By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
School board elections across the state are Tuesday and the Beebe School District has the most candidates for one position of schools in The Leader coverage area.
In Beebe, Sherril Strayhorn’s at-large position on the board is up for election. Four people, two men — Herman Blackmon and Johnny Black — and two women — Janet L. Warner and Lucy Mahoney — have filed to run for the seat.
On the Searcy School Board, Phillip R. Williams, incumbent, Position 2, is opposed by Ken Madden.
In the Pulaski County Special School District, Ronnie Calva is running unopposed for the Position 4 seat vacated by Don Baker, who left to work for the U.S. State Department. Jeff Shaneyfelt is running unopposed for his position, which covers the West Little Rock area.
For the Lonoke School Board, Neil Bennett Jr. has no opposition for the Zone 3, Position 6 seat he currently holds.
Jimmy Threet is running unopposed for the Zone 2, Position 1 seat held by Miles Ray Lilly, who is not running again, and Kevin McKenzie is unopposed for the Zone 4, Position 5 seat formerly held by Billy Fletcher, then held by his widow Julia Fletcher
In the Cabot School District, Steven Blackwood, the incumbent in Position 4, drew last-minute opposition from Wendel Msall.
In the Carlisle School District, three of the seven races for are in contention.
Terry McCallie and Samantha Jennings are running for Zone 3; Jeff Daniels and David Herring for Zone 6 and Blake Swears and Kyle Moery for Zone 7.
Running unopposed are: Bryan Oliger in Zone 1; Brian W. Cunningham in Zone 2; Debbie Reid in Zone 4 and Albert E. Kelly in Zone 5.
Two candidates filed in the England School District, Carroll West in Zone 2 and Jason Willard in Zone 3.
If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff election will be held Tuesday, Oct. 11.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
TOP STORY >> Best guess: 25 more planes
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
Little Rock Air Force Base could receive 25 additional C-130 transport planes and 2,752 new jobs according to the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission recommendations President Bush signed Thursday, a BRAC spokesman said Friday afternoon.
The actual number of planes, which will dictate the number of additional jobs at the base, will be determined by the Air Force, the spokesman said.
Jacksonville Mayor Tommy Swaim said Friday that 25 planes were assigned to the base’s 314th Airlift Wing in the BRAC Commission recommendation, but that the newer planes may simply replace 27 C-130s that the Air Force may deactivate.
“Some can’t fly at all, some are restricted,” Swaim said. “Just because we’re getting some new planes doesn’t mean we’re getting new jobs.”
When the BRAC process first got underway, community leaders wanted to make sure that the base, which has about 5,000 jobs, remained open.
The Defense Department recommended not only leaving the base open, but also moving an additional 77 C-130s and 3,898 jobs to the base.
Elated developers planned expansions to accommodate the growth, and transportation planners began making contingencies aimed at alleviating any new traffic problems that would accompany the new jobs.
But as individual communities lobbied the BRAC Commission, they nipped away at the number of closures and reassignments that would have resulted in the base’s expansion and the community’s windfall.
Now it appears that the 25 planes and 2,752 jobs may be the maximum gain, but Swaim fears there may be no net gain.
“Now that the president has approved the BRAC Commission’s recommendations, I am hopeful details on the impact on Little Rock Air Force Base will be more forthcoming,” Cong. Vic Snyder, D-Little Rock, said Friday.
Changes at Little Rock Air Force Base are a byproduct of action at other bases, the BRAC Commission spokesman said. BRAC commissioners never considered how many people and planes should be added at the base, but that the base was impacted by the BRAC Commission’s actions at other bases.
When the BRAC Commission reversed the Defense Department’s recommendation to close Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, it set off a chain of events preventing about two-dozen more C-130s from being transferred to Little Rock from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas.
The BRAC recommendation, which will become law unless Congress rejects it in the next 45 days, takes a number of C-130s, including 25 from Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina, in a pool from which the Air Force may reassign them at will, the spokesman said.
The BRAC recommendations take planes from Pope, Niagria Air National Guard Base in New York, Reno-Tahoe Air National Guard in Nevada, Schenectady (N.Y.) Air National Guard, Mansfield-Lahm Air National Guard in Ohio, Ellsworth Air Force Base and Gen. Mitchell Air Reserve Station in Milwaukee. These planes are in a pool, which the Air Force may distribute at its discretion.
The planes may be moved to Little Rock where they could replace aircraft already there.
The BRAC process has taken several years and is expected to save $25 billion over the next decade. The Defense Department would have saved more if the commission had not decided to keep several bases open which the Pentagon wanted closed.
Leader staff writer
Little Rock Air Force Base could receive 25 additional C-130 transport planes and 2,752 new jobs according to the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission recommendations President Bush signed Thursday, a BRAC spokesman said Friday afternoon.
The actual number of planes, which will dictate the number of additional jobs at the base, will be determined by the Air Force, the spokesman said.
Jacksonville Mayor Tommy Swaim said Friday that 25 planes were assigned to the base’s 314th Airlift Wing in the BRAC Commission recommendation, but that the newer planes may simply replace 27 C-130s that the Air Force may deactivate.
“Some can’t fly at all, some are restricted,” Swaim said. “Just because we’re getting some new planes doesn’t mean we’re getting new jobs.”
When the BRAC process first got underway, community leaders wanted to make sure that the base, which has about 5,000 jobs, remained open.
The Defense Department recommended not only leaving the base open, but also moving an additional 77 C-130s and 3,898 jobs to the base.
Elated developers planned expansions to accommodate the growth, and transportation planners began making contingencies aimed at alleviating any new traffic problems that would accompany the new jobs.
But as individual communities lobbied the BRAC Commission, they nipped away at the number of closures and reassignments that would have resulted in the base’s expansion and the community’s windfall.
Now it appears that the 25 planes and 2,752 jobs may be the maximum gain, but Swaim fears there may be no net gain.
“Now that the president has approved the BRAC Commission’s recommendations, I am hopeful details on the impact on Little Rock Air Force Base will be more forthcoming,” Cong. Vic Snyder, D-Little Rock, said Friday.
Changes at Little Rock Air Force Base are a byproduct of action at other bases, the BRAC Commission spokesman said. BRAC commissioners never considered how many people and planes should be added at the base, but that the base was impacted by the BRAC Commission’s actions at other bases.
When the BRAC Commission reversed the Defense Department’s recommendation to close Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, it set off a chain of events preventing about two-dozen more C-130s from being transferred to Little Rock from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas.
The BRAC recommendation, which will become law unless Congress rejects it in the next 45 days, takes a number of C-130s, including 25 from Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina, in a pool from which the Air Force may reassign them at will, the spokesman said.
The BRAC recommendations take planes from Pope, Niagria Air National Guard Base in New York, Reno-Tahoe Air National Guard in Nevada, Schenectady (N.Y.) Air National Guard, Mansfield-Lahm Air National Guard in Ohio, Ellsworth Air Force Base and Gen. Mitchell Air Reserve Station in Milwaukee. These planes are in a pool, which the Air Force may distribute at its discretion.
The planes may be moved to Little Rock where they could replace aircraft already there.
The BRAC process has taken several years and is expected to save $25 billion over the next decade. The Defense Department would have saved more if the commission had not decided to keep several bases open which the Pentagon wanted closed.
TOP STORY >> Private club application pulled
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
There will be no new gentleman’s club or any other type of new private club in Jacksonville — at least for now.
An application to transfer the Planet Earth private club permit from Dennis Martindill, of Jacksonville, to a group wanting to operate a club on the north end of town was pulled Tuesday, a day before the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board directors were set to vote on the issue.
Attorney Stephen Morley, of North Little Rock, representing the group that had applied for the transfer, notified the ABC Board Tuesday that his client wished to have the application pulled from consideration.
The group wanting to open the new club listed Minor Booth, of Sherwood, as president and Ricky J. Edge, of Ward, as the club manager.
The initial application with the ABC stated that Booth and Edge planned to operate a private club at 6714 T. P. White, next to Faith Christian Center.
The application said that club activities could include a gentleman’s club atmosphere, pool tables, video games, a disc jockey, live bands and dancing.
Robert Moore, administrative director of the ABC Board, said the connotation of gentleman’s club is adult entertainment.
The application met stiff opposition from area churches, politicians and citizens as more than a dozen letters against the club were filed with the ABC Board, along with a petition of at least 300 names.
Morley told the ABC Board in a letter filed earlier in the month that his client was reconsidering his location plans and would submit a new application by Tuesday.
No new application was filed.
Rumors abound that the permit may eventually end up in the hands of a chain restaurant similar to Chili’s, which has experienced great success in its first three months in Jacksonville as a private club.
Because Jacksonville is located in Gray’s Township, a dry, or non-alcohol, area, any restaurant wanting to serve alcohol must open as a private club and be in possession of a private-club permit.
“We do not want a strip-club row here,” Larry C. Burton, senior pastor of McArthur Assembly of God, wrote in a letter to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
His church would be across the highway and south of the proposed club.
Wilbur Gene Gilliam, senior pastor for the Faith Christian Center, which would be less than 400 feet from the proposed club, also sent a letter of objections.
“We do not have anything against the people who own or patronize these type businesses, in general.
“We do, however, strongly oppose their type of business being close to a church or school,” Gilliam wrote in his objection.
He reminded the ABC Board that there were already four private clubs operating across the highway from his church and that there have been “fights, stabbings, shootings, and even people killed in or around those night clubs.”
Lonoke County Judge Charlie Troutman, Cabot Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh, Jacksonville Mayor Tommy Swaim and state representatives Susan Schulte and Sandra Prater have also filed letters of objections with the ABC Board.
Booth, president of the group which Martindill plans to give the club permit to, is the owner of Sensations, located across Hwy. 67/167 from the site of the new club.
Booth owns other clubs in central Arkansas, including All Stars in Sherwood, Legends in west Little Rock and Visions near Maumelle.
The Goal Post and Hollywood Country Club is also located on John Harden Drive and Martin-dill’s Hardrider Bar and Grill is in that same area of Pulaski County between Jacksonville and Cabot.
Leader staff writer
There will be no new gentleman’s club or any other type of new private club in Jacksonville — at least for now.
An application to transfer the Planet Earth private club permit from Dennis Martindill, of Jacksonville, to a group wanting to operate a club on the north end of town was pulled Tuesday, a day before the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board directors were set to vote on the issue.
Attorney Stephen Morley, of North Little Rock, representing the group that had applied for the transfer, notified the ABC Board Tuesday that his client wished to have the application pulled from consideration.
The group wanting to open the new club listed Minor Booth, of Sherwood, as president and Ricky J. Edge, of Ward, as the club manager.
The initial application with the ABC stated that Booth and Edge planned to operate a private club at 6714 T. P. White, next to Faith Christian Center.
The application said that club activities could include a gentleman’s club atmosphere, pool tables, video games, a disc jockey, live bands and dancing.
Robert Moore, administrative director of the ABC Board, said the connotation of gentleman’s club is adult entertainment.
The application met stiff opposition from area churches, politicians and citizens as more than a dozen letters against the club were filed with the ABC Board, along with a petition of at least 300 names.
Morley told the ABC Board in a letter filed earlier in the month that his client was reconsidering his location plans and would submit a new application by Tuesday.
No new application was filed.
Rumors abound that the permit may eventually end up in the hands of a chain restaurant similar to Chili’s, which has experienced great success in its first three months in Jacksonville as a private club.
Because Jacksonville is located in Gray’s Township, a dry, or non-alcohol, area, any restaurant wanting to serve alcohol must open as a private club and be in possession of a private-club permit.
“We do not want a strip-club row here,” Larry C. Burton, senior pastor of McArthur Assembly of God, wrote in a letter to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
His church would be across the highway and south of the proposed club.
Wilbur Gene Gilliam, senior pastor for the Faith Christian Center, which would be less than 400 feet from the proposed club, also sent a letter of objections.
“We do not have anything against the people who own or patronize these type businesses, in general.
“We do, however, strongly oppose their type of business being close to a church or school,” Gilliam wrote in his objection.
He reminded the ABC Board that there were already four private clubs operating across the highway from his church and that there have been “fights, stabbings, shootings, and even people killed in or around those night clubs.”
Lonoke County Judge Charlie Troutman, Cabot Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh, Jacksonville Mayor Tommy Swaim and state representatives Susan Schulte and Sandra Prater have also filed letters of objections with the ABC Board.
Booth, president of the group which Martindill plans to give the club permit to, is the owner of Sensations, located across Hwy. 67/167 from the site of the new club.
Booth owns other clubs in central Arkansas, including All Stars in Sherwood, Legends in west Little Rock and Visions near Maumelle.
The Goal Post and Hollywood Country Club is also located on John Harden Drive and Martin-dill’s Hardrider Bar and Grill is in that same area of Pulaski County between Jacksonville and Cabot.
OBITS
DOYL ODOM
Doyl Odom, 62, of Austin, passed away Sept. 17. He was born Jan. 24, 1943, in North Little Rock to the late Aubrey Thomas and Betty Odom.
Survivors include his loving wife, Barbara Odom of the home; one son, Robert Odom of Scott; two daughters: Lela Bellamy of Cabot and Farrah Odom of Austin; one sister, Betty Reeves of Missouri; and seven grandchildren. Memorial Services will be held at 2 p.m. today at Oak Grove First Baptist Church.
In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the American Heart Association. Arrangements by Thomas Funeral Service.
HELEN THORNTON
Helen Harrison Thornton, 95, of Beebe went to be with the Lord Sept. 18. She was a fraternity housemother at San Diego State College for several years and a homemaker.
She is survived by three sons, Burnette Harrison and wife Eileen of Beebe, Bob “Max” Harrison and wife Shirley of Poway, Calif., and Donald Harrison and wife Kay of Morrilton; eight grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
Family will receive visitors from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe. Funeral will be 10 a.m. Thursday, at Westbrook Funeral Home with burial in Antioch Cemetery.
Caren Kay Beatty
Caren Kay Beatty, 34, of Cabot, passed away Sept. 20. Survivors include her son, Austin Dakota Beatty of the home; mother, Glenda Canard of Cabot; brother, James Canard of Jacksonville; two nephews, Thomas and Matt Canard and one niece Catiliana Canard.
Visitation will be Thursday, Sept. 22 from 9 a.m. until service time at 1 p.m. at Thomas Funeral Service.
Interment will immediately follow at 16th Section Cemetery in Ward. Arrangements by Thomas Funeral Service in Cabot.
ROGER CHRISTEN
Roger Louis Christen, 68, of Jacksonville, passed away Sept. 19 in Little Rock. He was born on May 25, 1937 in Dodgeville, Wis., to the late Louis Christen and Helen “Dale” Christen.
He is survived by his wife, Carolyn; mother, Helen Christen of Verona, Wisc.; son, Todd Christen of Conway; step-sons, Tom and Tim Stanton of Jacksonville; daughter, Sherry Collins of Benton; step-daughter, Tina Pardue of Camden; brother, Roland Christen of Madison, Wisc.; sister, Cathy and husband Paul Peercy of Madison, Wisconsin; grandchildren, Sean Collins and Nikki Branson; step-grandchildren, Dustin Pardue, Cheyenne, Kory and Matthew Stanton and great-grandchildren, Braelynn and Bailey Branson.
Funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Larry Burton officiating. Visitation will be before the service Thursday from noon until 2 p.m.
Funeral arrangements are un-der direction of Moore’s Jack-sonville Funeral Home.
J.T. FECHER
J.T. Fecher, 87, of Beebe, died Sept. 16. He was an Army staff sergeant and cook during World War II, and was a charter member of Stoney Point Methodist Church.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Ruby Fecher, and his parents, Mikey and Lottie Dugger Fecher.
He is survived by two sisters, MaryLee Logan of Beebe and Gwen Hallmark and husband Melvin of North Little Rock; one nephew, Randy Logan of Beebe; two nieces, Glenda Gillespie of Grove, Okla., and Vicki Adcock of North Little Rock; and three great-nephews.
Funeral services were held Monday at Stoney Point Methodist Church, with burial in Stoney Point Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Stoney Point Methodist Church c/o Jim Rye, 1203 N. Holly, Beebe, Ark., 72012.
RUBY HILL
Ruby Arlene Ray Boyd Hill, of Beebe was born Nov. 28, 1921, at Mt. Springs to Joe Dan and Lena Ray, and died at her son’s home in Vilonia on Saturday.
She was of the Baptist faith.
She is survived by a daughter, Arlene Boyd of Cabot, and a son, Buddy Boyd and wife, Valla of Vilonia, two brothers; Neil Ray of Beebe and O.W. Ray of Cabot, a sister, Joye Faye Witcher of Cabot, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her loving husband, W.T. Hill, brothers; Charlie, Herschel, Lloyd, J.D. Jr., Kenneth; sister, Mae Griffin and a grandson, Roger Scott Hazeslip.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at Westbrook Funeral Home with burial in Stoney Point Cemetery.
Doyl Odom, 62, of Austin, passed away Sept. 17. He was born Jan. 24, 1943, in North Little Rock to the late Aubrey Thomas and Betty Odom.
Survivors include his loving wife, Barbara Odom of the home; one son, Robert Odom of Scott; two daughters: Lela Bellamy of Cabot and Farrah Odom of Austin; one sister, Betty Reeves of Missouri; and seven grandchildren. Memorial Services will be held at 2 p.m. today at Oak Grove First Baptist Church.
In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the American Heart Association. Arrangements by Thomas Funeral Service.
HELEN THORNTON
Helen Harrison Thornton, 95, of Beebe went to be with the Lord Sept. 18. She was a fraternity housemother at San Diego State College for several years and a homemaker.
She is survived by three sons, Burnette Harrison and wife Eileen of Beebe, Bob “Max” Harrison and wife Shirley of Poway, Calif., and Donald Harrison and wife Kay of Morrilton; eight grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
Family will receive visitors from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe. Funeral will be 10 a.m. Thursday, at Westbrook Funeral Home with burial in Antioch Cemetery.
Caren Kay Beatty
Caren Kay Beatty, 34, of Cabot, passed away Sept. 20. Survivors include her son, Austin Dakota Beatty of the home; mother, Glenda Canard of Cabot; brother, James Canard of Jacksonville; two nephews, Thomas and Matt Canard and one niece Catiliana Canard.
Visitation will be Thursday, Sept. 22 from 9 a.m. until service time at 1 p.m. at Thomas Funeral Service.
Interment will immediately follow at 16th Section Cemetery in Ward. Arrangements by Thomas Funeral Service in Cabot.
ROGER CHRISTEN
Roger Louis Christen, 68, of Jacksonville, passed away Sept. 19 in Little Rock. He was born on May 25, 1937 in Dodgeville, Wis., to the late Louis Christen and Helen “Dale” Christen.
He is survived by his wife, Carolyn; mother, Helen Christen of Verona, Wisc.; son, Todd Christen of Conway; step-sons, Tom and Tim Stanton of Jacksonville; daughter, Sherry Collins of Benton; step-daughter, Tina Pardue of Camden; brother, Roland Christen of Madison, Wisc.; sister, Cathy and husband Paul Peercy of Madison, Wisconsin; grandchildren, Sean Collins and Nikki Branson; step-grandchildren, Dustin Pardue, Cheyenne, Kory and Matthew Stanton and great-grandchildren, Braelynn and Bailey Branson.
Funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Larry Burton officiating. Visitation will be before the service Thursday from noon until 2 p.m.
Funeral arrangements are un-der direction of Moore’s Jack-sonville Funeral Home.
J.T. FECHER
J.T. Fecher, 87, of Beebe, died Sept. 16. He was an Army staff sergeant and cook during World War II, and was a charter member of Stoney Point Methodist Church.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Ruby Fecher, and his parents, Mikey and Lottie Dugger Fecher.
He is survived by two sisters, MaryLee Logan of Beebe and Gwen Hallmark and husband Melvin of North Little Rock; one nephew, Randy Logan of Beebe; two nieces, Glenda Gillespie of Grove, Okla., and Vicki Adcock of North Little Rock; and three great-nephews.
Funeral services were held Monday at Stoney Point Methodist Church, with burial in Stoney Point Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Stoney Point Methodist Church c/o Jim Rye, 1203 N. Holly, Beebe, Ark., 72012.
RUBY HILL
Ruby Arlene Ray Boyd Hill, of Beebe was born Nov. 28, 1921, at Mt. Springs to Joe Dan and Lena Ray, and died at her son’s home in Vilonia on Saturday.
She was of the Baptist faith.
She is survived by a daughter, Arlene Boyd of Cabot, and a son, Buddy Boyd and wife, Valla of Vilonia, two brothers; Neil Ray of Beebe and O.W. Ray of Cabot, a sister, Joye Faye Witcher of Cabot, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her loving husband, W.T. Hill, brothers; Charlie, Herschel, Lloyd, J.D. Jr., Kenneth; sister, Mae Griffin and a grandson, Roger Scott Hazeslip.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at Westbrook Funeral Home with burial in Stoney Point Cemetery.
FROM THE PUBLISHER >> Self-effacing general’s revealing talk
Brig. Gen. Kip Self, the new commander at Little Rock Air Force Base, made his first public appearance outside the base at a Jacksonville Cham-ber of Commerce luncheon on Tuesday.
The general, who has a self-effacing, down-to-earth style, said he didn’t have a prepared speech and almost convinced his audience he didn’t have much to say.
“My technique is to listen to you,” he said. “I’ve got a lot to learn.”
Despite Self’s reluctance to make grandiose pronouncements, he did reassure chamber members that Little Rock Air Force Base “will remain a cornerstone in the nation’s defense for the next 50 years,” no matter how the base re-alignment and closure process shakes out.
It’s still unclear how many more planes and people will move here after other bases are closed, but the general said this base will remain open and its mission will grow.
Self made it appear that it was dumb luck that got him where he is: A one-star general who is the commander of the largest C-130 base in the world. Imagine that.
He succeeded Brig. Gen. Joseph Reheiser as wing commander on Sept. 9.
“I got here at the same time as the humanitarian relief effort started,” Self said, pointing out that international flights are still coming in to help hurricane victims — a Ukranian plane landed at the base on Tuesday.
Russians have also sent aid to the base, which has become the international hub for such flights. He reminded his audience that years ago, no one would have predicted Russian planes landing here except in case of war.
Self said he’d never even been a C-130 pilot, which made you wonder how he ever got here.
It wasn’t until Self took questions from the audience that he let his guard down and admitted he’d done a few good things during his 27 years in the Air Force, among them three tours of the Pentagon, including the office of chief of staff and the defense secretary.
“It’s a torture chamber you go through,” he explained in his self-deprecating style.
So how did he move up in the ranks? He started out as a helicopter pilot who was later assigned to the presidential chopper detail at Andrews Air Force Base, which he said was pretty neat.
He went into flying helicopters because he liked the idea of combat rescue where he could save people’s lives. He has also flown C-17 and C-141B cargo planes.
On 9/11, he found himself at Fort Campbell, Ky., hundreds of miles from McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, where he commanded the 621st Air Mobility Command.
“I couldn’t go back to my unit,” he said, because air traffic was grounded, but he drove for a couple of days and returned to his base, which soon found itself in the thick of things during the war in Afghanistan.
As director of mobility forces during Operation Enduring Free-dom, Self piloted C-17 cargo planes that dropped supplies over Afghanistan and opened up Khan-dahar Airport in January 2002.
If you keep asking him what else he’s done, Self will also tell you he spent five months in Kuwait and Iraq during Operation Iraqi Free-dom, taking part in the capture of Baghdad, which happened so fast that he just kept on driving in a convoy till he got to the capital.
“It was a life-changing experience,” the general said.
Self would rather talk about the young men and women who serve in the military, who make sacrifices every day in 120-degree weather, when gas masks fill with tears and his eyes, too, well up knowing what they have done for their country.
As for the general, his message to his audience was succinct: “My job is to defend you, and I take this job very seriously.”
The general, who has a self-effacing, down-to-earth style, said he didn’t have a prepared speech and almost convinced his audience he didn’t have much to say.
“My technique is to listen to you,” he said. “I’ve got a lot to learn.”
Despite Self’s reluctance to make grandiose pronouncements, he did reassure chamber members that Little Rock Air Force Base “will remain a cornerstone in the nation’s defense for the next 50 years,” no matter how the base re-alignment and closure process shakes out.
It’s still unclear how many more planes and people will move here after other bases are closed, but the general said this base will remain open and its mission will grow.
Self made it appear that it was dumb luck that got him where he is: A one-star general who is the commander of the largest C-130 base in the world. Imagine that.
He succeeded Brig. Gen. Joseph Reheiser as wing commander on Sept. 9.
“I got here at the same time as the humanitarian relief effort started,” Self said, pointing out that international flights are still coming in to help hurricane victims — a Ukranian plane landed at the base on Tuesday.
Russians have also sent aid to the base, which has become the international hub for such flights. He reminded his audience that years ago, no one would have predicted Russian planes landing here except in case of war.
Self said he’d never even been a C-130 pilot, which made you wonder how he ever got here.
It wasn’t until Self took questions from the audience that he let his guard down and admitted he’d done a few good things during his 27 years in the Air Force, among them three tours of the Pentagon, including the office of chief of staff and the defense secretary.
“It’s a torture chamber you go through,” he explained in his self-deprecating style.
So how did he move up in the ranks? He started out as a helicopter pilot who was later assigned to the presidential chopper detail at Andrews Air Force Base, which he said was pretty neat.
He went into flying helicopters because he liked the idea of combat rescue where he could save people’s lives. He has also flown C-17 and C-141B cargo planes.
On 9/11, he found himself at Fort Campbell, Ky., hundreds of miles from McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, where he commanded the 621st Air Mobility Command.
“I couldn’t go back to my unit,” he said, because air traffic was grounded, but he drove for a couple of days and returned to his base, which soon found itself in the thick of things during the war in Afghanistan.
As director of mobility forces during Operation Enduring Free-dom, Self piloted C-17 cargo planes that dropped supplies over Afghanistan and opened up Khan-dahar Airport in January 2002.
If you keep asking him what else he’s done, Self will also tell you he spent five months in Kuwait and Iraq during Operation Iraqi Free-dom, taking part in the capture of Baghdad, which happened so fast that he just kept on driving in a convoy till he got to the capital.
“It was a life-changing experience,” the general said.
Self would rather talk about the young men and women who serve in the military, who make sacrifices every day in 120-degree weather, when gas masks fill with tears and his eyes, too, well up knowing what they have done for their country.
As for the general, his message to his audience was succinct: “My job is to defend you, and I take this job very seriously.”
NEIGHBORS >> Lonoke County Fair offers big variety
By SARA GREENE
Leader staff writer
The 65th Lonoke County Fair gets underway today and runs until Saturday. Fair treasurer Tommy Hignight said about 9,500 people attended the event last year.
“I think a combination of the midway and exhibits draws the crowds,” Hignight said.
Hignight served as fair president for the past four years and said his favorite part of the fair is the youth livestock exhibits.
As far as livestock goes, goats are gaining popularity, he said.
“The size of the animal is just more economical for a lot of families,” Hignight said.
The all-volunteer, 35-member fair board works year-round to prepare for fair week.
“We’re just working out all the last-minute details this week,” said James Alan Smith, who is serving his first term as fair president. “As long as you have a good fair board everything goes pretty smoothly.”
Exhibitors arrived Tuesday to register their livestock, poultry and rabbits, agricultural products, educational, home economics and woodworking entry items.
More than 400 entries are expected this year.
Home economics division items include clothing for all ages, machine embroidery, doll clothes, bridal and completely hand-sewn fine sewing. Household art in-cludes linens, pillows, thread handcraft, crochet, knitting, cross-stitch, crewel, needlepoint, em-broidery and more. There is also an original design category.
Quilting and crafts are two other categories. Most quilt categories are hand stitched.
In the craft category, handcrafted tied flies, handcrafted knives, leather crafts, pottery, sculpture, spinning, handweaving, beading and stained glass are just a few of the categories.
Items displayed in the woodworking category include bird and butterfly houses, items made from native materials, dollhouses and upholstery.
The fine-arts exhibit includes oil painting, pen and ink, watercolor, pastels, pencil, crayon and collage and that treasure of the past, China painting. There is also a junior and senior photography division.
Food preparation exhibits include cakes, decorated cakes, candy, quick breads, yeast breads and pies. The food preservation exhibits include honey, dried foods and herbs, canned fruits and vegetables, jellies, butters, jams and preserves.
Other categories include horticulture and fruits, vegetable and field crops, as well as livestock.
“I’ve been the judge of the dairy cattle for many years so I guess I’d have to say the livestock is my favorite part of the fair,” Smith said.
The fair parade, which will be led by the Lonoke High School Band, takes place at 4 p.m. Thursday. Parade participants will begin assembling in the area of Lonoke City Park (South Center and Academy Streets) from 3 to 4 p.m. There will be plenty of floats plus rodeo contestants and others with horses, mules and ponies.
Rodeo fun night will feature horse riding barrel and pole racing for contestants of all ages at 7 p.m. Thursday.
The rodeo queen horsemanship event will be held at 4 p.m. Friday, followed by the rodeo at 7:30 p.m. The new rodeo queen will be crowned at 7:15 p.m. Saturday.
The horse-and mule-team pull will start at 11 a.m. Saturday.
The Lonoke County Fair Youth Talent Contest will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday. It is a qualifier for the Arkansas State Fair Youth Talent Contest, which is Oct. 13.
The midway, complete with rides from Kenny’s Fun Land, will open around 6 each evening. Armband nights are available today through Saturday. Those who purchase armbands get to ride as many carnival rides as they like those days. In addition to the rides, there will be a variety of foods to entice every appetite including barbecue, roasted corn in the shuck, hot dogs, hamburgers, funnel cakes and lots more.
Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children. Rodeo admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children. Seniors over 62 will be admitted free to the fairgrounds and horse show on Thursday.
Leader staff writer
The 65th Lonoke County Fair gets underway today and runs until Saturday. Fair treasurer Tommy Hignight said about 9,500 people attended the event last year.
“I think a combination of the midway and exhibits draws the crowds,” Hignight said.
Hignight served as fair president for the past four years and said his favorite part of the fair is the youth livestock exhibits.
As far as livestock goes, goats are gaining popularity, he said.
“The size of the animal is just more economical for a lot of families,” Hignight said.
The all-volunteer, 35-member fair board works year-round to prepare for fair week.
“We’re just working out all the last-minute details this week,” said James Alan Smith, who is serving his first term as fair president. “As long as you have a good fair board everything goes pretty smoothly.”
Exhibitors arrived Tuesday to register their livestock, poultry and rabbits, agricultural products, educational, home economics and woodworking entry items.
More than 400 entries are expected this year.
Home economics division items include clothing for all ages, machine embroidery, doll clothes, bridal and completely hand-sewn fine sewing. Household art in-cludes linens, pillows, thread handcraft, crochet, knitting, cross-stitch, crewel, needlepoint, em-broidery and more. There is also an original design category.
Quilting and crafts are two other categories. Most quilt categories are hand stitched.
In the craft category, handcrafted tied flies, handcrafted knives, leather crafts, pottery, sculpture, spinning, handweaving, beading and stained glass are just a few of the categories.
Items displayed in the woodworking category include bird and butterfly houses, items made from native materials, dollhouses and upholstery.
The fine-arts exhibit includes oil painting, pen and ink, watercolor, pastels, pencil, crayon and collage and that treasure of the past, China painting. There is also a junior and senior photography division.
Food preparation exhibits include cakes, decorated cakes, candy, quick breads, yeast breads and pies. The food preservation exhibits include honey, dried foods and herbs, canned fruits and vegetables, jellies, butters, jams and preserves.
Other categories include horticulture and fruits, vegetable and field crops, as well as livestock.
“I’ve been the judge of the dairy cattle for many years so I guess I’d have to say the livestock is my favorite part of the fair,” Smith said.
The fair parade, which will be led by the Lonoke High School Band, takes place at 4 p.m. Thursday. Parade participants will begin assembling in the area of Lonoke City Park (South Center and Academy Streets) from 3 to 4 p.m. There will be plenty of floats plus rodeo contestants and others with horses, mules and ponies.
Rodeo fun night will feature horse riding barrel and pole racing for contestants of all ages at 7 p.m. Thursday.
The rodeo queen horsemanship event will be held at 4 p.m. Friday, followed by the rodeo at 7:30 p.m. The new rodeo queen will be crowned at 7:15 p.m. Saturday.
The horse-and mule-team pull will start at 11 a.m. Saturday.
The Lonoke County Fair Youth Talent Contest will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday. It is a qualifier for the Arkansas State Fair Youth Talent Contest, which is Oct. 13.
The midway, complete with rides from Kenny’s Fun Land, will open around 6 each evening. Armband nights are available today through Saturday. Those who purchase armbands get to ride as many carnival rides as they like those days. In addition to the rides, there will be a variety of foods to entice every appetite including barbecue, roasted corn in the shuck, hot dogs, hamburgers, funnel cakes and lots more.
Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children. Rodeo admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children. Seniors over 62 will be admitted free to the fairgrounds and horse show on Thursday.
SPORTS >> Lady Panthers struggle at Cyclone tournament
By JASON KING
Leader sports writer
The Cabot Lady Panthers had a tough weekend at the Russellville tournament on Saturday. Cabot was eliminated during pool play, but did manage a split game with Springdale. Despite the disappointing outcome, Lady Panthers coach Terri Williams believes that the young squad is headed in the right direction.
“We just didn’t hit aggressively, we were a little inconsistent,” Williams said. “I think if we are patient and give these girls some time to learn we will be okay. We have three sophomores who will be great hitters once they learn to let loose and get aggressive.”
Cabot lost its first match of the tournament to Alma 25-18 and 25-9. In match two, the Lady Panthers fell to Fayetteville 25-6 and 25-19.
Against Springdale, the Lady Panthers dropped the first game 25-14, but rallied to win the second game 25-18.
In their final match against Lonoke, the Lady Jackrabbits repeated a win over Cabot earlier in the week, and took the win 25-10 in both games. That match eliminated the Lady Pan-thers from the tournament.
Junior Kelli Lowry was the big scorer for the Lady Panthers, with senior Mallory Morgan leading the team in assists.
“Mallory has been a great leader for us,” Williams said. “She is always alert, and she has a strong presence out on the court. Kelli has really done a great job scoring-wise, she attacks the ball very aggressively.”
Williams points to Lowry as an example of the difference one year of experience can make.
“Just last year, Kelli was a sophomore, and wasn’t always attacking,” Williams said. “Now she is one of our strongest hitters, so it takes a little time for these girls to get that confidence level up. We just have to keep getting them court time to get that experience, so they can improve and learn the game better.”
The Lady Panthers will make their next tournament appearance this Saturday at ASU in Jonesboro.
They will finally get conference play underway next week. The short AAAAA-East conference schedule begins on Sept. 29 when the Lady Panthers travel to Mountain Home.
Leader sports writer
The Cabot Lady Panthers had a tough weekend at the Russellville tournament on Saturday. Cabot was eliminated during pool play, but did manage a split game with Springdale. Despite the disappointing outcome, Lady Panthers coach Terri Williams believes that the young squad is headed in the right direction.
“We just didn’t hit aggressively, we were a little inconsistent,” Williams said. “I think if we are patient and give these girls some time to learn we will be okay. We have three sophomores who will be great hitters once they learn to let loose and get aggressive.”
Cabot lost its first match of the tournament to Alma 25-18 and 25-9. In match two, the Lady Panthers fell to Fayetteville 25-6 and 25-19.
Against Springdale, the Lady Panthers dropped the first game 25-14, but rallied to win the second game 25-18.
In their final match against Lonoke, the Lady Jackrabbits repeated a win over Cabot earlier in the week, and took the win 25-10 in both games. That match eliminated the Lady Pan-thers from the tournament.
Junior Kelli Lowry was the big scorer for the Lady Panthers, with senior Mallory Morgan leading the team in assists.
“Mallory has been a great leader for us,” Williams said. “She is always alert, and she has a strong presence out on the court. Kelli has really done a great job scoring-wise, she attacks the ball very aggressively.”
Williams points to Lowry as an example of the difference one year of experience can make.
“Just last year, Kelli was a sophomore, and wasn’t always attacking,” Williams said. “Now she is one of our strongest hitters, so it takes a little time for these girls to get that confidence level up. We just have to keep getting them court time to get that experience, so they can improve and learn the game better.”
The Lady Panthers will make their next tournament appearance this Saturday at ASU in Jonesboro.
They will finally get conference play underway next week. The short AAAAA-East conference schedule begins on Sept. 29 when the Lady Panthers travel to Mountain Home.
SPORTS >> Cabot hosts Searcy
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
No one expected Cabot to be winless after the third week of the season, and the Panthers are facing their first 0-3 start in three decades entering Friday’s AAAAA-East opener against Searcy at Panther Stadium.
Searcy will also come into Friday’s game with a 0-3 record. First-year coach Bart McFarland and the Lions have had a tough start to their season, losing their season opener to Wynne 56-34. The Lions’ toughest loss came in week two, when the Batesville Pioneers won 50-7. Searcy dropped its third-consecutive game last week at home to Conway.
Injuries forced the Lions to play their first two games without six of their defensive starters. Half of those players are back now, but the absence of the remaining starters is still hurting Searcy defensively, as proved in the Conway game. McFarland says his team is almost back to full health after the early season injuries, with three more starters returning this week.
“We had a couple of start-ers come back last week that made a tremendous difference,” McFarland said. “We have two, maybe even three coming back for the Cabot game. That only leaves a couple of guys out at this point, so hopefully we can put it all together this week and be more consistent.”
The Panthers have struggled in the early weeks themselves. Although Cabot’s losses have been considerably closer than Searcy’s, the 0-3 record is highly unusual for a team that is traditionally in the conference title hunt almost every year. The Panthers are 0-3 for the first time since 1977, and the first time ever under head coach Mike Malham. They will also have to win six of their last seven games in order to avoid their first non-winning season since 1989.
Cabot dropped its opener to Conway 21-7, as well as last week’s game to Central by the same score. The most surprising loss, however, came in week two when the Panthers lost to Mills 35-28.
Cabot showed significant improvement from week two to week three, although it still lost 21-7 to Little Rock Central. Cabot moved the ball down the field to score on a 24-play, 72-yard drive to keep from being shut out last week. That drive gave Cabot some momentum heading into league play.
The Panthers found another reliable back in Raul Gault. Gault played some last year when injuries depleted the backfield, but ran much better than last year in leading the team against the Tigers.
With both teams hungry for a win, Friday’s game should be an interesting one. Cabot is out to prove it will be a conference powerhouse again this year, as Searcy desperately needs a win to get things turned around in their struggling program.
The defense of Searcy and offense of Cabot will make for a good showdown, as both squads have struggled so far this season. Cabot has been held to a single touchdown in two of their first three games, as the Lions’ defense has given up over 45 points in all three games so far this season.
Leader sports editor
No one expected Cabot to be winless after the third week of the season, and the Panthers are facing their first 0-3 start in three decades entering Friday’s AAAAA-East opener against Searcy at Panther Stadium.
Searcy will also come into Friday’s game with a 0-3 record. First-year coach Bart McFarland and the Lions have had a tough start to their season, losing their season opener to Wynne 56-34. The Lions’ toughest loss came in week two, when the Batesville Pioneers won 50-7. Searcy dropped its third-consecutive game last week at home to Conway.
Injuries forced the Lions to play their first two games without six of their defensive starters. Half of those players are back now, but the absence of the remaining starters is still hurting Searcy defensively, as proved in the Conway game. McFarland says his team is almost back to full health after the early season injuries, with three more starters returning this week.
“We had a couple of start-ers come back last week that made a tremendous difference,” McFarland said. “We have two, maybe even three coming back for the Cabot game. That only leaves a couple of guys out at this point, so hopefully we can put it all together this week and be more consistent.”
The Panthers have struggled in the early weeks themselves. Although Cabot’s losses have been considerably closer than Searcy’s, the 0-3 record is highly unusual for a team that is traditionally in the conference title hunt almost every year. The Panthers are 0-3 for the first time since 1977, and the first time ever under head coach Mike Malham. They will also have to win six of their last seven games in order to avoid their first non-winning season since 1989.
Cabot dropped its opener to Conway 21-7, as well as last week’s game to Central by the same score. The most surprising loss, however, came in week two when the Panthers lost to Mills 35-28.
Cabot showed significant improvement from week two to week three, although it still lost 21-7 to Little Rock Central. Cabot moved the ball down the field to score on a 24-play, 72-yard drive to keep from being shut out last week. That drive gave Cabot some momentum heading into league play.
The Panthers found another reliable back in Raul Gault. Gault played some last year when injuries depleted the backfield, but ran much better than last year in leading the team against the Tigers.
With both teams hungry for a win, Friday’s game should be an interesting one. Cabot is out to prove it will be a conference powerhouse again this year, as Searcy desperately needs a win to get things turned around in their struggling program.
The defense of Searcy and offense of Cabot will make for a good showdown, as both squads have struggled so far this season. Cabot has been held to a single touchdown in two of their first three games, as the Lions’ defense has given up over 45 points in all three games so far this season.
EDITORIAL >> Cabot doesn’t fit stereotype
Cabot has a reputation as a predominantly white, predominantly Republican enclave where taxes are about as welcome as warts on a baby.
So local residents raised a few eyebrows over the last 10 days when the city embraced a black family of 40, evacuees from Hurricane Katrina, and approved a bevy of new taxes aimed at improving their community.
“I’ve never seen a town pass taxes by margins like these,” David Menz, who makes his living working with towns and counties passing taxes and floating bond issues, told the city council Monday.
On these pages last week, we called it a landslide.
By a count of 927 for and 187 against, voters decided to extend an existing sales tax for seven years instead of doubling sewer rates. Most of the other questions won by roughly a 2-to-1 margin, including a sewer treatment plant, matching money for a railroad overpass, taxes for a new community center, street improvements and a new animal shelter. The one-cent sales tax extension is worth $28 million. Much of the credit goes to some of the councilmen and to Concerned Citizens of Cabot, an ad hoc group that bought newspaper advertisements exploring the pros and cons of the various issues.
Fleeing before Hurricane Katrina Aug. 29, Linea Baker loaded clothes, kids and the family dog into her car and steered north. Now, Baker and about 40 of her closest relatives live in a Cabot apartment complex and some say they will stay for the higher salaries and the more agreeable climate. Baker said Cabot residents have been nothing but kind. They have invited them to their churches and provided everything they need to survive until they find work. Baker, a college math instructor, did notice the absence of black hair-care products at the local Wal-Mart.
In the midst of a prolonged growth spasm, Cabot residents reached out to help new neighbors and reached deep in their own pockets to help themselves.
So local residents raised a few eyebrows over the last 10 days when the city embraced a black family of 40, evacuees from Hurricane Katrina, and approved a bevy of new taxes aimed at improving their community.
“I’ve never seen a town pass taxes by margins like these,” David Menz, who makes his living working with towns and counties passing taxes and floating bond issues, told the city council Monday.
On these pages last week, we called it a landslide.
By a count of 927 for and 187 against, voters decided to extend an existing sales tax for seven years instead of doubling sewer rates. Most of the other questions won by roughly a 2-to-1 margin, including a sewer treatment plant, matching money for a railroad overpass, taxes for a new community center, street improvements and a new animal shelter. The one-cent sales tax extension is worth $28 million. Much of the credit goes to some of the councilmen and to Concerned Citizens of Cabot, an ad hoc group that bought newspaper advertisements exploring the pros and cons of the various issues.
Fleeing before Hurricane Katrina Aug. 29, Linea Baker loaded clothes, kids and the family dog into her car and steered north. Now, Baker and about 40 of her closest relatives live in a Cabot apartment complex and some say they will stay for the higher salaries and the more agreeable climate. Baker said Cabot residents have been nothing but kind. They have invited them to their churches and provided everything they need to survive until they find work. Baker, a college math instructor, did notice the absence of black hair-care products at the local Wal-Mart.
In the midst of a prolonged growth spasm, Cabot residents reached out to help new neighbors and reached deep in their own pockets to help themselves.
TOP STORY >> Fireman is fired over child porn
By SARA GREENE
Leader staff writer
Lt. Michael Spaller, a 13-year member of the Cabot Fire Depart-ment, was fired by Cabot Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh early Tuesday following Spaller’s Sept. 14 arrest on a charge of distributing, possessing or viewing material de-picting sexually ex-plicit conduct in-volving a child.
“The city has several policies in place regarding pornography in the workplace whether it is on a computer or not,” Stumbaugh said.
According to a Cabot arrest report, Spaller was arrested after child pornography was found in his locker at Central Fire Station. Lockers at the fire department are city property, Stumbaugh said.
“The letter of termination outlined the several rules and regulations he violated,” the mayor said.
When asked if Spaller would have been terminated if the pornographic images had been of adults instead of minors, Stumbaugh said he couldn’t answer because, “It didn’t happen that way.”
Lonoke County Prosecuting Attorney Lona McCastlain filed the charge on Tuesday. The charge carries a sentence of five to 10 years in prison. McCastlain added Spaller had no criminal history.
“I don’t have much to say about it except that I’ve hired a lawyer, and this will all play out in court that I’m not guilty,” Spaller said when contacted by The Leader on Tuesday. Spaller’s attorney, Paul Schmidt of Cabot, declined to comment. According to the arrest re-port, Lt. James Barron of the Cabot Fire Department “inadvertently came across several images depicting children performing sexual acts” in February. The images were in Spaller’s locker, the report says. Barron again saw the images in Spaller’s locker “around the end of May or early June.”
The report says Barron reported the incident to Cabot Fire Chief Phil Robinson sometime during the first week of September.
Robinson in turn contacted Cabot Police Chief Jackie Davis and Sgt. Scott Steely of the Cabot Police Department, who spoke with Barron about the incident Sept. 5, according to the report. The report goes on to say that Steely and Detective John Dodd went to the fire station the following day, when Robinson found the images in Spaller’s locker. The officers reviewed the images, which are now sealed as evidence in the case.
“As part of my rebuilding, I elected to do locker inspections,” said Robinson, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, who has been the fire chief for just over a month. “It (the images) is not something we want to think about all the time.
“I think we have good morale in the fire department,” the chief said.
Other than the images, several adult videotapes, 8mm tapes and a video camera were also found in Spaller’s locker, according to the report, and the tapes were reviewed with Spaller’s consent.
Sgt. Dewayne Roper, spokes-man for the Cabot Police Depart-ment, confirmed the adult movies were “store bought,” not private home movies.
According to the report, Spaller told detectives at the Cabot Police Department’s Criminal Investiga-tion Division that he viewed and printed the images on a fire department computer for two reasons: his own curiosity and to “report to the chief.” Spaller never reported the items to the chief, the report said.
Spaller was placed on administrative leave last week pending an internal investigation by Stum-baugh.
Spaller is scheduled to appear in Lonoke County Circuit Court Oct. 31.
Leader staff writer
Lt. Michael Spaller, a 13-year member of the Cabot Fire Depart-ment, was fired by Cabot Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh early Tuesday following Spaller’s Sept. 14 arrest on a charge of distributing, possessing or viewing material de-picting sexually ex-plicit conduct in-volving a child.
“The city has several policies in place regarding pornography in the workplace whether it is on a computer or not,” Stumbaugh said.
According to a Cabot arrest report, Spaller was arrested after child pornography was found in his locker at Central Fire Station. Lockers at the fire department are city property, Stumbaugh said.
“The letter of termination outlined the several rules and regulations he violated,” the mayor said.
When asked if Spaller would have been terminated if the pornographic images had been of adults instead of minors, Stumbaugh said he couldn’t answer because, “It didn’t happen that way.”
Lonoke County Prosecuting Attorney Lona McCastlain filed the charge on Tuesday. The charge carries a sentence of five to 10 years in prison. McCastlain added Spaller had no criminal history.
“I don’t have much to say about it except that I’ve hired a lawyer, and this will all play out in court that I’m not guilty,” Spaller said when contacted by The Leader on Tuesday. Spaller’s attorney, Paul Schmidt of Cabot, declined to comment. According to the arrest re-port, Lt. James Barron of the Cabot Fire Department “inadvertently came across several images depicting children performing sexual acts” in February. The images were in Spaller’s locker, the report says. Barron again saw the images in Spaller’s locker “around the end of May or early June.”
The report says Barron reported the incident to Cabot Fire Chief Phil Robinson sometime during the first week of September.
Robinson in turn contacted Cabot Police Chief Jackie Davis and Sgt. Scott Steely of the Cabot Police Department, who spoke with Barron about the incident Sept. 5, according to the report. The report goes on to say that Steely and Detective John Dodd went to the fire station the following day, when Robinson found the images in Spaller’s locker. The officers reviewed the images, which are now sealed as evidence in the case.
“As part of my rebuilding, I elected to do locker inspections,” said Robinson, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, who has been the fire chief for just over a month. “It (the images) is not something we want to think about all the time.
“I think we have good morale in the fire department,” the chief said.
Other than the images, several adult videotapes, 8mm tapes and a video camera were also found in Spaller’s locker, according to the report, and the tapes were reviewed with Spaller’s consent.
Sgt. Dewayne Roper, spokes-man for the Cabot Police Depart-ment, confirmed the adult movies were “store bought,” not private home movies.
According to the report, Spaller told detectives at the Cabot Police Department’s Criminal Investiga-tion Division that he viewed and printed the images on a fire department computer for two reasons: his own curiosity and to “report to the chief.” Spaller never reported the items to the chief, the report said.
Spaller was placed on administrative leave last week pending an internal investigation by Stum-baugh.
Spaller is scheduled to appear in Lonoke County Circuit Court Oct. 31.
TOP STORY >> Self impressed with community support
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
Brig. Gen. Kip Self took command of the 314th Airlift Wing Sept. 9 in the midst of a massive international-relief airlift, relieving Brig. Gen. Joseph M. Reheiser.
Interviewed this week by The Leader, Self said he was impressed by the airmen and the community.
“All responses are extremely positive,” Self said.
The general, who has been on the flightline to meet many of the international relief flights, said the outpouring of support was “incredible.”
“The primary mission is to train C-130 crews and maintainers,” he said, characterizing the base’s relief effort as “Herculean.”
Self said the airmen had handled 36 international relief flights.
“It’s something that Little Rock didn’t expect, but took on with great success,” he added.
After only 10 days on the job, Self said the Little Rock Air Force Base total force — active duty, guard and civilian, and the city outside the gate — had a reputation of excellence.
“I’ve never been here before, but every indication is that reputation was well founded,” he said. “The mission aspects are outstanding as well.”
Self said that due to the annual retiree day and dinner, he had met many civic leaders.
Self doesn’t know how long international relief flights will land at Little Rock Air Force Base, but said, “We just need to be flexible enough to handle what comes over the ocean.
“We are poised to continue and ready to do that which is asked of us. The biggest challenge for Kip Self is to learn all the different aspects of the base’s duties for the nation’s defense and the community,” Self said. “Once I have understanding, it will be easier to lead. I think the base has it about right — mission, people, community. I’m just going to get better at supporting that.”
The general said in time, he might fine-tune the effort.
He said logistics and coordination were fundamental in the ability to succeed and he has experience in those areas.
“Logistics are critical in relief and in combat,” he said. “I’d be hesitant to change anything. They have momentum and have been so successful for so long. I’ll take time to watch my people, get better and make small tweaks. We have the foundation of excellence here.”
Self said his command style is to “trust in my people, have confidence in my training and confidence in the mission’s accomplishment. I’m like the coach of a Super Bowl team. The skill’s already there. My biggest responsibility is to make sure we have the resources to complete the mission. I’m proud to come in as commander. The president and the governor have commented what a great opportunity to show our stuff, and I don’t think we’ve disappointed.”
Self has three adult children, one of whom has followed him into the Air Force. “I just commissioned him in May as a second lieutenant,” he said.
Second Lt. Ben Self is awaiting pilot training at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, and is currently working command control in New Orleans.
Brig. Gen. Self comes to the Little Rock Air Force Base after serving as the deputy director of operations, headquarters Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, where he oversaw 14 divisions and eight operating locations, producing policy procedures and leading command guidance to sustain and improve many outfits for America’s Global Reach mission.
He has held a variety of flying assignments as a helicopter and C-141 instructor pilot. His staff assignments included political-military planner on the Joint Staff and country director in the office of the Secretary of Defense.
He has commanded the 16th Airlift Squadron and the 621st Air Mobility Operations Group.
He deployed as director of mobility forces in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and during Operation Iraqi Freedom, he was commander of expeditionary air forces at Kuwait City.
He is a command pilot with more than 4,000 hours in a variety of aircraft. Self said he has never flown a C-130, but looks forward to the opportunity.
His awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star with oak leaf cluster and Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters.
Leader staff writer
Brig. Gen. Kip Self took command of the 314th Airlift Wing Sept. 9 in the midst of a massive international-relief airlift, relieving Brig. Gen. Joseph M. Reheiser.
Interviewed this week by The Leader, Self said he was impressed by the airmen and the community.
“All responses are extremely positive,” Self said.
The general, who has been on the flightline to meet many of the international relief flights, said the outpouring of support was “incredible.”
“The primary mission is to train C-130 crews and maintainers,” he said, characterizing the base’s relief effort as “Herculean.”
Self said the airmen had handled 36 international relief flights.
“It’s something that Little Rock didn’t expect, but took on with great success,” he added.
After only 10 days on the job, Self said the Little Rock Air Force Base total force — active duty, guard and civilian, and the city outside the gate — had a reputation of excellence.
“I’ve never been here before, but every indication is that reputation was well founded,” he said. “The mission aspects are outstanding as well.”
Self said that due to the annual retiree day and dinner, he had met many civic leaders.
Self doesn’t know how long international relief flights will land at Little Rock Air Force Base, but said, “We just need to be flexible enough to handle what comes over the ocean.
“We are poised to continue and ready to do that which is asked of us. The biggest challenge for Kip Self is to learn all the different aspects of the base’s duties for the nation’s defense and the community,” Self said. “Once I have understanding, it will be easier to lead. I think the base has it about right — mission, people, community. I’m just going to get better at supporting that.”
The general said in time, he might fine-tune the effort.
He said logistics and coordination were fundamental in the ability to succeed and he has experience in those areas.
“Logistics are critical in relief and in combat,” he said. “I’d be hesitant to change anything. They have momentum and have been so successful for so long. I’ll take time to watch my people, get better and make small tweaks. We have the foundation of excellence here.”
Self said his command style is to “trust in my people, have confidence in my training and confidence in the mission’s accomplishment. I’m like the coach of a Super Bowl team. The skill’s already there. My biggest responsibility is to make sure we have the resources to complete the mission. I’m proud to come in as commander. The president and the governor have commented what a great opportunity to show our stuff, and I don’t think we’ve disappointed.”
Self has three adult children, one of whom has followed him into the Air Force. “I just commissioned him in May as a second lieutenant,” he said.
Second Lt. Ben Self is awaiting pilot training at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, and is currently working command control in New Orleans.
Brig. Gen. Self comes to the Little Rock Air Force Base after serving as the deputy director of operations, headquarters Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, where he oversaw 14 divisions and eight operating locations, producing policy procedures and leading command guidance to sustain and improve many outfits for America’s Global Reach mission.
He has held a variety of flying assignments as a helicopter and C-141 instructor pilot. His staff assignments included political-military planner on the Joint Staff and country director in the office of the Secretary of Defense.
He has commanded the 16th Airlift Squadron and the 621st Air Mobility Operations Group.
He deployed as director of mobility forces in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and during Operation Iraqi Freedom, he was commander of expeditionary air forces at Kuwait City.
He is a command pilot with more than 4,000 hours in a variety of aircraft. Self said he has never flown a C-130, but looks forward to the opportunity.
His awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star with oak leaf cluster and Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters.
TOP STORY >> Blackwood fails to get re-elected
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
Hard campaigning and the help of friends and family made the difference said winners in the Cabot and Beebe School Board elections, who easily won over their opponents Tuesday night.
In Cabot, Wendel Msall, an airline pilot who is retired from the Air Force, won 736 to 458 over developer Steve Blackwood who was running for a second term.
Msall attributes his win to the help of parents, students and some teachers who told him they felt disconnected from the school board and administrators and then worked to put him on the board.
“A school is really made up of teachers imparting their knowledge to students,” Msall said after Tuesday’s results came in, adding that his message as he campaigned was that whether that knowledge was imparted in a new building, an old building, an igloo or a teepee was irrelevant.
Msall also credits his wife and campaign manger, Vicki, for his win over Blackwood.
He also thanked Blackwood for his five years of service to the district.
“This is an unpaid position and Steve is a very busy guy,” he said.
Blackwood could not be reached for comment.
In Beebe, Lucy Mahoney won 54 percent of the votes in a four-candidate race. In a breakdown of the count, Mahoney received 496 votes.
Former school board member Janet Warner, who served a little longer than the usual five-year term because of the consolidation with the McRae School District, received 228 votes.
Herman Blackmon finished third with 110 votes and Johnny Black finished last with 94 votes.
Mahoney said Tuesday after the votes were counted that the weeks of hard campaigning were exhausting, but worth the effort.
“Every day after work and every Saturday [I campaigned] and I didn’t stop until it got dark,” Mahoney said.
Now she is ready to direct her energy to serving in the position she worked so hard to win.
“I have no reservations about anything,” she said. “I’m ready to go to work.”
Mahoney, an X-ray technician, said she campaigned door-to-door all over the district, in Garner, McRae, Beebe, El Paso, Floyd, Stoney Point and Opal, but she was still surprised that she had dodged a runoff election.
“With four candidates, I really expected there would be a runoff,” she said.
In other races, Phillip Williams won over Ken Madden 362-352 for the Searcy School Board.
In Carlisle, Terry McCallie won over Samantha Jennings 26-14 in Position 3; Jeff Daniels won over David Herring 34-18 in Position 6; and Blake Swears won over Kyle Moery 26-17 in Position 7.
Leader staff writer
Hard campaigning and the help of friends and family made the difference said winners in the Cabot and Beebe School Board elections, who easily won over their opponents Tuesday night.
In Cabot, Wendel Msall, an airline pilot who is retired from the Air Force, won 736 to 458 over developer Steve Blackwood who was running for a second term.
Msall attributes his win to the help of parents, students and some teachers who told him they felt disconnected from the school board and administrators and then worked to put him on the board.
“A school is really made up of teachers imparting their knowledge to students,” Msall said after Tuesday’s results came in, adding that his message as he campaigned was that whether that knowledge was imparted in a new building, an old building, an igloo or a teepee was irrelevant.
Msall also credits his wife and campaign manger, Vicki, for his win over Blackwood.
He also thanked Blackwood for his five years of service to the district.
“This is an unpaid position and Steve is a very busy guy,” he said.
Blackwood could not be reached for comment.
In Beebe, Lucy Mahoney won 54 percent of the votes in a four-candidate race. In a breakdown of the count, Mahoney received 496 votes.
Former school board member Janet Warner, who served a little longer than the usual five-year term because of the consolidation with the McRae School District, received 228 votes.
Herman Blackmon finished third with 110 votes and Johnny Black finished last with 94 votes.
Mahoney said Tuesday after the votes were counted that the weeks of hard campaigning were exhausting, but worth the effort.
“Every day after work and every Saturday [I campaigned] and I didn’t stop until it got dark,” Mahoney said.
Now she is ready to direct her energy to serving in the position she worked so hard to win.
“I have no reservations about anything,” she said. “I’m ready to go to work.”
Mahoney, an X-ray technician, said she campaigned door-to-door all over the district, in Garner, McRae, Beebe, El Paso, Floyd, Stoney Point and Opal, but she was still surprised that she had dodged a runoff election.
“With four candidates, I really expected there would be a runoff,” she said.
In other races, Phillip Williams won over Ken Madden 362-352 for the Searcy School Board.
In Carlisle, Terry McCallie won over Samantha Jennings 26-14 in Position 3; Jeff Daniels won over David Herring 34-18 in Position 6; and Blake Swears won over Kyle Moery 26-17 in Position 7.
TOP STORY >> What's next after vote?
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
Cabot voters last week app-roved about $28 million in bonds to be supported by an existing one-cent tax.
But when will the work begin? With a little more than three months left in the year, and the bond money unavailable until early December, area residents won’t likely see construction begin on most of the planned projects this year, but officials hope to see progress soon.
Included in the vote was $7 million to pay off the existing bonds for improvement to the city’s water system which are supported by the tax; $16.5 million for the sewer treatment plant and repairs to the collection system; $800,000 for the railroad overpass; $1.5 million to build the community center that came in over budget; $1.8 million for street improvements and $200,000 to build at one time an animal shelter that was supposed to be built in stages.
Last month, the Cabot City Council approved to allow the mayor to borrow up to $620,000 from area banks to pay for design work on the sewer treatment plant, which is by far the biggest project.
Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh said this week that he is talking to bankers now and will likely borrow $360,000 to make monthly payments of $120,000 until the end of the year to pay for design work. The design work will cost almost $1.9 million.
The city has been under pressure from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and its counterpart at the federal level, the Environmental Protection Agency, to build a new treatment plant to replace the old one which has seldom operated as it should. The city has been fined $10,000 and more is possible, but the mayor is hopeful continued efforts toward building the new plant will keep them at bay.
“If we keep on course, it really helps us with ADEQ and EPA,” he said.
The stalled community center that came in $1.5 million over budget when it was bid last year, will have to be bid again. The city has hired a construction manager to oversee the whole building process.
Bids on the animal shelter were opened last week and the low bid was about $100,000 more than the city has even with the $200,000 that will be included in the bond issue.
When completed, the shelter will have facilities for cats, something the city has never had before. It also will have a separate area for euthanizing animals that are not claimed or adopted and a room where area residents can take animals they are considering adopting to get to know them first. If necessary, the project could be scaled back to fit the available funds, the mayor said.
Alderman David Polantz, who for seven years has tried to get the council to open Elm Street and ease the traffic load on Highway 89 near city hall, said this week that he couldn’t be more pleased that opening the street is included in the $1.8 million for streets that voters approved last week.
“Opening Elm Street will let you go from 10th Street to Fred’s, without getting on 89,” Polantz said.
There’s good news and bad news for the $5 million railroad overpass in the Polk Street area that is to be paid for with federal funds, except for the $800,000 voters approved for inclusion in the extension of the one-cent sales tax.
The good news, according to Jim McKenzie, director of Metroplan, which plans for and distributes federal highway money, is that the Metroplan board is almost certain to approve funding the project in October. The bad news is that the hurricane destruction to the south will likely pull away most of the construction companies that would normally bid on such a project and material prices are likely to skyrocket making the project cost a lot more than the estimated $5 million.
The school district was the major supporter of the overpass, because it would keep buses off the railroad track. But the overpass is also the first step to connecting Hwy. 5 to Hwy. 38 with a third interchange on U.S 67/167.
McKenzie said he had already been in contact with Stumbaugh about the overpass project and assured him that it will be a priority.
“We definitely want to give some positive feedback to the citizens of Cabot because they’re willing to tax themselves to get this overpass,” he said. “Rest assured we will move the project along as soon as we know we’ve got the funds.”
Leader staff writer
Cabot voters last week app-roved about $28 million in bonds to be supported by an existing one-cent tax.
But when will the work begin? With a little more than three months left in the year, and the bond money unavailable until early December, area residents won’t likely see construction begin on most of the planned projects this year, but officials hope to see progress soon.
Included in the vote was $7 million to pay off the existing bonds for improvement to the city’s water system which are supported by the tax; $16.5 million for the sewer treatment plant and repairs to the collection system; $800,000 for the railroad overpass; $1.5 million to build the community center that came in over budget; $1.8 million for street improvements and $200,000 to build at one time an animal shelter that was supposed to be built in stages.
Last month, the Cabot City Council approved to allow the mayor to borrow up to $620,000 from area banks to pay for design work on the sewer treatment plant, which is by far the biggest project.
Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh said this week that he is talking to bankers now and will likely borrow $360,000 to make monthly payments of $120,000 until the end of the year to pay for design work. The design work will cost almost $1.9 million.
The city has been under pressure from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and its counterpart at the federal level, the Environmental Protection Agency, to build a new treatment plant to replace the old one which has seldom operated as it should. The city has been fined $10,000 and more is possible, but the mayor is hopeful continued efforts toward building the new plant will keep them at bay.
“If we keep on course, it really helps us with ADEQ and EPA,” he said.
The stalled community center that came in $1.5 million over budget when it was bid last year, will have to be bid again. The city has hired a construction manager to oversee the whole building process.
Bids on the animal shelter were opened last week and the low bid was about $100,000 more than the city has even with the $200,000 that will be included in the bond issue.
When completed, the shelter will have facilities for cats, something the city has never had before. It also will have a separate area for euthanizing animals that are not claimed or adopted and a room where area residents can take animals they are considering adopting to get to know them first. If necessary, the project could be scaled back to fit the available funds, the mayor said.
Alderman David Polantz, who for seven years has tried to get the council to open Elm Street and ease the traffic load on Highway 89 near city hall, said this week that he couldn’t be more pleased that opening the street is included in the $1.8 million for streets that voters approved last week.
“Opening Elm Street will let you go from 10th Street to Fred’s, without getting on 89,” Polantz said.
There’s good news and bad news for the $5 million railroad overpass in the Polk Street area that is to be paid for with federal funds, except for the $800,000 voters approved for inclusion in the extension of the one-cent sales tax.
The good news, according to Jim McKenzie, director of Metroplan, which plans for and distributes federal highway money, is that the Metroplan board is almost certain to approve funding the project in October. The bad news is that the hurricane destruction to the south will likely pull away most of the construction companies that would normally bid on such a project and material prices are likely to skyrocket making the project cost a lot more than the estimated $5 million.
The school district was the major supporter of the overpass, because it would keep buses off the railroad track. But the overpass is also the first step to connecting Hwy. 5 to Hwy. 38 with a third interchange on U.S 67/167.
McKenzie said he had already been in contact with Stumbaugh about the overpass project and assured him that it will be a priority.
“We definitely want to give some positive feedback to the citizens of Cabot because they’re willing to tax themselves to get this overpass,” he said. “Rest assured we will move the project along as soon as we know we’ve got the funds.”
TOP STORY >> Guard will place new armory in Cabot
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
Cabot will have a National Guard Armory within the next five to 10 years, Lt. Col. Cary A. Shillcutt told members of the city council Monday night.
Shillcutt, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 153rd Infantry, said Lonoke County, with an armory at Lonoke, currently gets about $500,000 a year in federal funds, a number that would double with the establishment of the Cabot armory.
“We’re excited about the possibility — it’s going to be-come reality,” Cabot Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh said. “We’re excited about what it’s going to do for our economy and the opportunity to hold a support battalion in our community.”
He said the Guard would be re-cruiting from the Cabot area. The new unit would be Foxtrot Company of the 39th Brigade Support Battalion.
Shillcutt said the area was home to numerous military personnel, including members of both the Arkansas Army and Air Force National Guard.
Gov. Mike Huckabee, commander-in-chief of the Arkansas National Guard, approved the notion this summer, and the Guard has begun looking for a space to lease while finding land upon which to build an armory.
“It usually takes five to 10 years to get an armory,” said Shillcutt, but the time can be greatly reduced if the city can help locate and acquire suitable land for one. He said the armory would need about 15 acres in an industrial area with utilities available. The location then must pass a comprehensive environmental assessment.
Once that hurdle has been cleared, the state’s congressional delegation can expedite funding for the armory.
Meanwhile, a new unit could begin operating first out of Beebe. The unit is a combat support service unit, which supports infantry with transportation, feeding and in other ways, he said.
With the new armory will come new jobs, he said. Existing Guardsmen will account for 50 percent of the total, but recruiters will be looking for the rest. The armory will be about 36,000 square feet, including 2,000 square feet of classroom space, a 6,000-square-foot drill hall and a kitchen capable of cooking for 140 people. The armory will be available for community events, Shillcut said. Meanwhile, the unit needs to lease 10,000 square feet or more.
“We’ll be asking for your support,” said the colonel.
Leader staff writer
Cabot will have a National Guard Armory within the next five to 10 years, Lt. Col. Cary A. Shillcutt told members of the city council Monday night.
Shillcutt, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 153rd Infantry, said Lonoke County, with an armory at Lonoke, currently gets about $500,000 a year in federal funds, a number that would double with the establishment of the Cabot armory.
“We’re excited about the possibility — it’s going to be-come reality,” Cabot Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh said. “We’re excited about what it’s going to do for our economy and the opportunity to hold a support battalion in our community.”
He said the Guard would be re-cruiting from the Cabot area. The new unit would be Foxtrot Company of the 39th Brigade Support Battalion.
Shillcutt said the area was home to numerous military personnel, including members of both the Arkansas Army and Air Force National Guard.
Gov. Mike Huckabee, commander-in-chief of the Arkansas National Guard, approved the notion this summer, and the Guard has begun looking for a space to lease while finding land upon which to build an armory.
“It usually takes five to 10 years to get an armory,” said Shillcutt, but the time can be greatly reduced if the city can help locate and acquire suitable land for one. He said the armory would need about 15 acres in an industrial area with utilities available. The location then must pass a comprehensive environmental assessment.
Once that hurdle has been cleared, the state’s congressional delegation can expedite funding for the armory.
Meanwhile, a new unit could begin operating first out of Beebe. The unit is a combat support service unit, which supports infantry with transportation, feeding and in other ways, he said.
With the new armory will come new jobs, he said. Existing Guardsmen will account for 50 percent of the total, but recruiters will be looking for the rest. The armory will be about 36,000 square feet, including 2,000 square feet of classroom space, a 6,000-square-foot drill hall and a kitchen capable of cooking for 140 people. The armory will be available for community events, Shillcut said. Meanwhile, the unit needs to lease 10,000 square feet or more.
“We’ll be asking for your support,” said the colonel.
Friday, September 16, 2005
White House disappoints
by Ernie Dumas
Gov. Huckabee has been an unstintingly loyal Republican, sticking with the Bush White House for four and a half years on its most dubious and least defensible quests. For this most political presidency, that kind of allegiance ordinarily has proved to be the supreme test when the spoils are passed around, and it must account for the governor's pique at the administration this week.
No state has enlisted in the humanitarian effort to relieve the suffering of the victims of Hurricane Katrina like Arkansas. Texas has borne a larger burden in the aggregate, but it pales to Arkansas' sacrifice on a per-capita basis. Arkansas – the state, schools and local governments, its churches, its charitable institutions and countless thousands of individuals – made a Herculean effort to bring balm to the northward flow of suffering humanity from the stricken coast. Huckabee did what the president and his men should have done: The governor declared that the full resources of the state would be dedicated to help and he threw his office and himself into the task.
But when the governor and the congressional delegation asked Washington for a little help last week, they got a cold shoulder, a very cold shoulder. Texas got all the money that wasn't being spent on the coast. So much for political fealty.
Huckabee, unlike Asa Hutchinson, the all-but-official Republican candidate to succeed him, complained early on about the heedless inefficiency of the hapless Federal Emergency Management Agency and then backed off a bit. But then early the past week, an astonished Huckabee reported, a FEMA official called him to ask if any of the coastal refugees were in Arkansas. Only about 75,000. It made no difference. No financial help from the agency was forthcoming.
When the governor called Michael Chertoff, the Homeland Security secretary, who it is becoming clear was the biggest bungler in the whole scandalous operation, Chertoff told him in no uncertain terms that he would surrender no authority to the governor to direct relief in Arkansas. Federal documents this week disclosed that it was not the political hack who was forced out as head of FEMA last week but Chertoff himself who had the power to mobilize a massive response to the hurricane but who chose not to.
Thirty-six hours after the storm moved inland, Chertoff shuffled the duty off to poor Michael (Brownie) Brown, the FEMA director. We would like to think that Huckabee dropped his clerical mantle and gave him a piece of his mind.
As soon as the refugees began pouring into the state by car, bus and airlift, the state applied for a $30 million national emergency grant from the Department of Labor.
Wednesday, Sen. Blanche Lincoln was told that after they took care of Texas they had nothing left for Arkansas. The administration just drained the account.
Thursday night, the president made a well-staged but impressive speech in New Orleans' Jackson Square in which he promised a reconstruction effort unmatched in history and federal compensation to states that helped.
So Arkansas may yet be made whole for its Good Samaritan sacrifices. But a good speech has not proved to be a contract with this administration. We have a hunch that the governor's frustrations with his party and its chief are not behind him.
Gov. Huckabee has been an unstintingly loyal Republican, sticking with the Bush White House for four and a half years on its most dubious and least defensible quests. For this most political presidency, that kind of allegiance ordinarily has proved to be the supreme test when the spoils are passed around, and it must account for the governor's pique at the administration this week.
No state has enlisted in the humanitarian effort to relieve the suffering of the victims of Hurricane Katrina like Arkansas. Texas has borne a larger burden in the aggregate, but it pales to Arkansas' sacrifice on a per-capita basis. Arkansas – the state, schools and local governments, its churches, its charitable institutions and countless thousands of individuals – made a Herculean effort to bring balm to the northward flow of suffering humanity from the stricken coast. Huckabee did what the president and his men should have done: The governor declared that the full resources of the state would be dedicated to help and he threw his office and himself into the task.
But when the governor and the congressional delegation asked Washington for a little help last week, they got a cold shoulder, a very cold shoulder. Texas got all the money that wasn't being spent on the coast. So much for political fealty.
Huckabee, unlike Asa Hutchinson, the all-but-official Republican candidate to succeed him, complained early on about the heedless inefficiency of the hapless Federal Emergency Management Agency and then backed off a bit. But then early the past week, an astonished Huckabee reported, a FEMA official called him to ask if any of the coastal refugees were in Arkansas. Only about 75,000. It made no difference. No financial help from the agency was forthcoming.
When the governor called Michael Chertoff, the Homeland Security secretary, who it is becoming clear was the biggest bungler in the whole scandalous operation, Chertoff told him in no uncertain terms that he would surrender no authority to the governor to direct relief in Arkansas. Federal documents this week disclosed that it was not the political hack who was forced out as head of FEMA last week but Chertoff himself who had the power to mobilize a massive response to the hurricane but who chose not to.
Thirty-six hours after the storm moved inland, Chertoff shuffled the duty off to poor Michael (Brownie) Brown, the FEMA director. We would like to think that Huckabee dropped his clerical mantle and gave him a piece of his mind.
As soon as the refugees began pouring into the state by car, bus and airlift, the state applied for a $30 million national emergency grant from the Department of Labor.
Wednesday, Sen. Blanche Lincoln was told that after they took care of Texas they had nothing left for Arkansas. The administration just drained the account.
Thursday night, the president made a well-staged but impressive speech in New Orleans' Jackson Square in which he promised a reconstruction effort unmatched in history and federal compensation to states that helped.
So Arkansas may yet be made whole for its Good Samaritan sacrifices. But a good speech has not proved to be a contract with this administration. We have a hunch that the governor's frustrations with his party and its chief are not behind him.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
EDITORIAL >> How to hold down the water rates
Central Arkansas Water at long last will begin condemnation of the 760 acres along Lake Maumelle that Deltic Timber Corp. wants to turn into a luxury subdivision, the giant timber and development company having refused to negotiate on a sale price. We take that as a happy, not an unfortunate, circumstance.
A jury of 12 good men and women will almost certainly arrive at a fairer price for both the developer and the taxpayers of central Arkansas than will the developer and the board that governs the water company. The utility offered Deltic a whopping $3.8 million — $5,000 an acre — for the rocky mountainside land, and it gave the impression that it was willing to pay more, maybe much more. Deltic considered that sum ridiculously low and refused to make a counter-offer.
Deltic, of course, wants to stall until the next legislative session, where it might have the extra clout to stop the utility and the courts from condemning the land. The water company says the high-dollar development will pollute the lake right at the intake of our water supply and that it would require a huge investment by the utility and its customers to keep the water suitable for drinking. There was speculation that the developer might seek as much as $20 million for the land to recoup a good bit of the fortune that it expects to make from building the pricey subdivision.
We are indebted to Frank Lambright, the retired Little Rock insurance executive, for demonstrating expertly the rip-off of water customers that we have feared was about to happen. For a quarter-century Lambright has carried on a one-man crusade to get people to see what happened to them with the enactment of Amendment 59 to the state Constitution in 1980. The amendment, sold to voters as a way to avoid a sharp increase in their homeowner taxes, carried a stealth provision. It virtually ended taxation of some of the most valuable property in Arkansas. Instead of being taxed on its true market value like your home or business, rural land would forever be taxed upon its productive, or use, value.
Lambright went to the county assessment and collection records and found that Deltic in the last tax year paid a grand total of $293.26 in school, county and city taxes on the 760 acres, about 38 cents an acre. Deltic acquired thousands of acres of scrubby land outside Little Rock’s western fringe in the expectation of making tens of millions of dollars in profits on its development and sale as the city exploded westward.
While the El Dorado-based company has paid 38 cents an acre in taxes, Lambright figures, the Arkansas homeowner pays an average of more than $1 per square foot — that is per square foot, not per acre - in property taxes.
Deltic has tried to frighten everyone in central Arkansas to its side by suggesting that the water company will have to raise its monthly water rate in order to buy the disputed land and other acreage like it to protect the reservoir. It seeks to make that prophecy self-fulfilling.
If the land is barred by public policy from being used for high-density development then a circuit court jury would be perfectly justified in finding that the land’s market value is not $20 million or even $3.8 million but exactly what the corporation considered the land worth when it went down every year to pay taxes on its worth. What could be fairer than that?
A jury of 12 good men and women will almost certainly arrive at a fairer price for both the developer and the taxpayers of central Arkansas than will the developer and the board that governs the water company. The utility offered Deltic a whopping $3.8 million — $5,000 an acre — for the rocky mountainside land, and it gave the impression that it was willing to pay more, maybe much more. Deltic considered that sum ridiculously low and refused to make a counter-offer.
Deltic, of course, wants to stall until the next legislative session, where it might have the extra clout to stop the utility and the courts from condemning the land. The water company says the high-dollar development will pollute the lake right at the intake of our water supply and that it would require a huge investment by the utility and its customers to keep the water suitable for drinking. There was speculation that the developer might seek as much as $20 million for the land to recoup a good bit of the fortune that it expects to make from building the pricey subdivision.
We are indebted to Frank Lambright, the retired Little Rock insurance executive, for demonstrating expertly the rip-off of water customers that we have feared was about to happen. For a quarter-century Lambright has carried on a one-man crusade to get people to see what happened to them with the enactment of Amendment 59 to the state Constitution in 1980. The amendment, sold to voters as a way to avoid a sharp increase in their homeowner taxes, carried a stealth provision. It virtually ended taxation of some of the most valuable property in Arkansas. Instead of being taxed on its true market value like your home or business, rural land would forever be taxed upon its productive, or use, value.
Lambright went to the county assessment and collection records and found that Deltic in the last tax year paid a grand total of $293.26 in school, county and city taxes on the 760 acres, about 38 cents an acre. Deltic acquired thousands of acres of scrubby land outside Little Rock’s western fringe in the expectation of making tens of millions of dollars in profits on its development and sale as the city exploded westward.
While the El Dorado-based company has paid 38 cents an acre in taxes, Lambright figures, the Arkansas homeowner pays an average of more than $1 per square foot — that is per square foot, not per acre - in property taxes.
Deltic has tried to frighten everyone in central Arkansas to its side by suggesting that the water company will have to raise its monthly water rate in order to buy the disputed land and other acreage like it to protect the reservoir. It seeks to make that prophecy self-fulfilling.
If the land is barred by public policy from being used for high-density development then a circuit court jury would be perfectly justified in finding that the land’s market value is not $20 million or even $3.8 million but exactly what the corporation considered the land worth when it went down every year to pay taxes on its worth. What could be fairer than that?
EDITORIAL >> Thousands for rodeos, but none for schools
The week could have gone much better for the state’s lawyers, who are trying to demonstrate that the legislature and the governor met their constitutional obligations to Arkansas’s 450,000 public school children this spring.
First, the schools’ lawyers got hold of emails from the loose-talking deputy attorney general, who ridiculed the justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court who are demanding that the legislature do what the Constitution has said for 130 years that they must do: provide a suitable and equal education for all children.
The deputy, who is directing the defense of the legislature’s and Gov. Huckabee’s anemic response to the court’s order, suggested that the state might want to amend the Constitution and remove every shred of defense of school children.
That would show the court. Attorney General Mike Beebe and lawmakers had to try to explain away the young man’s impolitic remarks.
And then there was the evidence presented to the two masters who were appointed by the Supreme Court to gather evidence on what had been done to see that children got the education promised them in the state’s basic law. It has so far been overwhelmingly against the state. Neither the state’s attorneys nor Education Department officials have had even a weak justification for the legislature’s freezing per-pupil aid this year when school costs, including energy, are skyrocketing and state revenues and surpluses are ballooning.
As for school facilities, the other half of the state’s monumental failing, the state’s best explanation for appropriating only a tiny fraction of the institutional needs that were verified by lawmakers and the governor themselves was that providing more money might create more work than private contractors could handle. And money was tight, they said.
But Sam Jones, the attorney for the Pulaski County Special School District, uncharitably asked why the legislature could not find $374,000 for desperately needed safety work on the Charleston schools but handily wrote a check for $110,000 for a private rodeo in the Franklin County town.
The rodeo grant was part of the legislative grab bag called the General Improvement Fund. The schools’ lawyers summoned other ridiculous appropriations from that long list until the state's attorneys pleaded for it to stop. The masters then allowed the school attorneys their three ‘favorites’ — the most hilarious illustrations of taxpayer-financed pork - and then ordered the lawyers to move on.
Judicial decorum can tolerate only a certain amount of hilarity, or tears.
First, the schools’ lawyers got hold of emails from the loose-talking deputy attorney general, who ridiculed the justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court who are demanding that the legislature do what the Constitution has said for 130 years that they must do: provide a suitable and equal education for all children.
The deputy, who is directing the defense of the legislature’s and Gov. Huckabee’s anemic response to the court’s order, suggested that the state might want to amend the Constitution and remove every shred of defense of school children.
That would show the court. Attorney General Mike Beebe and lawmakers had to try to explain away the young man’s impolitic remarks.
And then there was the evidence presented to the two masters who were appointed by the Supreme Court to gather evidence on what had been done to see that children got the education promised them in the state’s basic law. It has so far been overwhelmingly against the state. Neither the state’s attorneys nor Education Department officials have had even a weak justification for the legislature’s freezing per-pupil aid this year when school costs, including energy, are skyrocketing and state revenues and surpluses are ballooning.
As for school facilities, the other half of the state’s monumental failing, the state’s best explanation for appropriating only a tiny fraction of the institutional needs that were verified by lawmakers and the governor themselves was that providing more money might create more work than private contractors could handle. And money was tight, they said.
But Sam Jones, the attorney for the Pulaski County Special School District, uncharitably asked why the legislature could not find $374,000 for desperately needed safety work on the Charleston schools but handily wrote a check for $110,000 for a private rodeo in the Franklin County town.
The rodeo grant was part of the legislative grab bag called the General Improvement Fund. The schools’ lawyers summoned other ridiculous appropriations from that long list until the state's attorneys pleaded for it to stop. The masters then allowed the school attorneys their three ‘favorites’ — the most hilarious illustrations of taxpayer-financed pork - and then ordered the lawyers to move on.
Judicial decorum can tolerate only a certain amount of hilarity, or tears.
TOP STORY >> Relief pours into LRAFB
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
On the tarmac at Little Rock Air Force Base, a C-130 from Egypt sits side-by-side with an Israeli El Al 747, both having discharged emergency hurricane relief aid headed to Louisiana and Mississippi, part of a virtual United Nations of air transports.
By Friday, 24 foreign relief flights had landed at the base, designated as the hub for international relief, according to Lt. Jon Quinlan, a base spokesman. He said another eight inbound flights were scheduled.
The base had received 1,000 tons of relief supplies as of Friday morning, he said.
In Brussels, Belgium, Friday, member nations voted to use NATO ships and aircraft to hurry aid to the hurricane victims, according to published reports.
Using converted passenger aircraft, this will be the first time the new NATO Response Force has been used for a humanitarian mission.
Other countries sending emergency relief to Little Rock Air Force Base most recently included China, Russia, Den-mark, India, Thailand and Tunisia.
Meanwhile, the base’s C-130s have flown 30 missions in Operation Katrina, including the delivery of supplies and Guardsmen and transport of 206 evacuees, according to Quinlan.
The 314th Airlift Wing has 38 airmen deployed into the area, he said.
“The Air Force is happy to take this cargo on and participate in support of Operation Katrina,” said Quinlan. “This is a testament of the importance of the base.”
A 747 with 100 tons of goods from China arrived Wednesday and included bedding, clothes, tents and generators.
“This was a chance to show our sympathy and support and to show that we’re standing with Americans,” China Consul General Hu Yeshun said.
The location of Little Rock Air Force Base and its airlift experience make receiving the international aid missions possible, Brig. Gen. Joseph M. Reheiser said during his final week as 314 Airlift Wing commander.
“We have a great location plus we have the infrastructure here at Little Rock Air Force Base,” Reheiser said.
“We have a huge ramp and we have people who are trained to off load planes. Our airmen at Little Rock Air Force Base continuously train to move people and supplies. This life-saving effort puts our training into action by helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
“Our airmen have played a vital role in this process and are working hard to provide relief to our Southern neighbors.”
Leader staff writer
On the tarmac at Little Rock Air Force Base, a C-130 from Egypt sits side-by-side with an Israeli El Al 747, both having discharged emergency hurricane relief aid headed to Louisiana and Mississippi, part of a virtual United Nations of air transports.
By Friday, 24 foreign relief flights had landed at the base, designated as the hub for international relief, according to Lt. Jon Quinlan, a base spokesman. He said another eight inbound flights were scheduled.
The base had received 1,000 tons of relief supplies as of Friday morning, he said.
In Brussels, Belgium, Friday, member nations voted to use NATO ships and aircraft to hurry aid to the hurricane victims, according to published reports.
Using converted passenger aircraft, this will be the first time the new NATO Response Force has been used for a humanitarian mission.
Other countries sending emergency relief to Little Rock Air Force Base most recently included China, Russia, Den-mark, India, Thailand and Tunisia.
Meanwhile, the base’s C-130s have flown 30 missions in Operation Katrina, including the delivery of supplies and Guardsmen and transport of 206 evacuees, according to Quinlan.
The 314th Airlift Wing has 38 airmen deployed into the area, he said.
“The Air Force is happy to take this cargo on and participate in support of Operation Katrina,” said Quinlan. “This is a testament of the importance of the base.”
A 747 with 100 tons of goods from China arrived Wednesday and included bedding, clothes, tents and generators.
“This was a chance to show our sympathy and support and to show that we’re standing with Americans,” China Consul General Hu Yeshun said.
The location of Little Rock Air Force Base and its airlift experience make receiving the international aid missions possible, Brig. Gen. Joseph M. Reheiser said during his final week as 314 Airlift Wing commander.
“We have a great location plus we have the infrastructure here at Little Rock Air Force Base,” Reheiser said.
“We have a huge ramp and we have people who are trained to off load planes. Our airmen at Little Rock Air Force Base continuously train to move people and supplies. This life-saving effort puts our training into action by helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
“Our airmen have played a vital role in this process and are working hard to provide relief to our Southern neighbors.”
TOP STORY >> CAW goes full-steam ahead with land push
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
Even as work begins in earnest on a Lake Maumelle Watershed Man-agement Plan, lawyers for Central Arkansas Water are preparing to file a condemnation lawsuit against Deltic Timber, which wants to develop mini-estates on 700 acres on the lake.
At CAW’s July board meeting, commissioners postponed filing the condemnation suit until the Sept. 8 meeting, opting to let lawyers for the two groups try to negotiate an agreement.
Deltic declined CAW’s offer of $3.8 million for its acreage and declined to make a counteroffer, so when the board convened Tuesday, the original authorization to proceed with condemnation remained in force by default, according to Bruno Kirsh, CAW’s chief operating officer. No commission action was required.
“Our marching or-ders are to move forward with getting the suit filed,” said Sam Ledbetter, a lawyer representing CAW.
Ledbetter said it was too early to know when he would file, but Jim Harvey, CEO of the water utility said he believed the suit would be filed by the end of the month. Deltic spokes-man Craig Douglass could not be reached for comment Friday.
Meanwhile, both the Lake Maumelle Watershed Policy Advisory Council and the Technical Advisory Council each met with consultants from Tetra Tech Inc., the contractor conducting the study. Deltic had hoped to postpone condemnation proceedings until the 18-month study was completed.
BRUSHY ISLAND
In other action, the commission approved spending as much as $160,000 on the estimated $1.6 million project to improve the Brushy Island water system. Jacksonville waterworks has al-ready agreed to pay for 77 percent of the installation of the 24-inch line — about $412,000 — and Sherwood will pay $170,000, according to Jim Ferguson, director of engineering.
The Brushy Island Water Association share is $898,000, for which they hope to get funding from the state Soil and Water Conservation Commiss-ion.
Jacksonville was going to bring its CAW pipe through Brushy Island by 2010, but agreed to proceed with the first part in exchange for $50,000 worth of engineering from CAW.
The commission also approved its $35,000 share of a $152,000 engineering contract to run about 7,000 feet of 24- and 30-inch water line along Hwy. 107 from Kellogg Creek to Bayou Meto, according to Ferguson, while Jacksonville, North Pulaski and Cabot will share the remainder. The commission also accepted a $1.26 million bid by Henley Construction Co. of Harri-son to install about 18,000 feet of water main in North Little Rock, Sherwood and Pulaski County, including installation of 14 new fire hydrants.
Leader staff writer
Even as work begins in earnest on a Lake Maumelle Watershed Man-agement Plan, lawyers for Central Arkansas Water are preparing to file a condemnation lawsuit against Deltic Timber, which wants to develop mini-estates on 700 acres on the lake.
At CAW’s July board meeting, commissioners postponed filing the condemnation suit until the Sept. 8 meeting, opting to let lawyers for the two groups try to negotiate an agreement.
Deltic declined CAW’s offer of $3.8 million for its acreage and declined to make a counteroffer, so when the board convened Tuesday, the original authorization to proceed with condemnation remained in force by default, according to Bruno Kirsh, CAW’s chief operating officer. No commission action was required.
“Our marching or-ders are to move forward with getting the suit filed,” said Sam Ledbetter, a lawyer representing CAW.
Ledbetter said it was too early to know when he would file, but Jim Harvey, CEO of the water utility said he believed the suit would be filed by the end of the month. Deltic spokes-man Craig Douglass could not be reached for comment Friday.
Meanwhile, both the Lake Maumelle Watershed Policy Advisory Council and the Technical Advisory Council each met with consultants from Tetra Tech Inc., the contractor conducting the study. Deltic had hoped to postpone condemnation proceedings until the 18-month study was completed.
BRUSHY ISLAND
In other action, the commission approved spending as much as $160,000 on the estimated $1.6 million project to improve the Brushy Island water system. Jacksonville waterworks has al-ready agreed to pay for 77 percent of the installation of the 24-inch line — about $412,000 — and Sherwood will pay $170,000, according to Jim Ferguson, director of engineering.
The Brushy Island Water Association share is $898,000, for which they hope to get funding from the state Soil and Water Conservation Commiss-ion.
Jacksonville was going to bring its CAW pipe through Brushy Island by 2010, but agreed to proceed with the first part in exchange for $50,000 worth of engineering from CAW.
The commission also approved its $35,000 share of a $152,000 engineering contract to run about 7,000 feet of 24- and 30-inch water line along Hwy. 107 from Kellogg Creek to Bayou Meto, according to Ferguson, while Jacksonville, North Pulaski and Cabot will share the remainder. The commission also accepted a $1.26 million bid by Henley Construction Co. of Harri-son to install about 18,000 feet of water main in North Little Rock, Sherwood and Pulaski County, including installation of 14 new fire hydrants.
TOP STORY >> Change of command
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
Brig. Gen. Kip Self took command of Little Rock Air Force Base Friday, even as transport planes from around the world ferried tons of Hurricane Katrina relief supplies to the base for distribution further south.
With the symbolic passing of the 314th Airlift Wing’s colors from Brig. Gen. Joseph Reheiser to Major Gen. Edward R. Ellis, and from Ellis to Self, the command passed in front of the new C-130J hangar before hundreds of airmen, guests and officials.
Ellis, commander of the 19th Air Force, presided over the ceremony and also awarded Reheiser with the Legion of Merit with an oak leaf cluster for the leadership he asserted in bringing many awards and honors to the base during his two-year tenure.
Self steps in as the base serves as the hub for an intensive international relief effort, with planes from NATO and nations around the world rushing supplies and equipment to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Having just arrived on base, Self said he had confidence in the airmen in his command to handle the ongoing effort, which includes landing and unloading the planes and loading the cargo onto 18-wheelers.
“You show up, learn, and trust your people,” Self said. “First you learn, then you lead.”
Reheiser is headed to Yokota, Japan Air Base, where he will serve as vice commander of the 5th Air Force.
While Reheiser served the customary two-year rotation as Little Rock Air Force Base commander, both Self and Ellis said the 314th Airlift Wing’s accomplishments on his watch were anything but ordinary.
Ellis praised Reheiser’s leadership of the international relief effort, his wing’s domination of the Airlift rodeo, including best airdrop crew and best maintenance crew, the base’s excellent rating and its being named readiness base of the year.
Reheiser and his wife Donna were also honored as best wing commander and spouse in the Air Education and Training Command.
Before relinquishing command, Reheiser reviewed his troops one final time, passing one group saying that although it was graded satisfactory, he considered it “the best maintenance group in the Air Force.”
Reheiser and Self graduated in the same U.S. Air Force Academy class.
Self comes to Arkansas after serving as the deputy director of operations, with headquarters at Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, where he oversaw 14 divisions and eight operating locations producing policy procedures and lead command guidance to sustain and improve many outfits for America’s Global Reach mission.
He has held a variety of flying assignments as a helicopter and C-141 instructor pilot.
His staff assignments include political-military planner on the joint staff and country director in the office of the Secretary of Defense.
He has commanded the 16th Airlift Squadron and the 621st Air Mobility Operations Group.
Self was deployed as director of mobility forces in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and during Operation Iraqi Freedom, he was commander of expeditionary air forces at Kuwait City.
He is a command pilot with more than 4,000 hours in a variety of aircraft. Self said he has never flown a C-130, but looks forward to the opportunity.
His awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star with oak leaf cluster and Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters.
He and the former Sue M. Battle have three children.
In his remarks, Ellis told Self: “There may be other communities that support their bases as well (as the local community does) but none better.” Of Reheiser, he said, “Farewell to a great leader. You should be proud of the leadership you exhibited.”
He also said Donna Reheiser’s fingerprints are all over the base and community. “You’ll be missed too,” he said. “Self is the perfect replacement, he’s a combat-tested warrior and leader,” Ellis said.
“He moved three divisions and 150,000 marines through Kuwait. He’s no stranger to big responsibility. He’s a leader cut from the same mold as Joe Reheiser.”
Praising his airmen for all they had accomplished over the past two years, including the Airlift rodeo accomplishments, Reheiser said, “You need only look at the ramp today to see you’re still in the arena. I couldn’t be prouder.”
In his remarks, Self said he asked his wife what he should talk about. “About two minutes,’ she said, ‘then get off stage,’” he said.
Leader staff writer
Brig. Gen. Kip Self took command of Little Rock Air Force Base Friday, even as transport planes from around the world ferried tons of Hurricane Katrina relief supplies to the base for distribution further south.
With the symbolic passing of the 314th Airlift Wing’s colors from Brig. Gen. Joseph Reheiser to Major Gen. Edward R. Ellis, and from Ellis to Self, the command passed in front of the new C-130J hangar before hundreds of airmen, guests and officials.
Ellis, commander of the 19th Air Force, presided over the ceremony and also awarded Reheiser with the Legion of Merit with an oak leaf cluster for the leadership he asserted in bringing many awards and honors to the base during his two-year tenure.
Self steps in as the base serves as the hub for an intensive international relief effort, with planes from NATO and nations around the world rushing supplies and equipment to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Having just arrived on base, Self said he had confidence in the airmen in his command to handle the ongoing effort, which includes landing and unloading the planes and loading the cargo onto 18-wheelers.
“You show up, learn, and trust your people,” Self said. “First you learn, then you lead.”
Reheiser is headed to Yokota, Japan Air Base, where he will serve as vice commander of the 5th Air Force.
While Reheiser served the customary two-year rotation as Little Rock Air Force Base commander, both Self and Ellis said the 314th Airlift Wing’s accomplishments on his watch were anything but ordinary.
Ellis praised Reheiser’s leadership of the international relief effort, his wing’s domination of the Airlift rodeo, including best airdrop crew and best maintenance crew, the base’s excellent rating and its being named readiness base of the year.
Reheiser and his wife Donna were also honored as best wing commander and spouse in the Air Education and Training Command.
Before relinquishing command, Reheiser reviewed his troops one final time, passing one group saying that although it was graded satisfactory, he considered it “the best maintenance group in the Air Force.”
Reheiser and Self graduated in the same U.S. Air Force Academy class.
Self comes to Arkansas after serving as the deputy director of operations, with headquarters at Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, where he oversaw 14 divisions and eight operating locations producing policy procedures and lead command guidance to sustain and improve many outfits for America’s Global Reach mission.
He has held a variety of flying assignments as a helicopter and C-141 instructor pilot.
His staff assignments include political-military planner on the joint staff and country director in the office of the Secretary of Defense.
He has commanded the 16th Airlift Squadron and the 621st Air Mobility Operations Group.
Self was deployed as director of mobility forces in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and during Operation Iraqi Freedom, he was commander of expeditionary air forces at Kuwait City.
He is a command pilot with more than 4,000 hours in a variety of aircraft. Self said he has never flown a C-130, but looks forward to the opportunity.
His awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star with oak leaf cluster and Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters.
He and the former Sue M. Battle have three children.
In his remarks, Ellis told Self: “There may be other communities that support their bases as well (as the local community does) but none better.” Of Reheiser, he said, “Farewell to a great leader. You should be proud of the leadership you exhibited.”
He also said Donna Reheiser’s fingerprints are all over the base and community. “You’ll be missed too,” he said. “Self is the perfect replacement, he’s a combat-tested warrior and leader,” Ellis said.
“He moved three divisions and 150,000 marines through Kuwait. He’s no stranger to big responsibility. He’s a leader cut from the same mold as Joe Reheiser.”
Praising his airmen for all they had accomplished over the past two years, including the Airlift rodeo accomplishments, Reheiser said, “You need only look at the ramp today to see you’re still in the arena. I couldn’t be prouder.”
In his remarks, Self said he asked his wife what he should talk about. “About two minutes,’ she said, ‘then get off stage,’” he said.
OBITS
DICOUS IVY
Dicous E. Ivy, 67, of Beebe was born Feb. 14, 1938, to Leonard and Edith Ivy, and died Sept. 9.
He is survived by one son, Ricky and wife Carol of Tucson, Ariz.; one brother, Bill Ivy and wife Jan of Beebe; two grandchildren, R. J. and Ashley; one great-grandchild, Jazlin; and four nieces and nephews.
Graveside services will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Antioch Cemetery. Arrangements are by Westbrook Funeral Home of Beebe.
ROBERT WRIGHT
Robert E. Wright, 74, of Beebe, was born Jan. 11, 1931 in Wiville, to Chester and Edith Wright. He died Sept. 6.
He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Frances; a daughter, Susan Wilson and husband, Mike of Beebe, two grandsons, Jason and Matt Wilson both of Beebe; two brothers, Troy Wright and wife, Eloise and Benny Wright and wife, Doris all of McCrory; one sister, Irma Rhea Foss of New York and a host of nieces and nephews.
Funeral services were held Sept. 9 at Westbrook Funeral Home with burial in Meadow-brook Memorial Gardens.
Memorials may be made to Beebe Presbyterian Memorial Scholarship Fund, 907 W. College, Beebe, AR 72012, or American Cancer Society, 901 North University, Little Rock, AR 72207.
Arrangements were by West-brook Funeral Home of Beebe.
JEFFERSON GUESS JR.
Jefferson Davis Guess, Jr., formerly of Cabot, passed away Sept. 12 at Bakersfield, Calif.
Arrangements by Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home (843-5816) are pending.
Dicous E. Ivy, 67, of Beebe was born Feb. 14, 1938, to Leonard and Edith Ivy, and died Sept. 9.
He is survived by one son, Ricky and wife Carol of Tucson, Ariz.; one brother, Bill Ivy and wife Jan of Beebe; two grandchildren, R. J. and Ashley; one great-grandchild, Jazlin; and four nieces and nephews.
Graveside services will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Antioch Cemetery. Arrangements are by Westbrook Funeral Home of Beebe.
ROBERT WRIGHT
Robert E. Wright, 74, of Beebe, was born Jan. 11, 1931 in Wiville, to Chester and Edith Wright. He died Sept. 6.
He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Frances; a daughter, Susan Wilson and husband, Mike of Beebe, two grandsons, Jason and Matt Wilson both of Beebe; two brothers, Troy Wright and wife, Eloise and Benny Wright and wife, Doris all of McCrory; one sister, Irma Rhea Foss of New York and a host of nieces and nephews.
Funeral services were held Sept. 9 at Westbrook Funeral Home with burial in Meadow-brook Memorial Gardens.
Memorials may be made to Beebe Presbyterian Memorial Scholarship Fund, 907 W. College, Beebe, AR 72012, or American Cancer Society, 901 North University, Little Rock, AR 72207.
Arrangements were by West-brook Funeral Home of Beebe.
JEFFERSON GUESS JR.
Jefferson Davis Guess, Jr., formerly of Cabot, passed away Sept. 12 at Bakersfield, Calif.
Arrangements by Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home (843-5816) are pending.
FROM THE PUBLISHER >> Ground Zero marks fourth anniversary
NEW YORK — Susan Stewart Tillier walked along the perimeter of Ground Zero early Sunday afternoon after she had read out loud the name of her brother, Richard H. Stewart, Jr., along with the names of several others who were killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11.
It was the end of a four-hour ceremony on a bright late-summer day commemorating the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
This was the first time the anniversary fell on Sunday, and thousands of people surrounded the fenced-in site, which is now a huge pit, while hundreds of relatives read the first, middle and last names of their loved ones, often ending with a personal note about how much they missed them and then threw a kiss up to the sky before they let the next group read more names.
Many of the relatives at the ceremony were little children, who hardly knew their parents when they were killed.
Susan Tillier, of Bloomington, N.C., was at the memorial with her cousin Tom Krieger, who was holding a large, framed color photograph of Richard Stewart, a 35-year-old stockbroker who worked at Cantor Fitzgerald on the 104th floor of the north building at the World Trade Center.
That building was the second one hit but the first one to fall.
“When the first plane hit,” Susan Tillier told us, “he called his parents in Delaware. ‘Dad, I don’t know what happened,’ he told him. ‘There’s black smoke outside the window. Tell Mom I love her.’”
Tillier was living in Warsaw when she heard about the attack on the Twin Towers and found out Richard had been killed.
“He was my only brother,” she continued tearfully. “They discovered some of his remains. He is buried in North Carolina.”
It was his wish to be buried there, she said.
Nearby, anti-war protesters were arguing with the police. An older man who was dressed in red, white and blue from head to toe held up the American flag was shouting, “God Bless America.”
More than 200 British police officers in their crisp uniforms were also there, representing every police department in Britain. Sgt. Steve Gartside and Sgt. Tommy Simpson of the Manchester Police Department said they were there to show their solidarity with the people of New York.
“We come here every year,” Gartside said, reminding us that terrorists attacked London’s transportation system.
At night, two blue streaks of light brightened up the sky near Ground Zero on the southern tip of Manhattan, symbolizing the twin towers. Called “Tribute in Light,” the beams are white but look blue against the night sky. They are turned on during the anniversary of 9/11 and serve as a memorial since nothing permanent has been built yet.
Looking down the Avenue of the Americas in lower Manhattan, you could see the two columns of light radiating from the ground to the sky just a couple of miles away, but the light seemed much closer.
It was at this spot where our youngest daughter stood when the first tower was attacked. The burning skyscraper must have looked as if a neighbor’s house across the street was on fire.
At my son’s Brooklyn apartment, you can walk up a wooden ladder to the rooftop, where the blue streaks of light seem almost as close.
Four years ago, a few miles away, he stood at the East River minutes after the first attack and watched the second building collapse across the river, sending clouds of dust over the water in less than a minute, forcing onlookers to flee.
Americans have had much to mourn in recent years, from terrorist attacks to natural disasters. Almost everywhere you turn, you meet someone who has lost a loved one because of terrorism or has fled Louisiana and Mississippi ahead of Hurricane Katrina or is there helping the victims.
On a Brooklyn street on Saturday, we met an 83-year-old retired Boston detective named John O’Connor, who wore a small American flag on his shirt collar.
He told us Libyan terrorists had killed his 31-year-old son, an engineer, along with 269 other passengers, when they blew up Pan Am Flight 104 over Lockerbie, Scot-land, in December 1988.
“Khadafi killed my son,” he said.
The old detective was holding back tears and said he thinks about his son every day. Then he looked at me and my son and said we should take good care of each other.
It was the end of a four-hour ceremony on a bright late-summer day commemorating the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
This was the first time the anniversary fell on Sunday, and thousands of people surrounded the fenced-in site, which is now a huge pit, while hundreds of relatives read the first, middle and last names of their loved ones, often ending with a personal note about how much they missed them and then threw a kiss up to the sky before they let the next group read more names.
Many of the relatives at the ceremony were little children, who hardly knew their parents when they were killed.
Susan Tillier, of Bloomington, N.C., was at the memorial with her cousin Tom Krieger, who was holding a large, framed color photograph of Richard Stewart, a 35-year-old stockbroker who worked at Cantor Fitzgerald on the 104th floor of the north building at the World Trade Center.
That building was the second one hit but the first one to fall.
“When the first plane hit,” Susan Tillier told us, “he called his parents in Delaware. ‘Dad, I don’t know what happened,’ he told him. ‘There’s black smoke outside the window. Tell Mom I love her.’”
Tillier was living in Warsaw when she heard about the attack on the Twin Towers and found out Richard had been killed.
“He was my only brother,” she continued tearfully. “They discovered some of his remains. He is buried in North Carolina.”
It was his wish to be buried there, she said.
Nearby, anti-war protesters were arguing with the police. An older man who was dressed in red, white and blue from head to toe held up the American flag was shouting, “God Bless America.”
More than 200 British police officers in their crisp uniforms were also there, representing every police department in Britain. Sgt. Steve Gartside and Sgt. Tommy Simpson of the Manchester Police Department said they were there to show their solidarity with the people of New York.
“We come here every year,” Gartside said, reminding us that terrorists attacked London’s transportation system.
At night, two blue streaks of light brightened up the sky near Ground Zero on the southern tip of Manhattan, symbolizing the twin towers. Called “Tribute in Light,” the beams are white but look blue against the night sky. They are turned on during the anniversary of 9/11 and serve as a memorial since nothing permanent has been built yet.
Looking down the Avenue of the Americas in lower Manhattan, you could see the two columns of light radiating from the ground to the sky just a couple of miles away, but the light seemed much closer.
It was at this spot where our youngest daughter stood when the first tower was attacked. The burning skyscraper must have looked as if a neighbor’s house across the street was on fire.
At my son’s Brooklyn apartment, you can walk up a wooden ladder to the rooftop, where the blue streaks of light seem almost as close.
Four years ago, a few miles away, he stood at the East River minutes after the first attack and watched the second building collapse across the river, sending clouds of dust over the water in less than a minute, forcing onlookers to flee.
Americans have had much to mourn in recent years, from terrorist attacks to natural disasters. Almost everywhere you turn, you meet someone who has lost a loved one because of terrorism or has fled Louisiana and Mississippi ahead of Hurricane Katrina or is there helping the victims.
On a Brooklyn street on Saturday, we met an 83-year-old retired Boston detective named John O’Connor, who wore a small American flag on his shirt collar.
He told us Libyan terrorists had killed his 31-year-old son, an engineer, along with 269 other passengers, when they blew up Pan Am Flight 104 over Lockerbie, Scot-land, in December 1988.
“Khadafi killed my son,” he said.
The old detective was holding back tears and said he thinks about his son every day. Then he looked at me and my son and said we should take good care of each other.
SPORTS >> N. Pulaski remembers last season at Lonoke
By RAY BENTON and JASON KING
Leader sports staff
North Pulaski will host a battle of the hungry teams searching for their first victory when the Lonoke Jackrabbits travel to Jacksonville to face the Falcons on Friday night.
Last year’s game was a shootout, with Lonoke winning after a couple of controversial calls. A North Pulaski touchdown was called back when officials called a defensive delay of game on Lonoke, a penalty North Pulaski coach Tony Bohannon disputes..
“Defensive delay of game does exist,” Bohan-non said. “It results in a forfeit. It’s called when the defense fails to return to the field after a timeout. The one they called I’ve never heard of. They just made one up that night.”
It was one of two calls that has the Falcons rehashing last year’s game. The other was a block in the back call during a kickoff return for a touchdown by Rodric Rainey.
“We have the film on that game, and the official that threw the flag wasn’t anywhere near what was going on. He was about 25 yards behind the play, and from where he was, there’s no way he could have seen anything. There was no penalty on that play.”
Bohannon also says his team has brought it up this week.
“There’s a couple that are talking about it,” Bohannon said. “They all remember it, and if they don’t remember it, they know about it. I don’t know how much of a factor it will be as far as motivation, but it’s been brought up a couple times.”
Both teams are looking for momentum to get their seasons on track. Lonoke is coming off a heart-breaking loss at the hands of Beebe. Lonoke had the lead and the ball late in the game, but a turnover deep in their own territory gave the Badgers a second chance. The Badgers used the opportunity, as well as using up the clock, to steal the game away from the Jackrabbits in their home opener.
North Pulaski has had even less to cheer about so far in 2005, losing their season opener to Little Rock Hall 44-0, and last week’s meeting against crosstown rival Jacksonville 44-7. Although the losses have not been close, they have both been against class AAAAA programs. Facing a class AAA team this week could be considered a break for North Pulaski, but that’s not how Bohannon looks at it.
“They’re not quite as big as they were last year, but they’re pretty good,” Bohannon said. “They’re still capable of putting a lot of points on the board. They had a bad break against Beebe that I think cost them the game.”
While he’s not taking Lonoke lightly, he does recognize some differences between the AAA school and the two AAAAA schools his team has already played.
“Sizewise I think we match up better with them than the other two we’ve played,” Bohannon said. “We’re not going to be dwarfed down inside like we have been.”
Lonoke had high expectations going into this season, with their sights on a conference title. While two non-conference losses does not necessarily put that out of reach, it is obvious at this point that the Jackrabbits will have to step things up on both sides of the ball before facing conference powerhouses Central Arakansas Christian and Pulaski Academy.
Much of the Lonoke offense has revolved around senior tailback Walter Ellis. Ellis scored all of Lonoke’s points in the Beebe contest, and carried the ball over 20 times. Ellis has rushed for over 250 yards so far this season. Beebe seemed to get Ellis’ number rather early last Friday, holding him to less than three yards on several carries, but he still ran for over 100 yards.
The biggest variable in Lonoke’s offense will be the passing game. Quarterback Byron Jackson led a passing attack that looked promising in the pre-season, but so far hasn’t produced like head coach Marcel Vincent was expecting in the regular season.
“We have to execute better, that’s the bottom line,” Vincent said. “I think confidence will be a major factor for us, especially after a tough loss like last week. It was a great ball game, but losing like that can really take the wind out of your sails.”
Leader sports staff
North Pulaski will host a battle of the hungry teams searching for their first victory when the Lonoke Jackrabbits travel to Jacksonville to face the Falcons on Friday night.
Last year’s game was a shootout, with Lonoke winning after a couple of controversial calls. A North Pulaski touchdown was called back when officials called a defensive delay of game on Lonoke, a penalty North Pulaski coach Tony Bohannon disputes..
“Defensive delay of game does exist,” Bohan-non said. “It results in a forfeit. It’s called when the defense fails to return to the field after a timeout. The one they called I’ve never heard of. They just made one up that night.”
It was one of two calls that has the Falcons rehashing last year’s game. The other was a block in the back call during a kickoff return for a touchdown by Rodric Rainey.
“We have the film on that game, and the official that threw the flag wasn’t anywhere near what was going on. He was about 25 yards behind the play, and from where he was, there’s no way he could have seen anything. There was no penalty on that play.”
Bohannon also says his team has brought it up this week.
“There’s a couple that are talking about it,” Bohannon said. “They all remember it, and if they don’t remember it, they know about it. I don’t know how much of a factor it will be as far as motivation, but it’s been brought up a couple times.”
Both teams are looking for momentum to get their seasons on track. Lonoke is coming off a heart-breaking loss at the hands of Beebe. Lonoke had the lead and the ball late in the game, but a turnover deep in their own territory gave the Badgers a second chance. The Badgers used the opportunity, as well as using up the clock, to steal the game away from the Jackrabbits in their home opener.
North Pulaski has had even less to cheer about so far in 2005, losing their season opener to Little Rock Hall 44-0, and last week’s meeting against crosstown rival Jacksonville 44-7. Although the losses have not been close, they have both been against class AAAAA programs. Facing a class AAA team this week could be considered a break for North Pulaski, but that’s not how Bohannon looks at it.
“They’re not quite as big as they were last year, but they’re pretty good,” Bohannon said. “They’re still capable of putting a lot of points on the board. They had a bad break against Beebe that I think cost them the game.”
While he’s not taking Lonoke lightly, he does recognize some differences between the AAA school and the two AAAAA schools his team has already played.
“Sizewise I think we match up better with them than the other two we’ve played,” Bohannon said. “We’re not going to be dwarfed down inside like we have been.”
Lonoke had high expectations going into this season, with their sights on a conference title. While two non-conference losses does not necessarily put that out of reach, it is obvious at this point that the Jackrabbits will have to step things up on both sides of the ball before facing conference powerhouses Central Arakansas Christian and Pulaski Academy.
Much of the Lonoke offense has revolved around senior tailback Walter Ellis. Ellis scored all of Lonoke’s points in the Beebe contest, and carried the ball over 20 times. Ellis has rushed for over 250 yards so far this season. Beebe seemed to get Ellis’ number rather early last Friday, holding him to less than three yards on several carries, but he still ran for over 100 yards.
The biggest variable in Lonoke’s offense will be the passing game. Quarterback Byron Jackson led a passing attack that looked promising in the pre-season, but so far hasn’t produced like head coach Marcel Vincent was expecting in the regular season.
“We have to execute better, that’s the bottom line,” Vincent said. “I think confidence will be a major factor for us, especially after a tough loss like last week. It was a great ball game, but losing like that can really take the wind out of your sails.”
SPORTS >> Cabot fighting for first win
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Panthers suffered one of the most surprisng losses in school history last week when they lost to Mills 35-28.
Cabot collapsed in the fourth quarter like no Panthers team in recent memory, and as a result, could start the season 0-3 for the first time since 1978.
In order to avoid starting 0-3, the Panthers must beat a Little Rock Central team that is also surprisingly winless this season.
Central suffered a big loss to West Memphis in week one, 27-10, then fell 14-9 to a Pine Bluff team that was embarrassed in its opener against Fort Smith Northside.
Cabot coach Mike Malham isn’t worried about Central’s troubles right now though. He is only concerned with how to make the Panthers better.
It starts with getting all the youngsters who have been forced into duty up to speed on playing the right way.
The defensive backfield is particularly young, and injuries have made that area even more problematic than it already was to start the season.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys playing right now, and we’re going to have to get them ready to play,” Malham said. “We had a couple mistakes back there where they just ran right by us, and that comes mostly from inexperience. The kids are just not in the right spot and not making good decisions. We’re trying to piece it together.”
This year’s Panthers are also one of the slowest, as far as team speed, in a while. Lack of speed can be overcome, but it takes playing smart, Malham said.
“We’re not real fast and Central’s got good athletes,” Malham said. “We knew going into last week that if we let their speed guys get outside and get loose we were going to be in trouble. Well, that happened and we’ve got to find a way to keep it from happening again.”
Central has a more balanced attack than Mills, but Malham doesn’t believe the style of his opponent is the major concern right now.
“Well, Conway beat us with the pass and Mills beat us with the run, so take your pick (on what Central will do).
The injury report continues to get worse for Cabot as well. Only one new player was added to that list this week, but it was a big one.
Starting halfback Alec Tripp has a shoulder injury and probably won’t play Friday. Tripp has been the Panthers’ most productive back so far this season.
Malham didn’t say who would likely fill in for Tripp against Central.
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Panthers suffered one of the most surprisng losses in school history last week when they lost to Mills 35-28.
Cabot collapsed in the fourth quarter like no Panthers team in recent memory, and as a result, could start the season 0-3 for the first time since 1978.
In order to avoid starting 0-3, the Panthers must beat a Little Rock Central team that is also surprisingly winless this season.
Central suffered a big loss to West Memphis in week one, 27-10, then fell 14-9 to a Pine Bluff team that was embarrassed in its opener against Fort Smith Northside.
Cabot coach Mike Malham isn’t worried about Central’s troubles right now though. He is only concerned with how to make the Panthers better.
It starts with getting all the youngsters who have been forced into duty up to speed on playing the right way.
The defensive backfield is particularly young, and injuries have made that area even more problematic than it already was to start the season.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys playing right now, and we’re going to have to get them ready to play,” Malham said. “We had a couple mistakes back there where they just ran right by us, and that comes mostly from inexperience. The kids are just not in the right spot and not making good decisions. We’re trying to piece it together.”
This year’s Panthers are also one of the slowest, as far as team speed, in a while. Lack of speed can be overcome, but it takes playing smart, Malham said.
“We’re not real fast and Central’s got good athletes,” Malham said. “We knew going into last week that if we let their speed guys get outside and get loose we were going to be in trouble. Well, that happened and we’ve got to find a way to keep it from happening again.”
Central has a more balanced attack than Mills, but Malham doesn’t believe the style of his opponent is the major concern right now.
“Well, Conway beat us with the pass and Mills beat us with the run, so take your pick (on what Central will do).
The injury report continues to get worse for Cabot as well. Only one new player was added to that list this week, but it was a big one.
Starting halfback Alec Tripp has a shoulder injury and probably won’t play Friday. Tripp has been the Panthers’ most productive back so far this season.
Malham didn’t say who would likely fill in for Tripp against Central.
NEIGHBORS >> Cabot High School FFA remembers founding member
By SARA GREENE
Leader staff writer
The Cabot Future Farmers of America Advisory Committee has created a leadership fund to continue the legacy of founding member Larry W. Sims of Ward.
Sims passed away Aug. 25.
“The Larry W. Sims Leadership Fund was established because it’s really something he felt we needed to have,” said Keith Woodrow, a Cabot agriculture teacher.
The fund will be overseen by the FFA Advisory Committee and distributed to support leadership development opportunities on a merit or need basis. Arkansas State University-Beebe is also establishing the Larry W. Sims Agriculture Scholarship.
Sims was a 1959 graduate of Cabot High School and graduated from Arkansas State University with a degree in agriculture.
He was a field inspector for the Arkansas State Plant Board for over 38 years.
He belonged to Austin Station Baptist Church, was a founding member of the Grand Prairie Water Users Association and was an Air Force veteran.
Sims dedicated over 20 years of his life to providing Cabot High School FFA members with college scholarships, promoting agricultural career choices and leading by example.
He participated in many of the Cabot High School FFA fund-raisers such as cooking steaks, holding auctions or selling fruit.
“Larry and I worked together for a long time,” said Delbert Wisdom, an Arkansas State Plant Board field agriculture supervisor.
“He was always dependable. Anytime the FFA had fund-raisers he’d come around with tickets or fruit, or whatever they were selling to ask, ‘How many do you want?’”
Sims’ focus wasn’t the money, but the students were helped by it.
“Larry would take the time to talk to the students.
“He always encouraged students to pursue careers in agriculture and further their education.”
Currently there are about 400 students enrolled in agriculture classes at Cabot High School.
“The fund is going to help a lot of students,” Woodrow said.
Donations to the Larry W. Sims Leadership Fund can be mailed to Cabot FFA Chapter, 401 N. Lincoln, Cabot, Ark., 72023.
Donations to the Larry Sims Agricultural Scholarship can be mailed to the ASU-Beebe Office of Advance-ment, P.O. Box 1000, Beebe, Ark., 72012.
Leader staff writer
The Cabot Future Farmers of America Advisory Committee has created a leadership fund to continue the legacy of founding member Larry W. Sims of Ward.
Sims passed away Aug. 25.
“The Larry W. Sims Leadership Fund was established because it’s really something he felt we needed to have,” said Keith Woodrow, a Cabot agriculture teacher.
The fund will be overseen by the FFA Advisory Committee and distributed to support leadership development opportunities on a merit or need basis. Arkansas State University-Beebe is also establishing the Larry W. Sims Agriculture Scholarship.
Sims was a 1959 graduate of Cabot High School and graduated from Arkansas State University with a degree in agriculture.
He was a field inspector for the Arkansas State Plant Board for over 38 years.
He belonged to Austin Station Baptist Church, was a founding member of the Grand Prairie Water Users Association and was an Air Force veteran.
Sims dedicated over 20 years of his life to providing Cabot High School FFA members with college scholarships, promoting agricultural career choices and leading by example.
He participated in many of the Cabot High School FFA fund-raisers such as cooking steaks, holding auctions or selling fruit.
“Larry and I worked together for a long time,” said Delbert Wisdom, an Arkansas State Plant Board field agriculture supervisor.
“He was always dependable. Anytime the FFA had fund-raisers he’d come around with tickets or fruit, or whatever they were selling to ask, ‘How many do you want?’”
Sims’ focus wasn’t the money, but the students were helped by it.
“Larry would take the time to talk to the students.
“He always encouraged students to pursue careers in agriculture and further their education.”
Currently there are about 400 students enrolled in agriculture classes at Cabot High School.
“The fund is going to help a lot of students,” Woodrow said.
Donations to the Larry W. Sims Leadership Fund can be mailed to Cabot FFA Chapter, 401 N. Lincoln, Cabot, Ark., 72023.
Donations to the Larry Sims Agricultural Scholarship can be mailed to the ASU-Beebe Office of Advance-ment, P.O. Box 1000, Beebe, Ark., 72012.
EDITORIAL >> Bushes’ silver lining
The Bush family needs to invest in sensitivity training if not a more elemental character-building program.
While the whole country — the whole world, literally — watched the horrors unfolding in the streets and arenas of New Orleans, President Bush showed up for a photo-op on the Mississippi coast to lend his moral support to U. S. Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., whose big manse was splintered by Hurricane Katrina along with thousands of humbler dwellings in the storm’s path.
“Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house — he’s lost his entire house — there’s going to be a fantastic house,” the president announced for the cameras. “And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch.”
With his accumulated wealth, insurance, Washington home and Senate salary and perks, Lott sure enough should be able to rebuild nicely. That must have lifted the spirits of thousands of homeless and jobless people scattered in shelters, parks and homes across the country.
Then his mother, Barbara, who is said to be furious at criticism of her son’s handling of the disaster’s aftermath, made an appearance at the Astrodome at Houston, where tens of thousands of refugees from the coast were sheltered. Mrs. Bush said that many of the refugees “were underprivileged anyway,” and she suggested that they were better off now than before the hurricane and floods. She found it “scary” that lots of the penniless refugees might want to stay in Texas because they had found things so nice there and Texans so hospitable.
She could have added, “Let them eat cake.”
While the whole country — the whole world, literally — watched the horrors unfolding in the streets and arenas of New Orleans, President Bush showed up for a photo-op on the Mississippi coast to lend his moral support to U. S. Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., whose big manse was splintered by Hurricane Katrina along with thousands of humbler dwellings in the storm’s path.
“Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house — he’s lost his entire house — there’s going to be a fantastic house,” the president announced for the cameras. “And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch.”
With his accumulated wealth, insurance, Washington home and Senate salary and perks, Lott sure enough should be able to rebuild nicely. That must have lifted the spirits of thousands of homeless and jobless people scattered in shelters, parks and homes across the country.
Then his mother, Barbara, who is said to be furious at criticism of her son’s handling of the disaster’s aftermath, made an appearance at the Astrodome at Houston, where tens of thousands of refugees from the coast were sheltered. Mrs. Bush said that many of the refugees “were underprivileged anyway,” and she suggested that they were better off now than before the hurricane and floods. She found it “scary” that lots of the penniless refugees might want to stay in Texas because they had found things so nice there and Texans so hospitable.
She could have added, “Let them eat cake.”
EDITORIAL >> Co-ops vs. predators
On Oct. 1, the Arkansas State Electric Cooperatives Corp. will increase its wholesale rates by 3.8 percent, its first increase in 20 years. In the same period the coop lowered — yes, lowered — its wholesale rate for electricity seven times.
We mention that modest little rate increase and the historical trivia because it seems to be an immutable law that energy costs, driven by economic forces beyond our ken and our power in this poor little state, must always go up. The co-ops apparently don’t grasp the law.
Meantime, the energy we buy from investor-owned utilities like Centerpoint Energy (formerly Arkansas Louisiana Gas Co.), Arkansas Western Gas Co., Arkansas Oklahoma Gas Corp. and Entergy Corp. (formerly Arkansas Power and Light Co. and its sisters) keeps going up much faster than the Consumer Price Index.
Centerpoint Energy, the California and Texas giant that acquired Arkla, wants to double the base rate on its 430,000 customers in Arkansas, on top of a 50 percent increase in 2003. State auditors found the company’s figures stupefyingly clumsy and suggested that its base rates be slashed instead by $13 million a year. The Public Service Commission has not acted yet.
That big increase in the base rate does not include a large part of your monthly gas bill, which is the price of gas acquired by the company for resale to you, which it can pass along to you without having to justify it to state regulators. The gas-purchase adjustment shows up as a line on your gas bill.
The two regional utilities serving northwestern Arkansas are seeking big rate increases, too. The big guy, Centerpoint, provides them the cover.
Gil Glover, a utility counsel for the legislature, told lawmakers last week that after a 105 percent increase in residential gas prices in the past decade, Arkansas was no longer a low-cost gas state, as it once was. Spot prices for natural gas, he said, are nearly a dollar a thousand cubic feet above the national average. And Arkansas is in one of the largest gas-producing states and the state with the lowest severance tax on natural gas in the country —the virtually invisible rate of three-tenths of a penny per thousand cubic feet. So it is not confiscatory taxes, which the corporate apologists like to blame for exploding costs.
The huge run-up in wellhead and retail prices occurred after the major gas distribution company, Arkla, sold out to a big conglomerate — one with a record of energy supply and price manipulation — and after a relaxation of state regulation. This may be just a coincidence, but you will have trouble convincing us. The state makes little effort to go beyond the gas-purchase figures supplied by the companies, and state law is already generous in its treatment of the pricing of company-produced gas.
John Bethel, executive director of the state Public Service Commission, told the legislature’s Joint Committee on Energy that gas bills in Arkansas were apt to go up 50 percent or more this winter, compared with last winter. Some of it will be owing to the disruption of gas supply by Hurricane Katrina — all economic problems will be blamed on Katrina for a while, just as they were blamed on 9/11 for years — but Bethel acknowledged that companies would be jacking up residential gas rates without Katrina. Bethel stoutly defended the utilities, which he said were virtually powerless in the face of uncontrollable market forces. No one is to blame. Gas was just meant to be unaffordable for working folks.
Here is a slightly heartening note. A bunch of the lawmakers were not buying the powerlessness ideas. Rep. John Paul Verkamp, a thoughtful Republican from Greenwood, was particularly nettled at the idea that prices were skyrocketing, particularly for residential customers, and that the state regulatory agency could not do anything about it. “The residential class has been left behind,” Verkamp declared. When an Arkansas lawmaker, and a Republican, talks like that, there may be hope.
We mention that modest little rate increase and the historical trivia because it seems to be an immutable law that energy costs, driven by economic forces beyond our ken and our power in this poor little state, must always go up. The co-ops apparently don’t grasp the law.
Meantime, the energy we buy from investor-owned utilities like Centerpoint Energy (formerly Arkansas Louisiana Gas Co.), Arkansas Western Gas Co., Arkansas Oklahoma Gas Corp. and Entergy Corp. (formerly Arkansas Power and Light Co. and its sisters) keeps going up much faster than the Consumer Price Index.
Centerpoint Energy, the California and Texas giant that acquired Arkla, wants to double the base rate on its 430,000 customers in Arkansas, on top of a 50 percent increase in 2003. State auditors found the company’s figures stupefyingly clumsy and suggested that its base rates be slashed instead by $13 million a year. The Public Service Commission has not acted yet.
That big increase in the base rate does not include a large part of your monthly gas bill, which is the price of gas acquired by the company for resale to you, which it can pass along to you without having to justify it to state regulators. The gas-purchase adjustment shows up as a line on your gas bill.
The two regional utilities serving northwestern Arkansas are seeking big rate increases, too. The big guy, Centerpoint, provides them the cover.
Gil Glover, a utility counsel for the legislature, told lawmakers last week that after a 105 percent increase in residential gas prices in the past decade, Arkansas was no longer a low-cost gas state, as it once was. Spot prices for natural gas, he said, are nearly a dollar a thousand cubic feet above the national average. And Arkansas is in one of the largest gas-producing states and the state with the lowest severance tax on natural gas in the country —the virtually invisible rate of three-tenths of a penny per thousand cubic feet. So it is not confiscatory taxes, which the corporate apologists like to blame for exploding costs.
The huge run-up in wellhead and retail prices occurred after the major gas distribution company, Arkla, sold out to a big conglomerate — one with a record of energy supply and price manipulation — and after a relaxation of state regulation. This may be just a coincidence, but you will have trouble convincing us. The state makes little effort to go beyond the gas-purchase figures supplied by the companies, and state law is already generous in its treatment of the pricing of company-produced gas.
John Bethel, executive director of the state Public Service Commission, told the legislature’s Joint Committee on Energy that gas bills in Arkansas were apt to go up 50 percent or more this winter, compared with last winter. Some of it will be owing to the disruption of gas supply by Hurricane Katrina — all economic problems will be blamed on Katrina for a while, just as they were blamed on 9/11 for years — but Bethel acknowledged that companies would be jacking up residential gas rates without Katrina. Bethel stoutly defended the utilities, which he said were virtually powerless in the face of uncontrollable market forces. No one is to blame. Gas was just meant to be unaffordable for working folks.
Here is a slightly heartening note. A bunch of the lawmakers were not buying the powerlessness ideas. Rep. John Paul Verkamp, a thoughtful Republican from Greenwood, was particularly nettled at the idea that prices were skyrocketing, particularly for residential customers, and that the state regulatory agency could not do anything about it. “The residential class has been left behind,” Verkamp declared. When an Arkansas lawmaker, and a Republican, talks like that, there may be hope.
TOP STORY >> Evacuees receiving hope
By RICKY HARVEY
Leader managing editor
The pride in Jacksonville Mayor Tommy Swaim’s voice is evident.
He’s not only pleased with the way the community re-sponded to help the influx of Hurricane Katrina evacuees, but he’s overwhelmingly satisfied with the way the help was initiated and continues to take place.
“You always have a lot of pride when the citizens of the community do good things and this has definitely been a real good thing,” Swaim said.
“We’ve had a situation where we’ve had to step up and it’s been gratifying to see the generosity in so many different ways.
“We’ve had situations before where we’ve had to set up shelters to help people locally with ice storms, but this time we’ve had local people helping others from outside of this area. It’s just been so gratifying.”
According to Angie Mitchell, volunteer with the Jacksonville hurricane relief center, approximately 400 evacuees are staying in Jacksonville, with 20 families still staying in motels in the city.
Approximately 120 evacuees attended and 30 to 40 volunteers attended a special informational seminar Monday night at the Jacksonville Comm-unity Center where representatives from Social Security, FEMA, workforce services, HUD, Arkansas Department of Health, local banks, insurance companies and the Jacksonville Housing Authority fielded questions and signed people up for various services.
FishNet Missions, a Christian missionary organization, provided a meal for the group.
“The evacuees were able to ask questions and get certain concerns addressed,” said Anabelle Davis, Jacksonville marketing and public relations manager.
“Representatives from the different organizations and companies went around the room and met with the families.”
Monday’s meeting was just another service that the city of Jacksonville has provided to help the evacuees, Swaim said.
The third job fair in recent weeks will take place Thursday at the Jacksonville Community Cen-ter. The hurricane relief center, on South James Street coordinated by Mary Lou Gall, continues to field volunteers working daily to meet needs.
“It’s been very rewarding for me to see how generous the citizens have been, but it doesn’t surprise me,” Swaim said. “There are people out there volunteering on a daily basis when they should be at work and they should be taking care of their own family and their own needs. It’s just been an all-out community effort. Local churches have been outstanding and the chamber of commerce has played a huge role in this.”
And most of the work has been funded by donations, Swaim said.
“We didn’t go out begging for help immediately,” Swaim said. “We were able to get started immediately without any state or federal aid, and at this point, we’re not going to file for anything.
“We’ve had generous donations of money and we’re going to use that, and the city did appropriate funds that may be necessary.”
Goods and volunteers are still needed, Davis said.
“We have plenty of clothing available, but what we need are housing, housekeeping things,” Davis said. “People who get new places to stay need chairs to sit on, a bed to sleep in, pots, pans, knives, forks, small appliances, those kinds of things.
“Plus, Mary Lou is going to need a new round of volunteers in the future. The ones who have been working every day are getting tired.”
Other items that are needed include paper plates, paper cups, brooms, dust pans, mops, buckets, cleaning supplies, washers, dryers, irons and ironing boards.
Leader managing editor
The pride in Jacksonville Mayor Tommy Swaim’s voice is evident.
He’s not only pleased with the way the community re-sponded to help the influx of Hurricane Katrina evacuees, but he’s overwhelmingly satisfied with the way the help was initiated and continues to take place.
“You always have a lot of pride when the citizens of the community do good things and this has definitely been a real good thing,” Swaim said.
“We’ve had a situation where we’ve had to step up and it’s been gratifying to see the generosity in so many different ways.
“We’ve had situations before where we’ve had to set up shelters to help people locally with ice storms, but this time we’ve had local people helping others from outside of this area. It’s just been so gratifying.”
According to Angie Mitchell, volunteer with the Jacksonville hurricane relief center, approximately 400 evacuees are staying in Jacksonville, with 20 families still staying in motels in the city.
Approximately 120 evacuees attended and 30 to 40 volunteers attended a special informational seminar Monday night at the Jacksonville Comm-unity Center where representatives from Social Security, FEMA, workforce services, HUD, Arkansas Department of Health, local banks, insurance companies and the Jacksonville Housing Authority fielded questions and signed people up for various services.
FishNet Missions, a Christian missionary organization, provided a meal for the group.
“The evacuees were able to ask questions and get certain concerns addressed,” said Anabelle Davis, Jacksonville marketing and public relations manager.
“Representatives from the different organizations and companies went around the room and met with the families.”
Monday’s meeting was just another service that the city of Jacksonville has provided to help the evacuees, Swaim said.
The third job fair in recent weeks will take place Thursday at the Jacksonville Community Cen-ter. The hurricane relief center, on South James Street coordinated by Mary Lou Gall, continues to field volunteers working daily to meet needs.
“It’s been very rewarding for me to see how generous the citizens have been, but it doesn’t surprise me,” Swaim said. “There are people out there volunteering on a daily basis when they should be at work and they should be taking care of their own family and their own needs. It’s just been an all-out community effort. Local churches have been outstanding and the chamber of commerce has played a huge role in this.”
And most of the work has been funded by donations, Swaim said.
“We didn’t go out begging for help immediately,” Swaim said. “We were able to get started immediately without any state or federal aid, and at this point, we’re not going to file for anything.
“We’ve had generous donations of money and we’re going to use that, and the city did appropriate funds that may be necessary.”
Goods and volunteers are still needed, Davis said.
“We have plenty of clothing available, but what we need are housing, housekeeping things,” Davis said. “People who get new places to stay need chairs to sit on, a bed to sleep in, pots, pans, knives, forks, small appliances, those kinds of things.
“Plus, Mary Lou is going to need a new round of volunteers in the future. The ones who have been working every day are getting tired.”
Other items that are needed include paper plates, paper cups, brooms, dust pans, mops, buckets, cleaning supplies, washers, dryers, irons and ironing boards.
TOP STORY >> Guard helps victims
By SARA GREENE
Leader staff writer
NEW ORLEANS — Unimaginable, un-thinkable and chaotic are just a few words used by Col. Richard Swan, commander for Joint Task Force Arkansas in New Orleans, to describe the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Swan, the chief of staff for operations at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock, is commanding a workforce of troops from the Arkansas National Guard’s 189th Airlift Wing, the 188th Fighter Wing, the 35th Aviation Brigade, the 39th Infantry Brigade and the 142nd Field Artillery Brigade.
“The level of destruction is unimaginable, and the amount of human suffering is unthinkable,” Swan said.
Upon his arrival in New Orleans on Sept. 1, Swan oversaw the evacuation of about 16,000 people from the New Orleans Convention Center.
“It was heartbreaking to see people, pregnant women, elderly in wheelchairs, in those cramped, squalid conditions without food, water and toilets,” said Lt. Col. John Edwards of the 39th Infantry Brigade. “We had no problems from the people at the convention center and that’s more people than are in most Arkansas towns.”
In addition to evacuating the masses at the convention center, the troops provided medical attention.
“We had to patch up a few people there,” said Spc. Jason Mote of Searcy, in New Orleans with the 153rd Infantry Battalion. “We got out 15 dead. There were two decomposing bodies right there when we arrived. I was standing in a puddle from their bodies and didn’t even know it.”
New Orleans has been divided up into sectors patrolled by National Guard units from across the country. Currently, Joint Task Force Arkansas personnel patrol Metairie, La., in Jefferson Parish, enforcing a 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. curfew. So far, troops have only confiscated one pistol. The Guardsmen are also handing out food, water, ice and supplies such as toilet paper and diapers at the Operation Lifeline Depot inside the Robert Wallace Memorial Volunteer Fire Department in nearby Avondale. Ten other Operation Lifeline Depot sites are open across the parish.
“People are finding out about us by word of mouth,” said Lt. Col. Chris Rowzee of Jacksonville, who serves as the officer in charge of all Arkansas Air Guard operations for the task force.
Like many troops, Rowzee has visited New Orleans before.
“I’ll miss the culture and history in downtown. You can’t rebuild from something like this and keep that flavor,” she said.
Task Force Arkansas personnel are camped out at the Grace King School in Metairie. Electricity was restored to the building last week.
The damage from Hurricane Katrina will serve as the benchmark for natural disasters from now on, Swan told a group of reporters from Arkansas visiting the area on Wednesday.
“I think the amount of damage will be studied for a long time as how to respond to a superdisaster,” Swan said.
The work ahead for the military in New Orleans promises to be hot and tiring, but not without reward, the group said.
“What gives me hope is the resilience of the people in this area. Today people are moving around, cleaning up,” Swan said, adding that there is still much to do in other parts of the sprawling coastal city.
“The folks in Orleans Parish are just now seeing the roofs of their homes,” Swan said.
The military air traffic over the city is being handled by Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in New Orleans. The 35th Aviation Brigade has been coordinating the helicopter traffic over the area. At any given time, there can be 50 helicopters over the city.
“We have everything out here, Marine Hueys, Army Blackhawks and Chinooks,” said Lt. Col. Mark Smedley of the 35th Aviation Brigade at Camp Robinson.
There are four remote air traffic control towers set up throughout the city. Smedley said there are more than 500 helicopter flights each day in the airspace over New Orleans. Elsewhere in Metairie, many homes were spared from looting simply because the houses were underwater until just two days ago. Troops like Staff Sgt. Bill Catton of Cabot suited up in white biohazard suits in the parking lot of a looted McDonald’s before conducting a “meet and greet” in the upper-class Metairie Club Estates neighborhood.
The “meet and greets” are quick preliminary searches of homes the military feel are already evacuated.
“Our biggest challenge is just keeping the contaminates off us,” Catton said.
For example, each searcher had a Camelback canteen backpack on. The mouthpieces have to be meticulously wiped after each drink taken from the canteens in the contaminated area. The receding floodwaters have left behind a dried layer of toxins over everything they touched. The floodwaters turned once lush golf greens into a gray wasteland. Each home in the Metairie Club Estates bore brown stripes left by the receding floodwaters.
Staff Sgt. Anthony Francis of the 189th Medical Group has been busy giving out thousands of inoculations for hepatitis A, B and tetanus. These are the mostly contagious diseases in the area right now.
As the biohazard-clad troops began knocking on doors a resident, wearing a surgical mask, hugged Francis and wept.
Along Rue Chardonnay in the Avondale community, troops cleared trees from the street. Other than the dead limbs, the upper middle-class neighborhood adjacent to Lake Pontchartrain simply looked like it had weathered a bad storm.
On Esplanade Avenue, people stood in line for 30 minutes to receive inoculations for Hepatitis A, B and tetanus at the East Jefferson After Hours Clinic.
“Our parish is more secure today than it ever has been thanks to Arkansas,” said Barry Bordlun, who identified himself simply as a “born and raised coonass,” a slang, sometimes derogatory, term for Cajun.
“We’re going to get our parish up and going again once we get our citizens back.”
Leader staff writer
NEW ORLEANS — Unimaginable, un-thinkable and chaotic are just a few words used by Col. Richard Swan, commander for Joint Task Force Arkansas in New Orleans, to describe the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Swan, the chief of staff for operations at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock, is commanding a workforce of troops from the Arkansas National Guard’s 189th Airlift Wing, the 188th Fighter Wing, the 35th Aviation Brigade, the 39th Infantry Brigade and the 142nd Field Artillery Brigade.
“The level of destruction is unimaginable, and the amount of human suffering is unthinkable,” Swan said.
Upon his arrival in New Orleans on Sept. 1, Swan oversaw the evacuation of about 16,000 people from the New Orleans Convention Center.
“It was heartbreaking to see people, pregnant women, elderly in wheelchairs, in those cramped, squalid conditions without food, water and toilets,” said Lt. Col. John Edwards of the 39th Infantry Brigade. “We had no problems from the people at the convention center and that’s more people than are in most Arkansas towns.”
In addition to evacuating the masses at the convention center, the troops provided medical attention.
“We had to patch up a few people there,” said Spc. Jason Mote of Searcy, in New Orleans with the 153rd Infantry Battalion. “We got out 15 dead. There were two decomposing bodies right there when we arrived. I was standing in a puddle from their bodies and didn’t even know it.”
New Orleans has been divided up into sectors patrolled by National Guard units from across the country. Currently, Joint Task Force Arkansas personnel patrol Metairie, La., in Jefferson Parish, enforcing a 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. curfew. So far, troops have only confiscated one pistol. The Guardsmen are also handing out food, water, ice and supplies such as toilet paper and diapers at the Operation Lifeline Depot inside the Robert Wallace Memorial Volunteer Fire Department in nearby Avondale. Ten other Operation Lifeline Depot sites are open across the parish.
“People are finding out about us by word of mouth,” said Lt. Col. Chris Rowzee of Jacksonville, who serves as the officer in charge of all Arkansas Air Guard operations for the task force.
Like many troops, Rowzee has visited New Orleans before.
“I’ll miss the culture and history in downtown. You can’t rebuild from something like this and keep that flavor,” she said.
Task Force Arkansas personnel are camped out at the Grace King School in Metairie. Electricity was restored to the building last week.
The damage from Hurricane Katrina will serve as the benchmark for natural disasters from now on, Swan told a group of reporters from Arkansas visiting the area on Wednesday.
“I think the amount of damage will be studied for a long time as how to respond to a superdisaster,” Swan said.
The work ahead for the military in New Orleans promises to be hot and tiring, but not without reward, the group said.
“What gives me hope is the resilience of the people in this area. Today people are moving around, cleaning up,” Swan said, adding that there is still much to do in other parts of the sprawling coastal city.
“The folks in Orleans Parish are just now seeing the roofs of their homes,” Swan said.
The military air traffic over the city is being handled by Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in New Orleans. The 35th Aviation Brigade has been coordinating the helicopter traffic over the area. At any given time, there can be 50 helicopters over the city.
“We have everything out here, Marine Hueys, Army Blackhawks and Chinooks,” said Lt. Col. Mark Smedley of the 35th Aviation Brigade at Camp Robinson.
There are four remote air traffic control towers set up throughout the city. Smedley said there are more than 500 helicopter flights each day in the airspace over New Orleans. Elsewhere in Metairie, many homes were spared from looting simply because the houses were underwater until just two days ago. Troops like Staff Sgt. Bill Catton of Cabot suited up in white biohazard suits in the parking lot of a looted McDonald’s before conducting a “meet and greet” in the upper-class Metairie Club Estates neighborhood.
The “meet and greets” are quick preliminary searches of homes the military feel are already evacuated.
“Our biggest challenge is just keeping the contaminates off us,” Catton said.
For example, each searcher had a Camelback canteen backpack on. The mouthpieces have to be meticulously wiped after each drink taken from the canteens in the contaminated area. The receding floodwaters have left behind a dried layer of toxins over everything they touched. The floodwaters turned once lush golf greens into a gray wasteland. Each home in the Metairie Club Estates bore brown stripes left by the receding floodwaters.
Staff Sgt. Anthony Francis of the 189th Medical Group has been busy giving out thousands of inoculations for hepatitis A, B and tetanus. These are the mostly contagious diseases in the area right now.
As the biohazard-clad troops began knocking on doors a resident, wearing a surgical mask, hugged Francis and wept.
Along Rue Chardonnay in the Avondale community, troops cleared trees from the street. Other than the dead limbs, the upper middle-class neighborhood adjacent to Lake Pontchartrain simply looked like it had weathered a bad storm.
On Esplanade Avenue, people stood in line for 30 minutes to receive inoculations for Hepatitis A, B and tetanus at the East Jefferson After Hours Clinic.
“Our parish is more secure today than it ever has been thanks to Arkansas,” said Barry Bordlun, who identified himself simply as a “born and raised coonass,” a slang, sometimes derogatory, term for Cajun.
“We’re going to get our parish up and going again once we get our citizens back.”
TOP STORY >> Cabot decides to keep sales tax
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
It’s a landslide.
Cabot voters said loud and clear Tuesday that they prefer to pay for their new sewer treatment plant by extending an existing sales tax seven additional years rather than doubling sewer rates.
The vote to extend the tax was 927 for, 187 against.
In a breakdown of all the projects to be funded with the sales tax, the unofficial results as supplied by Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh, who was waiting as the ballots were counted, are: sewer plant, 901 for, 202 against; overpass, 724 for, 366 against; community center, 695 for, 386 against; street improvements, 787 for, 304 against; animal shelter, 768 for, 324 against.
Stumbaugh opposed paying for the treatment plant with the sales tax, and said Tuesday night that he hadn’t changed his mind.
“A man stands where he stands,” the mayor said. “I think utilities should be paid for with rates.”
Still, he said he believes in the system. The voters have spoken, he said, and he is thrilled that some of the long-awaited projects can now begin.
“I am so excited about this community center being built,” Stumbaugh said. “I’m so excited about this animal shelter. And I’m so excited about this overpass because we’re going to save people’s lives.”
Alderman Odis Waymack, who with Alderman Eddie Cook sponsored the ordinance, submitting the tax extension to city voters, also waited while the ballots were counted. Waymack said he was pleased with the results that he believes are a message from city voters.
The tax was set to end when the water debt was repaid.
The approved tax extension will be used to pay off the existing $7 million debt and finance $16.5 million for a new sewer plant and improvements to sever lines, $1.5 million to build the community center which came in over budget, $200,000 for the animal shelter, $800,000 for the city’s part of a federally-funded railroad overpass and $1.2 million for street improvements.
Leader staff writer
It’s a landslide.
Cabot voters said loud and clear Tuesday that they prefer to pay for their new sewer treatment plant by extending an existing sales tax seven additional years rather than doubling sewer rates.
The vote to extend the tax was 927 for, 187 against.
In a breakdown of all the projects to be funded with the sales tax, the unofficial results as supplied by Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh, who was waiting as the ballots were counted, are: sewer plant, 901 for, 202 against; overpass, 724 for, 366 against; community center, 695 for, 386 against; street improvements, 787 for, 304 against; animal shelter, 768 for, 324 against.
Stumbaugh opposed paying for the treatment plant with the sales tax, and said Tuesday night that he hadn’t changed his mind.
“A man stands where he stands,” the mayor said. “I think utilities should be paid for with rates.”
Still, he said he believes in the system. The voters have spoken, he said, and he is thrilled that some of the long-awaited projects can now begin.
“I am so excited about this community center being built,” Stumbaugh said. “I’m so excited about this animal shelter. And I’m so excited about this overpass because we’re going to save people’s lives.”
Alderman Odis Waymack, who with Alderman Eddie Cook sponsored the ordinance, submitting the tax extension to city voters, also waited while the ballots were counted. Waymack said he was pleased with the results that he believes are a message from city voters.
The tax was set to end when the water debt was repaid.
The approved tax extension will be used to pay off the existing $7 million debt and finance $16.5 million for a new sewer plant and improvements to sever lines, $1.5 million to build the community center which came in over budget, $200,000 for the animal shelter, $800,000 for the city’s part of a federally-funded railroad overpass and $1.2 million for street improvements.
TOP STORY >> Foreign aid keeps coming
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
Gov. Mike Huckabee visited Little Rock Air Force Base Tuesday to see first-hand the extent of the aid being delivered from foreign countries and from NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
When its converted Boeing 707 landed at the base Monday with 24,000 blankets, 600 cots and 14 large tents for those displaced by Hurricane Katrina, it marked the first time NATO’s newly formed rapid-reaction force has been used for humanitarian relief, according to Capt. Robert Firman, public information chief, who accompanied the supplies from Geilenkirchen, Germany.
The force was created to respond quickly to help stabilize hostilities and restore order in conflicts.
Firman said the 10 tons of blankets and cots — five pallets worth — were donated by the Czech Republic and said many more flights and boatloads of supplies would be coming from NATO, and that many NATO member nations had already delivered relief supplies to the base, which has been designated as the hub for international relief delivered by air.
The supplies were unloaded in about 30 minutes.
In the days since the base was designated as the hub for relief, 31 international flights have delivered 303 pallets of aid weighing 1,225 tons, according its public information office. That’s 2.45 million pounds.
Those pallets had been loaded onto semi-tractor trailers for delivery into the hurricane-ravaged area.
“Serving as the hub for international aid, Little Rock Air Force Base stands ready and able to take on the hundreds of thousands of tons of incoming relief supplies,” said Brig. Gen. Kip Self, who assumed command of the base only Friday. “Our airmen at the base continuously train to move people and supplies. This life-saving effort puts our training into action by helping victims of Hurricane Katrina.”
In addition to the NATO flight, planes from Belgium, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Israel, Italy, Russia, Spain, Tunis, Thai-land and the United Nations had offloaded relief supplies at the base.
Disaster aid coming from China and Russia, former bitter Iron Curtain, Cold War enemies of the U.S., so impressed Vice Commander Col. Dave Watson, that he’s discussed it with his family.
“This is the good side of the wall coming down,” he said. “This is history in the making.”
Watson said he was further impressed by the Tunisian relief effort. They sent two cargo planes, one with “a full-blown colonel” each with two crews so they could fly shifts, stopping only for fuel.
As for the NATO aid, Firman said the U.S. requested NATO help on Thursday, the council voted Friday, and by Monday the 707 had been loaded, flown across the Atlantic Ocean and unloaded at Little Rock Air Force Base.
Col. Reinhard Mack, command pilot for the flight, said the rapid response was a demonstration of NATO teamwork, logistical capabilities and coordination.
Mack, a German who did his pilot training at Shepherd Air Force Base, said it gave him a good feeling to be involved in the relief.
In addition to unloading supplies, storing them and loading them onto trucks, base personnel have flown 31 sorties in support of Katrina relief, including 525 passengers and 84.25 tons.
Thirty-six airmen are deployed in support of Joint Task Force Katrina.
Leader staff writer
Gov. Mike Huckabee visited Little Rock Air Force Base Tuesday to see first-hand the extent of the aid being delivered from foreign countries and from NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
When its converted Boeing 707 landed at the base Monday with 24,000 blankets, 600 cots and 14 large tents for those displaced by Hurricane Katrina, it marked the first time NATO’s newly formed rapid-reaction force has been used for humanitarian relief, according to Capt. Robert Firman, public information chief, who accompanied the supplies from Geilenkirchen, Germany.
The force was created to respond quickly to help stabilize hostilities and restore order in conflicts.
Firman said the 10 tons of blankets and cots — five pallets worth — were donated by the Czech Republic and said many more flights and boatloads of supplies would be coming from NATO, and that many NATO member nations had already delivered relief supplies to the base, which has been designated as the hub for international relief delivered by air.
The supplies were unloaded in about 30 minutes.
In the days since the base was designated as the hub for relief, 31 international flights have delivered 303 pallets of aid weighing 1,225 tons, according its public information office. That’s 2.45 million pounds.
Those pallets had been loaded onto semi-tractor trailers for delivery into the hurricane-ravaged area.
“Serving as the hub for international aid, Little Rock Air Force Base stands ready and able to take on the hundreds of thousands of tons of incoming relief supplies,” said Brig. Gen. Kip Self, who assumed command of the base only Friday. “Our airmen at the base continuously train to move people and supplies. This life-saving effort puts our training into action by helping victims of Hurricane Katrina.”
In addition to the NATO flight, planes from Belgium, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Israel, Italy, Russia, Spain, Tunis, Thai-land and the United Nations had offloaded relief supplies at the base.
Disaster aid coming from China and Russia, former bitter Iron Curtain, Cold War enemies of the U.S., so impressed Vice Commander Col. Dave Watson, that he’s discussed it with his family.
“This is the good side of the wall coming down,” he said. “This is history in the making.”
Watson said he was further impressed by the Tunisian relief effort. They sent two cargo planes, one with “a full-blown colonel” each with two crews so they could fly shifts, stopping only for fuel.
As for the NATO aid, Firman said the U.S. requested NATO help on Thursday, the council voted Friday, and by Monday the 707 had been loaded, flown across the Atlantic Ocean and unloaded at Little Rock Air Force Base.
Col. Reinhard Mack, command pilot for the flight, said the rapid response was a demonstration of NATO teamwork, logistical capabilities and coordination.
Mack, a German who did his pilot training at Shepherd Air Force Base, said it gave him a good feeling to be involved in the relief.
In addition to unloading supplies, storing them and loading them onto trucks, base personnel have flown 31 sorties in support of Katrina relief, including 525 passengers and 84.25 tons.
Thirty-six airmen are deployed in support of Joint Task Force Katrina.
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