Junior Auxiliary event to benefit Angel Tree
The Jacksonville Junior Auxiliary will host a tea for the annual Angel Tree from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Coonts’ home, 602 Foxwood Drive.
The Angel Tree provides the opportunity for families to buy Christmas gifts for underprivileged children in Jacksonville.
For more information, contact Shana Young at 982-9440 or send an e-mail to shanayoung@aristotle.net.
Salvation Army assistance sign-ups start Friday
The Salvation Army Christmas assistance sign-ups will be taken from 9 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 3 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Nov. 3-4 and Monday through Thursday, Nov. 7-10.
To apply for assistance bring a picture ID, Social Security cards for everyone in the home, proof of birth for all children, verification of current address and proof of income for all members of household.
The Salvation Army is located at 209 S. Oak Street, across from Jacksonville Elementary School.
Community center classes free for canned food
The Jacksonville Community Center will be hosting “Get Fit to Gobble,” Nov. 7-18, a free way non-members of the community center can try out Land Group aerobic classes. The classes will be free during that time for two cans of food or non-perishable items. These items will be given to one of the food pantries in Jacksonville for the Thanksgiving holiday. A class list can be picked up at the community center.
For more information, call 982-4171.
JHS seeks volunteers for cleanup day Nov. 19
Jacksonville High School will hold its second annual “Dirt Bustin’ Devil Dustin’” cleanup day from 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, Nov. 19.
Volunteers are needed to help with landscaping, donating pressure washers, trees, bushes, trash cans, cleaning clothes, paint brushes, picnic table paint, weed killer and cleaning supplies.
Business, family, church, youth groups and other members of the community are encouraged to become involved. To volunteer time or to donate items listed above, call the school at 982-2128. Ask for Mrs. P. White or Mrs. Skidmore.
Pathfinder fund-raiser includes Hot Springs raffle
Pathfinder Inc. of Jacksonville is having a fund-raiser for a pavilion at the Jim Pickens Workshop by raffling off a trip for two to Hot Springs. The prize includes a two-night stay at the Arlington Hotel, massages, thermal baths and a carriage ride. Also included is dinner for two at Coy’s Steakhouse, a meal for two at Granny’s Kitchen and a meal for two at the hotel. The drawing will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 23 during the annual talent show. For more information please contact (501) 533-6363.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
NEIGHBORS >> Cabot shelter breaks ground
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
The groundbreaking in Cabot Monday marked the end of a long wait for a new animal shelter that has been requested by animal lovers there for more than five years.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh said about the year-long delay in getting started that was the result of the council refusing to rezone the site on Kerr Station Road where the old shelter is located. “It’s just sad that so many animals were needlessly killed.”
Over the past year, the shelter has euthanized as many as 100 dogs a month, he said.
The new, $500,000 shelter will hold more animals so space constraints won’t force the city to kill so many. Also, it will be built on First Street on the grounds of the Allman-Bevis Sports Complex where the hope is high traffic will lead to higher adoption rates.
When the new shelter opens in about nine months, it will have a room where prospective owners can get acquainted with animals they are considering adopting.
It also will have a room for impounding cats, which means the city’s four-year-old ordinance requiring residents to control their cats wanderings or risk having them picked up will finally go into effect.
Over the years, the city has collected about half the money needed to build the animal shelter.
A small amount came from fundraisers but most came from the city general fund.
The original plan was to build the shelter in stages, but Alder-man Eddie Cook, convinced the council that it would be better to include money to complete it in a sales tax extension approved by city voters in September.
Stumbaugh opposed the tax (which also will completely pay for a sewer plant, and help with the costs of a railroad overpass and the new community center) because city voters were promised five years ago that the tax would sunset.
But he said Tuesday that he is pleased the tax will allow for a better animal shelter and despite the year delay and more unnecessary deaths of animals, he is glad the shelter will finally be built in a place where unwanted animals will have a better chance of finding a home.
Leader staff writer
The groundbreaking in Cabot Monday marked the end of a long wait for a new animal shelter that has been requested by animal lovers there for more than five years.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh said about the year-long delay in getting started that was the result of the council refusing to rezone the site on Kerr Station Road where the old shelter is located. “It’s just sad that so many animals were needlessly killed.”
Over the past year, the shelter has euthanized as many as 100 dogs a month, he said.
The new, $500,000 shelter will hold more animals so space constraints won’t force the city to kill so many. Also, it will be built on First Street on the grounds of the Allman-Bevis Sports Complex where the hope is high traffic will lead to higher adoption rates.
When the new shelter opens in about nine months, it will have a room where prospective owners can get acquainted with animals they are considering adopting.
It also will have a room for impounding cats, which means the city’s four-year-old ordinance requiring residents to control their cats wanderings or risk having them picked up will finally go into effect.
Over the years, the city has collected about half the money needed to build the animal shelter.
A small amount came from fundraisers but most came from the city general fund.
The original plan was to build the shelter in stages, but Alder-man Eddie Cook, convinced the council that it would be better to include money to complete it in a sales tax extension approved by city voters in September.
Stumbaugh opposed the tax (which also will completely pay for a sewer plant, and help with the costs of a railroad overpass and the new community center) because city voters were promised five years ago that the tax would sunset.
But he said Tuesday that he is pleased the tax will allow for a better animal shelter and despite the year delay and more unnecessary deaths of animals, he is glad the shelter will finally be built in a place where unwanted animals will have a better chance of finding a home.
SPORTS >> Wildcats to settle 6AA title at Des Arc
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Everyone figured that the regular-season finale for Harding Academy would likely be all about preserving an undefeated record and securing another conference championship. There was the possibility that Hughes could slip up on the Wildcats to make it a more interesting race, but few expected their week 10 matchup with Des Arc to be quite as big as it is.
The Eagles have surprised everyone so far this season and also sit at 9-0, 8-0 in conference, making this one final game with perennial power Harding Academy for all the marbles in the 6AA.
Des Arc, however, is not only playing for a conference championship, the Eagles
are also playing for their first conference championship since 1982, their first undefeated regular season since 1976 and third in school history, and for their first-ever win over Harding Academy.
Everyone thought HA would be here at this point, while very few thought the same of Des Arc, but don’t tell Eagle head coach Tim Harper that his team has exceeded expectations.
“We may have exceeded your expectations,” Harper said. “We’ve felt all along we’re a pretty good football team.”
The season is ending for the Eagles the way it began, as underdogs.
In week one, Des Arc played highly ranked Hazen, and waxed its biggest rival with ease 35-0, and Hazen isn’t bad. They’re also playing for their conference championship this week.
It’s the last time Des Arc has been such an underdog, until this week.
“We’ve sort of felt like the underdogs all year,” Harper said. “We kind of relish the idea that people don’t believe in us. It gives us a little something more to play for. It helps unite us a little bit.”
Moving from intangibles to tangibles, Harper feels his team matches up very well. Des Arc shares eight common opponents with HA, and has faired a little better than the Wildcats. HA has one of the most explosive offenses in the state, while Des Arc boasts one of the stingiest defenses.
Des Arc is bigger and probably even a little faster, but the Wildcats are so good at what they do, Harper is still worried sick.
“I’m probably more nervous about this than any of my players,” Harper said. “They’re (HA) so precise, and so good at running their offense, it’s scary. There have been times in the past when I’ve known what they were going to do, and told my kids exactly what they were about to do, and we still couldn’t stop it. That is one of the best-coached teams in the state of Arkansas for any classification. It’s remarkable what they accomplish up there year in and year out.
“I know we have the physical advantages in this game. I think our speed has been underestimated all year. We just have to be very well prepared. We have to be ready and we can’t make mistakes.”
Harding Academy head coach Tommy Shoemaker doesn’t see Des Arc as an underdog either. The Wildcats are taking this game to heart more than any other all season. Shoemaker says the preparation for the big game has been intense.
“A lot of the players have made comments about how excited they are,” Shoemaker said. “You can tell these kids are taking it very seriously. There has been a tremendous increase in intensity around here this week, they have been taking game film home and watching it.
“This will be the best all-around team we have played so far this year. They have a ton of talent. We have been looking forward to this game for a few weeks now, I think it is going to be exciting.”
As for who has the advantage, Shoemaker believes that experience will outweigh talent when it all comes down to the wire.
“I think experience helps in situations like this, we are somewhat used to preparing for big games. It’s a little bit of an advantage, so hopefully it will help us some.”
Leader sports editor
Everyone figured that the regular-season finale for Harding Academy would likely be all about preserving an undefeated record and securing another conference championship. There was the possibility that Hughes could slip up on the Wildcats to make it a more interesting race, but few expected their week 10 matchup with Des Arc to be quite as big as it is.
The Eagles have surprised everyone so far this season and also sit at 9-0, 8-0 in conference, making this one final game with perennial power Harding Academy for all the marbles in the 6AA.
Des Arc, however, is not only playing for a conference championship, the Eagles
are also playing for their first conference championship since 1982, their first undefeated regular season since 1976 and third in school history, and for their first-ever win over Harding Academy.
Everyone thought HA would be here at this point, while very few thought the same of Des Arc, but don’t tell Eagle head coach Tim Harper that his team has exceeded expectations.
“We may have exceeded your expectations,” Harper said. “We’ve felt all along we’re a pretty good football team.”
The season is ending for the Eagles the way it began, as underdogs.
In week one, Des Arc played highly ranked Hazen, and waxed its biggest rival with ease 35-0, and Hazen isn’t bad. They’re also playing for their conference championship this week.
It’s the last time Des Arc has been such an underdog, until this week.
“We’ve sort of felt like the underdogs all year,” Harper said. “We kind of relish the idea that people don’t believe in us. It gives us a little something more to play for. It helps unite us a little bit.”
Moving from intangibles to tangibles, Harper feels his team matches up very well. Des Arc shares eight common opponents with HA, and has faired a little better than the Wildcats. HA has one of the most explosive offenses in the state, while Des Arc boasts one of the stingiest defenses.
Des Arc is bigger and probably even a little faster, but the Wildcats are so good at what they do, Harper is still worried sick.
“I’m probably more nervous about this than any of my players,” Harper said. “They’re (HA) so precise, and so good at running their offense, it’s scary. There have been times in the past when I’ve known what they were going to do, and told my kids exactly what they were about to do, and we still couldn’t stop it. That is one of the best-coached teams in the state of Arkansas for any classification. It’s remarkable what they accomplish up there year in and year out.
“I know we have the physical advantages in this game. I think our speed has been underestimated all year. We just have to be very well prepared. We have to be ready and we can’t make mistakes.”
Harding Academy head coach Tommy Shoemaker doesn’t see Des Arc as an underdog either. The Wildcats are taking this game to heart more than any other all season. Shoemaker says the preparation for the big game has been intense.
“A lot of the players have made comments about how excited they are,” Shoemaker said. “You can tell these kids are taking it very seriously. There has been a tremendous increase in intensity around here this week, they have been taking game film home and watching it.
“This will be the best all-around team we have played so far this year. They have a ton of talent. We have been looking forward to this game for a few weeks now, I think it is going to be exciting.”
As for who has the advantage, Shoemaker believes that experience will outweigh talent when it all comes down to the wire.
“I think experience helps in situations like this, we are somewhat used to preparing for big games. It’s a little bit of an advantage, so hopefully it will help us some.”
SPORTS >> Traditional rivalry still heated
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
When it comes to Week 10 of the high school football season, one thing is certain, that Cabot and Jacksonville will meet up in a very meaningful football game.
Circumstances such as playoff seedings or eligibility may change. Those circumstances may even be meaningless, as is the case this year, but the game itself won’t be.
Jacksonville doesn’t need playoff implications to want to beat Cabot, and the same goes for the Panthers, especially after last season, when the Red Devils beat Cabot for the first time in eight years.
Win, lose or draw, Jack-sonville is going to play Spring-dale in the first round of the playoffs next week, and Cabot’s season will end Thursday night, but don’t think that either team will play like there’s nothing on the line.
Cabot wants to salvage as much as it can of a lost season by beating an arch rival that has done little to allow the Panthers to forget last season’s game.
Jacksonville wants to prove last year’s game was no fluke, and wants to head into the playoffs with a confidence-building victory.
The fact that the game has no playoff implications doesn’t bother Jacksonville coach Mark Whatley. He believes his team will be just as ready to play football as it has all season.
“I don’t think we’ll have a letdown,” Whatley said. “The reason I say that is because we haven’t had one all year. We haven’t played very well at times, but no one can accuse us of not playing hard.”
The Red Devils have followed a pattern all year.
They have beaten the teams that had worse records than theirs, and lost to the ones that had better records. All of the losses were close, until last week, when West Memphis put a 50-13 pounding on them.
Still, that doesn’t have Whatley worried about his team’s morale.
“Like I said, nothing has really gotten this team down and gotten them to not giving it everything they have,” Whatley said.
“That’s a testament to them. They do that. They get ready to play and they leave it all out there. It hasn’t always gone well for us, but they don’t let up. West Memphis is a good football team and they whipped us, but we’re going to come right back from that and play hard. We just have to play better.”
While no playoff implications and low morale after a big loss doesn’t concern Whatley, the fact that Cabot is 1-8 and in the midst of a five-game losing streak that includes losses to two teams Jacksonville hammered doesn’t give him any comfort either.
“Oh yeah there’s danger in this game, you’re dadgum right there’s danger.
“The danger is we’ve seen them on film and nobody has stopped them all year,” Whatley said. “They’ve stopped themselves. They go on 16-, 19-play drives and them fumble it. They get down to the 10-yard line and turn it over.
“We can’t count on them doing that. They’re not going to give us a lot of chances, so we’re going to have to be opportunistic when we get the ball. And hopefully we’ll find a way to stop them.
“That’s a good football team, and a dad-gum-good offense. Besides, this is Jacksonville against Cabot. What else is there to say?”
Leader sports editor
When it comes to Week 10 of the high school football season, one thing is certain, that Cabot and Jacksonville will meet up in a very meaningful football game.
Circumstances such as playoff seedings or eligibility may change. Those circumstances may even be meaningless, as is the case this year, but the game itself won’t be.
Jacksonville doesn’t need playoff implications to want to beat Cabot, and the same goes for the Panthers, especially after last season, when the Red Devils beat Cabot for the first time in eight years.
Win, lose or draw, Jack-sonville is going to play Spring-dale in the first round of the playoffs next week, and Cabot’s season will end Thursday night, but don’t think that either team will play like there’s nothing on the line.
Cabot wants to salvage as much as it can of a lost season by beating an arch rival that has done little to allow the Panthers to forget last season’s game.
Jacksonville wants to prove last year’s game was no fluke, and wants to head into the playoffs with a confidence-building victory.
The fact that the game has no playoff implications doesn’t bother Jacksonville coach Mark Whatley. He believes his team will be just as ready to play football as it has all season.
“I don’t think we’ll have a letdown,” Whatley said. “The reason I say that is because we haven’t had one all year. We haven’t played very well at times, but no one can accuse us of not playing hard.”
The Red Devils have followed a pattern all year.
They have beaten the teams that had worse records than theirs, and lost to the ones that had better records. All of the losses were close, until last week, when West Memphis put a 50-13 pounding on them.
Still, that doesn’t have Whatley worried about his team’s morale.
“Like I said, nothing has really gotten this team down and gotten them to not giving it everything they have,” Whatley said.
“That’s a testament to them. They do that. They get ready to play and they leave it all out there. It hasn’t always gone well for us, but they don’t let up. West Memphis is a good football team and they whipped us, but we’re going to come right back from that and play hard. We just have to play better.”
While no playoff implications and low morale after a big loss doesn’t concern Whatley, the fact that Cabot is 1-8 and in the midst of a five-game losing streak that includes losses to two teams Jacksonville hammered doesn’t give him any comfort either.
“Oh yeah there’s danger in this game, you’re dadgum right there’s danger.
“The danger is we’ve seen them on film and nobody has stopped them all year,” Whatley said. “They’ve stopped themselves. They go on 16-, 19-play drives and them fumble it. They get down to the 10-yard line and turn it over.
“We can’t count on them doing that. They’re not going to give us a lot of chances, so we’re going to have to be opportunistic when we get the ball. And hopefully we’ll find a way to stop them.
“That’s a good football team, and a dad-gum-good offense. Besides, this is Jacksonville against Cabot. What else is there to say?”
EDITORIAL >> Huck invites only friends
Gov. Huckabee threw another of those occasional grand luncheons at the governor’s new and more majestic residential compound the other day and invited The Arkansas Media. It was said to be a passable feast and then everyone got to hear the governor and other chieftains in the government explain Arkansas’ desperate need for fresh bonded indebtedness to resurface more Interstate routes and improve university campus settings.
Full disclosure: The Leader neither was invited nor crashed the party and so must depend upon the news accounts of it just like a few other journals that have from time to time criticized Gov. Huckabee’s initiatives or the ethical slips in his office. In the governor’s communications division, they keep a keen eye on these matters.
From the news accounts, we concluded that the repast was OK but not to die for and that the rest of the fare was even less to be relished by those of us who were not favored with invitations. Huckabee and the heads of the highway and higher education departments made presentations, but no one offered new information or arguments for the Dec. 13 bond election. At that election, Huckabee hopes voters will give the state authority to reissue bonds to add new buildings to every university and college campus in the state and to bypass the constitutional requirement that voters first approve the indebtedness each time the highway department wants to borrow money to improve Interstate highways. Voters will be asked to give the Highway Commission a permanent line of credit with bond houses and investors. If the event itself was not so memorable as to leave one envious, then we would just as soon take our omission from the guest list as a badge of honor. Still, something about it bothers.
It unsettles only partly because the governor’s office is so selective about whom it actually invites when it has the print and electronic media in for a promotion. If it is a government event, you invite friends and critics alike.
Taxpayers pick up the considerable tab for what is patently a political event that is calculated to use the media to persuade those taxpayers to give the government unprecedented power to mortgage their and their grandchildren’s future. Is that OK? If it is, pardon our pettiness.
Full disclosure: The Leader neither was invited nor crashed the party and so must depend upon the news accounts of it just like a few other journals that have from time to time criticized Gov. Huckabee’s initiatives or the ethical slips in his office. In the governor’s communications division, they keep a keen eye on these matters.
From the news accounts, we concluded that the repast was OK but not to die for and that the rest of the fare was even less to be relished by those of us who were not favored with invitations. Huckabee and the heads of the highway and higher education departments made presentations, but no one offered new information or arguments for the Dec. 13 bond election. At that election, Huckabee hopes voters will give the state authority to reissue bonds to add new buildings to every university and college campus in the state and to bypass the constitutional requirement that voters first approve the indebtedness each time the highway department wants to borrow money to improve Interstate highways. Voters will be asked to give the Highway Commission a permanent line of credit with bond houses and investors. If the event itself was not so memorable as to leave one envious, then we would just as soon take our omission from the guest list as a badge of honor. Still, something about it bothers.
It unsettles only partly because the governor’s office is so selective about whom it actually invites when it has the print and electronic media in for a promotion. If it is a government event, you invite friends and critics alike.
Taxpayers pick up the considerable tab for what is patently a political event that is calculated to use the media to persuade those taxpayers to give the government unprecedented power to mortgage their and their grandchildren’s future. Is that OK? If it is, pardon our pettiness.
EDITORIAL >> Asa’s goof on sales tax
Asa Hutchinson is a redder but wiser man today after his embarrassing blunder in front of the State Chamber of Commerce. Maybe it will make him a more careful candidate and a better governor, if the voters give him that chance.
Hutchinson laid out his economic development theories for the chamber delegates, starting with exempting manufacturers from sales taxes on the energy they use in their plants. He said Arkansas would have landed a big steel mill in Mississippi County with hundreds of new jobs if the mill did not have to pay sales taxes on electricity. The owner decided to build the plant in Mississippi instead.
An Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter told Hutch-inson after the speech that the mill’s owner had not mentioned that as a reason for going to Mississippi instead of Arkansas. Hutchinson said he knew what he was talking about and implied that a source told him the real reason. The next day the owner of the mill said taxes on electricity had nothing to do with the move because he would not have had to pay taxes on electricity in Arkansas. A state legislator from Mississippi County and others rushed to point out Hutchinson’s error. Steel mills and certain other manufacturers have been exempt from the sales taxes on their energy since far back into the Bill Clinton administration at Little Rock. Lawmakers and presumably every economic developer in the state knew that. Hutchinson belatedly acknowledged his mistake. An aide said the candidate had misread a newspaper article about the plant.
One lesson we hope Mr. Hutchinson has learned is the emptiness of that old bromide so enduring in Arkansas, that the key to economic development is to relieve industries of having to pay the taxes that ordinary people have to pay, in this instance the tax on the energy they consume in their homes. Companies are always happy to have a tax break but it rarely builds the economy. But here is an even easier lesson. The steel mill owner said the big reason he picked Mississippi over Arkansas was that energy over there costs so much less. The question Hutchinson should be asking is, why is that? (Clue: It’s not taxes.) After all, Arkansas is a big supplier of natural gas, and its gas fields are expanding even into our own environs in White County. Moreover, the severance tax on Arkansas-produced gas is only three-tenths of a penny per thousand cubic feet, which the lowest in the nation and less than one-hundredth of the tax levied by gas-rich states like Texas and Oklahoma. And most of Arkansas’ electricity is generated by economical nuclear and coal-powered plants rather than expensive gas.
Hutchinson can begin by asking his fellow Republican, Gov. Huckabee, and Huckabee’s chosen Public Service Commission, which regulates utility rates, including, if the PSC chooses, the cost of the generating energy that utilities pass along to homeowners and industrial customers without even a cursory review. That will help explain why we lose jobs to Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas and Oklahoma. We can’t wait for that exchange.
Hutchinson laid out his economic development theories for the chamber delegates, starting with exempting manufacturers from sales taxes on the energy they use in their plants. He said Arkansas would have landed a big steel mill in Mississippi County with hundreds of new jobs if the mill did not have to pay sales taxes on electricity. The owner decided to build the plant in Mississippi instead.
An Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter told Hutch-inson after the speech that the mill’s owner had not mentioned that as a reason for going to Mississippi instead of Arkansas. Hutchinson said he knew what he was talking about and implied that a source told him the real reason. The next day the owner of the mill said taxes on electricity had nothing to do with the move because he would not have had to pay taxes on electricity in Arkansas. A state legislator from Mississippi County and others rushed to point out Hutchinson’s error. Steel mills and certain other manufacturers have been exempt from the sales taxes on their energy since far back into the Bill Clinton administration at Little Rock. Lawmakers and presumably every economic developer in the state knew that. Hutchinson belatedly acknowledged his mistake. An aide said the candidate had misread a newspaper article about the plant.
One lesson we hope Mr. Hutchinson has learned is the emptiness of that old bromide so enduring in Arkansas, that the key to economic development is to relieve industries of having to pay the taxes that ordinary people have to pay, in this instance the tax on the energy they consume in their homes. Companies are always happy to have a tax break but it rarely builds the economy. But here is an even easier lesson. The steel mill owner said the big reason he picked Mississippi over Arkansas was that energy over there costs so much less. The question Hutchinson should be asking is, why is that? (Clue: It’s not taxes.) After all, Arkansas is a big supplier of natural gas, and its gas fields are expanding even into our own environs in White County. Moreover, the severance tax on Arkansas-produced gas is only three-tenths of a penny per thousand cubic feet, which the lowest in the nation and less than one-hundredth of the tax levied by gas-rich states like Texas and Oklahoma. And most of Arkansas’ electricity is generated by economical nuclear and coal-powered plants rather than expensive gas.
Hutchinson can begin by asking his fellow Republican, Gov. Huckabee, and Huckabee’s chosen Public Service Commission, which regulates utility rates, including, if the PSC chooses, the cost of the generating energy that utilities pass along to homeowners and industrial customers without even a cursory review. That will help explain why we lose jobs to Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas and Oklahoma. We can’t wait for that exchange.
TOP STORY >> Hurricane relief centers closing doors
By SARA GREENE
Leader staff writer
After serving 900 evacuees, the Hurricane Katrina Assis-tance Center on James St. in Jacksonville closed its doors Saturday, but help is still available by scheduling appointments through the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce.
The volunteer staff at Cabot KARE (Katrina Assistance Relief Effort) located in the old Knight’s grocery store, is also thinking about closing that center on Nov. 17.
The relief centers were started by local residents after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast Aug. 29. More than 75,000 people from the Gulf Coast made their way to Arkansas after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
According to the Arkansas Katrina Assistance Relief Effort, an estimated 30,000 hurricane evacuees are still in the state after President Bush’s Oct. 15 nationwide deadline to get evacuees out of shelters and into temporary housing.
“We’ve served about 200 families at the center,” said Buffy Zelnick, co-director of Cabot KARE.
The center is currently open on Mondays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“Right now people are coming by to get winter clothes, furniture and household things like small appliances and decorations for the home,” Zelnick said.
Zelnick said the Cabot KARE committee has discussed closing the center on Nov. 17, how to disperse the leftover donations as well as how to continue to provide help through the upcoming holiday season. Cabot KARE began as a relief center and quickly became a valuable resource for the people displaced by the hurricane by providing Internet and telephone service, maps and local information.
Likewise, the Jacksonville relief center started as a collection point for clothing and toiletry donations in the back of the Jacksonville Chamber of Com-merce building on Dupree Drive after hundreds of evacuees from Louisiana, Mississippi and Ala-bama filled hotels in Jacksonville, Lonoke, Cabot and Beebe. Volun-teers filled hundreds of plastic shopping bags with toiletries for the evacuees staying in the area.
As more evacuees came forward with more needs, Mary Lou Gall and Angie Mitchell, both volunteers from Jacksonville, stepped up to help coordinate assistance. As donations poured in, the volunteers were able to set up the center behind the chamber of commerce, in a building lent to the city by Jacksonville businessman Harold Gwatney.
Hurricane Katrina evacuees went to the center to get non-perishable foods, clothing, toiletries and assistance with getting housing and employment. During the first two weeks the center was open from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m., seven days a week.
“I believe everyone helped be-cause we knew it had to be done,” Mitchell said.
Eventually, the center was open from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sat-urdays.
Hurricane Rita then struck the Gulf Coast in Texas and west Louisiana on Sept. 24, sending a new wave of hurricane evacuees into area hotels, leading the center back to being open daily for about a week.
“You knew they were a hundred miles away from home and some people lost everything,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell says most of the hurricane evacuees in the area are settled into housing and many have jobs. In order to move out of the building, most of the leftover clothing has been taken to either to the Care Channel at 201 Elm St. or the Fishnet Missions thrift store at 709 1/2 West Main Street, between Walgreens and Discount Tobacco. Much of the leftover non-perishable food has been donated to Fishnet Missions as well.
Mitchell says during the last few weeks the center was open, evacuees were stopping by to get winter clothing such as coats, jackets, sweaters, sweatshirts and pants. Mitchell said community efforts for the evacuees would continue over the approaching winter months with food baskets for Thanksgiving and the holidays.
“I’d like to try to organize a pro-ject to provide Christmas presents for the children of evacuees,” Mitchell said. For an appointment or more information about the Hurricane Katrina Relief Center, contact the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce at (501) 982-1511.
Cabot KARE can be reached at (501) 605-0931.
Leader staff writer
After serving 900 evacuees, the Hurricane Katrina Assis-tance Center on James St. in Jacksonville closed its doors Saturday, but help is still available by scheduling appointments through the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce.
The volunteer staff at Cabot KARE (Katrina Assistance Relief Effort) located in the old Knight’s grocery store, is also thinking about closing that center on Nov. 17.
The relief centers were started by local residents after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast Aug. 29. More than 75,000 people from the Gulf Coast made their way to Arkansas after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
According to the Arkansas Katrina Assistance Relief Effort, an estimated 30,000 hurricane evacuees are still in the state after President Bush’s Oct. 15 nationwide deadline to get evacuees out of shelters and into temporary housing.
“We’ve served about 200 families at the center,” said Buffy Zelnick, co-director of Cabot KARE.
The center is currently open on Mondays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“Right now people are coming by to get winter clothes, furniture and household things like small appliances and decorations for the home,” Zelnick said.
Zelnick said the Cabot KARE committee has discussed closing the center on Nov. 17, how to disperse the leftover donations as well as how to continue to provide help through the upcoming holiday season. Cabot KARE began as a relief center and quickly became a valuable resource for the people displaced by the hurricane by providing Internet and telephone service, maps and local information.
Likewise, the Jacksonville relief center started as a collection point for clothing and toiletry donations in the back of the Jacksonville Chamber of Com-merce building on Dupree Drive after hundreds of evacuees from Louisiana, Mississippi and Ala-bama filled hotels in Jacksonville, Lonoke, Cabot and Beebe. Volun-teers filled hundreds of plastic shopping bags with toiletries for the evacuees staying in the area.
As more evacuees came forward with more needs, Mary Lou Gall and Angie Mitchell, both volunteers from Jacksonville, stepped up to help coordinate assistance. As donations poured in, the volunteers were able to set up the center behind the chamber of commerce, in a building lent to the city by Jacksonville businessman Harold Gwatney.
Hurricane Katrina evacuees went to the center to get non-perishable foods, clothing, toiletries and assistance with getting housing and employment. During the first two weeks the center was open from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m., seven days a week.
“I believe everyone helped be-cause we knew it had to be done,” Mitchell said.
Eventually, the center was open from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sat-urdays.
Hurricane Rita then struck the Gulf Coast in Texas and west Louisiana on Sept. 24, sending a new wave of hurricane evacuees into area hotels, leading the center back to being open daily for about a week.
“You knew they were a hundred miles away from home and some people lost everything,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell says most of the hurricane evacuees in the area are settled into housing and many have jobs. In order to move out of the building, most of the leftover clothing has been taken to either to the Care Channel at 201 Elm St. or the Fishnet Missions thrift store at 709 1/2 West Main Street, between Walgreens and Discount Tobacco. Much of the leftover non-perishable food has been donated to Fishnet Missions as well.
Mitchell says during the last few weeks the center was open, evacuees were stopping by to get winter clothing such as coats, jackets, sweaters, sweatshirts and pants. Mitchell said community efforts for the evacuees would continue over the approaching winter months with food baskets for Thanksgiving and the holidays.
“I’d like to try to organize a pro-ject to provide Christmas presents for the children of evacuees,” Mitchell said. For an appointment or more information about the Hurricane Katrina Relief Center, contact the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce at (501) 982-1511.
Cabot KARE can be reached at (501) 605-0931.
TOP STORY >> City takes PCSSD fight to state
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
As the Pulaski County Spec-ial School District on Tuesday hand-delivered the latest revision of its fiscal-distress im-provement plan to the state Department of Education, some Jacksonville leaders met with Gov. Mike Huckabee’s education adviser while district administrators prepared to satisfy a Freedom of Information request from a Jacksonville businessman.
Mark Perry, president of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, and others who suspect that Marvin V. Jeter III and the Pulaski County Special School District didn’t make a good-faith effort to secure construction and teacher-training grants for the new single-gender schools, will be disappointed by the information they are seeking, according to Jeter, the district’s assistant superintendent for learning services.
Perry faxed a Freedom of Information request Friday afternoon for copies of grant applications and the results of those applications.
Jeter said Tuesday that Perry was not the first to re-quest that information. He said the Office of Desegregation Monitoring made similar re-quests earlier as had an unidentified person.
Also Tuesday, Perry, Jack-sonville Mayor Tommy Swaim and former state Rep. Pat Bond met at the state Capitol with Huckabee’s education policy adviser, Terry Hardy, to voice their concerns over the state of the PCSSD in general and, most specifically, with the Jackson-ville single-gender middle schools.
“She was very attentive and listened to our concerns about what’s happening in our school district,” Swaim said. “We’re concerned about the quality of the education of the students in (the district), particularly Jack-sonville schools. We imparted to her our concerns about funding for the single-gender schools.”
Some district patrons have said Jeter misled them about the likely availability of grant money to support the single-gender schools, according to Perry, who has a son at the middle school and two younger children on deck at Pinewood Elementary School.
“(Jeter) led us on to believe there’s all this money out there for this grant and that grant,” Perry said. “Show me the money. We have problems galore.
“My motivation is to make sure that the district is doing what they said they would do.
“They said, when we agreed to do the new boy-girl schools — Jeter said there is this much money out there and we can get this grant and this grant and now there’s no (grant) money available.”
In his letter to acting Superin-tendent Robert Clowers, Perry requests the following:
n Number of grants applied for by Jeter, or anyone in Learning Services, from Sept. 1, 2004 to the present date, with a copy of each, plus rejection or approval notifications.
n Number of grants applied for by Jeter, or anyone in Learning Services, specifically for the Jacksonville Middle School from Sept. 1, 2004 to the present date, with a copy of each, plus rejection or approval notifications.
n The amount of National School Lunch Act funds Jack-sonville Middle School boys and girls campus students were eligible to receive for the 2004-05 and the 2005-06 academic school years.
nThe total amount of NSLA funds received by the school district in 2004-05 and in 2005-06.
n A breakdown of the allocation of the NSLA funds within the entire district.
Jeter said he received Perry’s FOI request Tuesday and would have the information Perry seeks.
Jeter said the department had applied for three grants on behalf of the single-gender schools, but hadn’t been awarded any of them.
He said it sometimes took repeated applications over a period of years to get grants.
“There are a number of complicated issues,” Jeter said.
“In every grant package a portion has to do with the sustainability of the program in question. Since we went into fiscal distress, it’s hard to guarantee to any funding source how long the district will be solvent.”
The material requested by Perry will show that the district applied for the grants, he said.
“I don’t believe I oversold the grants, saying we were going to apply and hope to get them. But the success of the program doesn’t depend on getting grants,” Jeter said.
With the first nine weeks of school completed, Jeter said his department is working on a comprehensive report detailing the successes and problems so far at the middle school.
Perry’s FOI request also seeks information on the free-and reduced-cost lunch program and the expenditures of federal funds generated by that program at the single-gender schools, where most of the students qualify.
Those requests have been forwarded to John Archetko, the district’s chief financial officer, who was not at work Tuesday.
Leader staff writer
As the Pulaski County Spec-ial School District on Tuesday hand-delivered the latest revision of its fiscal-distress im-provement plan to the state Department of Education, some Jacksonville leaders met with Gov. Mike Huckabee’s education adviser while district administrators prepared to satisfy a Freedom of Information request from a Jacksonville businessman.
Mark Perry, president of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, and others who suspect that Marvin V. Jeter III and the Pulaski County Special School District didn’t make a good-faith effort to secure construction and teacher-training grants for the new single-gender schools, will be disappointed by the information they are seeking, according to Jeter, the district’s assistant superintendent for learning services.
Perry faxed a Freedom of Information request Friday afternoon for copies of grant applications and the results of those applications.
Jeter said Tuesday that Perry was not the first to re-quest that information. He said the Office of Desegregation Monitoring made similar re-quests earlier as had an unidentified person.
Also Tuesday, Perry, Jack-sonville Mayor Tommy Swaim and former state Rep. Pat Bond met at the state Capitol with Huckabee’s education policy adviser, Terry Hardy, to voice their concerns over the state of the PCSSD in general and, most specifically, with the Jackson-ville single-gender middle schools.
“She was very attentive and listened to our concerns about what’s happening in our school district,” Swaim said. “We’re concerned about the quality of the education of the students in (the district), particularly Jack-sonville schools. We imparted to her our concerns about funding for the single-gender schools.”
Some district patrons have said Jeter misled them about the likely availability of grant money to support the single-gender schools, according to Perry, who has a son at the middle school and two younger children on deck at Pinewood Elementary School.
“(Jeter) led us on to believe there’s all this money out there for this grant and that grant,” Perry said. “Show me the money. We have problems galore.
“My motivation is to make sure that the district is doing what they said they would do.
“They said, when we agreed to do the new boy-girl schools — Jeter said there is this much money out there and we can get this grant and this grant and now there’s no (grant) money available.”
In his letter to acting Superin-tendent Robert Clowers, Perry requests the following:
n Number of grants applied for by Jeter, or anyone in Learning Services, from Sept. 1, 2004 to the present date, with a copy of each, plus rejection or approval notifications.
n Number of grants applied for by Jeter, or anyone in Learning Services, specifically for the Jacksonville Middle School from Sept. 1, 2004 to the present date, with a copy of each, plus rejection or approval notifications.
n The amount of National School Lunch Act funds Jack-sonville Middle School boys and girls campus students were eligible to receive for the 2004-05 and the 2005-06 academic school years.
nThe total amount of NSLA funds received by the school district in 2004-05 and in 2005-06.
n A breakdown of the allocation of the NSLA funds within the entire district.
Jeter said he received Perry’s FOI request Tuesday and would have the information Perry seeks.
Jeter said the department had applied for three grants on behalf of the single-gender schools, but hadn’t been awarded any of them.
He said it sometimes took repeated applications over a period of years to get grants.
“There are a number of complicated issues,” Jeter said.
“In every grant package a portion has to do with the sustainability of the program in question. Since we went into fiscal distress, it’s hard to guarantee to any funding source how long the district will be solvent.”
The material requested by Perry will show that the district applied for the grants, he said.
“I don’t believe I oversold the grants, saying we were going to apply and hope to get them. But the success of the program doesn’t depend on getting grants,” Jeter said.
With the first nine weeks of school completed, Jeter said his department is working on a comprehensive report detailing the successes and problems so far at the middle school.
Perry’s FOI request also seeks information on the free-and reduced-cost lunch program and the expenditures of federal funds generated by that program at the single-gender schools, where most of the students qualify.
Those requests have been forwarded to John Archetko, the district’s chief financial officer, who was not at work Tuesday.
TOP STORY >> He'll stay in race despite attacks, Stumbaugh says
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
Cabot Mayor Stubby Stum-baugh says he is not worried that the recent report about his personnel record while an officer with the Little Rock Police Department will hurt his race for Congress.
If anything, he believes the residents of Ark-ansas’ First Dist-rict will see him as someone who has made mistakes but has tried to learn from them – someone like themselves.
The report in Tuesday’s Arkan-sas Democrat-Gazette chronicled Stumbaugh’s suspensions during his 15 years with the department for such infractions as wrecking patrol cars, failing to file the proper paperwork before taking an off-duty job, calling a radio talk-show while on duty and on the way to a call and using profane language to civilians.
But Stumbaugh says there was nothing in the article that he didn’t make public before the mayor’s race in 2002 and were the same incidents re-ported by The Leader at that time.
None of the offenses were bad enough to be fired for and most occurred while he was in his 20s, he said.
Now that it’s all out once again, there is nothing else of a personal nature that can be used against him in his race for Congress against Democrat Marion Berry.
“That’s all they’ve got,” said Stumbaugh, who will now have a Republican opponent in the race after Patrick D’Andrea, 43, a retired Marine who works as a juvenile probation officer for Lonoke County, said Tuesday that he will announce his candidacy on Friday.
Stumbaugh said that when he learned his personnel file had been requested under the Ark-ansas Freedom of Information Act as it had been when he was running for mayor, he called the newspaper and volunteered other personal information, like the fact that he had filed bankruptcy when he was in his 20s and that he had been divorced twice. But that information, too, had been made public during the mayor’s race.
During that race, Stumbaugh learned that someone from former Cabot mayor Joe Allman’s camp had filed an FOI for his records and he responded by turning the file over to The Leader, which ran the information along with his comments much like the Democrat-Gazette did.
“It’s no big secret. I haven’t hid it,” he said.
“I believe the voters of the First District have the right to know any mistakes I’ve made in my past, as well as my accomplishments,” Stumbaugh said in a prepared statement on Tuesday. “
“Being a good leader involves accepting responsibility for mistakes, and ensuring that the mistakes are not repeated. I acknowledge that I have made many mistakes in my life, and I accept full responsibility for them.
“I do not believe that these instances alone show what type of congressman I will be. My re-cords also document numerous letters of commendation for volunteer efforts, providing professional assistance to people in need, and displaying professional courtesy.
“The voters of the First District have the right to know all of these things about me. I have nothing to hide. The bottom line is that while my life has not always been perfect, it has molded me into an effective leader, and I want to use this leadership to attract jobs to the First District, stabilize the farming industry, and get our kids off drugs.”
Stumbaugh said he believes his victory over Allman was partly the result of the information from his personnel file being released. It worked against Allman, and he believes it will work against Cong. Marion Berry, his Democratic opponent.
“I think people are going to see it for what it’s worth,” he said. “I’m going to stick to the issues.”
Leader staff writer
Cabot Mayor Stubby Stum-baugh says he is not worried that the recent report about his personnel record while an officer with the Little Rock Police Department will hurt his race for Congress.
If anything, he believes the residents of Ark-ansas’ First Dist-rict will see him as someone who has made mistakes but has tried to learn from them – someone like themselves.
The report in Tuesday’s Arkan-sas Democrat-Gazette chronicled Stumbaugh’s suspensions during his 15 years with the department for such infractions as wrecking patrol cars, failing to file the proper paperwork before taking an off-duty job, calling a radio talk-show while on duty and on the way to a call and using profane language to civilians.
But Stumbaugh says there was nothing in the article that he didn’t make public before the mayor’s race in 2002 and were the same incidents re-ported by The Leader at that time.
None of the offenses were bad enough to be fired for and most occurred while he was in his 20s, he said.
Now that it’s all out once again, there is nothing else of a personal nature that can be used against him in his race for Congress against Democrat Marion Berry.
“That’s all they’ve got,” said Stumbaugh, who will now have a Republican opponent in the race after Patrick D’Andrea, 43, a retired Marine who works as a juvenile probation officer for Lonoke County, said Tuesday that he will announce his candidacy on Friday.
Stumbaugh said that when he learned his personnel file had been requested under the Ark-ansas Freedom of Information Act as it had been when he was running for mayor, he called the newspaper and volunteered other personal information, like the fact that he had filed bankruptcy when he was in his 20s and that he had been divorced twice. But that information, too, had been made public during the mayor’s race.
During that race, Stumbaugh learned that someone from former Cabot mayor Joe Allman’s camp had filed an FOI for his records and he responded by turning the file over to The Leader, which ran the information along with his comments much like the Democrat-Gazette did.
“It’s no big secret. I haven’t hid it,” he said.
“I believe the voters of the First District have the right to know any mistakes I’ve made in my past, as well as my accomplishments,” Stumbaugh said in a prepared statement on Tuesday. “
“Being a good leader involves accepting responsibility for mistakes, and ensuring that the mistakes are not repeated. I acknowledge that I have made many mistakes in my life, and I accept full responsibility for them.
“I do not believe that these instances alone show what type of congressman I will be. My re-cords also document numerous letters of commendation for volunteer efforts, providing professional assistance to people in need, and displaying professional courtesy.
“The voters of the First District have the right to know all of these things about me. I have nothing to hide. The bottom line is that while my life has not always been perfect, it has molded me into an effective leader, and I want to use this leadership to attract jobs to the First District, stabilize the farming industry, and get our kids off drugs.”
Stumbaugh said he believes his victory over Allman was partly the result of the information from his personnel file being released. It worked against Allman, and he believes it will work against Cong. Marion Berry, his Democratic opponent.
“I think people are going to see it for what it’s worth,” he said. “I’m going to stick to the issues.”
TOP STORY >> War goes well, Self tells base council
By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader Publisher
The top commander at Little Rock Air Force Base says the war in Iraq is going much better than the way the media are portraying the fighting there.
Brig. Gen. Kip Self, commander of the 314th Airlift Wing, told members of the Little Rock Air Force Base Community Council on Monday that progress is being made in Iraq despite the bloodshed there.
“Every day, Iraq improves,” Self said.
Schools, roads, hospitals and other infrastructure are being built every day, while the Iraqi military is taking more responsibility in the fight against the insurgents.
The base has played a key role in the Iraqi war, as it has in Afghanistan and before that in the first Gulf war.
“Afghanistan is the benchmark,” the general said. “We’ve done amazing things.”
He said more then 400 personnel from Little Rock Air Force Base are deployed in the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones, and more will be on the way in January.
Several C-130s are deployed in those areas, along with more than 50 others, including two C-130Js, from other bases.
The general said the C-130s are dependable carriers that can make long and short deliveries and stay in theater for a long time.
Self would not be specific on how many more planes and new personnel LRAFB would gain after the Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommendations are implemented.
“BRAC is good news for Little Rock,” Self said. “We’re not going to get worse.”
Under a Pentagon recommendation that called for shutting down scores of military facilities, the base here would have received several dozen more planes and some 4,000 new personnel, but the commission did not accept all of the Pentagon’s recommendations and voted to keep several more bases open, reducing the number of new missions here.
President Bush and the House of Representatives have accepted the BRAC Commission recommendations, and the Senate is expected to follow suit.
The latest estimate is that the base will get a handful of new planes and perhaps a few hundred more personnel.
“We train the best crews and maintain the best planes,” the general told the community council.
“If we’re not better tomorrow than we were today, I have failed you,” Self said.
He told the luncheon that Gen. William R. Looney, the new commander of the Air Education and Training Command — which operates Little Rock Air Force Base — has asked the base to reach out to community members and let them fly the planes assigned to the base and see for themselves how their tax dollars are spent.
“I have a mandate from Gen. Looney to get council people in the air,” Self said.
He invited council members to fly with him in one of the C-130Js to see how the new planes measure up.
Self also pointed out that new construction continues on base all the time, including new housing now under private management.
“Little Rock Air Force Base is a model for other bases,” the general said.
“We’re in this together,” Self said. “I cannot do this job without you.”
Leader Publisher
The top commander at Little Rock Air Force Base says the war in Iraq is going much better than the way the media are portraying the fighting there.
Brig. Gen. Kip Self, commander of the 314th Airlift Wing, told members of the Little Rock Air Force Base Community Council on Monday that progress is being made in Iraq despite the bloodshed there.
“Every day, Iraq improves,” Self said.
Schools, roads, hospitals and other infrastructure are being built every day, while the Iraqi military is taking more responsibility in the fight against the insurgents.
The base has played a key role in the Iraqi war, as it has in Afghanistan and before that in the first Gulf war.
“Afghanistan is the benchmark,” the general said. “We’ve done amazing things.”
He said more then 400 personnel from Little Rock Air Force Base are deployed in the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones, and more will be on the way in January.
Several C-130s are deployed in those areas, along with more than 50 others, including two C-130Js, from other bases.
The general said the C-130s are dependable carriers that can make long and short deliveries and stay in theater for a long time.
Self would not be specific on how many more planes and new personnel LRAFB would gain after the Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommendations are implemented.
“BRAC is good news for Little Rock,” Self said. “We’re not going to get worse.”
Under a Pentagon recommendation that called for shutting down scores of military facilities, the base here would have received several dozen more planes and some 4,000 new personnel, but the commission did not accept all of the Pentagon’s recommendations and voted to keep several more bases open, reducing the number of new missions here.
President Bush and the House of Representatives have accepted the BRAC Commission recommendations, and the Senate is expected to follow suit.
The latest estimate is that the base will get a handful of new planes and perhaps a few hundred more personnel.
“We train the best crews and maintain the best planes,” the general told the community council.
“If we’re not better tomorrow than we were today, I have failed you,” Self said.
He told the luncheon that Gen. William R. Looney, the new commander of the Air Education and Training Command — which operates Little Rock Air Force Base — has asked the base to reach out to community members and let them fly the planes assigned to the base and see for themselves how their tax dollars are spent.
“I have a mandate from Gen. Looney to get council people in the air,” Self said.
He invited council members to fly with him in one of the C-130Js to see how the new planes measure up.
Self also pointed out that new construction continues on base all the time, including new housing now under private management.
“Little Rock Air Force Base is a model for other bases,” the general said.
“We’re in this together,” Self said. “I cannot do this job without you.”
TOP STORY >> C-130J fleet is evaluated
By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader Publisher
A team from Edwards Air Force Base is evaluating the four C-130J transport planes at Little Rock Air Force Base as the Pentagon seeks to determine if the planes are combat-worthy.
Although two C-130Js are assigned to the war in Iraq, critics inside and outside the Pentagon say the new aircraft has fallen short of expectations, although top Air Force generals insist the planes have performed well.
Brig. Gen. Kip Self, commander of the 314th Airlift Wing at the base and a supporter of the C-130J program, told members of the Little Rock Air Force Base Community Council on Monday that the evaluators findings are crucial to the future of the C-130Js.
“I’m a C-130J pilot. I love it,” the general said, although he has also flown the larger C-17s as well as helicopters.
While Air Force officials believe the C-130Js are a big improvement over the older C-130E models, Pentagon auditors have been critical of the plane’s performance and cost.
More C-103J evaluations are scheduled for Alaska in December to see how the C-130Js assigned here perform in the cold.
Inspectors had found problems with the planes in the Middle East, where sand interfered with their performance, but Self said those problems have been fixed.
A Pentagon inspector-general’s report last year criticized the Air Force’s purchase of 50 transport planes without a set price during contract negotiations with Lockheed-Martin of Mariet-ta, Ga., the plane’s manufacturer.
The C-130Js cost about $67 million each, or about $17 million more than what the plane’s supporters said they would cost a decade ago.
Critics say Lockheed could set its own price in a cost-plus contract, even though the plane has had problems in combat several years after delivery of the first aircraft.
Self believes the planes are a big improvement over the older C-130Es, which have been the workhorse at LRAFB for decades.
Three more J model planes are scheduled for delivery to the base in December, but their future depends on the outcome of the auditors’ report.
“We’re not limited to seven,” Self said, explaining that he expected more C-130Js would be assi-gned to the base.
The challenge is to make sure Congress and civilians in the Pentagon approve the C-130J as “a weapons commodity,” Self said.
Some community council members voiced surprise that the C-130J, whose production has been on-again and off-again, has yet to receive the go-ahead for more orders and whose combat-worthiness is still under review.
Self said the new planes “are a hybrid” between the C-130Es and the C-17s.
While the C-17s can carry huge amounts of cargo into a theater, the C-130s can hop around in war zones indefinitely. Besides two C-130Js, the Air Force has sent 64 C-130Es to Iraq, several of them from LRAFB.
Self told the community council that the older C-130Es have a maximum flight-life of 45,000 hours. They can be refurbished for $10 million each, but the general wondered if it might not be more cost-effective to buy more C-130Js.
Lockheed Martin has sold more than 50 C-130Js to the U.S. military, in addition to foreign markets, but their domestic production has slowed.
Self said the new planes have a better view for the pilots and take off faster than the old planes.
The new plane can cruise at 30,000 feet with a range of 3,000 miles.
It can deliver 39 percent more paratroopers or 50 percent more payload and needs a three-person flight crew as opposed to the five-person crews on the older planes.
According to Lockheed-Martin, the C-130J has all-new avionics, as well as more powerful engines, six-blade propellers, 50 percent greater range with a standard load, 25 percent higher cruising ceiling, 50 percent faster time-to-climb, 12 percent increase in maximum speed and 17 percent greater fuel efficiency.
The C-130J has room for eight pallets instead of the six on the old planes, Self said.
The maximum takeoff weight is 164,000 pounds, with a maximum payload of 48,000 pounds. The plane can fly 660 kilometers-an-hour and takes off or lands on runways as short as 1,500 feet.
Lockheed Martin says overall, the C-130J boasts a 50 percent improvement in reliability and maintainability and 68 percent reduction in maintenance man-hours.
Leader Publisher
A team from Edwards Air Force Base is evaluating the four C-130J transport planes at Little Rock Air Force Base as the Pentagon seeks to determine if the planes are combat-worthy.
Although two C-130Js are assigned to the war in Iraq, critics inside and outside the Pentagon say the new aircraft has fallen short of expectations, although top Air Force generals insist the planes have performed well.
Brig. Gen. Kip Self, commander of the 314th Airlift Wing at the base and a supporter of the C-130J program, told members of the Little Rock Air Force Base Community Council on Monday that the evaluators findings are crucial to the future of the C-130Js.
“I’m a C-130J pilot. I love it,” the general said, although he has also flown the larger C-17s as well as helicopters.
While Air Force officials believe the C-130Js are a big improvement over the older C-130E models, Pentagon auditors have been critical of the plane’s performance and cost.
More C-103J evaluations are scheduled for Alaska in December to see how the C-130Js assigned here perform in the cold.
Inspectors had found problems with the planes in the Middle East, where sand interfered with their performance, but Self said those problems have been fixed.
A Pentagon inspector-general’s report last year criticized the Air Force’s purchase of 50 transport planes without a set price during contract negotiations with Lockheed-Martin of Mariet-ta, Ga., the plane’s manufacturer.
The C-130Js cost about $67 million each, or about $17 million more than what the plane’s supporters said they would cost a decade ago.
Critics say Lockheed could set its own price in a cost-plus contract, even though the plane has had problems in combat several years after delivery of the first aircraft.
Self believes the planes are a big improvement over the older C-130Es, which have been the workhorse at LRAFB for decades.
Three more J model planes are scheduled for delivery to the base in December, but their future depends on the outcome of the auditors’ report.
“We’re not limited to seven,” Self said, explaining that he expected more C-130Js would be assi-gned to the base.
The challenge is to make sure Congress and civilians in the Pentagon approve the C-130J as “a weapons commodity,” Self said.
Some community council members voiced surprise that the C-130J, whose production has been on-again and off-again, has yet to receive the go-ahead for more orders and whose combat-worthiness is still under review.
Self said the new planes “are a hybrid” between the C-130Es and the C-17s.
While the C-17s can carry huge amounts of cargo into a theater, the C-130s can hop around in war zones indefinitely. Besides two C-130Js, the Air Force has sent 64 C-130Es to Iraq, several of them from LRAFB.
Self told the community council that the older C-130Es have a maximum flight-life of 45,000 hours. They can be refurbished for $10 million each, but the general wondered if it might not be more cost-effective to buy more C-130Js.
Lockheed Martin has sold more than 50 C-130Js to the U.S. military, in addition to foreign markets, but their domestic production has slowed.
Self said the new planes have a better view for the pilots and take off faster than the old planes.
The new plane can cruise at 30,000 feet with a range of 3,000 miles.
It can deliver 39 percent more paratroopers or 50 percent more payload and needs a three-person flight crew as opposed to the five-person crews on the older planes.
According to Lockheed-Martin, the C-130J has all-new avionics, as well as more powerful engines, six-blade propellers, 50 percent greater range with a standard load, 25 percent higher cruising ceiling, 50 percent faster time-to-climb, 12 percent increase in maximum speed and 17 percent greater fuel efficiency.
The C-130J has room for eight pallets instead of the six on the old planes, Self said.
The maximum takeoff weight is 164,000 pounds, with a maximum payload of 48,000 pounds. The plane can fly 660 kilometers-an-hour and takes off or lands on runways as short as 1,500 feet.
Lockheed Martin says overall, the C-130J boasts a 50 percent improvement in reliability and maintainability and 68 percent reduction in maintenance man-hours.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
EDITORIAL>> Stay warm this winter
It is liable to be a cold winter, and heating bills will be out the chimney. As you have heard on the radio this week, for the elderly and disabled and a few of the other poor, the government is here to help you pay the bills. But precious little.
The federal Low-income Home Energy Assistance Program pays utilities for part of the cost of heating and cooling the homes of the needy, and Arkansas’ share is about $14 million for the year, which does not go very far. Arkansas exhausts its share before it reaches many people for very long. The money is distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. Each utility hustles to get its customers signed up first.
It is much better to be poor in Minnesota, Wisconsin or another of the northern states than in Arkansas. The assistance in Minnesota, for example, might be $120 per poor person in the state but only about $10 in Arkansas. The law was written by Northerners for Northerners.
The distribution is based on the square of the average number of cold days in the year. All those hot, torpid days and the actual depth of poverty do not count.
Sen. Mark Pryor is going to try to change this outrageous formula, he said the other day, and Sen. Blanche Lincoln is sympathetic.
They also are joining with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in trying to increase the appropriation this year by $3 billion because home-heating costs are skyrocketing and low-income families who can afford to heat their homes will be able to afford nothing else. But don’t hold your breath for either.
To almost the last Republican senator and congressman, even those in the South, the party votes to halt either remedy, and it runs the show.
Why would statesmen like Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., and Rep. Tom Delay, R-Texas, vote to keep their own poor people cold and miserable?
Now our own Republican, John Boozman of Springdale, votes with the Democrats on this one.
Down here, someone bragged, even Republicans often have a heart.
The federal Low-income Home Energy Assistance Program pays utilities for part of the cost of heating and cooling the homes of the needy, and Arkansas’ share is about $14 million for the year, which does not go very far. Arkansas exhausts its share before it reaches many people for very long. The money is distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. Each utility hustles to get its customers signed up first.
It is much better to be poor in Minnesota, Wisconsin or another of the northern states than in Arkansas. The assistance in Minnesota, for example, might be $120 per poor person in the state but only about $10 in Arkansas. The law was written by Northerners for Northerners.
The distribution is based on the square of the average number of cold days in the year. All those hot, torpid days and the actual depth of poverty do not count.
Sen. Mark Pryor is going to try to change this outrageous formula, he said the other day, and Sen. Blanche Lincoln is sympathetic.
They also are joining with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in trying to increase the appropriation this year by $3 billion because home-heating costs are skyrocketing and low-income families who can afford to heat their homes will be able to afford nothing else. But don’t hold your breath for either.
To almost the last Republican senator and congressman, even those in the South, the party votes to halt either remedy, and it runs the show.
Why would statesmen like Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., and Rep. Tom Delay, R-Texas, vote to keep their own poor people cold and miserable?
Now our own Republican, John Boozman of Springdale, votes with the Democrats on this one.
Down here, someone bragged, even Republicans often have a heart.
EDITORIAL>> The noose tightens at White House
Four months ago, few people outside the Beltway had heard of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby Jr., the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.
But he was well known to the media because he and Karl Rove were the administration’s dependable conduits. All those stories favorable to the president or deleterious to his critics that cited “White House sources” or one of the other favored figleafs for inside tipsters were apt to have originated with Libby or Rove.
Libby was the surrogate agent for arguably the most powerful man in the world, the vice president. Cheney was the principal architect of Bush’s aggressive foreign policy and specifically of the war in Iraq. While Bush the presidential campaigner was vowing in 2000 that he, unlike Bill Clinton, would never engage in “nation building,” Cheney and a group of fellow ideologues in the New American Century were plotting the overthrow of the Iraqi government and the imposition of a more friendly regime.
Today, Scooter Libby stands indicted for obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements to the FBI to throw them off the trail of what former President George H. W. Bush once called a treasonous plot against the country, the outing of a secret American agent. Rove, President Bush’s top adviser, was not indicted Friday, but a special prosecutor confirms that he is still under investigation and that another grand jury will take up the case against him in the same plot.
The incident that started this dismaying course of events once seemed merely curious, almost trifling: Someone in the Bush administration leaked the identity of a secret CIA operative in the nether world of weapons of mass destruction.
The operative happened to be the wife of a diplomat from former Republican administrations who had written a critical article about the administration’s dishonest campaign to justify the invasion of Iraq. He had been sent by the administration to look into one report of Iraqi finagling to get nuclear weapons and found it to be untrue. Bush ignored his findings and used the lie anyway to make the case for war. The administration seemed to be paying back a disloyal friend when it identified the agent to several reporters.
But trifling might better describe sexual play in a White House break room. Libby’s indictment and whatever the prosecutor ultimately makes of Rove’s more careful cunning are daggers aimed at the heart of the government. Cheney’s capital in Washington is exhausted. Part of the case against Libby is that he lied to protect Cheney, who told him that the diplomat’s wife was a CIA agent. President Bush has no capital left to squander. Rove’s indictment would effectively spell the end of the Bush administration, although he would have three long years of spiritless rule ahead.
The case of Joseph and Valerie Wilson, the former diplomat and his exposed wife, is surrogate for the Iraqi war, which a former military figure has called the greatest strategic blunder in American history. The strange case of the Wilsons and their White House enemies provides the context for the campaign of deceptions to persuade the U. S. Congress and the American people of the need to go to war. That two aides just took it upon themselves to carry out such dangerous policies is a scenario that few Americans will buy, whatever the outcome of the case.
We fear parlous times lie ahead for the country, and it will be handicapped by leaders who lack the moral and political capital to act decisively in the country’s interests either abroad or at home. It is a good time for prayer.
But he was well known to the media because he and Karl Rove were the administration’s dependable conduits. All those stories favorable to the president or deleterious to his critics that cited “White House sources” or one of the other favored figleafs for inside tipsters were apt to have originated with Libby or Rove.
Libby was the surrogate agent for arguably the most powerful man in the world, the vice president. Cheney was the principal architect of Bush’s aggressive foreign policy and specifically of the war in Iraq. While Bush the presidential campaigner was vowing in 2000 that he, unlike Bill Clinton, would never engage in “nation building,” Cheney and a group of fellow ideologues in the New American Century were plotting the overthrow of the Iraqi government and the imposition of a more friendly regime.
Today, Scooter Libby stands indicted for obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements to the FBI to throw them off the trail of what former President George H. W. Bush once called a treasonous plot against the country, the outing of a secret American agent. Rove, President Bush’s top adviser, was not indicted Friday, but a special prosecutor confirms that he is still under investigation and that another grand jury will take up the case against him in the same plot.
The incident that started this dismaying course of events once seemed merely curious, almost trifling: Someone in the Bush administration leaked the identity of a secret CIA operative in the nether world of weapons of mass destruction.
The operative happened to be the wife of a diplomat from former Republican administrations who had written a critical article about the administration’s dishonest campaign to justify the invasion of Iraq. He had been sent by the administration to look into one report of Iraqi finagling to get nuclear weapons and found it to be untrue. Bush ignored his findings and used the lie anyway to make the case for war. The administration seemed to be paying back a disloyal friend when it identified the agent to several reporters.
But trifling might better describe sexual play in a White House break room. Libby’s indictment and whatever the prosecutor ultimately makes of Rove’s more careful cunning are daggers aimed at the heart of the government. Cheney’s capital in Washington is exhausted. Part of the case against Libby is that he lied to protect Cheney, who told him that the diplomat’s wife was a CIA agent. President Bush has no capital left to squander. Rove’s indictment would effectively spell the end of the Bush administration, although he would have three long years of spiritless rule ahead.
The case of Joseph and Valerie Wilson, the former diplomat and his exposed wife, is surrogate for the Iraqi war, which a former military figure has called the greatest strategic blunder in American history. The strange case of the Wilsons and their White House enemies provides the context for the campaign of deceptions to persuade the U. S. Congress and the American people of the need to go to war. That two aides just took it upon themselves to carry out such dangerous policies is a scenario that few Americans will buy, whatever the outcome of the case.
We fear parlous times lie ahead for the country, and it will be handicapped by leaders who lack the moral and political capital to act decisively in the country’s interests either abroad or at home. It is a good time for prayer.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
EDITORIAL >> Not helpful on education
Asa Hutchinson, the free-wheeling Republican candidate for governor, exercises a decided advantage over Attorney General Mike Beebe at this stage because he is not obliged to represent the governor and the legislature before the state Supreme Court in the constitutional public school case.
Anything that Beebe might say outside the courtroom on what he thinks about school spending and taxes could jeopardize his clients. Hutchinson, who is unencumbered by any obligation to protect the interest of clients, can say what he pleases and he has done that. When the Supreme Court masters criticized the legislature’s failure to provide a cost-of-living increase in the schools’ base operating aid this year, Hutchinson played to the peanut gallery by saying that the solution to inadequate schools was not to throw more money at them. It is a tired old bromide but it gets applause every time.
But for the public school forces that were apt to read the small type, he subsequently said the legislature should have thrown more money at the schools by appropriating a full cost-of-living increase for them. It is a rare politician who can’t have it both ways.
But if Hutchinson is unobligated by clients in the school case, he ought at least to be tethered to the truth. He stretched that beyond the limits. In a speech to the Pulaski County Bar Association, Hutchinson said he opposed a tax increase to help schools meet constitutional muster (no one expects the Supreme Court to order a tax increase). Rather, if he is elected governor, he said, he would ask the legislature to develop a more competitive tax structure. He declined to say what that would be or if he would propose a tax cut.
But he implied that he would.
Arkansas should follow the example of New Mexico, which cut income taxes by 3 percentage points over five years, Hutchinson said. He said those tax cuts generated economic growth of a whopping $216 million this year.
Well, not exactly. He can’t prove that the tax cuts produced a dime of economic growth and neither can the state of New Mexico.
But if it were true, $216 million in economic growth in a state the size of New Mexico would be hardly worth mentioning.
Now, what is known is that New Mexico’s general revenues for the current fiscal year are to produce a net increase of $216 million. But so what? Arkansas, which did not cut its taxes the same year, produced greater general revenue growth than that. New Mexico is in the booming Southwest and it has a greater gross domestic product per person than Arkansas, although that state, like Arkansas, has lots of poor people and its schools are very, very poor.
So, if Arkansas needs to emulate New Mexico, it is not in the tax-cutting business. The governor who propounded that small tax cut, Bill Richardson, has been in North Korea this week trying to do what the Bush administration failed miserably to do, persuade the tyrant who runs the country to quit making nuclear bombs.
Hutchinson would help us Arkansans more if he took the next plane and joined Gov. Richardson in that campaign and left taxes and economic stimulus to those with a better feel for it.
Anything that Beebe might say outside the courtroom on what he thinks about school spending and taxes could jeopardize his clients. Hutchinson, who is unencumbered by any obligation to protect the interest of clients, can say what he pleases and he has done that. When the Supreme Court masters criticized the legislature’s failure to provide a cost-of-living increase in the schools’ base operating aid this year, Hutchinson played to the peanut gallery by saying that the solution to inadequate schools was not to throw more money at them. It is a tired old bromide but it gets applause every time.
But for the public school forces that were apt to read the small type, he subsequently said the legislature should have thrown more money at the schools by appropriating a full cost-of-living increase for them. It is a rare politician who can’t have it both ways.
But if Hutchinson is unobligated by clients in the school case, he ought at least to be tethered to the truth. He stretched that beyond the limits. In a speech to the Pulaski County Bar Association, Hutchinson said he opposed a tax increase to help schools meet constitutional muster (no one expects the Supreme Court to order a tax increase). Rather, if he is elected governor, he said, he would ask the legislature to develop a more competitive tax structure. He declined to say what that would be or if he would propose a tax cut.
But he implied that he would.
Arkansas should follow the example of New Mexico, which cut income taxes by 3 percentage points over five years, Hutchinson said. He said those tax cuts generated economic growth of a whopping $216 million this year.
Well, not exactly. He can’t prove that the tax cuts produced a dime of economic growth and neither can the state of New Mexico.
But if it were true, $216 million in economic growth in a state the size of New Mexico would be hardly worth mentioning.
Now, what is known is that New Mexico’s general revenues for the current fiscal year are to produce a net increase of $216 million. But so what? Arkansas, which did not cut its taxes the same year, produced greater general revenue growth than that. New Mexico is in the booming Southwest and it has a greater gross domestic product per person than Arkansas, although that state, like Arkansas, has lots of poor people and its schools are very, very poor.
So, if Arkansas needs to emulate New Mexico, it is not in the tax-cutting business. The governor who propounded that small tax cut, Bill Richardson, has been in North Korea this week trying to do what the Bush administration failed miserably to do, persuade the tyrant who runs the country to quit making nuclear bombs.
Hutchinson would help us Arkansans more if he took the next plane and joined Gov. Richardson in that campaign and left taxes and economic stimulus to those with a better feel for it.
TOP STORY >> Bonds will fund schools in Cabot
By SARA GREENE
Leader staff writer
It was a busy evening for the Cabot School Board on Tuesday, when it approved getting a $6 million bond loan, returned a second recess to the schedule of elementary students, swore in a new member and reorganized the board.
The board approved $6 million in second-lien bonds, a type of loan, to help complete current and future construction projects. Stephens Inc., the financial agent for the Cabot School District, will coordinate the sale of the bonds to inv-estment companies early next year.
Depending on federal in-terest rates when the bonds are issued, the district’s repayment schedule is expected to be between $395,000 and $400,000 per year beginning in 2007. The $6 million, plus interest, should be paid in full by 2032.
The district is receiving $1.4 million, nearly all of the $1.5 million it requested, to proceed with immediate facilities improvements from the Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation Commission.
“It was a very extensive process to go through,” said Cabot School District superintendent Dr. Frank Holman.
“We asked for $1.5 (million) and got $1.4 (million) so it was good for us. We got nearly everything we asked for.”
The money will be used to replace roofs at Cabot Middle School South, Ward Central Elementary and Champs Hall, the multipurpose building at Cabot High School. The state chose not to give the district money to remove asbestos from buildings “C” and “D” on the high school campus before they are demolished next year.
Cabot was among 142 districts across the state seeking a share of $20 million authorized by the legislature for emergency facilities improvements. Under rules established by lawmakers, the state can transfer funds to pay for the additional $14.7 million needed to pay for the state’s portion of the facilities improvements, creating a fund of $34.7 million for the districts. Altogether, districts sought $73 million for projects from the commission.
Over the summer, teams of architects and engineers went statewide to examine the buildings of the districts requesting the immediate-needs funding. The teams checked the repairs listed on the funding applications against the deficiencies listed in the facilities study conducted last year by the Arkansas Task Force to Joint Com-mittee on Educational Facilities.
The next wave of state funding is called transition funding. It will help districts fund construction started between Jan. 2005 and June 2006.
“We feel like we’ll probably qualify for $6 million dollars,” Holman said.
In other business, the board voted to reinstate a second 20-minute recess at the elementary schools throughout the district. The recess was removed from the schedule by the administration to meet a state mandate of six hours of instruction each day. Terry Donham, a kindergarten teacher and member of the Personnel Policy Committee, read a letter to the board from the teachers in the district, asking for the recess back. During last month’s board meeting, several disgruntled parents asked the board to return the second recess.
“Our students are finding that the school day is physically uncomfortable due to the extended period in the classroom with no break,” Donham said. She added students are having trouble focusing and additional recess would not impede the six hours of instructional time.
Additionally, the teachers are requesting the board hire aides for each school to help teachers with the various duties such as morning and afternoon bus duty and lunch and recess duty.
“Some teachers are being assi-gned more than the 60 minutes of duty per week as mandated by law,” Donham said.
After some discussion, the board voted to reinstate the second 20-minute recess. The board tabled discussing hiring additional aides for the November meeting.
Lonoke County Judge Charlie Troutman gave the oath of office to the newest board member, Wendel Msall. Msall was elected to the board during the September school board election.
He replaces Steve Blackwood, a five-year veteran of the board. Immediately after the swearing-in of Msall, school board president Jim Coy nominated board member David Hipp to serve as the new board president, Dr. Brenda Thielemier to serve as the board’s vice-president and Brooks Nash to serve as the secretary/treasurer.
The board members usually rotate officers every year just after the fall school-board elections.
The board unanimously app-roved the change. Coy and Hipp immediately exchanged seats so Hipp could preside over the rest of the meeting.
“This is my fifth year to be on the board,” Hipp said. He has served as secretary/treasurer and served as vice president.
“I like the thought of keeping the meetings going quickly, but there’s times when you have to discuss things — that’s just the way it is,” Hipp said.
In a brief recognition ceremony, assistant superintendent Jim Dalton and Donna Whiting, director of the district’s gifted and talented program were presented Administra-tors of the Year Awards from the Arkansas State Communication Association. The association is comprised of speech, theater, forensics, and debate teachers across the state.
“Donna and Mr. Dalton have been such inspirational motivators,” said Jane Balgavy, director of forensics, theater and debate for the district. “As administrators, they’ve helped us so much securing different things for the facilities and theater and allowing us to travel to (debate) tournaments.”
The board also received a presentation on the district’s Pinnacle Internet Viewer software, which is available to parents, teachers, and students on the district’s Web site. As teachers and administrators enter in student information such as class schedules, attendance, tardiness and grades, the data is automatically in the program.
This information is then available to parents and students to view at any time. Unique log-ins and passwords, in addition to other security features, keeps student’s information secure for teachers, parents and students only. Parents can sign up for an e-mail notification if their child misses a class or if grades drop below a certain percentage.
Leader staff writer
It was a busy evening for the Cabot School Board on Tuesday, when it approved getting a $6 million bond loan, returned a second recess to the schedule of elementary students, swore in a new member and reorganized the board.
The board approved $6 million in second-lien bonds, a type of loan, to help complete current and future construction projects. Stephens Inc., the financial agent for the Cabot School District, will coordinate the sale of the bonds to inv-estment companies early next year.
Depending on federal in-terest rates when the bonds are issued, the district’s repayment schedule is expected to be between $395,000 and $400,000 per year beginning in 2007. The $6 million, plus interest, should be paid in full by 2032.
The district is receiving $1.4 million, nearly all of the $1.5 million it requested, to proceed with immediate facilities improvements from the Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation Commission.
“It was a very extensive process to go through,” said Cabot School District superintendent Dr. Frank Holman.
“We asked for $1.5 (million) and got $1.4 (million) so it was good for us. We got nearly everything we asked for.”
The money will be used to replace roofs at Cabot Middle School South, Ward Central Elementary and Champs Hall, the multipurpose building at Cabot High School. The state chose not to give the district money to remove asbestos from buildings “C” and “D” on the high school campus before they are demolished next year.
Cabot was among 142 districts across the state seeking a share of $20 million authorized by the legislature for emergency facilities improvements. Under rules established by lawmakers, the state can transfer funds to pay for the additional $14.7 million needed to pay for the state’s portion of the facilities improvements, creating a fund of $34.7 million for the districts. Altogether, districts sought $73 million for projects from the commission.
Over the summer, teams of architects and engineers went statewide to examine the buildings of the districts requesting the immediate-needs funding. The teams checked the repairs listed on the funding applications against the deficiencies listed in the facilities study conducted last year by the Arkansas Task Force to Joint Com-mittee on Educational Facilities.
The next wave of state funding is called transition funding. It will help districts fund construction started between Jan. 2005 and June 2006.
“We feel like we’ll probably qualify for $6 million dollars,” Holman said.
In other business, the board voted to reinstate a second 20-minute recess at the elementary schools throughout the district. The recess was removed from the schedule by the administration to meet a state mandate of six hours of instruction each day. Terry Donham, a kindergarten teacher and member of the Personnel Policy Committee, read a letter to the board from the teachers in the district, asking for the recess back. During last month’s board meeting, several disgruntled parents asked the board to return the second recess.
“Our students are finding that the school day is physically uncomfortable due to the extended period in the classroom with no break,” Donham said. She added students are having trouble focusing and additional recess would not impede the six hours of instructional time.
Additionally, the teachers are requesting the board hire aides for each school to help teachers with the various duties such as morning and afternoon bus duty and lunch and recess duty.
“Some teachers are being assi-gned more than the 60 minutes of duty per week as mandated by law,” Donham said.
After some discussion, the board voted to reinstate the second 20-minute recess. The board tabled discussing hiring additional aides for the November meeting.
Lonoke County Judge Charlie Troutman gave the oath of office to the newest board member, Wendel Msall. Msall was elected to the board during the September school board election.
He replaces Steve Blackwood, a five-year veteran of the board. Immediately after the swearing-in of Msall, school board president Jim Coy nominated board member David Hipp to serve as the new board president, Dr. Brenda Thielemier to serve as the board’s vice-president and Brooks Nash to serve as the secretary/treasurer.
The board members usually rotate officers every year just after the fall school-board elections.
The board unanimously app-roved the change. Coy and Hipp immediately exchanged seats so Hipp could preside over the rest of the meeting.
“This is my fifth year to be on the board,” Hipp said. He has served as secretary/treasurer and served as vice president.
“I like the thought of keeping the meetings going quickly, but there’s times when you have to discuss things — that’s just the way it is,” Hipp said.
In a brief recognition ceremony, assistant superintendent Jim Dalton and Donna Whiting, director of the district’s gifted and talented program were presented Administra-tors of the Year Awards from the Arkansas State Communication Association. The association is comprised of speech, theater, forensics, and debate teachers across the state.
“Donna and Mr. Dalton have been such inspirational motivators,” said Jane Balgavy, director of forensics, theater and debate for the district. “As administrators, they’ve helped us so much securing different things for the facilities and theater and allowing us to travel to (debate) tournaments.”
The board also received a presentation on the district’s Pinnacle Internet Viewer software, which is available to parents, teachers, and students on the district’s Web site. As teachers and administrators enter in student information such as class schedules, attendance, tardiness and grades, the data is automatically in the program.
This information is then available to parents and students to view at any time. Unique log-ins and passwords, in addition to other security features, keeps student’s information secure for teachers, parents and students only. Parents can sign up for an e-mail notification if their child misses a class or if grades drop below a certain percentage.
TOP STORY >> City lashes out at PCSSD
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
“Organized, peaceful resistance works,” Jacksonville Mayor Tommy Swaim told aldermen and a city council room packed with administrators, teachers, concerned parents and students Thursday night as he explained the problems the city was having with the Pulaski County Special School District.
Plenty of opinions were voiced at the meeting, which sometimes took the tone of a controlled free-for-all regarding the subject of the school district.
School board member James Bolden chimed in, saying, “We need to wear out their phone lines with our concerns.”
“What’s the number?” someone from the audience hollered out.
More than a dozen shouted back the number of PCSSD offices, “490-2000.”
“I’m tired of the district lying,” Bolden said.
Alderman Marshall Smith said, “We were promised grants and funding for the middle school when it went to single gender classes. Now we hear that the majority of the grants were turned down.”
“Were they even applied for?” questioned Alderman Linda Rinker, a former district principal.
Smith continued, “The left hand and the right hand don’t know what they are doing down at Dixon Road (the location of the district’s central office in Little Rock). No one’s in charge.”
Bolden explained to the council and the chamber full of concerned residents that he was here for the children.
“I’m not a politician, just a retired Army sergeant looking out for our children,” Bolden said, adding that the district and some school board members have a problem with him “because I work with my principals.”
“One administrator wants Michael Nellums (the middle school boys campus principal out),” Bolden said, because of the good relationship the two have.
Bolden didn’t name the administrator.
But audience members chanted, “Jeter, Jeter,” referring to Marvin V. Jeter, the assistant superintendent for learning services.
Bolden simply replied, “Amen.”
The mayor took about 15 minutes to explain the recent round of animosity between the city and the school district.
“Our children are not getting a quality education. It’s not in question, it’s documented,” Swaim said.
The latest wedge stemmed from a meeting city officials had with district administrators last week.
At the meeting, according to the mayor, Bolden and others in attendance, the district promised not to cut any administrators from the Jacksonville Middle School — at the time there was one principal and two assistants — and then a few days later, giving her less than 24 hours noticed, moved assistant principal Collen Johnson from the middle school to the high school.
“They just lied to us,” the mayor said. “We are trying to work within the system, but the system is not working for our schools.”
Nellums and Carl Brown, from the district’s central office, both spoke to the council about the situation, even though they said they feared for their jobs.
Bolden and Swaim said money was out there for the middle school, but the district was either not making the effort to get it or using it elsewhere.
Nellums said the school was eligible for about $156,000 in funds from the national school lunch act because of the high number of students on free and reduced lunch payment. He said the money could be used to pay for a math coach, a literacy coach and a curriculum specialist to supplement what the teachers are doing and work with students one-on-one.
He also said the funds could be used to purchase books and materials and the assistant principal position that they just took away from the school.
“If the district can’t find a way the money to pay her, I wish you (the council) could fund her position for a year,” Nellums said.
Nellums called Johnson a highly qualified, competent, innovative and creative middle school administrator, who is lost at the high school level.
Nellums said he realized that he was an employee of the school district and that there was a change of command.
“But the middle school is a handful,” he said. “Mine and (assistant principal Jackie) Calhoun’s hands are not enough.
“With the scores as law as we have had, we need materials and personnel.”
Alderman Bob Stroud then ask Nellums, “If the money is out there, where is it then?”
Nellums hesitated and Bolden stepped back up.
“They can’t fire me,” he said, and then explained that the district had made a local decision to spend its Title I money at the elementary level and not budget any of it for the middle schools.
“I expect the money next year for our school,” he said. Brown told the council that he didn’t want to go into detail about the money, but did say the school should be able to use Title V money.
Alderman Gary Fletcher acknowledged that the district was in a financial jam because of poor decision made previously. “But they are still making poor decisions,” he said.
Leader staff writer
“Organized, peaceful resistance works,” Jacksonville Mayor Tommy Swaim told aldermen and a city council room packed with administrators, teachers, concerned parents and students Thursday night as he explained the problems the city was having with the Pulaski County Special School District.
Plenty of opinions were voiced at the meeting, which sometimes took the tone of a controlled free-for-all regarding the subject of the school district.
School board member James Bolden chimed in, saying, “We need to wear out their phone lines with our concerns.”
“What’s the number?” someone from the audience hollered out.
More than a dozen shouted back the number of PCSSD offices, “490-2000.”
“I’m tired of the district lying,” Bolden said.
Alderman Marshall Smith said, “We were promised grants and funding for the middle school when it went to single gender classes. Now we hear that the majority of the grants were turned down.”
“Were they even applied for?” questioned Alderman Linda Rinker, a former district principal.
Smith continued, “The left hand and the right hand don’t know what they are doing down at Dixon Road (the location of the district’s central office in Little Rock). No one’s in charge.”
Bolden explained to the council and the chamber full of concerned residents that he was here for the children.
“I’m not a politician, just a retired Army sergeant looking out for our children,” Bolden said, adding that the district and some school board members have a problem with him “because I work with my principals.”
“One administrator wants Michael Nellums (the middle school boys campus principal out),” Bolden said, because of the good relationship the two have.
Bolden didn’t name the administrator.
But audience members chanted, “Jeter, Jeter,” referring to Marvin V. Jeter, the assistant superintendent for learning services.
Bolden simply replied, “Amen.”
The mayor took about 15 minutes to explain the recent round of animosity between the city and the school district.
“Our children are not getting a quality education. It’s not in question, it’s documented,” Swaim said.
The latest wedge stemmed from a meeting city officials had with district administrators last week.
At the meeting, according to the mayor, Bolden and others in attendance, the district promised not to cut any administrators from the Jacksonville Middle School — at the time there was one principal and two assistants — and then a few days later, giving her less than 24 hours noticed, moved assistant principal Collen Johnson from the middle school to the high school.
“They just lied to us,” the mayor said. “We are trying to work within the system, but the system is not working for our schools.”
Nellums and Carl Brown, from the district’s central office, both spoke to the council about the situation, even though they said they feared for their jobs.
Bolden and Swaim said money was out there for the middle school, but the district was either not making the effort to get it or using it elsewhere.
Nellums said the school was eligible for about $156,000 in funds from the national school lunch act because of the high number of students on free and reduced lunch payment. He said the money could be used to pay for a math coach, a literacy coach and a curriculum specialist to supplement what the teachers are doing and work with students one-on-one.
He also said the funds could be used to purchase books and materials and the assistant principal position that they just took away from the school.
“If the district can’t find a way the money to pay her, I wish you (the council) could fund her position for a year,” Nellums said.
Nellums called Johnson a highly qualified, competent, innovative and creative middle school administrator, who is lost at the high school level.
Nellums said he realized that he was an employee of the school district and that there was a change of command.
“But the middle school is a handful,” he said. “Mine and (assistant principal Jackie) Calhoun’s hands are not enough.
“With the scores as law as we have had, we need materials and personnel.”
Alderman Bob Stroud then ask Nellums, “If the money is out there, where is it then?”
Nellums hesitated and Bolden stepped back up.
“They can’t fire me,” he said, and then explained that the district had made a local decision to spend its Title I money at the elementary level and not budget any of it for the middle schools.
“I expect the money next year for our school,” he said. Brown told the council that he didn’t want to go into detail about the money, but did say the school should be able to use Title V money.
Alderman Gary Fletcher acknowledged that the district was in a financial jam because of poor decision made previously. “But they are still making poor decisions,” he said.
EVENTS
JHS choir department fall concert Thursday
The Jacksonville High School Choral Department will present a fall concert at 7 p.m. Thursday at the high school auditorium.
This first concert of the year will feature Cadet Choir, Concert Choir and the Chamber Singers. Under the direction of Joan Blann, the choirs will sing several All-Region pieces, a traditional gospel blues number, the perennial favorite “Embraceable You” and some barbershop numbers.
Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.
Middle school Frontier Festival events on Friday
Cabot Middle School South’s annual Frontier Festival will be held Friday. The day is the culminating event for the study of Arkansas and pioneers by the fifth graders.
Activities throughout the day, led by experts and living-history re-enactors from all over the state, bring to life lessons learned in class over the previous weeks.
Ann Gray from the Ozark Folk Center will explain and demonstrate how to make corn shucks. Tom Yancey from the Mississippi Valley Educational Program will prepare logs for a cabin.
The day begins at 7:15 a.m. with a pioneer breakfast open to the public. Throughout the day, participants can enjoy the pioneer experience along with the fifth graders. The fifth-grade music and dance programs will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the cafeteria. Also, participants are invited to attend the hoe-down taking place at the same time. For more information, contact Debra Polston at 501-941-7335.
Cabot Kiwanis Club selling smoked turkey, hams
The Cabot Kiwanis Club will be selling smoked turkeys and hams. Orders will be taken for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thanksgiving turkeys and hams will be delivered Nov. 21 and 22 and Christmas turkeys and hams will be delivered Dec. 20 and 21.
The group will sell smoked turkeys for $25; smoked hams are 16 to 18 pounds and will sell for $45.
The Jacksonville High School Choral Department will present a fall concert at 7 p.m. Thursday at the high school auditorium.
This first concert of the year will feature Cadet Choir, Concert Choir and the Chamber Singers. Under the direction of Joan Blann, the choirs will sing several All-Region pieces, a traditional gospel blues number, the perennial favorite “Embraceable You” and some barbershop numbers.
Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.
Middle school Frontier Festival events on Friday
Cabot Middle School South’s annual Frontier Festival will be held Friday. The day is the culminating event for the study of Arkansas and pioneers by the fifth graders.
Activities throughout the day, led by experts and living-history re-enactors from all over the state, bring to life lessons learned in class over the previous weeks.
Ann Gray from the Ozark Folk Center will explain and demonstrate how to make corn shucks. Tom Yancey from the Mississippi Valley Educational Program will prepare logs for a cabin.
The day begins at 7:15 a.m. with a pioneer breakfast open to the public. Throughout the day, participants can enjoy the pioneer experience along with the fifth graders. The fifth-grade music and dance programs will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the cafeteria. Also, participants are invited to attend the hoe-down taking place at the same time. For more information, contact Debra Polston at 501-941-7335.
Cabot Kiwanis Club selling smoked turkey, hams
The Cabot Kiwanis Club will be selling smoked turkeys and hams. Orders will be taken for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thanksgiving turkeys and hams will be delivered Nov. 21 and 22 and Christmas turkeys and hams will be delivered Dec. 20 and 21.
The group will sell smoked turkeys for $25; smoked hams are 16 to 18 pounds and will sell for $45.
OBITS
SAM MAHMOUD
Sam Mahmoud, 13, of Beebe passed away Oct. 23. He was an eighth-grade student at Beebe Junior High. He is survived by his parents, Sam and Aida Mahmoud of Beebe; three brothers, Adel of Beebe, Zack and Aaron of Attalla, Ala.,; and one sister, Anna Mills of Jacksonville. Funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe, with burial in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Pine Bluff.
GIP JERRY WELLS
Gip Jerry Wells, 27, of North Little Rock, died Oct. 24.
Survivors include children, Dakota, Dalton and Aspen Wells of Texas, and Saera Cox of Little Rock; parents, Linda and Jerry Wells of North Little Rock; brother, Glenn Seyller, sister, Missy Moss both of Little Rock.
Graveside service will be 11 a.m. Thursday at Wattensaw Cemetery, Lonoke.
EDWARD PETERSON
Edward A. Peterson, 67, of north Las Vegas, Nev., died Oct. 21.
He was retired from the Air Force, having served in the Marines, Navy and Army Corp. of Engineers. He was a veteran of the Korean conflict. Peterson was a Christian. He was preceded in death by his wife of over 35 years, Patricia Peterson and is survived by one son, Christopher P. Alveti of Clarksville, Tenn.; one daughter, Linda Alveti-Sarota of Riverside, Calif.; two grandchildren, Chad Alveti and Crystal Alveti, both of Beebe; and four great-grandchildren. Funeral will be 10 a.m. Thursday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe, with burial in Arkansas State Veterans Cem-etery.
BRENDA REED
Brenda Kay Reed, 41, of Austin, passed away Oct. 23. She was born Feb. 26, 1964, in Mockley, Fla., to Owen and Mary Davis.
She was preceded in death by her father Owen Davis and a brother. Survivors include her husband, Frankie Reed; two sons, Ronnie and Cody Reed all of the home; mother, Mary Davis of Ward; and three sisters, Pat Boone of Ward, Helen Dover and Billie Noey both of North Little Rock. Memorial services will be held 11 a.m. Friday at Campground Union Church in Cabot with Bro. Ron Cody officiating. Arrangements by Thomas Funeral Service.
DEACON PERRY DODSON, JR.
Deacon Perry Lee Dodson, Jr., 64, died Oct. 22. He was vice chairman of St. John Baptist Deacon Board, one of the original members of the Zion 5 Jr. Gospel Singers, vice president of St. John Baptist Choir and was a veteran of the Army.
His parents, Perry Lee Dodson, Sr. and Annie Elizabeth Waller Dodson and several brothers and sisters preceded him in death. Survivors include his wife, Estella Dodson; daughter, Bonita Walter and husband Anthony of Little Rock; son, Rev. Brian Dodson and wife Jackie of DeValls Bluff; brothers, Major Dodson of California and Robert Dodson and wife Aretha of Lonoke; one sister, Laura Spencer and husband Eddie of Lonoke; five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Boyd Funeral Home, Lonoke. Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Saturday at Gateway Fellowship Church. Burial will follow in Sunset Memorial Garden.
JOSEPH CHAMBLEE
Joseph D. Chamblee, 69, of Ward, died Oct. 21. He was born in Romance, and was a retired meat cutter. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; his son, Mark Allen Chamblee of Ward; two daughters, Melinda Ryan and husband Charles of Batesville and April Gammel and husband David of Lonoke; two grandchildren, Amanda Armstong and Cliff Ryan; one great-grandchild, Camden Ryan; two brothers, Dennis Wondel Chamblee and Joe Chamblee; and two sisters, Emma Madding of Forest City and Laura Eubanks of Morrilton.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, with burial in Apple Hill Cemetery.
JOHN PARR SR.
John Robert Parr Sr., 70, of Lonoke died Oct. 24. He was retired from the city of Lonoke. He is survived by one son, Harold Parr and wife Joanna of Ward; one daughter, Tammy Mackey and husband Dale of Lonoke; seven grandchildren; three brothers and three sisters.
Funeral services will be held today at Westbrook Funeral Home in Beebe, with burial in Monk Cemetery.
DORA HAYNES
Dora E. Riggs Haynes, 92, of Austin died Oct. 21. She was retired from MacMillan-Bloedel and was a member of Mt. Carmel Baptist Church. She was preceded in death by her husband, Elmo M. Haynes.
She is survived by one son, Joe W. Haynes of Plano, Texas; two daughters, Rosemary Sutton of Saratoga and Martha Martin of Austin; nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
Graveside services were held Monday at Oak Grove Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Mt. Carmel Baptist Church for the Lottie Moon Foreign Mission Offering, 163 Mt. Carmel Road, Cabot, Ark., 72023.
LULA MCCLURE
Lula McClure, 68, of Jack-sonville, passed away Oct. 23. Born Feb. 24, 1937, in Lake City and she was the daughter of Homer and Sarah Smallman Seay.
She was a member of North Jacksonville Baptist Church.
She was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers, and two sisters. McClure is survived by her husband of 50 years, Ken; two sons, John McClure and Ray McClure, all of Jacksonville; and a host of nieces and nephews.
Graveside services were held Tuesday at Rest Hills Memorial Park. Arrangements by Griffin Leggett Rest Hills in North Little Rock.
SANDRIA GOWEN
Infant Sandria Marie Gowen of Ward died Oct. 15 in Searcy.
She is survived by her parents Michael Gene and Kathy Jean (Razer) Gowen; maternal grandparents, Bruce and Ann Razer of Cabot; and paternal grandmother, Patricia White of Cabot.
Graveside services were held Thursday at Oakland Cemetery.
Arrangements by Jackson’s Newport Funeral Home.
RICHARD LACROIX
Richard Carl LaCroix, Sr. 75 of Lonoke, formerly of Fairfield, Calif., passed away Oct. 21 in Jacksonville. He was born April 2, 1930, in Georgiaville, R.I., to the late Richard C. LaCroix and Marion Morvan LaCroix.
He was preceded in death by his wife Sarah Edith Pate LaCroix in 1997. Survivors include one daughter: Cynthia Hawk of Cabot; one son Richard Carl LaCroix, Jr. of River Bank, Calif.; two grandchildren: April Renee Boyd and Adam Russell Shaw; four great-grandchildren: Tawnie Rae Boyd and Amber Jean Boyd, Thomas Adam Shaw and Samantha Kristine Shaw all of Cabot; two sisters and several other family members of Rhode Island. Private family services are arranged by Thomas Funeral Service. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials in Richard‚s name be made to the Lonoke County CASA program at the Lonoke County Court House, 201 Court St., Lonoke, Arkansas 72086.
Sam Mahmoud, 13, of Beebe passed away Oct. 23. He was an eighth-grade student at Beebe Junior High. He is survived by his parents, Sam and Aida Mahmoud of Beebe; three brothers, Adel of Beebe, Zack and Aaron of Attalla, Ala.,; and one sister, Anna Mills of Jacksonville. Funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe, with burial in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Pine Bluff.
GIP JERRY WELLS
Gip Jerry Wells, 27, of North Little Rock, died Oct. 24.
Survivors include children, Dakota, Dalton and Aspen Wells of Texas, and Saera Cox of Little Rock; parents, Linda and Jerry Wells of North Little Rock; brother, Glenn Seyller, sister, Missy Moss both of Little Rock.
Graveside service will be 11 a.m. Thursday at Wattensaw Cemetery, Lonoke.
EDWARD PETERSON
Edward A. Peterson, 67, of north Las Vegas, Nev., died Oct. 21.
He was retired from the Air Force, having served in the Marines, Navy and Army Corp. of Engineers. He was a veteran of the Korean conflict. Peterson was a Christian. He was preceded in death by his wife of over 35 years, Patricia Peterson and is survived by one son, Christopher P. Alveti of Clarksville, Tenn.; one daughter, Linda Alveti-Sarota of Riverside, Calif.; two grandchildren, Chad Alveti and Crystal Alveti, both of Beebe; and four great-grandchildren. Funeral will be 10 a.m. Thursday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe, with burial in Arkansas State Veterans Cem-etery.
BRENDA REED
Brenda Kay Reed, 41, of Austin, passed away Oct. 23. She was born Feb. 26, 1964, in Mockley, Fla., to Owen and Mary Davis.
She was preceded in death by her father Owen Davis and a brother. Survivors include her husband, Frankie Reed; two sons, Ronnie and Cody Reed all of the home; mother, Mary Davis of Ward; and three sisters, Pat Boone of Ward, Helen Dover and Billie Noey both of North Little Rock. Memorial services will be held 11 a.m. Friday at Campground Union Church in Cabot with Bro. Ron Cody officiating. Arrangements by Thomas Funeral Service.
DEACON PERRY DODSON, JR.
Deacon Perry Lee Dodson, Jr., 64, died Oct. 22. He was vice chairman of St. John Baptist Deacon Board, one of the original members of the Zion 5 Jr. Gospel Singers, vice president of St. John Baptist Choir and was a veteran of the Army.
His parents, Perry Lee Dodson, Sr. and Annie Elizabeth Waller Dodson and several brothers and sisters preceded him in death. Survivors include his wife, Estella Dodson; daughter, Bonita Walter and husband Anthony of Little Rock; son, Rev. Brian Dodson and wife Jackie of DeValls Bluff; brothers, Major Dodson of California and Robert Dodson and wife Aretha of Lonoke; one sister, Laura Spencer and husband Eddie of Lonoke; five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Boyd Funeral Home, Lonoke. Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Saturday at Gateway Fellowship Church. Burial will follow in Sunset Memorial Garden.
JOSEPH CHAMBLEE
Joseph D. Chamblee, 69, of Ward, died Oct. 21. He was born in Romance, and was a retired meat cutter. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; his son, Mark Allen Chamblee of Ward; two daughters, Melinda Ryan and husband Charles of Batesville and April Gammel and husband David of Lonoke; two grandchildren, Amanda Armstong and Cliff Ryan; one great-grandchild, Camden Ryan; two brothers, Dennis Wondel Chamblee and Joe Chamblee; and two sisters, Emma Madding of Forest City and Laura Eubanks of Morrilton.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, with burial in Apple Hill Cemetery.
JOHN PARR SR.
John Robert Parr Sr., 70, of Lonoke died Oct. 24. He was retired from the city of Lonoke. He is survived by one son, Harold Parr and wife Joanna of Ward; one daughter, Tammy Mackey and husband Dale of Lonoke; seven grandchildren; three brothers and three sisters.
Funeral services will be held today at Westbrook Funeral Home in Beebe, with burial in Monk Cemetery.
DORA HAYNES
Dora E. Riggs Haynes, 92, of Austin died Oct. 21. She was retired from MacMillan-Bloedel and was a member of Mt. Carmel Baptist Church. She was preceded in death by her husband, Elmo M. Haynes.
She is survived by one son, Joe W. Haynes of Plano, Texas; two daughters, Rosemary Sutton of Saratoga and Martha Martin of Austin; nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
Graveside services were held Monday at Oak Grove Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Mt. Carmel Baptist Church for the Lottie Moon Foreign Mission Offering, 163 Mt. Carmel Road, Cabot, Ark., 72023.
LULA MCCLURE
Lula McClure, 68, of Jack-sonville, passed away Oct. 23. Born Feb. 24, 1937, in Lake City and she was the daughter of Homer and Sarah Smallman Seay.
She was a member of North Jacksonville Baptist Church.
She was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers, and two sisters. McClure is survived by her husband of 50 years, Ken; two sons, John McClure and Ray McClure, all of Jacksonville; and a host of nieces and nephews.
Graveside services were held Tuesday at Rest Hills Memorial Park. Arrangements by Griffin Leggett Rest Hills in North Little Rock.
SANDRIA GOWEN
Infant Sandria Marie Gowen of Ward died Oct. 15 in Searcy.
She is survived by her parents Michael Gene and Kathy Jean (Razer) Gowen; maternal grandparents, Bruce and Ann Razer of Cabot; and paternal grandmother, Patricia White of Cabot.
Graveside services were held Thursday at Oakland Cemetery.
Arrangements by Jackson’s Newport Funeral Home.
RICHARD LACROIX
Richard Carl LaCroix, Sr. 75 of Lonoke, formerly of Fairfield, Calif., passed away Oct. 21 in Jacksonville. He was born April 2, 1930, in Georgiaville, R.I., to the late Richard C. LaCroix and Marion Morvan LaCroix.
He was preceded in death by his wife Sarah Edith Pate LaCroix in 1997. Survivors include one daughter: Cynthia Hawk of Cabot; one son Richard Carl LaCroix, Jr. of River Bank, Calif.; two grandchildren: April Renee Boyd and Adam Russell Shaw; four great-grandchildren: Tawnie Rae Boyd and Amber Jean Boyd, Thomas Adam Shaw and Samantha Kristine Shaw all of Cabot; two sisters and several other family members of Rhode Island. Private family services are arranged by Thomas Funeral Service. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials in Richard‚s name be made to the Lonoke County CASA program at the Lonoke County Court House, 201 Court St., Lonoke, Arkansas 72086.
NEIGHBORS >> All aboard Cabot train engineer working for the kids
By SARA GREENE
Leader staff writer
What took hours and hours to construct can quickly make a kid’s day.
And that makes a lot of hard work a lot of fun for Cabot’s Don Robinson.
Robinson, 71, is the engineer of the Grand Kids Express, a homemade 32-foot long train that can carry about 27 small children. Robinson takes the train out to churches and area festivals in a 100-mile radius around Cabot.
“If I can bring a minute of joy to a child’s life, it’s worth it,” Robinson said.
A pastor and retired stonemason, Robinson got the inspiration for the train after seeing a similar one in another state.
In 2003, Robinson set to work in his workshop nestled in the tree-covered hills above Greystone in Cabot.
Robinson designed the train’s engine and boxcars. After first removing the mowing assembly underneath a riding lawn mower, he set a black barrel over the lawn mower engine to make it resemble the boiler of an old-time locomotive.
He attached a wooden cattle guard and a trashcan lid with a brightly painted face to give the train personality. Robinson doesn’t have names for the trains.
He simply calls them the long one and the short one. Many children call the trains “Thomas” after “Thomas the Tank Engine Train,” the popular children’s cartoon.
Underneath, each boxcar has dual sets of tires. Each set of tires has a wooden cover over the hub to make them look more like train wheels.
Each boxcar is specially designed by Robinson to follow the engine closely. This allows the train to safely make tight turns.
There is a pair of camp lanterns on the front, rigged with electric lights. Mounted on the caboose is a third camp lantern with a flashing red-beacon light.
The three boxcars are green, red and yellow, decorated with the names of Robinson’s 18 grandchildren. Wooden cutouts and designs on each boxcar display his woodworking skills.
The 32-foot train is actually Robin-son’s second train. After operating the first train for a while, he improved the design to build the current train, adding a third boxcar for carrying young passengers. The first train is stored in his woodshop as a backup.
Robinson’s wife, Betty, helped paint and decorate the trains and also serves as the train conductor, helping the small passengers board the train. As conductor, Betty makes sure each child has the installed seat belts fastened.
Don Robinson built The Station, a canopy with a railroad crossing sign and fencing to keep the little passengers safe while waiting for their turn on the train.
The engine and three boxcars fit snugly, like puzzle pieces on the 16 foot-trailer he uses to transport the train.
At events such as children’s outreach ministries and vacation Bible school children get to ride for free.
“One day we gave 425 children, seven busloads, rides all day long,” Robinson said.
At festivals, he charges $2 to $3 per ride.
“If a child doesn’t have the money to ride — you can see it on their faces when they walk up — we give them a ride anyway,” Robinson said, adding that the money he makes is used to pay the insurance premiums for the train. Insurance companies consider the train a carnival ride and the Robinsons have to keep a million-dollar policy on it.
Other money the couple makes from the train is invested back into it to pay the cost of the gas, oil and upkeep. At most festivals, the Robinsons have to pay a booth fee to operate his train for the children. The cost of constructing the trains and the money the Robin-sons could make if they sold them doesn’t matter to Don Robinson.
“It’s worth it when I see the children get on the train and smile,” he said.
Leader staff writer
What took hours and hours to construct can quickly make a kid’s day.
And that makes a lot of hard work a lot of fun for Cabot’s Don Robinson.
Robinson, 71, is the engineer of the Grand Kids Express, a homemade 32-foot long train that can carry about 27 small children. Robinson takes the train out to churches and area festivals in a 100-mile radius around Cabot.
“If I can bring a minute of joy to a child’s life, it’s worth it,” Robinson said.
A pastor and retired stonemason, Robinson got the inspiration for the train after seeing a similar one in another state.
In 2003, Robinson set to work in his workshop nestled in the tree-covered hills above Greystone in Cabot.
Robinson designed the train’s engine and boxcars. After first removing the mowing assembly underneath a riding lawn mower, he set a black barrel over the lawn mower engine to make it resemble the boiler of an old-time locomotive.
He attached a wooden cattle guard and a trashcan lid with a brightly painted face to give the train personality. Robinson doesn’t have names for the trains.
He simply calls them the long one and the short one. Many children call the trains “Thomas” after “Thomas the Tank Engine Train,” the popular children’s cartoon.
Underneath, each boxcar has dual sets of tires. Each set of tires has a wooden cover over the hub to make them look more like train wheels.
Each boxcar is specially designed by Robinson to follow the engine closely. This allows the train to safely make tight turns.
There is a pair of camp lanterns on the front, rigged with electric lights. Mounted on the caboose is a third camp lantern with a flashing red-beacon light.
The three boxcars are green, red and yellow, decorated with the names of Robinson’s 18 grandchildren. Wooden cutouts and designs on each boxcar display his woodworking skills.
The 32-foot train is actually Robin-son’s second train. After operating the first train for a while, he improved the design to build the current train, adding a third boxcar for carrying young passengers. The first train is stored in his woodshop as a backup.
Robinson’s wife, Betty, helped paint and decorate the trains and also serves as the train conductor, helping the small passengers board the train. As conductor, Betty makes sure each child has the installed seat belts fastened.
Don Robinson built The Station, a canopy with a railroad crossing sign and fencing to keep the little passengers safe while waiting for their turn on the train.
The engine and three boxcars fit snugly, like puzzle pieces on the 16 foot-trailer he uses to transport the train.
At events such as children’s outreach ministries and vacation Bible school children get to ride for free.
“One day we gave 425 children, seven busloads, rides all day long,” Robinson said.
At festivals, he charges $2 to $3 per ride.
“If a child doesn’t have the money to ride — you can see it on their faces when they walk up — we give them a ride anyway,” Robinson said, adding that the money he makes is used to pay the insurance premiums for the train. Insurance companies consider the train a carnival ride and the Robinsons have to keep a million-dollar policy on it.
Other money the couple makes from the train is invested back into it to pay the cost of the gas, oil and upkeep. At most festivals, the Robinsons have to pay a booth fee to operate his train for the children. The cost of constructing the trains and the money the Robin-sons could make if they sold them doesn’t matter to Don Robinson.
“It’s worth it when I see the children get on the train and smile,” he said.
SPORTS >> Volleyball playoffs get started this week
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The class AAAAA and class AAAA state volleyball tournaments get underway Thursday, with Jacksonville, Cabot and North Pulaski vying for their respective shots in those events.
After a one-year break, the AAAAA state tournament is back in Cabot, where it was a mainstay for several years.
Cabot and Jacksonville continued their long strings of playoff berths, but Cabot’s stretch of six-straight seasons with at least one playoff win is in jeopardy this year. The Lady Panthers managed to slip into the playoffs, but as the No. 4 seed from the East, meaning a first-round date with defending state champion and No. 1 ranked Fort Smith Northside at 4 p.m. Thursday.
Jacksonville is back as the No.3 seed from the East, which it took into the state tournament for four straight years until moving up to grab the No.2 seed last season.
Oddly, Jacksonville will again face North Little Rock in the first round, the same team it has met in the opening round for three of the last four years.
Cabot and Jacksonville are on opposite sides of the bracket, so in the unlikely event the two meet in the tournament, it will be in the championship round on Saturday.
Jacksonville opens the tournament at noon Thursday in the Cabot annex gym. At the same time, AAAAA-South winner Benton will play West No.4 seed Russellville in the main gym.
The other two matches in the top half of the bracket pit Jonesboro, the East champion, against Little Rock Central, and Fort Smith Southside against Texarkana.
Northside and Cabot get the bottom half started in the main gym while South No.2 seed Sheridan meets Central three Mount St. Mary.
Sheridan meets Central No.3 seed Mount St. Mary’s.
The final two matches of the first round features Central champion Conway against South No.4 seed Lake Hamilton, and East No.2 seed Mountain Home squaring off against Bentonville, the No.3 seed from the West.
The quarterfinals will be at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Friday. After a break, the winners return to play the semifinal matches at 4 and 6 p.m. The championship match is set for 11 a.m. Saturday.
North Pulaski kicks off the class AAAA state tournament against the third-place team from the East, Paragould.
If the Lady Falcons can pull off the victory, they will meet the winner between Southwest champion Hot Springs Lakeside and Alma, the No.4 seed from the West conference. The rest of the top of the bracket includes West No2. seed, Siloam Springs taking on Southwest No.3 seed Malvern, and East No.2 seed Marion facing Southeast No.3 seed JA Fair.
East winner and tournament host Wynne plays Pulaski Rob-inson at 4 p.m. The winner of that match faces the winner of the Morrilton-Arkadelphia matchup.
Southeast champ Mills plays the East No.4 seed Nettleton, and Magnolia plays Greenwood at 6 p.m. to close out the first round of play. The quarterfinals, semifinals and finals for the AAAA tournament are on the same schedule at the AAAAA tournament.
Leader sports editor
The class AAAAA and class AAAA state volleyball tournaments get underway Thursday, with Jacksonville, Cabot and North Pulaski vying for their respective shots in those events.
After a one-year break, the AAAAA state tournament is back in Cabot, where it was a mainstay for several years.
Cabot and Jacksonville continued their long strings of playoff berths, but Cabot’s stretch of six-straight seasons with at least one playoff win is in jeopardy this year. The Lady Panthers managed to slip into the playoffs, but as the No. 4 seed from the East, meaning a first-round date with defending state champion and No. 1 ranked Fort Smith Northside at 4 p.m. Thursday.
Jacksonville is back as the No.3 seed from the East, which it took into the state tournament for four straight years until moving up to grab the No.2 seed last season.
Oddly, Jacksonville will again face North Little Rock in the first round, the same team it has met in the opening round for three of the last four years.
Cabot and Jacksonville are on opposite sides of the bracket, so in the unlikely event the two meet in the tournament, it will be in the championship round on Saturday.
Jacksonville opens the tournament at noon Thursday in the Cabot annex gym. At the same time, AAAAA-South winner Benton will play West No.4 seed Russellville in the main gym.
The other two matches in the top half of the bracket pit Jonesboro, the East champion, against Little Rock Central, and Fort Smith Southside against Texarkana.
Northside and Cabot get the bottom half started in the main gym while South No.2 seed Sheridan meets Central three Mount St. Mary.
Sheridan meets Central No.3 seed Mount St. Mary’s.
The final two matches of the first round features Central champion Conway against South No.4 seed Lake Hamilton, and East No.2 seed Mountain Home squaring off against Bentonville, the No.3 seed from the West.
The quarterfinals will be at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Friday. After a break, the winners return to play the semifinal matches at 4 and 6 p.m. The championship match is set for 11 a.m. Saturday.
North Pulaski kicks off the class AAAA state tournament against the third-place team from the East, Paragould.
If the Lady Falcons can pull off the victory, they will meet the winner between Southwest champion Hot Springs Lakeside and Alma, the No.4 seed from the West conference. The rest of the top of the bracket includes West No2. seed, Siloam Springs taking on Southwest No.3 seed Malvern, and East No.2 seed Marion facing Southeast No.3 seed JA Fair.
East winner and tournament host Wynne plays Pulaski Rob-inson at 4 p.m. The winner of that match faces the winner of the Morrilton-Arkadelphia matchup.
Southeast champ Mills plays the East No.4 seed Nettleton, and Magnolia plays Greenwood at 6 p.m. to close out the first round of play. The quarterfinals, semifinals and finals for the AAAA tournament are on the same schedule at the AAAAA tournament.
SPORTS >> Devils must focus to get win
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville Red Devils have a huge task ahead of them this week as they head into the hometown of the second-ranked team in the state, on its senior night.
While focusing on what’s ahead, they also have to forget what’s behind them, an ugly loss to Forrest City that head Red Devil Mark Whatley summed up perfectly.
“We didn’t make them earn it,” Whatley said of last week’s loss. That may sum it up nicely, but there is more to it, and Whatley expounded.
“We were not mentally prepared to play that game, just look at our first possession. I’m not going to put in the paper my opinion on it, but you can bet they (the players) are crystal clear on what I think. Now we just have to put that behind us and move forward. We’ve got one heck of a football team in front of us and we can’t keep worrying about last week.”
West Memphis barely kept its perfect season intact last week, skimming by Mountain Home 25-24 in overtime, so it’s likely the Blue Devils got a wakeup call of sorts too.
West Memphis is a little more versatile this year, but still likes to pound away at opposing defenses with big fullback Xavier Murry.
The added versatility comes from a quarterback with a cool head, a good arm and some tall, speedy receivers that can make plays when called upon.
West Memphis torched Cabot for two big touchdown passes to beat the Panthers when the running game wasn’t working all that well.
Last year, Jacksonville shut down West Memphis’ ground game, and lost a hard-fought, low-scoring battle.
They’ll have to be prepared for more this year, but this has been a Jacksonville defense that has exceeded most everyone’s expectations.
“The defense has played well enough to win ballgames most of the time,” Whatley said. “I thought they did an outstanding job last week. We gave them two defensive touchdowns and a 20-yard field to work with for another.
“That’s tough on those guys, but they played well.”
Forrest City’s defense played well too, and it doesn’t get any easier this week.
Whatley said the Mustangs’ front four on defense were the best his team has seen this year, and West Memphis’ looks just about as good on film.
“We’re definitely going to have to do a better job with our pass protection,” Whatley said.
“A lot of that last week was because we put ourselves in a situation where they knew what we had to do to.
“Hopefully we’re more prepared from the start and can keep from putting ourselves in that situation this time.”
Senior night festivites at West Memphis begin at 7 p.m., kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville Red Devils have a huge task ahead of them this week as they head into the hometown of the second-ranked team in the state, on its senior night.
While focusing on what’s ahead, they also have to forget what’s behind them, an ugly loss to Forrest City that head Red Devil Mark Whatley summed up perfectly.
“We didn’t make them earn it,” Whatley said of last week’s loss. That may sum it up nicely, but there is more to it, and Whatley expounded.
“We were not mentally prepared to play that game, just look at our first possession. I’m not going to put in the paper my opinion on it, but you can bet they (the players) are crystal clear on what I think. Now we just have to put that behind us and move forward. We’ve got one heck of a football team in front of us and we can’t keep worrying about last week.”
West Memphis barely kept its perfect season intact last week, skimming by Mountain Home 25-24 in overtime, so it’s likely the Blue Devils got a wakeup call of sorts too.
West Memphis is a little more versatile this year, but still likes to pound away at opposing defenses with big fullback Xavier Murry.
The added versatility comes from a quarterback with a cool head, a good arm and some tall, speedy receivers that can make plays when called upon.
West Memphis torched Cabot for two big touchdown passes to beat the Panthers when the running game wasn’t working all that well.
Last year, Jacksonville shut down West Memphis’ ground game, and lost a hard-fought, low-scoring battle.
They’ll have to be prepared for more this year, but this has been a Jacksonville defense that has exceeded most everyone’s expectations.
“The defense has played well enough to win ballgames most of the time,” Whatley said. “I thought they did an outstanding job last week. We gave them two defensive touchdowns and a 20-yard field to work with for another.
“That’s tough on those guys, but they played well.”
Forrest City’s defense played well too, and it doesn’t get any easier this week.
Whatley said the Mustangs’ front four on defense were the best his team has seen this year, and West Memphis’ looks just about as good on film.
“We’re definitely going to have to do a better job with our pass protection,” Whatley said.
“A lot of that last week was because we put ourselves in a situation where they knew what we had to do to.
“Hopefully we’re more prepared from the start and can keep from putting ourselves in that situation this time.”
Senior night festivites at West Memphis begin at 7 p.m., kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
EDITORIAL >> Three cheers for Huckabee
We can report another sighting of the good Mike Huckabee, the rare Republican politician who believes that government and taxes are not in all cases to be abhorred. It was in a spirited exchange in the prints with Grover Norquist, the Republican lobbyist and economic guru who has vowed before the altar of God to end every tax and government service that does not benefit the rich and the mighty.
Arkansas is missing some $250 million to $300 million a year in taxes because out-of-state mail-order houses and Internet merchants either will not collect use taxes on their Arkansas sales or else will not remit to the state the taxes they collect. Use taxes are the equivalent of sales taxes, but they are collected on items bought outside the state for consumption inside the state.
The U. S. Supreme Court ruled 38 years ago that the commerce clause of the Constitution bars a state from collecting taxes on sales originating in other states if the businesses do not have a base in that state — unless the federal government says it is OK or unless the merchant voluntarily obliges.
Internet marketing has become so pervasive that it has carved away much of the retail business of local merchants and sharply reduced state and local tax collections.
It has made the sales tax, already unfair to consumers, unfair to merchants as well. It assigns a distinct trade disadvantage to local merchants, who support the state, the schools and their communities through taxes, employment and gifts.
The states have lobbied Washington for a dozen years to rectify the injustice. Sen. Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, while he was a senator, took up their cause, but he was unsuccessful. Congress said it wanted to give the fledgling Internet marketers time to grow. Requiring them to collect and remit taxes like other merchants might discourage growth of Internet businesses.
The Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement gives states and online and catalog merchants a way to collect and remit taxes. Thirteen states are full participants and Arkansas and four other states are partial participants. But Arkansas will begin to collect a few taxes soon if it can work out several kinks in how it will be done. The Arkansas Legislature this year postponed Arkansas’ full participation until 2007, which might still be postponed if the kinks are not worked out or Congress does not by then require sellers to remit taxes to the states.
Norquist, an exponent of President Bush’s four rounds of tax cuts for high incomes and corporations, says he has the legislation scotched if he can keep a Republican majority in just one house of Congress after the midterm elections in 2006. He is confident that he can do that while trying to kill off Medicaid, Social Security, Medicare and other insurance programs for the middle class and the poor.
He was quoted in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette as telling Huckabee that he should withdraw Arkansas from the agreement and refuse to have any taxes collected from merchants outside the state. It is a tax increase, he said, and Huckabee needs to burnish his credentials as a foe of taxes if he hopes to be elected president.
Another Republican presidential wanna-be, Sen. George Allen of Virginia, opposes the agreement.
Huckabee had the perfect riposte. He said he favored a tax structure that was fair and a national government that obliged the 10th Amendment to the Constitution by not usurping the power of the states.
Frankly, we didn’t know he had it in him.
“Mr. Norquist,” the governor said, “doesn’t have to govern and isn’t accountable to anyone but his donors and lobbying clients, so while I don’t fault him for taking a more liberal view of letting Main Street small business collect taxes while letting the big corporations off the hook, I do feel he needs to be more honest about what the streamlined sales tax really does, which is create a simpler and fairer system.”
A Republican who talks back to Grover Norquist? Some days, our incredibly shrinking governor’s presidential preoccupation doesn’t look so preposterous.
Arkansas is missing some $250 million to $300 million a year in taxes because out-of-state mail-order houses and Internet merchants either will not collect use taxes on their Arkansas sales or else will not remit to the state the taxes they collect. Use taxes are the equivalent of sales taxes, but they are collected on items bought outside the state for consumption inside the state.
The U. S. Supreme Court ruled 38 years ago that the commerce clause of the Constitution bars a state from collecting taxes on sales originating in other states if the businesses do not have a base in that state — unless the federal government says it is OK or unless the merchant voluntarily obliges.
Internet marketing has become so pervasive that it has carved away much of the retail business of local merchants and sharply reduced state and local tax collections.
It has made the sales tax, already unfair to consumers, unfair to merchants as well. It assigns a distinct trade disadvantage to local merchants, who support the state, the schools and their communities through taxes, employment and gifts.
The states have lobbied Washington for a dozen years to rectify the injustice. Sen. Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, while he was a senator, took up their cause, but he was unsuccessful. Congress said it wanted to give the fledgling Internet marketers time to grow. Requiring them to collect and remit taxes like other merchants might discourage growth of Internet businesses.
The Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement gives states and online and catalog merchants a way to collect and remit taxes. Thirteen states are full participants and Arkansas and four other states are partial participants. But Arkansas will begin to collect a few taxes soon if it can work out several kinks in how it will be done. The Arkansas Legislature this year postponed Arkansas’ full participation until 2007, which might still be postponed if the kinks are not worked out or Congress does not by then require sellers to remit taxes to the states.
Norquist, an exponent of President Bush’s four rounds of tax cuts for high incomes and corporations, says he has the legislation scotched if he can keep a Republican majority in just one house of Congress after the midterm elections in 2006. He is confident that he can do that while trying to kill off Medicaid, Social Security, Medicare and other insurance programs for the middle class and the poor.
He was quoted in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette as telling Huckabee that he should withdraw Arkansas from the agreement and refuse to have any taxes collected from merchants outside the state. It is a tax increase, he said, and Huckabee needs to burnish his credentials as a foe of taxes if he hopes to be elected president.
Another Republican presidential wanna-be, Sen. George Allen of Virginia, opposes the agreement.
Huckabee had the perfect riposte. He said he favored a tax structure that was fair and a national government that obliged the 10th Amendment to the Constitution by not usurping the power of the states.
Frankly, we didn’t know he had it in him.
“Mr. Norquist,” the governor said, “doesn’t have to govern and isn’t accountable to anyone but his donors and lobbying clients, so while I don’t fault him for taking a more liberal view of letting Main Street small business collect taxes while letting the big corporations off the hook, I do feel he needs to be more honest about what the streamlined sales tax really does, which is create a simpler and fairer system.”
A Republican who talks back to Grover Norquist? Some days, our incredibly shrinking governor’s presidential preoccupation doesn’t look so preposterous.
FROM THE PUBLISHER >> Nightmare on Elm St. no movie for family of victim
Until 30-40 years ago, schizophrenics like Howard H. Neal, Jr. were kept in mental institutions, but most states decided a long time ago it’s cheaper to give the mentally ill anti-psychotic medication than have them locked up.
Neal, a convicted sex offender, is in custody for the murder of a 5-year-old Jacksonville girl, Jasmine Peoples, in a house on Elm Street in the Sunnyside neighborhood. He’s also charged with kidnapping and third-degree battery.
Neal has had problems with the law for a long time, but he has spent little time in jail.
He once came into our building and locked himself in my office while he made some irrational demands, but police quickly escorted him away.
His victims were not as lucky on Sunday night, when the 23-year-old Neal barricaded himself inside the house, held several adults and children hostage, allegedly stabbing a man and suffocating the little girl, as they watched a horror movie.
The Sunnyside area is no stranger to crime. Years ago, Ledell Lee, a serial murderer, had killed two women in the neighborhood, and shootings and drug busts are common.
But even Lee would stop at killing a child: Christine Lewis, one of his murder victims, was with her little daughter the night she was killed, but Lee left the girl alone.
Lee and Neal can’t commit any crimes behind bars, but that’s little comfort to their victims, including Jasmine Peoples, who was suffocated in the worst possible way, with furniture tossed on top of her.
Neal, if convicted, will stay locked up for a long time, possibly in a psychiatric unit, where he’ll get his daily dose of anti-psychotics that his mother says he stopped taking because they cost too much.
These medicines didn’t exist 40 years ago, so the mentally ill were institutionalized.
Most will never commit a crime, but those with violent tendencies like Neal will keep assaulting their victims until the police catch these disturbed individuals and put them away.
But if they walk out of mental institutions and prisons, the next victim is only a violent outburst away.
Neal, a convicted sex offender, is in custody for the murder of a 5-year-old Jacksonville girl, Jasmine Peoples, in a house on Elm Street in the Sunnyside neighborhood. He’s also charged with kidnapping and third-degree battery.
Neal has had problems with the law for a long time, but he has spent little time in jail.
He once came into our building and locked himself in my office while he made some irrational demands, but police quickly escorted him away.
His victims were not as lucky on Sunday night, when the 23-year-old Neal barricaded himself inside the house, held several adults and children hostage, allegedly stabbing a man and suffocating the little girl, as they watched a horror movie.
The Sunnyside area is no stranger to crime. Years ago, Ledell Lee, a serial murderer, had killed two women in the neighborhood, and shootings and drug busts are common.
But even Lee would stop at killing a child: Christine Lewis, one of his murder victims, was with her little daughter the night she was killed, but Lee left the girl alone.
Lee and Neal can’t commit any crimes behind bars, but that’s little comfort to their victims, including Jasmine Peoples, who was suffocated in the worst possible way, with furniture tossed on top of her.
Neal, if convicted, will stay locked up for a long time, possibly in a psychiatric unit, where he’ll get his daily dose of anti-psychotics that his mother says he stopped taking because they cost too much.
These medicines didn’t exist 40 years ago, so the mentally ill were institutionalized.
Most will never commit a crime, but those with violent tendencies like Neal will keep assaulting their victims until the police catch these disturbed individuals and put them away.
But if they walk out of mental institutions and prisons, the next victim is only a violent outburst away.
TOP STORY >> Cabot students getting enough instruction
By SARA GREENE
Leader staff writer
However, the accredited-probationary status given to the school in August for not having enough instructional time will remain in effect until the school’s accreditation is re-viewed again in the spring.
“It (the review) does not mean anything one way or another, it simply closes out the 2004-05 school year for Cabot High School,” said Annette Barnes, school improvement coordinator.
Despite having a 369-minute long school day, Cabot High School was among 96 schools across the state placed on accredited-probationary status in August for not meeting the 360 minutes of instruction time per day standard by the Arkansas Board of Education.
“We are very pleased the De-partment of Education came back to review us and affirmed we were not in violation after all,” said Tony Thurman, principal at Cabot High School.
Accredited-probationary status means a local school district has either failed to correct a problem for which it acquired accredited-cited status or committed a more serious violation of the standards.
The 2004-2005 bell schedule at Cabot High School shows a 369-minute school day, from 8:05 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.
But the Arkansas Board of Education decided 25 minutes of the school day used by Cabot High School students for advising and career action planning should not be considered instructional because club meetings are permitted during that time.
Advisory and career-action planning are key components of the High Schools That Work program that offers students both traditional college-preparatory academics with technical and vocational studies.
Cabot High School has a revised bell schedule for the 2005-06 school year that has 371 minutes of instruction four days a week and 364 minutes of instruction on Thursdays.
This meets the instruction requirements as well as allowing time for tutoring, literature circles and career-action planning.
Another time crunch for Cabot High School students is the time required between classes. Typically five minutes are allowed.
Cabot High School allows seven minutes, an extra 12 minutes per day, for 1,700 students to navigate the 25 buildings on the 44-acre campus.
The new schedule still allows seven minutes for students to get from one class to another.
Leader staff writer
However, the accredited-probationary status given to the school in August for not having enough instructional time will remain in effect until the school’s accreditation is re-viewed again in the spring.
“It (the review) does not mean anything one way or another, it simply closes out the 2004-05 school year for Cabot High School,” said Annette Barnes, school improvement coordinator.
Despite having a 369-minute long school day, Cabot High School was among 96 schools across the state placed on accredited-probationary status in August for not meeting the 360 minutes of instruction time per day standard by the Arkansas Board of Education.
“We are very pleased the De-partment of Education came back to review us and affirmed we were not in violation after all,” said Tony Thurman, principal at Cabot High School.
Accredited-probationary status means a local school district has either failed to correct a problem for which it acquired accredited-cited status or committed a more serious violation of the standards.
The 2004-2005 bell schedule at Cabot High School shows a 369-minute school day, from 8:05 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.
But the Arkansas Board of Education decided 25 minutes of the school day used by Cabot High School students for advising and career action planning should not be considered instructional because club meetings are permitted during that time.
Advisory and career-action planning are key components of the High Schools That Work program that offers students both traditional college-preparatory academics with technical and vocational studies.
Cabot High School has a revised bell schedule for the 2005-06 school year that has 371 minutes of instruction four days a week and 364 minutes of instruction on Thursdays.
This meets the instruction requirements as well as allowing time for tutoring, literature circles and career-action planning.
Another time crunch for Cabot High School students is the time required between classes. Typically five minutes are allowed.
Cabot High School allows seven minutes, an extra 12 minutes per day, for 1,700 students to navigate the 25 buildings on the 44-acre campus.
The new schedule still allows seven minutes for students to get from one class to another.
TOP STORY >> Beebe police upset with hiring by chief
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
Five Beebe police officers have filed grievances, claiming they were not given an opportunity to apply for a promotion to sergeant before Police Chief Jess Odom hired a 30-year veteran law-enforcement officer for the position without advertising it.
It is unclear how the grievances will be resolved because no one in the city is certain who should hear them or whether any hiring or promotion policy was violated.
The grievances were filed by officers Zack Dixon, Freda Callahan, Blake Robertson, David Cook and Brian Coates.
Finding the answer is the job of Beebe City Attorney Mark Derrick, who said Tuesday that he hopes it is somewhere in the stack of documents Mayor Donald Ward and Odom have given him to read.
The possible problem with hiring Alton Boyd for the sergeant’s job was made public during the September city council meeting Monday night.
Alderman Mike Robertson, a former mayor, told Ward and the other council members that in his opinion, Odom had circumvented the state law that requires advertising vacancies and the city ordinance that says the council approves hiring new employees.
Ward countered that he trusts Odom to make the right choices for the city and that the council had adopted a police policy handbook that spelled out hiring practices which superceded other ordinances.
Robertson said during the Monday night council meeting that he could find no record that the city council ever adopted the handbook.
Odom first hired Boyd as animal control officer, a position that was put under his authority a month earlier. Then two days after Boyd went to work in animal control, Odom hired him as a patrol sergeant.
The city attorney and some members of the council called the move a promotion within the department. But Robertson says there is no way a person can be promoted “from dog catcher to police sergeant.”
The animal-control position was advertised in local papers as required by state law. In fact, it was advertised twice, once to hire Boyd, who lives in Searcy and a second time to hire Horrace Taylor, a former Beebe council member. But the sergeant’s position was not advertised even within the department. Alderman Janice Petray told Derrick she wanted the matter resolved before the November council meeting.
“It’s drug on long enough,” she said.
Leader staff writer
Five Beebe police officers have filed grievances, claiming they were not given an opportunity to apply for a promotion to sergeant before Police Chief Jess Odom hired a 30-year veteran law-enforcement officer for the position without advertising it.
It is unclear how the grievances will be resolved because no one in the city is certain who should hear them or whether any hiring or promotion policy was violated.
The grievances were filed by officers Zack Dixon, Freda Callahan, Blake Robertson, David Cook and Brian Coates.
Finding the answer is the job of Beebe City Attorney Mark Derrick, who said Tuesday that he hopes it is somewhere in the stack of documents Mayor Donald Ward and Odom have given him to read.
The possible problem with hiring Alton Boyd for the sergeant’s job was made public during the September city council meeting Monday night.
Alderman Mike Robertson, a former mayor, told Ward and the other council members that in his opinion, Odom had circumvented the state law that requires advertising vacancies and the city ordinance that says the council approves hiring new employees.
Ward countered that he trusts Odom to make the right choices for the city and that the council had adopted a police policy handbook that spelled out hiring practices which superceded other ordinances.
Robertson said during the Monday night council meeting that he could find no record that the city council ever adopted the handbook.
Odom first hired Boyd as animal control officer, a position that was put under his authority a month earlier. Then two days after Boyd went to work in animal control, Odom hired him as a patrol sergeant.
The city attorney and some members of the council called the move a promotion within the department. But Robertson says there is no way a person can be promoted “from dog catcher to police sergeant.”
The animal-control position was advertised in local papers as required by state law. In fact, it was advertised twice, once to hire Boyd, who lives in Searcy and a second time to hire Horrace Taylor, a former Beebe council member. But the sergeant’s position was not advertised even within the department. Alderman Janice Petray told Derrick she wanted the matter resolved before the November council meeting.
“It’s drug on long enough,” she said.
TOP STORY >> Masters’ decision met with derision
By AARON SADLER
Arkansas News Bureau
A review of how special masters in the Lake View school funding case addressed public school facilities was a springboard Monday for another round of criticism of the masters’ report, which has declared school funding inadequate.
Legislators panned the masters’ take on facilities just like the governor, and many legislators have criticized other sections of the 83-page masters’ report in the past.
Rep. Will Bond, D-Jacksonville, said legislative education reforms have been “excellent,” though some programs may need tweaking.
Earlier this year, lawmakers appropriated $120 million for facilities needs, to be distributed based on an index giving less state facilities aid to wealthy schools.
After a presentation about the masters’ facilities findings, Rep. Jodie Mahony, D-El Dorado, asked: “Are they crazy?”
“I don’t think you want me to answer that question,” responded Sarah Israel of the Bureau of Legislative Research.
Sen. David Bisbee, R-Rogers, said the report seems to indicate the special masters prefer all schools be operated by the state since the report called for more state funding of facilities needs.
Special masters Bradley Jesson of Fort Smith and David New-bern of Little Rock said the state did not allocate enough money for building improvements earlier this year and were relying too heavily on local contributions for building projects.
Bisbee said during Monday’s Academic Facilities Oversight Com-mittee meeting that he thought the special masters were pushing for a statewide property-tax rate and statewide management of school districts.
Bisbee said he be-lieved the special masters “didn’t seem to have a good grasp” of issues surrounding the legis-lature’s implementation of facility-funding laws this year.
The report echoed the pleadings of the school districts that renewed the suit, he added.
Other legislators joined in the criticism, prompting Committee Chairman Sen. Shane Broadway, D-Bryant, to compare the session to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
“It’s like an AA meeting, it feels like you can get it off your chest here,” he said.
The masters faulted the state for having too lengthy of a planning process when it comes to addressing facilities and for failing to include facility needs in calculating the wealth index.
The report slammed state-mandated sanctions for having poor facilities, which could lead to consolidation if districts failed to keep buildings to appropriate standards.
Jesson and Newbern largely rebuked the General Assembly for failing to meet its constitutional requirement to adequately fund public education.
Specifically, the report concluded that legislators should have given a cost-of-living increase to a $5,400 per-student funding amount. Several school districts, led by Rogers, sought court action.
The state Supreme Court received the report on Oct. 3 and solicited briefs in re-sponse to the report that were due Monday.
If anything, a longtime consolidation foe said the latest round of school-finance litigation has warmed him to the idea of unified school districts.
Sen. Jimmy Jeffress, D-Crossett, said school leaders who sued the state seeking more money may receive an unintended consequence from lawmakers.
A Republican colleague, Sen. Ruth Whitaker of Cedarville, said she will propose consolidating school districts into one district per county to improve efficiency.
“Sen. Whitaker’s bill is looking better to me,” Jeffress said.
Arkansas News Bureau
A review of how special masters in the Lake View school funding case addressed public school facilities was a springboard Monday for another round of criticism of the masters’ report, which has declared school funding inadequate.
Legislators panned the masters’ take on facilities just like the governor, and many legislators have criticized other sections of the 83-page masters’ report in the past.
Rep. Will Bond, D-Jacksonville, said legislative education reforms have been “excellent,” though some programs may need tweaking.
Earlier this year, lawmakers appropriated $120 million for facilities needs, to be distributed based on an index giving less state facilities aid to wealthy schools.
After a presentation about the masters’ facilities findings, Rep. Jodie Mahony, D-El Dorado, asked: “Are they crazy?”
“I don’t think you want me to answer that question,” responded Sarah Israel of the Bureau of Legislative Research.
Sen. David Bisbee, R-Rogers, said the report seems to indicate the special masters prefer all schools be operated by the state since the report called for more state funding of facilities needs.
Special masters Bradley Jesson of Fort Smith and David New-bern of Little Rock said the state did not allocate enough money for building improvements earlier this year and were relying too heavily on local contributions for building projects.
Bisbee said during Monday’s Academic Facilities Oversight Com-mittee meeting that he thought the special masters were pushing for a statewide property-tax rate and statewide management of school districts.
Bisbee said he be-lieved the special masters “didn’t seem to have a good grasp” of issues surrounding the legis-lature’s implementation of facility-funding laws this year.
The report echoed the pleadings of the school districts that renewed the suit, he added.
Other legislators joined in the criticism, prompting Committee Chairman Sen. Shane Broadway, D-Bryant, to compare the session to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
“It’s like an AA meeting, it feels like you can get it off your chest here,” he said.
The masters faulted the state for having too lengthy of a planning process when it comes to addressing facilities and for failing to include facility needs in calculating the wealth index.
The report slammed state-mandated sanctions for having poor facilities, which could lead to consolidation if districts failed to keep buildings to appropriate standards.
Jesson and Newbern largely rebuked the General Assembly for failing to meet its constitutional requirement to adequately fund public education.
Specifically, the report concluded that legislators should have given a cost-of-living increase to a $5,400 per-student funding amount. Several school districts, led by Rogers, sought court action.
The state Supreme Court received the report on Oct. 3 and solicited briefs in re-sponse to the report that were due Monday.
If anything, a longtime consolidation foe said the latest round of school-finance litigation has warmed him to the idea of unified school districts.
Sen. Jimmy Jeffress, D-Crossett, said school leaders who sued the state seeking more money may receive an unintended consequence from lawmakers.
A Republican colleague, Sen. Ruth Whitaker of Cedarville, said she will propose consolidating school districts into one district per county to improve efficiency.
“Sen. Whitaker’s bill is looking better to me,” Jeffress said.
TOP STORY >> A real-life horror scene
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
The 23-year-old Jacksonville man charged with killing a 5-year-old girl and stabbing his sister’s boyfriend in the head and face with a screwdriver Sunday night could not afford the antipsychotic medications prescribed to control his paranoid schizophrenia, de-spite his history of violence toward family members and sexually-related arrests.
Howard H. Neal, Jr., is being held without bond in the Pulaski County Detention Center on charges of capital murder, first-degree battery and two counts of first-degree kidnapping, according to Capt. Charles Jenkins, spokesman for the Jacksonville Police Department.
Neal was arrested by Jacksonville police after a 50-minute standoff at the home of his sister, Crystal Pickens, at 314 Elm Street.
“I couldn’t afford to buy his medications,” his mother, Doris Neal, said Tuesday.
Neal is due to appear in Jacksonville District Court for arraignment Jan. 11 on the charges stemming from the alleged screwdriver assault on Ronald Redden.
Redden escaped over a fence and across the railroad tracks, where he was discovered profusely bleeding and was transported to Rebsamen Medical Center, then airlifted to the University of Ark-ansas for Medical Science, where he was treated and released.
The body of Jasmine Peoples, 5, was discovered under a pile of heavy furniture, including a large television and a couch.
She was pronounced dead and taken from the home in a body bag.
The child is believed to have suffocated under the weight of the furniture, but the state medical examiner will determine the cause of death.
Peoples’ mother was a friend of Pickens, and her child was among four children at the home that night. Pickens said the group was watching the movie “Halloween” before the attack.
“He’s schizophrenic with mental problems,” Pickens said of Neal. “He talks to himself.”
Neal, who had no permanent residence, entered the home and acted increasingly irrational, Pick-ens said, before attacking Redden and warning her to get out with the children before he killed them all.
She grabbed up two children and fled.
Pickens called the attack sudden, but only a couple of days earlier, Doris Neal had removed the knives from Crystal Pickens’ home to keep them away from her son.
“I didn’t think it would go this far,” Doris Neal said. “But I didn’t have $1,000 to buy his medicine. I don’t work.”
She said she also tried to get her son help from various agencies or groups, including the jail and the Union Rescue Mission. When her son is out of jail, he is frequently homeless or bouncing from cheap motel to cheap motel or relative to relative.
Neal, who worked briefly at The Leader newspaper mail room about two years ago, hasn’t worked regularly in more than a year — much of the time he was either in jail or in some sort of mental facility such as BridgeWay in North Little Rock.
Doris Neal warned that her son would try to hang himself in jail.
Neal, who was charged with the rape of a 2-year-old girl in 2001, was released after two hung juries.
He agreed in April 2004 to a $500 fine and time served for fondling a teenaged girl and was charged in July 2004 with failing to register as a sexual offender.
The prosecution dropped the case in May 2005, according to Deputy Prosecutor John Johnson, after Neal’s lawyer provided evidence that he was in mental facilities during the time that the state maintained he should have registered.
Neal was admitted in restraints to the St. Vincent Heath System’s Living Hope Institute on June 22, 2004, where he was treated with drugs and counseling until he improved sufficiently to be discharged seven days later into a shelter, according to a medical report attained under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
He was brought in on a commitment from Lonoke County, where he had “apparently tried to set his family on fire,” according to hospital records.
He reportedly also threatened family members and chased them with a hammer.
He was discharged on June 29 on Depakote, Lexapro and Zyprexa for schizo-affective disorder.
On July 8, he was admitted to the Bridge Way, where he said he was hearing voices telling him to hurt people. He told staff members he angered easily and thought about killing people when they irritated him.
“He states he was recently hospitalized at Living Hope, but they released him, knowing that he didn’t have any money to afford his medicines,” according to Neal’s discharge summary from Bridge-Way on July 19.
Neal was discharged on Abilify and Viagra “if needed.”
Without insurance, the Abilify costs about $300 a month, according to a local pharmacy. Prices for Viagra vary.
PARTIAL 911 TRANSCRIPT
The following is a transcript of the beginning of a 911 call from Sunday night’s stabbing and murder resulting in the arrest and murder charges of Howard Neal. The transcript was obtained and provided by KLRT, Fox 16.
DISPATCHER: 911
CALLER: Yes, I need the police to come to 314 North Elm.
DISPATCHER: What’s going on?
CALLER: Howard Neal just stabbed my boyfriend with a screw driver.
CALLER: I need you to come over here right now.
DISPATCHER: Does your boyfriend need an ambulance?
CALLER: Howard Neal just stabbed him.
DISPATCHER: What is your name ma’am?
CALLER: My name is Crystal Pickens, and I need you to come over here cause he is crazy.
Leader staff writer
The 23-year-old Jacksonville man charged with killing a 5-year-old girl and stabbing his sister’s boyfriend in the head and face with a screwdriver Sunday night could not afford the antipsychotic medications prescribed to control his paranoid schizophrenia, de-spite his history of violence toward family members and sexually-related arrests.
Howard H. Neal, Jr., is being held without bond in the Pulaski County Detention Center on charges of capital murder, first-degree battery and two counts of first-degree kidnapping, according to Capt. Charles Jenkins, spokesman for the Jacksonville Police Department.
Neal was arrested by Jacksonville police after a 50-minute standoff at the home of his sister, Crystal Pickens, at 314 Elm Street.
“I couldn’t afford to buy his medications,” his mother, Doris Neal, said Tuesday.
Neal is due to appear in Jacksonville District Court for arraignment Jan. 11 on the charges stemming from the alleged screwdriver assault on Ronald Redden.
Redden escaped over a fence and across the railroad tracks, where he was discovered profusely bleeding and was transported to Rebsamen Medical Center, then airlifted to the University of Ark-ansas for Medical Science, where he was treated and released.
The body of Jasmine Peoples, 5, was discovered under a pile of heavy furniture, including a large television and a couch.
She was pronounced dead and taken from the home in a body bag.
The child is believed to have suffocated under the weight of the furniture, but the state medical examiner will determine the cause of death.
Peoples’ mother was a friend of Pickens, and her child was among four children at the home that night. Pickens said the group was watching the movie “Halloween” before the attack.
“He’s schizophrenic with mental problems,” Pickens said of Neal. “He talks to himself.”
Neal, who had no permanent residence, entered the home and acted increasingly irrational, Pick-ens said, before attacking Redden and warning her to get out with the children before he killed them all.
She grabbed up two children and fled.
Pickens called the attack sudden, but only a couple of days earlier, Doris Neal had removed the knives from Crystal Pickens’ home to keep them away from her son.
“I didn’t think it would go this far,” Doris Neal said. “But I didn’t have $1,000 to buy his medicine. I don’t work.”
She said she also tried to get her son help from various agencies or groups, including the jail and the Union Rescue Mission. When her son is out of jail, he is frequently homeless or bouncing from cheap motel to cheap motel or relative to relative.
Neal, who worked briefly at The Leader newspaper mail room about two years ago, hasn’t worked regularly in more than a year — much of the time he was either in jail or in some sort of mental facility such as BridgeWay in North Little Rock.
Doris Neal warned that her son would try to hang himself in jail.
Neal, who was charged with the rape of a 2-year-old girl in 2001, was released after two hung juries.
He agreed in April 2004 to a $500 fine and time served for fondling a teenaged girl and was charged in July 2004 with failing to register as a sexual offender.
The prosecution dropped the case in May 2005, according to Deputy Prosecutor John Johnson, after Neal’s lawyer provided evidence that he was in mental facilities during the time that the state maintained he should have registered.
Neal was admitted in restraints to the St. Vincent Heath System’s Living Hope Institute on June 22, 2004, where he was treated with drugs and counseling until he improved sufficiently to be discharged seven days later into a shelter, according to a medical report attained under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
He was brought in on a commitment from Lonoke County, where he had “apparently tried to set his family on fire,” according to hospital records.
He reportedly also threatened family members and chased them with a hammer.
He was discharged on June 29 on Depakote, Lexapro and Zyprexa for schizo-affective disorder.
On July 8, he was admitted to the Bridge Way, where he said he was hearing voices telling him to hurt people. He told staff members he angered easily and thought about killing people when they irritated him.
“He states he was recently hospitalized at Living Hope, but they released him, knowing that he didn’t have any money to afford his medicines,” according to Neal’s discharge summary from Bridge-Way on July 19.
Neal was discharged on Abilify and Viagra “if needed.”
Without insurance, the Abilify costs about $300 a month, according to a local pharmacy. Prices for Viagra vary.
PARTIAL 911 TRANSCRIPT
The following is a transcript of the beginning of a 911 call from Sunday night’s stabbing and murder resulting in the arrest and murder charges of Howard Neal. The transcript was obtained and provided by KLRT, Fox 16.
DISPATCHER: 911
CALLER: Yes, I need the police to come to 314 North Elm.
DISPATCHER: What’s going on?
CALLER: Howard Neal just stabbed my boyfriend with a screw driver.
CALLER: I need you to come over here right now.
DISPATCHER: Does your boyfriend need an ambulance?
CALLER: Howard Neal just stabbed him.
DISPATCHER: What is your name ma’am?
CALLER: My name is Crystal Pickens, and I need you to come over here cause he is crazy.
TOP STORY >> Jail to lose more than 200 beds
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
The Pulaski County Quorum Court Tuesday night approved an ordinance reducing the number of beds in the county lockup from about 1,000 to 800 in order to comply with the requirement to submit a balanced budget.
The county has to cut about $7 million from the $40 million unobligated portion of its budget.
Randy Morgan, director of the Pulaski County Detention Center, said he and Sheriff Randy Johnson would just as soon start notifying the balance of the deputies and jailers facing layoffs as to leave the false hope that the county could afford to staff and run a 965-bed jail.
“If we wait another month, it won’t make any difference on what I’m going to do,” Morgan said. “Layoffs will follow the (jail) population down.”
Of the 122 layoffs anticipated, about 90 of them are deputies and jailers, most of the rest work for County Judge Floyd “Buddy” Villines.
“Everybody that we have to cut in the enforcement branch has been notified,” said John Rehrauer, spokesman for the sheriffs office. “That’s about 30. On the detention side, we’ve notified about 16 or 20.” That leaves about 40 corrections officers to be cut.
Court member Steve Goss said it was “fair to let them know now, instead of in 45 or 60 more days.”
But Teresa Belew, director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said it was a matter of survival and quality of life, and she wondered how cases already in the pipeline would be prosecuted after the arresting officers are laid off.
John McCaleb said fewer jail beds mean more criminals on the streets, more crime and perhaps an atmosphere where people will be afraid to go to the River Market or bring new business to town. He said that so far, the cities had received a “sweetheart deal” in their share of funding the detention center.
“Spread this burden over the cities and the county,” he said.
Currently, Pulaski County bears all but $2 million of the $21 million cost of running the lockup.
“I’ve had to terminate friends that have worked here for 30 years,” said Villines, adding that despite the hopes held out by some quorum court members and others, he didn’t see a likely fix that would allow the jail to accommodate 965 prisoners.
“This will officially notify the cities, and the public is beginning to get the notion,” he said.
Jacksonville’s Bob Johnson, an accountant, quorum court member and head of the county budget committee, said the county had the same problem that put the Pulaski County Special School District in fiscal distress—spending more of its carryover each year, at the expense of capital improvements — until it was broke.
“The county has budgeted more than its projected revenues by relying on carryover from the year before,” he said. “In 2000 we had $12 million carryover. This year (2005) we’ll have $2 million.”
Johnson said, “We’re having to make drastic changes this year when small changes should have been made in previous years.”
He said 80 percent of the county’s budget is salary and benefits, but that it should be about 72 percent.”
Leader staff writer
The Pulaski County Quorum Court Tuesday night approved an ordinance reducing the number of beds in the county lockup from about 1,000 to 800 in order to comply with the requirement to submit a balanced budget.
The county has to cut about $7 million from the $40 million unobligated portion of its budget.
Randy Morgan, director of the Pulaski County Detention Center, said he and Sheriff Randy Johnson would just as soon start notifying the balance of the deputies and jailers facing layoffs as to leave the false hope that the county could afford to staff and run a 965-bed jail.
“If we wait another month, it won’t make any difference on what I’m going to do,” Morgan said. “Layoffs will follow the (jail) population down.”
Of the 122 layoffs anticipated, about 90 of them are deputies and jailers, most of the rest work for County Judge Floyd “Buddy” Villines.
“Everybody that we have to cut in the enforcement branch has been notified,” said John Rehrauer, spokesman for the sheriffs office. “That’s about 30. On the detention side, we’ve notified about 16 or 20.” That leaves about 40 corrections officers to be cut.
Court member Steve Goss said it was “fair to let them know now, instead of in 45 or 60 more days.”
But Teresa Belew, director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said it was a matter of survival and quality of life, and she wondered how cases already in the pipeline would be prosecuted after the arresting officers are laid off.
John McCaleb said fewer jail beds mean more criminals on the streets, more crime and perhaps an atmosphere where people will be afraid to go to the River Market or bring new business to town. He said that so far, the cities had received a “sweetheart deal” in their share of funding the detention center.
“Spread this burden over the cities and the county,” he said.
Currently, Pulaski County bears all but $2 million of the $21 million cost of running the lockup.
“I’ve had to terminate friends that have worked here for 30 years,” said Villines, adding that despite the hopes held out by some quorum court members and others, he didn’t see a likely fix that would allow the jail to accommodate 965 prisoners.
“This will officially notify the cities, and the public is beginning to get the notion,” he said.
Jacksonville’s Bob Johnson, an accountant, quorum court member and head of the county budget committee, said the county had the same problem that put the Pulaski County Special School District in fiscal distress—spending more of its carryover each year, at the expense of capital improvements — until it was broke.
“The county has budgeted more than its projected revenues by relying on carryover from the year before,” he said. “In 2000 we had $12 million carryover. This year (2005) we’ll have $2 million.”
Johnson said, “We’re having to make drastic changes this year when small changes should have been made in previous years.”
He said 80 percent of the county’s budget is salary and benefits, but that it should be about 72 percent.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)