survive him.
Nick was the oldest of three children. He was the grandson of the late Earl and Lois Sayles and J. P. and Lucille Lentz.
He was preceded in death by his uncles, Tom Sayles, Jim Sayles, and Tom Barnes.
Nick is also survived by his brothers, Joseph Aaron Sayles of Crocker, Mo., and Wesley Patrick Sayles of Jacksonville; aunts, Don-na Lentz of Cabot, Helen Barnes of Crocker, Mo., Carol Sayles and Teri Sayles, both of Little Rock, and Mildred Sayles of Hensley; uncles, John Lentz and Joe Lentz, both of Cabot, and Don Sayles of Hensley; great aunts, Mildred Hammons of Jacksonville, Emma Jean Purtle, and Ruby Finch of North Little Rock. Nicholas had many loving cousins, including Tyler and Travis Barnes of Crocker, Mo., Joshua Lentz of Cabot, Gabe and Israel Lentz of Beebe, Tracy Slobig of Cabot, Dana Wiggins of Danville, and Tammy Rees of Jonesboro.
Nick attended North Pulaski High School and was enrolled in ROTC classes at Jacksonville High School for three years where he excelled in leadership, which he brought to the program.
He was known by his superiors and comrades for his dependability. Nick earned several awards while serving in ROTC and graduated in 1997 from Cabot High School.
Nick began his military career in May 2002, as an infantryman and earned the rank of specialist. Nick was assigned to 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade 25th Infantry Division in Fort Lewis, Wash., where he took computer training and then taught others.
He trained and became a sniper before his deployment to Mosul, Iraq. While in Mosul, Nick worked in the operations section of the 1st Battalion 24th Infantry Headquarters, drove, and operated computers for the battalion commander. He then moved to a job out on the line with Bravo Company.
Nick was a member of First Assembly of God in Jacksonville. Nick was an exceptional person.
He demonstrated outstanding performance as a soldier and as an individual while employed in numerous capacities in the military and civilian life, earning the confidence of his leadership and peers. He was the epitome of an infantryman, earning numerous awards and badges, including the Bronze Star and Purple Heart awarded posthumously, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal (Iraq), the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal (Iraq), Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Expert Infantryman’s Badge and Sniper Distinction.
Funeral services were held Monday at Zion Hill Baptist Church in Cabot with Rev. Terry Fortner, Pastor Royce Lowe and Nick’s former youth pastor Dale Dahl officiating. Interment will be in Sumner Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, make memorials to the Nick Sayles R.O.T.C. Scholarship Fund at Twin City Bank or Community Bank.
RUTH WILSON
Ruth Nixon Wilson, 86, of Jacksonville passed away Sunday, June 5 at her home.
She was born Feb. 25, 1919 in Little Rock to Hugh and Cora Mae McNair Nixon.
After graduating from Little Rock High School in 1937, she attended Southwestern (now Rhodes) College in Memphis.
She transferred to the Univer-sity of Arkansas where she graduated in 1941 with a degree in romance languages.
She was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority. She was elected to the honorary academic fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa.
In February of 1942, she married Pat Wilson and soon began her career as a loving housewife and mother.
Mrs. Wilson was a faithful member of First Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville where she served over 30 years as the church organist. Over the years, she contributed her time and talents to the school PTA’s, various church committees and “circle” groups and Little Rock Air Force Base Officers Wives Club. Mrs. Wilson was a charter member of the Rebsamen Hospital Auxiliary.
During the 1960’s, Mrs. Wilson and several of her friends began an informal needlepoint and cross stitch group referred to as the “Needlenuts.”
They traveled nationally and internationally together, met for lunch, swapped recipes, and created many beautiful cross stitch pieces that they shared with family and friends. Mrs. Wilson was preceded in death by her husband, Kenneth Pat Wilson, on January 2, 2002; her parents; a brother, Dr. Ewing Nixon and a sister, Mae Kathryn Nixon.
She is survived by her three children, Mike Wilson of Jacksonville, Kathy Roberts of Little Rock, Larry Wilson of Jacksonville; nine grandchildren, Kenneth Wilson, Jan Williams, Liza Wilson, Mary Kathryn Williams, Scott Williams, Patrick Wilson, Matt Wilson, Corrie Gladstein and Mark Wilson; five great-grandchildren, Sullivan Williams, Jack and Emily Wilson, Caroline and Joe Gladstein.
Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church with Dr. David Dyer officiating. Interment will follow at Bayou Meto Cemetery in Jacksonville.
Her grandsons will serve as pallbearers.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials be made to the First Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville, the Esther DeWitt Nixon Library in Jacksonville or a charity of the choice of the donor.
Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
THURMAN GARNER
Thurman L. “Dub” Garner, 77, of Jacksonville passed away on Sunday, June 5. He was a cowboy and a Mason.
He is survived by three sons, Bobby L. Garner and his wife Cheryl of North Little Rock, Michael T. Garner of Jacksonville, and Joel C. Garner of Cabot; one brother, Bobby R. Garner of Jacksonville; one sister, Fae Jones of Jacksonville; four grandchildren, Jason C., Zeblin, and Justin Garner and Jodi Haggard; and two great-grandchildren, Bry-son and Zoe Garner. He was preceded in death by his parents, a brother, A.O. Garner, and his wife, Rachel Garner.
Funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at North Little Rock Funeral Home Chapel. Burial will be in Rest Hills Memorial Park.
Family will receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at North Little Rock Funeral Home.
Lawrence Henry
LAWRENCE HENRY
Lawrence Gerald Henry, 17, of Romance, passed away May 26.
He was born April 11, 1988 in Little Rock to Glen and Brenda Carol Morgan Honey. He attended Cabot schools where he played baseball and football in the seventh, eighth and ninth grades. He loved to hunt, fish and cook.
He was preceded in death by his great-grandparents, Joseph and Jewell Higgins and Charles and Ethel Morgan. Lawrence is survived by his parents, a sister, Brittany Henry of Ward and a half-brother, Aaron Henry of Cabot.
His grandparents, Diana and Billy Ray Ashley of Jacksonville and Roy and Velta Morgan of Quitman survive him as well as an aunt, Patricia Lockridge; cousins Erica McDermont of Kansas, Monica Jenson of Jacksonville and J.J. Lockridge of Jacksonville and a special friend, Rachael Herrin.
Funeral services were held May 31 at Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home chapel with interment in H&H Family Cemetery in Romance.
Arrangements by Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home.
JAMES RAMBO
James Curtis Rambo, 54, of Lonoke, died Saturday, June 4.
Survivors are his children, Curtis Edward Rambo and Tiffany Nicole Rambo of Pine Bluff, Cristi Dulaney of Florida; sisters, Janice and husband Grant Goff of Beebe, Diane Williamson and Mary and husband Chris Vines of Lonoke. He was preceded in death by parents, Mary V. and Curtis L. Rambo and grandparents, Ollie L. and J.D. Shackael. Cremation arrangements are by Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe.
Arrangements were made through Huson Funeral Home in Sherwood.
EDITORIAL>> The Jayhawker remedy
Pssst. Pass it on, but don’t tell the justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court lest they get ideas about the prerogatives of an appellate court. Friday, in a case breathtakingly similar to Arkansas’ Lake View case, the Kansas Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the legislature had failed to provide the funding for Kansas schools that the state Constitution required.
It gave the governor and the legislature until July 1 to provide another $143 million for the schools next year.
Otherwise, the state will be in default and Kansas schools may have to be closed in the fall.
Within hours, the governor and legislative leaders were huddling about how they might meet the deadline.
The court observed that the legislature had hired Colorado consultants to determine what an adequate school program for all children, which was required by the Constitution, would entail and what it would cost.
The legislature must at least provide what its own unrebutted study showed was necessary, the justices said.
Conditions could hardly be more similar, except the Arkansas legislature hired not one but two sets of experts to enumerate the essential needs of Arkansas schools, one for programs and another for school facilities.
The Arkansas legislature met neither standard, but it fell glaringly short on school facilities. Its own study, celebrated by legislative leaders themselves, said Arkansas needed to spend more than $2 billion to provide safe and modern schools for children. Then the legislature allocated $104 million to meet that need. It could have provided $250 million without raising a dime of new revenue and created a mechanism for raising future capital for schools through general-obligation bonds, but it didn’t.
The Arkansas Supreme Court is deliberating whether to hold the lawmakers and Gov. Huckabee responsible now or let their failures percolate through the judicial system for another three years by forcing a fresh lawsuit.
Arkansas has never taken cues from the Jayhawks, but they may have it right this time.
It gave the governor and the legislature until July 1 to provide another $143 million for the schools next year.
Otherwise, the state will be in default and Kansas schools may have to be closed in the fall.
Within hours, the governor and legislative leaders were huddling about how they might meet the deadline.
The court observed that the legislature had hired Colorado consultants to determine what an adequate school program for all children, which was required by the Constitution, would entail and what it would cost.
The legislature must at least provide what its own unrebutted study showed was necessary, the justices said.
Conditions could hardly be more similar, except the Arkansas legislature hired not one but two sets of experts to enumerate the essential needs of Arkansas schools, one for programs and another for school facilities.
The Arkansas legislature met neither standard, but it fell glaringly short on school facilities. Its own study, celebrated by legislative leaders themselves, said Arkansas needed to spend more than $2 billion to provide safe and modern schools for children. Then the legislature allocated $104 million to meet that need. It could have provided $250 million without raising a dime of new revenue and created a mechanism for raising future capital for schools through general-obligation bonds, but it didn’t.
The Arkansas Supreme Court is deliberating whether to hold the lawmakers and Gov. Huckabee responsible now or let their failures percolate through the judicial system for another three years by forcing a fresh lawsuit.
Arkansas has never taken cues from the Jayhawks, but they may have it right this time.
EDITORIAL>> Pillsbury dough boy sells out again
When friendly economic interests or pastoral connections do not interfere, Gov. Mike Huckabee can be a whale of a leader.
Free of the beseeching of commercial benefactors, he will insist on the consolidation of tiny inefficient school administrations, demand absolute adherence to school standards like music and art classes, fight his party’s conservatives to gain government-paid health services for hundreds of thousands of needy children and educational benefits for the children of undocumented aliens and even, this last week, put a thoughtful and energetic man in charge of public health programs.
But Huckabee’s sturdy backbone turns to jelly any time political benefactors evince an interest in public policy.
The governor’s weakness was plainly in evidence again over the weekend when he told his appointees on the state Board of Education (all are his men and women) that he did not want them to require Arkansas’ 254 school districts to meet a new set of health and fitness standards. The board will do his bidding.
Oh, he likes the standards very much, Huckabee said, but when it comes to these particular rules local school boards and administrators should decide for themselves whether they want to do more to save their children from poor health and early death.
Huckabee will insist, as he has maintained on other such occasions, that his libertarian instincts guide him. He is against nosy, intrusive government.
That is why he stopped his own Board of Health from cracking down on smoking in public places, why he has on other occasions guided his government away from forcing high-fat snack foods and soft drinks out of the schools and why, very early in his political career, he sided with the bottling industry in fighting a tax on soft drinks to pay for nursing-home care and medical services for poor children.
It is just a coincidence, we are supposed to believe, that the unifying factor in all of those fights was that the stakeholding commercial interests were reliable Huckabee financial supporters.
That the governor would go so far out of the way to stop the Board of Education from following the clear purpose of a law that he signed seems particularly perverse and self-defeating. Huckabee is criss-crossing the country promoting his new diet book and fitness crusade.
Junk food can ruin your life and ultimately kill you, he says. The crusade is aimed at children, and with good reason. American youngsters on average have become about the fattest and least healthy in the developed world, and Arkansas kids are about the unhealthiest in the land. Obesity is epidemic.
Act 1220 of 2003 addressed it and Gov. Huckabee proudly signed the legislation. The law is loaded with imperatives. It created a child-health advisory committee comprising health professionals, which was directed to prepare diet and exercise standards for the state Board of Education, which in turn was to use the committee’s recommendations to formulate new standards for Arkansas schools.
The act directed the committee to look at the impact of “competitive” snack foods — the commercial vending-machine foods and drinks that have become pervasive in Arkansas schools. The vending foods have become addictive not only to kids but to school administrators, who count on a cut from the machines to pay for school programs.
Huckabee began to cavil at the law’s purposes even before the advisory committee perfected its recommendations. He wasn’t so sure that the state should try to limit the sugary and fatty foods that children get from the machines. Contrary to his own experience and preaching, Huckabee found that there was no hard evidence of the impact of the vending machines on kids’ health.
Now that the advisory committee has given its findings to the Board of Education, Huckabee does not want the state to mandate the programs. Here’s a shocker: He said the soft-drink industry joined him in not wanting the state to require school administrators to follow the rules.
Among the professionals’ proposals: require at least half the commercial beverage sales in schools to be 100 percent fruit juice, low-fat or fat-free milk and water; ban foods with more than 23 fat grams per serving; limit the size of fat-food packages; ban vending-machine snacks from elementary schools and ban them from other schools until 30 minutes after the last lunch is served.
State Rep. Jay Bradford of White Hall, who has often been a key Huckabee ally in the legislature, was too generous when he was told of the governor’s stance on the fruits of his legislation.
“That's leadership, isn’t it?” Bradford said. “Somehow, I’m not surprised. The governor has always talked a good game, but sometimes when it comes to being proactive, he doesn’t always get there. He has wasted a great opportunity to improve the health of Arkansans who put him in the governor’s office.”
We thought the governor’s lame-duck status would free him of the leg-irons of private emoluments and campaign gifts. Apparently, we erred, or else he has other ambitions.
Free of the beseeching of commercial benefactors, he will insist on the consolidation of tiny inefficient school administrations, demand absolute adherence to school standards like music and art classes, fight his party’s conservatives to gain government-paid health services for hundreds of thousands of needy children and educational benefits for the children of undocumented aliens and even, this last week, put a thoughtful and energetic man in charge of public health programs.
But Huckabee’s sturdy backbone turns to jelly any time political benefactors evince an interest in public policy.
The governor’s weakness was plainly in evidence again over the weekend when he told his appointees on the state Board of Education (all are his men and women) that he did not want them to require Arkansas’ 254 school districts to meet a new set of health and fitness standards. The board will do his bidding.
Oh, he likes the standards very much, Huckabee said, but when it comes to these particular rules local school boards and administrators should decide for themselves whether they want to do more to save their children from poor health and early death.
Huckabee will insist, as he has maintained on other such occasions, that his libertarian instincts guide him. He is against nosy, intrusive government.
That is why he stopped his own Board of Health from cracking down on smoking in public places, why he has on other occasions guided his government away from forcing high-fat snack foods and soft drinks out of the schools and why, very early in his political career, he sided with the bottling industry in fighting a tax on soft drinks to pay for nursing-home care and medical services for poor children.
It is just a coincidence, we are supposed to believe, that the unifying factor in all of those fights was that the stakeholding commercial interests were reliable Huckabee financial supporters.
That the governor would go so far out of the way to stop the Board of Education from following the clear purpose of a law that he signed seems particularly perverse and self-defeating. Huckabee is criss-crossing the country promoting his new diet book and fitness crusade.
Junk food can ruin your life and ultimately kill you, he says. The crusade is aimed at children, and with good reason. American youngsters on average have become about the fattest and least healthy in the developed world, and Arkansas kids are about the unhealthiest in the land. Obesity is epidemic.
Act 1220 of 2003 addressed it and Gov. Huckabee proudly signed the legislation. The law is loaded with imperatives. It created a child-health advisory committee comprising health professionals, which was directed to prepare diet and exercise standards for the state Board of Education, which in turn was to use the committee’s recommendations to formulate new standards for Arkansas schools.
The act directed the committee to look at the impact of “competitive” snack foods — the commercial vending-machine foods and drinks that have become pervasive in Arkansas schools. The vending foods have become addictive not only to kids but to school administrators, who count on a cut from the machines to pay for school programs.
Huckabee began to cavil at the law’s purposes even before the advisory committee perfected its recommendations. He wasn’t so sure that the state should try to limit the sugary and fatty foods that children get from the machines. Contrary to his own experience and preaching, Huckabee found that there was no hard evidence of the impact of the vending machines on kids’ health.
Now that the advisory committee has given its findings to the Board of Education, Huckabee does not want the state to mandate the programs. Here’s a shocker: He said the soft-drink industry joined him in not wanting the state to require school administrators to follow the rules.
Among the professionals’ proposals: require at least half the commercial beverage sales in schools to be 100 percent fruit juice, low-fat or fat-free milk and water; ban foods with more than 23 fat grams per serving; limit the size of fat-food packages; ban vending-machine snacks from elementary schools and ban them from other schools until 30 minutes after the last lunch is served.
State Rep. Jay Bradford of White Hall, who has often been a key Huckabee ally in the legislature, was too generous when he was told of the governor’s stance on the fruits of his legislation.
“That's leadership, isn’t it?” Bradford said. “Somehow, I’m not surprised. The governor has always talked a good game, but sometimes when it comes to being proactive, he doesn’t always get there. He has wasted a great opportunity to improve the health of Arkansans who put him in the governor’s office.”
We thought the governor’s lame-duck status would free him of the leg-irons of private emoluments and campaign gifts. Apparently, we erred, or else he has other ambitions.
NEIGHBORS>> Model Citizens
IN SHORT: Charles and Mary Garner named Beebe’s top residents
By Sara Greene
Leader staff writer
Normally an outstanding individual gets the Beebe Citizen of the Year award, but this year, the award went to an outstanding volunteer team of two. Charles and Mary Garner were presented with the 2005 Beebe Citizens of the Year Award at the annual Beebe Chamber of Commerce banquet.
“We don’t see why anybody needs an award for doing what they’re supposed to,” said Charles Garner, 84.
“We felt honored. We feel good about what we do,” he said modestly.
The Garners have been married 63 years. They met during high school in Jonesboro. Charles joined the Army Air Corps in 1942 and retired after more than 31 years of service.
They moved to Beebe from Jacksonville more than 20 years ago and got involved helping to run a food bank ministry at their church.
Now the couple volunteers with the non-denominational Beebe Community Outreach program helping deliver food to 38 families in the area.
They stop and visit with the families they serve, and the deliveries usually take up an entire day.
“We stay busy seven days a week,” Charles Garner said.
The Garners have been involved with The Shepherd’s Center of Beebe since its inception five years ago. Both are now board members. They are still actively involved in the classes and activities at the center.
Charles teaches a class on organic gardening, and Mary helps with organizational duties. She pitches in with other volunteers at the center with creating a theme each week and decorating.
Charles laughs when remembering the lesson he got when he taught his first class.
“My first organic gardening class had 11 people, nine ladies, and those ladies were all master gardeners, and there I was, not knowing nothing,” he said.
Charles Garner is chairman of the Wheels That Care program at the center which has about 15 volunteers who drive the elderly to their doctor appointments.
Since January, the program has helped 120 people get to their medical appointments in Searcy and Little Rock.
“The Garners are very handy,” said Paul Ramsey, executive director of The Shepherd’s Center of Beebe. “Anytime they see a need, they just do it. They are most deserving.”
When they aren’t busy volunteering, the Garners enjoy collecting antique bottles and Civil War relics, fishing and gardening.
By Sara Greene
Leader staff writer
Normally an outstanding individual gets the Beebe Citizen of the Year award, but this year, the award went to an outstanding volunteer team of two. Charles and Mary Garner were presented with the 2005 Beebe Citizens of the Year Award at the annual Beebe Chamber of Commerce banquet.
“We don’t see why anybody needs an award for doing what they’re supposed to,” said Charles Garner, 84.
“We felt honored. We feel good about what we do,” he said modestly.
The Garners have been married 63 years. They met during high school in Jonesboro. Charles joined the Army Air Corps in 1942 and retired after more than 31 years of service.
They moved to Beebe from Jacksonville more than 20 years ago and got involved helping to run a food bank ministry at their church.
Now the couple volunteers with the non-denominational Beebe Community Outreach program helping deliver food to 38 families in the area.
They stop and visit with the families they serve, and the deliveries usually take up an entire day.
“We stay busy seven days a week,” Charles Garner said.
The Garners have been involved with The Shepherd’s Center of Beebe since its inception five years ago. Both are now board members. They are still actively involved in the classes and activities at the center.
Charles teaches a class on organic gardening, and Mary helps with organizational duties. She pitches in with other volunteers at the center with creating a theme each week and decorating.
Charles laughs when remembering the lesson he got when he taught his first class.
“My first organic gardening class had 11 people, nine ladies, and those ladies were all master gardeners, and there I was, not knowing nothing,” he said.
Charles Garner is chairman of the Wheels That Care program at the center which has about 15 volunteers who drive the elderly to their doctor appointments.
Since January, the program has helped 120 people get to their medical appointments in Searcy and Little Rock.
“The Garners are very handy,” said Paul Ramsey, executive director of The Shepherd’s Center of Beebe. “Anytime they see a need, they just do it. They are most deserving.”
When they aren’t busy volunteering, the Garners enjoy collecting antique bottles and Civil War relics, fishing and gardening.
SPORTS>> Lookouts split with Stuttgart Sunday
IN SHORT: Legion teams trade blowout victories
By Ray Benton
Leader sports editor
The Lookouts AA team didn’t have a great day Saturday afternoon against Stuttgart, losing 11-4 in seven innings, and giving up seven unearned runs.
“This was the worst we’ve played all season,” Lookout coach Bob Thornton said. He included a 12-1 loss to Searcy in the team’s first week of play.
“Searcy’s a really good team. We just gave this one away.”
Stuttgart scored three earned runs in the first inning, and just one more of its last eight the remainder of the game, including an unearned run in the first that gave the visitors a 4-0 lead after one-half inning.
The Lookouts answered with two runs in the top of the first.
Leadoff hitter Todd Watson singled and two-hole hitter John Mooney doubled him in on the next at bat.
Dusty Thornton and Tyler Thornton walked to load the bases, and Trey Watson singled to score Mooney from third.
Stuttgart scored a run in the second, but the host team scored two in the bottom of the same inning to cut Stuttgart’s margin to one run.
Shawn Robertson singled to lead off and Jared Mathis walked to put two runners on. Two batters later Mooney bounced his second shot off the wall in left-center for a two-RBI double to cut Stuttgart’s lead to 5-4.
It would be the last run the Lookouts would score, while handing over several more runs.
Stuttgart scored once in the third, three times in the fifth and two more in the sixth inning to set the final margin.
Tyler Thornton started and took the loss.
The Lookouts didn’t get a single base hit in the final three innings of the game after picking up seven in the first four innings.
Mooney went 2 for 2 with two doubles and two RBIs, one run scored and one walk.
Robertson went 2 for 3 with a run batter in.
The Lookouts rebounded with a blowout win in the second game against Stuttgart’s A team.
Dusty Thornton pitched the first inning and got the win in just that one inning of work.
Shawn Robertson and Jared Mathis pitched two innings each in relief duty.
Josh Thornton got a home run in the third inning to highlight the game-two victory.
The split makes the Lookouts’ record 4-6 overall. They’ll likely take the rest of the week off after two teams cancelled. Bob Thornton isn’t too upset about the cancellations.
“We’ll get three practices in and we need that right now,” the head coach said. “We looked a lot better in that second game but there’s some things we need to work on.”
By Ray Benton
Leader sports editor
The Lookouts AA team didn’t have a great day Saturday afternoon against Stuttgart, losing 11-4 in seven innings, and giving up seven unearned runs.
“This was the worst we’ve played all season,” Lookout coach Bob Thornton said. He included a 12-1 loss to Searcy in the team’s first week of play.
“Searcy’s a really good team. We just gave this one away.”
Stuttgart scored three earned runs in the first inning, and just one more of its last eight the remainder of the game, including an unearned run in the first that gave the visitors a 4-0 lead after one-half inning.
The Lookouts answered with two runs in the top of the first.
Leadoff hitter Todd Watson singled and two-hole hitter John Mooney doubled him in on the next at bat.
Dusty Thornton and Tyler Thornton walked to load the bases, and Trey Watson singled to score Mooney from third.
Stuttgart scored a run in the second, but the host team scored two in the bottom of the same inning to cut Stuttgart’s margin to one run.
Shawn Robertson singled to lead off and Jared Mathis walked to put two runners on. Two batters later Mooney bounced his second shot off the wall in left-center for a two-RBI double to cut Stuttgart’s lead to 5-4.
It would be the last run the Lookouts would score, while handing over several more runs.
Stuttgart scored once in the third, three times in the fifth and two more in the sixth inning to set the final margin.
Tyler Thornton started and took the loss.
The Lookouts didn’t get a single base hit in the final three innings of the game after picking up seven in the first four innings.
Mooney went 2 for 2 with two doubles and two RBIs, one run scored and one walk.
Robertson went 2 for 3 with a run batter in.
The Lookouts rebounded with a blowout win in the second game against Stuttgart’s A team.
Dusty Thornton pitched the first inning and got the win in just that one inning of work.
Shawn Robertson and Jared Mathis pitched two innings each in relief duty.
Josh Thornton got a home run in the third inning to highlight the game-two victory.
The split makes the Lookouts’ record 4-6 overall. They’ll likely take the rest of the week off after two teams cancelled. Bob Thornton isn’t too upset about the cancellations.
“We’ll get three practices in and we need that right now,” the head coach said. “We looked a lot better in that second game but there’s some things we need to work on.”
SPORT>> Gwatney wins A tourney crown
By Ray Benton
Leader sports editor
Jacksonville’s Gwateny Chevrolet class A American Legion team became the first Gwatney A team to win its annual preseason tournament, beating Benton 10-1 Sunday night to secure the tournament title.
Jacksonville had lost earlier in the tournament to Benton on Friday. They went on to beat North Little Rock on Saturday and Sylvan Hills early Sunday to secure a spot in the championship game on the tiebreaker format.
NLR and Sylvan Hills also went 2-1 in the tournament, but lost the tiebreaker due to head-to-head competition with Jacksonville.
In Sunday night’s championship game, Benton helped Jacksonville early and often throughout the evening. The Sports Shop team committed nine errors and gave up eight unearned runs, playing nothing like the most dominant team of the first tournament through the first three games.
While Benton was kicking the ball around in the field, Jacksonville’s Brian Thurman was making quick work of Benton’s batting order.
Thurman went the five innings and gave up just two hits and no earned runs.
Adam Ussery walked in the second at bat of the first inning. He stole second base and moved to third on an error at shortstop. He then scored on a wild pitch during Zach James’ at bat to give Gwatney a 1-0 lead.
Matt Crane led off the second inning by reaching on an error at third base. Matt Williams singled two batters later and another E5 off the bat of Thurman scored Crane easily.
In the third, Zach Thomas and Zach James were hit in consecutive at bats to start the inning.
Matt Crane got another error at third that scored one run, while Beau Flynn hit a sacrifice grounder to second to score James for Jacksonville’s first earned run of the game.
Benton committed three straight errors on Jacksonville’s first three at bats of the fourth inning. Thurman hit a grounder to short that was bobbled and thrown wildly to first. Leadoff hitter Jake Ussery hit a grounder to first that was kicked and Adam Ussery’s grounder to second was simply missed.
One run scored on Adam Ussery’s at bat, another came in two batters later when James hit a fly ball deep to left field.
That made it 6-0, but Benton finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth after holding Jacksonville score less in the top of the fifth for the first time in the game.
After cutting Gwatney’s lead to 6-1, Jacksonville put together its best inning of the game in the sixth.
The two Ussery’s walked to put runners on first and second with one out. Thomas then singled to left field for one RBI.
Adam Ussery scored two batters later on a wild pitch. James came in on Benton’s fourth error at third base, this time off the bat of Blake Mattison. Another error at second base scored Mattison to set the final margin.
Jacksonville got just three base hits. Benton picked up five.
The A squad played the first game of a class A and AAA doubleheader against Vilonia Tuesday night, and will be back in action at home on Thursday evening.
Leader sports editor
Jacksonville’s Gwateny Chevrolet class A American Legion team became the first Gwatney A team to win its annual preseason tournament, beating Benton 10-1 Sunday night to secure the tournament title.
Jacksonville had lost earlier in the tournament to Benton on Friday. They went on to beat North Little Rock on Saturday and Sylvan Hills early Sunday to secure a spot in the championship game on the tiebreaker format.
NLR and Sylvan Hills also went 2-1 in the tournament, but lost the tiebreaker due to head-to-head competition with Jacksonville.
In Sunday night’s championship game, Benton helped Jacksonville early and often throughout the evening. The Sports Shop team committed nine errors and gave up eight unearned runs, playing nothing like the most dominant team of the first tournament through the first three games.
While Benton was kicking the ball around in the field, Jacksonville’s Brian Thurman was making quick work of Benton’s batting order.
Thurman went the five innings and gave up just two hits and no earned runs.
Adam Ussery walked in the second at bat of the first inning. He stole second base and moved to third on an error at shortstop. He then scored on a wild pitch during Zach James’ at bat to give Gwatney a 1-0 lead.
Matt Crane led off the second inning by reaching on an error at third base. Matt Williams singled two batters later and another E5 off the bat of Thurman scored Crane easily.
In the third, Zach Thomas and Zach James were hit in consecutive at bats to start the inning.
Matt Crane got another error at third that scored one run, while Beau Flynn hit a sacrifice grounder to second to score James for Jacksonville’s first earned run of the game.
Benton committed three straight errors on Jacksonville’s first three at bats of the fourth inning. Thurman hit a grounder to short that was bobbled and thrown wildly to first. Leadoff hitter Jake Ussery hit a grounder to first that was kicked and Adam Ussery’s grounder to second was simply missed.
One run scored on Adam Ussery’s at bat, another came in two batters later when James hit a fly ball deep to left field.
That made it 6-0, but Benton finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth after holding Jacksonville score less in the top of the fifth for the first time in the game.
After cutting Gwatney’s lead to 6-1, Jacksonville put together its best inning of the game in the sixth.
The two Ussery’s walked to put runners on first and second with one out. Thomas then singled to left field for one RBI.
Adam Ussery scored two batters later on a wild pitch. James came in on Benton’s fourth error at third base, this time off the bat of Blake Mattison. Another error at second base scored Mattison to set the final margin.
Jacksonville got just three base hits. Benton picked up five.
The A squad played the first game of a class A and AAA doubleheader against Vilonia Tuesday night, and will be back in action at home on Thursday evening.
TOP STORY>> Farewell to soldier killed in Iraq
IN SHORT: Funeral services here on Monday and last week at Fort Lewis, Wash., honor a fallen young fighter who gave his life for his country.
By Brian Rodriguez
Leader staff writer
A highly decorated 26-year-old Jacksonville soldier was buried Monday in Cabot after memorial services were held at Zion Hill Baptist Church in Cabot and before that at Evergreen Chapel in Fort Lewis, Wash., on Friday.
Army Spec. Phillip Nicholas Sayles, 26, was killed May 28 in Mosul, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his security post. Thirteen other soldiers were wounded, as were numerous Iraqi adults and children.
“I watched him develop as a very special young man who has a special love for God and for his country,” said Royce Lowe, pastor of First Assembly of God in Jacksonville.
“Physically, he was of average size, but he had a big heart and spirit.”
“Nicholas was a caring person. He was a responsible person,” Lowe said. “We will never understand why Nick was taken from us so young. We prayed every week for him in our church services and asked God to protect him.”
Sayles earned numerous awards and badges in the Army, including the Bronze Star and Purple Heart awarded posthumously. He also earned the Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal for Iraq, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal for Iraq, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Expert Infantryman’s Badge and Sniper Distinction.
Sayles joined the Army as an infantryman and trained to become a sniper before his deployment to Mosul. He worked in the operations section of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Headquarters, drove and operated computers for the battalion commander in Mosul.
He had pleaded for the chance to get out with an infantry squad, said his former commander, Capt. Bryan Carroll, and he was moved to a job on the line with Bravo Company.
“Nick lived up to every one of my expectations,” Carroll told soldiers and family members at Evergreen Chapel. “Not only was he extremely intelligent, he was a natural leader and a brave soldier. He led from the front, taught, coached, mentored – he looked out for everyone around him.”
Spec. Donald Bergren met Sayles the day they arrived at Fort Lewis to report for duty in September 2002. They were standing in front of the wrong building, trying to find their way.
Bergren, still recovering from the Dec. 21 suicide bombing at a Mosul chow hall that killed 22 people and wounded dozens more, stood with a cane in Ft. Lewis and said Sayles had a sense of humor that could brighten even the worst circumstances.
“It was hard to have a bad day with Nick working next to you,” he said. “Nick always had a smile for a friend, and he was loved by many for it.”
Sayles spent many weekends and holidays with Bergren and his wife and children. Bergren said his friend often said how much he admired their family, and said he hoped to have one of his own some day.
Sayles attended North Pulaski High School and was enrolled in ROTC classes at Jacksonville High School for three years before he graduated from Cabot High School in 1997.
His former youth pastor, Dale Dahl, said Sayles was known for his dependability, excelled in leadership and earned several awards while he was in the ROTC at Jacksonville High School. He was a member of the honor guard and a member of the Elite Saber Team.
“Lowe said he performed the marriage ceremony for Sayles’ parents and had known him all his life.
He remembered Sayles and his brother, Joey, enjoyed playing soldier together when they were young, and that he was a good second-baseman in baseball.
Lowe also remembered a time when Sayles worried several people on a camping trip to Greer Ferry. He got separated from his group and they searched everywhere. He was eventually found rolled up in a quilt, sleeping in their tent.
Funeral services at Zion Hill Baptist Church in Cabot were conducted Monday with Rev. Terry Fortner, Lowe and Dahl officiating. Sayles was buried afterward in Sumner Cemetery in Cabot.
“He made the ultimate sacrifice for our country,” Lowe said. “His love and compassion were big enough to help those who hurt. Nicholas, today we all salute you. We sadly say, Thank you. We are proud of you, and we love you. We do not say goodbye, but we say we’ll see you in a little while.”
His family asked in lieu of flowers that memorials be made to the Nick Sayles ROTC Scholarship Fund at Twin City Bank or Community Bank.
By Brian Rodriguez
Leader staff writer
A highly decorated 26-year-old Jacksonville soldier was buried Monday in Cabot after memorial services were held at Zion Hill Baptist Church in Cabot and before that at Evergreen Chapel in Fort Lewis, Wash., on Friday.
Army Spec. Phillip Nicholas Sayles, 26, was killed May 28 in Mosul, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his security post. Thirteen other soldiers were wounded, as were numerous Iraqi adults and children.
“I watched him develop as a very special young man who has a special love for God and for his country,” said Royce Lowe, pastor of First Assembly of God in Jacksonville.
“Physically, he was of average size, but he had a big heart and spirit.”
“Nicholas was a caring person. He was a responsible person,” Lowe said. “We will never understand why Nick was taken from us so young. We prayed every week for him in our church services and asked God to protect him.”
Sayles earned numerous awards and badges in the Army, including the Bronze Star and Purple Heart awarded posthumously. He also earned the Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal for Iraq, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal for Iraq, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Expert Infantryman’s Badge and Sniper Distinction.
Sayles joined the Army as an infantryman and trained to become a sniper before his deployment to Mosul. He worked in the operations section of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Headquarters, drove and operated computers for the battalion commander in Mosul.
He had pleaded for the chance to get out with an infantry squad, said his former commander, Capt. Bryan Carroll, and he was moved to a job on the line with Bravo Company.
“Nick lived up to every one of my expectations,” Carroll told soldiers and family members at Evergreen Chapel. “Not only was he extremely intelligent, he was a natural leader and a brave soldier. He led from the front, taught, coached, mentored – he looked out for everyone around him.”
Spec. Donald Bergren met Sayles the day they arrived at Fort Lewis to report for duty in September 2002. They were standing in front of the wrong building, trying to find their way.
Bergren, still recovering from the Dec. 21 suicide bombing at a Mosul chow hall that killed 22 people and wounded dozens more, stood with a cane in Ft. Lewis and said Sayles had a sense of humor that could brighten even the worst circumstances.
“It was hard to have a bad day with Nick working next to you,” he said. “Nick always had a smile for a friend, and he was loved by many for it.”
Sayles spent many weekends and holidays with Bergren and his wife and children. Bergren said his friend often said how much he admired their family, and said he hoped to have one of his own some day.
Sayles attended North Pulaski High School and was enrolled in ROTC classes at Jacksonville High School for three years before he graduated from Cabot High School in 1997.
His former youth pastor, Dale Dahl, said Sayles was known for his dependability, excelled in leadership and earned several awards while he was in the ROTC at Jacksonville High School. He was a member of the honor guard and a member of the Elite Saber Team.
“Lowe said he performed the marriage ceremony for Sayles’ parents and had known him all his life.
He remembered Sayles and his brother, Joey, enjoyed playing soldier together when they were young, and that he was a good second-baseman in baseball.
Lowe also remembered a time when Sayles worried several people on a camping trip to Greer Ferry. He got separated from his group and they searched everywhere. He was eventually found rolled up in a quilt, sleeping in their tent.
Funeral services at Zion Hill Baptist Church in Cabot were conducted Monday with Rev. Terry Fortner, Lowe and Dahl officiating. Sayles was buried afterward in Sumner Cemetery in Cabot.
“He made the ultimate sacrifice for our country,” Lowe said. “His love and compassion were big enough to help those who hurt. Nicholas, today we all salute you. We sadly say, Thank you. We are proud of you, and we love you. We do not say goodbye, but we say we’ll see you in a little while.”
His family asked in lieu of flowers that memorials be made to the Nick Sayles ROTC Scholarship Fund at Twin City Bank or Community Bank.
TOP STORY>> Matriarch of family is praised
IN SHORT: Funeral today for Ruth Wilson, who touched the lives of many who knew her.
By Sara Greene
Leader staff writer
Funeral services for Ruth Nixon Wilson of Jacksonville will be conducted at 10 a.m. Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church. She passed away in her home Sunday.
She was a faithful member of First Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville and served as the church or-ganist for more than 30 years.
“She was a kind, thoughtful and very gracious lady,” said Alton Johnson, a fellow church member. “She was very dependable. She was always right there and totally committed to her church and family.”
The matriarch of a family prominent in banking and politics, she was born Feb. 25, 1919, in Little Rock to Hugh and Cora Mae McNair Nixon. After graduating from Little Rock High School in 1937, she attended Southwestern College, now Rhodes College, in Memphis.
She transferred to the University of Arkansas, where she graduated in 1941 with a degree in Romance languages. She was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority. She was elected to the honorary academic fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa.
In February 1942, she married Kenneth Pat Wilson. They lived much of their live on land owned by the Nixon family off Military Road.
The Wilsons’ family life revolved around scholastics, church and athletics, according to the 1996 memoir “At Work in the Fields of Commerce and Industry: The Life and Accomplishments of Kenneth Patrick Wilson” by Elizabeth Shores.
Ruth Wilson taught their children Latin during summertime sessions in the living room, and the family rarely missed high school football or basketball games.
“She would drive five miles out to the country and let her boys Mike and Larry play with my younger son Tommy,” said Johnson. “She was really a special person.”
Her relatives remembered her as someone who loved and cared about her family. Her daughter Kathy and grandson Patrick recalled those summertime Latin lessons for the three children when they were just 8, 10 and 12.
Patrick also recalled how she taught her children and grandchildren the importance of reading and learning.
By Sara Greene
Leader staff writer
Funeral services for Ruth Nixon Wilson of Jacksonville will be conducted at 10 a.m. Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church. She passed away in her home Sunday.
She was a faithful member of First Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville and served as the church or-ganist for more than 30 years.
“She was a kind, thoughtful and very gracious lady,” said Alton Johnson, a fellow church member. “She was very dependable. She was always right there and totally committed to her church and family.”
The matriarch of a family prominent in banking and politics, she was born Feb. 25, 1919, in Little Rock to Hugh and Cora Mae McNair Nixon. After graduating from Little Rock High School in 1937, she attended Southwestern College, now Rhodes College, in Memphis.
She transferred to the University of Arkansas, where she graduated in 1941 with a degree in Romance languages. She was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority. She was elected to the honorary academic fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa.
In February 1942, she married Kenneth Pat Wilson. They lived much of their live on land owned by the Nixon family off Military Road.
The Wilsons’ family life revolved around scholastics, church and athletics, according to the 1996 memoir “At Work in the Fields of Commerce and Industry: The Life and Accomplishments of Kenneth Patrick Wilson” by Elizabeth Shores.
Ruth Wilson taught their children Latin during summertime sessions in the living room, and the family rarely missed high school football or basketball games.
“She would drive five miles out to the country and let her boys Mike and Larry play with my younger son Tommy,” said Johnson. “She was really a special person.”
Her relatives remembered her as someone who loved and cared about her family. Her daughter Kathy and grandson Patrick recalled those summertime Latin lessons for the three children when they were just 8, 10 and 12.
Patrick also recalled how she taught her children and grandchildren the importance of reading and learning.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)