By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
A battle for the starting quarterback position has been one of the primary themes for both Cabot and Lonoke through a busy summer of team camps and 7-on-7 football as the start of official fall practice closes in at the end of this month.
For the Jackrabbits, juniors Grant Dewey and Nick Watson have both shown promise as potential leaders for head coach Doug Bost’s spread offense, while a pair of Cabot juniors, Kason Kimbrell and Grant Bell, have shared time leading the Panthers’ offense this summer.
Those battles played out side by side and in a couple of instances on the same side of the field Wednesday as Cabot hosted Little Rock Catholic and Hazen along with the Jackrabbits in weekly 7-on-7 league play at Panther Stadium.
The Panthers are looking to replace graduated quarterback Zac Craig while the Jackrabbits are starting from scratch after moving former quarterback D.J. Burton back to his original receiver position.
“They’re battling it out for the quarterback spot,” Bost said. “We moved D.J. out to receiver – probably more of a natural position for him, and he’s bought into it, doing a heck of a job. That’s where he started as a sophomore. The quarterbacks have been rotating all summer and giving us some good looks.”
Dewey was a backup to Burton last season while Watson was a receiver asa sophomore. Another potential quarterback moved out of the area before the start of summer and left a vacancy, prompting Bost to move Watson over just as he did with Burton a year ago.
“He can go play either one for us,” Bost said of Watson. “They’ve hit the playbook – we’ve got some new passing concepts this year, and they know their progression and where their reads are, so we’re real pleased with where they are right now.”
The receiver corps also looked crisp for Lonoke on Wednesday, particularly incoming senior Reid McKenzie, who has started to use his size advantage over most opponents to pull down the higher offerings from Dewey and Watson. Blake Gooden looked good on both sides of the ball, pulling in a number of passes on offense with a number of nice breakups and a couple of interceptions on defense.
“The kids have been working hard,” Bost said. “Lifting weights three days a week, running three days a week – we’ve been to three seven-on-seven tournaments, we’ve been to two team camps, and we’ll finish up one tomorrow night. So, it’s been a busy summer, and we’re looking forward to getting started here on the 30th.”
Cabot has traditionally used 7-on-7 primarily for defensive purposes, but the Panthers’ passing game held its own with Catholic and Lonoke on Wednesday.
Still, head coach Mike Malham and staff had their eyes on the secondary. There were a few long passes that got by the defense, and some of the in routes by opponents resulted in significant gains, but in typical Cabot fashion, the defense tightened up as opposing offenses got closer to the goal line.
It’s been a good summer so far for junior Jordan Burke, who started in the secondary a year ago as a sophomore, while sophomore Jacob Ferguson and move-in Spencer Gilcrest could earn starting positions this fall with their efforts throughout June and July.
“With those coming back, plus the new kids we’re looking at, I’m looking for our secondary to look a lot better,” Malham said. “And that’s a big key to playing good defense. We can teach good technique to those linemen, but when you’ve got people working in open spaces, sometimes it just gets down to who’s the better athlete.”
The offense worked fairly consistent through the four scrimmages on Wednesday. There were some dropped passes and isolated misreads, but overall, both Kimbrell and Bell looked in control of the offense. That could mean an improved passing game for the Panthers this year, but as always, Malham will be counting on the running game in most situations.
“We spend as much time throwing as we do running,” Malham said. “But the success rate percentage-wise seems to be that we complete more handoffs than we do passes.”
Last year’s disappointing 3-7 record ended the Panthers’ season without a spot in the 7A playoffs for the first time in five years, but with more experience and improved depth on defense returning in 2012, Malham said he is hoping for a much better outcome as they return to the 7A/6A East Conference.
“We’ve got a lot done,” Malham said. “With the kids coming back, I think we’ve made a lot of progress – it looks a lot better than it did last year. Offensively, of course, we’re getting to work on our throwing game right now, which we always install. We’ve got some kids who run well, and at times catch the ball well. Overall, I think it’s been a successful summer, and a week from Monday, we start getting ready for the real thing.”
Friday, July 20, 2012
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
TOP STORY>>Black caucus feuding
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
The president of the Arkansas Democratic Black Caucus has prevented its secretary from providing meeting minutes to members since March and with her cohorts — Jacksonville lightning rod Rizelle Aaron chief among them — effectively barred her from running for reelection at its convention Saturday.
As chairman of the nominating committee, for three hours Aaron ran the meeting and gaveled away dissent over his decision that secretary Kristina Gulley was ineligible to run for reelection.
“They are in cahoots,” Gulley said of Aaron and the president, Kasey Summerville. “What he did on Saturday — he’s not a true Democrat.”
Gulley said Tuesday afternoon that she was filing a grievance with the Democratic Party of Arkansas.
Aaron said he followed Robert’s Rules of Order and that he was appointed election committee chairman by the executive committee. He denied that he was in cahoots with Summerville and said any e-mails, phone calls or text messages between them were caucus business — to which Gulley might respond, “That’s the problem.”
MESSAGES NOT RETURNED
Both a phone call and an e-mail to Summerville on Tuesday afternoon went unanswered.
The nominating committee ruled that Gulley was not eligible for reelection to her position because she had not paid her dues in time. Gulley, who had with her what appeared to be a proper Arkansas Democratic Black Caucus receipt for those dues, dated Feb. 11, 2012, said that the minutes would also reflect that she had paid her dues on time.
Aaron, who was running the meeting, told her it was too late, that she had been disqualified.
“On an issue like this, if there is any question at all, you should allow it,” civil rights attorney and state Rep. John Walker said. “Over the years, this is the way we’ve been denied as a people. I want to have actual fairness and the appearance of fairness,” Walker added.
Aaron then said that “for the sake of the organization” that he would allow her on the ballot if two-thirds of eligible voters overruled him, claiming that was according to Roberts’ Rules of Order.
FISCAL TRANSPARENCY
Gulley and the president, Summerville, have become estranged over the way finances are handled and over what Gulley describes as Summerville’s coverup attempts to censor or edit minutes from the monthly meetings.
Her troubles with Sum-merville began in November when treasurer Judy Green submitted her resignation, according to Gulley. At Green’s request — and apparently to Summerville’s consternation — she emailed a copy of the resignation letter to all members for whom she had an e-mail address, Gulley said.
She added that Summerville has refused to give her an updated membership roster.
Green’s resignation letter called the group’s fiscal practices into question, and Gulley says Summerville is trying to prevent caucus members from hearing problems such as the allegedly lost checkbook and two-signature checks signed only by the president and without documentation for purchases or expenses.
Gulley said forwarding that letter to membership was the beginning of her troubles with Summerville, who is also the Clark County assessor.
MISSING CHECKBOOK
Green’s Nov. 12 resignation letter said that Summerville wouldn’t or couldn’t provide her with the group’s checkbook so that she could reconcile the books.
It was around that time that she also discovered that at least one official was using a caucus credit card, about which she had no knowledge.
“If there is ever an audit by IRS or the (Democratic Party of Arkansas), I do not want to be held accountable for keeping accurate records when checks and credit cards are being used and I have no receipts to document the expenses,” wrote Green, an accountant of 40 years.
“The president has done the treasurer’s reports each month, because she has information that I don’t have,” Green added.
“The treasurer’s only responsibility should be to write checks for bills and other expenses of the organization; receive monies from the secretary after the secretary records the income; keep accurate records of all income and expenses; and make monthly reports to the body,” Green wrote.
AUDIT REQUEST
In May, the black caucus membership voted to ask the Democratic Party of Arkansas for an audit of its books, according to Gulley. She said she didn’t believe that Summerville had made that request to the party.
“I believe the only thing before us is a grievance by Kristina Gulley because (the president won’t give her) the (current) membership roster,” according to Candace Martin, communications director for the Democratic Party of Arkansas.
Both Martin and Demo-cratic chairman Will Bond said they weren’t aware of any audit request from the Black Caucus.
SHOWDOWN
The Leader was the only news organization at the meeting, conducted at the state Capitol on Saturday and attended on a tip that Aaron — who is a candidate for the Jacksonville City Council — would be reprimanded by people who believe he is ambitious, self-aggrandizing and manipulative and using the NAACP and the Black Caucus to his own ends.
“I hope that I’m ambitious,” said Aaron on Tuesday, “but not manipulative.”
Aaron holds no elected position in government or in the caucus. His opponents feared that he would run the five-hour meeting with an iron fist.
Before the meeting, the critics worried that Aaron would overrule Walker’s contention that Gulley be allowed on the ballot and other decisions made as chairman of the nominating committee.
Aaron complained that the Jacksonville NAACP, of which he is legal-redress chairman, has been improperly excluded from decisions regarding the Pulaski County Special School District.
And that was before he won the first vice presidency over incumbent Reginald Fields, who is serving in Afghanistan.
Aaron said his nomination from the floor by Darrell Stephens came as a surprise. Stephens himself was nominated from the floor and beat current second vice president Erma Poindexter.
In the other races, Sum-merville beat Diane Curry.
With Gulley was declared ineligible to run, Pat Banks won the position of secretary without opposition, Lynette Vinson won assistant secretary, and Sharl Hill beat Janice Roberts for treasurer.
Leader senior staff writer
The president of the Arkansas Democratic Black Caucus has prevented its secretary from providing meeting minutes to members since March and with her cohorts — Jacksonville lightning rod Rizelle Aaron chief among them — effectively barred her from running for reelection at its convention Saturday.
As chairman of the nominating committee, for three hours Aaron ran the meeting and gaveled away dissent over his decision that secretary Kristina Gulley was ineligible to run for reelection.
“They are in cahoots,” Gulley said of Aaron and the president, Kasey Summerville. “What he did on Saturday — he’s not a true Democrat.”
Gulley said Tuesday afternoon that she was filing a grievance with the Democratic Party of Arkansas.
Aaron said he followed Robert’s Rules of Order and that he was appointed election committee chairman by the executive committee. He denied that he was in cahoots with Summerville and said any e-mails, phone calls or text messages between them were caucus business — to which Gulley might respond, “That’s the problem.”
MESSAGES NOT RETURNED
Both a phone call and an e-mail to Summerville on Tuesday afternoon went unanswered.
The nominating committee ruled that Gulley was not eligible for reelection to her position because she had not paid her dues in time. Gulley, who had with her what appeared to be a proper Arkansas Democratic Black Caucus receipt for those dues, dated Feb. 11, 2012, said that the minutes would also reflect that she had paid her dues on time.
Aaron, who was running the meeting, told her it was too late, that she had been disqualified.
“On an issue like this, if there is any question at all, you should allow it,” civil rights attorney and state Rep. John Walker said. “Over the years, this is the way we’ve been denied as a people. I want to have actual fairness and the appearance of fairness,” Walker added.
Aaron then said that “for the sake of the organization” that he would allow her on the ballot if two-thirds of eligible voters overruled him, claiming that was according to Roberts’ Rules of Order.
FISCAL TRANSPARENCY
Gulley and the president, Summerville, have become estranged over the way finances are handled and over what Gulley describes as Summerville’s coverup attempts to censor or edit minutes from the monthly meetings.
Her troubles with Sum-merville began in November when treasurer Judy Green submitted her resignation, according to Gulley. At Green’s request — and apparently to Summerville’s consternation — she emailed a copy of the resignation letter to all members for whom she had an e-mail address, Gulley said.
She added that Summerville has refused to give her an updated membership roster.
Green’s resignation letter called the group’s fiscal practices into question, and Gulley says Summerville is trying to prevent caucus members from hearing problems such as the allegedly lost checkbook and two-signature checks signed only by the president and without documentation for purchases or expenses.
Gulley said forwarding that letter to membership was the beginning of her troubles with Summerville, who is also the Clark County assessor.
MISSING CHECKBOOK
Green’s Nov. 12 resignation letter said that Summerville wouldn’t or couldn’t provide her with the group’s checkbook so that she could reconcile the books.
It was around that time that she also discovered that at least one official was using a caucus credit card, about which she had no knowledge.
“If there is ever an audit by IRS or the (Democratic Party of Arkansas), I do not want to be held accountable for keeping accurate records when checks and credit cards are being used and I have no receipts to document the expenses,” wrote Green, an accountant of 40 years.
“The president has done the treasurer’s reports each month, because she has information that I don’t have,” Green added.
“The treasurer’s only responsibility should be to write checks for bills and other expenses of the organization; receive monies from the secretary after the secretary records the income; keep accurate records of all income and expenses; and make monthly reports to the body,” Green wrote.
AUDIT REQUEST
In May, the black caucus membership voted to ask the Democratic Party of Arkansas for an audit of its books, according to Gulley. She said she didn’t believe that Summerville had made that request to the party.
“I believe the only thing before us is a grievance by Kristina Gulley because (the president won’t give her) the (current) membership roster,” according to Candace Martin, communications director for the Democratic Party of Arkansas.
Both Martin and Demo-cratic chairman Will Bond said they weren’t aware of any audit request from the Black Caucus.
SHOWDOWN
The Leader was the only news organization at the meeting, conducted at the state Capitol on Saturday and attended on a tip that Aaron — who is a candidate for the Jacksonville City Council — would be reprimanded by people who believe he is ambitious, self-aggrandizing and manipulative and using the NAACP and the Black Caucus to his own ends.
“I hope that I’m ambitious,” said Aaron on Tuesday, “but not manipulative.”
Aaron holds no elected position in government or in the caucus. His opponents feared that he would run the five-hour meeting with an iron fist.
Before the meeting, the critics worried that Aaron would overrule Walker’s contention that Gulley be allowed on the ballot and other decisions made as chairman of the nominating committee.
Aaron complained that the Jacksonville NAACP, of which he is legal-redress chairman, has been improperly excluded from decisions regarding the Pulaski County Special School District.
And that was before he won the first vice presidency over incumbent Reginald Fields, who is serving in Afghanistan.
Aaron said his nomination from the floor by Darrell Stephens came as a surprise. Stephens himself was nominated from the floor and beat current second vice president Erma Poindexter.
In the other races, Sum-merville beat Diane Curry.
With Gulley was declared ineligible to run, Pat Banks won the position of secretary without opposition, Lynette Vinson won assistant secretary, and Sharl Hill beat Janice Roberts for treasurer.
SPORTS STORY>>Football has become too important
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
College football has become one of the biggest idols in America. There are fans in every sport whose loyalty goes beyond reason. But in college football, there is a systematic willingness among fans to delude themselves concerning their favorite team, or rationalize wrong into not so wrong, like in no other sport. Another way of putting it is there is rampant hypocrisy among college football fans.
This epidemic has never been on display more so than in recent months at State College, Pa. That’s where Penn State University is and that’s where former Nittany Lions’ defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky raped at least one, but probably several, little boys, and where several people in authority knew about it, could have stepped in decades ago and put a stop to it, but chose not to.
A quick glance at the blog comments that follow news website stories on the case reveal a proper, nationwide moral disdain for Sandusky’s behavior, and the behavior of the people who aided his actions with their silence. Specifically, people around the country have turned on Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, who up until this scandal broke and it became clear he was involved in keeping Sandusky’s crimes under wraps, had an iconic image as the shining star that exemplified everything that is right about amateur athletics.
A deeper look at Penn State sports blogs reveals that many, if not most, Nittany Lion fans are not yet willing to believe Paterno did anything wrong.
Even this horrible case is not enough to convince most of the people posting on those sites that Paterno is to blame for anything. Rationalizations range from the evidence-contradicted belief that he knew nothing about it, to the desperate argument that poor ole Joe had already begun to lose his mental capacities in 1998 at age 72, and just didn’t understand what was going on, even though he continued to lead a highly successful football team for another 14 years.
For anyone interested, one site with plenty of examples of this can be found at http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=157&f=1395.
There are things about the State College culture that lend itself to this kind of delusion. It’s an isolated town, tucked away, three or four hours from several major cities in all directions, and therefore from major media scrutiny. It’s a small town where a big-time football program with that kind of success for that long can begin to wield a lot of power. Paterno was the head coach there for 46 years and was a true, living icon in that community. It probably is worse there than in most other places. But it’s almost as bad at every college with a major football program.
What makes college football an ironic target for this kind of idolatry is the wholesome, value-laden, love-of-my-university talk college fans love to blandish about.
The truth is, most fans care about the group of 18-to-22-year-olds who wear their favorite team’s shirt winning more than they care about member representatives of their beloved university behaving morally.
Examples can be cited at all the major universities. Let a Razorback rival get caught in a scandal and watch the accusers decked in cardinal and white come out in droves. Then watch as those same people rationalize why Bobby Petrino should have been allowed to keep his job.
The Petrino scandal pales in comparison to Paterno helping cover up child sex abuse, and indeed most Razorback fans, like most around the country, would not be so willing to support Petrino if his crimes were that bad, but at every institution we see fans who are willing to trade away some amount of personal conviction for the joy of winning.
One of the trends that remains a constant is the forgiving attitudes that consume football fans when a star player commits a crime.
These are the people who support throwing drug dealers under the jail, that is until the drug dealer ends up being the starting defensive end. Then football fans become the biggest bleeding hearts in the world.
In retrospect, Arkansas Razorbacks fans should be even more appreciative that Jeff Long fired Petrino after his infidelity scandal and subsequent attempted cover up. He could have kept Petrino with the excuse many fans were using–the same one many Penn State fans are using–that it’s not an NCAA rules infraction. He didn’t, and that’s a step in the right direction for college football. John L. Smith, the new Razorback football coach, may not win as much as Petrino was expected to this year, but hopefully the calls to fire Jeff Long, which are already being threatened, won’t be shouted.
Long did the right thing regardless of Razorback wins and losses. Hog fans should be happy that their representative did the right thing.
Besides, since many of them sacrifice their Sunday morning services to join 70,000 worshipers at the altar of athletic triumph on Saturday night, at least it will be for an honorable institution.
Leader sports editor
College football has become one of the biggest idols in America. There are fans in every sport whose loyalty goes beyond reason. But in college football, there is a systematic willingness among fans to delude themselves concerning their favorite team, or rationalize wrong into not so wrong, like in no other sport. Another way of putting it is there is rampant hypocrisy among college football fans.
This epidemic has never been on display more so than in recent months at State College, Pa. That’s where Penn State University is and that’s where former Nittany Lions’ defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky raped at least one, but probably several, little boys, and where several people in authority knew about it, could have stepped in decades ago and put a stop to it, but chose not to.
A quick glance at the blog comments that follow news website stories on the case reveal a proper, nationwide moral disdain for Sandusky’s behavior, and the behavior of the people who aided his actions with their silence. Specifically, people around the country have turned on Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, who up until this scandal broke and it became clear he was involved in keeping Sandusky’s crimes under wraps, had an iconic image as the shining star that exemplified everything that is right about amateur athletics.
A deeper look at Penn State sports blogs reveals that many, if not most, Nittany Lion fans are not yet willing to believe Paterno did anything wrong.
Even this horrible case is not enough to convince most of the people posting on those sites that Paterno is to blame for anything. Rationalizations range from the evidence-contradicted belief that he knew nothing about it, to the desperate argument that poor ole Joe had already begun to lose his mental capacities in 1998 at age 72, and just didn’t understand what was going on, even though he continued to lead a highly successful football team for another 14 years.
For anyone interested, one site with plenty of examples of this can be found at http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=157&f=1395.
There are things about the State College culture that lend itself to this kind of delusion. It’s an isolated town, tucked away, three or four hours from several major cities in all directions, and therefore from major media scrutiny. It’s a small town where a big-time football program with that kind of success for that long can begin to wield a lot of power. Paterno was the head coach there for 46 years and was a true, living icon in that community. It probably is worse there than in most other places. But it’s almost as bad at every college with a major football program.
What makes college football an ironic target for this kind of idolatry is the wholesome, value-laden, love-of-my-university talk college fans love to blandish about.
The truth is, most fans care about the group of 18-to-22-year-olds who wear their favorite team’s shirt winning more than they care about member representatives of their beloved university behaving morally.
Examples can be cited at all the major universities. Let a Razorback rival get caught in a scandal and watch the accusers decked in cardinal and white come out in droves. Then watch as those same people rationalize why Bobby Petrino should have been allowed to keep his job.
The Petrino scandal pales in comparison to Paterno helping cover up child sex abuse, and indeed most Razorback fans, like most around the country, would not be so willing to support Petrino if his crimes were that bad, but at every institution we see fans who are willing to trade away some amount of personal conviction for the joy of winning.
One of the trends that remains a constant is the forgiving attitudes that consume football fans when a star player commits a crime.
These are the people who support throwing drug dealers under the jail, that is until the drug dealer ends up being the starting defensive end. Then football fans become the biggest bleeding hearts in the world.
In retrospect, Arkansas Razorbacks fans should be even more appreciative that Jeff Long fired Petrino after his infidelity scandal and subsequent attempted cover up. He could have kept Petrino with the excuse many fans were using–the same one many Penn State fans are using–that it’s not an NCAA rules infraction. He didn’t, and that’s a step in the right direction for college football. John L. Smith, the new Razorback football coach, may not win as much as Petrino was expected to this year, but hopefully the calls to fire Jeff Long, which are already being threatened, won’t be shouted.
Long did the right thing regardless of Razorback wins and losses. Hog fans should be happy that their representative did the right thing.
Besides, since many of them sacrifice their Sunday morning services to join 70,000 worshipers at the altar of athletic triumph on Saturday night, at least it will be for an honorable institution.
SPORTS STORY>>Sharks stay undefeated
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The Sherwood Sharks ensured their advantage again at this weekend’s Meet of Champs with a dominating victory over Cabot at the Harmon Recreation Center in Sherwood on Saturday.
The Sharks, who will be going for their ninth-consecutive Central Arkansas Swim League title this Saturday, already had a majority of swimmers qualified for the Meet of Champs, and added several more to that list by outscoring their closest rival 1,046.5 to 379.5.
In the boys 6-under division, Sherwood’s Michael Potts dominated the gold division by winning all four events. He was ensured a win in the freestyle event as the only competitor in the gold division with a finals time of 21.91. Sharks teammate Kaden Patterson won the bronze division over Cabot’s Connor Hayre and Sherwood’s Caleb Harper. Potts was also the only competitor in the backstroke gold division while Grant Goodnightsecured five points for the Piranhas with a win in the silver division with a time of 35.31. Shark swimmers swept the points in the bronze division, led by Patterson’s silver-qualifying time of 37.13.
Potts still did not have any competition in the gold breaststroke, but he broke the Harmon pool record in the event with a time of 25.22, surpassing Thomas Heye’s 2005 time of 26.97. Goodnight once again won in the bronze division with a time of 41.41 over teammate Salmi Hutch.
Potts finished his clean sweep, and was once again the only gold-level swimmer in the butterfly event with a time of 30.69. Fellow Shark Kaden Patterson won the bronze event with a time of 42.60.
In the girls 6-under group, Sherwood’s Madelynn Morrow dominated the gold division by winning three events, including the freestyle event with a time of 21.00 over teammate Lorien McCulloch.
Cabot’s Emmalee Crow won the silver division and qualified for gold competition with a time of 25.09. Piranhas teammate Grace Esteban won the bronze event and also qualified for gold with a time of 25.00.
McCulloch prevented Morrow from capturing a clean sweep by winning the gold backstroke event with a time of 25.10 to Morrow’s second-place time of 25.44. Crow once again won the silver division and improved to gold time with a 28.25 while Sherwood’s Skylee Hartley won the bronze event.
Morrow was the only competitor in the gold breaststroke event with a time of 30.50 while Cabot’s Kendal LeQuieu won the silver event with a time of 45.69. Crow made gold for her third-straight stroke by winning the bronze event with a time of 31.72.
Morrow won the gold butterfly event with a time of 25.50 over McCulloch and LeQuieu and teammate Olivia Dunn won the silver event with a time of 39.35. Miya Lamont made it a clean sweep for Sherwood swimmers by winning the bronze event with a time of 40.69.
The boys 7-8 age group was all about Dillon Wood, as the young Sherwood swimmer dominated in four of the five gold events for the bracket. Wood won the freestyle event with a time of 17.15 while Cabot’s J.J. Hayre won the silver event with a time of 20.72. Dylan Harper won the bronze event for the Sharks with a time of 22.60.
Wood also won the backstroke event with a time of 20.25, but it was a close call as teammate Blane Godbee was right behind him with a 20.28. Shark swimmer Jake Hale won the silver event with a time of 23.65. Andrew Deese completed the sweep for Sherwood in the backstroke by winning the bronze division with a time of 25.28.
In the breaststroke event, Wood finished with a more comfortable cushion over Godbee with a time of 22.87 to Godbee’s 23.59, while teammate Joshua Robinson took the silver event with a time of 29.66. Sherwood once again swept all three divisions as James Cureton took first place in the bronze event with a time of 36.27.
Wood made it four straight wins with a dominating time in the gold butterfly event. Wood finished the event in 18.77, with second-place Godbee well behind him with a 23.13. Hayre took the silver event for Cabot with a time of 25.50 while Eric Watkins claimed the bronze event for the Sharks with a time of 28.87 to qualify for silver.
Wood did not compete in the individual-medley event, leaving Godbee to take top time in the gold event with a 1:48.85. Hale won the silver event and qualified for gold with a time of 1:57.06. There was more disparity in the girls 7-8 bracket, though the top spots all went to Sherwood swimmers. Alyssa Riley won the gold butterfly event with a time of 17.72 while Michaela Wood won the silver event with a time of 21.43. Peyton Stafford won the bronze event with a time of 21.97.
Pierson Richart won the gold backstroke event with a time of 21.37 while teammates Michele Potts and Stafford won the silver and bronze events respectively. Richart also won the gold division for the breaststroke with a time of 23.91, and Wood was tops again the silver division with a time of 29.94. Emma Turner completed the sweep for Sherwood with a time of 29.21 in the bronze event, good enough to move up to silver.
Morrow and Riley finished in a dead heat to lead the way in the gold division of the butterfly event with a time of 20.94. Sherwood swimmers also won the silver and bronze events with Faith Wallace scoring a 27.57 in silver and Jessica Sanders with a 28.87 in bronze, improving to silver.
Riley won the gold IM with a time of 1:45.34 while Wood won the silver event with a time of 2:05.41. Potts won the bronze event with a time of 1:49.50, qualifying her to compete in the gold division.
Joseph Potts also came close to sweeping all of the gold events in the boys 9-10 age group by winning the freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and IM events. He broke his own record at Harmon pool in the gold butterfly event with a time of 33.37. Potts did not compete in the breaststroke, but teammate Nicholas Heye secured the top spot for the Sharks in the gold event with a time of 44.19 while Philip Stanley won the silver event and Aiden made it another Sharks sweep with a win the bronze division.
The Piranhas made up ground in the girls 9-10 age bracket and even swept the IM events with Rachel Montanaro winning the gold-level medley with a time of 1:27.65. Jessica Bongfeldt won the silver event for Cabot and Olivia Atkinson completed the sweep with a win in the bronze division. Atkinson’s time of 1:50.65 improved her to silver.
Anna Jaworski helped the Sharks with gold-level wins in the freestyle and backstroke events, while Montanaro won the gold-division breaststroke for Cabot. Dena Hallum took the silver event for the sharks while teammate Kayla White improved to gold with a bronze-winning time of 46.19.
Charlotte Ball won the gold-division butterfly event for Cabot while Sherwood swimmers Maycee Broadway and Madison Curl won the silver and bronze events.
Brendan Daugherty and Jeff Oakley dominated the boys 11-12 age bracket for Sherwood as Daugherty took the top spots in four gold events while Oakley won bronze in three events and silver in the breaststroke.
Teammate Ian Heye won the gold backstroke event while Daugherty won the gold-division freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly and IM.
Camryn Jenkins won the girls’ 11-12 freestyle event in the gold division while Cabot’s Melanie Abbott won the silver division. Jordan Godbee claimed the bronze event for the Sharks.
Brianna Hanley won the gold backstroke event, and teammates Regan Riley and Godbee claimed the silver and bronze events. Shea Copland took first place in the gold breaststroke event for Sherwood during a sweep of the event that included a silver win for Brianna Ushery and a bronze victory for Katie Richardson. Hanley also won the gold division butterfly event while Cabot’s Rachel Sweeney won the gold IM.
The Shark duo of Josh Hale and Jayson Simmons led the way in the boys 13-14 age bracket as Hale won the gold events in the freestyle, breaststroke and butterfly while Simmons was tops for the gold division in the backstroke and IM. Other top performances in the 13-14 group included Sherwood’s Matthew Stinnett and Cabot’s Ben Cameron.
Sherwood’s Erin Wood-ward and Cabot’s Catyee Wright battled for gold supremacy in the girls 13-14 bracket with Woodard taking first place in the backstroke, butterfly and IM while Wright won the freestyle and breaststroke events. Avery Godbee won the silver events in the backstroke and butterfly for Sherwood, and took the bronze-division IM event. Teammate Izzy Franks won the bronze backstroke and silver IM.
The 15-18 age bracket proved to be the most competitive on the boys side with Quanderrius Doss winning the gold-division backstroke for Sherwood while teammate Ian Kerr won the silver event and Cabot’s Blake Thomas taking the bronze division. Sherwood’s Austin Clay won the gold backstroke, with fellow Shark Chris Croson winning silver and Piranha Dylan Speir winning the bronze event. Cabot’s John Santiago won the gold breaststroke and IM events, and teammate Brent Brockel won the gold butterfly event. Kyle Beckley helped the Piranhas out some more by taking bronze-division wins in the breaststroke and IM.
The Piranhas made up ground in the girls 15-18 age group with Emily Grigsby taking gold-division wins in freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and IM. Teammate Riley Young took the only other gold victory in the breaststroke with a Harmon-Pool record time of 36.84. Top performances for Sherwood in the 15-18 bracket included Daniela Filippi and Holly Joseph.
The CASL season comes to a close Saturday at the UALR Donaghey Student Center with the Meet of Champs with competitors from all eight teams participating.
Leader sportswriter
The Sherwood Sharks ensured their advantage again at this weekend’s Meet of Champs with a dominating victory over Cabot at the Harmon Recreation Center in Sherwood on Saturday.
The Sharks, who will be going for their ninth-consecutive Central Arkansas Swim League title this Saturday, already had a majority of swimmers qualified for the Meet of Champs, and added several more to that list by outscoring their closest rival 1,046.5 to 379.5.
In the boys 6-under division, Sherwood’s Michael Potts dominated the gold division by winning all four events. He was ensured a win in the freestyle event as the only competitor in the gold division with a finals time of 21.91. Sharks teammate Kaden Patterson won the bronze division over Cabot’s Connor Hayre and Sherwood’s Caleb Harper. Potts was also the only competitor in the backstroke gold division while Grant Goodnightsecured five points for the Piranhas with a win in the silver division with a time of 35.31. Shark swimmers swept the points in the bronze division, led by Patterson’s silver-qualifying time of 37.13.
Potts still did not have any competition in the gold breaststroke, but he broke the Harmon pool record in the event with a time of 25.22, surpassing Thomas Heye’s 2005 time of 26.97. Goodnight once again won in the bronze division with a time of 41.41 over teammate Salmi Hutch.
Potts finished his clean sweep, and was once again the only gold-level swimmer in the butterfly event with a time of 30.69. Fellow Shark Kaden Patterson won the bronze event with a time of 42.60.
In the girls 6-under group, Sherwood’s Madelynn Morrow dominated the gold division by winning three events, including the freestyle event with a time of 21.00 over teammate Lorien McCulloch.
Cabot’s Emmalee Crow won the silver division and qualified for gold competition with a time of 25.09. Piranhas teammate Grace Esteban won the bronze event and also qualified for gold with a time of 25.00.
McCulloch prevented Morrow from capturing a clean sweep by winning the gold backstroke event with a time of 25.10 to Morrow’s second-place time of 25.44. Crow once again won the silver division and improved to gold time with a 28.25 while Sherwood’s Skylee Hartley won the bronze event.
Morrow was the only competitor in the gold breaststroke event with a time of 30.50 while Cabot’s Kendal LeQuieu won the silver event with a time of 45.69. Crow made gold for her third-straight stroke by winning the bronze event with a time of 31.72.
Morrow won the gold butterfly event with a time of 25.50 over McCulloch and LeQuieu and teammate Olivia Dunn won the silver event with a time of 39.35. Miya Lamont made it a clean sweep for Sherwood swimmers by winning the bronze event with a time of 40.69.
The boys 7-8 age group was all about Dillon Wood, as the young Sherwood swimmer dominated in four of the five gold events for the bracket. Wood won the freestyle event with a time of 17.15 while Cabot’s J.J. Hayre won the silver event with a time of 20.72. Dylan Harper won the bronze event for the Sharks with a time of 22.60.
Wood also won the backstroke event with a time of 20.25, but it was a close call as teammate Blane Godbee was right behind him with a 20.28. Shark swimmer Jake Hale won the silver event with a time of 23.65. Andrew Deese completed the sweep for Sherwood in the backstroke by winning the bronze division with a time of 25.28.
In the breaststroke event, Wood finished with a more comfortable cushion over Godbee with a time of 22.87 to Godbee’s 23.59, while teammate Joshua Robinson took the silver event with a time of 29.66. Sherwood once again swept all three divisions as James Cureton took first place in the bronze event with a time of 36.27.
Wood made it four straight wins with a dominating time in the gold butterfly event. Wood finished the event in 18.77, with second-place Godbee well behind him with a 23.13. Hayre took the silver event for Cabot with a time of 25.50 while Eric Watkins claimed the bronze event for the Sharks with a time of 28.87 to qualify for silver.
Wood did not compete in the individual-medley event, leaving Godbee to take top time in the gold event with a 1:48.85. Hale won the silver event and qualified for gold with a time of 1:57.06. There was more disparity in the girls 7-8 bracket, though the top spots all went to Sherwood swimmers. Alyssa Riley won the gold butterfly event with a time of 17.72 while Michaela Wood won the silver event with a time of 21.43. Peyton Stafford won the bronze event with a time of 21.97.
Pierson Richart won the gold backstroke event with a time of 21.37 while teammates Michele Potts and Stafford won the silver and bronze events respectively. Richart also won the gold division for the breaststroke with a time of 23.91, and Wood was tops again the silver division with a time of 29.94. Emma Turner completed the sweep for Sherwood with a time of 29.21 in the bronze event, good enough to move up to silver.
Morrow and Riley finished in a dead heat to lead the way in the gold division of the butterfly event with a time of 20.94. Sherwood swimmers also won the silver and bronze events with Faith Wallace scoring a 27.57 in silver and Jessica Sanders with a 28.87 in bronze, improving to silver.
Riley won the gold IM with a time of 1:45.34 while Wood won the silver event with a time of 2:05.41. Potts won the bronze event with a time of 1:49.50, qualifying her to compete in the gold division.
Joseph Potts also came close to sweeping all of the gold events in the boys 9-10 age group by winning the freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and IM events. He broke his own record at Harmon pool in the gold butterfly event with a time of 33.37. Potts did not compete in the breaststroke, but teammate Nicholas Heye secured the top spot for the Sharks in the gold event with a time of 44.19 while Philip Stanley won the silver event and Aiden made it another Sharks sweep with a win the bronze division.
The Piranhas made up ground in the girls 9-10 age bracket and even swept the IM events with Rachel Montanaro winning the gold-level medley with a time of 1:27.65. Jessica Bongfeldt won the silver event for Cabot and Olivia Atkinson completed the sweep with a win in the bronze division. Atkinson’s time of 1:50.65 improved her to silver.
Anna Jaworski helped the Sharks with gold-level wins in the freestyle and backstroke events, while Montanaro won the gold-division breaststroke for Cabot. Dena Hallum took the silver event for the sharks while teammate Kayla White improved to gold with a bronze-winning time of 46.19.
Charlotte Ball won the gold-division butterfly event for Cabot while Sherwood swimmers Maycee Broadway and Madison Curl won the silver and bronze events.
Brendan Daugherty and Jeff Oakley dominated the boys 11-12 age bracket for Sherwood as Daugherty took the top spots in four gold events while Oakley won bronze in three events and silver in the breaststroke.
Teammate Ian Heye won the gold backstroke event while Daugherty won the gold-division freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly and IM.
Camryn Jenkins won the girls’ 11-12 freestyle event in the gold division while Cabot’s Melanie Abbott won the silver division. Jordan Godbee claimed the bronze event for the Sharks.
Brianna Hanley won the gold backstroke event, and teammates Regan Riley and Godbee claimed the silver and bronze events. Shea Copland took first place in the gold breaststroke event for Sherwood during a sweep of the event that included a silver win for Brianna Ushery and a bronze victory for Katie Richardson. Hanley also won the gold division butterfly event while Cabot’s Rachel Sweeney won the gold IM.
The Shark duo of Josh Hale and Jayson Simmons led the way in the boys 13-14 age bracket as Hale won the gold events in the freestyle, breaststroke and butterfly while Simmons was tops for the gold division in the backstroke and IM. Other top performances in the 13-14 group included Sherwood’s Matthew Stinnett and Cabot’s Ben Cameron.
Sherwood’s Erin Wood-ward and Cabot’s Catyee Wright battled for gold supremacy in the girls 13-14 bracket with Woodard taking first place in the backstroke, butterfly and IM while Wright won the freestyle and breaststroke events. Avery Godbee won the silver events in the backstroke and butterfly for Sherwood, and took the bronze-division IM event. Teammate Izzy Franks won the bronze backstroke and silver IM.
The 15-18 age bracket proved to be the most competitive on the boys side with Quanderrius Doss winning the gold-division backstroke for Sherwood while teammate Ian Kerr won the silver event and Cabot’s Blake Thomas taking the bronze division. Sherwood’s Austin Clay won the gold backstroke, with fellow Shark Chris Croson winning silver and Piranha Dylan Speir winning the bronze event. Cabot’s John Santiago won the gold breaststroke and IM events, and teammate Brent Brockel won the gold butterfly event. Kyle Beckley helped the Piranhas out some more by taking bronze-division wins in the breaststroke and IM.
The Piranhas made up ground in the girls 15-18 age group with Emily Grigsby taking gold-division wins in freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and IM. Teammate Riley Young took the only other gold victory in the breaststroke with a Harmon-Pool record time of 36.84. Top performances for Sherwood in the 15-18 bracket included Daniela Filippi and Holly Joseph.
The CASL season comes to a close Saturday at the UALR Donaghey Student Center with the Meet of Champs with competitors from all eight teams participating.
SPORTS STORY>>Lonoke still alive in class AA state
By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
BRYANT – After beating Lake Hamilton 9-2 in the opening round of the 2012 Arkansas American Legion AA state tournament on Friday, Lonoke’s Remington Bullets fell 6-2 to Hot Springs Lakeside on Saturday.
Facing elimination on Sunday, Lonoke came from behind to beat Harrison 8-6 at Bishop Park to stay alive in the tournament.
On Saturday, Lonoke struggled both in the field and at the plate as Lakeside led 6-0 after four innings of play. Lakeside put the game out of the reach in the fourth, scoring four runs in the inning. Lonoke tried to rally in the fifth, but could onlymanage two runs to set the final margin.
“We really just had a bad all-around game,” said Lonoke coach Steve Moore about the loss to Lakeside. “We didn’t hit the ball well. We got some runners on base in key positions and had opportunities to score runs, but we didn’t.”
Logan Derosier got the win for Lakeside with 12 strikeouts and three walks in the complete game effort. Catcher Deric Herring led Lonoke at the plate, going 2 for 4 with a RBI.
In the elimination game against Harrison, Lonoke scored a run in the first and second inning to take a 2-0 lead. Chris Hart started on the hill for the Bullets and held Harrison scoreless through the first four innings. But in the top of the fifth, Harrison scored six runs to grab its first lead of the day. Hart gave up four of those runs on six hits.
“Chris Hart pitched a great ball game up until that fifth inning,” Moore said. “I think he got a little tired by that inning. He wasn’t at our game Saturday. He played quarterback in a seven-on-seven tournament Saturday and turned around and pitched Sunday. So, I think by the fifth inning he was a little worn down.”
Lane Moore came in to relieve Guy Halbert later in the inning after Harrison scored its final two runs. In the bottom of the fifth, Lonoke matched Harrison’s run total with six runs of its own to grab the lead for good.
Herring, Halbert and Moore all singled to left field to start the inning, and with the bases loaded, Hart hit a line drive double to left field. Herring and Halbert scored on the play to cut Harrison’s lead to two.
The next at bat, Madison James hit a base-clearing triple to right field to tie the score at six.
Christian James walked one batter later, and Reid McKenzie drove in Madison James on a ground ball to shortstop. With two outs in the inning, Christian James scored on a RBI-double to left field from leadoff hitter Shane Pepper to make the score 8-6.
Moore picked up the win for Lonoke with three strikeouts and no walks in two and one-third innings of work.
Moore led Lonoke at the plate as well, going 3 for 4 with a RBI. Hart and Pepper each went 2 for 4 with two RBIs, while Herring, Halbert, and the James brothers each had a hit.
Lonoke will continue its pursuit of the AA state championship Friday against Hot Springs Village. The elimination game will start at 4:30 p.m. at the Bryant High School field.
Leader sportswriter
BRYANT – After beating Lake Hamilton 9-2 in the opening round of the 2012 Arkansas American Legion AA state tournament on Friday, Lonoke’s Remington Bullets fell 6-2 to Hot Springs Lakeside on Saturday.
Facing elimination on Sunday, Lonoke came from behind to beat Harrison 8-6 at Bishop Park to stay alive in the tournament.
On Saturday, Lonoke struggled both in the field and at the plate as Lakeside led 6-0 after four innings of play. Lakeside put the game out of the reach in the fourth, scoring four runs in the inning. Lonoke tried to rally in the fifth, but could onlymanage two runs to set the final margin.
“We really just had a bad all-around game,” said Lonoke coach Steve Moore about the loss to Lakeside. “We didn’t hit the ball well. We got some runners on base in key positions and had opportunities to score runs, but we didn’t.”
Logan Derosier got the win for Lakeside with 12 strikeouts and three walks in the complete game effort. Catcher Deric Herring led Lonoke at the plate, going 2 for 4 with a RBI.
In the elimination game against Harrison, Lonoke scored a run in the first and second inning to take a 2-0 lead. Chris Hart started on the hill for the Bullets and held Harrison scoreless through the first four innings. But in the top of the fifth, Harrison scored six runs to grab its first lead of the day. Hart gave up four of those runs on six hits.
“Chris Hart pitched a great ball game up until that fifth inning,” Moore said. “I think he got a little tired by that inning. He wasn’t at our game Saturday. He played quarterback in a seven-on-seven tournament Saturday and turned around and pitched Sunday. So, I think by the fifth inning he was a little worn down.”
Lane Moore came in to relieve Guy Halbert later in the inning after Harrison scored its final two runs. In the bottom of the fifth, Lonoke matched Harrison’s run total with six runs of its own to grab the lead for good.
Herring, Halbert and Moore all singled to left field to start the inning, and with the bases loaded, Hart hit a line drive double to left field. Herring and Halbert scored on the play to cut Harrison’s lead to two.
The next at bat, Madison James hit a base-clearing triple to right field to tie the score at six.
Christian James walked one batter later, and Reid McKenzie drove in Madison James on a ground ball to shortstop. With two outs in the inning, Christian James scored on a RBI-double to left field from leadoff hitter Shane Pepper to make the score 8-6.
Moore picked up the win for Lonoke with three strikeouts and no walks in two and one-third innings of work.
Moore led Lonoke at the plate as well, going 3 for 4 with a RBI. Hart and Pepper each went 2 for 4 with two RBIs, while Herring, Halbert, and the James brothers each had a hit.
Lonoke will continue its pursuit of the AA state championship Friday against Hot Springs Village. The elimination game will start at 4:30 p.m. at the Bryant High School field.
SPORTS STORY>>Centennial team had great year
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Bad luck and fielding mistakes spelled an early exit for the Cabot-Centennial Bank Junior American Legion team from the state tournament in Sheridan. After cruising through most of the Zone 3 tournament, the Panthers lost two straight at state, blowing a late lead and falling 6-5 to Paragould late Friday night, then losing 6-2 to Sheridan on Saturday.
Just before the tournament began, starter and leading hitter Riley Knudsen’s season ended with a mononucleosis diagnosis. Starting outfield Dylan Bowers rolled hisankle in the first inning against Paragould, and starting first baseman Coleman McAtee broke his arm in a collision at first base in the first inning against Sheridan.
“It was just one of those tournaments where if anything could go wrong, it did,” Cabot coach Chris Gross said. “We lost some key players and then we had key players making lots of mistakes. We made way too many errors to win games at the state-tournament level.”
Cabot led 5-0 after three-and-a-half innings against Paragould. Starting pitcher Adam Hicks went six innings, giving up just three earned runs, struck out eight and walked zero. Cabot out-hit Paragould 10-8, but three errors aided the Glen-Sain team’s comeback.
Gavin Tillery threw a one-hitter on Saturday against Sheridan, but walks and errors led to five unearned runs for the host team.
Despite the rough state tournament, Cabot closed the season winning 13 of its last 14 games, going from 13-12 to 26-13 heading into the tournament. The Panthers finished the season with a record of 26-15, with the 26 wins breaking the team’s previous season-win record of 23.
“Overall we had a great year,” Gross said. “We won 26 games for a team record. We started the season poorly. We couldn’t hit the ball at all, and they really turned that around. We had some guys really step up big for us offensively.”
“I don’t have all the totals added up yet, but Riley broke out base hits record and I think our doubles record,” Gross said. “Tristan Bulice broke the home run record. He broke his own record. Last year he hit four, this year he hit five for us. I’m pretty sure there are some other records this team broke.”
Naming a most-improved player was difficult for Gross, but he finally settled on Austin Null.
“From last year to this year it’s Austin,” Gross said. “I’d have trouble singling anyone out for improvement over the course of this season, but from last year to this year, Austin has made a big strides.”
While Gross wouldn’t name a most-improved, he did have a reliable catcher at the end of the season in Dalten Hurst. Bulice also catches, but the original plan was to only certify Bulice as a senior player. He ended up double certifying, but Hurst was still handling most of the duties behind the plate by the end of the year because Bulice was starting for both Cabot teams.
“Dalten got 100 percent better,” Gross said. “He was terrible at the beginning of the season because he hadn’t played this level much. He just worked at it and got better.”
Only one player off the 2012 Centennial Junior team surpasses the junior-level age limit next season.
“I’m really excited about what this team has the potential to do next year,” Gross said. Tillery really came on strong pitching for us. Next year will be the big tell for him. He’s long and left-handed. If his velocity comes up he’ll have some people looking closely at him. Hicks holds our ERA record and we’ll have him back. Lee Sullivan might have been out No. 1 pitcher this year if he hadn’t got hurt early on. So we should be strong pitching and hitting next year.”
Leader sports editor
Bad luck and fielding mistakes spelled an early exit for the Cabot-Centennial Bank Junior American Legion team from the state tournament in Sheridan. After cruising through most of the Zone 3 tournament, the Panthers lost two straight at state, blowing a late lead and falling 6-5 to Paragould late Friday night, then losing 6-2 to Sheridan on Saturday.
Just before the tournament began, starter and leading hitter Riley Knudsen’s season ended with a mononucleosis diagnosis. Starting outfield Dylan Bowers rolled hisankle in the first inning against Paragould, and starting first baseman Coleman McAtee broke his arm in a collision at first base in the first inning against Sheridan.
“It was just one of those tournaments where if anything could go wrong, it did,” Cabot coach Chris Gross said. “We lost some key players and then we had key players making lots of mistakes. We made way too many errors to win games at the state-tournament level.”
Cabot led 5-0 after three-and-a-half innings against Paragould. Starting pitcher Adam Hicks went six innings, giving up just three earned runs, struck out eight and walked zero. Cabot out-hit Paragould 10-8, but three errors aided the Glen-Sain team’s comeback.
Gavin Tillery threw a one-hitter on Saturday against Sheridan, but walks and errors led to five unearned runs for the host team.
Despite the rough state tournament, Cabot closed the season winning 13 of its last 14 games, going from 13-12 to 26-13 heading into the tournament. The Panthers finished the season with a record of 26-15, with the 26 wins breaking the team’s previous season-win record of 23.
“Overall we had a great year,” Gross said. “We won 26 games for a team record. We started the season poorly. We couldn’t hit the ball at all, and they really turned that around. We had some guys really step up big for us offensively.”
“I don’t have all the totals added up yet, but Riley broke out base hits record and I think our doubles record,” Gross said. “Tristan Bulice broke the home run record. He broke his own record. Last year he hit four, this year he hit five for us. I’m pretty sure there are some other records this team broke.”
Naming a most-improved player was difficult for Gross, but he finally settled on Austin Null.
“From last year to this year it’s Austin,” Gross said. “I’d have trouble singling anyone out for improvement over the course of this season, but from last year to this year, Austin has made a big strides.”
While Gross wouldn’t name a most-improved, he did have a reliable catcher at the end of the season in Dalten Hurst. Bulice also catches, but the original plan was to only certify Bulice as a senior player. He ended up double certifying, but Hurst was still handling most of the duties behind the plate by the end of the year because Bulice was starting for both Cabot teams.
“Dalten got 100 percent better,” Gross said. “He was terrible at the beginning of the season because he hadn’t played this level much. He just worked at it and got better.”
Only one player off the 2012 Centennial Junior team surpasses the junior-level age limit next season.
“I’m really excited about what this team has the potential to do next year,” Gross said. Tillery really came on strong pitching for us. Next year will be the big tell for him. He’s long and left-handed. If his velocity comes up he’ll have some people looking closely at him. Hicks holds our ERA record and we’ll have him back. Lee Sullivan might have been out No. 1 pitcher this year if he hadn’t got hurt early on. So we should be strong pitching and hitting next year.”
SPORTS STORY>>Jacksonville ousted after tough losses
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
SHERIDAN – Jackson-ville’s junior American Legion team was ousted from the state tournament on Sunday with a 13-1 loss to tournament host Sheridan. It was the second blowout loss for the Gwatney squad since winning its opening-round game 16-12 over Genoa Central. On Saturday, Gwatney lost 14-1 to Zone 4’s top seeded Texarkana.
All three Zone 4 teams made it to the semifinals. Genoa Central faced Jonesboro Fat City on Monday while Sheridan faced Texarkana.
Fat City and Texarkana played for the state championship Tuesday night in Sheridan.
Jacksonville simply ran out of pitching. Gwatney’s No. 1 starter in the pitching rotation, Derek St. Clair, has been nursing a sore arm for the past several games and his time on the mound has been limited. He made an appearance in the second inning against Sheridan, but left with arm trouble after facing just six batters.
Blake Perry and James Tucker handled most of the work, but weren’t able to hold off the strong hitting Zone 4 teams.
Several fielding errors compounded the problem and Gwatney found itself in deep holes early in both state-tournament losses.
Sheridan held a 10-0 lead in the middle of the secondinning before Gwatney scored its only run of the game in the bottom of the same inning. Justin Abbott singled to left field and advanced to third on an errant pickoff throw from the mound. Greg Jones then hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield that scored Abbott.
Abbott’s base hit was the first of just two for Gwatney in the game.
Sheridan’s first three batters got base hits without hitting the ball out of the infield. Tucker got the next two batters out the Sheridan’s lead was only 1-0 with two runners on base. But six-hole hitter Lathan Wylie finally made solid contact, a line drive, RBI double to right-centerfield for a 3-1, and the floodgates were open.
Another single scored another run and a walk left runners on first and second. Nine-hole hitter Keaton Ramsay then singled to shallow right field that should have just left the bases loaded, but an error fielding the ball on the hop allowed one run to score, and an error fielding the throw to the infield allowed another.
In the second inning, an error with one out kickstarted Sheridan’s rally that gave them a 10-0 lead. An infield single scored one run and a walk put two runners on base.
After a strikeout, a passed ball made it 2-0 and a two-RBI hit to right field gave Sheridan the 10-run lead, prompting coach David St. Clair to bring Derek St. Clair to the mound.
He fanned the first batter he faced to get out of the jam. He gave up one hit, no runs and struck out two more in the third inning. In the fourth, John Strange drove a single to centerfield on the first pitch and St. Clair immediately signaled to the dugout that his arm was hurt.
The Gwatney Junior squad finished the season with a record of 18-9. Most of the lineup, including all the starting pitching rotation, returns to the junior level next season.
Leader sports editor
SHERIDAN – Jackson-ville’s junior American Legion team was ousted from the state tournament on Sunday with a 13-1 loss to tournament host Sheridan. It was the second blowout loss for the Gwatney squad since winning its opening-round game 16-12 over Genoa Central. On Saturday, Gwatney lost 14-1 to Zone 4’s top seeded Texarkana.
All three Zone 4 teams made it to the semifinals. Genoa Central faced Jonesboro Fat City on Monday while Sheridan faced Texarkana.
Fat City and Texarkana played for the state championship Tuesday night in Sheridan.
Jacksonville simply ran out of pitching. Gwatney’s No. 1 starter in the pitching rotation, Derek St. Clair, has been nursing a sore arm for the past several games and his time on the mound has been limited. He made an appearance in the second inning against Sheridan, but left with arm trouble after facing just six batters.
Blake Perry and James Tucker handled most of the work, but weren’t able to hold off the strong hitting Zone 4 teams.
Several fielding errors compounded the problem and Gwatney found itself in deep holes early in both state-tournament losses.
Sheridan held a 10-0 lead in the middle of the secondinning before Gwatney scored its only run of the game in the bottom of the same inning. Justin Abbott singled to left field and advanced to third on an errant pickoff throw from the mound. Greg Jones then hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield that scored Abbott.
Abbott’s base hit was the first of just two for Gwatney in the game.
Sheridan’s first three batters got base hits without hitting the ball out of the infield. Tucker got the next two batters out the Sheridan’s lead was only 1-0 with two runners on base. But six-hole hitter Lathan Wylie finally made solid contact, a line drive, RBI double to right-centerfield for a 3-1, and the floodgates were open.
Another single scored another run and a walk left runners on first and second. Nine-hole hitter Keaton Ramsay then singled to shallow right field that should have just left the bases loaded, but an error fielding the ball on the hop allowed one run to score, and an error fielding the throw to the infield allowed another.
In the second inning, an error with one out kickstarted Sheridan’s rally that gave them a 10-0 lead. An infield single scored one run and a walk put two runners on base.
After a strikeout, a passed ball made it 2-0 and a two-RBI hit to right field gave Sheridan the 10-run lead, prompting coach David St. Clair to bring Derek St. Clair to the mound.
He fanned the first batter he faced to get out of the jam. He gave up one hit, no runs and struck out two more in the third inning. In the fourth, John Strange drove a single to centerfield on the first pitch and St. Clair immediately signaled to the dugout that his arm was hurt.
The Gwatney Junior squad finished the season with a record of 18-9. Most of the lineup, including all the starting pitching rotation, returns to the junior level next season.
EDITORIAL>>She covers water front
Woody Bryant, the project manager for the Lonoke- White Water Project, made a point of acknowledging everyone involved with the $57 million project during the groundbreaking ceremony in Ward on Friday morning.
Later, as the dignitaries donned hardhats and dug into a row of turned earth beside the Ward Chamber of Commerce building for a groundbreaking ceremony, Terry House, the manager of Grand Prairie Bayou Two, the water association that sued to get control of the project away from its original owners, joked that Bryant should have acknowledged me because I’ve been with the project as long as anyone.
Frankly, I’ve been with it longer.
I have covered the Lonoke-White Project since it was nothing but a scowl on the faces of the North Little Rock Water Commission and a gleam in the eye of Greg Smith, the manager of Community Water Systems in Greers Ferry, which got the project started.
Back then, 18 years ago, North Little Rock was growing weary of Little Rock refusing to sell them water for the subdivisions that developed on the outskirts of the city and were eyeing Cove Creek on Greers Ferry Lake.
Water officials talked about building an intake facility at Cove Creek and laying a waterline all the way back to North Little Rock that would supply them. And they could pick up customers along the way to help pay for it all.
They were still talking when Smith announced a similar plan was under way. CWS would build a project for Lonoke and White counties just like it was building for Faulkner and Cleveland counties. People in all four counties needed the water, in some cases desperately needed it. CWS could supply that need and by adding customers, it could keep its customers’ rates low.
That was how Smith explained it to me when I asked, “What’s in it for CWS?”
It wasn’t long before the rumblings of discontent started among the members of the Lonoke-White Project. The water was going to cost more than they wanted to pay and they didn’t like that they would have only one vote on the CWS board.
The timeline has become blurred over the years. I can’t remember dates only thereabouts. But I do recall that it was early on that Smith talked to the Cabot City Council when Joe Allman was mayor and the Ward City Council when Butch Phillips was mayor saying the grant money they hoped to have to start the project wasn’t available.
Like the water in their wells, the grant money was drying up.
About that time, maybe 14 years ago, Beebe pulled out, taking with it the only reason the project was called Lonoke White since Beebe was the only White County city involved.
Given the option of paying more for Greers Ferry water or sticking with their wells that showed no signs of decline, Beebe voters went with the wells.
That was a big loss for the project. Beebe was the largest city with an average income low enough to make the project eligible for grants if they became available.
In the meantime, the Faulkner-Cleveland Project was completed and Cabot dug wells to supply residents. Cabot still saw surface water as its best option for a longterm source of water but CWS insisted the new wells must be closed after lake water was available, sooner even than the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, which regulates municipal wells, said they must be.
But on the horizon was a new alliance that would offer a better deal. North Little Rock and Little Rock were no longer at odds over water. They were becoming one. It literally took an act of Congress, but together the two water departments became Central Arkansas Water, and they were looking for customers outside Pulaski County.
The water was cheaper than from CWS and Cabot pulled out of the Lonoke-White Project. That act set off a desperate chain reaction. Without Cabot, CWS found new members but still needed to increase rates of customers of the Faulkner-Cleveland Project to help pay for Lonoke-White. Faulkner-Cleveland customers understandably balked, and the project came to a dead stop even though ANRC stood ready to loan construction money.
Eventually, Grand Prairie Bayou Two, which came in after Cabot pulled out, filed suit to get control of the project for the newly formed Lonoke-White Public Water Authority.
They won and all the members benefited. They owned it, but there was no money for construction.
There was hope for a time after Barack Obama became president and economic stimulus money became available for shovel-ready projects. The Lonoke- White Project met that requirement because it had made it all the way through the bidding process years before.
That hope ended when it became clear that the federal government was not giving or lending money stimulus money for any water project where the need was not immediate. And over the years, as the project floundered, the members found other sources. They needed the water for the future but not now.
By that time, Beebe was back., The other members are Jacksonville, Ward, Austin, Furlow, North Pulaski, Vilonia and Grand Prairie/Bayou Two.
Cut to Friday morning and the celebration over funding. The governor was there because the state is contributing a loan of almost $31 million to build the project. The Congressional delegation was there because the fed is contributing a loan of almost $26 million. And I was there because it’s my job and because I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.
I never think of the Lonoke-White Project without remembering that little engine that could. And I was happy for everyone involved even though my name wasn’t called during the acknowledgements.
—Joan McCoy
Later, as the dignitaries donned hardhats and dug into a row of turned earth beside the Ward Chamber of Commerce building for a groundbreaking ceremony, Terry House, the manager of Grand Prairie Bayou Two, the water association that sued to get control of the project away from its original owners, joked that Bryant should have acknowledged me because I’ve been with the project as long as anyone.
Frankly, I’ve been with it longer.
I have covered the Lonoke-White Project since it was nothing but a scowl on the faces of the North Little Rock Water Commission and a gleam in the eye of Greg Smith, the manager of Community Water Systems in Greers Ferry, which got the project started.
Back then, 18 years ago, North Little Rock was growing weary of Little Rock refusing to sell them water for the subdivisions that developed on the outskirts of the city and were eyeing Cove Creek on Greers Ferry Lake.
Water officials talked about building an intake facility at Cove Creek and laying a waterline all the way back to North Little Rock that would supply them. And they could pick up customers along the way to help pay for it all.
They were still talking when Smith announced a similar plan was under way. CWS would build a project for Lonoke and White counties just like it was building for Faulkner and Cleveland counties. People in all four counties needed the water, in some cases desperately needed it. CWS could supply that need and by adding customers, it could keep its customers’ rates low.
That was how Smith explained it to me when I asked, “What’s in it for CWS?”
It wasn’t long before the rumblings of discontent started among the members of the Lonoke-White Project. The water was going to cost more than they wanted to pay and they didn’t like that they would have only one vote on the CWS board.
The timeline has become blurred over the years. I can’t remember dates only thereabouts. But I do recall that it was early on that Smith talked to the Cabot City Council when Joe Allman was mayor and the Ward City Council when Butch Phillips was mayor saying the grant money they hoped to have to start the project wasn’t available.
Like the water in their wells, the grant money was drying up.
About that time, maybe 14 years ago, Beebe pulled out, taking with it the only reason the project was called Lonoke White since Beebe was the only White County city involved.
Given the option of paying more for Greers Ferry water or sticking with their wells that showed no signs of decline, Beebe voters went with the wells.
That was a big loss for the project. Beebe was the largest city with an average income low enough to make the project eligible for grants if they became available.
In the meantime, the Faulkner-Cleveland Project was completed and Cabot dug wells to supply residents. Cabot still saw surface water as its best option for a longterm source of water but CWS insisted the new wells must be closed after lake water was available, sooner even than the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, which regulates municipal wells, said they must be.
But on the horizon was a new alliance that would offer a better deal. North Little Rock and Little Rock were no longer at odds over water. They were becoming one. It literally took an act of Congress, but together the two water departments became Central Arkansas Water, and they were looking for customers outside Pulaski County.
The water was cheaper than from CWS and Cabot pulled out of the Lonoke-White Project. That act set off a desperate chain reaction. Without Cabot, CWS found new members but still needed to increase rates of customers of the Faulkner-Cleveland Project to help pay for Lonoke-White. Faulkner-Cleveland customers understandably balked, and the project came to a dead stop even though ANRC stood ready to loan construction money.
Eventually, Grand Prairie Bayou Two, which came in after Cabot pulled out, filed suit to get control of the project for the newly formed Lonoke-White Public Water Authority.
They won and all the members benefited. They owned it, but there was no money for construction.
There was hope for a time after Barack Obama became president and economic stimulus money became available for shovel-ready projects. The Lonoke- White Project met that requirement because it had made it all the way through the bidding process years before.
That hope ended when it became clear that the federal government was not giving or lending money stimulus money for any water project where the need was not immediate. And over the years, as the project floundered, the members found other sources. They needed the water for the future but not now.
By that time, Beebe was back., The other members are Jacksonville, Ward, Austin, Furlow, North Pulaski, Vilonia and Grand Prairie/Bayou Two.
Cut to Friday morning and the celebration over funding. The governor was there because the state is contributing a loan of almost $31 million to build the project. The Congressional delegation was there because the fed is contributing a loan of almost $26 million. And I was there because it’s my job and because I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.
I never think of the Lonoke-White Project without remembering that little engine that could. And I was happy for everyone involved even though my name wasn’t called during the acknowledgements.
—Joan McCoy
TOP STORY>>Bain invested in LR ‘medical-waste’ firm
By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader executive editor
If you’re wondering why Mitt Romney is distancing himself from the investment company he founded, it’s not just because he bought businesses that cost thousands of American jobs after factories closed down and work was outsourced to China and other countries.
You’ve heard all that during the Republican primaries and now from the Obama campaign. What you probably don’t know is that Bain and Company, the investment firm Romney founded and owned until 2002, was the majority owner of a Little Rock-based medical-waste disposal company called Stericycle.
Stericycle not only disposes of medical equipment, body parts, blood, syringes, gowns and gloves, but it also picks up fetuses from abortion clinics, including one in Little Rock and elsewhere.
According to Stericycle’s website, “We’ve got your office covered with a service that goes well beyond the pickup (sic) of a box.”
Stericycle, which is still active in Arkansas, operates facilities in Benton and elsewhere, which are monitored by the Department of Environmental Quality, formerly Pollution Control and Ecology. An ADEQ spokesperson told us Stericyle “transports medical waste from its Arkansas facilities to disposal/incineration facilities in other states.” Boxes are sealed and trucked to disposal sites, including Texas, where Stericycle was fined for illegally dumping fetuses.
Abortion opponents have posted several videos on You Tube showing Stericycle’s trucks speeding down I-30 toward the company’s plant in Benton. Another website lists locations where Stericycle does business in Arkansas. (See stopstericycle.com. Some of the pictures are disturbing.)
Sure, Romney says he wasn’t actively involved in Bain after he left to manage the Winter Olympics in Utah in 1999. But he was Bain’s sole stockholder and was listed as its chief executive until 2002.
Romney was still pro-choice back then and ran for Massachusetts governor as a progressive. He thought climate change was man-made, and he supported cap and trade to reduce pollution. He pushed through health-insurance mandates (Romneycare) while he was governor.
Running for president in 2008, Romney changed his mind on those issues as he did on abortion.
Romney loves outsourcing. This year’s U.S. Olympics uniforms were made in China, but Mitt pioneered this practice for the 2002 Winter Olympics. He had the uniforms made in Burma, another authoritarian state. It’s a subject he’d rather not talk about.
In any case, Stericycle was not the kind of business the presidential nominee of a pro-life party should have been involved with, even if, as Romney claims, he was only drawing a (six-figure) salary and deferred compensation from Bain without actively managing the firm.
A little background about Stericycle:
Dr. James Sharp started the company with a group of investors in Little Rock in February 1990. Sharp got the idea for the company when he was still in school in the 1980s and noticed how difficult it was to get rid of medical waste without violating environmental rules.
He presented a business plan to investors, who in a few years helped make Stericycle the largest medical-waste disposal company in the nation.
According to an article by David Corn in Mother Jones (“Romney invested in medical-waste firm that disposed of aborted fetuses, government documents show”), Stericycle at first irradiated its waste and then used radio waves before burning or burying the waste.
The company grew more dramatically when sharpies at Bain and Company took note of Stericycle in 2000 and saw its full potential. Romney was away organizing the Winter Olympics, but he was still listed as Bain’s CEO and sole stockholder.
In papers filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Romney said he still attended board meetings, which proved he was a resident of Massachusetts, where Bain was based, thus making him eligible to run for governor.
Corn says Bain had made a smart bet on Stericycle, almost doubling its $75 million investment. Much of that money went into Romney’s pockets. (Should he give the money to charity, perhaps to children’s hospitals in the poverty-stricken Delta?)
Romney should release the minutes of Bain’s board meetings to clarify his involvement with Stericycle.
How often did he attend meetings? How much was he paid? How much money did he take out of the company?
We would know if he re-leased his tax returns for the last 20 years, which would also shed light on those mysterious foreign bank accounts, including a rumored $100 million IRA.
Rick Santorum called Rom-ney “the worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama.” The former presidential candidate urged primary voters to “pick any other Republican in the country” than Romney, calling him “uniquely disqualified.”
There’s no telling what else Santorum would have said if he’d known about Stericycle during the primaries.
Leader executive editor
If you’re wondering why Mitt Romney is distancing himself from the investment company he founded, it’s not just because he bought businesses that cost thousands of American jobs after factories closed down and work was outsourced to China and other countries.
You’ve heard all that during the Republican primaries and now from the Obama campaign. What you probably don’t know is that Bain and Company, the investment firm Romney founded and owned until 2002, was the majority owner of a Little Rock-based medical-waste disposal company called Stericycle.
Stericycle not only disposes of medical equipment, body parts, blood, syringes, gowns and gloves, but it also picks up fetuses from abortion clinics, including one in Little Rock and elsewhere.
According to Stericycle’s website, “We’ve got your office covered with a service that goes well beyond the pickup (sic) of a box.”
Stericycle, which is still active in Arkansas, operates facilities in Benton and elsewhere, which are monitored by the Department of Environmental Quality, formerly Pollution Control and Ecology. An ADEQ spokesperson told us Stericyle “transports medical waste from its Arkansas facilities to disposal/incineration facilities in other states.” Boxes are sealed and trucked to disposal sites, including Texas, where Stericycle was fined for illegally dumping fetuses.
Abortion opponents have posted several videos on You Tube showing Stericycle’s trucks speeding down I-30 toward the company’s plant in Benton. Another website lists locations where Stericycle does business in Arkansas. (See stopstericycle.com. Some of the pictures are disturbing.)
Sure, Romney says he wasn’t actively involved in Bain after he left to manage the Winter Olympics in Utah in 1999. But he was Bain’s sole stockholder and was listed as its chief executive until 2002.
Romney was still pro-choice back then and ran for Massachusetts governor as a progressive. He thought climate change was man-made, and he supported cap and trade to reduce pollution. He pushed through health-insurance mandates (Romneycare) while he was governor.
Running for president in 2008, Romney changed his mind on those issues as he did on abortion.
Romney loves outsourcing. This year’s U.S. Olympics uniforms were made in China, but Mitt pioneered this practice for the 2002 Winter Olympics. He had the uniforms made in Burma, another authoritarian state. It’s a subject he’d rather not talk about.
In any case, Stericycle was not the kind of business the presidential nominee of a pro-life party should have been involved with, even if, as Romney claims, he was only drawing a (six-figure) salary and deferred compensation from Bain without actively managing the firm.
A little background about Stericycle:
Dr. James Sharp started the company with a group of investors in Little Rock in February 1990. Sharp got the idea for the company when he was still in school in the 1980s and noticed how difficult it was to get rid of medical waste without violating environmental rules.
He presented a business plan to investors, who in a few years helped make Stericycle the largest medical-waste disposal company in the nation.
According to an article by David Corn in Mother Jones (“Romney invested in medical-waste firm that disposed of aborted fetuses, government documents show”), Stericycle at first irradiated its waste and then used radio waves before burning or burying the waste.
The company grew more dramatically when sharpies at Bain and Company took note of Stericycle in 2000 and saw its full potential. Romney was away organizing the Winter Olympics, but he was still listed as Bain’s CEO and sole stockholder.
In papers filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Romney said he still attended board meetings, which proved he was a resident of Massachusetts, where Bain was based, thus making him eligible to run for governor.
Corn says Bain had made a smart bet on Stericycle, almost doubling its $75 million investment. Much of that money went into Romney’s pockets. (Should he give the money to charity, perhaps to children’s hospitals in the poverty-stricken Delta?)
Romney should release the minutes of Bain’s board meetings to clarify his involvement with Stericycle.
How often did he attend meetings? How much was he paid? How much money did he take out of the company?
We would know if he re-leased his tax returns for the last 20 years, which would also shed light on those mysterious foreign bank accounts, including a rumored $100 million IRA.
Rick Santorum called Rom-ney “the worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama.” The former presidential candidate urged primary voters to “pick any other Republican in the country” than Romney, calling him “uniquely disqualified.”
There’s no telling what else Santorum would have said if he’d known about Stericycle during the primaries.
TOP STORY>>Cabot outperforms state on test
By RICK RKON
Leader staff writer
This is the third in a series of articles taking an in-depth analysis of the 2012 Benchmark and end-of-course exams.
The Cabot School District continues to outperform the state. Five schools have beaten the state every year for the past five years at every grade in both math and literacy. Those schools are Eastside, Magness Creek, Southside, Stagecoach elementary schools and Cabot Middle School South.
Even though no school recorded a 100 percent on any of the 2012 mandated tests like Arnold Drive Elementary on Little Rock Air Force Base did, many of the schools had outstanding scores. Stagecoach Elementary fourth-graders were near perfect with a 98 percent proficiency rate on the math exams. Southside third-graders were 97 percent perfect on the math exams.
In the Beebe School District, third-graders at the intermediate school scored 98 percent proficient or advanced in math and the district students beat the state averages at the third-, fourth- and fifth-grade level.
But scores showed students struggling in Lonoke as none of the grades beat the state average on the 2012 benchmark tests.
The exams are given annually each year as part of the No Child Left Behind Act and test students’ ability to read, write and work math at grade level. A score of proficient or better says the student is at grade level or above.
All students are supposed to be proficient or advanced by the end of the 2013-2014 school year.
CENTRAL
At Central Elementary, third-graders were 75 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 and moved up to 92 percent on the 2012 exams, 10 points above the state average. In math, the students fell backwards, going from 94 percent proficient in 2008 to 91 percent in 2012, but still beating the state mark by four points.
Among fourth-graders, students went from 73 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 to a high of 94 percent in 2011 and then fell to 81 percent in 2012, four points below the state mark. In math, students were at 81 percent proficient in 2008, then 93 percent in 2011 before falling to 89 percent in 2012, but still seven points above the state average.
EASTSIDE
The school has beaten the state average in third and fourth grade over the past five years. Third-graders went from 7 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 to 95 percent in 2012, 13 points over the state mark. In math, students were at 95 percent proficient in 2008, up to 96 percent in 2011 and then down to 94 percent in 2012, still seven points over the state average.
In the fourth grade, students were 75 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 and 89 percent in 2012, four points better than the state average. In math, students stayed pretty consistent, going from 90 percent proficient in 2008 to 91 percent in 2012, nine points above the state average.
MAGNESS CREEK
Students at this school also beat the state average in every grade and subject over the past five years. In third grade, students were at 79 percent proficient in literary in 2008, topped off at 90 percent in 2011 and then 83 percent in 2012, just a point over the state average. In math, students were at 98 percent proficient in 2008, up to 99 percent the next year and then at 94 percent in 2012, seven points better than the state mark.
In fourth grade, students were 88 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 and 96 percent in 2012, 11 points over the state average. In math, students fell slightly backwards going from 93 percent in 2008 to 94 percent in 2011 and then 92 percent in 2012, up 10 points from the state mark.
MOUNTAIN SPRINGS
Mountain Springs has been open for only two years, but both years beat the state averages. In third grade, students were 84 percent proficient in literacy in 2011 and 95 percent in 2012, 13 points over the state average. In math, students were 94 percent proficient in 2011 and 95 percent proficient in 2012, eight points over the state average.
In fourth grade, students were 92 percent proficient in 2011 and 96 percent in 2012, 11 points better than the state. In math, students went from 98 percent proficient in 2011 to 95 percent in 2012, 13 points over the state average.
NORTHSIDE
In the third grade, students went from 66 percent proficient in 2008 to 86 percent in 2011 and then 83 percent in 2012, a point better than the state average. In math, students fell back slightly going from 89 percent in 2008 to 91 percent in 2011 and then 88 percent in 2012, still a point better than the state average.
Among fourth-graders, 80 percent of the students were proficient in literacy in 2008 and 91 percent in 2012, six points better than the state. In math, 82 percent were proficient in 2008, up to 94 percent in 2011, then down to 87 percent in 2012, still five points better than the state average.
SOUTHSIDE
Southside students have also beaten the state averages every year over the past five years. In third grade, 77 percent of the students were proficient in literacy in 2008 and 88 percent in 2012, six points better than the state average. In math, students were 84 percent proficient in 2008 and 97 percent proficient in 2012, 10 points better than the state mark.
In the fourth grade, students were 84 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 and at 88 percent proficient the last three years, three points better than the state. In math, students fell slightly, going from 90 percent proficient in 2008 to 88 percent in 2012, still six points above the state average.
STAGECOACH
Stagecoach Elementary was another Cabot school where students beat the state average in literacy and math over the past five years. In the third grade, students were 80 percent proficient in 2008, topped out at 88 percent in 2011 and then fell to 86 percent in 2012, still four points better than the state mark. In math, students went from 99 percent proficient in 2008 to 95 percent in 2012, eight points above the state average.
In fourth grade, students were 72 percent proficient in 2008 in literacy and 95 percent proficient in 2011 and 2012, 10 points over the state mark. In math, students went from 88 percent proficient in 2008 to 98 percent (best in the district) in 2012, 16 points better than the state average.
WARD CENTRAL
In third grade, students went from 59 percent proficient in 2008 to 85 percent in 2012, three points above the state average. In math, students went from 82 percent in 2008 to 90 percent in 2012, again three points better than the state.
Among fourth-graders, students were 64 percent proficient in 2008 in literacy and 93 percent in 2012, eight points better than the state. In math, students went from 75 percent proficient in 2008 to 90 percent in 2012, eight points better than the state mark.
WESTSIDE
In third grade, students went from 75 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 to 70 percent in 2010, then 84 percent in 2012, two points above the state mark. In math, students went from 79 percent proficient in 2008 to 93 percent in 2012, six points better than the state average.
For fourth grade, 82 percent of the students were proficient in literacy in 2008, then it fell to 77 percent in 2009 and up to 89 percent in 2012, four points above the state mark. In math, students went from 86 percent proficient in 2008 to 84 percent in 2012, still two points better than the state.
CABOT MIDDLE SOUTH
Fifth-graders were 79 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 and moved up to 93 percent in 2012, seven points over the state mark. In math, students went from 76 percent proficient to 88 percent in 2011 and then 86 percent in 2012, 10 points better than the state mark.
CABOT MIDDLE NORTH
Fifth-graders went from 76 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 to 86 percent proficient the last two years, even with the state average. In math, students went from 72 percent proficient in 2008 to 87 percent in 2012, 11 points above the state average.
BEEBE
Test data for Beebe Elementary starts with the 2009-2010 school year. In 2010, third-graders were 71 percent proficient in literacy and went up to 87 percent in 2012, five points better than the state. In math, the students went from 84 percent proficient in 2010 to 96 percent in 2012; nine points better than the state mark. In fourth grade, scores went from 84 percent proficient in literacy in 2010 to 90 percent in 2012, five points above the state mark. In math, the scores went from 89 percent proficient in 2010 to 96 percent in 2012, 14 points better than the state.
At Beebe Intermediate, students in the third grade were at 68 percent in 2008, down to 66 percent in 2010, then up to 90 percent in 2012, eight points more than the state mark. In math, 86 percent of the students were proficient in 2008 and a near-perfect 98 percent in 2012, 12 points better than the state.
In fourth grade, students were at 73 percent proficient in 2008 in literacy and 92 percent proficient in 2012, seven points above the state average.
In math, students went from 84 percent proficient in 2008 to 89 percent in 2012, seven points better than the state mark.
At Beebe Middle School, fifth-graders were 68 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 and 89 percent in 2012, three points above the state mark. In math, students went from 74 percent proficient in 2008, up to 84 percent in 2011 and then 79 percent in 2012, three points better than the state.
LONOKE
Third-graders in Lonoke were at 61 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 and 78 percent in 2012, four points below the state mark. In math, students went from 80 percent proficient in 2008 to 88 percent in 2011, then down to 84 percent in 2012, three points off the state mark.
Fourth-graders were at 66 percent proficient in 2008 in literacy and 81 percent in 2012, down four points from the average. In math, students went from 76 percent proficient in 2008 to 82 percent in 2012, even with the state.
Among fifth-graders, 68 percent were proficient in 2008 in literacy and 85 percent in 2012, one point off the pace. In math, 66 percent of fifth-graders were proficient in 2008 and 75 percent in 2012, a point below the state average.
Leader staff writer
This is the third in a series of articles taking an in-depth analysis of the 2012 Benchmark and end-of-course exams.
The Cabot School District continues to outperform the state. Five schools have beaten the state every year for the past five years at every grade in both math and literacy. Those schools are Eastside, Magness Creek, Southside, Stagecoach elementary schools and Cabot Middle School South.
Even though no school recorded a 100 percent on any of the 2012 mandated tests like Arnold Drive Elementary on Little Rock Air Force Base did, many of the schools had outstanding scores. Stagecoach Elementary fourth-graders were near perfect with a 98 percent proficiency rate on the math exams. Southside third-graders were 97 percent perfect on the math exams.
In the Beebe School District, third-graders at the intermediate school scored 98 percent proficient or advanced in math and the district students beat the state averages at the third-, fourth- and fifth-grade level.
But scores showed students struggling in Lonoke as none of the grades beat the state average on the 2012 benchmark tests.
The exams are given annually each year as part of the No Child Left Behind Act and test students’ ability to read, write and work math at grade level. A score of proficient or better says the student is at grade level or above.
All students are supposed to be proficient or advanced by the end of the 2013-2014 school year.
CENTRAL
At Central Elementary, third-graders were 75 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 and moved up to 92 percent on the 2012 exams, 10 points above the state average. In math, the students fell backwards, going from 94 percent proficient in 2008 to 91 percent in 2012, but still beating the state mark by four points.
Among fourth-graders, students went from 73 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 to a high of 94 percent in 2011 and then fell to 81 percent in 2012, four points below the state mark. In math, students were at 81 percent proficient in 2008, then 93 percent in 2011 before falling to 89 percent in 2012, but still seven points above the state average.
EASTSIDE
The school has beaten the state average in third and fourth grade over the past five years. Third-graders went from 7 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 to 95 percent in 2012, 13 points over the state mark. In math, students were at 95 percent proficient in 2008, up to 96 percent in 2011 and then down to 94 percent in 2012, still seven points over the state average.
In the fourth grade, students were 75 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 and 89 percent in 2012, four points better than the state average. In math, students stayed pretty consistent, going from 90 percent proficient in 2008 to 91 percent in 2012, nine points above the state average.
MAGNESS CREEK
Students at this school also beat the state average in every grade and subject over the past five years. In third grade, students were at 79 percent proficient in literary in 2008, topped off at 90 percent in 2011 and then 83 percent in 2012, just a point over the state average. In math, students were at 98 percent proficient in 2008, up to 99 percent the next year and then at 94 percent in 2012, seven points better than the state mark.
In fourth grade, students were 88 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 and 96 percent in 2012, 11 points over the state average. In math, students fell slightly backwards going from 93 percent in 2008 to 94 percent in 2011 and then 92 percent in 2012, up 10 points from the state mark.
MOUNTAIN SPRINGS
Mountain Springs has been open for only two years, but both years beat the state averages. In third grade, students were 84 percent proficient in literacy in 2011 and 95 percent in 2012, 13 points over the state average. In math, students were 94 percent proficient in 2011 and 95 percent proficient in 2012, eight points over the state average.
In fourth grade, students were 92 percent proficient in 2011 and 96 percent in 2012, 11 points better than the state. In math, students went from 98 percent proficient in 2011 to 95 percent in 2012, 13 points over the state average.
NORTHSIDE
In the third grade, students went from 66 percent proficient in 2008 to 86 percent in 2011 and then 83 percent in 2012, a point better than the state average. In math, students fell back slightly going from 89 percent in 2008 to 91 percent in 2011 and then 88 percent in 2012, still a point better than the state average.
Among fourth-graders, 80 percent of the students were proficient in literacy in 2008 and 91 percent in 2012, six points better than the state. In math, 82 percent were proficient in 2008, up to 94 percent in 2011, then down to 87 percent in 2012, still five points better than the state average.
SOUTHSIDE
Southside students have also beaten the state averages every year over the past five years. In third grade, 77 percent of the students were proficient in literacy in 2008 and 88 percent in 2012, six points better than the state average. In math, students were 84 percent proficient in 2008 and 97 percent proficient in 2012, 10 points better than the state mark.
In the fourth grade, students were 84 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 and at 88 percent proficient the last three years, three points better than the state. In math, students fell slightly, going from 90 percent proficient in 2008 to 88 percent in 2012, still six points above the state average.
STAGECOACH
Stagecoach Elementary was another Cabot school where students beat the state average in literacy and math over the past five years. In the third grade, students were 80 percent proficient in 2008, topped out at 88 percent in 2011 and then fell to 86 percent in 2012, still four points better than the state mark. In math, students went from 99 percent proficient in 2008 to 95 percent in 2012, eight points above the state average.
In fourth grade, students were 72 percent proficient in 2008 in literacy and 95 percent proficient in 2011 and 2012, 10 points over the state mark. In math, students went from 88 percent proficient in 2008 to 98 percent (best in the district) in 2012, 16 points better than the state average.
WARD CENTRAL
In third grade, students went from 59 percent proficient in 2008 to 85 percent in 2012, three points above the state average. In math, students went from 82 percent in 2008 to 90 percent in 2012, again three points better than the state.
Among fourth-graders, students were 64 percent proficient in 2008 in literacy and 93 percent in 2012, eight points better than the state. In math, students went from 75 percent proficient in 2008 to 90 percent in 2012, eight points better than the state mark.
WESTSIDE
In third grade, students went from 75 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 to 70 percent in 2010, then 84 percent in 2012, two points above the state mark. In math, students went from 79 percent proficient in 2008 to 93 percent in 2012, six points better than the state average.
For fourth grade, 82 percent of the students were proficient in literacy in 2008, then it fell to 77 percent in 2009 and up to 89 percent in 2012, four points above the state mark. In math, students went from 86 percent proficient in 2008 to 84 percent in 2012, still two points better than the state.
CABOT MIDDLE SOUTH
Fifth-graders were 79 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 and moved up to 93 percent in 2012, seven points over the state mark. In math, students went from 76 percent proficient to 88 percent in 2011 and then 86 percent in 2012, 10 points better than the state mark.
CABOT MIDDLE NORTH
Fifth-graders went from 76 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 to 86 percent proficient the last two years, even with the state average. In math, students went from 72 percent proficient in 2008 to 87 percent in 2012, 11 points above the state average.
BEEBE
Test data for Beebe Elementary starts with the 2009-2010 school year. In 2010, third-graders were 71 percent proficient in literacy and went up to 87 percent in 2012, five points better than the state. In math, the students went from 84 percent proficient in 2010 to 96 percent in 2012; nine points better than the state mark. In fourth grade, scores went from 84 percent proficient in literacy in 2010 to 90 percent in 2012, five points above the state mark. In math, the scores went from 89 percent proficient in 2010 to 96 percent in 2012, 14 points better than the state.
At Beebe Intermediate, students in the third grade were at 68 percent in 2008, down to 66 percent in 2010, then up to 90 percent in 2012, eight points more than the state mark. In math, 86 percent of the students were proficient in 2008 and a near-perfect 98 percent in 2012, 12 points better than the state.
In fourth grade, students were at 73 percent proficient in 2008 in literacy and 92 percent proficient in 2012, seven points above the state average.
In math, students went from 84 percent proficient in 2008 to 89 percent in 2012, seven points better than the state mark.
At Beebe Middle School, fifth-graders were 68 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 and 89 percent in 2012, three points above the state mark. In math, students went from 74 percent proficient in 2008, up to 84 percent in 2011 and then 79 percent in 2012, three points better than the state.
LONOKE
Third-graders in Lonoke were at 61 percent proficient in literacy in 2008 and 78 percent in 2012, four points below the state mark. In math, students went from 80 percent proficient in 2008 to 88 percent in 2011, then down to 84 percent in 2012, three points off the state mark.
Fourth-graders were at 66 percent proficient in 2008 in literacy and 81 percent in 2012, down four points from the average. In math, students went from 76 percent proficient in 2008 to 82 percent in 2012, even with the state.
Among fifth-graders, 68 percent were proficient in 2008 in literacy and 85 percent in 2012, one point off the pace. In math, 66 percent of fifth-graders were proficient in 2008 and 75 percent in 2012, a point below the state average.
TOP STORY>>Firemen too late to save victims
By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
If firefighters had entered a Jacksonville duplex apartment after a neighbor reported smelling smoke, they would have been four minutes too late to prevent the deaths of five victims, who were found there later that morning.
The time of death for Mari-lyn Beavers and her four children — Dequan Singleton, 10, Sydni Singleton, 9, Haylee Beavers, 6, and Emily Beavers, 4 — was between 2:21 and 5:46 a.m. March 22, according to an extensive report released to The Leader in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
The fire department arrived at the family’s Jacksonville Housing Authority apartment, 3A S. Simmons Drive, at 5:50 a.m., according to the report.
The real culprit may have been the smoke detector in the home. It should have been replaced in 2003, according to a warning on the device. According to the report, its wires were cut and the detector didn’t have a backup battery.
JHA 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 to not discuss the incident.
According to the report, Nix contacted the police department on March 23, the day after the tragedy, to ask when the Housing Authority could send its private investigators into the home.
Funderland Singleton, the fiancé of the mother and father of her children, said he is pursuing a lawsuit against the city and the Housing Authority. He has also hired a private investigator.
The firefighters who first responded to the scene spent 30 minutes there. They left when they found no sign of a fire.
The concerned caller, Jennifer Gray, who lives next door in 3B, 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 and windows of 3A, but no one answered.
According to the report, at least one firefighter looked in a window and saw the living room and didn’t see any fire damage. Most of the damage was to the kitchen.
So, the firefighters didn’t go inside the apartment.
Later, 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 reported the smoke smell to maintenance workers about an hour after her first call about it. They entered the apartment, after noticing some fire damage at the rear of the building, around 7 a.m. and found three of the children in their beds. The mother was found in the bathroom, holding one of her children.
The fire had gone out by the time firefighters arrived for a second time at 7:30 a.m.
The fire marshal wrote in the report that it is likely that Marilyn Beavers, tried to put out the blaze because her arms were burned. None of her children were burned.
An internal investigation into the incident is ongoing.
The victims died from smoke inhalation after a small kitchen fire caused by “unattended cooking,” the report states.
A burned pot was found on the stove and the burner was turned on when firefighters arrived at the apartment for the second time that day.
Dr. Frank Peretti of the Arkansas State Crime Lab told investigators the victims would have died within three to five minutes and before they were able to smell the smoke.
Jacksonville Housing Auth-ority maintenance workers told police the smoke alarm was sounding off when they went inside the apartment, but it “failed to operate,” according to the report.
The housing authority oversees the low-income housing complex Max Howell Place, where the family lived.
The organization also handles disbursements involving hundreds of thousands dollars in rental housing vouchers.
It is an independent entity and more closely associated with the federal government than with Jacksonville, city administrator Jim Durham said.
When the housing authority was set up in the 1970s, the city council appointed five people to serve as commissioners, he said. After that, the organization selected new commissioners or re-elected the individuals on its board.
Durham said the city approves appointments.
He said that in 2006, when four of the five commissioners resigned, the council appointed four new commissioners because the board didn’t have a quorum.
According to The Leader’s archives, Nix was appointed by the new board to serve as housing authority executive director in 2007.
Durham said Nix has a background in every aspect within the authority, including maintenance.
Around the same time, the board completed a bid award for the installations of new air-conditioning units for the complex because most of the tenants had had to purchase their own or do without.
Durham was chairman of the authority’s board until 2009. He resigned when he accepted his current post. According to federal law, city employees and elected officials are not permitted to serve on the Housing Authority board.
And the city can’t touch Housing Authority funds, Durham said.
This isn’t the first time the Housing Authority has come under scrutiny.
In June 2006, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development asked for records of contracts and work orders for more than $132,000 spent by the housing authority. HUD officials scrutinized all contracts and purchase orders. They also requested those documents to be pulled and made available on June 28.
The day before, a Housing Authority employee informed HUD that then-executive director Virginia Simmons had directed her to create four contracts and to call contractors to come to the office and sign the contracts.
On the same day, Sim-mons “admitted to Mr. Jesse Westover, Public Housing director, Little Rock, Field Office, that she had falsely reported program obligation under the FY 2003 Capital Fund Program on Sept. 15, 2005, in the amount of $132,788.11,” according to the HUD review, which found that no application had been made for the grant, making the authority ineligible.
HUD officials concluded that these actions were taken in an attempt on the part of Simmons to document evidence to support contracts had legitimately been entered into before the obligation deadline of Sept. 26, 2005.
The review also alleged that the housing authority “did not properly advertise for bids in the excess of $25,000” or adequately keep documentation of solicitations.
Leader staff writer
If firefighters had entered a Jacksonville duplex apartment after a neighbor reported smelling smoke, they would have been four minutes too late to prevent the deaths of five victims, who were found there later that morning.
The time of death for Mari-lyn Beavers and her four children — Dequan Singleton, 10, Sydni Singleton, 9, Haylee Beavers, 6, and Emily Beavers, 4 — was between 2:21 and 5:46 a.m. March 22, according to an extensive report released to The Leader in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
The fire department arrived at the family’s Jacksonville Housing Authority apartment, 3A S. Simmons Drive, at 5:50 a.m., according to the report.
The real culprit may have been the smoke detector in the home. It should have been replaced in 2003, according to a warning on the device. According to the report, its wires were cut and the detector didn’t have a backup battery.
JHA 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 to not discuss the incident.
According to the report, Nix contacted the police department on March 23, the day after the tragedy, to ask when the Housing Authority could send its private investigators into the home.
Funderland Singleton, the fiancé of the mother and father of her children, said he is pursuing a lawsuit against the city and the Housing Authority. He has also hired a private investigator.
The firefighters who first responded to the scene spent 30 minutes there. They left when they found no sign of a fire.
The concerned caller, Jennifer Gray, who lives next door in 3B, 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 and windows of 3A, but no one answered.
According to the report, at least one firefighter looked in a window and saw the living room and didn’t see any fire damage. Most of the damage was to the kitchen.
So, the firefighters didn’t go inside the apartment.
Later, 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 reported the smoke smell to maintenance workers about an hour after her first call about it. They entered the apartment, after noticing some fire damage at the rear of the building, around 7 a.m. and found three of the children in their beds. The mother was found in the bathroom, holding one of her children.
The fire had gone out by the time firefighters arrived for a second time at 7:30 a.m.
The fire marshal wrote in the report that it is likely that Marilyn Beavers, tried to put out the blaze because her arms were burned. None of her children were burned.
An internal investigation into the incident is ongoing.
The victims died from smoke inhalation after a small kitchen fire caused by “unattended cooking,” the report states.
A burned pot was found on the stove and the burner was turned on when firefighters arrived at the apartment for the second time that day.
Dr. Frank Peretti of the Arkansas State Crime Lab told investigators the victims would have died within three to five minutes and before they were able to smell the smoke.
Jacksonville Housing Auth-ority maintenance workers told police the smoke alarm was sounding off when they went inside the apartment, but it “failed to operate,” according to the report.
The housing authority oversees the low-income housing complex Max Howell Place, where the family lived.
The organization also handles disbursements involving hundreds of thousands dollars in rental housing vouchers.
It is an independent entity and more closely associated with the federal government than with Jacksonville, city administrator Jim Durham said.
When the housing authority was set up in the 1970s, the city council appointed five people to serve as commissioners, he said. After that, the organization selected new commissioners or re-elected the individuals on its board.
Durham said the city approves appointments.
He said that in 2006, when four of the five commissioners resigned, the council appointed four new commissioners because the board didn’t have a quorum.
According to The Leader’s archives, Nix was appointed by the new board to serve as housing authority executive director in 2007.
Durham said Nix has a background in every aspect within the authority, including maintenance.
Around the same time, the board completed a bid award for the installations of new air-conditioning units for the complex because most of the tenants had had to purchase their own or do without.
Durham was chairman of the authority’s board until 2009. He resigned when he accepted his current post. According to federal law, city employees and elected officials are not permitted to serve on the Housing Authority board.
And the city can’t touch Housing Authority funds, Durham said.
This isn’t the first time the Housing Authority has come under scrutiny.
In June 2006, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development asked for records of contracts and work orders for more than $132,000 spent by the housing authority. HUD officials scrutinized all contracts and purchase orders. They also requested those documents to be pulled and made available on June 28.
The day before, a Housing Authority employee informed HUD that then-executive director Virginia Simmons had directed her to create four contracts and to call contractors to come to the office and sign the contracts.
On the same day, Sim-mons “admitted to Mr. Jesse Westover, Public Housing director, Little Rock, Field Office, that she had falsely reported program obligation under the FY 2003 Capital Fund Program on Sept. 15, 2005, in the amount of $132,788.11,” according to the HUD review, which found that no application had been made for the grant, making the authority ineligible.
HUD officials concluded that these actions were taken in an attempt on the part of Simmons to document evidence to support contracts had legitimately been entered into before the obligation deadline of Sept. 26, 2005.
The review also alleged that the housing authority “did not properly advertise for bids in the excess of $25,000” or adequately keep documentation of solicitations.
TOP STORY>>FDA raids company on the run
By STEPHEN STEED
Special to The Leader
Agents with the Food and Drug Administration last week raided the Oklahoma offices of Lase Med Inc., a former Jacksonville company slapped with a $2.5 million judgment in 2011 for fraud, negligence and deception over phony cancer cures.
Agents seized medical and employee records, computer images, laboratory equipment and the contents of an office safe during a raid July 11 of Lase Med’s offices in Owasso, Okla.
An FDA spokesman in Silver Springs, Md., said Tuesday in an e-mail that the FDA doesn’t comment on “pending, current or ongoing investigations.” However, Jeremy Bain, one of the agents involved in the raid, confirmed it took place when The Leader contacted him Monday afternoon regarding an Internet posting by Lase Med itself.
Lase Med’s blog gave details about the raid and posted a digital image of Bain’s FDA business card. Bain said the agency wasn’t aware its raid was mentioned by Lase Med until The Leader called. He referred all other comment to the FDA’s public affairs office.
Lase Med’s operations moved to Broken Arrow, Okla., from Jacksonville shortly before the lawsuit was filed in 2009, but moved again to nearby Owasso, a Tulsa suburb of about 30,000 residents, sometime in the past six months to a year.
Maj. Mark Irwin of the Broken Arrow Police Department said his department had received “numerous” complaints about Lase Med’s operations during the past couple of years but could do little because its owner and operator, Marie Antonella Carpenter, doesn’t claim to be a medical doctor. He said he believed LaseMed and Carpenter left Broken Arrow about six months ago.
The FDA raid is only the latest chapter in Lase Med’s last 13 months since Carpenter and Lase Med lost a federal lawsuit in Little Rock over claims it could cure cancer with laser treatments.
The jury awarded Therese Westphal of Tarzana, Calif., $2.5 million in punitive and compensatory damages, but Westphal has been unable to collect a penny of the award.
Westphal’s attorney, Will Bond of the McMath Law Firm in Little Rock, said this week that efforts to collect on the judgment will continue despite difficulty in determining the assets of Carpenter and Lase Med.
In its blog post of July 12, with a headline of “Dr.Carpenter Raided by Govern-ment Thugs,” Lase Med said the agents seized patients’ records, employee records, computer hard drives, medical lasers, other lab equipment used in treatments and “the entire contents” of an office safe, including “rent and expense money.”
“Now Dr. Carpenter cannot perform her treatments, patient appointments must be cancelled and some (patients) may die as a result, as this was their last hope,” the blog read. “Dr. Carpenter’s rent and expense money was in the safe and now that is gone as well.”
Carpenter, who doesn’t hold a medical degree or medical license, didn’t return messages left on the answering service at Lase Med.
In its application for a search warrant, FDA agents said they suspected violations of federal law, such as wire fraud, causing a drug to be misbranded and a medical device to be adulterated and failure to register a drug-manufacturing establishment.
Agents seized numerous boxes of records, promotional materials, images from computers, thumb drives, various medications or solutions, laser equipment and $7,800 in cash, according to paperwork filed by agents after searching the facility for nearly five hours.
Westphal was 50 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and came across a brochure for Carpenter and Lase Med that promised “Star Wars technology” that kills only cancerous cells through the use of lasers and leaves healthy cells alone with minimal side effects. “I felt fortunate. I wanted to believe (in Lase Med). I chose to believe. Maybe I was naïve,” she testified.
Westphal spent $6,250 for about seven days of laser treatment at the Lase Med office in Jacksonville in November 2008.
At the end of treatment, she said Carpenter pronounced her cured. She testified she asked Carpenter if she should consult physicians after returning home to California. “She told me, ‘As long as you stay away from the doctors, you’ll be fine,’” Westphal said.
Asked by Bond about her condition a few months later, she said, “It (her left breast) was a completely hard mass. The tumor had completely taken over. It was purple.” Alarmed, she contacted Carpenter, who again assured her she was cancer-free, Westphal said.
Carpenter did not attend last summer’s trial in Little Rock, nor did she have a lawyer in the courtroom to represent her or Lase Med Inc.
In a videotaped deposition viewed by jurors, Carpenter claimed that lasers will kill cancers but cited medical competitors in declining to be more specific about the treatments provided.
The Westphal case against Lase Med exemplifies the difficulty faced by ordinary citizens who win in court but find trouble collecting.
If the U.S. government had won such a lawsuit – whether for taxes or for wage violations, for example – and faced a deadbeat defendant, it wouldn’t have taken long for federal marshals to descend on the defendant’s property and seize all assets for auction.
If a well-heeled, established pharmaceutical company loses a lawsuit over one of its products, it or its insurer can simply cut a check and move on – while passing along the cost of the judgment to shareholders and consumers.
But for the private citizen who wins a civil judgment against an obstinate defendant with few or no assets, there is no steady, forceful hand of the U.S. government compelling payment.
“We’ve been working with collections lawyers here and in Oklahoma, but we’ve seen none of the judgment yet,” Bond said. “It’s always hard to collect, but this has been made more difficult because now she’s in Oklahoma.”
Lase Med also was not insured, removing another potential avenue for collection, Bond said.
Special to The Leader
Agents with the Food and Drug Administration last week raided the Oklahoma offices of Lase Med Inc., a former Jacksonville company slapped with a $2.5 million judgment in 2011 for fraud, negligence and deception over phony cancer cures.
Agents seized medical and employee records, computer images, laboratory equipment and the contents of an office safe during a raid July 11 of Lase Med’s offices in Owasso, Okla.
An FDA spokesman in Silver Springs, Md., said Tuesday in an e-mail that the FDA doesn’t comment on “pending, current or ongoing investigations.” However, Jeremy Bain, one of the agents involved in the raid, confirmed it took place when The Leader contacted him Monday afternoon regarding an Internet posting by Lase Med itself.
Lase Med’s blog gave details about the raid and posted a digital image of Bain’s FDA business card. Bain said the agency wasn’t aware its raid was mentioned by Lase Med until The Leader called. He referred all other comment to the FDA’s public affairs office.
Lase Med’s operations moved to Broken Arrow, Okla., from Jacksonville shortly before the lawsuit was filed in 2009, but moved again to nearby Owasso, a Tulsa suburb of about 30,000 residents, sometime in the past six months to a year.
Maj. Mark Irwin of the Broken Arrow Police Department said his department had received “numerous” complaints about Lase Med’s operations during the past couple of years but could do little because its owner and operator, Marie Antonella Carpenter, doesn’t claim to be a medical doctor. He said he believed LaseMed and Carpenter left Broken Arrow about six months ago.
The FDA raid is only the latest chapter in Lase Med’s last 13 months since Carpenter and Lase Med lost a federal lawsuit in Little Rock over claims it could cure cancer with laser treatments.
The jury awarded Therese Westphal of Tarzana, Calif., $2.5 million in punitive and compensatory damages, but Westphal has been unable to collect a penny of the award.
Westphal’s attorney, Will Bond of the McMath Law Firm in Little Rock, said this week that efforts to collect on the judgment will continue despite difficulty in determining the assets of Carpenter and Lase Med.
In its blog post of July 12, with a headline of “Dr.Carpenter Raided by Govern-ment Thugs,” Lase Med said the agents seized patients’ records, employee records, computer hard drives, medical lasers, other lab equipment used in treatments and “the entire contents” of an office safe, including “rent and expense money.”
“Now Dr. Carpenter cannot perform her treatments, patient appointments must be cancelled and some (patients) may die as a result, as this was their last hope,” the blog read. “Dr. Carpenter’s rent and expense money was in the safe and now that is gone as well.”
Carpenter, who doesn’t hold a medical degree or medical license, didn’t return messages left on the answering service at Lase Med.
In its application for a search warrant, FDA agents said they suspected violations of federal law, such as wire fraud, causing a drug to be misbranded and a medical device to be adulterated and failure to register a drug-manufacturing establishment.
Agents seized numerous boxes of records, promotional materials, images from computers, thumb drives, various medications or solutions, laser equipment and $7,800 in cash, according to paperwork filed by agents after searching the facility for nearly five hours.
Westphal was 50 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and came across a brochure for Carpenter and Lase Med that promised “Star Wars technology” that kills only cancerous cells through the use of lasers and leaves healthy cells alone with minimal side effects. “I felt fortunate. I wanted to believe (in Lase Med). I chose to believe. Maybe I was naïve,” she testified.
Westphal spent $6,250 for about seven days of laser treatment at the Lase Med office in Jacksonville in November 2008.
At the end of treatment, she said Carpenter pronounced her cured. She testified she asked Carpenter if she should consult physicians after returning home to California. “She told me, ‘As long as you stay away from the doctors, you’ll be fine,’” Westphal said.
Asked by Bond about her condition a few months later, she said, “It (her left breast) was a completely hard mass. The tumor had completely taken over. It was purple.” Alarmed, she contacted Carpenter, who again assured her she was cancer-free, Westphal said.
Carpenter did not attend last summer’s trial in Little Rock, nor did she have a lawyer in the courtroom to represent her or Lase Med Inc.
In a videotaped deposition viewed by jurors, Carpenter claimed that lasers will kill cancers but cited medical competitors in declining to be more specific about the treatments provided.
The Westphal case against Lase Med exemplifies the difficulty faced by ordinary citizens who win in court but find trouble collecting.
If the U.S. government had won such a lawsuit – whether for taxes or for wage violations, for example – and faced a deadbeat defendant, it wouldn’t have taken long for federal marshals to descend on the defendant’s property and seize all assets for auction.
If a well-heeled, established pharmaceutical company loses a lawsuit over one of its products, it or its insurer can simply cut a check and move on – while passing along the cost of the judgment to shareholders and consumers.
But for the private citizen who wins a civil judgment against an obstinate defendant with few or no assets, there is no steady, forceful hand of the U.S. government compelling payment.
“We’ve been working with collections lawyers here and in Oklahoma, but we’ve seen none of the judgment yet,” Bond said. “It’s always hard to collect, but this has been made more difficult because now she’s in Oklahoma.”
Lase Med also was not insured, removing another potential avenue for collection, Bond said.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
SPORTS STORY>>Bruins fall at home to Russellville
By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
The Sylvan Hills senior American Legion team’s inability to produce runs early against Russellville’s Post 20 team put the Bruins in too big of a hole to climb out of as Russellville left Mike Bromley Field in Sherwood Thursday with a 7-3 victory.
Russellville starting pitcher Jace Power, who earned the win with seven strikeouts in the complete game performance, kept the Bruins off the bases for the majority of the game. But in the second inning, Sylvan Hills had a chance to put runs on the board with the bases loaded and no outs.
The next ball was hit to the pitcher’s mound for a double play at home and first base, followed by a strikeout. Sylvan Hills didn’t produce a run until the fifth inning, and after four, Russellville held a comfortable 5-0 lead.
ball tonight,” said Sylvan Hills coach Brandon Eller. “Baseball is a funny game. If you make mistakes or you don’t do things right, it’s hard to win. We had the bases loaded with no outs (in the second inning), and we hit into a double play and don’t even score one. You have to score there.”
The Bruins did rally in the fifth, scoring three runs with two outs in the inning, which started when Jimmy Sandefur hit a stand-up double to deep center field. Leadoff hitter Greg Atchison and Dylan Boone both walked to load the bases, and Mitch Meyer hit an RBI-infield single that bounced off the pitcher’s glove.
Sandefur scored as the ball rolled between first and second base. Cleanup hitter L.J. Wallace then walked to bring Atchison home, and Connor Eller singled to the gap in left field, driving in Boone on the play.
Russellville, though, wasn’t going to allow Sylvan Hills to seize the momentum. In the next inning, Russellville added two more runs to set the final margin. Post 20 leadoff hitter Jordan Hans reached on an E5 to start the inning.
Jonathan Hawkins then singled to the gap in right field, advancing Hans to third. Hans scored on a groundout to shortstop by Corey Hottinger, and Hawkins scored the final run of the evening on a stand-up double to the wall in right-center field by cleanup hitter Corey Scheide.
Sylvan Hills has been one of those teams this summer that often starts slow in games, but can turn it on in the later innings and almost score at will. It just didn’t happen Thursday night, and the loss makes it that much more noticeable to Eller.
“I guess it’s a problem and a blessing,” Eller said. “We’ve been able to fight late all year, but we let ourselves get behind a lot. I don’t know if it takes us a while to get going. The pitcher (Russellville) threw tonight was pretty good, but we have to compete a little better. We have to make plays.”
Connor Eller led the Bruins at the plate with two hits and a RBI. Wallace, Meyer, Sandefur and Blake Holmes each had a hit apiece. Sylvan Hills will travel to Little Rock on Monday and Bryant Tuesday before starting the Zone district tournament on Friday.
Leader sportswriter
The Sylvan Hills senior American Legion team’s inability to produce runs early against Russellville’s Post 20 team put the Bruins in too big of a hole to climb out of as Russellville left Mike Bromley Field in Sherwood Thursday with a 7-3 victory.
Russellville starting pitcher Jace Power, who earned the win with seven strikeouts in the complete game performance, kept the Bruins off the bases for the majority of the game. But in the second inning, Sylvan Hills had a chance to put runs on the board with the bases loaded and no outs.
The next ball was hit to the pitcher’s mound for a double play at home and first base, followed by a strikeout. Sylvan Hills didn’t produce a run until the fifth inning, and after four, Russellville held a comfortable 5-0 lead.
ball tonight,” said Sylvan Hills coach Brandon Eller. “Baseball is a funny game. If you make mistakes or you don’t do things right, it’s hard to win. We had the bases loaded with no outs (in the second inning), and we hit into a double play and don’t even score one. You have to score there.”
The Bruins did rally in the fifth, scoring three runs with two outs in the inning, which started when Jimmy Sandefur hit a stand-up double to deep center field. Leadoff hitter Greg Atchison and Dylan Boone both walked to load the bases, and Mitch Meyer hit an RBI-infield single that bounced off the pitcher’s glove.
Sandefur scored as the ball rolled between first and second base. Cleanup hitter L.J. Wallace then walked to bring Atchison home, and Connor Eller singled to the gap in left field, driving in Boone on the play.
Russellville, though, wasn’t going to allow Sylvan Hills to seize the momentum. In the next inning, Russellville added two more runs to set the final margin. Post 20 leadoff hitter Jordan Hans reached on an E5 to start the inning.
Jonathan Hawkins then singled to the gap in right field, advancing Hans to third. Hans scored on a groundout to shortstop by Corey Hottinger, and Hawkins scored the final run of the evening on a stand-up double to the wall in right-center field by cleanup hitter Corey Scheide.
Sylvan Hills has been one of those teams this summer that often starts slow in games, but can turn it on in the later innings and almost score at will. It just didn’t happen Thursday night, and the loss makes it that much more noticeable to Eller.
“I guess it’s a problem and a blessing,” Eller said. “We’ve been able to fight late all year, but we let ourselves get behind a lot. I don’t know if it takes us a while to get going. The pitcher (Russellville) threw tonight was pretty good, but we have to compete a little better. We have to make plays.”
Connor Eller led the Bruins at the plate with two hits and a RBI. Wallace, Meyer, Sandefur and Blake Holmes each had a hit apiece. Sylvan Hills will travel to Little Rock on Monday and Bryant Tuesday before starting the Zone district tournament on Friday.
SPORTS STORY>>McClure signs with Indians
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Former Jacksonville Red Devils baseball and football standout D’Vone McClure signed with the Cleveland Indians on Friday and reports to the Arizona League today.
McClure, who graduated from Jacksonville in May, was drafted in the fourth round of the Major League Baseball draft on June 5, and received a signing bonus of $765,000.
“I’m just really excited,” McClure said Friday afternoon. “This is what you work hard for. This is what you dream of. I just want to give God the glory and move forward and do my best.”
McClure signed an NCAA national letter of intent with the University of Arkansas in November and rumors were spreading rapidly on Thursday that McClure had turned down the Indians and would be a Hog. McClure doesn’t know how that rumor began.
“I wasn’t saying that,” McClure said. “That’s just rumors that get started somehow, but I never told anyone anything like that.”
McClure attended a Major League mock camp with other prospects last summer and was projected as a mid-teen round pick when the 2012 high-school season began.
McClure impressed scouts with his progress this spring and became an early-round prospect midway through the high school season.
At pick No. 143, McClure was drafted slightly lower than his projection, which was mid-to-late third round, but his signing bonus was still more than double the pick value for his draft slot, which is set by MLB. The pick value for the 143rd selection is set at $314,000.
Leader sports editor
Former Jacksonville Red Devils baseball and football standout D’Vone McClure signed with the Cleveland Indians on Friday and reports to the Arizona League today.
McClure, who graduated from Jacksonville in May, was drafted in the fourth round of the Major League Baseball draft on June 5, and received a signing bonus of $765,000.
“I’m just really excited,” McClure said Friday afternoon. “This is what you work hard for. This is what you dream of. I just want to give God the glory and move forward and do my best.”
McClure signed an NCAA national letter of intent with the University of Arkansas in November and rumors were spreading rapidly on Thursday that McClure had turned down the Indians and would be a Hog. McClure doesn’t know how that rumor began.
“I wasn’t saying that,” McClure said. “That’s just rumors that get started somehow, but I never told anyone anything like that.”
McClure attended a Major League mock camp with other prospects last summer and was projected as a mid-teen round pick when the 2012 high-school season began.
McClure impressed scouts with his progress this spring and became an early-round prospect midway through the high school season.
At pick No. 143, McClure was drafted slightly lower than his projection, which was mid-to-late third round, but his signing bonus was still more than double the pick value for his draft slot, which is set by MLB. The pick value for the 143rd selection is set at $314,000.
SPORTS STORY>>Cabot wins zone tourney
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Centennial Bank Junior American Legion Team 1 is the Zone 3 tournament champion, cruising through the tournament with four wins and no losses, and only being seriously threatened in one game.
Cabot opened play in the state tournament on Friday night against Paragould and will continue play on Saturday in Sheridan.
Heading into state, Panther coach Chris Gross feels good about how his team has played lately.
“They’ve been playing really good actually,” Gross said. “They’re hitting the ball really well. It’s a totally different team from when the season started. They’re playing together really well and getting quality at bats.”
The Panthers opened with a 14-1 win over Conway. They beat Sylvan Hills 8-4 to advance to the winners’ bracket finals, where they handled Jacksonville 16-11. Taking on Clarksville, which battled its way out of the loser’s bracket, the Panthers escaped 1-0 before facing Jacksonville again on Tuesday night for the tournament title. The Gwatney Chevrolet team beat Conway to get back to its rematch with Cabot.
This time it wasn’t as close as the first one, with Cabot winning 16-3.
The Panthers piled up 13 base hits in the championship game with leadoff hitter and starting pitcher Riley Knudsen leading the way. Offensively, Knudsen went 3 for 5 with two doubles and five runs batted in. He also went the distance on the mound, giving up just two hits while striking out eight and walking five.
Cabot pounced early and controlled the entire game. The Panthers plated eight runs in the top of the first inning and were never threatened. They added three in the top of the second to make it 11-0 before Jacksonville got on the board with two in the bottom of the second.
Gavin Tillery also had three hits in the game while Lee Sullivan and Tristan Bulice got two base hits each. Sullivan also finished with three RBIs.
Gross believes the team’s 40-game schedule is a big reason why it has come on so strong at the plate.
“We’ve just been playing a bunch of baseball,” Gross said. “We haven’t had a lot of hitting practice or anything. We’ve gained a lot of experience at the plate just through playing a lot, and we just started to feel really comfortable up there.”
In the previous game against Clarksville, the game’s only run came in the bottom of the fourth inning. Jonathan Latture beat out a grounder to the gap between shortstop and third base. Clarksville’s shortstop made a good stop, but Latture beat the throw for an infield single. Dalten Hurst then hit a line drive to the gap in right-centerfield for an RBI double that proved to be the game winner.
Landon James started on the mound and threw four innings, giving up three hits while striking out four and walking no one. He yielded to Tillery, who pitched the final three innings, giving up just one hit while also fanning four and walking none.
Cabot’s pitching has also been solid in recent weeks, leaving Gross feeling very confident about that aspect of his team’s game as they head to state.
“I don’t know if we have the deepest in the tournament because I don’t know what everyone else has,” Gross said. “But I do think we have a lot of depth at pitching. I believe I have four solid starters that I can count on to pitch a whole game.”
Cabot, 26-14, finished with five base hits with Knudsen, Adam Hicks and Sullivan getting on each along with Latture and Hurst.
The Panthers have now won 11 of their last 12 games and have scored 118 runs in those 11 wins.
A win on Friday means Cabot will play at 7:30 p.m. today against the winner between Jonesboro and Sheridan.. A loss means a game at noon against the loser of the same game.
Leader sports editor
The Centennial Bank Junior American Legion Team 1 is the Zone 3 tournament champion, cruising through the tournament with four wins and no losses, and only being seriously threatened in one game.
Cabot opened play in the state tournament on Friday night against Paragould and will continue play on Saturday in Sheridan.
Heading into state, Panther coach Chris Gross feels good about how his team has played lately.
“They’ve been playing really good actually,” Gross said. “They’re hitting the ball really well. It’s a totally different team from when the season started. They’re playing together really well and getting quality at bats.”
The Panthers opened with a 14-1 win over Conway. They beat Sylvan Hills 8-4 to advance to the winners’ bracket finals, where they handled Jacksonville 16-11. Taking on Clarksville, which battled its way out of the loser’s bracket, the Panthers escaped 1-0 before facing Jacksonville again on Tuesday night for the tournament title. The Gwatney Chevrolet team beat Conway to get back to its rematch with Cabot.
This time it wasn’t as close as the first one, with Cabot winning 16-3.
The Panthers piled up 13 base hits in the championship game with leadoff hitter and starting pitcher Riley Knudsen leading the way. Offensively, Knudsen went 3 for 5 with two doubles and five runs batted in. He also went the distance on the mound, giving up just two hits while striking out eight and walking five.
Cabot pounced early and controlled the entire game. The Panthers plated eight runs in the top of the first inning and were never threatened. They added three in the top of the second to make it 11-0 before Jacksonville got on the board with two in the bottom of the second.
Gavin Tillery also had three hits in the game while Lee Sullivan and Tristan Bulice got two base hits each. Sullivan also finished with three RBIs.
Gross believes the team’s 40-game schedule is a big reason why it has come on so strong at the plate.
“We’ve just been playing a bunch of baseball,” Gross said. “We haven’t had a lot of hitting practice or anything. We’ve gained a lot of experience at the plate just through playing a lot, and we just started to feel really comfortable up there.”
In the previous game against Clarksville, the game’s only run came in the bottom of the fourth inning. Jonathan Latture beat out a grounder to the gap between shortstop and third base. Clarksville’s shortstop made a good stop, but Latture beat the throw for an infield single. Dalten Hurst then hit a line drive to the gap in right-centerfield for an RBI double that proved to be the game winner.
Landon James started on the mound and threw four innings, giving up three hits while striking out four and walking no one. He yielded to Tillery, who pitched the final three innings, giving up just one hit while also fanning four and walking none.
Cabot’s pitching has also been solid in recent weeks, leaving Gross feeling very confident about that aspect of his team’s game as they head to state.
“I don’t know if we have the deepest in the tournament because I don’t know what everyone else has,” Gross said. “But I do think we have a lot of depth at pitching. I believe I have four solid starters that I can count on to pitch a whole game.”
Cabot, 26-14, finished with five base hits with Knudsen, Adam Hicks and Sullivan getting on each along with Latture and Hurst.
The Panthers have now won 11 of their last 12 games and have scored 118 runs in those 11 wins.
A win on Friday means Cabot will play at 7:30 p.m. today against the winner between Jonesboro and Sheridan.. A loss means a game at noon against the loser of the same game.
SPORTS STORY>>Panther seniors get three victories
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Cabot senior American Legion baseball team had a great week for three games and six innings, but the last inning of the week on Thursday wasn’t as good.
The Centennial Bank Panthers started the week with a win over Little Rock Blue on Tuesday, beat Sheridan 7-3 on Wednesday, slammed Conway 11-1 in an early game on Thursday, then blew a 7-1 lead in the last inning against North Little Rock to fall 10-8 in Thursday’slate game at Cabot City Park.
Power was prominent in Thursday’s game as the Panthers hit three out in the two games. It was two home runs in the last two innings that did most of the damage in Cabot’s final five runs that led to the run-rule stoppage in the fifth inning.
Cabot built a 6-1 lead after three innings with four runs in the first and two more in the third while giving up a single run in the top of the third.
Dustin Morris was excellent on the mound, holding Conway to just two hits in his five innings of work. He also struck out nine Cougars, including striking out the side in the second inning.
He was also hot at the plate as the only Panther to get multiple base hits. His second hit was a big one. With teammate Justin Goff on base after a single to right-centerfield in the bottom of the fourth, Morris drove one to the same spot; only his just cleared the fence for a 9-1 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, Tristan Bulice singled bringing Casey Vaughan to the plate. Vaughan then hit a shot to the same spot as Morris’, giving Cabot an 11-1 lead and ending the game.
For much of the nightcap against North Little Rock, missed opportunities told the story for the Colts while blown opportunities told Cabot’s story. Through six innings, North Little Rock left 10 runners on base. Cabot left just seven on base in the game, but was thrown out on the base paths five times, twice at third and three times at home plate.
Patient base running likely would have ended the game with another run-rule win for the Panthers.
Cabot slowly built a 3-1 lead through five innings with a single run in each of the first, second and fourth innings. But the second innings should have been much bigger. Five Panthers went to the plate in the second, and all five got base hits. One scored, three were thrown out at home plate and one was left on base.
Compounding the shortfall of the aggressive base running in the second inning, the first two batters of the third inning got base hits as well.
Dustin Morris led off the second inning with a single to left field. Cole Thomas then singled to right and Morris moved to second. Tyler Wilkie then singled to right and Morris tried to make it home, but was thrown out, leaving Cole and Wilkie at third and second base. Nine-hole hitter Scott Burnett then doubled to left, scoring Thomas, but Wilkie also tried to score on the play and was also thrown out. Bryson Morris then stepped to the plate and singled to centerfield. Burnett also tried to round third and score on the hit and was gunned down at the plate.
In the third inning, Bulice led off with a single to left field and Vaughan followed with an infield single to third base. When the throw went to first, Bulice tried to get to third, but was thrown out.
Cabot added an unearned run in the third inning after getting another runner thrown out at third base. Wilkie reached on an error at shortstop and scored two batters later on an RBI single by Bryson Morris.
Still leading 3-1, Cabot seemed to take control of the game in the bottom of the sixth when Bulice smashed a pitch over the fence in left field with the bases loaded. Dustin Morris and Thomas led of the inning with back-to-back base hits. The next two batters went down, but Bryson Morris drew a walk to load the bases. With two strikes, Bulice’s grand slam made it 7-1 with one inning left to play.
Bryson Morris, who took the mound in the sixth in relief of starter Ryan Logan, struggled to find the strike zone and was left on the mound for the duration of the inning. North Little rock scored nine runs in the seventh off just two base hits. Bryson Morris walked five, hit two batters and gave up the base hits, the last a bases-clearing triple by Michael Hodge that gave the Colts their first lead of the game at 10-7.
Bryson Morris then struck out Evan Johnson to finally end the inning, and Cabot almost made a comeback with a two-out rally.
Tyler Carter flew out to centerfield to start the inning and Goff singled to left field. He was thrown out on a fielder’s choice by Dustin Morris, leaving Morris safe at first base. Thomas then singled for the third time in the game.
Wilkie also singled with a slow bouncer down the third baseline. Wilkie beat the throw to first, but it was also off the mark, clearing the way for Dustin Morris to score and make it 10-8. That brought Bryson Morris back to the plate, who was 3 for 3 with a walk, but Morris struck out looking at a called third strike on a full count.
It was the last of several ball-strike calls that drew the ire of fans and coaches from both sides of the field.
The week’s three wins and one loss leave Cabot with an overall record of 14-12. The Panthers’ next game will be at 7 p.m. Monday at home against Little Rock-Continental Express.
Leader sports editor
The Cabot senior American Legion baseball team had a great week for three games and six innings, but the last inning of the week on Thursday wasn’t as good.
The Centennial Bank Panthers started the week with a win over Little Rock Blue on Tuesday, beat Sheridan 7-3 on Wednesday, slammed Conway 11-1 in an early game on Thursday, then blew a 7-1 lead in the last inning against North Little Rock to fall 10-8 in Thursday’slate game at Cabot City Park.
Power was prominent in Thursday’s game as the Panthers hit three out in the two games. It was two home runs in the last two innings that did most of the damage in Cabot’s final five runs that led to the run-rule stoppage in the fifth inning.
Cabot built a 6-1 lead after three innings with four runs in the first and two more in the third while giving up a single run in the top of the third.
Dustin Morris was excellent on the mound, holding Conway to just two hits in his five innings of work. He also struck out nine Cougars, including striking out the side in the second inning.
He was also hot at the plate as the only Panther to get multiple base hits. His second hit was a big one. With teammate Justin Goff on base after a single to right-centerfield in the bottom of the fourth, Morris drove one to the same spot; only his just cleared the fence for a 9-1 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, Tristan Bulice singled bringing Casey Vaughan to the plate. Vaughan then hit a shot to the same spot as Morris’, giving Cabot an 11-1 lead and ending the game.
For much of the nightcap against North Little Rock, missed opportunities told the story for the Colts while blown opportunities told Cabot’s story. Through six innings, North Little Rock left 10 runners on base. Cabot left just seven on base in the game, but was thrown out on the base paths five times, twice at third and three times at home plate.
Patient base running likely would have ended the game with another run-rule win for the Panthers.
Cabot slowly built a 3-1 lead through five innings with a single run in each of the first, second and fourth innings. But the second innings should have been much bigger. Five Panthers went to the plate in the second, and all five got base hits. One scored, three were thrown out at home plate and one was left on base.
Compounding the shortfall of the aggressive base running in the second inning, the first two batters of the third inning got base hits as well.
Dustin Morris led off the second inning with a single to left field. Cole Thomas then singled to right and Morris moved to second. Tyler Wilkie then singled to right and Morris tried to make it home, but was thrown out, leaving Cole and Wilkie at third and second base. Nine-hole hitter Scott Burnett then doubled to left, scoring Thomas, but Wilkie also tried to score on the play and was also thrown out. Bryson Morris then stepped to the plate and singled to centerfield. Burnett also tried to round third and score on the hit and was gunned down at the plate.
In the third inning, Bulice led off with a single to left field and Vaughan followed with an infield single to third base. When the throw went to first, Bulice tried to get to third, but was thrown out.
Cabot added an unearned run in the third inning after getting another runner thrown out at third base. Wilkie reached on an error at shortstop and scored two batters later on an RBI single by Bryson Morris.
Still leading 3-1, Cabot seemed to take control of the game in the bottom of the sixth when Bulice smashed a pitch over the fence in left field with the bases loaded. Dustin Morris and Thomas led of the inning with back-to-back base hits. The next two batters went down, but Bryson Morris drew a walk to load the bases. With two strikes, Bulice’s grand slam made it 7-1 with one inning left to play.
Bryson Morris, who took the mound in the sixth in relief of starter Ryan Logan, struggled to find the strike zone and was left on the mound for the duration of the inning. North Little rock scored nine runs in the seventh off just two base hits. Bryson Morris walked five, hit two batters and gave up the base hits, the last a bases-clearing triple by Michael Hodge that gave the Colts their first lead of the game at 10-7.
Bryson Morris then struck out Evan Johnson to finally end the inning, and Cabot almost made a comeback with a two-out rally.
Tyler Carter flew out to centerfield to start the inning and Goff singled to left field. He was thrown out on a fielder’s choice by Dustin Morris, leaving Morris safe at first base. Thomas then singled for the third time in the game.
Wilkie also singled with a slow bouncer down the third baseline. Wilkie beat the throw to first, but it was also off the mark, clearing the way for Dustin Morris to score and make it 10-8. That brought Bryson Morris back to the plate, who was 3 for 3 with a walk, but Morris struck out looking at a called third strike on a full count.
It was the last of several ball-strike calls that drew the ire of fans and coaches from both sides of the field.
The week’s three wins and one loss leave Cabot with an overall record of 14-12. The Panthers’ next game will be at 7 p.m. Monday at home against Little Rock-Continental Express.
SPORTS STORY>>Gwatney rally earns win in seventh inning
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
SHERIDAN – Jacksonville’s junior American Legion team saved its best for last, the very last, in the first round of the state tournament at Sheridan.
The Gwatney squad overcame a big deficit by scoring nine runs in the last inning to beat Genoa Central 16-12 and advance to the second round of the winners’ bracket.
Trailing 12-7 heading into the top of the seventh inning, Jacksonville coach David St. Clair had a simple message for his squad as it prepared for its last at bat.
“I told them to score six runs,” St. Clair said. His squad did him three better.
Jacksonville didn’t make an out until the ninth batter of the inning. Fifteen Chevy Boys went to the plate. It started with eight-hole hitter Ryan Mallison drawing a walk off relief pitcher Jared Oats, who took the mound in relief of starter Justin Swecker.
Courtland McDonald then walked and leadoff hitter Troy Allen was hit by a pitch for the third time in the game to load the bases. Derek St. Clair then singled to drive in one run and Austin Allen drew another walk for an RBI. That prompted a quick hook from Genoa coaches for Oats. They brought in first baseman and cleanup hitter NickPurifoy to take the mound, but he didn’t fare much better. Kaleb Reeves, Justin Abbott and Greg Jones got consecutive singles off Purifoy before he finally recorded an out when Blake Perry popped up to the catcher. LaDerrious Perry and McDonald then got back-to-back RBI singles and Troy Allen reached on an error by Purifoy that scored LaDerrious Perry and left runners on first and second. St. Clair bunted them into scoring position and Purifoy intentionally walked Austin Allen before striking out Reeves to end the inning.
Derek St. Clair took the mound in relief in the bottom of the seventh and things started poorly for him. He walked the first two batters, but a big play at first base got him out of the jam.
Troy Allen, who had been behind the plate for six innings, made a leaping snow-cone catch of a Cale Ridling line drive, and beat Lane Hughes back to the base for an unassisted double play. Purifoy then flew out to centerfield for the final out of the game.
“Troy’s just a gamer,” David St. Clair said. “He just finds a way, whether it’s at the plate or in the field. He’s just a bulldog out there.”
Jacksonville got out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first with the help of an error and a wild pitch, but the Dragons stayed close with two in the bottom of the first.
They took their first lead with three runs in the bottom of the fourth that made it 7-4. Jacksonville tied it in the top of the fifth, but Genoa Central took apparent command of the game with five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Blake Perry took the mound with one out in the fifth inning in relief of starting pitcher James Tucker.
Perry was rocked for four hits and three earned runs before getting out of the fifth, but retired the side in order in the sixth to end up with the win. St. Clair got the save while Tucker settled for a no decision. Tucker gave up nine runs, but only five were earned due to five Jacksonville errors in the infield.
While the infield struggled, Jacksonville’s outfield was outstanding, especially Austin Allen, who made two big catches that helped stop Genoa onslaughts in the middle innings.
“Those two Allen boys,” David St. Clair said. “Austin is as good a centerfielder as there is in this state.”
Austin Allen struggled at the plate, but did get a double to deep left-center in the first inning for the first of his two RBIs.
Troy Allen got just one base hit, but reached base in five of his six at bats, including three HBPs, one two-RBI double and once on an error. Abbott led the Chevy Boys offensively. The five-hole hitter finished with three base hits, including two doubles and three runs batted in. Derek St. Clair, Jones and Blake Perry each got two base hits.
The Gwatney squad finished with 16 total base hits while Genoa got 13.
Jacksonville faces Tex-arkana at 5 p.m. today at Sheridan. The Razorbacks barely escaped Jonesboro-Armor 10-9 with three runs in the last inning of their first-round game.
EDITORIAL>>Triumphing over adversity
In July 1995, Serbian fascists murdered more than 8,372 men and boys in Srebrenica, Bosnia, because they were Muslims. The massacre motivated NATO to increase its air strikes to halt Europe’s first genocide since the Second World War. More than 100,000 Muslims were killed in the conflict and two million were displaced from their homeland.
One of those displaced included Muhamed Mehmedovic. He is now a senior airman at Little Rock Air Force Base who is set for deployment, perhaps in Afghanistan.
As reported by Airman 1st Class Regina Agoha in this week’s Combat Airlifter, the newspaper at the air base, Mehmodovic was 6 years old when his family fled Srebrenica. He said about 80 percent of his family members who stayed behind perished in mass executions, shelling and sniper attacks. Victims were buried in unmarked graves, many of whom are still being exhumed for proper burial. (The article is reprinted in The Leader on p. 1A.)
Mehmodovic’s family fled north to the city of Tuzla, where he and his family survived on supplies air dropped by NATO forces. In 2002, he immigrated to the United States using a special program for survivors of the Bosnian genocide.
After graduating from high school in St. Louis, he joined the Air Force, inspired by the airdrops that kept him alive as a small child. When he returns from deployment, Mehmodovic will train to load supplies for airdrops. He hopes to help vulnerable people like the victims of Srebrenica.
The 17th anniversary of the massacre at Srebrenica was marked on Wednesday. During the ceremony, 520 recently identified bodies were reburied.
Rabbi Arthur Schneier of New York, who is a Holocaust survivor, spoke at the ceremony.
“Shalom, Salam,” using the Hebrew and Arabic words for peace, the rabbi greeted the crowd.
“Silence is not a solution, it only encourages the perpetrators and ultimately it pays a heavy price in blood,” the rabbi said.
“(It’s time) for humanity to say in one clear voice: These crimes against people will end! Here on this sacred day we say, never again!” he said.
Then the crowd chanted “Allah Akbar” — “God is great” in Arabic.
The war, which lasted from 1992-1995, ended when the western world was motivated to end the killings. Led by Gen. Wesley Clark of Little Rock, NATO quickly overpowered the technologically and strategically inferior Serbian military.
Today, many Serbs, including its current president, deny the genocide. But the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, where the world’s most violent and shameful leaders are brought to justice, has since convicted many of its planners, sentencing them to die in prison.
We are proud Senior Airman Muhamed Mehmdovic is fighting for us, and we are proud that our country fought for him.
TOP STORY>>Crops surviving, but profits drop
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Despite a six-week long drought, most area farmers aren’t having trouble making a crop, but they expect trouble making a profit.
“Everything’s planted and up and looks good,” said Dick Bransford, one of the last farmers growing cotton in his area, but “it’s costing an arm and a leg for fuel,” Bransford said.
“We’re running 17 t0 20 wells and don’t hardly shut them down. And fertilizer went double this year,” he said. “Not because of high oil prices, but because they can.”
Bransford said last year, fertilizer was $400 a ton, but because of the warm winter and spring, farmers planted early this year and the suppliers were caught off guard.
So his fertilizer cost $800 a ton, though some producers got it for $700 and even $600 a ton a little later on.
EVERYBODY’S SURVIVING
“We’re all hit hard, but so far everybody’s surviving,” he said. “We don’t know about next year, especially with the new farm bill coming in.”
Bransford, who farms with his son, Rick, in the Pettus area, says one of his wells has gone dry. He’s pumping both out of the ground and using relift stations to pump water from on-farm reservoirs.
The Bransfords have about 450 acres in cotton this year, and they’re planting soybeans behind the just-harvested wheat. They have about 500 acres in rice, 300 acres in corn andthe balance in soybeans. “We’re not hurting on price, but expenses are eating us up,” he said.
ZERO PRECIPTATION
While there have been occasional showers in Arkansas the past few days, Bransford said he and his neighbors received “absolutely zero” precipitation.
He hasn’t seen rain since about the first of June.
Eventually, his acreage is among 300,000 acres that will be irrigated from the Arkansas River thanks to the $614 million Bayou Meto Basin Water Management Project.
The first water moved by gigantic pumps near Scott will take 1,750 cu. ft. of water per second from the river—that’s sufficient to fill 40 in-ground, back-yard swimming pools a minute.
The first of that water should be available in time for the 2013 growing season. It’s been 19 years getting to us,” Bransford said, and
Gov. Mike Beebe, with support of the Arkansas delegation, requested and has received a drought disaster declaration for 69 Arkansas counties, making farmers and ranchers eligible for financial assistance to help them recover from drought-related losses this year.
DRIP IRRIGATION
Over at Holland Bottom Farms, Larry Odom, who works some soybeans and sweet potatoes near Cabot says he’s been busy keeping his fruits and vegetables watered.
Strawberries are the biggest part of Odom’s farm income and they, along with his peach trees are drip irrigated.
The strawberry season is over, but the “the peaches are stressed some. It runs us ragged trying to keep up with everything, applying fungicide, pesticide, watering, running to market—we’re putting in a lot of hours.
He says the cloudy days and relatively cool — in the nineties — temperatures of the last few days have brought a little relief to the string of unforgiving 100-degree-plus days. His farm received about 0.2 in. of rain this week, which isn’t much help.
HOPING FOR RAIN
“We keep on hoping for a big one,” he said, “hoping that somewhere we’ll get a pretty good shower.”
Otherwise, “at some point we have to decide what to keep.”
Part of the soybean fields may be let go if he can’t get some rain to help refill his 70 acres of reservoir, which he fills from a nearby creek in the rainy season.
“We could set the pasture afire,” he said. “Anything on the farm will burn except the dirt.”
His neighbors need rain for the cattle. They already are using their stock of feed hay they put up earlier in the year for next winter.
Leader senior staff writer
Despite a six-week long drought, most area farmers aren’t having trouble making a crop, but they expect trouble making a profit.
“Everything’s planted and up and looks good,” said Dick Bransford, one of the last farmers growing cotton in his area, but “it’s costing an arm and a leg for fuel,” Bransford said.
“We’re running 17 t0 20 wells and don’t hardly shut them down. And fertilizer went double this year,” he said. “Not because of high oil prices, but because they can.”
Bransford said last year, fertilizer was $400 a ton, but because of the warm winter and spring, farmers planted early this year and the suppliers were caught off guard.
So his fertilizer cost $800 a ton, though some producers got it for $700 and even $600 a ton a little later on.
EVERYBODY’S SURVIVING
“We’re all hit hard, but so far everybody’s surviving,” he said. “We don’t know about next year, especially with the new farm bill coming in.”
Bransford, who farms with his son, Rick, in the Pettus area, says one of his wells has gone dry. He’s pumping both out of the ground and using relift stations to pump water from on-farm reservoirs.
The Bransfords have about 450 acres in cotton this year, and they’re planting soybeans behind the just-harvested wheat. They have about 500 acres in rice, 300 acres in corn andthe balance in soybeans. “We’re not hurting on price, but expenses are eating us up,” he said.
ZERO PRECIPTATION
While there have been occasional showers in Arkansas the past few days, Bransford said he and his neighbors received “absolutely zero” precipitation.
He hasn’t seen rain since about the first of June.
Eventually, his acreage is among 300,000 acres that will be irrigated from the Arkansas River thanks to the $614 million Bayou Meto Basin Water Management Project.
The first water moved by gigantic pumps near Scott will take 1,750 cu. ft. of water per second from the river—that’s sufficient to fill 40 in-ground, back-yard swimming pools a minute.
The first of that water should be available in time for the 2013 growing season. It’s been 19 years getting to us,” Bransford said, and
Gov. Mike Beebe, with support of the Arkansas delegation, requested and has received a drought disaster declaration for 69 Arkansas counties, making farmers and ranchers eligible for financial assistance to help them recover from drought-related losses this year.
DRIP IRRIGATION
Over at Holland Bottom Farms, Larry Odom, who works some soybeans and sweet potatoes near Cabot says he’s been busy keeping his fruits and vegetables watered.
Strawberries are the biggest part of Odom’s farm income and they, along with his peach trees are drip irrigated.
The strawberry season is over, but the “the peaches are stressed some. It runs us ragged trying to keep up with everything, applying fungicide, pesticide, watering, running to market—we’re putting in a lot of hours.
He says the cloudy days and relatively cool — in the nineties — temperatures of the last few days have brought a little relief to the string of unforgiving 100-degree-plus days. His farm received about 0.2 in. of rain this week, which isn’t much help.
HOPING FOR RAIN
“We keep on hoping for a big one,” he said, “hoping that somewhere we’ll get a pretty good shower.”
Otherwise, “at some point we have to decide what to keep.”
Part of the soybean fields may be let go if he can’t get some rain to help refill his 70 acres of reservoir, which he fills from a nearby creek in the rainy season.
“We could set the pasture afire,” he said. “Anything on the farm will burn except the dirt.”
His neighbors need rain for the cattle. They already are using their stock of feed hay they put up earlier in the year for next winter.
TOP STORY>>Smoke detector in fatal fire was 9 years too old
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.
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.
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