TOP STORY > >Comparing pardons by governors

 By GARRICK FELDMAN

Leader executive editor

Did you see Gov. Beebe’s latest list of pardons? Last week, he announced his intent to pardon a handful of small-time criminals, emphasis on small-time.

Their crimes included theft of property, shoplifting, forgery, overdrafts, possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, third-degree battery, forgery and conspiracy to commit robbery.

They’re nothing like Mike Huckabee’s list of pardons and clemencies: No murders, no rapes, no armed robberies, no mayhem. There’s no one on Beebe’s list like serial rapist and murderer Wayne DuMond or cop killer Maurice Clemmons, whose freedom Huckabee championed. 

What’s more, Beebe’s pardons have the approval of law-enforcement officials. Huckabee almost never consulted with them.

He didn’t care what local prosecutors and sheriffs thought of freeing his thugs because supposedly he knew them better than did their victims and their families and the prosecutors who convicted them.

We’ve been saying for years Huckabee pardoned thugs like DuMond and Clem-mons without looking into their violent pasts. He just assumed they were innocent or had paid their debt to society.

Prosecutors warned him not to do it. He said they were grandstanding. He dismissed our reporting as exaggerations.

After his release, DuMond killed two women in Missouri and Clemmons murdered four police officers near Seattle.

More details about Clem-mons’ violent background are reported in a new book called “The Other Side of Mercy” by Ken Armstrong and Jonathan Martin, two Seattle Times reporters who have delved into Clemmons’ criminal record and sociopathic behavior in Arkansas prisons.

Clemmons was out of control: He started robbing kids in school. He later broke into a state trooper’s home and then a cop’s home.

He beat up a woman during a parking-lot holdup. He attacked his guards during one trial and even tried to grab one of their guns.

Clemmons also threatened to kill the judge.

He was always in trouble in prison. A repeat criminal who routinely sodomized fellow inmates and terrorized those who didn’t cater to his needs in prison, Clemmons nevertheless portrayed himself as a victim of a racist criminal system.

He convinced former Pulaski County Circuit Judge Marion Humphrey and then Huckabee that he’d been punished enough.

Everyone in the criminal-justice system knew Clemmons was incorrigible, but not Mike Huckabee. He thought Clemmons could be saved and wished him well in his new life in Washington state.

We now know how well that turned out. Neither Humphrey nor Huckabee have expressed much remorse for their roles in the tragedy.

Humphrey and Huckabee couldn’t be bothered with doing a thorough background check on Clemmons, who killed himself last November as he was about to be arrested for the police killings.

Humphrey has avoided the limelight since the pardon, but Huckabee is doing very well as a TV host and best-selling author.

He’s also a leading candidate for president in 2012, although we’ll probably hear from the victims’ relatives — there are dozens of them — when the race gets under way. 

His political opponents might also raise questions about Huckabee’s judgment, which ended in six murders.

Compared to Clemmons and DuMond, Michael Dukakis’ Willie Horton was an angel.

So what do you call politicians and judges who enable murderers to kill again?

Accessories to murder.

TOP STORY > >Cabot Mafia case in court

By JOAN McCOY

Leader staff writer

George Wylie Thompson — the Cabot man indicted more than a year ago on multiple federal charges, including bookmaking, drug trafficking and gun dealing — went on trial in Little Rock on Monday, along with his alleged co-conspirator Ralph DeLeo from Summerville, Mass., near Boston.

This is the first case with alleged Mafia ties to be prosecuted by the U.S. attorney for Arkansas’ Eastern District, but that reference, which conjures images of wise guys and Tommy guns, has not been used at the trial. Judge Leon Holmes has ruled that the term is prejudicial.

Instead, the 12 women and two men who make up the jury plus two alternates have heard testimony from several witnesses and parts of the conversations taped during a three-month wiretap of Thompson’s phone that started in early December 2008 and led to at least eight arrests and the drug-trafficking conspiracy charges for which Thompson and DeLeo are on trial now.

The wiretaps were authorized as part of an investigation into the bookmaking that Thompson now admits to. He was a good bookmaker, one of his attorneys said Monday, but he wasn’t guilty of drug trafficking.

FBI agents monitored almost 6,000 calls during a three-month period, including the 51, which are in evidence in the drug-trafficking case.

Thompson also has been indicted on federal charges along with DeLeo and two others in Massachusetts and on federal charges involving former North Little Rock Alderman Cary Gaines, who allegedly participated in a kickback scheme involving a city contract to pay a gambling debt owed to Thompson. Those cases have not gone to trial.

On Monday, the jury was seated and the prosecutors and defense attorneys made their opening statements.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Hoey said she would present evidence that Thompson asked his employee, Tri Cam Le, a Vietnamese refugee, to pick up 2.2 kilos of cocaine (about 4.5 pounds) in San Francisco and take it to DeLeo in Boston.

She also would present evidence that DeLeo sent Le $50,000 by Federal Express to pay for the cocaine.

The taped conversations between DeLeo and Thompson before and after Le was arrested in Lonoke on Dec. 12, 2008, with the cocaine in the trunk of his car showed that both were part of the conspiracy, she said.

Defense attorneys Blake Hendrix and Jason Files for Thompson and Dale West and Gary Corrothers for DeLeo, said the money that DeLeo sent to Le was a loan. They said they would show a connection between the $50,000 and investments, which included a Chinese restaurant, manufacturing boat parts and gold coins.

Hendrix said although a crime may have been committed, there was no evidence that Thompson was part of it. Most of the evidence was against DeLeo, he said.

West said DeLeo talked to Le only twice, from September 2007 to December 2009, and that there was no evidence from the recorded phone calls that DeLeo knew anything about the cocaine. Le initially said he bought it from a black man in Little Rock and was paid $2,000 to deliver it to Memphis.

West pointed out that by recanting and implicating Thompson and DeLeo, Le was not prosecuted for other crimes such as tax evasion, illegal gambling and Social Security fraud. He also avoided federal charges and a federal prison sentence where parole is not possible.

The phone conversations taped during the wire tap that were played on Tuesday started with brief updates of Le’s progress during a trip he was taking in early December 2008. There was no mention of a deal or drugs, only updates such as Thompson’s report to DeLeo on the evening of Dec. 7, 2008, after Le made it back to Arkansas. “He made it in. Says he’s going to rest. He’s real tired now,” Thompson said.

Later in the conversation, DeLeo says, “The way it was done, I think there is too much of a paper trail. Maybe we can work something out.”

Some of the conversations between Thompson, DeLeo and Le on Dec. 8 were about driving directions so Le could deliver something to DeLeo at a restaurant in Boston.

But also on that date, Thompson told DeLeo that Le was exhausted from the trip.

“It looks like he’s on pins and needles,” Thompson said. “He’s wore out.”

DeLeo responded, “We’ll do something a little different…We can do this like once every two or three months will be OK.”

On Dec. 10, 2008, the FBI started surveillance of Le and  testimony showed he did not meet a black man in Little Rock to pick up cocaine.

At about 4 p.m. on Dec. 12, 2008, Le was stopped on I-40 by an Arkansas state trooper with a drug dog who had been told by the FBI that Le was coming through and likely had some sort of contraband.

That evening, Thompson told DeLeo, “We got a problem…He got pulled over.”

“Did they find anything?” DeLeo asked.

Later conversations were about the possibility that Le was arrested for immigration problems and about waiting until the weekend was over to bond him out of the Lonoke County Jail. Bail was set at $50,000.Thompson would have to pay a bail bondsman $5,000 to get him out.

“If it was something serious, there would be no bond,” DeLeo said.

“They say it’s just the normal possession deal. It can’t be what we think it is,” Thompson said.

Then Thompson learned from a bail bondsman what the trooper had found.

“They got it,” Thompson told DeLeo. “She knew exactly how much was there. She said 2.2 kilos.”

“I don’t know what we do from here,” DeLeo said.

“Bail him out,” Thompson responded.

The conversation continued showing that the two were still doubtful that cocaine was found in the trunk of Le’s car because the bail was smaller than they thought it should be.

“They caught me with six grams (of cocaine) and charged me $100,000 bond,” Thompson said.

Le is serving 14 years in a state prison. The Thompson-DeLeo trial is expected to last up to a week. Both men are in their mid-60s.  If convicted, they face up to 40 years in prison. 

EDITORIAL >>High court race

Voters will choose a justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court at the general election, and it is hard to see how they can go wrong.  Judge Karen Baker of the Arkansas Court of Appeals and Judge Tim Fox, a circuit judge in Pulaski County, are splendid judges with such deep experience on both ends of the gavel that they should not diminish the quality of judgment by the state’s highest court.

Judge Baker seems apt to win because she was close to a majority in the three-person contest in the primaries in May. She was better known after 10 years on the Court of Appeals, and Judge Fox suffered because he rendered rulings in a couple of divisive lawsuits on the volatile issue of whether gay or lesbian couples could be barred from parenting children as foster or adoptive parents. He ruled correctly and the Supreme Court upheld him, but it was not an issue that improved his political standing. We expect judges to rule on the basis of the law and not upon popular whims.

Judge Baker has not always endeared herself to the economic powers. She wrote the Court of Appeals’ robust and unanimous opinion last year that the state regulatory agencies had not followed the law in granting a phalanx of power companies permits to build and operate a huge coal-burning electricity plant in southwest Arkansas. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld that decision, too.

Our single reservation about Judge Baker goes back some years to when she was a chancery judge and clamped the lid on a bitterly contested divorce and property-settlement suit involving the most powerful man in the county, Acxiom Corp. founder Charles Morgan. She largely ignored interventions to keep the records open, as they are for ordinary people.

We have no indication that Judge Fox would cater to privilege in that way, which gives him a slight advantage in our own equation. But Judge Baker was young and seems to have grown in confidence and independence.

She accepted a campaign contribution recently from the Republican Party, which seems to violate the Canon of Judicial Ethics, but Judge Fox also happily accepted the endorsement of a Republican committee. Arkansas amended the Constitution a few years ago to make judicial elections non-partisan, but the Republican Party took a hand in influencing several judicial races. Non-partisan elections apparently are to be honored in the breach rather than the observance.

In this race, take your pick, Fox or Baker.    —Ernie Dumas 

EDITORIAL >>Another term for Gov. Beebe

Arkansas at rare times has had a visionary governor, a brilliant governor or a governor passionately committed to reform, and it has had three dozen chief executives of whom it could be said simply that they served their time and moved on.

Now we have a competent governor. Competent may be a derogatory description of a political leader, but Mike Beebe has raised competence to the level of genius.

He takes care of all the little details of governance, he achieves every single thing he sets out to do, and he seems never to commit the slightest blunder in speech or action. Unlike his predecessor, the glib Mike Huckabee, he never utters an embarrassing blooper, whether he is yakking to the media in New York City or Searcy. He has seemed from inauguration day — actually, before that — to know exactly what he was doing.

Beebe has never exhibited the brilliance of Bill Clinton, reached the catalog of achievements of Dale Bumpers in four years or tried to do so much as Winthrop Rockefeller. But he may belong in the upper rank of Arkansas governors.

What did that boring competence produce? When the national economy began its long fearful plunge in the winter of 2007, the state governments in every region were unable to put up a firewall. The state fiscal crises fed the national crisis as the state capitals slashed employment and services and searched for emergency tax measures to stem the shortfall. But in Little Rock, the government hummed right along. No layoffs, no cuts in services, merely a payroll freeze.

Beebe was the best-prepared governor in history. For 20 years he mastered the budget, the fiscal system and the intricacies of government programs as the leader of the Senate and the joint budget committee. He had seen the state through four fiscal crises and it would not happen on his watch. 

He nimbly turns a political controversy and a newspaper exposé into a modest reform of government administration. Witness the squabble over executive vehicle policies.

In a year when an incumbent in any office faces swelling anger, voters seem ready to give competence another chance. Beebe has exceeded our expectations and we endorse him for a second term.

His opponent, Jim Keet, is a good and bright man, but he has demonstrated almost the opposite of competence. We once liked his prospects when he served short but promising stints in the legislature two decades ago before he went to Florida to pursue a career in restaurant management. He returned last year and prepared to run for governor. There is a serious question about whether the state Constitution permits him to be governor, but no one wants to challenge his right to run and no one should object if the voters elect him.

But everything he does blows up in his face. He questioned Beebe’s attentiveness to the details of governance, but then the state’s Republican statewide paper reported over and over that he had failed to pay his personal and business taxes, either on time or at all. He blamed his wife, his accountant and his employees for all the slip-ups and for not knowing what the law required a homeowner and a businessman to do.

Keet is not stupid or without skills and he is not a tax cheat. Not one of his screw-ups, we are sure, was a willful effort to escape his responsibilities.

We just like the sense that the person who is running the government is not bungling anything. Keet should spend the next four years watching a master of statecraft.

SPORTS>>Beebe hopes to secure home

By JASON KING

Leader sportswriter

Controlling your destiny is one thing.

But with a victory over Greene Co. Tech on Friday, Beebe not only controls its destiny, the Badgers can also set their location in Week 11.

The Badgers will host the Eagles (4-3, 3-1 5A-East), whose only conference loss was to Wynne, a team Beebe beat two weeks ago.

Beebe, 4-3, 4-0, is coming off another dramatic victory in a 51-50 overtime comeback against Blytheville. It was a stark contrast from the 7-0 defeat of Wynne the week before.

A victory for Beebe this week means an automatic playoff berth, and with struggling Nettleton and unbeaten Batesville left to play in the final two weeks of the regular season, it also points to a showdown with Batesville in Week 10 to decide the top two seeds.

“Yeah, that’s the way we’re seeing it,” Beebe coach John Shannon said.

Greene Co. Tech’s fortunes have almost mirrored that of Beebe’s this season. The Eagles struggled to a 1-2 start in non-conference play before opening league action with a 42-22 victory over Forrest City. The Eagles rebounded from a 19-8 loss to Wynne in Week 5 with victories over Blytheville and Nettleton.

“They’re a lot like us,” Shannon said. “They probably don’t have the best athletes in the world, but they have good fundamentals and are well coached. They do all the little things right.”

Senior quarterback Clayton Davis, 6-3, 210 pounds, leads the Eagles’ Spread offense. Greene Co. Tech also has a solid running game led by 210-pound fullback Tyler Morgan. Shannon sees similarities offensively to private school powerhouse and defending 4A state champion Shiloh Christian.

“They run that Shiloh-type offense, and they do it pretty good,” Shannon said. “Their quarterback throws good, and he can run it. It’s probably all going to come down to the team that makes the fewest mistakes.”

The Eagles will have to stop Beebe senior fullback Colby Taylor, who has rushed for an average of 147.8 yards a game since the start of conference play, including a 208-yard performance during last week’s victory at Blytheville.

Beebe’s defense made a statement by shutting out a physical Wynne team two weeks ago, but gave up 50 points to the Chickasaws last week.

“Typically, we’re better at home,” Shannon said. “But the biggest thing last week was that they were so much more athletic then we were. We got in position to make plays, and they made a move and got out of it. We were fortunate enough to be able to move the ball and score when we did.”

The Badgers have won big games against physical teams since the start of conference, and have done it without losing players to injuries. Junior defensive end Eric McGlothlin suffered a concussion at Blytheville last week, but Shannon expected him to return to practice early this week.

Home field advantage is always a goal for teams clinching early playoff berths. Assuming the Badgers have little problem with Nettleton next week, the outcome of the Greene Co. Tech game will most likely determine whether or not the Badgers hit the road or stay home at Bro Erwin Stadium in Week 11.

“We feel like if we just take care of business, we’re guaranteed at least second place,” Shannon said. “Who would have thought we’d shut out Wynne and then give up 50 points to Blytheville?

“It just shows you that it’s a different game every week. We just have to go out there and try to get a win.”

SPORTS>>Billies block Bears’ route to playoffs

By Jason king

Leader sportswriter

Monticello may not be loaded with talent like last year’s 5A state championship team, but the Billies still have enough potency to concern the Sylvan Hills coaching staff.

The Bears (3-4) and the Billies (4-3) are tied for fourth in the 5A-Southeast Conference standings at 2-2, a game behind third-place White Hall.

The Billies have had mixed results through the first month of conference play. They lost to Mills University Studies 36-22 in Week 4, but rebounded the following game with a 47-14 victory over West Helena.

Watson Chapel routed Monticello 49-15 before the Billies returned home last week and beat White Hall 27-17.

The Billies, under first-year coach Greg Tiner, are run-based from their double-slot formation that features wingback Brian Handley. The 5-11, 170-pound senior runs the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds and carried for almost 1,200 yards last year on a team that featured current Texas Tech freshman Joe Carmical.

“They’ve got that one running back — he’s a stud, he’s good,” Bears coach Jim Withrow said. “They’ll run sweeps with him, and it’s up to us to find a way to contain him and slow down their option game.”

Last week’s 16-8 victory over winless North Pulaski did not end with the same margin many expected for the Bears. Sylvan Hills drove into the red zone a number of times but came up empty handed.

“I think the coaches and kids were all disappointed,” Withrow said. “Wewere down there. We marched it down to the 20 I don’t know how many times. We’ve got to finish off drives. Once you get down there, you may not get there again.”

With road games at West Helena and unbeaten Watson Chapel the final two weeks of the regular season, Friday will most likely be the Bears’ final home game of the year. Even if it reaches the postseason the seeding would likely force Sylvan Hills to play all of its postseason games on the road.

Monticello has 0-7 teams Crossett and North Pulaski left on its conference schedule, making Friday a must-win for Withrow’s team.

“It’s kind of hard to look at the scores and tell how good they are,” Withrow said. “They beat White Hall, and honestly, that’s one I would love to have back and play over again, but they’re a quality football team.

“They just won a state championship, and I know they lost a lot of guys from that team, but they still have a lot of other ones left over from that team.”

West Helena, although mired in sixth place, still has an outside shot at postseason play depending on what happens to the Bears and Billies over the final three weeks. That makes the next two weeks the most vital stretch of Sylvan Hills’ schedule.

“We can decide our fate against other teams that need to win as well,” Withrow said. “We are all kind of in the same boat. This is definitely as huge game for us. Win this, and it gives you a big chance to get a leg up as far as the playoffs.”

SPORTS>>Twisted road awaits Lonoke

By JASON KING

Leader sportswriter

The 2-4A Conference picture gets blurrier with every passing week.

Newport’s victory over Lonoke in Week 5 put the Greyhounds on top of the standings, but they lost their next two games against Stuttgart and Heber Springs, who each have two league losses. Clinton, Newport’s guest Friday, remains the only unbeaten 2-4A team a month into conference play.

That makes Lonoke’s road game at Marianna-Lee this week an outright battle for second place.

Marianna-Lee (4-2, 3-1) won its third straight 2-4A Conference game last week, 44-20 over Batesville Southside, and the Trojans’ 34-14 victory over Heber Springs the week before put them in contention for the league championship.

Marianna-Lee will host a Lonoke team coming off two straight home games against struggling opponents. The Jackrabbits (6-1, 3-1) recovered from a sluggish first half two weeks ago for a 50-14 rout over Batesville Southside and quickly jumped on Cave City last week in a 41-8 homecoming victory.

The Trojans, a one-time regular in the playoffs under former coach Billy Saia, are making a bid to return to glory this season under third-year coach Clyde Noel after posting 2-8 records the past two years.

“They’ve definitely got speed going their way,” Lonoke coach Doug Bost said. “They’re an I-formation team; they want to run the ball with a lot of sweeps and power plays. They’ve got a 6-6 quarterbThe Jackrabbits (6-1, 3-1) recovered from a sluggish first half two weeks ago for a 50-14 rout over Batesville Southside and quickly jumped on Cave City last week in a 41-8 homecoming victory.

The Trojans, a one-time regular in the playoffs under former coach Billy Saia, are making a bid to return to glory this season under third-year coach Clyde Noel after posting 2-8 records the past two years.

“They’ve definitely got speed going their way,” Lonoke coach Doug Bost said. “They’re an I-formation team; they want to run the ball with a lot of sweeps and power plays. They’ve got a 6-6 quarterback who can chunk it down the field, so they’re a little more balanced team than what they have been.

“Defensively, they play man to man, so our receivers will have to run good routes to get open.”

A victory over Marianna-Lee would put Lonoke a game behind the league-leading Clinton, which still must play Newport and Heber Springs before a Week 10 showdown at Lonoke.

“You got three teams with two losses, us and Marianna’s lost one, and then, you got Clinton,” Bost said. “It’s definitely jumbled up. I believe it’s probably going to come down to the last week, that’s why we keep telling the kids they control their own destiny.”

Lonoke’s less-than-challenging opponents the past two weeks seem to have been the perfect segue into the final three-game stretch in which the Jackrabbits must play Marianna, Stuttgart and Clinton.

“We got to play just about everybody the last two weeks,” Bost said. “Everybody got game time. We rested our starters some, so they should be fresh and ready to go.

“Definitely, the last three weeks will all be tough ball games. We have to have three good weeks of practice.”

Lonoke made quick work of Cave City last week with 358 yards offense and six scores in the first half to activate the sportsmanship/timing rule for a continuously-running clock in the second half. Senior receiver Darius Scott made the most of his four receptions from quarterbacks Logan DeWhitt and Tarrale Watson with 151 yards and two touchdowns, and had 59 rushing yards and a score.

The Jackrabbits have proved to be a tough opponent on the road following last year’s playoff run and three road victories to start the 2010 season. Bost credits his team’s ability to hush opposing crowds, as well as the Jackrabbits fans who support their team across the state.

“It doesn’t bother them going on the road,” Bost said of his players. “They take their crowd out of it, and after that, it just becomes a regular ballgame. Lonoke also travels good fans, and to have them there to support us — it makes you feel good when they’re making more noise than the home crowd.”

SPORTS>>Falcons looking for focus

By todd traub

Leader sports editor

When you’re trying to build up a downtrodden program, you sometimes start with the smallest of building blocks.

So it is that winless North Pulaski, playing host to winless Crossett this week, is taking heart from the fact it led for the first time this season at Sylvan Hills last week.

“We’re approaching it like every other week,” coach Terrod Hatcher said. “We’ve just got to pull out a win. We missed a tough one last week.

Sylvan Hills won the 5A-Southeast Conference game 16-8, but it was one of the most competitive contests North Pulaski has played all year. For a brief, shining moment, after a safety and then Shyheim Barron’s 1-yard touchdown run, the Falconseven led, 8-7, with 3:14 left in the first half.

“I think we’ll move well this week,” Hatcher said. “I think we’re building, getting better.”

Sylvan Hills led 7-0 when the Bears’ Nate Clark fell on a low snap in the end zone for a North Pulaski safety with 4:09 left. The Falcons’ Nick Dunn then dropped the free kick but picked it up and returned it 53 yards to the Bears’ 2 to set up Barron’s run.

But Sylvan Hills scored the game’s remaining points, on a six-yard run by Trey Bone on the ensuing possession and on a field goal by Kevin Wang late in the third quarter.

Still, North Pulaski was within eight points and was at the Sylvan Hills 35 on the last play of the third quarter. But the fourth began with a North Pulaski holding penalty, followed by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty followed by an interception, and the game ended with the Falcons in Bears territory but out of timeouts.

Hatcher said afterward that North Pulaski wouldn’t win until it cut out the mental mistakes. He can accept hustle mistakes or mistakes made on the side of aggressiveness, Hatcher said, but not meltdowns that led to 15-yard penalties.

“You try to practice those situations,” Hatcher said. “Put pressure on them, see how they react. Of course it’s almost impossible to simulate game time. It’s just trying to get them to prepare as much as we can.”

The Falcons scored their most points last week since getting a season-high 12 in a Week 2 loss to Oak Grove.

With starting quarterback Barron relegated to running back and defense duty because of a broken thumb, North Pulaski rotated three quarterbacks, Derrick Hart, normally a running back, Kari Watson and Austin Allen.

Each threw an interception, but the trio’s differing skills also got results, keeping Sylvan Hills off balance at times and moving the ball.

“It worked out pretty well,” Hatcher said. “I think us rotating those guys, we were able to use their strength. Not having Shyheim hurts a little bit.”

Barron, with a heavy cast on his right hand and wrist, had his moments with a handful of carries and he did score the Falcons’ touchdown.

“He played extremely well,” Hatcher said. “He played good for us where he is. He’s helping us out playing defense now.”

While the Falcons (0-7, 0-4) have shown signs of life, they certainly aren’t taking Crossett (0-7, 0-4) for granted. Crossett is allowing an average 41.3 points a game and scoring 10.6 while North Pulaski is allowing an average 39 points a game and scoring 5.9.

“I think we’ve just got to concentrate a little better,” Hatcher said. “I think our mental aspect is not there yet. We’re putting together the pieces.”

But it will certainly help that this weeks’ game is at home, Hatcher said.

“I think it will be good,” Hatcher said. “We don’t have to travel. I think when we have to travel that far it takes something out of us.”

SPORTS>>Jacksonville finds groove

By todd traub

Leader sports editor

Don’t think Jacksonville hasn’t done the math.

The Red Devils just don’t want to look at the sum yet.

Jacksonville got its fifth victory on a last-second touchdown against Searcy in a 7A/6A-East game Friday, assuring the team of a playoff berth after the Devils won just two games last season.

But, having come so far, so fast under first-year coach Rick Russell, Jacksonville (5-2, 3-1) doesn’t want to get complacent after clinching a .500 record, so the coaching staff is trying to avoid talking about the postseason until the regular season is played out.

Next stop for Jacksonville is Fair High School on Friday, when the Devils play the Little Rock Parkview Patriots (3-4, 1-3) in another conference game.

“We’re trying to keep our goals intact,” Jacksonville athletic director and assistant coach Jerry Wilson said. “We don’t look past anybody. It’s on the road and they defeated us here last year.”

Still, Wilson said, there is plenty at stake Friday, and in the following two games as well. The Red Devils wrap up the season with their toughest stretch against first-place West Memphis (6-1, 4-0) and Marion (5-2, 3-1), tied with Jacksonville for second.

“We as a coaching staff feel like Friday night, if we win, we’re assured of a home playoff game,” Wilson said. “And of course Friday puts us a in position where we win the next two, we get a bye. That’s a tall order.”

Wilson was standing in for Russell, who was dealing with the aftermath of a house fire and was not at school Tuesday. However Wilson said Russell, the Red Devils’ former defensive coordinator who returned to the program this season, will coach Friday’s game in Little Rock.

Russell’s defensive background has been apparent in Jacksonville’s improvement on that side of the ball. The Red Devils shut out Little Rock Hall the previous week and held Searcy to a touchdown in last week’s 12-7 victory.

“If there is a plus right now our defense is playing outstanding and we feel like offensively we try to take what the defense is giving us,” Wilson said.

Jacksonville has shown a willingness to try different offensive sets, depending on what formation opposing defenses are using. The Red Devils have kept elements of the Spread used last year but have also beefed up the running game and even tried a little Dead T on Friday.

“It was fourth and 1 and we were stopped at the point of attack and this is the winning drive,” Wilson said. “And D’Vone McClure made a heck of a second effort and got the first down.”

Antwone Mosby grabbed Logan Perry’s seven-yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone with three seconds lift for the victory.

“We don’t like games like that but it’s good when you come out on the right end,” Wilson said. “We’ve been on the other end. I do think they’re developing a sense of confidence.”

With most of the same personnel from last season, the Red Devils have certainly embraced this year’s success, Wilson said.

“You’re looking at the same guys minus about four,” Wilson said. “We’re missing probably three or four starters from last year when they were two and whatever and these kids are gelling around each other.

“The seniors are developing leadership. We’re looking at trying to win a conference. We’re in position.”

SPORTS>>Conference in balance as Bryant plays Cabot

By TODD TRAUB

Leader sports editor

Cabot coach Mike Malham said he wanted the Panthers to be in the mix if Conway got knocked off.

Conway did, and the Panthers are.

Cabot (5-2, 3-1) enters Friday’s home game against Bryant (6-1, 4-0) with a chance to force a three-way tie atop the 7A/6A-Central Conference. Conway beat Cabot in Week 4 but Bryant beat Conway (6-1, 3-1) last week to set up the Week 8 scenario.

“It certainly puts us back in the ballgame for a chance to control your own destiny,” Malham said.

Conway took advantage of some early Cabot mistakes on its way to a 41-7 victory on Sept. 24, but Cabot appears to have smoothed out its game since then. The team that was once averaging between 3-4 turnovers a game has only lost the ball once and committed just two total penalties in its past two outings.

After posting their best defensive effort and beating preseason conference favorite North Little Rock 14-7 in overtime, the Panthers went to Little Rock Central last week and turned in their best offensive game in the 54-20 victory.

Cabot scored on eight of 11 possessions and four of five possessions in the first half. With their Dead T running game clicking, the Panthers also held the ballfor 32 minutes, 44 seconds, compared to Central’s 15:16.

“We moved it pretty much at will. I think we punted one time,” Malham said. “The B team even scored a couple there, got two in. But the offensive line probably had their best night of the year.

“Hopefully, that’s a sign of things to come. But everything went pretty well.”

Bryant beat Conway 34-30 in double overtime Friday and will travel to Panther Stadium to face a Cabot team it stunned 35-7 in the mud at Bryant last year.

Malham doesn’t think the Panthers will be too motivated by last year’s loss, not with so much to interest them in this year’s game.

“I don’t know if that has much to do with it,” Malham said. “We played that game about like we played the Conway game this year. I hope they’re thinking ‘hey, a win is going to put us right back on top of the conference.’ ”

Last year the mud, which forced Bryant to use a helicopter to help dry the field, may have played a role in the outcome. But the fall drought and Cabot’s artificial surface rule out any mud bowls this year; in fact, all the schools in the conference, including Bryant, now have artificial grass.

“The only chance we’d have of playing on grass is if we went to Forth Smith in the playoffs,” said Malham, taking stock of the facilities in all of 7A.

The playoffs would be fine with the Panthers, but first they have to get by Bryant.

“They’re a running team,” Malham said. “They’ll run some I and some two-tight and they also go out of a Spread, but they like to run the ball and they’ll set that up with the pass.

“They’re probably 70 percent run.”

Cabot, with its Dead T, is closer to 90 or 95 percent run. Malham expects Bryant to know that and to defend accordingly.

“Hopefully, we can get outside and hopefully we can throw a little more if we can get things set up,” Malham said. “You don’t want to outdo yourself. You want do what your kids are capable of doing.

“If our base offense isn’t moving it very well it’s going to be a rough night, that’s for sure.”

At least the Panthers are at home, where their only loss this year was 28-10 to Springdale Har-Ber, Cabot’s old playoff nemesis, in Week 3.

“Just playing at home, obviously, with our crowd, hopefully that will get the kids fired up and hopefully we’ll play hard,” Malham said. “Last two home games have been pretty wild. The Catholic game the lead changed hands four times in the second half and the North Little Rock game went into overtime.

“I though we played Har-Ber a pretty good ballgame so hopefully we’ll play well at home.”

EDITORIAL >> Another term for Gov. Beebe

Arkansas at rare times has had a visionary governor, a brilliant governor or a governor passionately committed to reform, and it has had three dozen chief executives of whom it could be said simply that they served their time and moved on.

Now we have a competent governor. Competent may be a derogatory description of a political leader, but Mike Beebe has raised competence to the level of genius.

He takes care of all the little details of governance, he achieves every single thing he sets out to do, and he seems never to commit the slightest blunder in speech or action. Unlike his predecessor, the glib Mike Huckabee, he never utters an embarrassing blooper, whether he is yakking to the media in New York City or Searcy. He has seemed from inauguration day — actually, before that — to know exactly what he was doing.

Beebe has never exhibited the brilliance of Bill Clinton, reached the catalog of achievements of Dale Bumpers in four years or tried to do so much as Winthrop Rockefeller. But he may belong in the upper rank of Arkansas governors.

What did that boring competence produce? When the national economy began its long fearful plunge in the winter of 2007 the state governments in every region were unable to put up a firewall. The state fiscal crises fed the national crisis as the state capitals slashed employment and services and searched for emergency tax measures to stem the shortfall. But in Little Rock, the government hummed right along. No layoffs, no cuts in services, merely a payroll freeze.

Beebe was the best-prepared governor in history. For 20 years he mastered the budget, the fiscal system and the intricacies of government programs as the leader of the Senate and the joint budget committee. He had seen the state through four fiscal crises and it would not happen on his watch. He nimbly turns a political controversy and a newspaper exposé into a modest reform of government administration. Witness the squabble over executive vehicle policies.

In a year when an incumbent in any office faces swelling anger, voters seem ready to give competence another chance. Beebe has exceeded our expectations and we endorse him for a second term.

His opponent, Jim Keet, is a good and bright man, but he has demonstrated almost the opposite of competence. We once liked his prospects when he served short but promising stints in the legislature two decades ago before he went to Florida to pursue a career in restaurant management. He returned last year and prepared to run for governor. There is a serious question about whether the state Constitution permits him to be governor, but no one wants to challenge his right to run and no one should object if the voters elect him.

But everything he does blows up in his face. He questioned Beebe’s attentiveness to the details of governance, but then the state’s Republican statewide paper reported over and over that he had failed to pay his personal and business taxes, either on time or at all. He blamed his wife, his accountant and his employees for all the slip-ups and for not knowing what the law required a homeowner and a businessman to do.

Keet is not stupid or without skills and he is not a tax cheat. Not one of his screw-ups, we are sure, was a willful effort to escape his responsibilities.

We just like the sense that the person who is running the government is not bungling anything. Keet should spend the next four years watching a master of statecraft.