By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
The clock has started on a 120-day deadline for the Jacksonville-North Pulaski and Pulaski County Special School Districts to work out division of assets and liabilities and other issues after the state Board of Education on Thursday approved the operating agreement sanctioned last month by U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall.
When the state took over the fiscally distressed county district, the state board dissolved the elected PCSSD school board, fired Superintendent Charles Hopson and then-Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell hired Guess.
The hiring of former PCSSD Superintendent Bobby Lester as interim Jacksonville superintendent became formal with the board’s approval of a working agreement between the two districts. The agreement leaves PCSSD Superintendent Jerry Guess in the driver’s seat for as long as another 18 months or until the new district is ready to stand alone.
Lester said he and Chief of Staff Phyllis Stewart have been working for free so far, but they will be on the clock starting Monday. Lester said his annual salary was $150,000.
Guess told the board the appointed community advisory board that performs some functions of a school board was a good training ground for the next generation of PCSSD board members, who could be elected next September.
Daniel Gray, president of the newly appointed Jacksonville-North Pulaski interim school board, and vice president Ron McDaniel also sit as Jacksonville-area representatives on the PCSSD advisory board.
Guess said he hoped that serving on both boards would fast-track development of local leaders for the new district.
“I think they have gained vast insight,” he said.
Accounting for the loss of revenue from detachment of the Jacksonville School District from PCSSD and for the loss of $20.8 million a year in state desegregation funds is all that prevents PCSSD from emerging from its fiscal distress designation and state control.
Both districts are exposed to great risk financially, Guess said.
Guess said, “This detachment exposes both districts to significant challenges” after the loss of $35 million.
State Board president Sam Ledbetter said — of Guess, Joshua Intervenor Attorney John Walker, Lester, Goff, Gray and others from Jacksonville — “a lot of good minds are working on it, and we’re pulling for you.”
In a separate but related issue, Lester said Friday that Patrick Wilson, chosen to be the attorney for the new district, would also be its employee starting on Monday. He had been the Jacksonville-north Pulaski Education Corps’ attorney.
Accounting for the loss of revenue from detachment of the Jacksonville PCSSD chief financial officer Bill Goff told the board that the district had corrected 37 of the 38 problems for which it was cited, placed in fiscal distress and taken over by the state in 2011.
He said the district would petition by the April board meeting the Education Department and the board for release from the designation and the state oversight.
Education Commissioner Tony Wood, who is also the de facto, one-man PCSSD school board, said, “The only outstanding unresolved issue is how they are going to deal with the loss of revenue from the phaseout of desegregation revenues.
They will present a detailed plan this month. Once they have submitted that, there will be consideration of an appropriate time to turn over control.”
Goff said, “We are working on a five-year impact (forecast) of Jacksonville detachment and of loss of about $20.8 million a year in state desegregation funds. The projection is that we can meet that loss in reasonable ways and still maintain fiscal integrity.
“We have to make a lot of hard decisions over the next 18 months,” Goff said. “We can put a plan together that looks good on paper, but dealing with paper and dealing with people are two different things.
“Wood expects (our plan) by April. They have to decide whether to release us from fiscal distress. If we’ve met our plan, there’s no choice but to release us from fiscal distress.”
State board member Jay Barth asked Goff if the district had met its legal fund balance. Goff answered, “Yes, for the last two years.”
Wood said, “This is a matter with clear guidance in law, the process of being in fiscal distress and coming out. We’re trying to be attentive to that.”
The 11-point agreement approved by the state board without discussion and in less than a minute Thursday was worked out by Guess, Lester, Wilson and PCSSD attorney Allen Roberts. Among those points were:
• PCSSD administrators shall operate the Jacksonville district during the transition.
• The PCSSD superintendent will be CEO of the district, reporting to the commissioner in lieu of a school board.
• PCSSD continues its obligations as a non-unitary desegregation defendant.
• Both districts will be considered a single unit for purposes of desegregation status.
• The commissioner shall select a superintendent and other employees for the Jacksonville district and confirm Wilson as attorney, paid by PCSSD.
• Employees assigned to Jacksonville-area duties continue as PCSSD employees until the new district is fully operational.
• During the remainder of 2014-15, the Jacksonville superintendent designate will be an integral participant in all personnel decisions related to the new district.
• The goal of the PCSSD administration will be a turnkey job in which the new district and its board will be vested with all powers and responsibilities.
• Parties continue to negotiate in good faith to resolve issues such as division of assets and debt, student assignment, teacher salary schedule and configuration of board zones prior to the September 2015 school elections.
Monday, January 12, 2015
TOP STORY >> Common Core right for state?
By JEFFERY SMITH
Leader staff writer
As state lawmakers convene for the regular session of the 90th Legislative General Assembly on Monday, The Leader interviewed local school leaders and legislators about key issues affecting education.
The newly implemented Common Core state standards, which provide schools with more universal curriculum requirements in English, literacy, history, social studies, science and math, tops the list of concerns for area superintendents.
However politically charged and frequently misunderstood the issue is, school leaders say they stand behind Common Core and insist it needs time to start showing results, while Republican legislators in the area are afraid of the federal government having too much control over local schools.
Cabot School Superintendent Tony Thurman said the standards are rigorous and can be modified if problems arise. For a military community like Cabot, students who move there or away to other bases around the country will be able to pick up with the same lessons at their new schools.
It will help students avoid starting over with new standards and coursework by repeating or even skipping over lessons.
Lonoke Superintendent Suzanne Bailey said, “The concept is advantageous for promoting deeper student learning. It will take time and energy to implement the necessary strategies required for higher-level learning and student engagement into critical thinking tasks, and closes the gaps that exist due to the shifting of standards.”
State Senate Education Committee member Eddie Joe Williams (R-Cabot) said he has been in discussions with several school superintendents. He sent a report to Gov. Asa Hutchinson that provides feedback about Common Core and considers making fundamental changes to Common Core.
“It will get a lot of attention in the legislative session,” Williams said.
Common Core has received backlash from some parents and even became a campaign issue in the November election.
Beebe School Superintendent Belinda Shook said, “Common Core has become the catchall for anything someone doesn’t like about public schools. We ought to give it time to work before we change it.”
But Tim Lemons, an engineer who is starting his first term as a Republican state representative for the Cabot area, said, “I cannot support Common Core until I have some assurance that it will curtail federal involvement with our local school districts. I can see where some national standards are not a bad thing. However, if we give up local control of our school districts, I have a real problem with that because schools are the identity of their community. If they lost that, I could see where that would be detrimental.”
But Lemons also said he does not have a problem adopting the academic standards.
Shook said much of the challenge in implementing Common Core is preparing for the new standardized test that will replace the Benchmark test. The PARCC, which stands for Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, will be the new measure of academic performance for students across the country.
PARCC testing will begin this spring. Students will take the test simultaneously, using laptop computers on the schools’ wireless network. The test will not be given on the Internet, which will ensure that students’ privacy is protected. Some parents have worried their children’s personal information could be exposed.
To administer the test, schools had to buy hundreds of new computers.
“We’ve invested a lot in Chromebooks and made sure we’ve had enough for the testing,” Shook said.
She anticipates some technology problems. Shook said students have taken practice tests to see how the school’s computer network will handle the load.
Lonoke’s superintendent is confident her district can adapt to the new test.
“We, at Lonoke, feel as prepared as we can be at this point in time with preparing to take the PARCC online assessment in the spring with our technology infrastructure,” Bailey said.
“Many hours have gone into planning, scheduling and piloting for this upcoming student assessment. Our students are preparing throughout the school year to be ready to use the technology required. We are hoping that this will all work successfully, and there will be no glitches on our end or with the testing company,” she continued.
Shook said, “Requiring schools to do all this so quickly has been pretty hard. Some school districts aren’t going to be able to do the tests online and will use paper and pencil.”
The Beebe superintendent did not mince words about the politicization of the standardized tests.
“Why are people complaining about Common Core and PARCC when legislators compare schools on a national level with NAEP?” she asked, referring to the National Assessment of Educational Progress exam that is given to randomly selected schools. The results are then used to compare states, not school districts.
“Taking the PARCC test makes more sense than the NAEP test. We just started Common Core a few years ago. We haven’t given it time to test the standards. We don’t focus on the NAEP standards,” Shook said.
“We never get any results, except for the state’s results. When you see a report, for example, it compares Arkansas to Massachusetts. It does not show how a district compares to other districts in other states,” Shook said.
“We don’t know what they are testing or what the results are. I’ve tried to get Beebe’s (NAEP) scores, but they won’t give them. At least with Common Core and PARCC we know what the standards are, and we are taking the same tests.
“If we are going to have a national test, let us know what the standards and tests are we are going to use,” Shook said.
She said students in Arkansas have made more progress in the NAEP test than students in any other state.
“If the NAEP test is going to be the measure, then why don’t we use the NAEP standards?” Shook asked.
VOUCHERS AND SCHOLARSHIPS
Superintendents are also concerned about talk of legislation to create state-funded scholarships and vouchers for children to attend private schools.
Sen. Williams said, “I’m a proponent for vouchers. I don’t see vouchers as a threat to good performing schools. If a school underperforms, parents should be able to get vouchers to better educate their kids. It is competitive and makes for better schools.”
But area superintendents couldn’t disagree more.
Cabot’s superintendent said, “I believe, if they are to take taxpayer money from public schools, that private schools should be held as equally accountable as public schools.”
Shook said, “I’m very anti-vouchers and scholarships for private schools. I’m not against private schools and people who want to send their kids there; I am against using public school money.
“I don’t want my tax money that I’m paying for public schools to go to a private school to pay for someone else’s child when they could send their child to a public school.”
Bailey also opposes giving tax dollars to private schools. “Public schools would be harmed if the funding available for public schools was reduced and given to private schools,” she said.
Thurman and Bailey suggested that, if the state wants to begin funding private schools, the private schools would need to report student academic performance in the same way that public schools do.
The state also requires public schools, but not private schools, to provide special-needs programs, physical education, music and art, Thurman pointed out.
Shook said, “If they did start giving scholarships and voucher money to private schools, they should meet the same accountabilities systems as public schools and offer the same services.”
FUNDING MATRIX
Thurman said public school administrators do not want legislators to make any changes with the funding matrix, which is the state’s equation that provides funding for school districts. He said the current system is working well and is fair and equitable.
Thurman said there is talk about “tweaking” the funding matrix.
“We believe that would be detrimental. We’d like for it to stay. We understand it. We know how it works. We know it is fair. It is in compliance with court rulings, with equal education for all,” Thurman said.
Shook agreed. “I’m happy with it and want them to leave it alone. New legislators look at the funding as an expenditure,” she said.
Lemons, the freshman legislator, said, “There are some schools under the current program that are being disenfranchised to some degree and some that are probably overfunded. I could see where that might need some adjustment to be a little more fair. It is a work in progress. As the needs of the people change, it can be modified.”
Rep. Camille Bennett (D- Lonoke), another freshman legislator, said, “Everyone needs money.
“We have to figure out how to collectively meet the best needs of the people of our state. Education has to be our top priority. We don’t have an option. If we don’t invest in education, eventually it is going to get worse. Bad things happen. Drug abuse, people in jail and welfare all ties to not having a basic education. You can’t get a job. Most (pregnant) teens are reading at a fifth-grade level. Education changes people’s lives,” Bennett said.
FACILITIES FUNDING
Next on the superintendents’ list of concerns is securing state money for districts to build new schools and pay for remodeling projects. State money has helped build several new campuses in Cabot and others in Beebe, Lonoke and Sherwood.
The partnership is based on a district’s wealth index.
That is especially important for the new Jacksonville-North Pulaski School District, which is hoping to see a windfall of state money that was not available to it when the area was part of the Pulaski County Special School District.
Some of the money has been moved from the partnership-funding program to pay for teachers’ insurance, and there are concerns that much needed projects will not happen because of a lack of available money.
Thurman said, “We want the facility funding to remain intact and the funding that was removed put back. Districts can’t take on the sole responsibility for paying for new facilities.”
Shook said, “If Beebe has to build new buildings and doesn’t have state partnership funding, it will have to pass a millage, which would be difficult.
“I’ve been a superintendent for 10 years, and we have taken advantage of the state partnership facility funding,” she said.
State partnership funding has paid for 63 percent of the building and remodeling projects in the Beebe School District, Shook noted. It has helped pay for the new middle school, the Early Childhood building, the high school’s Career and Technical Building, additions at the junior high and high school and the remodeling of two elementary schools.
NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH ACT
The superintendents also recommend legislators help their districts pay for the cost of providing thousands of free and reduced-price meals every day by renewing the National School Lunch Act, which provides state funds to districts based on the number of students receiving free meals.
Thurman said research shows children from homes that are struggling economically typically require nutritional assistance as well as remediation studies and more. That can be an expensive burden for districts.
The National School Lunch Act also provides districts with money for additional instructional programs, afterschool programs, nurses, interventionists, specialists, tutors and summer school. Districts could not provide those services to so many students without that funding.
Shook said, “It will kill a lot of our programs if that was taken away.”
Thurman said many other school leaders are asking legislators to maintain National School Lunch Act funding and continue to allow districts flexibility in how they use the money based on their needs.
Bailey said, “Flexibility should continue with this funding. More requirements and restrictions on how school districts spend the funds is not needed nor desired.”
SCHOOL CHOICE ACT
Thurman believes the school choice cap of 3 percent for incoming and outgoing students transferring between school districts should remain the same. He said the cap helps districts maintain budgets based on enrollment numbers.
However, Bailey said, “The 3 percent cap should be reduced due to the financial burden it can cause districts with the loss of revenue.”
Senate Education Committee Chairman Jane English (R-North Little Rock) said, “Every parent ought to have a choice for the education for their child. Every parent needs to be able to make that decision on which school their child can go to.”
English said one school district may offer programs another does not or offer services for special needs students.
Shook said, “It’s not been a big problem for us.”
Beebe, Cabot and Lonoke school districts have all been working with each other on school choice.
Bennett said, “School choice is great as long as it doesn’t impact disadvantaged people.”
She is concerned that school choice could have a detrimental impact on smaller schools if they are in danger of school closure. The Scott School District and the England School District are examples Bennett gave.
She does not want to see school choice as “white flight” or the selective pulling of better performing students out of one district for another. However, Bennett sees it as a plus that can work for larger districts.
(Next: Other education issues before the legislature.)
Leader staff writer
As state lawmakers convene for the regular session of the 90th Legislative General Assembly on Monday, The Leader interviewed local school leaders and legislators about key issues affecting education.
The newly implemented Common Core state standards, which provide schools with more universal curriculum requirements in English, literacy, history, social studies, science and math, tops the list of concerns for area superintendents.
However politically charged and frequently misunderstood the issue is, school leaders say they stand behind Common Core and insist it needs time to start showing results, while Republican legislators in the area are afraid of the federal government having too much control over local schools.
Cabot School Superintendent Tony Thurman said the standards are rigorous and can be modified if problems arise. For a military community like Cabot, students who move there or away to other bases around the country will be able to pick up with the same lessons at their new schools.
It will help students avoid starting over with new standards and coursework by repeating or even skipping over lessons.
Lonoke Superintendent Suzanne Bailey said, “The concept is advantageous for promoting deeper student learning. It will take time and energy to implement the necessary strategies required for higher-level learning and student engagement into critical thinking tasks, and closes the gaps that exist due to the shifting of standards.”
State Senate Education Committee member Eddie Joe Williams (R-Cabot) said he has been in discussions with several school superintendents. He sent a report to Gov. Asa Hutchinson that provides feedback about Common Core and considers making fundamental changes to Common Core.
“It will get a lot of attention in the legislative session,” Williams said.
Common Core has received backlash from some parents and even became a campaign issue in the November election.
Beebe School Superintendent Belinda Shook said, “Common Core has become the catchall for anything someone doesn’t like about public schools. We ought to give it time to work before we change it.”
But Tim Lemons, an engineer who is starting his first term as a Republican state representative for the Cabot area, said, “I cannot support Common Core until I have some assurance that it will curtail federal involvement with our local school districts. I can see where some national standards are not a bad thing. However, if we give up local control of our school districts, I have a real problem with that because schools are the identity of their community. If they lost that, I could see where that would be detrimental.”
But Lemons also said he does not have a problem adopting the academic standards.
Shook said much of the challenge in implementing Common Core is preparing for the new standardized test that will replace the Benchmark test. The PARCC, which stands for Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, will be the new measure of academic performance for students across the country.
PARCC testing will begin this spring. Students will take the test simultaneously, using laptop computers on the schools’ wireless network. The test will not be given on the Internet, which will ensure that students’ privacy is protected. Some parents have worried their children’s personal information could be exposed.
To administer the test, schools had to buy hundreds of new computers.
“We’ve invested a lot in Chromebooks and made sure we’ve had enough for the testing,” Shook said.
She anticipates some technology problems. Shook said students have taken practice tests to see how the school’s computer network will handle the load.
Lonoke’s superintendent is confident her district can adapt to the new test.
“We, at Lonoke, feel as prepared as we can be at this point in time with preparing to take the PARCC online assessment in the spring with our technology infrastructure,” Bailey said.
“Many hours have gone into planning, scheduling and piloting for this upcoming student assessment. Our students are preparing throughout the school year to be ready to use the technology required. We are hoping that this will all work successfully, and there will be no glitches on our end or with the testing company,” she continued.
Shook said, “Requiring schools to do all this so quickly has been pretty hard. Some school districts aren’t going to be able to do the tests online and will use paper and pencil.”
The Beebe superintendent did not mince words about the politicization of the standardized tests.
“Why are people complaining about Common Core and PARCC when legislators compare schools on a national level with NAEP?” she asked, referring to the National Assessment of Educational Progress exam that is given to randomly selected schools. The results are then used to compare states, not school districts.
“Taking the PARCC test makes more sense than the NAEP test. We just started Common Core a few years ago. We haven’t given it time to test the standards. We don’t focus on the NAEP standards,” Shook said.
“We never get any results, except for the state’s results. When you see a report, for example, it compares Arkansas to Massachusetts. It does not show how a district compares to other districts in other states,” Shook said.
“We don’t know what they are testing or what the results are. I’ve tried to get Beebe’s (NAEP) scores, but they won’t give them. At least with Common Core and PARCC we know what the standards are, and we are taking the same tests.
“If we are going to have a national test, let us know what the standards and tests are we are going to use,” Shook said.
She said students in Arkansas have made more progress in the NAEP test than students in any other state.
“If the NAEP test is going to be the measure, then why don’t we use the NAEP standards?” Shook asked.
VOUCHERS AND SCHOLARSHIPS
Superintendents are also concerned about talk of legislation to create state-funded scholarships and vouchers for children to attend private schools.
Sen. Williams said, “I’m a proponent for vouchers. I don’t see vouchers as a threat to good performing schools. If a school underperforms, parents should be able to get vouchers to better educate their kids. It is competitive and makes for better schools.”
But area superintendents couldn’t disagree more.
Cabot’s superintendent said, “I believe, if they are to take taxpayer money from public schools, that private schools should be held as equally accountable as public schools.”
Shook said, “I’m very anti-vouchers and scholarships for private schools. I’m not against private schools and people who want to send their kids there; I am against using public school money.
“I don’t want my tax money that I’m paying for public schools to go to a private school to pay for someone else’s child when they could send their child to a public school.”
Bailey also opposes giving tax dollars to private schools. “Public schools would be harmed if the funding available for public schools was reduced and given to private schools,” she said.
Thurman and Bailey suggested that, if the state wants to begin funding private schools, the private schools would need to report student academic performance in the same way that public schools do.
The state also requires public schools, but not private schools, to provide special-needs programs, physical education, music and art, Thurman pointed out.
Shook said, “If they did start giving scholarships and voucher money to private schools, they should meet the same accountabilities systems as public schools and offer the same services.”
FUNDING MATRIX
Thurman said public school administrators do not want legislators to make any changes with the funding matrix, which is the state’s equation that provides funding for school districts. He said the current system is working well and is fair and equitable.
Thurman said there is talk about “tweaking” the funding matrix.
“We believe that would be detrimental. We’d like for it to stay. We understand it. We know how it works. We know it is fair. It is in compliance with court rulings, with equal education for all,” Thurman said.
Shook agreed. “I’m happy with it and want them to leave it alone. New legislators look at the funding as an expenditure,” she said.
Lemons, the freshman legislator, said, “There are some schools under the current program that are being disenfranchised to some degree and some that are probably overfunded. I could see where that might need some adjustment to be a little more fair. It is a work in progress. As the needs of the people change, it can be modified.”
Rep. Camille Bennett (D- Lonoke), another freshman legislator, said, “Everyone needs money.
“We have to figure out how to collectively meet the best needs of the people of our state. Education has to be our top priority. We don’t have an option. If we don’t invest in education, eventually it is going to get worse. Bad things happen. Drug abuse, people in jail and welfare all ties to not having a basic education. You can’t get a job. Most (pregnant) teens are reading at a fifth-grade level. Education changes people’s lives,” Bennett said.
FACILITIES FUNDING
Next on the superintendents’ list of concerns is securing state money for districts to build new schools and pay for remodeling projects. State money has helped build several new campuses in Cabot and others in Beebe, Lonoke and Sherwood.
The partnership is based on a district’s wealth index.
That is especially important for the new Jacksonville-North Pulaski School District, which is hoping to see a windfall of state money that was not available to it when the area was part of the Pulaski County Special School District.
Some of the money has been moved from the partnership-funding program to pay for teachers’ insurance, and there are concerns that much needed projects will not happen because of a lack of available money.
Thurman said, “We want the facility funding to remain intact and the funding that was removed put back. Districts can’t take on the sole responsibility for paying for new facilities.”
Shook said, “If Beebe has to build new buildings and doesn’t have state partnership funding, it will have to pass a millage, which would be difficult.
“I’ve been a superintendent for 10 years, and we have taken advantage of the state partnership facility funding,” she said.
State partnership funding has paid for 63 percent of the building and remodeling projects in the Beebe School District, Shook noted. It has helped pay for the new middle school, the Early Childhood building, the high school’s Career and Technical Building, additions at the junior high and high school and the remodeling of two elementary schools.
NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH ACT
The superintendents also recommend legislators help their districts pay for the cost of providing thousands of free and reduced-price meals every day by renewing the National School Lunch Act, which provides state funds to districts based on the number of students receiving free meals.
Thurman said research shows children from homes that are struggling economically typically require nutritional assistance as well as remediation studies and more. That can be an expensive burden for districts.
The National School Lunch Act also provides districts with money for additional instructional programs, afterschool programs, nurses, interventionists, specialists, tutors and summer school. Districts could not provide those services to so many students without that funding.
Shook said, “It will kill a lot of our programs if that was taken away.”
Thurman said many other school leaders are asking legislators to maintain National School Lunch Act funding and continue to allow districts flexibility in how they use the money based on their needs.
Bailey said, “Flexibility should continue with this funding. More requirements and restrictions on how school districts spend the funds is not needed nor desired.”
SCHOOL CHOICE ACT
Thurman believes the school choice cap of 3 percent for incoming and outgoing students transferring between school districts should remain the same. He said the cap helps districts maintain budgets based on enrollment numbers.
However, Bailey said, “The 3 percent cap should be reduced due to the financial burden it can cause districts with the loss of revenue.”
Senate Education Committee Chairman Jane English (R-North Little Rock) said, “Every parent ought to have a choice for the education for their child. Every parent needs to be able to make that decision on which school their child can go to.”
English said one school district may offer programs another does not or offer services for special needs students.
Shook said, “It’s not been a big problem for us.”
Beebe, Cabot and Lonoke school districts have all been working with each other on school choice.
Bennett said, “School choice is great as long as it doesn’t impact disadvantaged people.”
She is concerned that school choice could have a detrimental impact on smaller schools if they are in danger of school closure. The Scott School District and the England School District are examples Bennett gave.
She does not want to see school choice as “white flight” or the selective pulling of better performing students out of one district for another. However, Bennett sees it as a plus that can work for larger districts.
(Next: Other education issues before the legislature.)
EDITORIAL >> New schools won't be easy
The Jacksonville-North Pulaski School District needs a large or even staggering amount of money to build its way out of one of the worst school building situations in one of the poorest states in the country.
The schools that interim Superintendent Bobby Lester will consider when applying for state partnership funds are Homer Adkins pre-K, Bayou Meto, Murell Taylor, Pinewood, Tolleson, Arnold Drive, Warren Dupree elementary schools, Jacksonville Middle, Jacksonville High School and North Pulaski High School.
Current, unofficial plans call for building a new high school on 300 acres on Little Rock Air Force Base land, converting the North Pulaski High School into the district’s middle school, building a new elementary school on the base to replace Arnold Drive and Tolleson elementary schools and to remodel and add on to Murell Taylor, Bayou Meta, Pinewood and Warren Dupree elementary schools.
The Defense Department has said it would help with some funding for the high school and the elementary school that would be constructed on its base.
One of Lester’s first chores when he starts work Monday will be to compile a school facilities plan for the state Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation. To be eligible for state facilities matching funds for the 2017-19 biennium, Lester must file a skeletal plan by Feb. 1.
The informed but estimated building needs of the schools that will belong to the new Jacksonville-North Pulaski School District when it opens its doors—probably in the 2016-17 school year—range from $88 million to $93 million to do it right.
The $88 million estimate comes from the most recent detachment feasibility study, prepared by Winston F. Simpson in his 2013 report.
“Please be mindful that most of the data on which my study is based was gathered in the fall of 2012,” Simpson told us. “Numbers will change as time passes. However, the conclusion of the study (that the Jacksonville area can financially support a competitive school district) stands. Further, the facilities options included in the study are based on the data available to me from PCSSD and the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation.”
The $93 million estimate was from the PCSSD’s 2013-15 update to its 10-year facilities plan, on file with the division.
Lester, who starts fulltime Monday, will help determine the extent of that need with Simpson serving as a consultant.
When you are headed into a swamp, it’s good to have experienced guides, and that’s just what we have with Simpson, Lester, his chief of staff Phyllis Steward and Pulaski County Special School District Superintendent Jerry Guess.
The known unknowns, as former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld might have said, include”
1. How much money do we need?
2. Will the General Assembly continue to fund state matching money for building schools? If so, what would be Jacksonville’s share? It has been variously estimated that the state would pay between 50 percent and 64 percent of new school construction.
3. The desegregation agreement calls for PCSSD to get the final year of $20.8 million desegregation funds for building or upgrading facilities. Will Guess be able to use it to carry out his building plans, or will the new district get approximately $5 million of that as a proportionate share of the settlement, for their facilities?”
4. It seems likely that a property tax increase will be required of JNP district patrons to attack the problem in a timely manner, but how much of an increase, and will it pass?
Jacksonville-area residents have taxed themselves at every turn when it comes to education and their children, and we suspect they would do so again if they understand how the money will be used.
The schools that interim Superintendent Bobby Lester will consider when applying for state partnership funds are Homer Adkins pre-K, Bayou Meto, Murell Taylor, Pinewood, Tolleson, Arnold Drive, Warren Dupree elementary schools, Jacksonville Middle, Jacksonville High School and North Pulaski High School.
Current, unofficial plans call for building a new high school on 300 acres on Little Rock Air Force Base land, converting the North Pulaski High School into the district’s middle school, building a new elementary school on the base to replace Arnold Drive and Tolleson elementary schools and to remodel and add on to Murell Taylor, Bayou Meta, Pinewood and Warren Dupree elementary schools.
The Defense Department has said it would help with some funding for the high school and the elementary school that would be constructed on its base.
One of Lester’s first chores when he starts work Monday will be to compile a school facilities plan for the state Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation. To be eligible for state facilities matching funds for the 2017-19 biennium, Lester must file a skeletal plan by Feb. 1.
The informed but estimated building needs of the schools that will belong to the new Jacksonville-North Pulaski School District when it opens its doors—probably in the 2016-17 school year—range from $88 million to $93 million to do it right.
The $88 million estimate comes from the most recent detachment feasibility study, prepared by Winston F. Simpson in his 2013 report.
“Please be mindful that most of the data on which my study is based was gathered in the fall of 2012,” Simpson told us. “Numbers will change as time passes. However, the conclusion of the study (that the Jacksonville area can financially support a competitive school district) stands. Further, the facilities options included in the study are based on the data available to me from PCSSD and the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation.”
The $93 million estimate was from the PCSSD’s 2013-15 update to its 10-year facilities plan, on file with the division.
Lester, who starts fulltime Monday, will help determine the extent of that need with Simpson serving as a consultant.
When you are headed into a swamp, it’s good to have experienced guides, and that’s just what we have with Simpson, Lester, his chief of staff Phyllis Steward and Pulaski County Special School District Superintendent Jerry Guess.
The known unknowns, as former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld might have said, include”
1. How much money do we need?
2. Will the General Assembly continue to fund state matching money for building schools? If so, what would be Jacksonville’s share? It has been variously estimated that the state would pay between 50 percent and 64 percent of new school construction.
3. The desegregation agreement calls for PCSSD to get the final year of $20.8 million desegregation funds for building or upgrading facilities. Will Guess be able to use it to carry out his building plans, or will the new district get approximately $5 million of that as a proportionate share of the settlement, for their facilities?”
4. It seems likely that a property tax increase will be required of JNP district patrons to attack the problem in a timely manner, but how much of an increase, and will it pass?
Jacksonville-area residents have taxed themselves at every turn when it comes to education and their children, and we suspect they would do so again if they understand how the money will be used.
TOP STORY >> The story of Aaron Downing
By AIRMAN 1ST CLASS MERCEDES MURO
19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
A convoy rides through the streets of downtown Tikrit, Iraq, on July 28, 2007. Inside the lead vehicle sits then-Staff Sgt. Aaron Downing, a security forces airman working with the Army 82nd Airborne, 89th Military Police Company. After a long day of training the Iraqi police, Downing and his team are headed back to Camp Speicher.
The convoy weaves through the streets just like any other day of the week. The team is vigilant despite how routine the day seemed. They have no idea just what they are about to drive into.
The vehicles briefly stop at the corner of Saddam Boulevard and Business One to make a left hand turn. The lead vehicle makes the turn and the rest follow.
Downing has lost his memory of what happened as the fourth vehicle made that turn.
Moments after, he regains consciousness and emerges from the wreckage of the first vehicle with a ringing in his ears. He sees the vehicle; its entire engine department demolished from the blast. Before he has time to assess what just happened, adrenaline takes over. He jumps into action.
“I directed the driver to move out of the kill zone 10 more feet before the engine gave out. There was some sporadic gunfire after we moved out of the kill zone,” Downing said. “That’s when I called for support over the radio.”
A truck arrives and Downing picks up a bulky tow bar and links it to the convoy lead. Once connected, the tow truck drags the shattered vehicle back to Camp Speicher.
Once they arrive at the camp, Downing, along with the rest of the team, are evaluated for injuries.
Downing later learns that his team was attacked by an improvised explosive device. Two 155 artillery rounds of 15-gallon cylinder propane were linked to a command wire that detonated 3 to 4 feet away from the convoy lead and totaled the engine compartment of the vehicle.
With his quick thinking and training, Downing led his team back to safety.
“Even though I wasn’t in the right state of mind, training and muscle memory kicked in,” Downing said. “We did what we were trained to do, which was recovering the vehicle and assessing any wounded.”
After the IED explosion in July 2007, Downing was near nine more IED incidents.
“I didn’t expect to be a part of that many IED events,” Downing said. “Honestly, you never know what you’re going to expect. You go into a deployment expecting the worst and hoping for the best.”
After his deployment to Iraq, Downing did two tours to Afghanistan.
Traumatic events within deployments, like IED blasts, can create a heavy emotional and physical toll on the body. To keep up with the demands of the mission, Downing found himself turning off his emotions.
“In certain points during deployments, you pretty much have to shut off your emotions,” Downing said. “You have to go numb to get the mission complete. It’s kind of mandatory.”
Although he said shutting off emotions was easy, Downing has had some difficulty adapting back to the real world.
“The hard part is turning it back on when you get home,” Downing said. “Seven years after the fact, I’m still trying to do that. I’m not the least bit ashamed that I have sought help for post-traumatic stress disorder for seven years on and off.”
In between his deployments in 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2013, Downing has had to balance his treatment with his deployment requirements.
“I couldn’t handle the thought of someone going in my place,” Downing said. “If something were to happen to someone whenever it was my time to go and fight, I don’t think I could live with myself. When it was my time to go, I went.”
Seven years after his deployment to Iraq, Downing received a Purple Heart for his actions in a ceremony held last September at Little Rock Air Force Base. Lt. Gen. Carlton Everhart, 18th Air Force commander, attended the event.
Today, Downing, now a master sergeant, works with the 19th Security Forces Squadron here as the weapons and tactics superintendent.
Although Downing has had many experiences in his military career, his perspective has changed, thanks to his treatment.
“It’s given me a different outlook on life,” Downing said. “It’s slowly helping me reconnect with my family and friends. It’s helping (keep) me from pushing people away. I’m learning a lot of coping techniques that help with functioning in society. Am I there? No. Will I ever be there? I don’t know. But I’m hopeful. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be continuing my treatment.”
19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
A convoy rides through the streets of downtown Tikrit, Iraq, on July 28, 2007. Inside the lead vehicle sits then-Staff Sgt. Aaron Downing, a security forces airman working with the Army 82nd Airborne, 89th Military Police Company. After a long day of training the Iraqi police, Downing and his team are headed back to Camp Speicher.
The convoy weaves through the streets just like any other day of the week. The team is vigilant despite how routine the day seemed. They have no idea just what they are about to drive into.
The vehicles briefly stop at the corner of Saddam Boulevard and Business One to make a left hand turn. The lead vehicle makes the turn and the rest follow.
Downing has lost his memory of what happened as the fourth vehicle made that turn.
Moments after, he regains consciousness and emerges from the wreckage of the first vehicle with a ringing in his ears. He sees the vehicle; its entire engine department demolished from the blast. Before he has time to assess what just happened, adrenaline takes over. He jumps into action.
“I directed the driver to move out of the kill zone 10 more feet before the engine gave out. There was some sporadic gunfire after we moved out of the kill zone,” Downing said. “That’s when I called for support over the radio.”
A truck arrives and Downing picks up a bulky tow bar and links it to the convoy lead. Once connected, the tow truck drags the shattered vehicle back to Camp Speicher.
Once they arrive at the camp, Downing, along with the rest of the team, are evaluated for injuries.
Downing later learns that his team was attacked by an improvised explosive device. Two 155 artillery rounds of 15-gallon cylinder propane were linked to a command wire that detonated 3 to 4 feet away from the convoy lead and totaled the engine compartment of the vehicle.
With his quick thinking and training, Downing led his team back to safety.
“Even though I wasn’t in the right state of mind, training and muscle memory kicked in,” Downing said. “We did what we were trained to do, which was recovering the vehicle and assessing any wounded.”
After the IED explosion in July 2007, Downing was near nine more IED incidents.
“I didn’t expect to be a part of that many IED events,” Downing said. “Honestly, you never know what you’re going to expect. You go into a deployment expecting the worst and hoping for the best.”
After his deployment to Iraq, Downing did two tours to Afghanistan.
Traumatic events within deployments, like IED blasts, can create a heavy emotional and physical toll on the body. To keep up with the demands of the mission, Downing found himself turning off his emotions.
“In certain points during deployments, you pretty much have to shut off your emotions,” Downing said. “You have to go numb to get the mission complete. It’s kind of mandatory.”
Although he said shutting off emotions was easy, Downing has had some difficulty adapting back to the real world.
“The hard part is turning it back on when you get home,” Downing said. “Seven years after the fact, I’m still trying to do that. I’m not the least bit ashamed that I have sought help for post-traumatic stress disorder for seven years on and off.”
In between his deployments in 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2013, Downing has had to balance his treatment with his deployment requirements.
“I couldn’t handle the thought of someone going in my place,” Downing said. “If something were to happen to someone whenever it was my time to go and fight, I don’t think I could live with myself. When it was my time to go, I went.”
Seven years after his deployment to Iraq, Downing received a Purple Heart for his actions in a ceremony held last September at Little Rock Air Force Base. Lt. Gen. Carlton Everhart, 18th Air Force commander, attended the event.
Today, Downing, now a master sergeant, works with the 19th Security Forces Squadron here as the weapons and tactics superintendent.
Although Downing has had many experiences in his military career, his perspective has changed, thanks to his treatment.
“It’s given me a different outlook on life,” Downing said. “It’s slowly helping me reconnect with my family and friends. It’s helping (keep) me from pushing people away. I’m learning a lot of coping techniques that help with functioning in society. Am I there? No. Will I ever be there? I don’t know. But I’m hopeful. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be continuing my treatment.”
SPORTS STORY >> Lady Bears rebound to knock off comets
By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
The Sylvan Hills girls shot poorly in the first half of their 5A-Central Conference opener against Mills University Studies on Tuesday at Sylvan Hills High School, but the Lady Bears, led by point guard Jessica Brasfield, turned things around in the second half, and won the conference opener 41-37.
Sylvan Hills (5-7, 1-0) made just 4 of 31 shot attempts in the first two quarters of play, and yet, were still in the ballgame by halftime, with Mills (9-6, 0-1) leading 18-12.
Though their shooting percentage wasn’t great in the second half, the Lady Bears had a much better offensive performance than the first half, making 9 of 24 shot attempts in quarters three and four, and Brasfield scored 16 of her team-high 18 points in that time to lead the hosts to the win.
Mills struck first in the second half. An and-1 by Lady Comet sophomore guard Mackenzie Tillman, who led all scorers with 19 points, scored on an and-1 at the 6:27 mark of the third quarter to give Mills its largest lead at 21-12.
Sylvan Hills, though, answered with five-straight points to cut the Lady Comets’ lead to four, and by the end of the third, the Lady Bears trimmed their deficit to 27-26. The third-quarter margin was set on an inside bucket off the glass by Sylvan Hills’ Makayla Smith with two seconds remaining.
Mills scored the first basket of the fourth quarter, but the Lady Bears answered with consecutive 3-pointers by Dabria Thompson and Sarah Beckwith. Thompson’s three tied the game at 29, and Beckwith’s three gave the Lady Bears a 32-29 lead with 7:08 to play.
Brasfield added a free throw near the 6:30 mark to further the hosts’ lead to 33-29, but Mills responded and took the lead again at 36-34. Each team added a free throw before Brasfield scored on a midrange jumper with 1:49 remaining, which tied the game at 37.
Things went south for Mills from that point on. The Lady Comets had three players on the floor with four fouls at that point, and Tillman fouled out with 1:02 left to play.
Rasia Reed fouled out with 41 seconds to play after fouling Brasfield, and Brasfield went to the line and made 1 of 2 free throws to give the Lady Bears a 38-37 lead.
Brasfield made the first free throw and missed the second, but teammate Maddison Shelton got the rebound to keep the ball in Sylvan Hills’ possession. After Lady Bears’ coach Shelley Davis called timeout, the hosts got the ball to Brasfield, who was fouled with 22.9 seconds remaining.
Brasfield made 1 of 2 free throws again to give the hosts a two-point lead, and after Mills failed to score on the ensuing possession, Brasfield got the ball and was fouled again with one second to play. This time, Brasfield made both free throws to set the final score.
The Lady Bears finished the game 13 of 55 from the floor for 24 percent. Mills made 15 of 46 shots for 33 percent. Neither team shot great from the free-throw line either, but the Lady Bears had more attempts, and therefore, more points from the stripe.
Sylvan Hills made 12 of 22 free throws for 55 percent. The Lady Comets made 5 of 10 free throws for an even 50 percent. The Lady Bears outrebounded Mills 36-33, and the hosts finished with 16 turnovers to Mills’ 21.
Brasfield was the only player for Sylvan Hills to score in double figures. Thompson’s seven points were the second-highest for the Lady Bears. Tillman added 12 rebounds to go with her game-high 19 points, and teammate Jessica Stout was the only other player for either team to score in double figures. She had 10 points.
The Lady Bears continued conference play last night at J.A. Fair after deadlines, and they’ll play host to Jacksonville in another 5A-Central game next Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Leader sportswriter
The Sylvan Hills girls shot poorly in the first half of their 5A-Central Conference opener against Mills University Studies on Tuesday at Sylvan Hills High School, but the Lady Bears, led by point guard Jessica Brasfield, turned things around in the second half, and won the conference opener 41-37.
Sylvan Hills (5-7, 1-0) made just 4 of 31 shot attempts in the first two quarters of play, and yet, were still in the ballgame by halftime, with Mills (9-6, 0-1) leading 18-12.
Though their shooting percentage wasn’t great in the second half, the Lady Bears had a much better offensive performance than the first half, making 9 of 24 shot attempts in quarters three and four, and Brasfield scored 16 of her team-high 18 points in that time to lead the hosts to the win.
Mills struck first in the second half. An and-1 by Lady Comet sophomore guard Mackenzie Tillman, who led all scorers with 19 points, scored on an and-1 at the 6:27 mark of the third quarter to give Mills its largest lead at 21-12.
Sylvan Hills, though, answered with five-straight points to cut the Lady Comets’ lead to four, and by the end of the third, the Lady Bears trimmed their deficit to 27-26. The third-quarter margin was set on an inside bucket off the glass by Sylvan Hills’ Makayla Smith with two seconds remaining.
Mills scored the first basket of the fourth quarter, but the Lady Bears answered with consecutive 3-pointers by Dabria Thompson and Sarah Beckwith. Thompson’s three tied the game at 29, and Beckwith’s three gave the Lady Bears a 32-29 lead with 7:08 to play.
Brasfield added a free throw near the 6:30 mark to further the hosts’ lead to 33-29, but Mills responded and took the lead again at 36-34. Each team added a free throw before Brasfield scored on a midrange jumper with 1:49 remaining, which tied the game at 37.
Things went south for Mills from that point on. The Lady Comets had three players on the floor with four fouls at that point, and Tillman fouled out with 1:02 left to play.
Rasia Reed fouled out with 41 seconds to play after fouling Brasfield, and Brasfield went to the line and made 1 of 2 free throws to give the Lady Bears a 38-37 lead.
Brasfield made the first free throw and missed the second, but teammate Maddison Shelton got the rebound to keep the ball in Sylvan Hills’ possession. After Lady Bears’ coach Shelley Davis called timeout, the hosts got the ball to Brasfield, who was fouled with 22.9 seconds remaining.
Brasfield made 1 of 2 free throws again to give the hosts a two-point lead, and after Mills failed to score on the ensuing possession, Brasfield got the ball and was fouled again with one second to play. This time, Brasfield made both free throws to set the final score.
The Lady Bears finished the game 13 of 55 from the floor for 24 percent. Mills made 15 of 46 shots for 33 percent. Neither team shot great from the free-throw line either, but the Lady Bears had more attempts, and therefore, more points from the stripe.
Sylvan Hills made 12 of 22 free throws for 55 percent. The Lady Comets made 5 of 10 free throws for an even 50 percent. The Lady Bears outrebounded Mills 36-33, and the hosts finished with 16 turnovers to Mills’ 21.
Brasfield was the only player for Sylvan Hills to score in double figures. Thompson’s seven points were the second-highest for the Lady Bears. Tillman added 12 rebounds to go with her game-high 19 points, and teammate Jessica Stout was the only other player for either team to score in double figures. She had 10 points.
The Lady Bears continued conference play last night at J.A. Fair after deadlines, and they’ll play host to Jacksonville in another 5A-Central game next Tuesday at 6 p.m.
SPORTS STORY >> Abraham Stadium to Pentagon
By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
Two decades have passed since Lt. Col. Charles “Spanky” Gilliam led the Lonoke Jackrabbits to their only state football championship in 1994. Even though the accomplishment was huge for that team and the Lonoke community, it was just one of many accomplishments to come for Gilliam, who now goes to work every day at the Pentagon for the United States Air Force C-5 Program.
Lonoke went 12-1-1 that season in 1994, Gilliam’s senior year, and won the Class AA state championship with a 17-13 win over the Gus Malzahn-led Hughes Blue Devils at War Memorial Stadium.
Gilliam was a two-way player on that 1994 championship team, and was the feature tailback on the offensive side of the ball. His stellar play on the field that magical season earned him the respect and admiration of those in and around the community, but he wasn’t just a standout athlete.
What made Gilliam different from other standout athletes to come out of Lonoke is the fact that he excelled in the classroom as well.
Gilliam graduated LHS in 1995 in the top five of his class, and his play on the football field earned him scholarship offers from all of the smaller schools in the state, as well as Louisiana Tech the year before they made the jump to Division 1.
The University of Arkansas offered Gilliam an academic scholarship and the opportunity to walk-on to the Razorback football team.
However, his stellar work in the classroom earned him the opportunity to enroll at the prestigious Air Force Academy, which pays the way for all students that are admitted, and that opportunity included a chance to continue his football career with the Air Force Falcons. It was an opportunity Gilliam felt suited him best.
“Nothing was as promising or as what I saw as just the best opportunity in the world, going to the Air Force Academy,” said Gilliam. “It was pretty easy to make my mind up there.
“Yeah, the opportunity to play Division-1 football was cool, but it was not a big decision point in me choosing to go to the Air Force Academy as opposed to anywhere else. To be honest with you, it was all about the money. They paid us money every month to go to school. So I was like, yeah, I’ll go get that.”
Gilliam played all four years for the Falcons’ football team, at fullback, and led the team in rushing his junior and senior years.
His senior season in 1998, the Falcons finished the year with a 12-1 record and won the Western Athletic Conference championship as well as the 1998 Oahu Bowl in Hawaii against the Washington Huskies.
The 45-25 win over Washington completed one of the best seasons in school history, and was a year that was special to Gilliam and the rest of his senior teammates.
“That was our last year playing football together,” Gilliam said. “A great group of guys that came up together at the Academy – stuck with football. That’s a tough place academically. To be able to put the time you have to put in on the practice field and still make your grades and do your best there, I mean, it took a pretty good balancing act. A lot of guys started off doing both and eventually one had to get sacrificed. There was a nice, strong group of guys that stuck it out, and we had a very successful senior year. I think that’s the year where I really enjoyed playing football.
“It was a very successful year on the field, but I think we had a pretty good group off the field as well.”
Even though Gilliam enjoyed his playing days at the Academy, he said he really missed playing football at Lonoke when he first got there, in part because of the tremendous amount of dedication needed to be a student-athlete at the Academy.
“That was absolutely some of the best times of my life,” Gilliam said of his days as a Jackrabbit. “I was really impressed with how good of a team we had. We played together very well as a team. I actually missed high school football after I got to the Academy because it was more work.
“I couldn’t just show up and do my thing on the field. You actually had to put in work in the weight room. I missed that whole, just pureness of high school football, and then bringing a bunch of country boys together to win the state championship, that was pretty cool, too. We definitely had a good team.”
Despite his busy career in the Air Force, where he’s served for nearly 16 years since his graduation from the Academy in 1999, Gilliam says he tries to stay in touch with his teammates from high school, and every time he visits Lonoke, he makes it a point to get out and see the area where he was raised.
“It’s great to look back, and every time we visit, I always make it a point to go jogging around town to just get a workout in,” Gilliam said. “I always try to jog by the stadium and just take it all in, because that’s where I grew up and where life started. It’s all pretty nostalgic to go back and just see everything and see everyone.”
Although he’s unable to visit as often as he’d like, Lonoke still means a lot to Gilliam. It’s the place where he met his wife, Jennifer, and it’s the place he gives a lot of credit for helping him to become the man he is today.
Gilliam says a lot of that credit is due to the various people that have helped guide him on his journey through life, and as he said, that journey started in Lonoke.
“I don’t know if you’ve heard the saying it takes a village to raise a child,” Gilliam said. “I think I’m living proof of that, because my parents did the absolute best they could do. They raised us to be hard-working and to not take anything for granted and to do the best in everything that you do. But, financially, there just weren’t a lot of opportunities there.
“When I look back at my life, even from when I was little, a 6, 7 year old running around town, I stayed out of trouble, which I had a good reputation there. But I know people that would just, because I was a good kid, would just do stuff for me.
“They didn’t want anything in return. They just saw a good kid, and it was just neat to grow up in a small town where everyone knew everyone. I was just blessed to be in Lonoke growing up. Had I lived in Little Rock, who knows where I’d be, but I think it was a blessing being in Lonoke.”
Despite receiving help and guidance from those within the community along the way, it took time, hard work and dedication from Gilliam himself to get to where he ultimately got, but all that hard work and dedication is what helped people take notice of the kid that just wanted to do good and to do things the right way.
“The teachers – if they saw you were working hard they actually put a little extra time and effort into you,” Gilliam said. “It really set the foundation for my entire life as far as education and just having the right ethical foundation.
“You knew what you needed to do and what you were supposed to do, and like I said, it took everyone – from folks at church to folks in the school, people that would just see you walking down the road, people that my mom and dad worked with, family members.
“It really took everyone taking a small interest in this kid who was trying to do the right thing, and I know I’m a direct product of all those people taking a little bit of time to just help a kid out whenever I needed it.
“From the houses and stuff that I grew up in to where I am now, I mean, I’m blown away every day.”
Gilliam started and has spent most of his career in the Air Force as a pilot and flight instructor. He’s logged over 3,800 flight hours as an Air Force pilot, including more than 630 in combat.
Today, Gilliam works in the acquisitions department at the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, where he serves as a C-5 Program Element Monitor, or PEM, which is essentially an acquisitions officer that works all things related to C-5 acquisitions.
However, Gilliam said in the summer he’ll be go back to flying at the Columbus Air Force Base in Columbus, Miss. – something he says he’s excited to get back to doing.
“I’m excited about that,” Gilliam said. “This summer I’m going back to the T-1 (aircraft) and I’ll be an instructor. Every day I get a chance to work with true patriots, people who would do anything for this country – people that do their jobs to the best of their ability, and don’t want a lot of praise and are very humble.
“Just to be in a group like that and be associated with a group like the military every day, you can’t put into words how great it is to come to work every day. Days I’m deployed and away from my family, I’m deployed with some really good people so it makes it OK.
“We’re all in it together. Now that I’m getting older in the Air Force, just to have the opportunity to lead some of those people I think is going to be one of the coolest things in the world.”
Leader sportswriter
Two decades have passed since Lt. Col. Charles “Spanky” Gilliam led the Lonoke Jackrabbits to their only state football championship in 1994. Even though the accomplishment was huge for that team and the Lonoke community, it was just one of many accomplishments to come for Gilliam, who now goes to work every day at the Pentagon for the United States Air Force C-5 Program.
Lonoke went 12-1-1 that season in 1994, Gilliam’s senior year, and won the Class AA state championship with a 17-13 win over the Gus Malzahn-led Hughes Blue Devils at War Memorial Stadium.
Gilliam was a two-way player on that 1994 championship team, and was the feature tailback on the offensive side of the ball. His stellar play on the field that magical season earned him the respect and admiration of those in and around the community, but he wasn’t just a standout athlete.
What made Gilliam different from other standout athletes to come out of Lonoke is the fact that he excelled in the classroom as well.
Gilliam graduated LHS in 1995 in the top five of his class, and his play on the football field earned him scholarship offers from all of the smaller schools in the state, as well as Louisiana Tech the year before they made the jump to Division 1.
The University of Arkansas offered Gilliam an academic scholarship and the opportunity to walk-on to the Razorback football team.
However, his stellar work in the classroom earned him the opportunity to enroll at the prestigious Air Force Academy, which pays the way for all students that are admitted, and that opportunity included a chance to continue his football career with the Air Force Falcons. It was an opportunity Gilliam felt suited him best.
“Nothing was as promising or as what I saw as just the best opportunity in the world, going to the Air Force Academy,” said Gilliam. “It was pretty easy to make my mind up there.
“Yeah, the opportunity to play Division-1 football was cool, but it was not a big decision point in me choosing to go to the Air Force Academy as opposed to anywhere else. To be honest with you, it was all about the money. They paid us money every month to go to school. So I was like, yeah, I’ll go get that.”
Gilliam played all four years for the Falcons’ football team, at fullback, and led the team in rushing his junior and senior years.
His senior season in 1998, the Falcons finished the year with a 12-1 record and won the Western Athletic Conference championship as well as the 1998 Oahu Bowl in Hawaii against the Washington Huskies.
The 45-25 win over Washington completed one of the best seasons in school history, and was a year that was special to Gilliam and the rest of his senior teammates.
“That was our last year playing football together,” Gilliam said. “A great group of guys that came up together at the Academy – stuck with football. That’s a tough place academically. To be able to put the time you have to put in on the practice field and still make your grades and do your best there, I mean, it took a pretty good balancing act. A lot of guys started off doing both and eventually one had to get sacrificed. There was a nice, strong group of guys that stuck it out, and we had a very successful senior year. I think that’s the year where I really enjoyed playing football.
“It was a very successful year on the field, but I think we had a pretty good group off the field as well.”
Even though Gilliam enjoyed his playing days at the Academy, he said he really missed playing football at Lonoke when he first got there, in part because of the tremendous amount of dedication needed to be a student-athlete at the Academy.
“That was absolutely some of the best times of my life,” Gilliam said of his days as a Jackrabbit. “I was really impressed with how good of a team we had. We played together very well as a team. I actually missed high school football after I got to the Academy because it was more work.
“I couldn’t just show up and do my thing on the field. You actually had to put in work in the weight room. I missed that whole, just pureness of high school football, and then bringing a bunch of country boys together to win the state championship, that was pretty cool, too. We definitely had a good team.”
Despite his busy career in the Air Force, where he’s served for nearly 16 years since his graduation from the Academy in 1999, Gilliam says he tries to stay in touch with his teammates from high school, and every time he visits Lonoke, he makes it a point to get out and see the area where he was raised.
“It’s great to look back, and every time we visit, I always make it a point to go jogging around town to just get a workout in,” Gilliam said. “I always try to jog by the stadium and just take it all in, because that’s where I grew up and where life started. It’s all pretty nostalgic to go back and just see everything and see everyone.”
Although he’s unable to visit as often as he’d like, Lonoke still means a lot to Gilliam. It’s the place where he met his wife, Jennifer, and it’s the place he gives a lot of credit for helping him to become the man he is today.
Gilliam says a lot of that credit is due to the various people that have helped guide him on his journey through life, and as he said, that journey started in Lonoke.
“I don’t know if you’ve heard the saying it takes a village to raise a child,” Gilliam said. “I think I’m living proof of that, because my parents did the absolute best they could do. They raised us to be hard-working and to not take anything for granted and to do the best in everything that you do. But, financially, there just weren’t a lot of opportunities there.
“When I look back at my life, even from when I was little, a 6, 7 year old running around town, I stayed out of trouble, which I had a good reputation there. But I know people that would just, because I was a good kid, would just do stuff for me.
“They didn’t want anything in return. They just saw a good kid, and it was just neat to grow up in a small town where everyone knew everyone. I was just blessed to be in Lonoke growing up. Had I lived in Little Rock, who knows where I’d be, but I think it was a blessing being in Lonoke.”
Despite receiving help and guidance from those within the community along the way, it took time, hard work and dedication from Gilliam himself to get to where he ultimately got, but all that hard work and dedication is what helped people take notice of the kid that just wanted to do good and to do things the right way.
“The teachers – if they saw you were working hard they actually put a little extra time and effort into you,” Gilliam said. “It really set the foundation for my entire life as far as education and just having the right ethical foundation.
“You knew what you needed to do and what you were supposed to do, and like I said, it took everyone – from folks at church to folks in the school, people that would just see you walking down the road, people that my mom and dad worked with, family members.
“It really took everyone taking a small interest in this kid who was trying to do the right thing, and I know I’m a direct product of all those people taking a little bit of time to just help a kid out whenever I needed it.
“From the houses and stuff that I grew up in to where I am now, I mean, I’m blown away every day.”
Gilliam started and has spent most of his career in the Air Force as a pilot and flight instructor. He’s logged over 3,800 flight hours as an Air Force pilot, including more than 630 in combat.
Today, Gilliam works in the acquisitions department at the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, where he serves as a C-5 Program Element Monitor, or PEM, which is essentially an acquisitions officer that works all things related to C-5 acquisitions.
However, Gilliam said in the summer he’ll be go back to flying at the Columbus Air Force Base in Columbus, Miss. – something he says he’s excited to get back to doing.
“I’m excited about that,” Gilliam said. “This summer I’m going back to the T-1 (aircraft) and I’ll be an instructor. Every day I get a chance to work with true patriots, people who would do anything for this country – people that do their jobs to the best of their ability, and don’t want a lot of praise and are very humble.
“Just to be in a group like that and be associated with a group like the military every day, you can’t put into words how great it is to come to work every day. Days I’m deployed and away from my family, I’m deployed with some really good people so it makes it OK.
“We’re all in it together. Now that I’m getting older in the Air Force, just to have the opportunity to lead some of those people I think is going to be one of the coolest things in the world.”
SPORTS STORY >> Pressure defense elevates 'Rabbits
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Lonoke Jackrabbits went on the road and picked up an important 4A-2 Conference win on Tuesday, hammering Newport 63-38 and improving to 6-7 overall and 3-3 in league play.
The Jackrabbits utilized the full-court pressure it spent much of the Christmas break working on, and executed it well, according to head coach Dean Campbell.
Lonoke began the year with no returning starters from last year’s state runner up team, and was not playing well as the break approached. But Campbell believes his team accomplished a lot in the last couple of weeks.
“I think the Christmas break did what it’s supposed to,” said Campbell. “There are no classes so you can just focus on basketball for a few days. We got a lot of things done in a four or five day period.
It gave us a chance to get some things lined up and get better. All the varsity experience any of these guys have is what they’re getting this year, so it helped us establish who we are and what we’re going to do as a basketball team.”
One of the things Lonoke did on Tuesday was press, and pressed a lot. The Jackrabbits forced 20 Greyhound turnovers and quickly built a big lead.
They led 42-19 at halftime and successfully held serve in the second half.
“With us going a little bit more up-pace defensively, we’re going with a smaller lineup, and I thought Nick Bates at the five spot did a really good job for us,” Campbell said. “He’s always played with a lot of energy and now things are starting to fall in place for him. The stuff we work on in practice is becoming more of a habit for him.”
More pressure defense means going deep into the bench, and Campbell was pleased with how his reserves played as well.
“You know Bryson Jackson was sick and Kyle Spencer stepped up and did a good job,” Campbell said. “Haven Hunter stepped up and played well. Bryson and Brenton (Bryant) have been switching off on starting, and Brenton played well in Bryson’s absence.
“I think they’ve all started realizing that starting is not a huge deal because minutes end up spread out pretty evenly regardless, just because of what we do.”
Jawaun Bryant led Lonoke with 20 points while Brenton Bryant added 10. Bates and Spencer each scored eight.
Leader sports editor
The Lonoke Jackrabbits went on the road and picked up an important 4A-2 Conference win on Tuesday, hammering Newport 63-38 and improving to 6-7 overall and 3-3 in league play.
The Jackrabbits utilized the full-court pressure it spent much of the Christmas break working on, and executed it well, according to head coach Dean Campbell.
Lonoke began the year with no returning starters from last year’s state runner up team, and was not playing well as the break approached. But Campbell believes his team accomplished a lot in the last couple of weeks.
“I think the Christmas break did what it’s supposed to,” said Campbell. “There are no classes so you can just focus on basketball for a few days. We got a lot of things done in a four or five day period.
It gave us a chance to get some things lined up and get better. All the varsity experience any of these guys have is what they’re getting this year, so it helped us establish who we are and what we’re going to do as a basketball team.”
One of the things Lonoke did on Tuesday was press, and pressed a lot. The Jackrabbits forced 20 Greyhound turnovers and quickly built a big lead.
They led 42-19 at halftime and successfully held serve in the second half.
“With us going a little bit more up-pace defensively, we’re going with a smaller lineup, and I thought Nick Bates at the five spot did a really good job for us,” Campbell said. “He’s always played with a lot of energy and now things are starting to fall in place for him. The stuff we work on in practice is becoming more of a habit for him.”
More pressure defense means going deep into the bench, and Campbell was pleased with how his reserves played as well.
“You know Bryson Jackson was sick and Kyle Spencer stepped up and did a good job,” Campbell said. “Haven Hunter stepped up and played well. Bryson and Brenton (Bryant) have been switching off on starting, and Brenton played well in Bryson’s absence.
“I think they’ve all started realizing that starting is not a huge deal because minutes end up spread out pretty evenly regardless, just because of what we do.”
Jawaun Bryant led Lonoke with 20 points while Brenton Bryant added 10. Bates and Spencer each scored eight.
SPORTS STORY >> Jacksonville wins opening league game
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
A two-week layoff may have led to a sluggish start, but the Jacksonville Red Devils made a strong finish in their 5A-Central Conference opener Tuesday at JHS. It took Jacksonville (11-2, 1-0) four minutes to make a bucket against league newcomer J.A. Fair, but once it did, it sparked a 17-3 run that put the home team in control and led to a 63-46 Red Devil victory.
J.A. Fair (7-5, 0-1) had a marked size advantage, something Jacksonville coach Vic Joyner worries about with his small team. But 6-foot-8 sophomore Kris Bankston and 6-5 senior Braylon Smith were non-factors offensively. Bankston led all players with nine rebounds and four blocked shots, but scored just two points on free throws while Smith did not score at all.
The War Eagles, relying heavily on 5-10 point guard Jerrick Cole, scored the game’s first four points, but once the Red Devils got going, they put together a scoring blitz in the last half of the first quarter to take a 17-7 lead into the second period. The run did not extend into the second.
Fair answered by scoring the first six points of the second frame before both teams became bogged down offensively. It took Jacksonville even longer to make a field goal in the second period than it did in the first. The Red Devils mustered just two free throws by Devin Campbell for the first six minutes of the quarter, but Fair wasn’t able to gain any more ground after the 6-0 run.
Finally Jacksonville broke loose again, dropping in nine points in the last two minutes and taking a 28-17 lead into halftime.
Junior Braylon James sparked the run, scoring five of the nine points, including the Red Devils’ only 3-pointer of the first half.
The third quarter featured no big runs by either team. Both teams looked to their leading scorers for most of the work offensively, and Cole and Campbell traded buckets most of the frame.
However, the game’s most exciting play came when LaQwan Smith somehow found Tedrick Wolfe for an alley-oop dunk amidst heavy traffic on a fast break. Jacksonville’s lead was still 11 at 42-31 at the start of the fourth, and it stayed in that area until Jacksonville went on another run to put the game away with about three minutes remaining.
The run could have started sooner. Campbell got a breakaway dunk that made it 49-36 with 4:30 remaining, but was called for a technical foul for hanging onto the rim.
After Fair’s free throws, Jacksonville got a stop defensively before Tyree Appleby penetrated and dished to Campbell for another slam that made it 51-38 with 3:54 left. That sparked a 10-2 run that included two more dunks, one each by Wolfe and Smith.
Jacksonville was poised for another run when Fair’s Kris Croom was called for a flagrant foul as Smith was going up. He made 1 of 2 foul shots and Jacksonville got another easy bucket on a nifty inbounds play for a 57-40 lead. Smith then scored again to put the Red Devils up by 19 with 3:01 remaining.
Despite the highlight-reel way his team finished the game, Joyner was not pleased with his team’s overall performance.
“We still made too many boneheaded plays,” said Joyner. “It’s the same thing we’ve been dealing with. People forcing the ball, making one pass and throwing up bad shots. That was the difference in the first half, forcing it and not sharing the ball.”
Joyner felt his team had an opportunity to put the game away in the second quarter after the 17-3 run in the first.
“With this team it’s all between the ears,” Joyner said. “We’re about to bury this team and twice we foul people 94 feet from their basket. And we talked about that. When someone gets a rebound on our end, don’t stand there and start slapping for the ball. He’s 90 feet from the basket. It’s just stupid stuff like that that hurts us.”
Even when reminded his team won the game by 17, Joyner was unmoved. Pointing at pictures of past state championship teams on his office wall, Joyner said, “We’re trying to reach this point every year. Right now, this team is nowhere close to the level it takes to be right there. They’re good basketball players and they play hard, but they don’t play smart enough right now to be champions.”
Campbell and Cole each led their respective teams with 20 points apiece. Cole was the only War Eagle in double figures while Wolfe scored 12 and Smith 10 for Jacksonville.
The Red Devils won the rebounding battle 24-22 and were 15 of 22 from the foul line while Fair was 16 of 24.
Jacksonville shot much better from the floor, largely due to the eight dunks and other easy baskets. JHS was 23 of 51 while Fair made just 14 of 49 field goals.
Leader sports editor
A two-week layoff may have led to a sluggish start, but the Jacksonville Red Devils made a strong finish in their 5A-Central Conference opener Tuesday at JHS. It took Jacksonville (11-2, 1-0) four minutes to make a bucket against league newcomer J.A. Fair, but once it did, it sparked a 17-3 run that put the home team in control and led to a 63-46 Red Devil victory.
J.A. Fair (7-5, 0-1) had a marked size advantage, something Jacksonville coach Vic Joyner worries about with his small team. But 6-foot-8 sophomore Kris Bankston and 6-5 senior Braylon Smith were non-factors offensively. Bankston led all players with nine rebounds and four blocked shots, but scored just two points on free throws while Smith did not score at all.
The War Eagles, relying heavily on 5-10 point guard Jerrick Cole, scored the game’s first four points, but once the Red Devils got going, they put together a scoring blitz in the last half of the first quarter to take a 17-7 lead into the second period. The run did not extend into the second.
Fair answered by scoring the first six points of the second frame before both teams became bogged down offensively. It took Jacksonville even longer to make a field goal in the second period than it did in the first. The Red Devils mustered just two free throws by Devin Campbell for the first six minutes of the quarter, but Fair wasn’t able to gain any more ground after the 6-0 run.
Finally Jacksonville broke loose again, dropping in nine points in the last two minutes and taking a 28-17 lead into halftime.
Junior Braylon James sparked the run, scoring five of the nine points, including the Red Devils’ only 3-pointer of the first half.
The third quarter featured no big runs by either team. Both teams looked to their leading scorers for most of the work offensively, and Cole and Campbell traded buckets most of the frame.
However, the game’s most exciting play came when LaQwan Smith somehow found Tedrick Wolfe for an alley-oop dunk amidst heavy traffic on a fast break. Jacksonville’s lead was still 11 at 42-31 at the start of the fourth, and it stayed in that area until Jacksonville went on another run to put the game away with about three minutes remaining.
The run could have started sooner. Campbell got a breakaway dunk that made it 49-36 with 4:30 remaining, but was called for a technical foul for hanging onto the rim.
After Fair’s free throws, Jacksonville got a stop defensively before Tyree Appleby penetrated and dished to Campbell for another slam that made it 51-38 with 3:54 left. That sparked a 10-2 run that included two more dunks, one each by Wolfe and Smith.
Jacksonville was poised for another run when Fair’s Kris Croom was called for a flagrant foul as Smith was going up. He made 1 of 2 foul shots and Jacksonville got another easy bucket on a nifty inbounds play for a 57-40 lead. Smith then scored again to put the Red Devils up by 19 with 3:01 remaining.
Despite the highlight-reel way his team finished the game, Joyner was not pleased with his team’s overall performance.
“We still made too many boneheaded plays,” said Joyner. “It’s the same thing we’ve been dealing with. People forcing the ball, making one pass and throwing up bad shots. That was the difference in the first half, forcing it and not sharing the ball.”
Joyner felt his team had an opportunity to put the game away in the second quarter after the 17-3 run in the first.
“With this team it’s all between the ears,” Joyner said. “We’re about to bury this team and twice we foul people 94 feet from their basket. And we talked about that. When someone gets a rebound on our end, don’t stand there and start slapping for the ball. He’s 90 feet from the basket. It’s just stupid stuff like that that hurts us.”
Even when reminded his team won the game by 17, Joyner was unmoved. Pointing at pictures of past state championship teams on his office wall, Joyner said, “We’re trying to reach this point every year. Right now, this team is nowhere close to the level it takes to be right there. They’re good basketball players and they play hard, but they don’t play smart enough right now to be champions.”
Campbell and Cole each led their respective teams with 20 points apiece. Cole was the only War Eagle in double figures while Wolfe scored 12 and Smith 10 for Jacksonville.
The Red Devils won the rebounding battle 24-22 and were 15 of 22 from the foul line while Fair was 16 of 24.
Jacksonville shot much better from the floor, largely due to the eight dunks and other easy baskets. JHS was 23 of 51 while Fair made just 14 of 49 field goals.
Wednesday, January 07, 2015
EDITORIAL >> Hwy. 67/167 needs funding
Hwy. 67/167 in Jacksonville could see more major improvements that would ease traffic congestion, especially at North First Street and Vandenberg Boulevard near Little Rock Air Force Base.
Plans call for an underpass or overpass near Vandenberg and overpasses at Gregory Street and Madden Road, along with one-way access roads. This would be in addition to the widening to six lanes that is already underway at a cost of nearly $200 million, including resurfacing between Jacksonville and Cabot.
The latest plan would benefit Little Rock Air Force Base, where congestion at rush hour is among the worst in the state. Jacksonville would attract new businesses that came after similar work was completed along the highway in Sherwood and North Little Rock. A fly-under in Sherwood was added, and the access roads were made one way to remove dangerous yields. That area has seen many new businesses ever since, bringing in hundreds of jobs and millions in tax revenue for those cities and the state.
Jacksonville and Cabot will also benefit if area legislators and incoming Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson and a Republican-controlled legislature find a way for the Highway Department to pay for these road improvements.
That’s a big question mark right now, but economic development and road safety cannot wait. Call your senators and representatives when the legislature is in session next week.
Plans call for an underpass or overpass near Vandenberg and overpasses at Gregory Street and Madden Road, along with one-way access roads. This would be in addition to the widening to six lanes that is already underway at a cost of nearly $200 million, including resurfacing between Jacksonville and Cabot.
The latest plan would benefit Little Rock Air Force Base, where congestion at rush hour is among the worst in the state. Jacksonville would attract new businesses that came after similar work was completed along the highway in Sherwood and North Little Rock. A fly-under in Sherwood was added, and the access roads were made one way to remove dangerous yields. That area has seen many new businesses ever since, bringing in hundreds of jobs and millions in tax revenue for those cities and the state.
Jacksonville and Cabot will also benefit if area legislators and incoming Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson and a Republican-controlled legislature find a way for the Highway Department to pay for these road improvements.
That’s a big question mark right now, but economic development and road safety cannot wait. Call your senators and representatives when the legislature is in session next week.
EDITORIAL >> If Huck runs for president
(From a column by Garrick Feldman in The Leader on Nov. 15, 2014, comparing Gov. Mike Beebe’s pardons of his pot smoking son and a sex offender with former Gov. Mike Huckabee’s pardons of violent criminals. Huckabee has given up his talk show on Fox News as he explores a possible run for the presidency.)
Neither pardon is as bad as Huckabee paroling rapist Wayne DuMond and granting clemency to Maurice Clemmons, who, between them, killed six people after Huckabee turned them loose.
Unlike Huckabee, Beebe didn’t pardon violent criminals. Huckabee pardoned killers, rapists, armed robbers and other thugs just about every year he was in office.
He set a record over 12 years: More than 1,100 pardons and clemencies — more than all of Huck’s predecessors combined, going back to the Faubus years.
A mostly friendly media in Little Rock ignored Huckabee’s pardons and clemencies. Huckabee’s much-criticized record on pardons could affect his decision on whether he runs for president in 2016, although he hasn’t always shied away from running before.
Let’s recap: Dumond was released from prison in 1999 at Huckabee’s urging. Dumond, who moved to Missouri a few weeks later, raped and killed two women. He died in a Missouri prison in 2005.
Clemmons received lengthy sentences for a series of holdups and thefts in the 1990s. His sentence was commuted in May 2000, and he was released three months later.
In March 2001, Clemmons committed two armed robberies and other crimes and was sentenced to 10 years. He was paroled in March 2003 but was soon wanted for aggravated robbery.
In 2008, Clemmons killed four law-enforcement officers near Tacoma, Wash., and then shot himself before police could arrest him.
In 2004, we reported that Huckabee planned to pardon a murderer named Glen Martin Green, who had beaten a teenager to death 20 years before.
Green, an Air Force sergeant, had kidnapped Helen Lynette Spencer, 18, of Gravel Ridge while she was visiting a friend at Little Rock Air Force Base. Green beat her to death with martial-arts sticks, ran over her body and dumped her into Twin Prairie Bayou in Lonoke County.
Huckabee usually ignored us when we advised him not to free murderers and rapists, such as Clemmons and Dumond. But Huckabee withdrew his pardon for Green after the outcry that followed our revelations.
Green was in the news again in September, when we reported that he was installing gym equipment at Cabot Junior High North as part of a prison work-release program.
Soon after our report, the Department of Correction announced it would no longer send convicted killers to schools. The Cabot School District has stopped buying equipment from Arkansas Correctional Industries.
Neither pardon is as bad as Huckabee paroling rapist Wayne DuMond and granting clemency to Maurice Clemmons, who, between them, killed six people after Huckabee turned them loose.
Unlike Huckabee, Beebe didn’t pardon violent criminals. Huckabee pardoned killers, rapists, armed robbers and other thugs just about every year he was in office.
He set a record over 12 years: More than 1,100 pardons and clemencies — more than all of Huck’s predecessors combined, going back to the Faubus years.
A mostly friendly media in Little Rock ignored Huckabee’s pardons and clemencies. Huckabee’s much-criticized record on pardons could affect his decision on whether he runs for president in 2016, although he hasn’t always shied away from running before.
Let’s recap: Dumond was released from prison in 1999 at Huckabee’s urging. Dumond, who moved to Missouri a few weeks later, raped and killed two women. He died in a Missouri prison in 2005.
Clemmons received lengthy sentences for a series of holdups and thefts in the 1990s. His sentence was commuted in May 2000, and he was released three months later.
In March 2001, Clemmons committed two armed robberies and other crimes and was sentenced to 10 years. He was paroled in March 2003 but was soon wanted for aggravated robbery.
In 2008, Clemmons killed four law-enforcement officers near Tacoma, Wash., and then shot himself before police could arrest him.
In 2004, we reported that Huckabee planned to pardon a murderer named Glen Martin Green, who had beaten a teenager to death 20 years before.
Green, an Air Force sergeant, had kidnapped Helen Lynette Spencer, 18, of Gravel Ridge while she was visiting a friend at Little Rock Air Force Base. Green beat her to death with martial-arts sticks, ran over her body and dumped her into Twin Prairie Bayou in Lonoke County.
Huckabee usually ignored us when we advised him not to free murderers and rapists, such as Clemmons and Dumond. But Huckabee withdrew his pardon for Green after the outcry that followed our revelations.
Green was in the news again in September, when we reported that he was installing gym equipment at Cabot Junior High North as part of a prison work-release program.
Soon after our report, the Department of Correction announced it would no longer send convicted killers to schools. The Cabot School District has stopped buying equipment from Arkansas Correctional Industries.
TOP STORY >> Minimum wage rising
By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
Almost 170,000 Arkansans received a 25-cent bump in their hourly pay last Thursday, thanks to voters in November who passed an initiative raising the state’s minimum wage from $6.25 to $8.50 an hour by 2017.
The first hike, effective Jan. 1, was to $7.50. That rate now supersedes the federal minimum wage of $7.25.
Media and supporters touted bipartisan support for the initiative.
Stephen Copley of Little Rock, who spearheaded the effort to get the measure on the ballot, said, “For me, it’s exciting because now folks that are working hard every day will see more money coming on their check, more money to make ends meet…In some way, this makes their life a little bit easier.”
Then he directed The Leader to Eleanor Wheeler, a senior policy analyst with Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.
Wheeler composed a report on the impact of a minimum wage increase. It was released in January 2014, ahead of the November vote.
According to the report, the almost 170,000 employees who will be affected directly or indirectly by the pay increase make up about 15 percent of the state’s workforce.
The report also concludes that 20 percent of single parents in Arkansas and 87,696 — one in 10 children — have at least one parent who will be paid more because of the minimum wage hike.
Also, 85 percent of the workers affected are over 20 years old and many are at least 30. Wheeler’s report states this after explaining that teenagers working part time to earn spending money do not make up the majority of those affected. Some opponents have suggested as much.
Michael Pakko, chief economist and state economic forecaster at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Institute for Economic Advancement, said the recent 25-cent bump wouldn’t have “significant consequences, either positive or negative.”
But, he argued, it will have a larger impact over the next two years in its climb to the $8.50 rate.
Pakko said the increase would eventually result in “reduced availability of jobs.”
He told The Leader that a 2009 study released by the National Bureau of Economic Research draws that conclusion.
Wheeler’s report disputes that, stating, “There is a strong consensus, particularly among the most rigorous of these studies (used to compose her paper), that a minimum wage increase will not lead to significant job loss.”
It also claims research shows a wage increase will in-crease “profit-pumping essentials like work performance, employee morale and customer service.”
Wheeler uses the retailer Costco in her report as an example of a company that benefits from paying a “living wage.” Its workers make an average wage of $20.89 an hour.
Costco President and CEO Craig Jelinek supports raising the federal minimum wage, Wheeler writes. The report states that he told Congress, “We know it’s a lot more profitable in the long term to minimize employee turnover and maximize employee productivity, commitment and loyalty.”
The report also notes that Costco is doing well, with its stock price from January 2009 to January 2014 having gone up 135 percent.
About passage of the minimum wage increase, Wheeler said this week, “We were all really thrilled. This is a great step forward for Arkansas.”
Her report begins by stating that, although there have been periodic increases to the federal minimum wage since the 1960s, inflation has caused the purchasing power of those dollars to drop, with the real value of the minimum wage being $3 less than it was four decades ago.
The report states that, if minimum wage had kept up with inflation, it would be more than $10 an hour instead of the $7.25 it is today. And Arkansas was one of only nine states that didn’t at least match the federal rate of $7.25.
Wheeler notes in her paper that no minimum wage worker putting in 40 hours a week could afford a two-bedroom apartment that averages a rent of $663 a month in Arkansas.
Minimum-wage employees would instead have to work 63 hours a week to afford that rent, the report claims.
Leader staff writer
Almost 170,000 Arkansans received a 25-cent bump in their hourly pay last Thursday, thanks to voters in November who passed an initiative raising the state’s minimum wage from $6.25 to $8.50 an hour by 2017.
The first hike, effective Jan. 1, was to $7.50. That rate now supersedes the federal minimum wage of $7.25.
Media and supporters touted bipartisan support for the initiative.
Stephen Copley of Little Rock, who spearheaded the effort to get the measure on the ballot, said, “For me, it’s exciting because now folks that are working hard every day will see more money coming on their check, more money to make ends meet…In some way, this makes their life a little bit easier.”
Then he directed The Leader to Eleanor Wheeler, a senior policy analyst with Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.
Wheeler composed a report on the impact of a minimum wage increase. It was released in January 2014, ahead of the November vote.
According to the report, the almost 170,000 employees who will be affected directly or indirectly by the pay increase make up about 15 percent of the state’s workforce.
The report also concludes that 20 percent of single parents in Arkansas and 87,696 — one in 10 children — have at least one parent who will be paid more because of the minimum wage hike.
Also, 85 percent of the workers affected are over 20 years old and many are at least 30. Wheeler’s report states this after explaining that teenagers working part time to earn spending money do not make up the majority of those affected. Some opponents have suggested as much.
Michael Pakko, chief economist and state economic forecaster at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Institute for Economic Advancement, said the recent 25-cent bump wouldn’t have “significant consequences, either positive or negative.”
But, he argued, it will have a larger impact over the next two years in its climb to the $8.50 rate.
Pakko said the increase would eventually result in “reduced availability of jobs.”
He told The Leader that a 2009 study released by the National Bureau of Economic Research draws that conclusion.
Wheeler’s report disputes that, stating, “There is a strong consensus, particularly among the most rigorous of these studies (used to compose her paper), that a minimum wage increase will not lead to significant job loss.”
It also claims research shows a wage increase will in-crease “profit-pumping essentials like work performance, employee morale and customer service.”
Wheeler uses the retailer Costco in her report as an example of a company that benefits from paying a “living wage.” Its workers make an average wage of $20.89 an hour.
Costco President and CEO Craig Jelinek supports raising the federal minimum wage, Wheeler writes. The report states that he told Congress, “We know it’s a lot more profitable in the long term to minimize employee turnover and maximize employee productivity, commitment and loyalty.”
The report also notes that Costco is doing well, with its stock price from January 2009 to January 2014 having gone up 135 percent.
About passage of the minimum wage increase, Wheeler said this week, “We were all really thrilled. This is a great step forward for Arkansas.”
Her report begins by stating that, although there have been periodic increases to the federal minimum wage since the 1960s, inflation has caused the purchasing power of those dollars to drop, with the real value of the minimum wage being $3 less than it was four decades ago.
The report states that, if minimum wage had kept up with inflation, it would be more than $10 an hour instead of the $7.25 it is today. And Arkansas was one of only nine states that didn’t at least match the federal rate of $7.25.
Wheeler notes in her paper that no minimum wage worker putting in 40 hours a week could afford a two-bedroom apartment that averages a rent of $663 a month in Arkansas.
Minimum-wage employees would instead have to work 63 hours a week to afford that rent, the report claims.
TOP STORY >> Positive stories of 2014
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
From a dad giving his life to save his family, a bus driver honored for her actions during a kidnapping and teens volunteering – good news abounds.
Bad news always seems to find its way to the media without any effort, but good news, of which there is much more, doesn’t get told or reported to newspapers as much as it should. But The Leader in 2014 still had article after article of good news, inspiring stories and happy endings.
These are just some that appeared in last year’s pages.
• A ceremony in early December at Little Rock Air Force Base commemorated the life and heroism of Arkansas Guardsman Master Sgt. Daniel Wassom, who gave his life so his wife and daughters would live after a tornado hit their Vilonia home in April.
Wassom, 31, shielded his 5-year-old daughter, Lorelai, his wife, Suzanne, and their 7-year-old daughter, Sydney, in the hallway of their home when an EF4 tornado — with winds of at least 180 mph — traveled 41 miles on a path that included Mayflower, Vilonia, El Paso and a piece of Pulaski County. Wassom was one of 15 people killed by the tornado.
Wassom’s wife and parents, Pam and Dan Wassom Sr., accepted the Airman’s Medal and participated in the dedication of a street in Dan’s name on the base. The Airman’s Medal is awarded to Air Force members who risk their lives but not in combat.
Col. Robert Ator II, 189th Airlift Wing commander, said, “We are humbled by his character. Sergeant Wassom died as he lived, in service to others.”
• Not looking for honors or recognition, Jacksonville still presented Christine and Jack Henderson with a key to the city for donating a $27,000 mobile adoption unit to the animal shelter.
The 7-by-18-foot trailer has a generator, air conditioning, a sink with cold and hot water and a back end that comes down to act as a ramp. That ramp will be used to load homeless pets for off-site adoption events.
The ramp will also allow potential forever families to come inside and look at adoptable dogs and cats. The unit can hold 17 to 22 cats and dogs.
“It’s amazing. I don’t really have words for what she did,” Animal Services Director Hedy Wuelling said.
The shelter had gathered $3,000 in donations toward the purchase of a trailer and wanted to give it to the Hendersons to defray the cost. But they told Wuelling to keep the $3,000 for spaying and neutering pets or other shelter needs.
• In early June, there was an article about Chris Strong, a Cabot teen who suffered through a cyberbully attack and now participates in four national anti-bullying campaigns.
He also helped organize one of them, the Big Dream Tour.
The 17-year-old, who is now home schooled three days a week through Cabot’s Academic Center of Excel-lence, signed up for an Insta-gram account two years ago.
His “I put my heart out there” attitude quickly gained tens of thousands of followers. Strong said millions know him through social media.
The “social media influencer” also attracted a hacker, who bullied him.
Strong said the bully’s followers called, threatening to kill him, his sister and his girlfriend. The bully later apologized, and the ordeal ended when Strong’s parents threatened to press charges.
The tours involve social media influencers like Strong meeting and greeting their fans, taking photos with them, signing autographs, selling merchandise and speaking out about bullying — usually on a stage set up in a convention center. There are often musical performances, too.
Strong said he tells the thousands gathered at the tour destinations, “They’re all beautiful in their own unique way.”
He continued, “I just try to make them feel better, like inspired. I want them going to bed with a smile on their face and saying ‘I need to do the same. I need to go help others as well’ because in the end, whenever you die, what’s going to be left? Leave a name for yourself.”
Strong pursued a social media career in the first place because he wanted to inspire people.
“A lot of times we get messages or we get fan mail in the mail and people are like ‘you saved my life, or you did this for me, or that. You inspire me. Keep on doing what you’re doing,’” he said.
• Volunteers and donations were in abundance after a killer tornado ripped through Vilonia and El Paso in late April.
“We are overwhelmed with the support of the community and strangers. We want to thank everyone. They will never know the level of our gratitude,” said Robert Chambers. His family’s home was destroyed in the storm.
He said they couldn’t believe the amount of donations they’ve received. “Volunteers came up and cleaned debris from our house. Strangers stop on the street, giving anonymously. It brings tears to your eyes. It is emotional.”
Beebe Elementary teachers, students and counselors assisted their fellow classmate Madison Chambers with clothing, food and other items.
North Pulaski High School cheerleaders volunteered and lent a hand in the cleanup efforts.
To help with the recovery efforts, 12 area churches and many individuals donated money into a disaster relief account set up for the Chambers.
The Chambers did not have renters insurance and lost everything to the twister.
“So many people gave out of the goodness of their hearts. I can’t say thank you enough. Thank you doesn’t cover it,” Robert Chambers said.
“You can’t put it into words. It restored my faith in humanity. I have a new outlook and want to pay it forward and will start trying to,” Robert Chambers said.
• The North Pulaski High School’s Diversity Club, sponsored by photography teacher Natalie Larrison, has joined a global anti-bullying group action art project called “Inside Out” in its efforts to make people more aware of bullying.
Larrison said, “Our project ‘Inside Out: Be Nice’ displays poster-size portraits of students nominated from the student body by Diversity Club members to be the faces featured to express our passion to stop bullying and advocate for others to accept one another. These posters represent a student’s voice. Their image alone will remind others that we are all human and deserve respect.”
Some “Inside Out” projects are displayed in public places, such as the sides of buildings in urban areas. Other smaller displays are on the outside walls of schools.
• Then there was the Aug. 20 story about three North Metro Medical Center Auxiliary volunteers – all in their 90s – who had logged 32,688 volunteer hours at the hospital. That equates to 4,086 eight-hour days, or just over 11 years of service.
The ladies, Maxine Jackson, 91; Francis Smith, 90; and Pauline Wehe, 92 were honored in August and made queens for the day.
Auxiliary president Norma Haralson said, “I think it is awesome that we have three ladies like these that are still active and participate. It’s just wonderful.”
• In late April, the newspaper got word that Calvin D. (Cal) Rollins of Cabot and nine other honorees were inducted into the Army Ranger Hall of Fame at Fort Benning, Ga.
Staff Sergeant Calvin D Rollins, 67, a 100-percent disabled veteran, was inducted into the Hall of Fame for his service during the Vietnam War. Born in Pine Bluff and a graduate of Morrilton High School, he enlisted in the Army in June 1965. By June 1966, he was an Airborne Ranger and team leader assigned to the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam.
He was assigned in 1968 to the Special Forces Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observation group, where he headed special projects. Wounded in action, Rollins was medically evacuated and retired in 1969 at 50 percent disability.
His accomplishments earned him several decorations and awards, including the Bronze Star Service Medal, the Purple Heart with one oak leaf cluster, two Purple Hearts, two Air Medals, the Army Commendation with Valor Device, the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation with four bronze oak leaves, Republic of Vietnam Presidential Unit Citation, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation with Palm, Combat Infantryman Badge, the Parachutists Badge and more.
Begun in 1992, the Ranger Hall of Fame is made up of Rangers nominated by select Ranger units and associations representing each era of Ranger history. The selection board scrutinizes each nominee to ensure that only the most extraordinary contributions receive acknowledgement. Only those Rangers whose contributions embody the spirit of sacrifice, loyal service and character are inducted to stand as inspirations and examples to all professionals.
After his military service, Rollins worked in engineering and law enforcement, retiring in 1999 after being declared 100 percent disabled. A former secretary of the Echo 20th/Charlie Rangers Association and the Special Operations Association, Rollins still serves as webmaster for both organizations as well as for the Worldwide Army Rangers Association.
He is working on plans for the opening of the Special Forces Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observation Museum, which he founded.
He also works with the veterans in the post-traumatic stress disorder program at the Veterans Health Systems hospital in North Little Rock.
• When it comes to the military and veterans, hardly a week went by when there wasn’t a feature on one of these heroes.
Here is one that is representative of all the veterans in the area.
Second World War veteran Bill Schoonover, 93, of Cabot recalled his time in the China-Burma-India Theater during the war. He has been an American Legion member for 67 years.
Schoonover was in the Army from December 1942 to May 1946. He enlisted because he was single and 21 years old. He had a cousin and two brother-in-laws working on farms and they had families.
“When you go into the service, go in with the idea of having a good time, or you’re going to be miserable,” Schoonover said.
Schoonover had two roles in the Army. He was a truck driver and in the signal corps. He handled communications coding and de-coded messages, some that were top secret.
“We knew everything that was going on,” Schoonover said.
“I drove a six-by-six truck on the Burma Road from India to China trying to get gas and supplies into China. Once was enough. The drop-off was 5,000 feet on some of those corners,” Schoonover said.
He recalled leaving boot camp in April 1943. They spent 31 days on a ship that took them to Australia and westward to Calcutta, India.
“Our camp was in the middle of the jungle. At night, you could see jackals and lions from your tent,” Schoonover said.
• In early February, with temperatures often hitting freezing or below, two 15-year-old brothers in Jacksonville set out to collect 2,014 blankets for the homeless by the end of the month.
Dair’Reyel and Andre Veasey, students at Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, already had about 200 blankets.
More than half the blankets collected were donated to the Compassion Center in Little Rock, and the Veaseys personally delivered many of them to homeless families who live under the Broadway Bridge in Little Rock.
The brothers knocked on doors asking Jacksonville residents to donate blankets because they wanted to help and inspire others to help.
“The best way we could spend our time is help other people,” Dair’Reyel Veasey said.
He continued, “Some people think like ‘oh they can take care of themselves’ or ‘they shouldn’t have got into this situation in the first place.’ Well, you probably don’t know the story of why they’re in this situation. The most important thing is you can help them.”
Andre Veasey agreed. He said, “We don’t want anyone to get sick, or even die, in the streets.”
The brothers hope to make it an annual event, and to hold the drive a few months before cold weather sets in so that people will have blankets when they are needed.
• Pulaski County Special School District bus driver Sheila Hart, of Jacksonville, who was instrumental in ending a bus-jacking in October 2013, was honored in late January by the American Red Cross of Greater Arkansas.
Eleven children were on the bus. No one was injured.
She was one of 21 Arkansans who were presented Hero Awards by the Red Cross at a luncheon at Verizon Arena for saving lives or preventing harm to others in danger.
Hart, 51, was driving a school bus to Pinewood Elementary in Jacksonville when the bus was hijacked. She kept the kids and hijacker calm, saying her actions during that frightening incident were all in a day’s work.
Speaking about the Red Cross award, Hart said, “Well, it means a lot but actually I was just doing my job. You know, that’s my job. I get paid to drive them to school safe and protect them.”
The local Red Cross defines Arkansas Heroes as Arkansans ready to answer a call for help to prevent injury or death because of awareness and skills they gained through disaster, health and safety or other training.
• A Jacksonville fifth grader was just working to write his essay to the best of his ability. He knew the financial essay was forwarded to a national contest, but Dylan Mosakowski, a Warren Dupree student, had no idea that he would be named the top financial writer in the state in his division and be honored by Economics Arkansas and his local church.
He won $50 and a plaque from the economics group, which helps sponsor the contest, but also $1,000 scholarship from his church for his achievement. All that showed one never knows what a good effort might bring.
Mosakowski loves basketball, acting in Shakespeare plays, community service, good grades and researching potential stock market winners. His essay was on why Buffalo Wild Wings was an excellent investment.
The fifth grader admitted he’s never been to a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant even though one is located just a few miles away in Sherwood. “I saw the numbers on Yahoo! Finance, and they looked good. The more research I did, the better it looked,” he said.
• And even sports heroes took time in 2014 to speak to youngsters and other groups about education, perseverance and breaking the chain of abuse.
Former Razorback football standout and current NFL tight end D.J. Williams and his mother, Vicky Williams, spoke to a full house at the Open Arms Shelter’s second annual Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Banquet held at Cabot Junior High North in April.
Vicky Williams told of protecting D.J. and two other siblings from an abusive husband and having to leave.
“I married him, and we had three beautiful children,” Vicky Williams said. “Everything was fine for the first 10 years, and then he had two tragedies. After those two tragedies, he was diagnosed as bipolar. He turned to alcohol first, and, all of a sudden, drugs came into the picture.”
Vicky Williams described one incident in particular as her ‘lightning bolt moment’. It was when her only son was on what she thought she was a fishing trip with her father, but it turned out to be something completely different.
Instead of going fishing, Vicky’s then-husband took D.J., who was a young boy at the time, with him on a drug run. When his father got out of the car to pick up what ended up being crack cocaine, he handed his son a gun and told him that if anyone tried to bother him to ‘take care of it.’
Later that day, Vicky could tell something was off about her son, so she asked him what was wrong. D.J. then told his mother what happened and also admitted to her that the only person he ever considered ‘taking care of’ that day was himself.
“Here was the sweetest little thing that I loved so dearly,” Vicky Williams said. “He was so terrified and so miserable, and that was the only way he could think to get out of the situation.”
That prompted Vicky to take her kids and leave their home.
“I can now tell you that my oldest daughter is working for a very prominent doctor in Dallas. She’s doing very well. My middle child is a doctor in physical therapy, and my son did go to the University of Arkansas and got a degree in communications and he got to play for the Razorbacks, and he’s playing right now for the New England Patriots, and he’s just awesome.
“One thing I want these children to know is that no matter what their past has been, their future can be extremely bright. It doesn’t matter what they’ve been through; they make their future. And, as long as they have people that support them and believe in them, like my children had and I had, they can do anything.”
D.J. Williams spent the majority of his time at the podium focusing on the positive things that have happened in his life since those dark days, and how the people that helped him along the way shaped him into the man he’s become today. He said he was grateful to have a bright future as opposed to what he thought would be the alternative.
“I would never have imagined that I’m here,” said D.J. Williams. “I never would’ve imagined that I could buy my mom a house. Things like that are unbelievable because of where I was. I wouldn’t even say that my dreams came true because they weren’t even dreams. I can’t even remember having aspirations or dreams of doing so many good things.
“I believe that everybody has a purpose in life, and fear can sometimes get in the way of those dreams, and that’s not what we want to happen to these children. We don’t want their fear to become bigger than their dreams.”
• Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl champion Clinton McDonald stopped by Jacksonville High School in March to encourage the 11th graders to do their best on the literacy proficiency exam and make the most of their educational opportunities.
McDonald is a 2005 Jacksonville High graduate who went to the University of Memphis. He was a defensive tackle for the Seahawks and now plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He reflected on being in class at Jacksonville with the students. “I was in the same shoes you all are in with testing, getting into the next grade.
“It’s an important time in your 11th grade year. You need to take these tests seriously.
“Not only does it affect the school, it affects you as well,” McDonald said.
McDonald said he didn’t take tests seriously when he was in high school, and it affected him later with college. He missed two tests, and he could not get all of his scholarship money guaranteed until he made up those tests.
McDonald wondered, if he didn’t take those tests, where he would be. “Everybody in here can read and can write. Go ahead and take advantage of every step on the test. We all thought these tests do not amount to anything, but how many of you all want to go to college or the military,” McDonald asked.
Several students raised their hands. McDonald asked what the plans were for those who don’t want to go to college or the military. A student said he was going to roam the streets, selling dope.
“That the dumbest answer I ever heard,” McDonald said.
“You all have the opportunity to further yourselves in the world, and put your stamp on the United States, or for those in the military, all over the world. Regardless of what you want to do in life, you are going to take tests.
“You all think I play football, went to the Super Bowl, that I don’t know about that life. I was once ya’ll. I was running around on Somar Street, New Town and Sunnyside. It ain’t nothing new, guys. (You think) it is funny because it’s “Jacksonville Hood”. Well, guess what, everywhere you go has a hood. What does that mean? Either you are going to change your environment or you’re going to let your environment become you,” McDonald continued.
He said it’s beneficial for students to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them.
“Even though it might be boring, even though it seems like (you) don’t want to do this, it’s necessary. How does a guy go from college football to NFL football? From the hard work and blessings God gave him. If you don’t want to work, you will not reap the reward. Your work right now is taking these tests. Your job is to go out here and study. Do your job, make good grades and make good marks on the test.
“I was one of those kids who made mediocre grades. I could have made better grades, but, at the same time, I didn’t care enough to make better grades. Looking back on it, God has blessed me to be where I’m at now. At the same time, everybody is not as fortunate to do what I do. Everybody is not going to be a LeBron James, a Michael Jordan, a Deion Sanders or a quarterback in the NFL.
“You can be the best God allows you to be by taking advantage of the opportunities you have,” McDonald explained.
Leader staff writer
From a dad giving his life to save his family, a bus driver honored for her actions during a kidnapping and teens volunteering – good news abounds.
Bad news always seems to find its way to the media without any effort, but good news, of which there is much more, doesn’t get told or reported to newspapers as much as it should. But The Leader in 2014 still had article after article of good news, inspiring stories and happy endings.
These are just some that appeared in last year’s pages.
• A ceremony in early December at Little Rock Air Force Base commemorated the life and heroism of Arkansas Guardsman Master Sgt. Daniel Wassom, who gave his life so his wife and daughters would live after a tornado hit their Vilonia home in April.
Wassom, 31, shielded his 5-year-old daughter, Lorelai, his wife, Suzanne, and their 7-year-old daughter, Sydney, in the hallway of their home when an EF4 tornado — with winds of at least 180 mph — traveled 41 miles on a path that included Mayflower, Vilonia, El Paso and a piece of Pulaski County. Wassom was one of 15 people killed by the tornado.
Wassom’s wife and parents, Pam and Dan Wassom Sr., accepted the Airman’s Medal and participated in the dedication of a street in Dan’s name on the base. The Airman’s Medal is awarded to Air Force members who risk their lives but not in combat.
Col. Robert Ator II, 189th Airlift Wing commander, said, “We are humbled by his character. Sergeant Wassom died as he lived, in service to others.”
• Not looking for honors or recognition, Jacksonville still presented Christine and Jack Henderson with a key to the city for donating a $27,000 mobile adoption unit to the animal shelter.
The 7-by-18-foot trailer has a generator, air conditioning, a sink with cold and hot water and a back end that comes down to act as a ramp. That ramp will be used to load homeless pets for off-site adoption events.
The ramp will also allow potential forever families to come inside and look at adoptable dogs and cats. The unit can hold 17 to 22 cats and dogs.
“It’s amazing. I don’t really have words for what she did,” Animal Services Director Hedy Wuelling said.
The shelter had gathered $3,000 in donations toward the purchase of a trailer and wanted to give it to the Hendersons to defray the cost. But they told Wuelling to keep the $3,000 for spaying and neutering pets or other shelter needs.
• In early June, there was an article about Chris Strong, a Cabot teen who suffered through a cyberbully attack and now participates in four national anti-bullying campaigns.
He also helped organize one of them, the Big Dream Tour.
The 17-year-old, who is now home schooled three days a week through Cabot’s Academic Center of Excel-lence, signed up for an Insta-gram account two years ago.
His “I put my heart out there” attitude quickly gained tens of thousands of followers. Strong said millions know him through social media.
The “social media influencer” also attracted a hacker, who bullied him.
Strong said the bully’s followers called, threatening to kill him, his sister and his girlfriend. The bully later apologized, and the ordeal ended when Strong’s parents threatened to press charges.
The tours involve social media influencers like Strong meeting and greeting their fans, taking photos with them, signing autographs, selling merchandise and speaking out about bullying — usually on a stage set up in a convention center. There are often musical performances, too.
Strong said he tells the thousands gathered at the tour destinations, “They’re all beautiful in their own unique way.”
He continued, “I just try to make them feel better, like inspired. I want them going to bed with a smile on their face and saying ‘I need to do the same. I need to go help others as well’ because in the end, whenever you die, what’s going to be left? Leave a name for yourself.”
Strong pursued a social media career in the first place because he wanted to inspire people.
“A lot of times we get messages or we get fan mail in the mail and people are like ‘you saved my life, or you did this for me, or that. You inspire me. Keep on doing what you’re doing,’” he said.
• Volunteers and donations were in abundance after a killer tornado ripped through Vilonia and El Paso in late April.
“We are overwhelmed with the support of the community and strangers. We want to thank everyone. They will never know the level of our gratitude,” said Robert Chambers. His family’s home was destroyed in the storm.
He said they couldn’t believe the amount of donations they’ve received. “Volunteers came up and cleaned debris from our house. Strangers stop on the street, giving anonymously. It brings tears to your eyes. It is emotional.”
Beebe Elementary teachers, students and counselors assisted their fellow classmate Madison Chambers with clothing, food and other items.
North Pulaski High School cheerleaders volunteered and lent a hand in the cleanup efforts.
To help with the recovery efforts, 12 area churches and many individuals donated money into a disaster relief account set up for the Chambers.
The Chambers did not have renters insurance and lost everything to the twister.
“So many people gave out of the goodness of their hearts. I can’t say thank you enough. Thank you doesn’t cover it,” Robert Chambers said.
“You can’t put it into words. It restored my faith in humanity. I have a new outlook and want to pay it forward and will start trying to,” Robert Chambers said.
• The North Pulaski High School’s Diversity Club, sponsored by photography teacher Natalie Larrison, has joined a global anti-bullying group action art project called “Inside Out” in its efforts to make people more aware of bullying.
Larrison said, “Our project ‘Inside Out: Be Nice’ displays poster-size portraits of students nominated from the student body by Diversity Club members to be the faces featured to express our passion to stop bullying and advocate for others to accept one another. These posters represent a student’s voice. Their image alone will remind others that we are all human and deserve respect.”
Some “Inside Out” projects are displayed in public places, such as the sides of buildings in urban areas. Other smaller displays are on the outside walls of schools.
• Then there was the Aug. 20 story about three North Metro Medical Center Auxiliary volunteers – all in their 90s – who had logged 32,688 volunteer hours at the hospital. That equates to 4,086 eight-hour days, or just over 11 years of service.
The ladies, Maxine Jackson, 91; Francis Smith, 90; and Pauline Wehe, 92 were honored in August and made queens for the day.
Auxiliary president Norma Haralson said, “I think it is awesome that we have three ladies like these that are still active and participate. It’s just wonderful.”
• In late April, the newspaper got word that Calvin D. (Cal) Rollins of Cabot and nine other honorees were inducted into the Army Ranger Hall of Fame at Fort Benning, Ga.
Staff Sergeant Calvin D Rollins, 67, a 100-percent disabled veteran, was inducted into the Hall of Fame for his service during the Vietnam War. Born in Pine Bluff and a graduate of Morrilton High School, he enlisted in the Army in June 1965. By June 1966, he was an Airborne Ranger and team leader assigned to the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam.
He was assigned in 1968 to the Special Forces Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observation group, where he headed special projects. Wounded in action, Rollins was medically evacuated and retired in 1969 at 50 percent disability.
His accomplishments earned him several decorations and awards, including the Bronze Star Service Medal, the Purple Heart with one oak leaf cluster, two Purple Hearts, two Air Medals, the Army Commendation with Valor Device, the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation with four bronze oak leaves, Republic of Vietnam Presidential Unit Citation, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation with Palm, Combat Infantryman Badge, the Parachutists Badge and more.
Begun in 1992, the Ranger Hall of Fame is made up of Rangers nominated by select Ranger units and associations representing each era of Ranger history. The selection board scrutinizes each nominee to ensure that only the most extraordinary contributions receive acknowledgement. Only those Rangers whose contributions embody the spirit of sacrifice, loyal service and character are inducted to stand as inspirations and examples to all professionals.
After his military service, Rollins worked in engineering and law enforcement, retiring in 1999 after being declared 100 percent disabled. A former secretary of the Echo 20th/Charlie Rangers Association and the Special Operations Association, Rollins still serves as webmaster for both organizations as well as for the Worldwide Army Rangers Association.
He is working on plans for the opening of the Special Forces Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observation Museum, which he founded.
He also works with the veterans in the post-traumatic stress disorder program at the Veterans Health Systems hospital in North Little Rock.
• When it comes to the military and veterans, hardly a week went by when there wasn’t a feature on one of these heroes.
Here is one that is representative of all the veterans in the area.
Second World War veteran Bill Schoonover, 93, of Cabot recalled his time in the China-Burma-India Theater during the war. He has been an American Legion member for 67 years.
Schoonover was in the Army from December 1942 to May 1946. He enlisted because he was single and 21 years old. He had a cousin and two brother-in-laws working on farms and they had families.
“When you go into the service, go in with the idea of having a good time, or you’re going to be miserable,” Schoonover said.
Schoonover had two roles in the Army. He was a truck driver and in the signal corps. He handled communications coding and de-coded messages, some that were top secret.
“We knew everything that was going on,” Schoonover said.
“I drove a six-by-six truck on the Burma Road from India to China trying to get gas and supplies into China. Once was enough. The drop-off was 5,000 feet on some of those corners,” Schoonover said.
He recalled leaving boot camp in April 1943. They spent 31 days on a ship that took them to Australia and westward to Calcutta, India.
“Our camp was in the middle of the jungle. At night, you could see jackals and lions from your tent,” Schoonover said.
• In early February, with temperatures often hitting freezing or below, two 15-year-old brothers in Jacksonville set out to collect 2,014 blankets for the homeless by the end of the month.
Dair’Reyel and Andre Veasey, students at Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, already had about 200 blankets.
More than half the blankets collected were donated to the Compassion Center in Little Rock, and the Veaseys personally delivered many of them to homeless families who live under the Broadway Bridge in Little Rock.
The brothers knocked on doors asking Jacksonville residents to donate blankets because they wanted to help and inspire others to help.
“The best way we could spend our time is help other people,” Dair’Reyel Veasey said.
He continued, “Some people think like ‘oh they can take care of themselves’ or ‘they shouldn’t have got into this situation in the first place.’ Well, you probably don’t know the story of why they’re in this situation. The most important thing is you can help them.”
Andre Veasey agreed. He said, “We don’t want anyone to get sick, or even die, in the streets.”
The brothers hope to make it an annual event, and to hold the drive a few months before cold weather sets in so that people will have blankets when they are needed.
• Pulaski County Special School District bus driver Sheila Hart, of Jacksonville, who was instrumental in ending a bus-jacking in October 2013, was honored in late January by the American Red Cross of Greater Arkansas.
Eleven children were on the bus. No one was injured.
She was one of 21 Arkansans who were presented Hero Awards by the Red Cross at a luncheon at Verizon Arena for saving lives or preventing harm to others in danger.
Hart, 51, was driving a school bus to Pinewood Elementary in Jacksonville when the bus was hijacked. She kept the kids and hijacker calm, saying her actions during that frightening incident were all in a day’s work.
Speaking about the Red Cross award, Hart said, “Well, it means a lot but actually I was just doing my job. You know, that’s my job. I get paid to drive them to school safe and protect them.”
The local Red Cross defines Arkansas Heroes as Arkansans ready to answer a call for help to prevent injury or death because of awareness and skills they gained through disaster, health and safety or other training.
• A Jacksonville fifth grader was just working to write his essay to the best of his ability. He knew the financial essay was forwarded to a national contest, but Dylan Mosakowski, a Warren Dupree student, had no idea that he would be named the top financial writer in the state in his division and be honored by Economics Arkansas and his local church.
He won $50 and a plaque from the economics group, which helps sponsor the contest, but also $1,000 scholarship from his church for his achievement. All that showed one never knows what a good effort might bring.
Mosakowski loves basketball, acting in Shakespeare plays, community service, good grades and researching potential stock market winners. His essay was on why Buffalo Wild Wings was an excellent investment.
The fifth grader admitted he’s never been to a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant even though one is located just a few miles away in Sherwood. “I saw the numbers on Yahoo! Finance, and they looked good. The more research I did, the better it looked,” he said.
• And even sports heroes took time in 2014 to speak to youngsters and other groups about education, perseverance and breaking the chain of abuse.
Former Razorback football standout and current NFL tight end D.J. Williams and his mother, Vicky Williams, spoke to a full house at the Open Arms Shelter’s second annual Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Banquet held at Cabot Junior High North in April.
Vicky Williams told of protecting D.J. and two other siblings from an abusive husband and having to leave.
“I married him, and we had three beautiful children,” Vicky Williams said. “Everything was fine for the first 10 years, and then he had two tragedies. After those two tragedies, he was diagnosed as bipolar. He turned to alcohol first, and, all of a sudden, drugs came into the picture.”
Vicky Williams described one incident in particular as her ‘lightning bolt moment’. It was when her only son was on what she thought she was a fishing trip with her father, but it turned out to be something completely different.
Instead of going fishing, Vicky’s then-husband took D.J., who was a young boy at the time, with him on a drug run. When his father got out of the car to pick up what ended up being crack cocaine, he handed his son a gun and told him that if anyone tried to bother him to ‘take care of it.’
Later that day, Vicky could tell something was off about her son, so she asked him what was wrong. D.J. then told his mother what happened and also admitted to her that the only person he ever considered ‘taking care of’ that day was himself.
“Here was the sweetest little thing that I loved so dearly,” Vicky Williams said. “He was so terrified and so miserable, and that was the only way he could think to get out of the situation.”
That prompted Vicky to take her kids and leave their home.
“I can now tell you that my oldest daughter is working for a very prominent doctor in Dallas. She’s doing very well. My middle child is a doctor in physical therapy, and my son did go to the University of Arkansas and got a degree in communications and he got to play for the Razorbacks, and he’s playing right now for the New England Patriots, and he’s just awesome.
“One thing I want these children to know is that no matter what their past has been, their future can be extremely bright. It doesn’t matter what they’ve been through; they make their future. And, as long as they have people that support them and believe in them, like my children had and I had, they can do anything.”
D.J. Williams spent the majority of his time at the podium focusing on the positive things that have happened in his life since those dark days, and how the people that helped him along the way shaped him into the man he’s become today. He said he was grateful to have a bright future as opposed to what he thought would be the alternative.
“I would never have imagined that I’m here,” said D.J. Williams. “I never would’ve imagined that I could buy my mom a house. Things like that are unbelievable because of where I was. I wouldn’t even say that my dreams came true because they weren’t even dreams. I can’t even remember having aspirations or dreams of doing so many good things.
“I believe that everybody has a purpose in life, and fear can sometimes get in the way of those dreams, and that’s not what we want to happen to these children. We don’t want their fear to become bigger than their dreams.”
• Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl champion Clinton McDonald stopped by Jacksonville High School in March to encourage the 11th graders to do their best on the literacy proficiency exam and make the most of their educational opportunities.
McDonald is a 2005 Jacksonville High graduate who went to the University of Memphis. He was a defensive tackle for the Seahawks and now plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He reflected on being in class at Jacksonville with the students. “I was in the same shoes you all are in with testing, getting into the next grade.
“It’s an important time in your 11th grade year. You need to take these tests seriously.
“Not only does it affect the school, it affects you as well,” McDonald said.
McDonald said he didn’t take tests seriously when he was in high school, and it affected him later with college. He missed two tests, and he could not get all of his scholarship money guaranteed until he made up those tests.
McDonald wondered, if he didn’t take those tests, where he would be. “Everybody in here can read and can write. Go ahead and take advantage of every step on the test. We all thought these tests do not amount to anything, but how many of you all want to go to college or the military,” McDonald asked.
Several students raised their hands. McDonald asked what the plans were for those who don’t want to go to college or the military. A student said he was going to roam the streets, selling dope.
“That the dumbest answer I ever heard,” McDonald said.
“You all have the opportunity to further yourselves in the world, and put your stamp on the United States, or for those in the military, all over the world. Regardless of what you want to do in life, you are going to take tests.
“You all think I play football, went to the Super Bowl, that I don’t know about that life. I was once ya’ll. I was running around on Somar Street, New Town and Sunnyside. It ain’t nothing new, guys. (You think) it is funny because it’s “Jacksonville Hood”. Well, guess what, everywhere you go has a hood. What does that mean? Either you are going to change your environment or you’re going to let your environment become you,” McDonald continued.
He said it’s beneficial for students to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them.
“Even though it might be boring, even though it seems like (you) don’t want to do this, it’s necessary. How does a guy go from college football to NFL football? From the hard work and blessings God gave him. If you don’t want to work, you will not reap the reward. Your work right now is taking these tests. Your job is to go out here and study. Do your job, make good grades and make good marks on the test.
“I was one of those kids who made mediocre grades. I could have made better grades, but, at the same time, I didn’t care enough to make better grades. Looking back on it, God has blessed me to be where I’m at now. At the same time, everybody is not as fortunate to do what I do. Everybody is not going to be a LeBron James, a Michael Jordan, a Deion Sanders or a quarterback in the NFL.
“You can be the best God allows you to be by taking advantage of the opportunities you have,” McDonald explained.
TOP STORY >> Missionary returns from Africa
By JEFFERY SMITH
Leader staff writer
Holly Huckabee of Cabot was part of a 15-woman team that traveled to the African nation of Tanzania in November with nonprofit organization Pure Joy International to conduct a retreat for missionary women from different denominations who serve in Tanzania.
Huckabee, the wife of Lonoke County Judge Sandy Huckabee, spent a week in Der es Salaam, Tanzania, which is on the coast of the Indian Ocean. She and the team held a conference for 49 missionaries from around the world who are helping Tanzanians.
“I learned there are a lot of faithful followers of Jesus Christ all over the world. I got to meet them. When you have sisters in Christ who are in another nation and from other nations (you see) that there’s nowhere you can go in this world that you can get away from the love of Jesus,” Huckabee said.
“I have learned he is faithful to those serving him, even in hardship. Missionary lives are not glamorous. They are hard. These are faithful people who go.
“They serve by not only telling the good news of Jesus Christ. They also help serve people by helping them with actual physical needs,” Huckabee said.
She said some of the missionaries in Tanzania are doctors and nurses.
But Huckabee also met a missionary who formed another kind of organization in her garage. The club is for girls who have an eighth-grade education and want to learn a skill.
The girls earn money to become self-supportive by using a pedal-powered sewing machine to make skirts, head bands, scarves and bags. The merchandise is taken by missionaries from the U.S. and sold at home shows.
The profit goes back to girls. They are paid a weekly amount and required to open a savings account. They also have to save 10 percent of what they earn.
After they finish three years of training, the girls leave the program with their own sewing machines, their skills and a small savings to set up shop as seamstresses.
“At the same time, they are being taught in English and in Swahili (their native language) what the Bible says, that there is good news for sinners and that there is a savior,” Huckabee said.
Huckabee is a Bible teacher and was speaking at a retreat in Vilonia when she was put in touch with Pure Joy International. When she was in Tanzania, she gave three talks based on Psalm 84.
Huckabee was not worried about the Ebola outbreak in Africa because it was happening in the western counties of Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone and not Tanzania, which is on the east coast. She said the team was closer to Ebola when they were at the Atlanta International Airport.
Huckabee also said they had to drink only bottled water and were told to use bottled water to brush their teeth. The water in Tanzania can make Americans sick because their bodies are not used to what is in the native water. Huckabee said the food was different, too.
“They had incredible fresh fruit and little short bananas,” Huckabee said.
At the conference, Huckabee said some church friends gave the team notes to deliver to the missionaries.
The notes told the missionaries that they were being prayed for. The missionaries were also given bags of favorite items they can not get in Tanzania, such as Cheetos and Fritos.
Huckabee said most of the buildings and dining hall were open air, except for the lodging. They slept in mosquito netted beds.
She also said the Tanzanians work hard during the day and socialize late at night, after dinner.
Huckabee said the ex-change rate was crazy. One U.S. dollar equals 1,729 Tanzanian shillings.
The cost for the retreat was $3,700 per person, with $500 of that funded by Pure Joy. Each team member had to raise $3,200 on their own to go.
“When you’re doing what God has called you to do, you are taking good news. I’d pay anything to be able to give good news to other people,” Huckabee said.
The retreat in Tanzania was the 20th conducted by Pure Joy International in Tanzania since the ministry was founded in 1999 in West Point, Calif.
Leader staff writer
Holly Huckabee of Cabot was part of a 15-woman team that traveled to the African nation of Tanzania in November with nonprofit organization Pure Joy International to conduct a retreat for missionary women from different denominations who serve in Tanzania.
Huckabee, the wife of Lonoke County Judge Sandy Huckabee, spent a week in Der es Salaam, Tanzania, which is on the coast of the Indian Ocean. She and the team held a conference for 49 missionaries from around the world who are helping Tanzanians.
“I learned there are a lot of faithful followers of Jesus Christ all over the world. I got to meet them. When you have sisters in Christ who are in another nation and from other nations (you see) that there’s nowhere you can go in this world that you can get away from the love of Jesus,” Huckabee said.
“I have learned he is faithful to those serving him, even in hardship. Missionary lives are not glamorous. They are hard. These are faithful people who go.
“They serve by not only telling the good news of Jesus Christ. They also help serve people by helping them with actual physical needs,” Huckabee said.
She said some of the missionaries in Tanzania are doctors and nurses.
But Huckabee also met a missionary who formed another kind of organization in her garage. The club is for girls who have an eighth-grade education and want to learn a skill.
The girls earn money to become self-supportive by using a pedal-powered sewing machine to make skirts, head bands, scarves and bags. The merchandise is taken by missionaries from the U.S. and sold at home shows.
The profit goes back to girls. They are paid a weekly amount and required to open a savings account. They also have to save 10 percent of what they earn.
After they finish three years of training, the girls leave the program with their own sewing machines, their skills and a small savings to set up shop as seamstresses.
“At the same time, they are being taught in English and in Swahili (their native language) what the Bible says, that there is good news for sinners and that there is a savior,” Huckabee said.
Huckabee is a Bible teacher and was speaking at a retreat in Vilonia when she was put in touch with Pure Joy International. When she was in Tanzania, she gave three talks based on Psalm 84.
Huckabee was not worried about the Ebola outbreak in Africa because it was happening in the western counties of Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone and not Tanzania, which is on the east coast. She said the team was closer to Ebola when they were at the Atlanta International Airport.
Huckabee also said they had to drink only bottled water and were told to use bottled water to brush their teeth. The water in Tanzania can make Americans sick because their bodies are not used to what is in the native water. Huckabee said the food was different, too.
“They had incredible fresh fruit and little short bananas,” Huckabee said.
At the conference, Huckabee said some church friends gave the team notes to deliver to the missionaries.
The notes told the missionaries that they were being prayed for. The missionaries were also given bags of favorite items they can not get in Tanzania, such as Cheetos and Fritos.
Huckabee said most of the buildings and dining hall were open air, except for the lodging. They slept in mosquito netted beds.
She also said the Tanzanians work hard during the day and socialize late at night, after dinner.
Huckabee said the ex-change rate was crazy. One U.S. dollar equals 1,729 Tanzanian shillings.
The cost for the retreat was $3,700 per person, with $500 of that funded by Pure Joy. Each team member had to raise $3,200 on their own to go.
“When you’re doing what God has called you to do, you are taking good news. I’d pay anything to be able to give good news to other people,” Huckabee said.
The retreat in Tanzania was the 20th conducted by Pure Joy International in Tanzania since the ministry was founded in 1999 in West Point, Calif.
SPORTS STORY >> Carlisle boys bounce back with BK
By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
The Carlisle Bison rebounded from a devastating first-round loss to Watson Chapel Dec. 27 in the second annual Goldfish Classic at Lonoke High School to get a 58-49 win over Bald Knob in Monday’s consolation round, and on Dec. 30, the Bison closed the tournament with a competitive 52-46 loss to Hazen.
In the Dec. 30 win over Bald Knob, Carlisle led 12-11 at the end of the first quarter, and in the second quarter, the Bison outscored the Bulldogs 15-11 to take a 27-22 lead into halftime.
The Bison were outscored 12-9 in the third quarter, which cut Carlisle’s lead down to two at the start of the fourth, but in the final eight minutes, all five Bison starters scored to help Carlisle to a 22-point quarter, and the nine-point win.
Nick Schafer and Devon Kendrick led Carlisle with 16 points each in the win. Brynden Weems finished that game with 15 points, and teammate Dominic Castleberry added eight points to the winning effort.
Carlisle got off to a very sluggish start in the fifth-place game against its archrival Hazen. The Hornets jumped out to an 11-2 lead to start the game, but the Bison ended the opening quarter with a 9-2 run that cut the Hazen lead to 13-11 at the start of the second quarter.
Fifty-five seconds into the second quarter, Carlisle got within one of Hazen’s lead, 15-14, on an and-1 by Kendrick. However, Hazen ended the quarter with an 11-0 run to take a 26-14 lead into halftime.
Hazen’s press gave Carlisle problems in the third quarter, and the Hornets led 34-20 near the three-minute mark of the quarter.
Carlisle’s Lewis Bunch made it an 11-point game with a 3-pointer at the 2:08 mark of the third period, and a three by Weems with 46 tics left trimmed the margin back to single digits by quarter’s end, with the score 36-28 Hazen.
The Bison opened the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run to make it a one-point game. That run was capped with a midrange jumper by Cole Sheets near the six-minute mark, which made the score 36-35.
Kendrick, though, left the game shortly after, favoring his ankle, and Hazen scored the next five points before Carlisle could get another basket. Kendrick returned to the game with 3:02 left to play and the score 43-37.
The Hornets furthered their lead to nine with an and-1 by Cody Kee with 2:41 remaining. That made the score 46-37. Schafer fouled out with 1:52 remaining, but Carlisle still found a way to make it a game as the final seconds ticked away.
With 1:05 remaining, the Bison made it a 47-44 game with a Weems’ three, and on the Bison’s next possession, Castleberry scored on a short jumper that cut the Hornets’ lead to 47-46.
Carlisle pressed on the ensuing Hornets’ possession, but Hazen beat the press and got an easy layup with 25 seconds left, and Hazen’s Trenton Mosby made 3 of 4 free throws down the stretch, setting the final score.
The Bison finished the fifth-place game 16 of 41 from the floor for 39 percent. Hazen, who narrowly beat Carlisle in conference play recently, made 19 of 46 shots for 41 percent.
Hazen narrowly won the rebounding battle 27-26, and the Hornets won the turnover category 14-21.
Kendrick led all scorers with 15 points. He was the only Bison to finish in double figures, scoring-wise. Weems added nine points in the loss. Mosby led Hazen with 12 points and teammate Grant Booth also finished with double-digit points. He scored 10.
Carlisle resumed conference play Tuesday at home against KIPP Delta Charter of Helena. The Bison will remain in conference play on Friday with a road game at Marvell.
Leader sportswriter
The Carlisle Bison rebounded from a devastating first-round loss to Watson Chapel Dec. 27 in the second annual Goldfish Classic at Lonoke High School to get a 58-49 win over Bald Knob in Monday’s consolation round, and on Dec. 30, the Bison closed the tournament with a competitive 52-46 loss to Hazen.
In the Dec. 30 win over Bald Knob, Carlisle led 12-11 at the end of the first quarter, and in the second quarter, the Bison outscored the Bulldogs 15-11 to take a 27-22 lead into halftime.
The Bison were outscored 12-9 in the third quarter, which cut Carlisle’s lead down to two at the start of the fourth, but in the final eight minutes, all five Bison starters scored to help Carlisle to a 22-point quarter, and the nine-point win.
Nick Schafer and Devon Kendrick led Carlisle with 16 points each in the win. Brynden Weems finished that game with 15 points, and teammate Dominic Castleberry added eight points to the winning effort.
Carlisle got off to a very sluggish start in the fifth-place game against its archrival Hazen. The Hornets jumped out to an 11-2 lead to start the game, but the Bison ended the opening quarter with a 9-2 run that cut the Hazen lead to 13-11 at the start of the second quarter.
Fifty-five seconds into the second quarter, Carlisle got within one of Hazen’s lead, 15-14, on an and-1 by Kendrick. However, Hazen ended the quarter with an 11-0 run to take a 26-14 lead into halftime.
Hazen’s press gave Carlisle problems in the third quarter, and the Hornets led 34-20 near the three-minute mark of the quarter.
Carlisle’s Lewis Bunch made it an 11-point game with a 3-pointer at the 2:08 mark of the third period, and a three by Weems with 46 tics left trimmed the margin back to single digits by quarter’s end, with the score 36-28 Hazen.
The Bison opened the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run to make it a one-point game. That run was capped with a midrange jumper by Cole Sheets near the six-minute mark, which made the score 36-35.
Kendrick, though, left the game shortly after, favoring his ankle, and Hazen scored the next five points before Carlisle could get another basket. Kendrick returned to the game with 3:02 left to play and the score 43-37.
The Hornets furthered their lead to nine with an and-1 by Cody Kee with 2:41 remaining. That made the score 46-37. Schafer fouled out with 1:52 remaining, but Carlisle still found a way to make it a game as the final seconds ticked away.
With 1:05 remaining, the Bison made it a 47-44 game with a Weems’ three, and on the Bison’s next possession, Castleberry scored on a short jumper that cut the Hornets’ lead to 47-46.
Carlisle pressed on the ensuing Hornets’ possession, but Hazen beat the press and got an easy layup with 25 seconds left, and Hazen’s Trenton Mosby made 3 of 4 free throws down the stretch, setting the final score.
The Bison finished the fifth-place game 16 of 41 from the floor for 39 percent. Hazen, who narrowly beat Carlisle in conference play recently, made 19 of 46 shots for 41 percent.
Hazen narrowly won the rebounding battle 27-26, and the Hornets won the turnover category 14-21.
Kendrick led all scorers with 15 points. He was the only Bison to finish in double figures, scoring-wise. Weems added nine points in the loss. Mosby led Hazen with 12 points and teammate Grant Booth also finished with double-digit points. He scored 10.
Carlisle resumed conference play Tuesday at home against KIPP Delta Charter of Helena. The Bison will remain in conference play on Friday with a road game at Marvell.
SPORTS STORY >> Bears drop pair at PB
By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
PINE BLUFF – The Sylvan Hills boys ended the 2015 Zebra Holiday Tournament at Pine Bluff High School with a 47-39 loss to fellow 5A-Central Conference member J.A. Fair in the fifth-place game on Saturday, and with the loss, the Bears finished the tournament with a 1-2 record.
The Bears dropped their first game of the tournament to Mills, also from the 5A-Central, on Dec. 30, but on Friday, Sylvan Hills advanced to Saturday’s fifth-place game with a 52-41 win over a tall Hamburg team.
Even though the Bears (5-5) didn’t finish the eight-team tournament with a win, Sylvan Hills coach Kevin Davis was glad that his team got to see some of the level of competition they’ll face for the rest of the regular season, with conference play starting this week.
“We wanted to be here because we wanted to compete against the level of athleticism and the level of play that we’re going to see in our conference,” said Davis. “There are four of our conference teams here (Sylvan Hills, Mills, McClellan and Fair). So we definitely got to see it.
“This is a young team with not a lot of size and not a lot of depth. They’re 5-5 right now and they’ve had some really, really good wins, and that’s the most we’ve lost by was eight (points). They’re playing people tough and they’re competing hard, it’s just a process.
“We’ve just got to keep trying to grow up into a varsity team. I think it was important for us to be here and our kids to see how close they are and what they needed to do to try to be able to turn the corner.”
Sylvan Hills had to play Saturday’s game against Fair without starting two-guard Dexter Smith, who was out with an injured wrist. Smith scored in double figures in each of the Bears’ first two games of the tournament, so not having him in the lineup caused some disruption in the Bears’ offensive game plan.
Starting guard Cordy Winston, though, one of the more prolific scorers in the 5A-Central, drained two 3-pointers at the start of the game to give the Bears a 6-2 lead. However, the War Eagles finished the quarter with a 7-1 run to lead 9-7 at the start of the second quarter.
Fair pushed its lead to five by halftime. Leading 20-17 with 25 seconds left in the half, the War Eagles held for the last shot and scored on a Kevon Bryant bucket with one second remaining, which set the halftime margin at 22-17.
Winston drained a corner three 29 seconds into the third quarter, which cut Fair’s lead to 22-20, but the War Eagles answered with a 12-0 run that pushed their lead to double digits, leading 34-22.
That run was led by Fair leading scorer Jerrick Cole, who made it a 12-point game with a long 3-pointer with 3:45 left in the third. That forced Davis to call timeout, and by the end of the period, Sylvan Hills made it a single-digit game, with Fair leading 38-30.
The Bears got within six of Fair’s lead in the fourth quarter, but that was as close as they’d get to catching up with the War Eagles in the final eight minutes. A Jordan Washington free throw made the score 41-35 with 5:35 remaining, but Fair pushed its lead to 47-37 by the 1:30 mark.
With just over a minute to play, Washington set the final score with an inside bucket.
The Bears finished the game 15 of 42 shooting for 36 percent. Fair finished the game 19 of 43 from the floor for 44 percent. The rebounding and turnover numbers were identical. Each team grabbed 22 rebounds and each team had 13 turnovers.
Cole led all scorers Saturday with 24 points. Winston led Sylvan Hills with 19 points, and Washington led all players with 11 rebounds.
In Friday’s consolation game against Hamburg, the Bears led 6-2 at the end of the first quarter and 20-14 at halftime. Sylvan Hills outscored Hamburg 14-9 in the third quarter to further its lead to 34-23 at the start of the fourth, and in the final eight minutes, each team scored 18 points to set the final score.
Winston led the Bears with 19 points Friday. Smith was the only other Bear to score in double figures with 11 points.
Leader sportswriter
PINE BLUFF – The Sylvan Hills boys ended the 2015 Zebra Holiday Tournament at Pine Bluff High School with a 47-39 loss to fellow 5A-Central Conference member J.A. Fair in the fifth-place game on Saturday, and with the loss, the Bears finished the tournament with a 1-2 record.
The Bears dropped their first game of the tournament to Mills, also from the 5A-Central, on Dec. 30, but on Friday, Sylvan Hills advanced to Saturday’s fifth-place game with a 52-41 win over a tall Hamburg team.
Even though the Bears (5-5) didn’t finish the eight-team tournament with a win, Sylvan Hills coach Kevin Davis was glad that his team got to see some of the level of competition they’ll face for the rest of the regular season, with conference play starting this week.
“We wanted to be here because we wanted to compete against the level of athleticism and the level of play that we’re going to see in our conference,” said Davis. “There are four of our conference teams here (Sylvan Hills, Mills, McClellan and Fair). So we definitely got to see it.
“This is a young team with not a lot of size and not a lot of depth. They’re 5-5 right now and they’ve had some really, really good wins, and that’s the most we’ve lost by was eight (points). They’re playing people tough and they’re competing hard, it’s just a process.
“We’ve just got to keep trying to grow up into a varsity team. I think it was important for us to be here and our kids to see how close they are and what they needed to do to try to be able to turn the corner.”
Sylvan Hills had to play Saturday’s game against Fair without starting two-guard Dexter Smith, who was out with an injured wrist. Smith scored in double figures in each of the Bears’ first two games of the tournament, so not having him in the lineup caused some disruption in the Bears’ offensive game plan.
Starting guard Cordy Winston, though, one of the more prolific scorers in the 5A-Central, drained two 3-pointers at the start of the game to give the Bears a 6-2 lead. However, the War Eagles finished the quarter with a 7-1 run to lead 9-7 at the start of the second quarter.
Fair pushed its lead to five by halftime. Leading 20-17 with 25 seconds left in the half, the War Eagles held for the last shot and scored on a Kevon Bryant bucket with one second remaining, which set the halftime margin at 22-17.
Winston drained a corner three 29 seconds into the third quarter, which cut Fair’s lead to 22-20, but the War Eagles answered with a 12-0 run that pushed their lead to double digits, leading 34-22.
That run was led by Fair leading scorer Jerrick Cole, who made it a 12-point game with a long 3-pointer with 3:45 left in the third. That forced Davis to call timeout, and by the end of the period, Sylvan Hills made it a single-digit game, with Fair leading 38-30.
The Bears got within six of Fair’s lead in the fourth quarter, but that was as close as they’d get to catching up with the War Eagles in the final eight minutes. A Jordan Washington free throw made the score 41-35 with 5:35 remaining, but Fair pushed its lead to 47-37 by the 1:30 mark.
With just over a minute to play, Washington set the final score with an inside bucket.
The Bears finished the game 15 of 42 shooting for 36 percent. Fair finished the game 19 of 43 from the floor for 44 percent. The rebounding and turnover numbers were identical. Each team grabbed 22 rebounds and each team had 13 turnovers.
Cole led all scorers Saturday with 24 points. Winston led Sylvan Hills with 19 points, and Washington led all players with 11 rebounds.
In Friday’s consolation game against Hamburg, the Bears led 6-2 at the end of the first quarter and 20-14 at halftime. Sylvan Hills outscored Hamburg 14-9 in the third quarter to further its lead to 34-23 at the start of the fourth, and in the final eight minutes, each team scored 18 points to set the final score.
Winston led the Bears with 19 points Friday. Smith was the only other Bear to score in double figures with 11 points.
SPORTS STORY >> NP to retire number for Carlos Kelly
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
North Pulaski High School honors a former Falcon on Friday, retiring the jersey of basketball standout and local pastor Carlos Kelly between girls’ and boys’ games against Mills University Studies.
Kelly is a 1992 graduate of NPHS. He’s now husband to Letitia Kelly and father to current Falcons Jalen, a senior, and Caleb, a sophomore.
Current North Pulaski coach Roy Jackson, who graduated from Jacksonville High in 1992, played against Kelly and decided in October to honor his former foe.
“He was a tough player, but it’s also about the work he’s done through his church to support the kids out this way,” said Jackson.
Up until this past Sunday, Kelly was senior pastor at New Hope Baptist Church in North Little Rock, where he’s been for 15 years. He recently accepted the same position at a church in Macon, Ga., and will be moving soon.
Kelly said his emotions were mixed when he found out his high school alma mater wanted to recognize him in such a way.
“First I was surprised and then honored all at the same time,” Kelly said. “I was privileged to have a great career at North Pulaski and get some opportunities beyond high school.”
Kelly averaged 22 points, eight rebounds and six assists for as long as his senior season at NPHS lasted. After garnering Division I offers and verbally committing to the University of Wyoming, he suffered a major knee injury in the 15th game of his senior year, causing Wyoming to renege its offer. He then chose Delta St., where he played for four years, earning a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and staying to earn a master’s in education.
While just about to enroll in law school at Memphis, he felt called to a different path.
“I sensed a call to the ministry and changed career paths right there,” Kelly said. “I started teaching first and then went into full-time ministry.”
Kelly was All-Conference and All-State all three years of high school, and a McDonald’s All-American nominee his senior year.
His oldest son Jalen currently wears his dad’s No. 12 Falcon jersey. He’ll be allowed to finish the season as No. 12, but will be the last person to wear it before it’s hung in the rafters of the Falcons’ Nest for good.
Tip off for the girls’ game is scheduled for 6 p.m. with boys to follow at approximately 7:30 p.m.
Leader sports editor
North Pulaski High School honors a former Falcon on Friday, retiring the jersey of basketball standout and local pastor Carlos Kelly between girls’ and boys’ games against Mills University Studies.
Kelly is a 1992 graduate of NPHS. He’s now husband to Letitia Kelly and father to current Falcons Jalen, a senior, and Caleb, a sophomore.
Current North Pulaski coach Roy Jackson, who graduated from Jacksonville High in 1992, played against Kelly and decided in October to honor his former foe.
“He was a tough player, but it’s also about the work he’s done through his church to support the kids out this way,” said Jackson.
Up until this past Sunday, Kelly was senior pastor at New Hope Baptist Church in North Little Rock, where he’s been for 15 years. He recently accepted the same position at a church in Macon, Ga., and will be moving soon.
Kelly said his emotions were mixed when he found out his high school alma mater wanted to recognize him in such a way.
“First I was surprised and then honored all at the same time,” Kelly said. “I was privileged to have a great career at North Pulaski and get some opportunities beyond high school.”
Kelly averaged 22 points, eight rebounds and six assists for as long as his senior season at NPHS lasted. After garnering Division I offers and verbally committing to the University of Wyoming, he suffered a major knee injury in the 15th game of his senior year, causing Wyoming to renege its offer. He then chose Delta St., where he played for four years, earning a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and staying to earn a master’s in education.
While just about to enroll in law school at Memphis, he felt called to a different path.
“I sensed a call to the ministry and changed career paths right there,” Kelly said. “I started teaching first and then went into full-time ministry.”
Kelly was All-Conference and All-State all three years of high school, and a McDonald’s All-American nominee his senior year.
His oldest son Jalen currently wears his dad’s No. 12 Falcon jersey. He’ll be allowed to finish the season as No. 12, but will be the last person to wear it before it’s hung in the rafters of the Falcons’ Nest for good.
Tip off for the girls’ game is scheduled for 6 p.m. with boys to follow at approximately 7:30 p.m.
SPORTS STORY >> Lady Panthers acquit selves nicely in Texas
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Lady Panthers took fourth place in the 32-team Spring Creek Barbecue Invitational basketball tournament last week in Mansfield, Texas, winning their first three games to advance to the semifinals before dropping the final two games to settle for fourth place.
Most of the tournament featured teams from Texas’ largest classification in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Played at four different sites in the Mansfield school district, Cabot opened at Mansfield High against highly-ranked Cedar Hill, a Class 6A school just minutes from Mansfield.
The team features highly touted Joyner Holmes. Major Division I coaches from all over the country were on hand to watch the 6-foot-3 Holmes lead Cedar Hill against the Lady Panthers, but Cabot never let her get going. The No. 2 rated player in Texas finished with just 10 points and four rebounds as the Lady Panthers prevailed 56-48.
The Lady Panthers’ pressure defense forced 26 Cedar Hill turnovers as Cabot raced out to a 22-9 lead in the first quarter. The local team was able to reverse that trend in the second quarter, forcing several Cabot turnovers. The Lady Panthers finished the game with 19 turnovers, but still held to a 34-27 lead at halftime after Cedar Hill got as close as 27-24 in the second quarter.
Cabot built its margin back to double digits early in the third quarter when back-to-back buckets by CoCo Calhoon and Alyssa Hamilton made it 39-29. Holmes answered moments later with just her second bucket of the game, but Cabot scored the next eight straight to take a commanding 47-31 lead.
Victoria Jackson and Holmes combined for the final four points of the third quarter, leaving Cabot with a 12-point lead going into the final frame. Hamilton added to that lead with the first bucket of the fourth quarter, but Holmes and teammate Dominique Dawson scored four in a row to cut the margin to 10.
Cabot’s ball movement continued to create open looks for Hamilton, who answered each of Cedar Hill’s next two buckets.
Robin Beck drained a 3-pointer with two minutes left to pull the local team to within eight, but her team wouldn’t score again until Beck drained another trey at the buzzer to set the final margin.
Hamilton led Cabot with 18 points and eight rebounds while Danielle McWilliams had 14 points and Anna Sullivan 10 for Cabot. Guard Leighton Taylor finished with six points, seven assists and three steals.
Cenecia Newman led Cedar Hill with 13 points, including 10 in the first half. Beck and Holmes each finished with 10.
After that 11:30 a.m. start, Cabot moved on to face Timberview, a Mansfield school, at 8:15 p.m. that same night, and walked away with a 42-31 victory. Cabot led just 21-20 at halftime after Timberview opened the game scoring the first seven points. The Lady Panthers continued to slowly assume control in the second half, holding Timberview to just four points in the fourth quarter to win going away in the slower-paced matchup.
Cabot relied again on ball movement in the more half-court game, and Hamilton and Sullivan led the way. Hamilton finished with 16 points while Sullivan added 15. Hamilton also had six rebounds and three steals.
McWilliams added seven points, five rebounds and two steals for Cabot.
On Wednesday, Cabot played the quarterfinals against MacArthur High of Irving, Texas, and won 45-42. Unlike the first two games, Cabot found itself still trailing at halftime on game three. MacArthur jumped out to a 16-11 lead at the end of the first quarter after scoring the game’s first six points. Cabot battled back with a 7-2 run to pull within one point, but MacArthur got hot from outside, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to close the first period.
Cabot trailed 23-15 with three minutes left in the half before closing the second period with a 7-0 run. Sullivan made 1 of 2 free throws to open the run and Taylor hit a pair of foul shots to make it 23-18. Josie Vanoss scored for Cabot after a MacArthur turnover and Sullivan scored after a defensive stop and rebound by Hamilton.
The run became 9-0 when Calhoon scored the first bucket of the second half to give Cabot its first lead of the game, but Alyson Gomez got it right back for MacArthur. The lead changed hands six times in the third quarter before MacArthur went on an 8-1 run to take a 35-29 lead with seconds left in the third period.
Cabot closed the period with a bucket by Hamilton, and then outscored MacArthur 14-7 in the fourth quarter. The Lady Panthers still trailed 40-37 with just less than three minutes remaining, but they closed the game with an 8-2 run to seal the win.
In the semifinals, Cabot fell 47-38 to Bowie High of Arlington, then lost 50-27 to South Grand Prairie in the third-place game. Prestonwood Christian Academy of Plano beat Bowie 64-45 in the tournament championship.
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Lady Panthers took fourth place in the 32-team Spring Creek Barbecue Invitational basketball tournament last week in Mansfield, Texas, winning their first three games to advance to the semifinals before dropping the final two games to settle for fourth place.
Most of the tournament featured teams from Texas’ largest classification in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Played at four different sites in the Mansfield school district, Cabot opened at Mansfield High against highly-ranked Cedar Hill, a Class 6A school just minutes from Mansfield.
The team features highly touted Joyner Holmes. Major Division I coaches from all over the country were on hand to watch the 6-foot-3 Holmes lead Cedar Hill against the Lady Panthers, but Cabot never let her get going. The No. 2 rated player in Texas finished with just 10 points and four rebounds as the Lady Panthers prevailed 56-48.
The Lady Panthers’ pressure defense forced 26 Cedar Hill turnovers as Cabot raced out to a 22-9 lead in the first quarter. The local team was able to reverse that trend in the second quarter, forcing several Cabot turnovers. The Lady Panthers finished the game with 19 turnovers, but still held to a 34-27 lead at halftime after Cedar Hill got as close as 27-24 in the second quarter.
Cabot built its margin back to double digits early in the third quarter when back-to-back buckets by CoCo Calhoon and Alyssa Hamilton made it 39-29. Holmes answered moments later with just her second bucket of the game, but Cabot scored the next eight straight to take a commanding 47-31 lead.
Victoria Jackson and Holmes combined for the final four points of the third quarter, leaving Cabot with a 12-point lead going into the final frame. Hamilton added to that lead with the first bucket of the fourth quarter, but Holmes and teammate Dominique Dawson scored four in a row to cut the margin to 10.
Cabot’s ball movement continued to create open looks for Hamilton, who answered each of Cedar Hill’s next two buckets.
Robin Beck drained a 3-pointer with two minutes left to pull the local team to within eight, but her team wouldn’t score again until Beck drained another trey at the buzzer to set the final margin.
Hamilton led Cabot with 18 points and eight rebounds while Danielle McWilliams had 14 points and Anna Sullivan 10 for Cabot. Guard Leighton Taylor finished with six points, seven assists and three steals.
Cenecia Newman led Cedar Hill with 13 points, including 10 in the first half. Beck and Holmes each finished with 10.
After that 11:30 a.m. start, Cabot moved on to face Timberview, a Mansfield school, at 8:15 p.m. that same night, and walked away with a 42-31 victory. Cabot led just 21-20 at halftime after Timberview opened the game scoring the first seven points. The Lady Panthers continued to slowly assume control in the second half, holding Timberview to just four points in the fourth quarter to win going away in the slower-paced matchup.
Cabot relied again on ball movement in the more half-court game, and Hamilton and Sullivan led the way. Hamilton finished with 16 points while Sullivan added 15. Hamilton also had six rebounds and three steals.
McWilliams added seven points, five rebounds and two steals for Cabot.
On Wednesday, Cabot played the quarterfinals against MacArthur High of Irving, Texas, and won 45-42. Unlike the first two games, Cabot found itself still trailing at halftime on game three. MacArthur jumped out to a 16-11 lead at the end of the first quarter after scoring the game’s first six points. Cabot battled back with a 7-2 run to pull within one point, but MacArthur got hot from outside, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to close the first period.
Cabot trailed 23-15 with three minutes left in the half before closing the second period with a 7-0 run. Sullivan made 1 of 2 free throws to open the run and Taylor hit a pair of foul shots to make it 23-18. Josie Vanoss scored for Cabot after a MacArthur turnover and Sullivan scored after a defensive stop and rebound by Hamilton.
The run became 9-0 when Calhoon scored the first bucket of the second half to give Cabot its first lead of the game, but Alyson Gomez got it right back for MacArthur. The lead changed hands six times in the third quarter before MacArthur went on an 8-1 run to take a 35-29 lead with seconds left in the third period.
Cabot closed the period with a bucket by Hamilton, and then outscored MacArthur 14-7 in the fourth quarter. The Lady Panthers still trailed 40-37 with just less than three minutes remaining, but they closed the game with an 8-2 run to seal the win.
In the semifinals, Cabot fell 47-38 to Bowie High of Arlington, then lost 50-27 to South Grand Prairie in the third-place game. Prestonwood Christian Academy of Plano beat Bowie 64-45 in the tournament championship.
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