By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
The smoke detector at the Jacksonville duplex apartment where a family of five died from smoke inhalation after a small kitchen fire in March should have been replaced nine years before the tragedy, according to a recently released report on the tragic incident.
Funderland Singleton — the fiancé of mother Marilyn Beavers and father of their children Dequan Singleton, 10, Sydni Singleton, 9, Haylee Beavers, 6, and Emily Beavers, 4 — says he is still pursuing a lawsuit against the city and the Housing Authority, which leased the home at 3A S. Simmons Drive to them.
Singleton, a truck driver, was on the road when the fire occurred.
According to a report that was provided to The Leader in response to its Freedom of Information Act request, there was one smoke detector in the apartment and it “failed to operate.”
But maintenance men with the Housing Authority told investigators that the detector was going off when they discovered the bodies.
Stephen Ray, a criminalist with the State Crime Laboratory, wrote in a section of the 250-page report, “Based on visual examination of the wiring for the smoke detector, it appears that the wires have been cut.”
In a summary of the incident, Jacksonville FireMarshal Capt. Mike Williams wrote that the assistant fire marshal, Thomas Baldridge, contacted the detector’s manufacturer.
The company said the model had not been recalled, but it was made between 1990 and 1993 and had a 10-year life expectancy. It should have been replaced in 2003.
The housing authority’s executive director, Phil Nix, refused to be interviewed and, in an e-mail to The Leader, said he had no comment.
City officials have been advised by the city attorney not to comment on the incident.
Singleton has hired a lawyer and an investigator to find out what happened to his family.
He said, “There’s a bunch of stuff going around that isn’t true.”
Singleton said he was disturbed by the coroner’s claim that his fiancé was drinking on the night of the blaze.
The report states that her blood-alcohol content was 0.14 percent, or twice the legal limit for drivers. She did not have drugs in her system.
The children had not con-sumed drugs or alcohol, according to the report.
Singleton said he was upset when he heard the allegation about alcohol use.
He said, “I just hate to hear them say that. I’m not saying she never drank. With the kids around, that never happened. She would never drink around the kids. She would never disrespect them like that. She was a great mother.”
The report goes on to say that the range was on when firefighters finally entered the apartment, and apparently someone in the home had been cooking in the evening.
The fire marshal said the fire started on the stove and was contained mostly to the kitchen area.
Singleton didn’t believe that someone was cooking and said that his fiancé had purchased already-cooked chicken for dinner.
He said he has receipts to prove that and the family was eating ice cream when he called to check in around 2:30 a.m.
Singleton said, “There was no reason for her to cook. I don’t believe she was cooking.”
The estimated time of death for the five victims was not in the lengthy report and could not be confirmed by press time.
But Singleton said what he heard — that the family died before firefighters responded to the apartment for the first time at 5:50 a.m. on March 22 — is wrong.
Jennifer Gray, who lives next door in 3B, had called 911 because she smelled smoke.
The firefighters left after 30 minutes when they found no sign of a fire. Gray was told smoke had drifted from another fire across the freeway, about a mile away.
That fire leveled an unoccupied home at 3400 Northeastern Ave.
According to the report, firefighters did a walkthrough of Gray’s apartment, an external walk around the duplex and used a thermal imager, a device that detects heat.
They knocked on the door of 3A, but no one answered. So, they didn’t go inside.
Gray told a detective, according to the report, that she “didn’t think the firemen walked around the apartment complex,” and “the firemen were playing pranks on each other and not taking it seriously.”
She was told to contact maintenance with any other concerns. She reported the smoke smell to them about an hour later.
Maintenance men entered the apartment around 7 a.m.
They found three of the children in their beds. The mother and one child were in the bathroom.
The fire had gone out by the time firefighters arrived for a second time at 7:30 a.m. Thursday.
The fire marshal wrote in the report that it is likely that Marilyn Beavers, the mother, put out the blaze because her arms were burned. None of her children were burned.
An internal investigation into the fire is under way.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
TOP STORY>>Greers Ferry pipeline begins
By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
Gov. Mike Beebe was the first speaker at the groundbreaking for the Lonoke- White Water Project on Friday in Ward, and he summed up what most of the speakers after him would say.
The project has been a collective effort of hundreds of people over many years that was started by some, kept alive by others and then passed along to those who would get it started, “a dream that died many, many times and has been reborn many, many times,” the governor said.
Money for the $57 million project to bring water to the area from Greers Ferry Lake will come from the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission and the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Construction is expected to begin Aug. 1. Beebe said some of his first work out of law school was for rural water associations, helping to build systems to take city water into the country.
“If you give someone paved roads and city water, they can build a community,” he said.
The Lonoke-White Project has been almost two decades in the making. In that time, the estimated cost has almost tripled and the makeup of the membership has changed several times. When completed, it is expected to serve about 80,000 people.
Lawrence McCullough, USDA state director, said the Lonoke-White Project was one of the first things he heard about when he started his job four years ago. On Friday, he brought a mock check for $24,543,000 representing the amount his agency will provide for the project, saying he had never signed a loan check for that size.
“This is the biggest loan I’ve ever had anything to do with,” McCullough said. “This is big.”
Randy Young, head of the ANRC, talked about the cooperation among the members of the Lonoke-White Project that made that got it to where it is now.
“We’ve got eight public utilities agreeing on one thing in this project,” Young said.
The ANRC will provide a $30.9 million loan as its share of the funding.
Sen. Mark Pryor called the beginning of the project a great example of local, state and federal cooperation, an example that Washington should follow.
“(The project members) identified the problem, pulled together and fixed it,” Pryor said.
“You’re an inspiration to all of us.”
“What we’re celebrating is a great partnership,” Sen. John Boozman said.
Congressman Tim Griffin talked about the possible economic impact of the project.
Building infrastructure, which includes providing ample water, creates jobs, Griffin said.
“This is a great day for y’all and I’m happy you included me,” he said.
Cong. Rick Crawford said his effort on behalf of the project was insignificant in comparison to that of others.
“Any contribution I made has been incidental to the years and years of work done by others,” Crawford said.
Ward Mayor Art Brooke presided over what was called the Lonoke-White Public Water Authority Project fund-ing and groundbreaking celebration and introduced the guest speakers.
Brooke joked that Gov. Beebe supported funding by the ANRC in part because they wore him down.
“There were times when he got tired of seeing Lonoke White coming to his office,” Brooke said. “He finally said ‘give them the money.’ I’m so proud he did that.”
Leader staff writer
Gov. Mike Beebe was the first speaker at the groundbreaking for the Lonoke- White Water Project on Friday in Ward, and he summed up what most of the speakers after him would say.
The project has been a collective effort of hundreds of people over many years that was started by some, kept alive by others and then passed along to those who would get it started, “a dream that died many, many times and has been reborn many, many times,” the governor said.
Money for the $57 million project to bring water to the area from Greers Ferry Lake will come from the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission and the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Construction is expected to begin Aug. 1. Beebe said some of his first work out of law school was for rural water associations, helping to build systems to take city water into the country.
“If you give someone paved roads and city water, they can build a community,” he said.
The Lonoke-White Project has been almost two decades in the making. In that time, the estimated cost has almost tripled and the makeup of the membership has changed several times. When completed, it is expected to serve about 80,000 people.
Lawrence McCullough, USDA state director, said the Lonoke-White Project was one of the first things he heard about when he started his job four years ago. On Friday, he brought a mock check for $24,543,000 representing the amount his agency will provide for the project, saying he had never signed a loan check for that size.
“This is the biggest loan I’ve ever had anything to do with,” McCullough said. “This is big.”
Randy Young, head of the ANRC, talked about the cooperation among the members of the Lonoke-White Project that made that got it to where it is now.
“We’ve got eight public utilities agreeing on one thing in this project,” Young said.
The ANRC will provide a $30.9 million loan as its share of the funding.
Sen. Mark Pryor called the beginning of the project a great example of local, state and federal cooperation, an example that Washington should follow.
“(The project members) identified the problem, pulled together and fixed it,” Pryor said.
“You’re an inspiration to all of us.”
“What we’re celebrating is a great partnership,” Sen. John Boozman said.
Congressman Tim Griffin talked about the possible economic impact of the project.
Building infrastructure, which includes providing ample water, creates jobs, Griffin said.
“This is a great day for y’all and I’m happy you included me,” he said.
Cong. Rick Crawford said his effort on behalf of the project was insignificant in comparison to that of others.
“Any contribution I made has been incidental to the years and years of work done by others,” Crawford said.
Ward Mayor Art Brooke presided over what was called the Lonoke-White Public Water Authority Project fund-ing and groundbreaking celebration and introduced the guest speakers.
Brooke joked that Gov. Beebe supported funding by the ANRC in part because they wore him down.
“There were times when he got tired of seeing Lonoke White coming to his office,” Brooke said. “He finally said ‘give them the money.’ I’m so proud he did that.”
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
SPORTS EVENTS >> 7-18-12
COACHES CALL US
The Leader would like to hear from all coaches in all sports in our coverage area. Please e-mail results, statistics or information to leadersports@arkansasleader.com or fax to 501-985-0026 or call 982-9421.
BENGALS YOUTH FOOTBALL REGISTERING PLAYERS NOW
The Central Arkansas Bengals youth football program is now registering players and cheerleaders from the Jacksonville-Sherwood area for the upcoming season. The Bengals practice and play at North Pulaski High School and registration is $35 for players and cheerleaders. For more information or to register, call Jay Smith at 501-307-9565 or Dominique at 501-765-3309. Information is also available at teamzonesports.com/cabyfc or on the team’s facebook page at CABengalFootballCheer.
FOOTBALL PRACTICE BEGINS SOON AT JMS
Jacksonville Middle School football team’s first football practice will be from 7:30-9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 1. Physicals is required before players can practice.
For more information, call head football coach Zach James at 501-658-8946.
JACKSONVILLE HOSTING NEW FALL SOFTBALL LEAGUE
The Jacksonville Parks and Recreation Department is now holding registration for the new fall youth softball league.
Registration deadline is Monday, Aug. 27. Interested participants can register at the Jacksonville Community Center. For more information, call the Jacksonville Parks and Rec at 982-4171.
The Leader would like to hear from all coaches in all sports in our coverage area. Please e-mail results, statistics or information to leadersports@arkansasleader.com or fax to 501-985-0026 or call 982-9421.
BENGALS YOUTH FOOTBALL REGISTERING PLAYERS NOW
The Central Arkansas Bengals youth football program is now registering players and cheerleaders from the Jacksonville-Sherwood area for the upcoming season. The Bengals practice and play at North Pulaski High School and registration is $35 for players and cheerleaders. For more information or to register, call Jay Smith at 501-307-9565 or Dominique at 501-765-3309. Information is also available at teamzonesports.com/cabyfc or on the team’s facebook page at CABengalFootballCheer.
FOOTBALL PRACTICE BEGINS SOON AT JMS
Jacksonville Middle School football team’s first football practice will be from 7:30-9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 1. Physicals is required before players can practice.
For more information, call head football coach Zach James at 501-658-8946.
JACKSONVILLE HOSTING NEW FALL SOFTBALL LEAGUE
The Jacksonville Parks and Recreation Department is now holding registration for the new fall youth softball league.
Registration deadline is Monday, Aug. 27. Interested participants can register at the Jacksonville Community Center. For more information, call the Jacksonville Parks and Rec at 982-4171.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
EDITORIAL >> Base school shines again
In two years, the federally mandated, state-required benchmark exams will go the way of the dodo bird and be replaced with another assessment tool. But in the meantime, the state will use the scores to determine which schools are succeeding and which ones are failing.
Combing through Benchmark test data provided by the Arkansas Research Center verifies what most people in the area already know: Cabot schools are doing well and schools in Jacksonville and Sherwood are failing.
Before we praise the Cabot School District, there is a bright spot in the beleaguered Pulaski County Special School District, which runs roughshod over the schools in Jacksonville and Sherwood.
That bright spot is Arnold Drive Elementary on Little Rock Air Force.
Here is a school built more than 50 years ago to be used temporarily, and like most Jacksonville schools, it is ignored by district officials, yet its third-, fourth- and fifth-graders have surpassed the state average on the Benchmark exam in literacy and math every year since the research center started tracking test scores back in 2008.
This year, Arnold Drive’s fourth- and fifth- graders were 100 percent proficient or advanced in literacy and were almost there in math. The third-graders just missed perfection in math and literacy, scoring 95 percent and 90 percent proficient, respectively.
So the question is twofold: Imagine what Arnold Drive could do if PCSSD really cared about Jacksonville schools. And if Arnold Drive can do this well against all odds, why aren’t other area schools succeeding just as well?
All the Jacksonville and most of the Sherwood area schools are clearly outdated, lacking in space and technology, so that’s not the difference.
Is it Arnold Drive’s principal? If so, why isn’t the district using her as a model for other schools across the district?
Is it the teachers? They are doing a great job—the test scores show it—but are they the only great teachers across the district? That answer had better be no, otherwise PCSSD could be in worse shape than anyone imagines.
Is it the kids? Possibly. The student body does come from military families for the most part, which means a higher rate of two-parent families, a steady paycheck and the security of a roof over their heads.
That does make a difference, but is it the reason for a 40- to 60-point gap between Arnold Drive and Harris Elementary? It’s doubtful.
The commitment is there for better schools—for more Arnold Drives. The desire is everywhere but at a central office on Dixon Road in Little Rock housing the school district’s core leadership. Until the district stops spending millions on lawyers and lawsuits, it will be hard to dedicate the resources necessary to replicate Arnold Drive, which needs to be rebuilt because of the age and condition of the building.
How good are Cabot elementary schools? The details will be published in Saturday’s edition and, hint, the news is very good.
How about the secondary schools across the area? Those test scores will be delved into next week.
But let’s just look at the district numbers as a whole: Over the last five years, from third-grade through eighth-grade, on both the math and literacy benchmark scores, the Cabot School District has scored higher than the state average every time, every year, every grade.
The Beebe and Lonoke school districts had mixed numbers according to the research center statistics, but almost always, the districts surpassed the state averages. Beebe third-grade district-level scores were the best in the area with 97 percent of third-graders scoring proficient or better in math.
But in PCSSD, from 2008 through the 2012 tests, third- through eighth-graders beat the state average only for scores in math or literacy once—this year, at the district-level, in third-grade literacy.
Carlisle also beat state averages most of the time, but it was the only district in the area to actually end up with worse scores over the five-year period in some grades.
Although many people have problems with the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act, which mandates these tests, the lofty goal has to be admired—all students are supposed to be able to read, write and work math proficiently at their grade level by the end of the 2014 school year.
PCSSD students would have benefited tremendously if the district had not ignored Arnold Drive Elementary for so long and had looked to other school districts like Cabot for inspiration. All kids want a chance to learn and improve their lives.
That can be achieved only when all schools become centers of excellence. Accepting anything less is cheating our kids and stealing their future.
Combing through Benchmark test data provided by the Arkansas Research Center verifies what most people in the area already know: Cabot schools are doing well and schools in Jacksonville and Sherwood are failing.
Before we praise the Cabot School District, there is a bright spot in the beleaguered Pulaski County Special School District, which runs roughshod over the schools in Jacksonville and Sherwood.
That bright spot is Arnold Drive Elementary on Little Rock Air Force.
Here is a school built more than 50 years ago to be used temporarily, and like most Jacksonville schools, it is ignored by district officials, yet its third-, fourth- and fifth-graders have surpassed the state average on the Benchmark exam in literacy and math every year since the research center started tracking test scores back in 2008.
This year, Arnold Drive’s fourth- and fifth- graders were 100 percent proficient or advanced in literacy and were almost there in math. The third-graders just missed perfection in math and literacy, scoring 95 percent and 90 percent proficient, respectively.
So the question is twofold: Imagine what Arnold Drive could do if PCSSD really cared about Jacksonville schools. And if Arnold Drive can do this well against all odds, why aren’t other area schools succeeding just as well?
All the Jacksonville and most of the Sherwood area schools are clearly outdated, lacking in space and technology, so that’s not the difference.
Is it Arnold Drive’s principal? If so, why isn’t the district using her as a model for other schools across the district?
Is it the teachers? They are doing a great job—the test scores show it—but are they the only great teachers across the district? That answer had better be no, otherwise PCSSD could be in worse shape than anyone imagines.
Is it the kids? Possibly. The student body does come from military families for the most part, which means a higher rate of two-parent families, a steady paycheck and the security of a roof over their heads.
That does make a difference, but is it the reason for a 40- to 60-point gap between Arnold Drive and Harris Elementary? It’s doubtful.
The commitment is there for better schools—for more Arnold Drives. The desire is everywhere but at a central office on Dixon Road in Little Rock housing the school district’s core leadership. Until the district stops spending millions on lawyers and lawsuits, it will be hard to dedicate the resources necessary to replicate Arnold Drive, which needs to be rebuilt because of the age and condition of the building.
How good are Cabot elementary schools? The details will be published in Saturday’s edition and, hint, the news is very good.
How about the secondary schools across the area? Those test scores will be delved into next week.
But let’s just look at the district numbers as a whole: Over the last five years, from third-grade through eighth-grade, on both the math and literacy benchmark scores, the Cabot School District has scored higher than the state average every time, every year, every grade.
The Beebe and Lonoke school districts had mixed numbers according to the research center statistics, but almost always, the districts surpassed the state averages. Beebe third-grade district-level scores were the best in the area with 97 percent of third-graders scoring proficient or better in math.
But in PCSSD, from 2008 through the 2012 tests, third- through eighth-graders beat the state average only for scores in math or literacy once—this year, at the district-level, in third-grade literacy.
Carlisle also beat state averages most of the time, but it was the only district in the area to actually end up with worse scores over the five-year period in some grades.
Although many people have problems with the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act, which mandates these tests, the lofty goal has to be admired—all students are supposed to be able to read, write and work math proficiently at their grade level by the end of the 2014 school year.
PCSSD students would have benefited tremendously if the district had not ignored Arnold Drive Elementary for so long and had looked to other school districts like Cabot for inspiration. All kids want a chance to learn and improve their lives.
That can be achieved only when all schools become centers of excellence. Accepting anything less is cheating our kids and stealing their future.
TOP STORY >> Writer talks of famous nephew
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
I was a fan of “Mad Men” long before my nephew, Charlie Hofheimer, got a recurring role on the Emmy-winning television show, and a fan of Charlie Hofheimer long before “Mad Men.”
Despite major roles in “Fatherhood” with Billy Crystal, Robin Williams and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Music of the Heart” with Meryl Streep and significant roles in “Black Hawk Down,” “Boys,” with Winona Ryder and “The Village,” Charlie is probably best known as Peggy Olson’s left-wing journalist boyfriend Abe Drexler on “Mad Men.”
I’d like to think the 1960s anti-war, anti-corporate reporter he portrays, clueless about courtship and women, is based on me, but I never met any of the writers, so just a happy coincidence, I guess.
Charlie, who parachuted into the Broadway play “The Lyons” a few weeks ago to replace a lead character leaving for another project, said he thinks the “Mad Men” appearances kept him fresh in the minds of the play’s director Mark Brokaw and writer Nicky Silver, who asked him to read for the part, then hired him.
He already knew them from other plays and auditions.
Charlie appeared on Broadway a few years ago in a short-lived production of “On the Waterfront” and appeared in the Wendy Wasserstein play “Old Money” at Lincoln Center, so he’s no stranger to the stage.
With Charlie set to play Curtis Lyons, a dysfunctional family’s gay son with an imaginary boyfriend, I knew I eventually would go see the play. But with lackluster attendance after the star, Linda Lavin, didn’t win the best actress Tony Award last month, the producers announced the stage would go dark July 1.
Although I had just visited my brother Craig—Charlie’s father—in Brooklyn and my daughter Julia in Philadelphia, I turned my car around and headed northeast to see the show.
My biggest fear was that Charlie would turn in a perfectly adequate performance for which I would try to manufacture enormous enthusiasm. But the truth is, the play was wonderful and Charlie, who had the largest, juiciest role, was masterful—and on such short notice.
He had real presence and I would have been impressed no matter whose nephew he was.
I came back the next night and loved his performance again. My brother probably saw the show eight times during the two-and-one-half weeks Charlie was in it.
Charlie’s great work on stage seems to have re-energized his agents and representatives, and when I talked to him last week, he was fresh from an audition for “The Office.”
“MAD MEN”
Charlie says this about his “Mad Men” experience:
The major characters in “Mad Men” are stern and stiff and most of their humor is ironic or sarcastic, but off set, the cast is warm, friendly and family-like.
The cast seems more concerned with making art than making money, he said.
“The most remarkable thing about working with them, as an actor who’s spent a ton of time on episodic hour dramas (read “Law and Order,” “Special Victims Unit, “CSI,” “The Good Wife”), the ‘Mad Men’ cast is the most family oriented,” he said.
Elizabeth Moss, who plays his girlfriend and copywriter Peggy Olson on “Mad Men,” had orchestrated the “base camp” as a comfortable living-room type setting, plants and all, for cast members, production assistants and others to relax when they weren’t on set. There is a feeling of camaraderie, he said.
That’s given him a better opportunity to appreciate the stars, like Jon Hamm (Don Draper) and John Slattery (Roger Sterling), with whom he has had few scenes.
“My first appearance was Slattery’s directorial debut,” Charlie told me.
“He was excellent, supportive and knowledgeable.”
“I’ve seen Jon Hamm come off a 12-hour shoot and sit down and talk and play cards,” according to Charlie. “He’s playful and kind.”
He describes Hamm more like the guy we see on 30 Rock or Saturday Night Live than like Don Draper.
The show is not much of a money maker for the cable AMC network, but they have stuck by it as an example of the excellence to which they aspire, and use “Mad Men” to help brand their network—kind of a flagship.
“The show’s reputation precedes itself, purely character driven,” Charlie said. “It’s a show respected and valued for its acting.”
“It think it’s affected my career by giving me a better reputation,” he said.
He said Mark Brokaw, the director who asked him to read for “The Lyons,” mentioned “appreciating my work on “Mad Men.”
Almost everybody within the industry watches. It has won the Emmy for best drama for several years running.
Charlie said the “Mad Men” plots are closely held secrets, and he doesn’t know if Abe Drexler’s story arc has run its course or if he’ll be back a few times next season.
“The audience and I are left to suffer from suspense, wondering if Abe still lives with Peggy or has been sent to Vietnam,” he said.
“THE LYONS”
When Michael Esper, the original Curtis Lyons, left for another project, Charlie, with three weeks notice, learned the script, rehearsed and opened the June 12 in the play.
Of his reception by Lavin, and Dick Latessa, both Tony winners, and the others, “They were warm and friendly. It could have been tricky stepping into the family. I was shocked at how warmly and openly they embraced me.”
By luck of the draw, my other brother Stephen and his friend, Sally, who frequently travels from Connecticut to see Broadway plays, already had tickets to the show, so they saw his performance about four shows in.
Attendance at “The Lyons” was on the soft side, and the producers were apparently hoping Lavin would win best actress at the June 11 Tony awards and get a boost in attendance. When that didn’t happen, the producers decided to close it, leaving Charlie with a scant 19-day run.
“The ending was abrupt, but that can hardly tarnish what was otherwise an amazing experience all round,” Charlie told me about two days after the last performance. “It was one of most interesting dynamic characters I’ve had pleasure of diving into.
“I became more familiar with (Nicky Silver’s) writing and...the tonal shifts that required me to explore some of the more broad possible choices. I’m so curious to know what I would have learned from Curtis over another month of shows.
“It’s been a huge boost to my confidence and validation of the hard work I put in. I traveled a distance in a short time,” Charlie offered.
“Two days ago, I was (still) on stage. I’ve been coming down off the adrenaline high. But today it’s back to the grind, finding the next job.
“I’ve fallen into dry spells off my best jobs. Impossible to quantify. It’s a good pitch for my reps, coming off two seasons of “Mad Men” heading into a lead role in a Broadway play. This is a more meaningful step forward.
“I hope they perceive this as a renaissance for me—a step up from the guest star tour that has characterized the 18 months prior to “Mad Men.”
He said he hopes he’s moving into parts that are important with people who are equally invested in story telling, not just going to work.
But “you need to continue to be invested in things you can control. Acting is the aligning of the stars,” he said, but he, his fiancé and a friend have a small production company called Filament Features (www.filamentfeatures.com) that “allows me to invest in projects I find meaningful with people I enjoy.”
They have produced music videos and two feature shorts so far.
Charlie and his actress-fiancé, Shannon Lucio, live in Hollywood.
She’s a beautiful, down-to-earth gal from San Antonio who keeps Charlie grounded.
She stays busy as an actress and may be best known for her role as Lindsay Gardner on “The OC.”
She would prefer to be recognized for her recurring work on “Prison Break” or her role in “Trueblood.” She’s constantly working in guest parts, including a recurring role on “Gray’s Anatomy.”
Her latest project, “Day Break,” is breaking records for a web-content production, Charlie said. It’s one of the first times talent on that level has been in a web production.
BACK STORY
An actor since before he began elementary school in Brooklyn, I was there the first time Charlie was “discovered.”
I was visiting my brother Craig and sister-in-law Alice and we went out for dinner at what may have been an Asian restaurant.
I’m thinking Charlie was maybe 5, and while the rest of us dunked egg rolls, Charlie stood on the booth seat, making eyes at people behind him.
After a while, a couple stood to leave and stopped by our booth, the woman said, “I know this is going to sound strange, but I’m a casting agent, and here’s my card if you think you’d like him to be an actor.”
She said he was really engaging, or words to that effect.
Charlie’s parents did not take the bait the first time, but after a second, similar approach by a different casting agent soon after, they started hauling the tyke to auditions, mostly for commercials.
Now you might think this happens to all cute kids in New York, but let me assure you his little sister was a cute-as-a-button, curly-haired Shirley Temple type who never got such an offer. Ruth has grown up to be an accomplished artist who’s apprenticing as a remodeling designer with her father.
“I knew the melodrama of my life, in terms of acting and the stress my acting put on my family...that it had locked her in as a teenager and I’m overjoyed to see her blossom into a self confident person who seems to not have her suns raise and fall on a man or external validation.
“She’s got this incredible dynamic that is her painting, I’m utterly enamored of her skills.”
As a kid, Charlie was in some commercials and played a trick or treater on “Saturday Night Live.” His first movie, with lines, was “Boys” with Winona Ryder.
Charlie said one of the favorite things anyone has ever said to me, when he was about six or seven and I was his ride from a relative’s house in Ann Arbor, Mich., to his home in Brooklyn.
We were playing as I drove and I offered to make him a rock salad sandwich. He said he would make me a worm-salad sandwich.
He then sat silent for a few moments before he said, “Uncle John, are you a man or are you a kid?”
Leader senior staff writer
I was a fan of “Mad Men” long before my nephew, Charlie Hofheimer, got a recurring role on the Emmy-winning television show, and a fan of Charlie Hofheimer long before “Mad Men.”
Despite major roles in “Fatherhood” with Billy Crystal, Robin Williams and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Music of the Heart” with Meryl Streep and significant roles in “Black Hawk Down,” “Boys,” with Winona Ryder and “The Village,” Charlie is probably best known as Peggy Olson’s left-wing journalist boyfriend Abe Drexler on “Mad Men.”
I’d like to think the 1960s anti-war, anti-corporate reporter he portrays, clueless about courtship and women, is based on me, but I never met any of the writers, so just a happy coincidence, I guess.
Charlie, who parachuted into the Broadway play “The Lyons” a few weeks ago to replace a lead character leaving for another project, said he thinks the “Mad Men” appearances kept him fresh in the minds of the play’s director Mark Brokaw and writer Nicky Silver, who asked him to read for the part, then hired him.
He already knew them from other plays and auditions.
Charlie appeared on Broadway a few years ago in a short-lived production of “On the Waterfront” and appeared in the Wendy Wasserstein play “Old Money” at Lincoln Center, so he’s no stranger to the stage.
With Charlie set to play Curtis Lyons, a dysfunctional family’s gay son with an imaginary boyfriend, I knew I eventually would go see the play. But with lackluster attendance after the star, Linda Lavin, didn’t win the best actress Tony Award last month, the producers announced the stage would go dark July 1.
Although I had just visited my brother Craig—Charlie’s father—in Brooklyn and my daughter Julia in Philadelphia, I turned my car around and headed northeast to see the show.
My biggest fear was that Charlie would turn in a perfectly adequate performance for which I would try to manufacture enormous enthusiasm. But the truth is, the play was wonderful and Charlie, who had the largest, juiciest role, was masterful—and on such short notice.
He had real presence and I would have been impressed no matter whose nephew he was.
I came back the next night and loved his performance again. My brother probably saw the show eight times during the two-and-one-half weeks Charlie was in it.
Charlie’s great work on stage seems to have re-energized his agents and representatives, and when I talked to him last week, he was fresh from an audition for “The Office.”
“MAD MEN”
Charlie says this about his “Mad Men” experience:
The major characters in “Mad Men” are stern and stiff and most of their humor is ironic or sarcastic, but off set, the cast is warm, friendly and family-like.
The cast seems more concerned with making art than making money, he said.
“The most remarkable thing about working with them, as an actor who’s spent a ton of time on episodic hour dramas (read “Law and Order,” “Special Victims Unit, “CSI,” “The Good Wife”), the ‘Mad Men’ cast is the most family oriented,” he said.
Elizabeth Moss, who plays his girlfriend and copywriter Peggy Olson on “Mad Men,” had orchestrated the “base camp” as a comfortable living-room type setting, plants and all, for cast members, production assistants and others to relax when they weren’t on set. There is a feeling of camaraderie, he said.
That’s given him a better opportunity to appreciate the stars, like Jon Hamm (Don Draper) and John Slattery (Roger Sterling), with whom he has had few scenes.
“My first appearance was Slattery’s directorial debut,” Charlie told me.
“He was excellent, supportive and knowledgeable.”
“I’ve seen Jon Hamm come off a 12-hour shoot and sit down and talk and play cards,” according to Charlie. “He’s playful and kind.”
He describes Hamm more like the guy we see on 30 Rock or Saturday Night Live than like Don Draper.
The show is not much of a money maker for the cable AMC network, but they have stuck by it as an example of the excellence to which they aspire, and use “Mad Men” to help brand their network—kind of a flagship.
“The show’s reputation precedes itself, purely character driven,” Charlie said. “It’s a show respected and valued for its acting.”
“It think it’s affected my career by giving me a better reputation,” he said.
He said Mark Brokaw, the director who asked him to read for “The Lyons,” mentioned “appreciating my work on “Mad Men.”
Almost everybody within the industry watches. It has won the Emmy for best drama for several years running.
Charlie said the “Mad Men” plots are closely held secrets, and he doesn’t know if Abe Drexler’s story arc has run its course or if he’ll be back a few times next season.
“The audience and I are left to suffer from suspense, wondering if Abe still lives with Peggy or has been sent to Vietnam,” he said.
“THE LYONS”
When Michael Esper, the original Curtis Lyons, left for another project, Charlie, with three weeks notice, learned the script, rehearsed and opened the June 12 in the play.
Of his reception by Lavin, and Dick Latessa, both Tony winners, and the others, “They were warm and friendly. It could have been tricky stepping into the family. I was shocked at how warmly and openly they embraced me.”
By luck of the draw, my other brother Stephen and his friend, Sally, who frequently travels from Connecticut to see Broadway plays, already had tickets to the show, so they saw his performance about four shows in.
Attendance at “The Lyons” was on the soft side, and the producers were apparently hoping Lavin would win best actress at the June 11 Tony awards and get a boost in attendance. When that didn’t happen, the producers decided to close it, leaving Charlie with a scant 19-day run.
“The ending was abrupt, but that can hardly tarnish what was otherwise an amazing experience all round,” Charlie told me about two days after the last performance. “It was one of most interesting dynamic characters I’ve had pleasure of diving into.
“I became more familiar with (Nicky Silver’s) writing and...the tonal shifts that required me to explore some of the more broad possible choices. I’m so curious to know what I would have learned from Curtis over another month of shows.
“It’s been a huge boost to my confidence and validation of the hard work I put in. I traveled a distance in a short time,” Charlie offered.
“Two days ago, I was (still) on stage. I’ve been coming down off the adrenaline high. But today it’s back to the grind, finding the next job.
“I’ve fallen into dry spells off my best jobs. Impossible to quantify. It’s a good pitch for my reps, coming off two seasons of “Mad Men” heading into a lead role in a Broadway play. This is a more meaningful step forward.
“I hope they perceive this as a renaissance for me—a step up from the guest star tour that has characterized the 18 months prior to “Mad Men.”
He said he hopes he’s moving into parts that are important with people who are equally invested in story telling, not just going to work.
But “you need to continue to be invested in things you can control. Acting is the aligning of the stars,” he said, but he, his fiancé and a friend have a small production company called Filament Features (www.filamentfeatures.com) that “allows me to invest in projects I find meaningful with people I enjoy.”
They have produced music videos and two feature shorts so far.
Charlie and his actress-fiancé, Shannon Lucio, live in Hollywood.
She’s a beautiful, down-to-earth gal from San Antonio who keeps Charlie grounded.
She stays busy as an actress and may be best known for her role as Lindsay Gardner on “The OC.”
She would prefer to be recognized for her recurring work on “Prison Break” or her role in “Trueblood.” She’s constantly working in guest parts, including a recurring role on “Gray’s Anatomy.”
Her latest project, “Day Break,” is breaking records for a web-content production, Charlie said. It’s one of the first times talent on that level has been in a web production.
BACK STORY
An actor since before he began elementary school in Brooklyn, I was there the first time Charlie was “discovered.”
I was visiting my brother Craig and sister-in-law Alice and we went out for dinner at what may have been an Asian restaurant.
I’m thinking Charlie was maybe 5, and while the rest of us dunked egg rolls, Charlie stood on the booth seat, making eyes at people behind him.
After a while, a couple stood to leave and stopped by our booth, the woman said, “I know this is going to sound strange, but I’m a casting agent, and here’s my card if you think you’d like him to be an actor.”
She said he was really engaging, or words to that effect.
Charlie’s parents did not take the bait the first time, but after a second, similar approach by a different casting agent soon after, they started hauling the tyke to auditions, mostly for commercials.
Now you might think this happens to all cute kids in New York, but let me assure you his little sister was a cute-as-a-button, curly-haired Shirley Temple type who never got such an offer. Ruth has grown up to be an accomplished artist who’s apprenticing as a remodeling designer with her father.
“I knew the melodrama of my life, in terms of acting and the stress my acting put on my family...that it had locked her in as a teenager and I’m overjoyed to see her blossom into a self confident person who seems to not have her suns raise and fall on a man or external validation.
“She’s got this incredible dynamic that is her painting, I’m utterly enamored of her skills.”
As a kid, Charlie was in some commercials and played a trick or treater on “Saturday Night Live.” His first movie, with lines, was “Boys” with Winona Ryder.
Charlie said one of the favorite things anyone has ever said to me, when he was about six or seven and I was his ride from a relative’s house in Ann Arbor, Mich., to his home in Brooklyn.
We were playing as I drove and I offered to make him a rock salad sandwich. He said he would make me a worm-salad sandwich.
He then sat silent for a few moments before he said, “Uncle John, are you a man or are you a kid?”
TOP STORY >> Principal is walking tall at JHS
By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader editor-in-chief
Jacksonville High School was in awful shape last July when Henry Anderson took over the failed school in a failed school district.
The place was rundown, morale was terrible and test scores were falling along with graduating rates.
The state Education Department had just taken over the Pulaski County Special School District. Teachers and staff grumbled because their unions faced decertification.
Suddenly, Anderson, 41, showed up like a new sheriff in town and told his staff: Help me clean up this mess or go teach someplace else.
“It’s been an exciting, roller-coaster year,” Anderson told the Jacksonville Rotary Club meeting Monday at Southern Oaks Country Club. But, he said, he’s seeing some encouraging results.
Test scores have improved, he said. Math and literacy scores are up 9 to 10 percent. There’s still a long way to go, but Anderson has inspired teachers and students to care about test scores.
Graduation rates are way up. Only 15 of 166 seniors failed to earn diplomas this year, a big improvement over recent graduation rates of a little more than 50 percent. One of the 15 students who didn’t graduate, Anderson said, was only half a credit away.
“If we can get them on the right track, they’ll be able to graduate,” the principal said.
Anderson is tired of seeing the school called one of the worst in the state. He wants JHS off the needs-improvement list and make it as good as it was 30 and 40 years ago, when it offered advanced-placement courses that were among the best in the state.
“We got a clean bill of health this year,” he said. “We’ve become a model. The school district is sending principals to our school to see what we’re doing right,” Anderson said. “The U.S. Department of Education will visit us to see how the school is making these improvements.”
Back in June 2011, before Anderson showed up, the high school was so bad, it qualified for a multi-million school-improvement grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
Jacksonville received a $2 million improvement grant from the department. Three other failing high schools — all in the poverty-stricken Delta — received slightly lesser amounts.
The four high schools — the others are Helena-West Helena, Marvell and Dollarway — were ranked in the bottom 5 percent in the state, which qualified them for the school-improvement grants.
This is a grant you don’t want to shout about, but Anderson doesn’t mind bringing it up. He said Jacksonville is doing so well, it will get an additional $1.7 million this year and $2 million more in 2013, or as much as $5.7 million over three years.
Students now have computers in labs and classrooms and several iPads. There’s campus-wide wireless Internet, Promethian interactive whiteboards, equipment for science labs, recording equipment for band, choir and television-production classes, access to on-campus licensed social workers, credit recovery and concurrent enrollment with Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock.
The school district is paying for a $750,000 remodeling this summer, which includes a new front entrance and improvements in the library and cafeteria.
The principal wants to reward teachers who do a good job. “We’ve got a school to turn around,” he said. “We want the best and the brightest.”
He expects teachers to do more and not take off as soon as the bell rings.
“When you’re paid $75,000 a year, and you say you don’t have to call anybody after 3:05 p.m. That’s got to change,” Anderson said. “If we don’t see improvement, they’re terminated. It is what it is.”
That’s his mantra: Teachers must teach and students must learn.
Anderson means business. “If you don’t like it here, you can go someplace else,” he said bluntly. He was talking about students and teachers.
“If you’re going to get into a fight, you’re going to get arrested,” he added, talking about students.
He’s rebuilding the math faculty so parents don’t have to hire tutors to teach their kids.
There’s more blunt talk: If kids go out to McDonald’s or Taco Bell for lunch and don’t come back, he’ll have them arrested because Jacksonville has a daytime curfew.
That means students can’t be out on the streets when schools are in session.
Jacksonville High School hasn’t had a parent-teachers organization in years. But now, it’s forming a parent-teacher-student group that will hold monthly meetings.
Barry Hickingbotham, the assistant football coach, told the Rotarians that Anderson is the real deal.
“If he wants something done, he means it. That’s why our school is turning around,” the coach said. “If you miss two weeks of school, you miss two weeks of sports.”
“He’s what we need. Our school is improving,” Hickingbotham said.
Anderson bought a house in Jacksonville. “I’m the first principal in years who’s done that. Kids know where I live. They toilet papered my house.”
But that’s all right with him as long as test scores improve and the school gets better and more kids graduate.
“I’m loving it,” he said.
Someone told Anderson he could be the next superintendent when the state gives back the district to local control.
“I’d love it,” he said.
“We’ve got a great school,” Anderson said. “We still have lots to do. Our kids deserve so much more.”
Leader editor-in-chief
Jacksonville High School was in awful shape last July when Henry Anderson took over the failed school in a failed school district.
The place was rundown, morale was terrible and test scores were falling along with graduating rates.
The state Education Department had just taken over the Pulaski County Special School District. Teachers and staff grumbled because their unions faced decertification.
Suddenly, Anderson, 41, showed up like a new sheriff in town and told his staff: Help me clean up this mess or go teach someplace else.
“It’s been an exciting, roller-coaster year,” Anderson told the Jacksonville Rotary Club meeting Monday at Southern Oaks Country Club. But, he said, he’s seeing some encouraging results.
Test scores have improved, he said. Math and literacy scores are up 9 to 10 percent. There’s still a long way to go, but Anderson has inspired teachers and students to care about test scores.
Graduation rates are way up. Only 15 of 166 seniors failed to earn diplomas this year, a big improvement over recent graduation rates of a little more than 50 percent. One of the 15 students who didn’t graduate, Anderson said, was only half a credit away.
“If we can get them on the right track, they’ll be able to graduate,” the principal said.
Anderson is tired of seeing the school called one of the worst in the state. He wants JHS off the needs-improvement list and make it as good as it was 30 and 40 years ago, when it offered advanced-placement courses that were among the best in the state.
“We got a clean bill of health this year,” he said. “We’ve become a model. The school district is sending principals to our school to see what we’re doing right,” Anderson said. “The U.S. Department of Education will visit us to see how the school is making these improvements.”
Back in June 2011, before Anderson showed up, the high school was so bad, it qualified for a multi-million school-improvement grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
Jacksonville received a $2 million improvement grant from the department. Three other failing high schools — all in the poverty-stricken Delta — received slightly lesser amounts.
The four high schools — the others are Helena-West Helena, Marvell and Dollarway — were ranked in the bottom 5 percent in the state, which qualified them for the school-improvement grants.
This is a grant you don’t want to shout about, but Anderson doesn’t mind bringing it up. He said Jacksonville is doing so well, it will get an additional $1.7 million this year and $2 million more in 2013, or as much as $5.7 million over three years.
Students now have computers in labs and classrooms and several iPads. There’s campus-wide wireless Internet, Promethian interactive whiteboards, equipment for science labs, recording equipment for band, choir and television-production classes, access to on-campus licensed social workers, credit recovery and concurrent enrollment with Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock.
The school district is paying for a $750,000 remodeling this summer, which includes a new front entrance and improvements in the library and cafeteria.
The principal wants to reward teachers who do a good job. “We’ve got a school to turn around,” he said. “We want the best and the brightest.”
He expects teachers to do more and not take off as soon as the bell rings.
“When you’re paid $75,000 a year, and you say you don’t have to call anybody after 3:05 p.m. That’s got to change,” Anderson said. “If we don’t see improvement, they’re terminated. It is what it is.”
That’s his mantra: Teachers must teach and students must learn.
Anderson means business. “If you don’t like it here, you can go someplace else,” he said bluntly. He was talking about students and teachers.
“If you’re going to get into a fight, you’re going to get arrested,” he added, talking about students.
He’s rebuilding the math faculty so parents don’t have to hire tutors to teach their kids.
There’s more blunt talk: If kids go out to McDonald’s or Taco Bell for lunch and don’t come back, he’ll have them arrested because Jacksonville has a daytime curfew.
That means students can’t be out on the streets when schools are in session.
Jacksonville High School hasn’t had a parent-teachers organization in years. But now, it’s forming a parent-teacher-student group that will hold monthly meetings.
Barry Hickingbotham, the assistant football coach, told the Rotarians that Anderson is the real deal.
“If he wants something done, he means it. That’s why our school is turning around,” the coach said. “If you miss two weeks of school, you miss two weeks of sports.”
“He’s what we need. Our school is improving,” Hickingbotham said.
Anderson bought a house in Jacksonville. “I’m the first principal in years who’s done that. Kids know where I live. They toilet papered my house.”
But that’s all right with him as long as test scores improve and the school gets better and more kids graduate.
“I’m loving it,” he said.
Someone told Anderson he could be the next superintendent when the state gives back the district to local control.
“I’d love it,” he said.
“We’ve got a great school,” Anderson said. “We still have lots to do. Our kids deserve so much more.”
TOP STORY >> Ward gets big check
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Ward got a welcome kick in its economic pants Monday night when Woody Bryant with the Lonoke-White Public Water Authority presented Mayor Art Brooke with a check for $206,000.
The amount covers what the city gave to the water project about six years ago to help get the $50 million project off the ground.
The money will go to the city’s water department, which actually provided the funds in the first place.
“It will allow us to start some projects that have been on hold and we will put some of the money in a contingency fund to help in case of emergencies,” the mayor said.
He added that it could cost as much as $20,000 to repair or replace one of the city’s water pumps. “It can happen. Just a few years ago we had a major flood that caused $178,000 worth of damage to our equipment,” Brooke said.
Alderman Charles Gastineau was happy to see the check. “It’s been a long time coming and this project has been declared dead more than once,” he said.
But the project is very much alive with a groundbreaking set for 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Ward Chamber of Commerce. Gov. Mike Beebe, along with Rep. Tim Griffin and Rep. Rick Crawford are scheduled to be at the ceremony.
Ward was the first of a number of entities to be repaid now that the project has secured its funding.
In September 2011, the LWPWA received a $24.5 million federal loan for construction. The federal loan is combined with a commitment of up to $30.9 million from the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission for the authority to pump water from Greers Ferry Lake.
The plans call for an intake structure to be built at Greers Ferry Lake, which will ultimately be able to draw 30 million gallons of water a day from the lake.
The beginning capacity of the intake will be 10 million gallons a day.
The water will go to a nearby treatment plant that will also have a 10 million gallon a day capacity at the startup and a 24-inch transmission line to bring the water into the local area.
The eight entities and their nearly 40,000-plus customers will be responsible for the loan repayment, and rates have already been increased for most to cover the payments.
Bids on the $50 million Lonoke-White water project were opened in early June and the groundbreaking will be Friday, with construction starting in earnest in August. It should be completed by July 2014.
Not all the members need the water now. But they know they will need it in the future for growth or if the state forces them to shut down their wells or their wells go dry.
Membership in the project has changed over two decades. The members are now Austin, Beebe, Furlow, Grand Prairie/Bayou Two, Jacksonville, North Pulaski, Vilonia and Ward.
Beebe, the member that put the White in Lonoke-White, pulled out and came back.
Cabot, at one time the member with the largest population and the one that hurt the project’s chance at a grant from the USDA, pulled out in favor of buying water from Central Arkansas Water. Lonoke city, one of the most recent members, also pulled out.
The project was once controlled by Community Water Systems, which is headquartered at Greers Ferry.
CWS completed a rural water system for Faulkner and Cleburne counties about 17 years ago that was partly funded with federal grants. But not long after, grant money became unavailable and the Lonoke-White project began a long struggle for funding.
A lawsuit that concluded about six years ago put ownership of the project in the hands of its members.
But CWS retains ownership of half of the 205 or so acres at Cove Creek as well as shared use of the 2.85 acres on the lake where the intake structure will be built.
Leader staff writer
Ward got a welcome kick in its economic pants Monday night when Woody Bryant with the Lonoke-White Public Water Authority presented Mayor Art Brooke with a check for $206,000.
The amount covers what the city gave to the water project about six years ago to help get the $50 million project off the ground.
The money will go to the city’s water department, which actually provided the funds in the first place.
“It will allow us to start some projects that have been on hold and we will put some of the money in a contingency fund to help in case of emergencies,” the mayor said.
He added that it could cost as much as $20,000 to repair or replace one of the city’s water pumps. “It can happen. Just a few years ago we had a major flood that caused $178,000 worth of damage to our equipment,” Brooke said.
Alderman Charles Gastineau was happy to see the check. “It’s been a long time coming and this project has been declared dead more than once,” he said.
But the project is very much alive with a groundbreaking set for 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Ward Chamber of Commerce. Gov. Mike Beebe, along with Rep. Tim Griffin and Rep. Rick Crawford are scheduled to be at the ceremony.
Ward was the first of a number of entities to be repaid now that the project has secured its funding.
In September 2011, the LWPWA received a $24.5 million federal loan for construction. The federal loan is combined with a commitment of up to $30.9 million from the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission for the authority to pump water from Greers Ferry Lake.
The plans call for an intake structure to be built at Greers Ferry Lake, which will ultimately be able to draw 30 million gallons of water a day from the lake.
The beginning capacity of the intake will be 10 million gallons a day.
The water will go to a nearby treatment plant that will also have a 10 million gallon a day capacity at the startup and a 24-inch transmission line to bring the water into the local area.
The eight entities and their nearly 40,000-plus customers will be responsible for the loan repayment, and rates have already been increased for most to cover the payments.
Bids on the $50 million Lonoke-White water project were opened in early June and the groundbreaking will be Friday, with construction starting in earnest in August. It should be completed by July 2014.
Not all the members need the water now. But they know they will need it in the future for growth or if the state forces them to shut down their wells or their wells go dry.
Membership in the project has changed over two decades. The members are now Austin, Beebe, Furlow, Grand Prairie/Bayou Two, Jacksonville, North Pulaski, Vilonia and Ward.
Beebe, the member that put the White in Lonoke-White, pulled out and came back.
Cabot, at one time the member with the largest population and the one that hurt the project’s chance at a grant from the USDA, pulled out in favor of buying water from Central Arkansas Water. Lonoke city, one of the most recent members, also pulled out.
The project was once controlled by Community Water Systems, which is headquartered at Greers Ferry.
CWS completed a rural water system for Faulkner and Cleburne counties about 17 years ago that was partly funded with federal grants. But not long after, grant money became unavailable and the Lonoke-White project began a long struggle for funding.
A lawsuit that concluded about six years ago put ownership of the project in the hands of its members.
But CWS retains ownership of half of the 205 or so acres at Cove Creek as well as shared use of the 2.85 acres on the lake where the intake structure will be built.
SPORTS STORY >> Panthers even at Catholic 7-on-7
By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
There was something different about the way the Cabot Panthers’ offense looked in the 7-on-7 football meet Monday at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
Cabot’s traditional run-heavy Dead-T offense was put aside for the six-team, all-passing exhibition, and the Panthers finished their first game with an 11-8 win over Vilonia. Cabot lost its next two, 15-3 to Little Rock Catholic and 18-3 to 7A/6A East conference foe Little Rock Central. But Cabot rebounded in its final game of the day with a 12-0 win over Benton to finish on a high note.
Although the Panthers won’t put their main focus on moving the ball through the air this upcoming season, several of their opponents will. Cabot entered the meet with the primary intention of testing its depth in the secondary, and strengthening some of its weaknesses on both sides of the ball through competitive repetition.
“That’s our weak part,” said Cabot defensive coordinator Randy Black about the secondary. “We played nine kids today, so we didn’t just play our best group. We have to find some kids. It’s still wide open. We had some that made some plays, but we’re not doing the little things right.”
It wasn’t just the secondary where the Panthers used their depth. In the first 15-minute game against Vilonia, backup quarterback Grant Bell was 3 for 3 passing, including a 15-yard touchdown pass, followed by a successful two-point conversion which ended up being the final possession of the game.
Cabot didn’t have any luck moving the ball in its next two games against Catholic and Central, but scored its three points in both games on interceptions from the secondary. According to traditional 7-on-7 scoring rules an interception results in three points for the defense, plus possession at the 40-yard line.
In the Panthers’ fourth game of the day against Benton, the Cabot secondary played lights out, intercepting the ball on Benton’s first drive. Bell came in again to relieve starting quarterback Kason Kimbrell about halfway through the contest, and threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to put the game away. The Cabot defense finished the game as it started, intercepting the ball on Benton’s final possession to earn the 12-0 shutout win.
Even though the Panthers were a bit out of their element in the all-passing competition, Black won’t use that as an excuse. Instead, Black sees where improvements need to be made if the team expects to compete for a conference championship this fall.
“Definitely, we have to talk and communicate better,” Black said. “We did a bad job of talking and making sure everyone was on the same page. I did see the desire. We got after it and we hustled. We have some kids that want to play and they’re trying hard. So, bottom line, I like the desire. But we have to get smarter.”
Despite lack of communication at times, the Panthers’ secondary grabbed a total of five interceptions in the four 15-minute games played. Kimbrell was 6-18 passing combined on the day for 59 yards. Bell was 8-17 passing for 89 yards and two touchdowns.
Leader sportswriter
There was something different about the way the Cabot Panthers’ offense looked in the 7-on-7 football meet Monday at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
Cabot’s traditional run-heavy Dead-T offense was put aside for the six-team, all-passing exhibition, and the Panthers finished their first game with an 11-8 win over Vilonia. Cabot lost its next two, 15-3 to Little Rock Catholic and 18-3 to 7A/6A East conference foe Little Rock Central. But Cabot rebounded in its final game of the day with a 12-0 win over Benton to finish on a high note.
Although the Panthers won’t put their main focus on moving the ball through the air this upcoming season, several of their opponents will. Cabot entered the meet with the primary intention of testing its depth in the secondary, and strengthening some of its weaknesses on both sides of the ball through competitive repetition.
“That’s our weak part,” said Cabot defensive coordinator Randy Black about the secondary. “We played nine kids today, so we didn’t just play our best group. We have to find some kids. It’s still wide open. We had some that made some plays, but we’re not doing the little things right.”
It wasn’t just the secondary where the Panthers used their depth. In the first 15-minute game against Vilonia, backup quarterback Grant Bell was 3 for 3 passing, including a 15-yard touchdown pass, followed by a successful two-point conversion which ended up being the final possession of the game.
Cabot didn’t have any luck moving the ball in its next two games against Catholic and Central, but scored its three points in both games on interceptions from the secondary. According to traditional 7-on-7 scoring rules an interception results in three points for the defense, plus possession at the 40-yard line.
In the Panthers’ fourth game of the day against Benton, the Cabot secondary played lights out, intercepting the ball on Benton’s first drive. Bell came in again to relieve starting quarterback Kason Kimbrell about halfway through the contest, and threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to put the game away. The Cabot defense finished the game as it started, intercepting the ball on Benton’s final possession to earn the 12-0 shutout win.
Even though the Panthers were a bit out of their element in the all-passing competition, Black won’t use that as an excuse. Instead, Black sees where improvements need to be made if the team expects to compete for a conference championship this fall.
“Definitely, we have to talk and communicate better,” Black said. “We did a bad job of talking and making sure everyone was on the same page. I did see the desire. We got after it and we hustled. We have some kids that want to play and they’re trying hard. So, bottom line, I like the desire. But we have to get smarter.”
Despite lack of communication at times, the Panthers’ secondary grabbed a total of five interceptions in the four 15-minute games played. Kimbrell was 6-18 passing combined on the day for 59 yards. Bell was 8-17 passing for 89 yards and two touchdowns.
SPORTS STORY >> Cricket new addition to Dupree Park
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Cricket is coming to Jacksonville’s Dupree Park, and very soon. The pitch is built, the bowling carpet is down, the field is lined and teams are already in place. There are some minor cosmetics still left to complete before the first match can be played, but it could take place as soon as Saturday.
Andy Patel, owner of the Jacksonville and North Little Rock Best Western Hotels, and Jacksonville Advertising and Promotions Commission member, began lobbying Jacksonville City Council to build a cricket pitch at Dupree Park last fall. Patel, Shash Goyal, Sam Pothi and Andrew Desai spearheaded the drive to get a cricket field going in Arkansas, due largely to growing interest in the sport and the growing need to provide more places to play.
“We have so many people wanting to join our league, and with only three places in central Arkansas to play, it limits the amount of people that can be on a team and actually get to play,” Goyal said. With more fields, there is room for more teams and therefore more players.
Pothi, who is president of the Central Arkansas Indian Cricket Association, started the CAICA in 1989 in Rose City. It disappeared when he moved to Dallas in 1991, but he gotit going again when he moved back in 1994. Since then, the association has added two fields in Burns Park in 2001.
The Jacksonville Parks and Recreation Department agreed to build the field in the southeast corner of Dupree Park, which is within the flood zone. Patel and his group wanted to share the soccer fields, but agreed to the compromise since Cricket is primarily played in the summer when flooding is rare.
“It was a good compromise,” Patel said. “The parks and rec department, specifically Kristen Kennon, suggested that part of the park since the soccer fields need time to recover. Kristen and Kevin House have been very helpful and we very much appreciate the time and effort they put into helping us get this done.”
There was a limit to how much parks and rec could help. The city built the field’s pitch, which is a raised surface where the bowler, or pitcher in baseball terms, bowls to the batsman. But there is also a carpeted concrete surface on top of the pitch and there was no money left to pour concrete or install a carpet.
“Kristen suggested we see Mayor Fletcher because she said she had no more money to allocate to this project,” Patel said. “Mayor Fletcher suggested we talk to A&P because the sport will bring many teams in when we hold tournaments.”
The CAICA hosts a tournament every year on Labor Day weekend which brings between eight and 10 teams from Arkansas and surrounding states.
“We thought it was another way to promote Jacksonville and bring out-of-state money to this community,” Patel said. “It also would bring more cultural diversity and have a positive impact in that way.”
The A&P agreed and put up the money for the concrete and carpet. The city has spent approximately $4,500, with about $1,000 for the turf and $3,500 for concrete and carpet. There is still a small ledge where the pitch is not level with the carpet and the slope down into the field needs to be smoother. There should also be thick grass growing up to the bowling lane, but the field would be playable with the repaired ledge. If that is taken care of this week, Patel says Dupree Park will host its first game on Saturday.
“The team is just waiting for the call,” Patel said. “If the city can get it in playing condition by Thursday, we will play on Saturday.”
The CAICA, which is the home organization for the Little Rock Cricket Club’s Blue and Red teams, is a certified member of the United States Cricket Association, which is a permanent member of the International Cricket Council. That means CAICA players are eligible for national teams and international competitions. Goyal says that cricket will be an Olympic sport in 2016.
“We are officially recognized so if someone from our organization is playing very well, the USCA could come look at him and possibly select him,” Goyal said.
With the addition to the new field in Jacksonville, the CAICA is looking to add a third team, which would be called LRCC-Yellow.
There are four other teams in Little Rock and one in Jonesboro that rounds out the cricket teams in Arkansas. Most of them have formed in the last four or five years.
“This sport is growing so rapidly,” Pothi said. “Five years ago we were going to places like Tulsa, Monroe, Wichita, Hattiesburg, all over just to play. Now there are six teams in central Arkansas, one in Jonesboro and 10 in Memphis. Five years ago Memphis only had one.”
Cricket is growing nationwide as well. There have been international competitions in Miami the last two years. There are now international cricket grounds in Dallas, New Jersey, San Francisco, Chicago and New York City.
Leader sports editor
Cricket is coming to Jacksonville’s Dupree Park, and very soon. The pitch is built, the bowling carpet is down, the field is lined and teams are already in place. There are some minor cosmetics still left to complete before the first match can be played, but it could take place as soon as Saturday.
Andy Patel, owner of the Jacksonville and North Little Rock Best Western Hotels, and Jacksonville Advertising and Promotions Commission member, began lobbying Jacksonville City Council to build a cricket pitch at Dupree Park last fall. Patel, Shash Goyal, Sam Pothi and Andrew Desai spearheaded the drive to get a cricket field going in Arkansas, due largely to growing interest in the sport and the growing need to provide more places to play.
“We have so many people wanting to join our league, and with only three places in central Arkansas to play, it limits the amount of people that can be on a team and actually get to play,” Goyal said. With more fields, there is room for more teams and therefore more players.
Pothi, who is president of the Central Arkansas Indian Cricket Association, started the CAICA in 1989 in Rose City. It disappeared when he moved to Dallas in 1991, but he gotit going again when he moved back in 1994. Since then, the association has added two fields in Burns Park in 2001.
The Jacksonville Parks and Recreation Department agreed to build the field in the southeast corner of Dupree Park, which is within the flood zone. Patel and his group wanted to share the soccer fields, but agreed to the compromise since Cricket is primarily played in the summer when flooding is rare.
“It was a good compromise,” Patel said. “The parks and rec department, specifically Kristen Kennon, suggested that part of the park since the soccer fields need time to recover. Kristen and Kevin House have been very helpful and we very much appreciate the time and effort they put into helping us get this done.”
There was a limit to how much parks and rec could help. The city built the field’s pitch, which is a raised surface where the bowler, or pitcher in baseball terms, bowls to the batsman. But there is also a carpeted concrete surface on top of the pitch and there was no money left to pour concrete or install a carpet.
“Kristen suggested we see Mayor Fletcher because she said she had no more money to allocate to this project,” Patel said. “Mayor Fletcher suggested we talk to A&P because the sport will bring many teams in when we hold tournaments.”
The CAICA hosts a tournament every year on Labor Day weekend which brings between eight and 10 teams from Arkansas and surrounding states.
“We thought it was another way to promote Jacksonville and bring out-of-state money to this community,” Patel said. “It also would bring more cultural diversity and have a positive impact in that way.”
The A&P agreed and put up the money for the concrete and carpet. The city has spent approximately $4,500, with about $1,000 for the turf and $3,500 for concrete and carpet. There is still a small ledge where the pitch is not level with the carpet and the slope down into the field needs to be smoother. There should also be thick grass growing up to the bowling lane, but the field would be playable with the repaired ledge. If that is taken care of this week, Patel says Dupree Park will host its first game on Saturday.
“The team is just waiting for the call,” Patel said. “If the city can get it in playing condition by Thursday, we will play on Saturday.”
The CAICA, which is the home organization for the Little Rock Cricket Club’s Blue and Red teams, is a certified member of the United States Cricket Association, which is a permanent member of the International Cricket Council. That means CAICA players are eligible for national teams and international competitions. Goyal says that cricket will be an Olympic sport in 2016.
“We are officially recognized so if someone from our organization is playing very well, the USCA could come look at him and possibly select him,” Goyal said.
With the addition to the new field in Jacksonville, the CAICA is looking to add a third team, which would be called LRCC-Yellow.
There are four other teams in Little Rock and one in Jonesboro that rounds out the cricket teams in Arkansas. Most of them have formed in the last four or five years.
“This sport is growing so rapidly,” Pothi said. “Five years ago we were going to places like Tulsa, Monroe, Wichita, Hattiesburg, all over just to play. Now there are six teams in central Arkansas, one in Jonesboro and 10 in Memphis. Five years ago Memphis only had one.”
Cricket is growing nationwide as well. There have been international competitions in Miami the last two years. There are now international cricket grounds in Dallas, New Jersey, San Francisco, Chicago and New York City.
SPORTS STORY >> Cabot is site of NFL-HSPD
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Cabot High School hosted Arkansas’ first National Football League High School Player Development Camp last weekend, with about 80 players from several area schools participating. The Army National Guard teams with the NFL to host the camps around the country that focus not on only skill development, but character development as well. Members of the Arkansas Army National Guard were on hand to handle that part of the training during the Cabot camps. The program also emphasizes safety, concussion awareness and life skills.
Command Sgt. Major Larry Rankin, who has two sons on the Cabot Panther football team, was instrumental in bringing the NFL-HSPD to Arkansas.
“The NFL sees a need for high school players to develop football skills, but to develop character skills as well,” Rankin said. “The NFL has a good history of being involved in communities in ways other than football related. They know most of these kids are going to play their last high school game, hang up the pads and that’s going to be it. These camps help teach kids things they’ll need in life and not just football because football isn’t going to last much longer for most of them.”
Rankin also sees the camps as potentially having a positive impact on the Army National Guard.
“It’s important to me because our team, the National Guard, looks for the same type mentality, character and athleticism that many of these high-school athletes have,” Rankin said. “For those that may end up joining our team, it’s important to teach these character development skills early on.”
The camp began Friday evening with a three-hour session. Two more three-hour sessions were held Saturday morning and afternoon with position specific drills, non-contact scrimmaging and some 7-on-7 competition. With 13 coaches from five different schools on hand teaching football skills, campers got a good amount of specific training. The NFL demands at least a 10:1 ratio of players to coaches, and the Cabot camp exceeded that.
“These coaches are the experts on that end of things and we were very fortunate to have so many volunteer their time for this cause,” Rankin said. “Several Cabot coaches volunteered to be a part of this and coach (Clark) Bing organized it for us. He’s done a great job of planning this whole thing out and running things in an organized way. Coach Roberts (Cabot athletic director Steve Roberts) had the wisdom to see the need for camps like this and allowed us to use these great facilities here at Cabot.”
The National Guard also brought a rock climbing wall, which served a few different purposes, according to Rankin.
“Well it’s something a little different for one thing,” Rankin said. Another thing is we use it to teach teamwork. We have a team competition on it to help teach that aspect. Part of it also is character development, overcoming fears. For some people one of their fears is heights, and we encourage those kids to face that head on.”
The NFL’s early plans for the national guard presented camps were to have an NFL player involved, but they grew so fast that became impossible. There are currently over 200 NFL-HSPD camps that take place from April to August each year. Over 120 players signed up for the event, but Rankin was still pleased with the 80 or so that participated.
“For the first year I am pleased with the turnout,” Rankin said. “I think things have gone extremely well and I expect, I hope at least, that there will be more and more in Arkansas as this becomes more widely known.”
Leader sports editor
Cabot High School hosted Arkansas’ first National Football League High School Player Development Camp last weekend, with about 80 players from several area schools participating. The Army National Guard teams with the NFL to host the camps around the country that focus not on only skill development, but character development as well. Members of the Arkansas Army National Guard were on hand to handle that part of the training during the Cabot camps. The program also emphasizes safety, concussion awareness and life skills.
Command Sgt. Major Larry Rankin, who has two sons on the Cabot Panther football team, was instrumental in bringing the NFL-HSPD to Arkansas.
“The NFL sees a need for high school players to develop football skills, but to develop character skills as well,” Rankin said. “The NFL has a good history of being involved in communities in ways other than football related. They know most of these kids are going to play their last high school game, hang up the pads and that’s going to be it. These camps help teach kids things they’ll need in life and not just football because football isn’t going to last much longer for most of them.”
Rankin also sees the camps as potentially having a positive impact on the Army National Guard.
“It’s important to me because our team, the National Guard, looks for the same type mentality, character and athleticism that many of these high-school athletes have,” Rankin said. “For those that may end up joining our team, it’s important to teach these character development skills early on.”
The camp began Friday evening with a three-hour session. Two more three-hour sessions were held Saturday morning and afternoon with position specific drills, non-contact scrimmaging and some 7-on-7 competition. With 13 coaches from five different schools on hand teaching football skills, campers got a good amount of specific training. The NFL demands at least a 10:1 ratio of players to coaches, and the Cabot camp exceeded that.
“These coaches are the experts on that end of things and we were very fortunate to have so many volunteer their time for this cause,” Rankin said. “Several Cabot coaches volunteered to be a part of this and coach (Clark) Bing organized it for us. He’s done a great job of planning this whole thing out and running things in an organized way. Coach Roberts (Cabot athletic director Steve Roberts) had the wisdom to see the need for camps like this and allowed us to use these great facilities here at Cabot.”
The National Guard also brought a rock climbing wall, which served a few different purposes, according to Rankin.
“Well it’s something a little different for one thing,” Rankin said. Another thing is we use it to teach teamwork. We have a team competition on it to help teach that aspect. Part of it also is character development, overcoming fears. For some people one of their fears is heights, and we encourage those kids to face that head on.”
The NFL’s early plans for the national guard presented camps were to have an NFL player involved, but they grew so fast that became impossible. There are currently over 200 NFL-HSPD camps that take place from April to August each year. Over 120 players signed up for the event, but Rankin was still pleased with the 80 or so that participated.
“For the first year I am pleased with the turnout,” Rankin said. “I think things have gone extremely well and I expect, I hope at least, that there will be more and more in Arkansas as this becomes more widely known.”
SPORTS STORY >> Team 1 secures spot in junior state
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
While most of central Arkansas still has not received much benefit from the front that was supposed to bring rain, North Little Rock’s Burns Park, the site of the Junior American Legion Zone 3 tournament, has been targeted by storms. The result has been a hindering of the tournament schedule with four games so far being postponed and the tournament being extended at least a day.
Cabot Junior Team 1 prevailed in the winner’s bracket, beating Jacksonville 16-11 in a wild game on Sunday night and will have be beaten twice for the zone title.
Both finalists will advance to the state tournament. Cabot Team 1 has secured a spot at state by winning its first three games. Jacksonville faces Clarksville to determine the other team that advances.
Early tournament results saw Cabot Team 1 beat Conway 14-1 and Jacksonville beat Beebe 16-1 on Friday before a storm hit and postponed the day’s final two games. Play resumed on Saturday with Sylvan Hills beating Cabot Team 2 and North Little Rock beating Clarksville.
Cabot Team 1 beat Sylvan Hills 8-4 and Jacksonville beat North Little Rock 7-6 in the last inning. In the loser’s bracket elimination games, Conway toppled Cabot 2 and Clarksville bested Beebe.
On Sunday, Clarksville beat Conway and North Little Rock while Cabot Team 1 held off Jacksonville.
Monday’s games were rained out, leaving Jacksonville and Clarksville to battle for a spot in the state tournament and the right to play Cabot Team 1 for the Zone 3 title and No. 1 seed. The winner of that game will have to beat Cabot twice.
Cabot Team 1’s win over Jacksonville seemed easy for four innings. After falling behind 1-0in the top of the first inning, the Panthers spent their next four at bats building a 13-2 lead. Cabot scored two in the first inning, four in both the second and third innings and three more in the fourth.
Jacksonville began battling back by scoring five runs in the top of the fifth inning and four more in the top of the sixth to make it 13-11 with an inning and a half left to play.
But Cabot scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth, and brought Landon James to the mound in the seventh. He gave up just one hit, facing four batters and stopping Jacksonville’s offensive onslaught to preserve the victory.
The Panthers got 12 base hits to Jacksonville’s nine. Cabot’s Tristan Bulice led the way, going 3 for 4 with a double and four RBIs. James drove in three runs on just one base hit, but it was a big one, a bases-clearing double to left-centerfield. Gavin Tillery and Lee Sullivan got two base hits each for Cabot Team 1. The Panthers are now 24-14 on the season and have won nine of their last 10 games. They have scored a total of 101 runs in their last nine wins.
The state tournament begins Friday at Sheridan.
Leader sports editor
While most of central Arkansas still has not received much benefit from the front that was supposed to bring rain, North Little Rock’s Burns Park, the site of the Junior American Legion Zone 3 tournament, has been targeted by storms. The result has been a hindering of the tournament schedule with four games so far being postponed and the tournament being extended at least a day.
Cabot Junior Team 1 prevailed in the winner’s bracket, beating Jacksonville 16-11 in a wild game on Sunday night and will have be beaten twice for the zone title.
Both finalists will advance to the state tournament. Cabot Team 1 has secured a spot at state by winning its first three games. Jacksonville faces Clarksville to determine the other team that advances.
Early tournament results saw Cabot Team 1 beat Conway 14-1 and Jacksonville beat Beebe 16-1 on Friday before a storm hit and postponed the day’s final two games. Play resumed on Saturday with Sylvan Hills beating Cabot Team 2 and North Little Rock beating Clarksville.
Cabot Team 1 beat Sylvan Hills 8-4 and Jacksonville beat North Little Rock 7-6 in the last inning. In the loser’s bracket elimination games, Conway toppled Cabot 2 and Clarksville bested Beebe.
On Sunday, Clarksville beat Conway and North Little Rock while Cabot Team 1 held off Jacksonville.
Monday’s games were rained out, leaving Jacksonville and Clarksville to battle for a spot in the state tournament and the right to play Cabot Team 1 for the Zone 3 title and No. 1 seed. The winner of that game will have to beat Cabot twice.
Cabot Team 1’s win over Jacksonville seemed easy for four innings. After falling behind 1-0in the top of the first inning, the Panthers spent their next four at bats building a 13-2 lead. Cabot scored two in the first inning, four in both the second and third innings and three more in the fourth.
Jacksonville began battling back by scoring five runs in the top of the fifth inning and four more in the top of the sixth to make it 13-11 with an inning and a half left to play.
But Cabot scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth, and brought Landon James to the mound in the seventh. He gave up just one hit, facing four batters and stopping Jacksonville’s offensive onslaught to preserve the victory.
The Panthers got 12 base hits to Jacksonville’s nine. Cabot’s Tristan Bulice led the way, going 3 for 4 with a double and four RBIs. James drove in three runs on just one base hit, but it was a big one, a bases-clearing double to left-centerfield. Gavin Tillery and Lee Sullivan got two base hits each for Cabot Team 1. The Panthers are now 24-14 on the season and have won nine of their last 10 games. They have scored a total of 101 runs in their last nine wins.
The state tournament begins Friday at Sheridan.
Friday, July 06, 2012
SPORTS STORY >> Summer heat causes imagination to run wild
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Leader sportswriter
Mid-summer is kind of like the calm before the storm when it comes to sports in this area, which is most likely the case in every part of the country. The sweltering heat keeps most of us indoors except for the early morning and evening, unless you’re one of the unfortunate ones to have an outdoor job, or in our world, an early baseball game.
Most of the American Legion games we cover start no earlier than 5:30 p.m., just about the time the most intense heat of the day starts to break. Occasionally, there will be a 2 p.m. starting time, but that’s OK because without American Legion baseball to cover, Ray Benton, Graham Powell and I would be left with the task of making up our own sports to cover.
One of our neighbors is a mobile-home repo guy, and he takes some of the confiscated trailers that are in really bad shape and runs them over with monster trucks in his back yard. But that may be pushing the boundaries of what can be considered an organized sport. Exciting? Heck yeah! Proper to place in a reputable publication? Probably not.
So, in the interest of filling space on a slow week, we thought it might be fun to make predictions on the upcoming prep and college seasons beginning with the upcoming fall football season. Many of our local teams find themselves in new conferences and even new classifications this year, with some in more favorable situations and others perhaps a little worse off than before.
Cabot is moving from the 7A/6A Central to the 7A/6A East Conference, putting them back into a league against many teams they faced weekly three cycles ago.
Sylvan Hills and Jacksonville were once a part of that conference, but enrollment numbers have pushed both of those schools down to Class 5A.
Our prediction for Cabot has nothing to do with classifications, but offensive formations. We believe coach Mike Malham will drop the long-favored Dead-T offense for a pure spread attack, and will rush the ball less than 20 times the entire season. Look for the Panthers to accumulate over 4,500 passing yards next season with four of their top receivers landing Division I college scholarships.
In basketball, Jacksonville boys head coach Victor Joyner will step down to dedicate more time to his other duties of public-address announcing at all Red Devil and Mighty Viking football games. To replace Joyner on the hardwood, the Pulaski County Special School District will keep the hiring process local and convince longtime Jacksonville Legion baseball coach Bob Hickingbotham to take the helm.
Gone will be the rap music played at halftime and in between games at the Devils Den, replaced by “The Best of the Glenn Miller Orchestra” and Red Sovine.
The biggest shake up at Sylvan Hills will not occur until spring, when it is discovered that the Persson family won the $100 million Powerball drawing and plan on buying their own island in the Caribbean where they will all reside. The following day, SHHS athletic director Denny Tipton will release a statement to inform everyone that the Bears and Lady Bears soccer programs will be cancelled indefinitely.
As for North Pulaski, we predict the Falcons will make the 5A state football playoffs this season (we hope this one actually comes true).
And finally, citing a desire to stay closer to home, basketball prodigy Archie Goodwin will back out of his scholarship to the University of Kentucky at the last minute in favor of taking a place on the Charles Ripley-coached Arkansas Baptist College Buffalos, where he will average nearly three minutes a game off the bench his freshman year.
So there you go, and remember, you heard it here first. And on the slim chance that some or none of these scenarios ever come to fruition, well, what did you really expect from a guy who has a 12 percent accuracy rating on prognosticating football games?
Most of the American Legion games we cover start no earlier than 5:30 p.m., just about the time the most intense heat of the day starts to break. Occasionally, there will be a 2 p.m. starting time, but that’s OK because without American Legion baseball to cover, Ray Benton, Graham Powell and I would be left with the task of making up our own sports to cover.
One of our neighbors is a mobile-home repo guy, and he takes some of the confiscated trailers that are in really bad shape and runs them over with monster trucks in his back yard. But that may be pushing the boundaries of what can be considered an organized sport. Exciting? Heck yeah! Proper to place in a reputable publication? Probably not.
So, in the interest of filling space on a slow week, we thought it might be fun to make predictions on the upcoming prep and college seasons beginning with the upcoming fall football season. Many of our local teams find themselves in new conferences and even new classifications this year, with some in more favorable situations and others perhaps a little worse off than before.
Cabot is moving from the 7A/6A Central to the 7A/6A East Conference, putting them back into a league against many teams they faced weekly three cycles ago.
Sylvan Hills and Jacksonville were once a part of that conference, but enrollment numbers have pushed both of those schools down to Class 5A.
Our prediction for Cabot has nothing to do with classifications, but offensive formations. We believe coach Mike Malham will drop the long-favored Dead-T offense for a pure spread attack, and will rush the ball less than 20 times the entire season. Look for the Panthers to accumulate over 4,500 passing yards next season with four of their top receivers landing Division I college scholarships.
In basketball, Jacksonville boys head coach Victor Joyner will step down to dedicate more time to his other duties of public-address announcing at all Red Devil and Mighty Viking football games. To replace Joyner on the hardwood, the Pulaski County Special School District will keep the hiring process local and convince longtime Jacksonville Legion baseball coach Bob Hickingbotham to take the helm.
Gone will be the rap music played at halftime and in between games at the Devils Den, replaced by “The Best of the Glenn Miller Orchestra” and Red Sovine.
The biggest shake up at Sylvan Hills will not occur until spring, when it is discovered that the Persson family won the $100 million Powerball drawing and plan on buying their own island in the Caribbean where they will all reside. The following day, SHHS athletic director Denny Tipton will release a statement to inform everyone that the Bears and Lady Bears soccer programs will be cancelled indefinitely.
As for North Pulaski, we predict the Falcons will make the 5A state football playoffs this season (we hope this one actually comes true).
And finally, citing a desire to stay closer to home, basketball prodigy Archie Goodwin will back out of his scholarship to the University of Kentucky at the last minute in favor of taking a place on the Charles Ripley-coached Arkansas Baptist College Buffalos, where he will average nearly three minutes a game off the bench his freshman year.
So there you go, and remember, you heard it here first. And on the slim chance that some or none of these scenarios ever come to fruition, well, what did you really expect from a guy who has a 12 percent accuracy rating on prognosticating football games?
SPORTS STORY >> NP coach looking at four QBs
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Quarterback was a position that required emergency attention just before the start of last season at North Pulaski. Second-year Falcon head coach Teodis Ingram is determined not to repeat that same scenario again this season. He is working to get several players ready to go under center.
Last year the projected starting quarterback, senior Shyheim Barron, transferred to Mills a week before the season started after going through summer workouts and preseason two-a-days with North Pulaski. This summer, Ingram is working several different players at quarterback and refuses at this point to even name a front runner, much less a projected starter.
“I look for that to be decided the week before the first game.” Ingram said. “Right now we’re looking at about four different guys and no one has really, you know, taken the reins and really separated himself.”
The four players getting repetitions at quarterback are Doug Gates, Ashton Nichols, Steven Ferrier and Dallas Romaine.
Gates is a sophomore, Nichols is a junior, Ferrier and Romaine are seniors, but it’s Ferrier’s first year to play and Romaine’s never played quarterback.
“We don’t have any experience with anyone on our team playing quarterback at the varsity level,” Ingram said. “We’re working a lot of different guys to see which ones can step in and fill that role for us.”
North Pulaski has concentrated mostly on weight training this summer, with a focus on getting stronger, but it did take part in a team camp in early June at Joe T. Robinson High School. That’s where Ingram got the best look so far at how his quarterbacks handle the passing game.
“We struggled getting the ball where we needed it, to be honest,” Ingram said. “The good thing is we didn’t go there looking to win games. We went there trying to get a look at some players and trying to get a little better. The more we played, it got a little better. You could see the guys starting to understand where to put the ball, to throw it at a spot and let the receivers finish their routes and go get it. So it was positive overall.”
Receivers is one area Ingram feels very good about. Austin Allen and Alex Broadwell have done an exceptional job so far, according to Ingram.
“They’re going to be OK,” Ingram said. “When we got the ball to them, the receivers caught the ball. Austin Allen made one really great catch and it was the result of the quarterback putting it in a zone. Austin wasn’t there when he threw it, but he got there and he made the catch. I think the more reps we get, the more comfortable they’re going to get in that quarterback position.”
Pass coverage is something else Ingram thinks will be better this year than last. Fred Thomas returns with more strength and speed. Darren McGroan has also stepped up his game in a big way.
“The one that’s really come a long way is Darren McGroan,” Ingram said. “He went head to head with receivers from Bryant and schools like that, and he picked up a lot. He’s very coachable and has really improved.
“Thomas is another one that’s improved. He’s a raw athlete, and this year is learning a lot.”
North Pulaski has another team camp scheduled for July 16 at Robinson.
Leader sports editor
Quarterback was a position that required emergency attention just before the start of last season at North Pulaski. Second-year Falcon head coach Teodis Ingram is determined not to repeat that same scenario again this season. He is working to get several players ready to go under center.
Last year the projected starting quarterback, senior Shyheim Barron, transferred to Mills a week before the season started after going through summer workouts and preseason two-a-days with North Pulaski. This summer, Ingram is working several different players at quarterback and refuses at this point to even name a front runner, much less a projected starter.
“I look for that to be decided the week before the first game.” Ingram said. “Right now we’re looking at about four different guys and no one has really, you know, taken the reins and really separated himself.”
The four players getting repetitions at quarterback are Doug Gates, Ashton Nichols, Steven Ferrier and Dallas Romaine.
Gates is a sophomore, Nichols is a junior, Ferrier and Romaine are seniors, but it’s Ferrier’s first year to play and Romaine’s never played quarterback.
“We don’t have any experience with anyone on our team playing quarterback at the varsity level,” Ingram said. “We’re working a lot of different guys to see which ones can step in and fill that role for us.”
North Pulaski has concentrated mostly on weight training this summer, with a focus on getting stronger, but it did take part in a team camp in early June at Joe T. Robinson High School. That’s where Ingram got the best look so far at how his quarterbacks handle the passing game.
“We struggled getting the ball where we needed it, to be honest,” Ingram said. “The good thing is we didn’t go there looking to win games. We went there trying to get a look at some players and trying to get a little better. The more we played, it got a little better. You could see the guys starting to understand where to put the ball, to throw it at a spot and let the receivers finish their routes and go get it. So it was positive overall.”
Receivers is one area Ingram feels very good about. Austin Allen and Alex Broadwell have done an exceptional job so far, according to Ingram.
“They’re going to be OK,” Ingram said. “When we got the ball to them, the receivers caught the ball. Austin Allen made one really great catch and it was the result of the quarterback putting it in a zone. Austin wasn’t there when he threw it, but he got there and he made the catch. I think the more reps we get, the more comfortable they’re going to get in that quarterback position.”
Pass coverage is something else Ingram thinks will be better this year than last. Fred Thomas returns with more strength and speed. Darren McGroan has also stepped up his game in a big way.
“The one that’s really come a long way is Darren McGroan,” Ingram said. “He went head to head with receivers from Bryant and schools like that, and he picked up a lot. He’s very coachable and has really improved.
“Thomas is another one that’s improved. He’s a raw athlete, and this year is learning a lot.”
North Pulaski has another team camp scheduled for July 16 at Robinson.
SPORTS STORY >> Panthers pound Cougars at zone
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Cabot Junior Team 1 had little trouble in the first round of the Zone 3 Junior American Legion on Friday afternoon. The Panthers jumped ahead early with four runs in the top of the first inning and blew it wide open with nine runs in the top of the fifth to win beat the Conway Cougars 14-1.
The Panthers got four runs on just three hits in the first, but began to hit the ball hard for the next four innings. They only managed to find the gaps a couple of times and scored just one run in the second through fourth innings. Cabot coach Chris Gross’s message to the team was to just keep swinging the bats.
“We were just hitting it hard all game long,” Gross said. “We were just hitting it right to them early on. I just told them keep doing what they’re doing and those hits will start to fall.”
Gross’s confidence proved true as his club battered Conway in the fifth inning.
Pitcher Riley Knudsen started things with a leadoff double down the left-field line. Dalton Hurst walked and Gavin Tillery singled to shallow centerfield to load the bases. Austin Null then singled to right field to drive in two runs. Eric Pique then put down a bunt single to shortstop that scored Tillery from third.
With one out and back at the top of the lineup, Adam Hicks singled to left to drive in two more runs. After the second out, four more batters got on base consecutively, starting with Tristan Bulice who reached after getting hit by a pitch.
Knudsen came back to the plate to single to right field for another RBI. Hurst got another RBI with a single to centerfield and Lee Sullivan followed suit by driving an RBI single to left batting for Knudsen.
Knudsen was dominant on the mound, giving up just two hits while striking out and walking three apiece. Conway’s best inning was the first when it got its only run off one hit.
“He was really just working at about 80 percent too,” Gross said. “I just told him to go out there, take it easy and throw strikes. He was big for us because we’re in the winner’s bracket and we haven’t thrown our one or two.”
Knudsen walked leadoff hitter Brian Vernon and Joe Botsky singled to centerfield. Mike Parnell walked to load the bases with no outs. Knudsen got cleanup hitter Mitch Strange to hit a groundball to second base, but bobbled fielding the ball making it a 4-6 fielder’s choice and allowed the run to score.
With runners on the corners with one out, Conway’s Jake Williams hit a hard line drive to second base where Dylan Bowers made the catch and threw to first to double up Strange and get Knudsen out of the jam.
“That was really the only trouble he got into the whole game,” Gross said. “It was a pretty good overall game. We had two errors, but we threw it well and we hit well.”
Team 1 will have Tillery on the mound in its second round game against the Sylvan Hills-Cabot 2 winner.
Leader sports editor
Cabot Junior Team 1 had little trouble in the first round of the Zone 3 Junior American Legion on Friday afternoon. The Panthers jumped ahead early with four runs in the top of the first inning and blew it wide open with nine runs in the top of the fifth to win beat the Conway Cougars 14-1.
The Panthers got four runs on just three hits in the first, but began to hit the ball hard for the next four innings. They only managed to find the gaps a couple of times and scored just one run in the second through fourth innings. Cabot coach Chris Gross’s message to the team was to just keep swinging the bats.
“We were just hitting it hard all game long,” Gross said. “We were just hitting it right to them early on. I just told them keep doing what they’re doing and those hits will start to fall.”
Gross’s confidence proved true as his club battered Conway in the fifth inning.
Pitcher Riley Knudsen started things with a leadoff double down the left-field line. Dalton Hurst walked and Gavin Tillery singled to shallow centerfield to load the bases. Austin Null then singled to right field to drive in two runs. Eric Pique then put down a bunt single to shortstop that scored Tillery from third.
With one out and back at the top of the lineup, Adam Hicks singled to left to drive in two more runs. After the second out, four more batters got on base consecutively, starting with Tristan Bulice who reached after getting hit by a pitch.
Knudsen came back to the plate to single to right field for another RBI. Hurst got another RBI with a single to centerfield and Lee Sullivan followed suit by driving an RBI single to left batting for Knudsen.
Knudsen was dominant on the mound, giving up just two hits while striking out and walking three apiece. Conway’s best inning was the first when it got its only run off one hit.
“He was really just working at about 80 percent too,” Gross said. “I just told him to go out there, take it easy and throw strikes. He was big for us because we’re in the winner’s bracket and we haven’t thrown our one or two.”
Knudsen walked leadoff hitter Brian Vernon and Joe Botsky singled to centerfield. Mike Parnell walked to load the bases with no outs. Knudsen got cleanup hitter Mitch Strange to hit a groundball to second base, but bobbled fielding the ball making it a 4-6 fielder’s choice and allowed the run to score.
With runners on the corners with one out, Conway’s Jake Williams hit a hard line drive to second base where Dylan Bowers made the catch and threw to first to double up Strange and get Knudsen out of the jam.
“That was really the only trouble he got into the whole game,” Gross said. “It was a pretty good overall game. We had two errors, but we threw it well and we hit well.”
Team 1 will have Tillery on the mound in its second round game against the Sylvan Hills-Cabot 2 winner.
SPORTS STORY >> Gwatney crushes Beebe in first round
By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
Jacksonville’s Gwatney Chevrolet junior American Legion team dominated Beebe’s Post 91 team in the opening round of the Junior Legion Zone tournament with a 16-1 win after four innings Friday at North Little Rock’s Burns Park.
Gwatney got off to a tremendous start, scoring six runs in the first inning alone to set the tone for the remainder of the game.
Leadoff hitter Troy Allen walked to open the game, and two-hole hitter Derek St. Clair followed with a single up the middle.
Centerfielder Austin Allen hit two of his game-high five RBI’s the next at bat with a line drive single to left-center field. Troy Allen and St. Clair scored on the play. Two batters later, Greg Jones singled to right-center field, driving in Austin Allen and Justin Abbott to give Jacksonville a 4-0 lead.
James Tucker drove in Gwatney’s fifth run of the inning with a grounder to shortstop that allowed Jones to score from third. Kaleb Reeves advanced to third on Tucker’s RBI after hitting a stand-up double to start the inning, and scored on a passed ball a few pitches later.
“Our seventh hitter was the first out in that opening inning,” said Jacksonville coach David St. Clair. “Austin Allen was huge today with his five RBI’s. We’ve hit the ball like that all year, which is what we expect out of them. We just have kind of had a lull over the past couple of weeks, but this is what we’re capable of playing like every day.”
Beebe scored its lone run of the game in the bottom of the first when cleanup hitter Dylan Tippy hit a line drive single to the gap in left field. Leadoff hitter J.T. Rainbolt scored on the play after singling to start things off.
Jacksonville picked up where it left off in the second inning, scoring three more runs to push its lead to 9-1. Gwatney scored again in the third after Austin Allen hit a stand-up triple to the wall in right field. St. Clair scored all the way from first on the play.
Deaundre Harris scored Gwatney’s 11th run in the top of the fourth on a failed pickoff attempt at third base. Runs 12 and 13 were scored when left fielder Courtland McDonald hit a grounder to second base with two on. The ball was fielded cleanly but the throw to first was off, and Tucker and Ryan Mallison scored on the play.
Austin Allen hit his last two RBI’s of the day with another stand-up triple, this time hitting it to deep left-center field. Donte Harris and Troy Allen scored on the play, and Austin Allen scored the game’s final run on a passed ball at home.
Blake Perry picked up the win for Jacksonville on the mound, striking out three in equal innings of work. Austin Allen and St. Clair each had three hits in the game. Abbott and McDonald had two apiece.
Jacksonville moves on in the winner’s bracket of the tournament and will play the Clarksville/North Little Rock winner at 7 p.m. today. Beebe faces elimination at 2 p.m. today against the loser of the same game.
Leader sportswriter
Jacksonville’s Gwatney Chevrolet junior American Legion team dominated Beebe’s Post 91 team in the opening round of the Junior Legion Zone tournament with a 16-1 win after four innings Friday at North Little Rock’s Burns Park.
Gwatney got off to a tremendous start, scoring six runs in the first inning alone to set the tone for the remainder of the game.
Leadoff hitter Troy Allen walked to open the game, and two-hole hitter Derek St. Clair followed with a single up the middle.
Centerfielder Austin Allen hit two of his game-high five RBI’s the next at bat with a line drive single to left-center field. Troy Allen and St. Clair scored on the play. Two batters later, Greg Jones singled to right-center field, driving in Austin Allen and Justin Abbott to give Jacksonville a 4-0 lead.
James Tucker drove in Gwatney’s fifth run of the inning with a grounder to shortstop that allowed Jones to score from third. Kaleb Reeves advanced to third on Tucker’s RBI after hitting a stand-up double to start the inning, and scored on a passed ball a few pitches later.
“Our seventh hitter was the first out in that opening inning,” said Jacksonville coach David St. Clair. “Austin Allen was huge today with his five RBI’s. We’ve hit the ball like that all year, which is what we expect out of them. We just have kind of had a lull over the past couple of weeks, but this is what we’re capable of playing like every day.”
Beebe scored its lone run of the game in the bottom of the first when cleanup hitter Dylan Tippy hit a line drive single to the gap in left field. Leadoff hitter J.T. Rainbolt scored on the play after singling to start things off.
Jacksonville picked up where it left off in the second inning, scoring three more runs to push its lead to 9-1. Gwatney scored again in the third after Austin Allen hit a stand-up triple to the wall in right field. St. Clair scored all the way from first on the play.
Deaundre Harris scored Gwatney’s 11th run in the top of the fourth on a failed pickoff attempt at third base. Runs 12 and 13 were scored when left fielder Courtland McDonald hit a grounder to second base with two on. The ball was fielded cleanly but the throw to first was off, and Tucker and Ryan Mallison scored on the play.
Austin Allen hit his last two RBI’s of the day with another stand-up triple, this time hitting it to deep left-center field. Donte Harris and Troy Allen scored on the play, and Austin Allen scored the game’s final run on a passed ball at home.
Blake Perry picked up the win for Jacksonville on the mound, striking out three in equal innings of work. Austin Allen and St. Clair each had three hits in the game. Abbott and McDonald had two apiece.
Jacksonville moves on in the winner’s bracket of the tournament and will play the Clarksville/North Little Rock winner at 7 p.m. today. Beebe faces elimination at 2 p.m. today against the loser of the same game.
TOP STORY >> Fireworks follies end in arrests
By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
A ban on fireworks in Lonoke County except for controlled displays inside some cities did not stop three young adults from allegedly shooting fireworks from their four-wheelers in a dry field on West Mountain Springs Road near Cabot on the Fourth of July.
The fire burned the field, a mobile home, a pole barn and an SUV, and another mobile home was damaged.
An elderly woman lived in the destroyed mobile home at 1667 W. Mountain Springs Road, which belonged to Ward Police Chief Steve Benton, sources in Ward said.
Since the fire started in the field, the woman was able to get away from her home before it burned, said Lt. Jim Kulesa of the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office.
Sgt. Brad Lamb of the Arkansas State Police was among those who responded to the fire, which was called in at 3:35 p.m. Kulesa said Lamb arrested 24-year-old Matthew Mayfield, 23-year-old Katlynn Mayfield and 21-year-old Samantha Ashley Mayfield.
The three were arrested on felony criminal mischief charges and taken to the county jail where they were released on bonds of $2,500 each.
In addition to the Mountain Springs Volunteer Fire Department, fire departments from Cabot, Ward, Austin and Butlerville responded to the call.
One resident whose home was saved posted this “thank you” on the Cabot Fire Department website: “Because you responded and acted so quickly, the fire was contained and my house was saved. If the fire would have reached the pine trees, we would have lost our house. I just wanted to let you know how much we appreciate what you did for my family. You gave up your holiday and risked your life out in this extreme heat to save our lives and home. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Kulesa said the sheriff’s department was still getting calls on Friday about county residents disregarding the ban. He said he wondered why the sale of fireworks had not also been banned.
Mark Smart, assistant chief for the Cabot Fire Department, said Cabot had no fires inside city limits related to fireworks.
Eddie Cook, director of operations for the city, said that in addition to wetting the area around the city fireworks display, spotters were posted to ensure that no embers went unnoticed.
Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher said the city issued five citations to people who shot off fireworks.
Leader staff writer
A ban on fireworks in Lonoke County except for controlled displays inside some cities did not stop three young adults from allegedly shooting fireworks from their four-wheelers in a dry field on West Mountain Springs Road near Cabot on the Fourth of July.
The fire burned the field, a mobile home, a pole barn and an SUV, and another mobile home was damaged.
An elderly woman lived in the destroyed mobile home at 1667 W. Mountain Springs Road, which belonged to Ward Police Chief Steve Benton, sources in Ward said.
Since the fire started in the field, the woman was able to get away from her home before it burned, said Lt. Jim Kulesa of the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office.
Sgt. Brad Lamb of the Arkansas State Police was among those who responded to the fire, which was called in at 3:35 p.m. Kulesa said Lamb arrested 24-year-old Matthew Mayfield, 23-year-old Katlynn Mayfield and 21-year-old Samantha Ashley Mayfield.
The three were arrested on felony criminal mischief charges and taken to the county jail where they were released on bonds of $2,500 each.
In addition to the Mountain Springs Volunteer Fire Department, fire departments from Cabot, Ward, Austin and Butlerville responded to the call.
One resident whose home was saved posted this “thank you” on the Cabot Fire Department website: “Because you responded and acted so quickly, the fire was contained and my house was saved. If the fire would have reached the pine trees, we would have lost our house. I just wanted to let you know how much we appreciate what you did for my family. You gave up your holiday and risked your life out in this extreme heat to save our lives and home. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Kulesa said the sheriff’s department was still getting calls on Friday about county residents disregarding the ban. He said he wondered why the sale of fireworks had not also been banned.
Mark Smart, assistant chief for the Cabot Fire Department, said Cabot had no fires inside city limits related to fireworks.
Eddie Cook, director of operations for the city, said that in addition to wetting the area around the city fireworks display, spotters were posted to ensure that no embers went unnoticed.
Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher said the city issued five citations to people who shot off fireworks.
TOP STORY >> Ex-general, community titan passes at age of 82
Family, friends and colleagues are mourning the passing of retired Brig. Gen. Oliver William “Dub” Myers, former commander of the 39th Infantry Brigade of the Arkansas Army National Guard.
He died on Thursday at the age of 82 at his home in Jacksonville. His wife of nearly 60 years, Billie Ann, was by his side. He was the father of Olivia Myers Farrell, chief executive officer of Arkansas Business Publishing Group.
Myers was a popular figure around the state and was involved in many civic organizations.
“He was an unbelievable man,” Brad West, a friend and co-worker at Harold Gwatney Chevrolet, said Friday.
“He enriched the lives of millions of people,” West said. “It was a good feeling knowing him.”
“He used to say God and family came first and then everything else after that,” West said.
“He said you can do more with friends than you could with money,” West recalled.
Three Jacksonville mayors Myers worked with called him a great man.
“It’s a sad, sad loss for everyone in the community,” said Mayor Gary Fletcher. “You don’t have a Dub Myers come into your life but once in a lifetime. He will leave a big void, and you just can’t go out and fill it.”
Fletcher continued, “He was a strong leader, a strong individual and was quick to give his opinion. And I learned real early to listen.”
Former mayor Tommy Swaim agreed. “The community lost a great supporter, and I lost a dear friend.”
Swaim recalled how he often went to Dub to discuss military issues. “He had the background and the expertise. He was a great sounding board and one that could always come up with ideas,” Swaim said.
Jim Reid, who was the city’s mayor in the 1970s and 1980s, concurred.
“He was a true friend of mine and a true friend to Jacksonville. I could always count on him to help with city projects and even in the business world. I thought a lot of him. When I was in office, I was very comfortable in knowing I could count on him for any help we needed. That was a big plus,” Reid said.
Bill Page, Myers’ nephew, said, “He had a big, bold personality. He loved his children and his family. He was an avid outdoorsman. He introduced me to duck hunting.”
“He had a knack for making friends,” Page added. “He was a happy go-lucky fella. He was passionate. He was kind of a jokester.”
Page’s father, retired Maj. Gen. William C. Page, is the brother of Myers’ widow, Billie Ann. Both Myers and Page had long distinguished military careers.
“He was always ready to serve,” Bill Page said of his uncle. “He leaves quite a legacy.”
Alton Johnson, another longtime friend and fellow Mason, attended church with Myers and their wives at First Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville.
“He was a dandy,” Johnson said. “He was a cutup, but he had a serious side. He tried to help humanity. He was a good community man. He helped a lot of people.”
They were members of the Scottish Rite Temple in Little Rock, where Myers was a 32nd-degree Mason.
“He was,” Johnson said, “a community servant.”
More tributes continued to pour in from around Arkansas.
“I am deeply saddened to learn of Dub Myers’ passing,” Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ark.) said in a statement. “He devoted his life to leading and helping Arkansas’ service members and their families.
“His legacy as commander of the 39th Brigade — the Arkansas Brigade — and support for Little Rock Air Force Base will not be forgotten. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Billie Ann, and his entire family,” Griffin added.
Myers was born June 15, 1930, in Forrest City to Oliver C. and Gertie Riggs Myers.
Myers was much-decorated officer and a Korean War veteran. He was later posted in Paragould and at Camp Robinson.
He moved to Jacksonville when he retired from the National Guard in 1987 and went to work for Harold Gwatney Chevrolet in Jacksonville.
Myers was active in the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, Jacksonville Boys and Girls Club, Jacksonville Rotary Club, the Little Rock Air Force Community Council and many other organizations.
He headed several of those organizations.
He died on Thursday at the age of 82 at his home in Jacksonville. His wife of nearly 60 years, Billie Ann, was by his side. He was the father of Olivia Myers Farrell, chief executive officer of Arkansas Business Publishing Group.
Myers was a popular figure around the state and was involved in many civic organizations.
“He was an unbelievable man,” Brad West, a friend and co-worker at Harold Gwatney Chevrolet, said Friday.
“He enriched the lives of millions of people,” West said. “It was a good feeling knowing him.”
“He used to say God and family came first and then everything else after that,” West said.
“He said you can do more with friends than you could with money,” West recalled.
Three Jacksonville mayors Myers worked with called him a great man.
“It’s a sad, sad loss for everyone in the community,” said Mayor Gary Fletcher. “You don’t have a Dub Myers come into your life but once in a lifetime. He will leave a big void, and you just can’t go out and fill it.”
Fletcher continued, “He was a strong leader, a strong individual and was quick to give his opinion. And I learned real early to listen.”
Former mayor Tommy Swaim agreed. “The community lost a great supporter, and I lost a dear friend.”
Swaim recalled how he often went to Dub to discuss military issues. “He had the background and the expertise. He was a great sounding board and one that could always come up with ideas,” Swaim said.
Jim Reid, who was the city’s mayor in the 1970s and 1980s, concurred.
“He was a true friend of mine and a true friend to Jacksonville. I could always count on him to help with city projects and even in the business world. I thought a lot of him. When I was in office, I was very comfortable in knowing I could count on him for any help we needed. That was a big plus,” Reid said.
Bill Page, Myers’ nephew, said, “He had a big, bold personality. He loved his children and his family. He was an avid outdoorsman. He introduced me to duck hunting.”
“He had a knack for making friends,” Page added. “He was a happy go-lucky fella. He was passionate. He was kind of a jokester.”
Page’s father, retired Maj. Gen. William C. Page, is the brother of Myers’ widow, Billie Ann. Both Myers and Page had long distinguished military careers.
“He was always ready to serve,” Bill Page said of his uncle. “He leaves quite a legacy.”
Alton Johnson, another longtime friend and fellow Mason, attended church with Myers and their wives at First Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville.
“He was a dandy,” Johnson said. “He was a cutup, but he had a serious side. He tried to help humanity. He was a good community man. He helped a lot of people.”
They were members of the Scottish Rite Temple in Little Rock, where Myers was a 32nd-degree Mason.
“He was,” Johnson said, “a community servant.”
More tributes continued to pour in from around Arkansas.
“I am deeply saddened to learn of Dub Myers’ passing,” Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ark.) said in a statement. “He devoted his life to leading and helping Arkansas’ service members and their families.
“His legacy as commander of the 39th Brigade — the Arkansas Brigade — and support for Little Rock Air Force Base will not be forgotten. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Billie Ann, and his entire family,” Griffin added.
Myers was born June 15, 1930, in Forrest City to Oliver C. and Gertie Riggs Myers.
Myers was much-decorated officer and a Korean War veteran. He was later posted in Paragould and at Camp Robinson.
He moved to Jacksonville when he retired from the National Guard in 1987 and went to work for Harold Gwatney Chevrolet in Jacksonville.
Myers was active in the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, Jacksonville Boys and Girls Club, Jacksonville Rotary Club, the Little Rock Air Force Community Council and many other organizations.
He headed several of those organizations.
TOP STORY >> Pastures could turn deadly in drought
By OAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
The ongoing drought has the potential of turning pastures not only brown but also deadly.
The Cooperative Extension Service is warning farmers and ranchers against letting their animals graze since two cows have died from eating grass high in prussic acid, a cyanide compound found in several types of grasses when they are stressed by drought or frost.
The cattle deaths were in White and Van Buren counties.
White County extension agent Brian Haller said the best way to prevent prussic acid poisoning is to keep cows out of pastures that have the grasses known to contain the poison when they are over heated — grain sorghum, sorghum-sudan hybrids and pure Sudangrass.
Those grasses may be the only green in some pastures now and the cattle will be tempted to eat them. But the young, tender grass that will attract the cattle is highest in prussic acid and therefore the most deadly.
Haller said the grass is still useable, but only after it has been cut and baled. Baling crushes the stems and allows the prussic acid to evaporate, he said. But don’t turn the cattle back into the pasture after baling because the regrowth is deadly.
White County has about 50,000 beef cattle, Haller said. At least that was the number before the drought.
The first cutting of hay produced about half as much as normal, he said. Now many ranchers are selling their herds because they don’t have enough hay to feed them.
“We’re in a really serious situation,” he said.
“People need to get a plan and figure out what they’re going to do. We don’t know when we’ll get rain again. If you haven’t started looking for hay, you need to do that ASAP or find some sort of commodity feed (by-products of farm crops),” he said before Friday evening’s rain in part of the state.
Haller said some farmers and ranchers are low on hay not only because of low production this year but because they sold their extra hay last year to Texas ranchers who were trying to survive the drought there.
How do you know when cattle have been poisoned by prussic acid?
Symptoms such as anxiety, labored breathing and weakness appear minutes after ingestion and death usually follows within an hour. So there really is no cure, only prevention, he said.
The poison is also found in the wilted leaves of wild cherry trees, such as those found on a limb knocked down by wind or farm equipment.
Horses and pigs are less affected by the poison, but goats and sheep are at risk the same as cattle.
Tom Troxel, associate head of animal science for the University of Arkansas System’s Division of Agriculture, offered these suggestions in a recent news release for keeping cattle safe when feeding sorghums and johnsongrass during the drought and after frost:
Do not allow animals to graze fields with succulent, young, short growth. Graze only after plants reach a height of more than 18 to 24 inches.
Do not graze on drought-damaged plants in any form, regardless of height, within four days following a good rain. It is during this period of rapid growth that the accumulation of hydrocyanic acid in the young tissue and of nitrates in the stems is most likely to occur.
Do not graze on wilted plants or plants with young regrowth. Do not rely on drought-damaged material as the only source of feed. Keep either dry forage or green chop from other crops available at all times. Uneven growth as a result of drought can best be utilized as silage or hay.
Do not use frost-damaged sorghum as pasture or green chop during the first seven days after the first killing frost. Delay pasturing for at least seven days or until the frosted material is completely dried out and brown colored. Do not rely on frosted material as the only source of feed. Do not graze at night when frost is likely.
Do not turn hungry cattle onto a pasture of sorghum, sorghum-sudan hybrid or johnsongrass. Fill them up on hay or other forage first and begin grazing in the late afternoon.
An option for using potentially toxic forage is to harvest it as hay or silage. Prussic acid levels decline in stored forages. Well-cured hay is safe to feed. If forage likely to have high prussic acid is ensiled, it is usually safe to feed three weeks after silo fill.
In addition to prussic acid, the drought has also increased the risk of nitrate poisoning from fertilizers in plants that have stopped growing because of lack of rain. Harmful levels have also been found in corn stalks that some farmers are using as feed because the pastures are dead, the extension service warns.
Another potential problem is the encroachment of poisonous weeds into hay fields. Fertilizer and herbicide usually keep the poisonous weeds out but Troxel said producers have cut back on those applications, allowing poisonous plants such as perilla mint and hemp dogbane to get a foothold.
“Plants such as perilla mint and hemp dogbane remain poisonous even in dry hay and can cause livestock poisoning when the hay is fed later in winter,” he said.
The drought also affects cropland where poisonous plants such as coffee senna, sesbania and sicklepod are found. Troxel warns that animals could be poisoned by eating hay made from drought damaged row crops if those crops are infested with the weeds.
Leader staff writer
The ongoing drought has the potential of turning pastures not only brown but also deadly.
The Cooperative Extension Service is warning farmers and ranchers against letting their animals graze since two cows have died from eating grass high in prussic acid, a cyanide compound found in several types of grasses when they are stressed by drought or frost.
The cattle deaths were in White and Van Buren counties.
White County extension agent Brian Haller said the best way to prevent prussic acid poisoning is to keep cows out of pastures that have the grasses known to contain the poison when they are over heated — grain sorghum, sorghum-sudan hybrids and pure Sudangrass.
Those grasses may be the only green in some pastures now and the cattle will be tempted to eat them. But the young, tender grass that will attract the cattle is highest in prussic acid and therefore the most deadly.
Haller said the grass is still useable, but only after it has been cut and baled. Baling crushes the stems and allows the prussic acid to evaporate, he said. But don’t turn the cattle back into the pasture after baling because the regrowth is deadly.
White County has about 50,000 beef cattle, Haller said. At least that was the number before the drought.
The first cutting of hay produced about half as much as normal, he said. Now many ranchers are selling their herds because they don’t have enough hay to feed them.
“We’re in a really serious situation,” he said.
“People need to get a plan and figure out what they’re going to do. We don’t know when we’ll get rain again. If you haven’t started looking for hay, you need to do that ASAP or find some sort of commodity feed (by-products of farm crops),” he said before Friday evening’s rain in part of the state.
Haller said some farmers and ranchers are low on hay not only because of low production this year but because they sold their extra hay last year to Texas ranchers who were trying to survive the drought there.
How do you know when cattle have been poisoned by prussic acid?
Symptoms such as anxiety, labored breathing and weakness appear minutes after ingestion and death usually follows within an hour. So there really is no cure, only prevention, he said.
The poison is also found in the wilted leaves of wild cherry trees, such as those found on a limb knocked down by wind or farm equipment.
Horses and pigs are less affected by the poison, but goats and sheep are at risk the same as cattle.
Tom Troxel, associate head of animal science for the University of Arkansas System’s Division of Agriculture, offered these suggestions in a recent news release for keeping cattle safe when feeding sorghums and johnsongrass during the drought and after frost:
Do not allow animals to graze fields with succulent, young, short growth. Graze only after plants reach a height of more than 18 to 24 inches.
Do not graze on drought-damaged plants in any form, regardless of height, within four days following a good rain. It is during this period of rapid growth that the accumulation of hydrocyanic acid in the young tissue and of nitrates in the stems is most likely to occur.
Do not graze on wilted plants or plants with young regrowth. Do not rely on drought-damaged material as the only source of feed. Keep either dry forage or green chop from other crops available at all times. Uneven growth as a result of drought can best be utilized as silage or hay.
Do not use frost-damaged sorghum as pasture or green chop during the first seven days after the first killing frost. Delay pasturing for at least seven days or until the frosted material is completely dried out and brown colored. Do not rely on frosted material as the only source of feed. Do not graze at night when frost is likely.
Do not turn hungry cattle onto a pasture of sorghum, sorghum-sudan hybrid or johnsongrass. Fill them up on hay or other forage first and begin grazing in the late afternoon.
An option for using potentially toxic forage is to harvest it as hay or silage. Prussic acid levels decline in stored forages. Well-cured hay is safe to feed. If forage likely to have high prussic acid is ensiled, it is usually safe to feed three weeks after silo fill.
In addition to prussic acid, the drought has also increased the risk of nitrate poisoning from fertilizers in plants that have stopped growing because of lack of rain. Harmful levels have also been found in corn stalks that some farmers are using as feed because the pastures are dead, the extension service warns.
Another potential problem is the encroachment of poisonous weeds into hay fields. Fertilizer and herbicide usually keep the poisonous weeds out but Troxel said producers have cut back on those applications, allowing poisonous plants such as perilla mint and hemp dogbane to get a foothold.
“Plants such as perilla mint and hemp dogbane remain poisonous even in dry hay and can cause livestock poisoning when the hay is fed later in winter,” he said.
The drought also affects cropland where poisonous plants such as coffee senna, sesbania and sicklepod are found. Troxel warns that animals could be poisoned by eating hay made from drought damaged row crops if those crops are infested with the weeds.
Thursday, July 05, 2012
TOP STORY >> She volunteers to help others
By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
For 27 years, Francis Burnett of Jacksonville has “done a lot” for the North Metro Medical Center Auxiliary.
“I had a lot of help along the way,” she said while describing her life with a humility characteristic of older generations.
Burnett said the support she needs has come from God, her family and her friends.
The Lonoke County native was in her early 20s when a car accident in 1947 left her with a broken back.
Since then, Burnett has been wheelchair-bound.
But that hasn’t stopped her from leaving benevolent footprints in the lives of others.
Burnett’s mother passed away in 1985 and she needed a way to cope with the loss.
“I just had to—it just bothered me so bad and everything, and I said, ‘Well, I’ve just got to do something,’” Burnett explained.
That something was volunteering for the auxiliary.
Burnett continued, “So what I did, I just prayed about it and you know it just came to me to go over to the hospital. Now I know it looked kind of funny. Some of them looked at me like they thought, What in the world could she do? At that time, I was driving a cart with hand controls and I just had a mobile chair.”
What she could do — and did do — was spread joy to patients by delivering newspapers and selling things to them in their rooms at the rehabilitation center.
Burnett said, “I am strictly rehab-connected. I was in rehab a lot. I did a lot back there. Back in those days, we had a cart with goodies on it you could take to the rooms and let people buy something if they wanted it. I’d push that cart around. I could do a whole lot with my little chair. And I just enjoyed every minute of it.”
She smiled as she remembered the auxiliary’s bake sales and playing bingo with patients.
“The patients there really used to enjoy (bingo). I think some of the people got tired of me coming around because I had a cart going around asking for prizes. We had a good time,” Burnett said with a soft laugh.
She is still volunteering and plans to continue, “as long as I can.”
But now Burnett volunteers from her apartment at the Jacksonville Towers by making phone calls for auxiliary.
Burnett said, “I do a whole bunch of their calling. About 25 or 30, I guess, at a time when they’re going to have a special meeting or something. Like if a death comes up and they are to go and maybe wear their red jackets.
“You know I’ll call them and be sure to remind them to wear their jacket at the funeral,” Burnett pointed out.
She remembers when the hospital opened as Rebsamen in 1962. The name was changed to Rebsamen Medical Center and then the hospital was renamed North Metro a few years ago.
Louisiana-based Allegiance Health Management Group, which has managed North Metro for the past three years, officially purchased the hospital from the city in April.
Jodi Love was hired last month to take over for Jay Quebedeaux, who had been the hospital’s CEO since February of 2011.
Love has lived in Arkansas for more than two decades and has ties to Little Rock Air Force Base.
Quebedeaux transferred to a CEO position with another Allegiance-owned facility in Louisiana, where he was born.
Burnett praised the facility.
“When it started out, it just wasn’t big like it is now. There have been a lot of improvement made over the years. I think they’re improving all the time,” she said.
“North Metro Home Health can hold their place with anybody. They are good. I just love ’em. That’s a good bunch of people,” Burnett said.
She moved from Lonoke County to Jacksonville in 1944 and her father worked at the ordnance plant.
“When we moved here there wasn’t very much going on. But then the ordnance plant came in and then (Little Rock Air Force) base came in. That started making things perk up, getting more things,” Burnett said.
She worked at Franklin Electric in Jacksonville for 20 years.
Burnett has one daughter, who lives in Cabot and is in her late 60s.
She has two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Burnett said her family has been very supportive. Her daughter was two years old when Burnett broke her back in the car accident.
She said all them know how to handle a wheelchair and they help her a lot.
Leader staff writer
For 27 years, Francis Burnett of Jacksonville has “done a lot” for the North Metro Medical Center Auxiliary.
“I had a lot of help along the way,” she said while describing her life with a humility characteristic of older generations.
Burnett said the support she needs has come from God, her family and her friends.
The Lonoke County native was in her early 20s when a car accident in 1947 left her with a broken back.
Since then, Burnett has been wheelchair-bound.
But that hasn’t stopped her from leaving benevolent footprints in the lives of others.
Burnett’s mother passed away in 1985 and she needed a way to cope with the loss.
“I just had to—it just bothered me so bad and everything, and I said, ‘Well, I’ve just got to do something,’” Burnett explained.
That something was volunteering for the auxiliary.
Burnett continued, “So what I did, I just prayed about it and you know it just came to me to go over to the hospital. Now I know it looked kind of funny. Some of them looked at me like they thought, What in the world could she do? At that time, I was driving a cart with hand controls and I just had a mobile chair.”
What she could do — and did do — was spread joy to patients by delivering newspapers and selling things to them in their rooms at the rehabilitation center.
Burnett said, “I am strictly rehab-connected. I was in rehab a lot. I did a lot back there. Back in those days, we had a cart with goodies on it you could take to the rooms and let people buy something if they wanted it. I’d push that cart around. I could do a whole lot with my little chair. And I just enjoyed every minute of it.”
She smiled as she remembered the auxiliary’s bake sales and playing bingo with patients.
“The patients there really used to enjoy (bingo). I think some of the people got tired of me coming around because I had a cart going around asking for prizes. We had a good time,” Burnett said with a soft laugh.
She is still volunteering and plans to continue, “as long as I can.”
But now Burnett volunteers from her apartment at the Jacksonville Towers by making phone calls for auxiliary.
Burnett said, “I do a whole bunch of their calling. About 25 or 30, I guess, at a time when they’re going to have a special meeting or something. Like if a death comes up and they are to go and maybe wear their red jackets.
“You know I’ll call them and be sure to remind them to wear their jacket at the funeral,” Burnett pointed out.
She remembers when the hospital opened as Rebsamen in 1962. The name was changed to Rebsamen Medical Center and then the hospital was renamed North Metro a few years ago.
Louisiana-based Allegiance Health Management Group, which has managed North Metro for the past three years, officially purchased the hospital from the city in April.
Jodi Love was hired last month to take over for Jay Quebedeaux, who had been the hospital’s CEO since February of 2011.
Love has lived in Arkansas for more than two decades and has ties to Little Rock Air Force Base.
Quebedeaux transferred to a CEO position with another Allegiance-owned facility in Louisiana, where he was born.
Burnett praised the facility.
“When it started out, it just wasn’t big like it is now. There have been a lot of improvement made over the years. I think they’re improving all the time,” she said.
“North Metro Home Health can hold their place with anybody. They are good. I just love ’em. That’s a good bunch of people,” Burnett said.
She moved from Lonoke County to Jacksonville in 1944 and her father worked at the ordnance plant.
“When we moved here there wasn’t very much going on. But then the ordnance plant came in and then (Little Rock Air Force) base came in. That started making things perk up, getting more things,” Burnett said.
She worked at Franklin Electric in Jacksonville for 20 years.
Burnett has one daughter, who lives in Cabot and is in her late 60s.
She has two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Burnett said her family has been very supportive. Her daughter was two years old when Burnett broke her back in the car accident.
She said all them know how to handle a wheelchair and they help her a lot.
Wednesday, July 04, 2012
SPORTS STORY >> Lonoke wins 16-year-old state crown
By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
The Lonoke Banking Center 16-under Babe Ruth team’s road to the 16-year-old state championship game wasn’t without drama.
Lonoke came out of the loser’s bracket to edge Pine Bluff 9-8 in eight innings on Monday to force another game in the finals of the double-elimination tournament. The team then came from behind in the final inning of the winner-take-all game to win 6-4 and claim the state championship.
Lonoke, who hosted the tournament, won a close 4-3 game against Camden in the first round of the double elimination tournament, and then lost a hard fought 10-inning battle to the Pine Bluff Angels 11-8 in the second round.
Facing elimination after the tough loss, Lonoke dominated the same Camden team 11-1 to advance to the championship game, but had to beat the Angels twice in order to claim the state championship.
Both games were just as close as the first between the two evenly-matched teams.
“They never think they’re out of it,” said Lonoke coach Roy Don Lewis of his team after he was given the unexpected, yet traditional Gatorade shower. “They always come up with the timely hit, and they think they’re going to win every time they hit the field. It’s a good group of kids we have here.”
Lonoke struggled early at the plate as Angels pitcher Cameron Banks appeared to be unhittable. Banks retired the first 10 batters he faced, and the Angels scored a run in the third inning to take the game’s first lead.
However, the wear and tear of the grueling tournament caught up with Banks in the fourth inning as the next four Lonoke batters reached base without making contact. Three were walked and three-hole hitter Deron Ricks was hit in the back with a fastball.
With one out in the inning, Austin Reed scored Lonoke’s first run from third base on a passed ball at home with the bases loaded. Ricks scored the second run for Lonoke on another passed ball at the plate just a couple of pitches later.
Pine Bluff added its second run of the game its next at bat in the fourth inning to tie the score at two apiece. In the top of the fifth, Lonoke centerfielder Jaylin Hollaway scored on a passed ball at home after walking earlier in the inning to give Lonoke a 3-2 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, Pine Bluff retook the lead after scoring two more runs, this time on consecutive passed balls at home plate by Lonoke.
Both teams went scoreless in the sixth inning and Lonoke, down 4-3, suddenly found itself three outs away from losing another close one.
Lonoke’s Jacob Gordon came to the plate with one out in the top of the seventh, with the bases empty, and hit a clutch stand-up double in the left-field gap to give Lonoke some hope. With Triston Sullivan at the plate, Gordon advanced to third on a passed ball, and with two strikes, Sullivan hit an RBI-single down the third baseline to drive in Gordon for the tying run. Leadoff hitter Gage Johnson drove in the go-ahead run for Lonoke with a double to deep left-center field. Sullivan scored all the way from first on the play to give Lonoke a 5-4 lead. Johnson scored two batters later when Ricks hit a high fly ball just outside the infield in right-center.
Johnson was running with two outs in the inning, and the second baseman lost sight of the fly ball and it dropped behind him. Ricks was safe on the play and Johnson crossed home plate to set the final margin.
Lonoke got the win despite totaling just four hits in the game. Josh Mathis was stellar on the mound in the winning effort, striking out eight batters while giving up just one walk in the complete game performance. According to Lewis, Mathis’ gumption and competitive spirit was just as impressive as his performance, something he feels the team as a whole possesses.
“Today at one o’clock I got a text from Josh (Mathis),” Lewis said. “He said, ‘coach I’ve been icing my arm, I took some ibuprofen, my arm feels great. I’m good as new.’ He asked me who I was going to start tonight. I told him ‘I didn’t know yet.’ He said, ‘I’m ready. I’m the man. I want it.’ That’s the kind of team this is. They want the ball.”
Leader sportswriter
The Lonoke Banking Center 16-under Babe Ruth team’s road to the 16-year-old state championship game wasn’t without drama.
Lonoke came out of the loser’s bracket to edge Pine Bluff 9-8 in eight innings on Monday to force another game in the finals of the double-elimination tournament. The team then came from behind in the final inning of the winner-take-all game to win 6-4 and claim the state championship.
Lonoke, who hosted the tournament, won a close 4-3 game against Camden in the first round of the double elimination tournament, and then lost a hard fought 10-inning battle to the Pine Bluff Angels 11-8 in the second round.
Facing elimination after the tough loss, Lonoke dominated the same Camden team 11-1 to advance to the championship game, but had to beat the Angels twice in order to claim the state championship.
Both games were just as close as the first between the two evenly-matched teams.
“They never think they’re out of it,” said Lonoke coach Roy Don Lewis of his team after he was given the unexpected, yet traditional Gatorade shower. “They always come up with the timely hit, and they think they’re going to win every time they hit the field. It’s a good group of kids we have here.”
Lonoke struggled early at the plate as Angels pitcher Cameron Banks appeared to be unhittable. Banks retired the first 10 batters he faced, and the Angels scored a run in the third inning to take the game’s first lead.
However, the wear and tear of the grueling tournament caught up with Banks in the fourth inning as the next four Lonoke batters reached base without making contact. Three were walked and three-hole hitter Deron Ricks was hit in the back with a fastball.
With one out in the inning, Austin Reed scored Lonoke’s first run from third base on a passed ball at home with the bases loaded. Ricks scored the second run for Lonoke on another passed ball at the plate just a couple of pitches later.
Pine Bluff added its second run of the game its next at bat in the fourth inning to tie the score at two apiece. In the top of the fifth, Lonoke centerfielder Jaylin Hollaway scored on a passed ball at home after walking earlier in the inning to give Lonoke a 3-2 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, Pine Bluff retook the lead after scoring two more runs, this time on consecutive passed balls at home plate by Lonoke.
Both teams went scoreless in the sixth inning and Lonoke, down 4-3, suddenly found itself three outs away from losing another close one.
Lonoke’s Jacob Gordon came to the plate with one out in the top of the seventh, with the bases empty, and hit a clutch stand-up double in the left-field gap to give Lonoke some hope. With Triston Sullivan at the plate, Gordon advanced to third on a passed ball, and with two strikes, Sullivan hit an RBI-single down the third baseline to drive in Gordon for the tying run. Leadoff hitter Gage Johnson drove in the go-ahead run for Lonoke with a double to deep left-center field. Sullivan scored all the way from first on the play to give Lonoke a 5-4 lead. Johnson scored two batters later when Ricks hit a high fly ball just outside the infield in right-center.
Johnson was running with two outs in the inning, and the second baseman lost sight of the fly ball and it dropped behind him. Ricks was safe on the play and Johnson crossed home plate to set the final margin.
Lonoke got the win despite totaling just four hits in the game. Josh Mathis was stellar on the mound in the winning effort, striking out eight batters while giving up just one walk in the complete game performance. According to Lewis, Mathis’ gumption and competitive spirit was just as impressive as his performance, something he feels the team as a whole possesses.
“Today at one o’clock I got a text from Josh (Mathis),” Lewis said. “He said, ‘coach I’ve been icing my arm, I took some ibuprofen, my arm feels great. I’m good as new.’ He asked me who I was going to start tonight. I told him ‘I didn’t know yet.’ He said, ‘I’m ready. I’m the man. I want it.’ That’s the kind of team this is. They want the ball.”
SPORTS STORY >> Panthers top Rams, Little Rock
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Senior American Legion team won two games over the weekend. On Friday, the Panthers beat Little Rock Express 8-4 at home then went on the road to hammer Hot Springs Lakeside 11-3 on Sunday.
Cabot piled up 13 base hits in Sunday’s road win. Lakeside hung around for five innings, but Cabot blew it open in the sixth.
The Panthers scored two runs in the second inning and one in the third, and Lakeside scored two in the bottom of the fifth to make it 3-2 after five. But the Centennial Bank squad scored six runs in the sixth inning to assume command of the game.
Ryan Logan held the Rams in check for four innings before giving up three hits and two runs in the fifth. Cabot coach Craig Nyborg sent Kyle Kaufman to the mound with one out in the fifth, and he recorded the last two outs with no more damage done.
Working with a big lead for the last two innings, Kaufman got the save with little trouble.
Bryson Morris, Tyler Wilkie, Justin Goff and Dustin Morris each had two base hits. Bryson Morris, Casey Vaughan, Tristan Bulice and Dustin Morris all drove in two runs in the win. Cabot drew seven walks and five times batters reached by getting hit by a pitch. Logan was hit three times batting in the eight hole.
Bo Ritter was the only Ram with two base hits or more as Logan and Kaufman held the host team to just six total base hits.
Dustin Morris got the win on the mound in five innings of work against Little Rock Express. He gave up just five hits and two earned runs while walking three and striking out nine Express batters.
Vaughan inherited an 8-2 when he took the mound in the sixth. He shut Express down in the sixth inning but ran into a little trouble in the seventh, giving up two runs but still pitched well enough to earn the save.
It was another good night at the plate for the Panthers, who racked up 13 base hits on Friday as well.
Six players got two base hits each, including Bryson Morris, Vaughan, Bulice, Tyler Carter, Goff and Wilkie. Logan got the other base hit for Cabot.
Bryson Morris, Carter and Goff each drove in two runs as the team broke above .500 for the first time this season. After starting the season 0-6, Cabot now stands at 11-10 and has won four-straight games.
The Panthers faced Bryant last night and will take the rest of the week off. Their next game will be a home doubleheader against Pine Bluff Simmons at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Senior American Legion team won two games over the weekend. On Friday, the Panthers beat Little Rock Express 8-4 at home then went on the road to hammer Hot Springs Lakeside 11-3 on Sunday.
Cabot piled up 13 base hits in Sunday’s road win. Lakeside hung around for five innings, but Cabot blew it open in the sixth.
The Panthers scored two runs in the second inning and one in the third, and Lakeside scored two in the bottom of the fifth to make it 3-2 after five. But the Centennial Bank squad scored six runs in the sixth inning to assume command of the game.
Ryan Logan held the Rams in check for four innings before giving up three hits and two runs in the fifth. Cabot coach Craig Nyborg sent Kyle Kaufman to the mound with one out in the fifth, and he recorded the last two outs with no more damage done.
Working with a big lead for the last two innings, Kaufman got the save with little trouble.
Bryson Morris, Tyler Wilkie, Justin Goff and Dustin Morris each had two base hits. Bryson Morris, Casey Vaughan, Tristan Bulice and Dustin Morris all drove in two runs in the win. Cabot drew seven walks and five times batters reached by getting hit by a pitch. Logan was hit three times batting in the eight hole.
Bo Ritter was the only Ram with two base hits or more as Logan and Kaufman held the host team to just six total base hits.
Dustin Morris got the win on the mound in five innings of work against Little Rock Express. He gave up just five hits and two earned runs while walking three and striking out nine Express batters.
Vaughan inherited an 8-2 when he took the mound in the sixth. He shut Express down in the sixth inning but ran into a little trouble in the seventh, giving up two runs but still pitched well enough to earn the save.
It was another good night at the plate for the Panthers, who racked up 13 base hits on Friday as well.
Six players got two base hits each, including Bryson Morris, Vaughan, Bulice, Tyler Carter, Goff and Wilkie. Logan got the other base hit for Cabot.
Bryson Morris, Carter and Goff each drove in two runs as the team broke above .500 for the first time this season. After starting the season 0-6, Cabot now stands at 11-10 and has won four-straight games.
The Panthers faced Bryant last night and will take the rest of the week off. Their next game will be a home doubleheader against Pine Bluff Simmons at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
SPORTS STORY >> Bruins overcome Gwatney
By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
Gwatney Chevrolet jumped out to a comfortable lead early against Sylvan Hills in the final game of the Jacksonville American Legion Classic tournament, but the Bruins rallied late and took over the game in the sixth inning on their way to an 8-5 win Sunday at Jacksonville’s Dupree Park.
Errors plagued the Bruins in the first inning, as three infield miscues and a timely hit led to a quick 4-0 lead for Jacksonville. Clean-up hitter Austin Allen drove in the first run for Gwatney with an RBI-double down the left baseline that allowed Alex Tucker to score with ease after he reached base earlier in the inning on a fielder’s choice at second base.
Catcher Greg Jones followed with a hard-hit grounder to shortstop, but the routine throw to first was off the mark and Jesse Harbin scored the second run for Gwatney as a result.
James McCranie then came to the plate and hit another grounder to the same spot, and once again the throw was off, this time in the dirt.
First baseman Robert Brock was unable to make the difficult pick-play, and Allen was able to score on the passed ball at first. Jones scored Jacksonville’s fourth run of the inning on a sacrifice fly to right field from Blake Perry.
The next two innings were scoreless, but Jacksonville added another run in the top of the fourth when Arvie Crudup scored from third base on a passed ball at home. Trailing 5-0 midway through the fourth inning, Sylvan Hills finally found some offense and scored four runs to cut Gwatney’s lead to one.
Hunter Heslep started things off for the Bruins with an RBI-single to right-center field that sent Connor Eller across home plate for Sylvan Hills’ first run of the game. Heslep scored the second run for the Bruins on a balk with the bases loaded and two outs.
Right fielder J.D. Miller then reached base on an E5.
The ground ball was fielded cleanly, but the throw to first was off and runs three and four scored as a result.
After a rough first inning where Sylvan Hills found itself in a hole, Bruins coach Matthew Presson was happy to see the way the team rallied its way back into the game.
“We wanted to keep them positive after that first inning,” said Presson of the Bruins. “We wanted them to forget about that and start over, and just keep working hard and doing what they had to do.”
The fifth inning was scoreless, but in the sixth, Sylvan Hills took its first lead of the game with another four-run inning. With one out and two runners on base, Miller singled up the middle and drove in both runners to give the Bruins a one-run lead.
Pitcher Lance Hunter then walked, and two batters later, Connor Eller walked with the bases loaded. Miller scored on Eller’s walk and Hunter scored the final run of the game from third base on a ground ball by Blake Holmes.
Hunter picked up the win for Sylvan Hills after a one-two-three inning in the top of the seventh. Hunter struck out three and walked just one batter in the complete game performance.
“Pitching-wise Lance (Hunter) pitched a great game,” Presson said. “In that first inning he threw around five or six outs. After that the defense picked him up and made plays. Then we came back with the bats and did what we needed to do.”
Conway won the pool-style tournament as the only team to go unbeaten (3-0). Sylvan Hills finished second (2-1), Sheridan third (2-1), Jacksonville fourth (1-2), Benton fifth (1-2) and Pine Bluff sixth (0-3). Miller was the only player on either team with multiple hits, with two singles and two RBI’s.
Leader sportswriter
Gwatney Chevrolet jumped out to a comfortable lead early against Sylvan Hills in the final game of the Jacksonville American Legion Classic tournament, but the Bruins rallied late and took over the game in the sixth inning on their way to an 8-5 win Sunday at Jacksonville’s Dupree Park.
Errors plagued the Bruins in the first inning, as three infield miscues and a timely hit led to a quick 4-0 lead for Jacksonville. Clean-up hitter Austin Allen drove in the first run for Gwatney with an RBI-double down the left baseline that allowed Alex Tucker to score with ease after he reached base earlier in the inning on a fielder’s choice at second base.
Catcher Greg Jones followed with a hard-hit grounder to shortstop, but the routine throw to first was off the mark and Jesse Harbin scored the second run for Gwatney as a result.
James McCranie then came to the plate and hit another grounder to the same spot, and once again the throw was off, this time in the dirt.
First baseman Robert Brock was unable to make the difficult pick-play, and Allen was able to score on the passed ball at first. Jones scored Jacksonville’s fourth run of the inning on a sacrifice fly to right field from Blake Perry.
The next two innings were scoreless, but Jacksonville added another run in the top of the fourth when Arvie Crudup scored from third base on a passed ball at home. Trailing 5-0 midway through the fourth inning, Sylvan Hills finally found some offense and scored four runs to cut Gwatney’s lead to one.
Hunter Heslep started things off for the Bruins with an RBI-single to right-center field that sent Connor Eller across home plate for Sylvan Hills’ first run of the game. Heslep scored the second run for the Bruins on a balk with the bases loaded and two outs.
Right fielder J.D. Miller then reached base on an E5.
The ground ball was fielded cleanly, but the throw to first was off and runs three and four scored as a result.
After a rough first inning where Sylvan Hills found itself in a hole, Bruins coach Matthew Presson was happy to see the way the team rallied its way back into the game.
“We wanted to keep them positive after that first inning,” said Presson of the Bruins. “We wanted them to forget about that and start over, and just keep working hard and doing what they had to do.”
The fifth inning was scoreless, but in the sixth, Sylvan Hills took its first lead of the game with another four-run inning. With one out and two runners on base, Miller singled up the middle and drove in both runners to give the Bruins a one-run lead.
Pitcher Lance Hunter then walked, and two batters later, Connor Eller walked with the bases loaded. Miller scored on Eller’s walk and Hunter scored the final run of the game from third base on a ground ball by Blake Holmes.
Hunter picked up the win for Sylvan Hills after a one-two-three inning in the top of the seventh. Hunter struck out three and walked just one batter in the complete game performance.
“Pitching-wise Lance (Hunter) pitched a great game,” Presson said. “In that first inning he threw around five or six outs. After that the defense picked him up and made plays. Then we came back with the bats and did what we needed to do.”
Conway won the pool-style tournament as the only team to go unbeaten (3-0). Sylvan Hills finished second (2-1), Sheridan third (2-1), Jacksonville fourth (1-2), Benton fifth (1-2) and Pine Bluff sixth (0-3). Miller was the only player on either team with multiple hits, with two singles and two RBI’s.
SPORTS STORY >> Juniors win one, lose one Monday
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Junior Team 1 American Legion team finished the regular season with a doubleheader split Monday at home against Lake Hamilton. Cabot beat Lake Hamilton’s junior team 5-4 then fell 6-5 to Lake Hamilton’s AA team Monday night at Cabot City Park.
The games’ results leaves the Cabot junior team with an overall season record of 19-13 heading into the junior zone tournament that begins Thursday at Vince De Salvo Stadium at Burns Park in North Little Rock.
In game one, the Centennial Bank team went up 3-0 in the bottom of the first inning only to see the entire lead vanish in the top of the third. Tristan Bulice put Cabot back in front in the bottom of the third with a solo home run, and Lake Hamilton tied it again in the top of the fourth before Cabot got the win with a run in the bottom of the same inning.
Dylan Bowers faced all but one Lake Hamilton batter, giving up six hits and two earned runs in his time in the mound.
Austin Nell got the final out for the save.
Cabot fell behind 6-1 in game two before rallying late and nearly tying the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Centennial Bank team scored three runs in the sixth inning to make it 6-4, then another with one out in the seventh before falling just short.
In the sixth inning, Bulice doubled to left field with one out, it was the sixth base hit in seven at bats for the Cabot catcher. He then scored on an error at shortstop off the bat of Jonathan Latture.
Kyle Kaufman then put down a bunt single that also scored Latture. He then scored on a double steal.
In the seventh inning, Adam Hicks walked and Knudsen singled to right field. Both base runners advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch with Bulice at the plate. Bulice then singled to right field to score Hicks. Knudsen also attempted to advance, but was thrown out at home plate.
Latture then popped up to the pitcher for the third out to end the ball game.
“It’s starting to come around,” Cabot coach Chris Gross said. “Tristan Bulice is just killing it. We’re starting to get some good pitching. Hopefully we’ll keep putting things together in the zone tournament.”
Knudsen started on the mound and pitched two-and-a-third innings. The senior Wolves got seven hits and five earned runs in that time before Knudsen yielded to Gavin Tillery. Lake Hamilton got one run off Tillery, but not much else. In his four-and-two-thirds innings pitched, he gave up six hits while striking out eight and walking none.
On Saturday, Cabot crushed North Little Rock 16-0.
Hicks got the shutout facing just two more batters than the minimum for five innings. He gave up one hit, struck out five and walked none.
Bulice got another home run in that win. He, Dalten Hurst and Nell each drove in two runs while Bulice and Hurst got two hits apiece. Hurst went 2 for 4, walked twice and scored four runs.
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Junior Team 1 American Legion team finished the regular season with a doubleheader split Monday at home against Lake Hamilton. Cabot beat Lake Hamilton’s junior team 5-4 then fell 6-5 to Lake Hamilton’s AA team Monday night at Cabot City Park.
The games’ results leaves the Cabot junior team with an overall season record of 19-13 heading into the junior zone tournament that begins Thursday at Vince De Salvo Stadium at Burns Park in North Little Rock.
In game one, the Centennial Bank team went up 3-0 in the bottom of the first inning only to see the entire lead vanish in the top of the third. Tristan Bulice put Cabot back in front in the bottom of the third with a solo home run, and Lake Hamilton tied it again in the top of the fourth before Cabot got the win with a run in the bottom of the same inning.
Dylan Bowers faced all but one Lake Hamilton batter, giving up six hits and two earned runs in his time in the mound.
Austin Nell got the final out for the save.
Cabot fell behind 6-1 in game two before rallying late and nearly tying the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Centennial Bank team scored three runs in the sixth inning to make it 6-4, then another with one out in the seventh before falling just short.
In the sixth inning, Bulice doubled to left field with one out, it was the sixth base hit in seven at bats for the Cabot catcher. He then scored on an error at shortstop off the bat of Jonathan Latture.
Kyle Kaufman then put down a bunt single that also scored Latture. He then scored on a double steal.
In the seventh inning, Adam Hicks walked and Knudsen singled to right field. Both base runners advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch with Bulice at the plate. Bulice then singled to right field to score Hicks. Knudsen also attempted to advance, but was thrown out at home plate.
Latture then popped up to the pitcher for the third out to end the ball game.
“It’s starting to come around,” Cabot coach Chris Gross said. “Tristan Bulice is just killing it. We’re starting to get some good pitching. Hopefully we’ll keep putting things together in the zone tournament.”
Knudsen started on the mound and pitched two-and-a-third innings. The senior Wolves got seven hits and five earned runs in that time before Knudsen yielded to Gavin Tillery. Lake Hamilton got one run off Tillery, but not much else. In his four-and-two-thirds innings pitched, he gave up six hits while striking out eight and walking none.
On Saturday, Cabot crushed North Little Rock 16-0.
Hicks got the shutout facing just two more batters than the minimum for five innings. He gave up one hit, struck out five and walked none.
Bulice got another home run in that win. He, Dalten Hurst and Nell each drove in two runs while Bulice and Hurst got two hits apiece. Hurst went 2 for 4, walked twice and scored four runs.
SPORTS STORY >> A coach’s prime example
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
High school coaches in every sport see all kinds of athletes come and go. Every now and then a certain type of player comes along who coaches hate to see go. Players, average and even exceptional ones, can be and are replaced. But an attitude, an approach, a work ethic that certain players bring can’t be replaced. That’s what Jacksonville baseball coaches are going to miss about Jesse Harbin.
Harbin has been a full-time starter for the Jacksonville Red Devils since his sophomore year, and he was a part-time starter a year before that. He’s also been the pitching ace for the Red Devils and the Gwatney Chevrolet American Legion team for the past two years. His work ethic isn’t his only quality though. He does have talent, enough to garner a Division I scholarship to play for UALR. But it’s his work ethic and competitiveness that coaches glow about.
Gwatney head coach Bob Hickingbotham loves his work ethic. Red Devils coach Larry Burrows loves his competitiveness.
Hickingbotham said, “Jesse is the hardest working player I’ve had in a long time. He doesn’t ever say a word or complain about what you’re doing. If you need him on the mound he says ‘I’m ready to go coach.’ If I say I need you to do this or that, he says ‘I’m ready to go coach.’
Burrows says there were times in practice when he’d have to put the spurs to him, but he always responded.
“It was kind of a running joke,” Burrows said. “To go up to him and say OK Jesse, let’s turn it on now. When it was time to turn it on, he could turn it on. Most guys can’t do that, turn it on and off like that. He could. When the lights came on he was going to compete, and he was going to compete hard.”
Harbin hit cleanup for the Red Devils’ 2011 state championship team. He was one of two juniors, along with recently drafted D’Vone McClure, to start along with seven seniors. The team’s best hitter that season was Patrick Castleberry, who Burrows moved to the three hole because teams were pitching around him. Burrows explains putting the junior Harbin, who had a lower batting average than some teammates, behind the best hitter.
“All three of us coaches talked about who to put behind Castleberry,” Burrows said. “Maybe we shouldn’t have put him there because his average wasn’t as high as some of the others, but it was unanimous we felt like Jesse was going to compete harder than anybody.”
It paid huge dividends in the state championship game, when Harbin’s two-RBI double sent the game against heavily favored Searcy into extra innings.
Harbin says his work ethic comes naturally from different sources. He loves to play baseball, and his family has instilled a habit of setting goals and working to reach them.
“That’s the way we’ve always been,” Harbin said of his family.
Jesse Lind Harbin is the son of Robert Harbin Sr. and Mary Jo Harbin. He has two older siblings, Robert Jr. and Amber, who are more than a decade older than him..
“I was a surprise,” Jesse said, explaining the large age difference between himself and his siblings.
His approach to the game that his coaches love is something that came easy for him.
“I’ve always done that.” Harbin said. “I just want to get better than I am right now.”
After winning the high-school state title, that same group tore through the American Legion regular season before going out with a whimper in the first round of the zone tournament. Harbin watched as his teammates wore out towards the end of the summer, but says he’s never experienced that personally.
“I love it too much,” Harbin said. “If you don’t love it, it gets hard and it’s really easy for a player to get burned out. But I’ve never had that problem. There’s not a time when I get tired of it, not ever.”
Harbin initially signed with Arkansas Baptist Junior College when none of the larger schools that had been recruiting him came through with a scholarship offer. Shortly after signing with Baptist, UALR coach Scott Norwood decided to get Harbin aboard. There was no ceremony. The school sent the NCAA Letter of Intent to Harbin in the mail, and he signed it at home three weeks ago.
Despite the lack of fanfare in becoming Jacksonville’s second DI baseball signee this season, Harbin is glad to get the opportunity to play for the Trojans.
“It’s DI so I’m very excited,” Harbin said.
The Trojans were a good hitting team last season but struggled on the mound. That’s where Harbin hopes to fit in.
“I’m a good pitcher and a good fielder,” Harbin said. “I think I can contribute in those two areas. I’m not a real strong hitter but I’m pretty good and that’s going to come around. I’m definitely going to work hard at it.”
Harbin, along with McClure, saw a drastic role change on the Red Devils from their junior to senior seasons. After the seven starting seniors left, those two were the only returning starters. Things were tough on Harbin early. He lost several games on the mound despite giving very few earned runs.
“The difference between runs and earned runs were pretty bad early on,” Burrows said. “Jesse handled that really well. Him and Plucky (McClure) both did. Whenever he felt like he needed to say something to one of the younger ones, whether it was positive or negative, he went and said it. He helped keep us together when we went through a few losing streaks. Both of those guys did that really well. It could’ve gone south from there and could’ve got really bad. But those two really helped keep us together and we ended up being a little bit better I think than we were probably expecting.”
Burrows saw Harbin grow into that leader in four years of coaching him.
“Coach (Jeremiah) Clennon works hard with them on that,” Burrows said. “That’s self discipline, and he’s going to need that just in life. He wasn’t always real great at it, but most of them aren’t when they come in. Some of them learn it and some of them don’t, but Jesse learned and became a great leader for a real inexperienced team.”
Hickingbotham notices it, too.
“He works so hard, and there are times when we’re not hustling and it hurts him,” Hickingbotham said. “He don’t say anything except Come guys lets get it together, let’s get it going.”
Part of that patience comes from another rare ability that Burrows explains well.
“He can move to the next pitch,” Burrows said. “He can give up a big hit in a big game, then come back and strike out the next two. Those things don’t bother him because he’s a competitor, and he believes he can get the next guy out.”
Harbin doesn’t know yet what field of study he wants to pursue in college, but he does want to play professional baseball.
“Of course I do,” Harbin said. “Everybody kid wants to play pro ball. You just got to work hard at it.”
Just how much Harbin has meant to Burrow’s and Hickingbotham’s programs came through when they were asked to summarize No. 14.
“I don’t know anything about him except that he’s outstanding in my book,” said Hickingbotham.
“He gets it,” Burrows said. “He understands. I don’t know how to explain it but you need that type of guy just as much in practice as in a game. He makes things fun and can explain to younger guys. He did a lot for our program. I’m definitely going to miss 14.”
Leader sports editor
High school coaches in every sport see all kinds of athletes come and go. Every now and then a certain type of player comes along who coaches hate to see go. Players, average and even exceptional ones, can be and are replaced. But an attitude, an approach, a work ethic that certain players bring can’t be replaced. That’s what Jacksonville baseball coaches are going to miss about Jesse Harbin.
Harbin has been a full-time starter for the Jacksonville Red Devils since his sophomore year, and he was a part-time starter a year before that. He’s also been the pitching ace for the Red Devils and the Gwatney Chevrolet American Legion team for the past two years. His work ethic isn’t his only quality though. He does have talent, enough to garner a Division I scholarship to play for UALR. But it’s his work ethic and competitiveness that coaches glow about.
Gwatney head coach Bob Hickingbotham loves his work ethic. Red Devils coach Larry Burrows loves his competitiveness.
Hickingbotham said, “Jesse is the hardest working player I’ve had in a long time. He doesn’t ever say a word or complain about what you’re doing. If you need him on the mound he says ‘I’m ready to go coach.’ If I say I need you to do this or that, he says ‘I’m ready to go coach.’
Burrows says there were times in practice when he’d have to put the spurs to him, but he always responded.
“It was kind of a running joke,” Burrows said. “To go up to him and say OK Jesse, let’s turn it on now. When it was time to turn it on, he could turn it on. Most guys can’t do that, turn it on and off like that. He could. When the lights came on he was going to compete, and he was going to compete hard.”
Harbin hit cleanup for the Red Devils’ 2011 state championship team. He was one of two juniors, along with recently drafted D’Vone McClure, to start along with seven seniors. The team’s best hitter that season was Patrick Castleberry, who Burrows moved to the three hole because teams were pitching around him. Burrows explains putting the junior Harbin, who had a lower batting average than some teammates, behind the best hitter.
“All three of us coaches talked about who to put behind Castleberry,” Burrows said. “Maybe we shouldn’t have put him there because his average wasn’t as high as some of the others, but it was unanimous we felt like Jesse was going to compete harder than anybody.”
It paid huge dividends in the state championship game, when Harbin’s two-RBI double sent the game against heavily favored Searcy into extra innings.
Harbin says his work ethic comes naturally from different sources. He loves to play baseball, and his family has instilled a habit of setting goals and working to reach them.
“That’s the way we’ve always been,” Harbin said of his family.
Jesse Lind Harbin is the son of Robert Harbin Sr. and Mary Jo Harbin. He has two older siblings, Robert Jr. and Amber, who are more than a decade older than him..
“I was a surprise,” Jesse said, explaining the large age difference between himself and his siblings.
His approach to the game that his coaches love is something that came easy for him.
“I’ve always done that.” Harbin said. “I just want to get better than I am right now.”
After winning the high-school state title, that same group tore through the American Legion regular season before going out with a whimper in the first round of the zone tournament. Harbin watched as his teammates wore out towards the end of the summer, but says he’s never experienced that personally.
“I love it too much,” Harbin said. “If you don’t love it, it gets hard and it’s really easy for a player to get burned out. But I’ve never had that problem. There’s not a time when I get tired of it, not ever.”
Harbin initially signed with Arkansas Baptist Junior College when none of the larger schools that had been recruiting him came through with a scholarship offer. Shortly after signing with Baptist, UALR coach Scott Norwood decided to get Harbin aboard. There was no ceremony. The school sent the NCAA Letter of Intent to Harbin in the mail, and he signed it at home three weeks ago.
Despite the lack of fanfare in becoming Jacksonville’s second DI baseball signee this season, Harbin is glad to get the opportunity to play for the Trojans.
“It’s DI so I’m very excited,” Harbin said.
The Trojans were a good hitting team last season but struggled on the mound. That’s where Harbin hopes to fit in.
“I’m a good pitcher and a good fielder,” Harbin said. “I think I can contribute in those two areas. I’m not a real strong hitter but I’m pretty good and that’s going to come around. I’m definitely going to work hard at it.”
Harbin, along with McClure, saw a drastic role change on the Red Devils from their junior to senior seasons. After the seven starting seniors left, those two were the only returning starters. Things were tough on Harbin early. He lost several games on the mound despite giving very few earned runs.
“The difference between runs and earned runs were pretty bad early on,” Burrows said. “Jesse handled that really well. Him and Plucky (McClure) both did. Whenever he felt like he needed to say something to one of the younger ones, whether it was positive or negative, he went and said it. He helped keep us together when we went through a few losing streaks. Both of those guys did that really well. It could’ve gone south from there and could’ve got really bad. But those two really helped keep us together and we ended up being a little bit better I think than we were probably expecting.”
Burrows saw Harbin grow into that leader in four years of coaching him.
“Coach (Jeremiah) Clennon works hard with them on that,” Burrows said. “That’s self discipline, and he’s going to need that just in life. He wasn’t always real great at it, but most of them aren’t when they come in. Some of them learn it and some of them don’t, but Jesse learned and became a great leader for a real inexperienced team.”
Hickingbotham notices it, too.
“He works so hard, and there are times when we’re not hustling and it hurts him,” Hickingbotham said. “He don’t say anything except Come guys lets get it together, let’s get it going.”
Part of that patience comes from another rare ability that Burrows explains well.
“He can move to the next pitch,” Burrows said. “He can give up a big hit in a big game, then come back and strike out the next two. Those things don’t bother him because he’s a competitor, and he believes he can get the next guy out.”
Harbin doesn’t know yet what field of study he wants to pursue in college, but he does want to play professional baseball.
“Of course I do,” Harbin said. “Everybody kid wants to play pro ball. You just got to work hard at it.”
Just how much Harbin has meant to Burrow’s and Hickingbotham’s programs came through when they were asked to summarize No. 14.
“I don’t know anything about him except that he’s outstanding in my book,” said Hickingbotham.
“He gets it,” Burrows said. “He understands. I don’t know how to explain it but you need that type of guy just as much in practice as in a game. He makes things fun and can explain to younger guys. He did a lot for our program. I’m definitely going to miss 14.”
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