TOP STORY > >City tries to allay fears

By rick kron

Leader staff writer

More than 250 people packed Jacksonville’s Community Center Thursday night for a town hall meeting called by Mayor Gary Fletcher to give residents an overview of the city’s finances, projects and growth.

“Toward the end of the meeting we made it clear, we either have to increase the tax base or increase our taxes and fees,” Fletcher said.

He said the last hike in sanitation fees was in 1991 as part of a five-year plan, “And maybe we should have done something way back, but this year we have a $352,000 shortfall in that department. We have some hard decisions to make in the near future,” the mayor explained.

Even though a number of topics were covered, it always seemed to come back to the proposed annexing of 3.84 square miles north of the city.

“I just can’t wrap my head around the perception that this annexation will be Jacksonville’s salvation. 

How can it be the city’s salvation?” said Ski Gruver, a resident of the area proposed for annexation. “I’m just not able to find an upside for us. Why does the city want to rape virgin land and leave its center a ghetto?”

Those clearly against the annexation were sprinkled throughout the crowd and were easy to spot with their yellow shirts.

The mayor  responded that it’s his belief that the annexation will be good for everyone  and it will give Jacksonville land and cash, both of which it can use.

The annexation will bring in some prime highway frontage property for future retail businsses, and the businesses already located in the area will bring about $1.9 million annually in sales tax into the city coffers.

Fletcher said that money can be used to help with some of the necessary capital improvements and be used to help purchase land the city wants to use to attract the state fair to the area.

Fletcher said original estimates placed the land, at the southeastern edge of Jackson-ville, at a value of $1.5 million.

“But with the appraisals in, it’s actually closer to $3 million. But it’s still too good of a deal for us to pass up.”

Economic consultant Rickey Hayes, from the Tulsa area, was one of the speakers at the meeting, along with Finance Director Paul Mushrush, City Engineer Jay Whisker and City Administrator Jim Durham.

Hayes said a city can do only two things: grow or die. “And if a city isn’t growing, then it’s dying,” he said.

He compared Jacksonville to Tulsa. “In Tulsa, the mayor and city council are always in disagreement, always fighting and it’s on television, on the news and in the newspaper. That city’s growth has been stagnant because of that for five years now,” Hayes said, “because of the discord.”

“But in Jacksonville, the council, and all city departments are pulling in the same direction. This city is growing. In fact I believe,” Hayes said, “that you are sitting on a gold mine. Businesses, restaurants and retail should be crawling all over themselves to get here.

“Just the impact on tax collection from the local restaurants tells you that the city could support a Target or a Best Buy,” the consultant said, “So why aren’t they?”

“Because when some guy in Minnesota is looking at Jacksonville on Google Earth, he isn’t seeing any open highway frontage. It appears that every inch of available space is taken,” Hayes said, adding that was why the city wanted to annex the northern lands.

But one property owner in that area said she was wiling to sell.

Rizelle Aaron told the crowd that the city would take land through eminent domain if they didn’t sell.

The mayor said that wasn’t true. “We are not going to force anyone to sell their land and we aren’t taking any of it by eminent domain.”

The mayor also dispelled some other rumors floating around about the election—“We are not going to close the liquor stores, and even if we wanted to we couldn’t. Jacksonville is not a dry city, only Gray 

Township is (which encompasses a large section of Jacksonville) and we are not raising taxes.

“However, for the county area, when it becomes part of the city, will start to collect the city tax which will increase what is being paid for goods and services in that area.”

Partne Daugherty asked why the city wasn’t concentrating efforts on small businesses and developing more missed-use areas to allow people to work and live in the same building.

The city engineer said the city does allow mixed use in certain areas of the city and to start the process a property owner would just have to ask. “We don’t want to rezone a whole area because not everyone wants to convert houses to businesses, but we’ll look at it on a case-by-case basis.”

The city council will take up the annexation issue at its 7 p.m. meeting Thursday at city hall.

EDITORIAL >>A fun-filled weekend

You could go to a half-dozen places last weekend and still not catch all the excitement around the state, and that’s not counting the Razorbacks football game against Texas A&M in Cowboys Stadium.

It was a fun-filled, busy weekend: From the Arkansas Blues and Heritage Blues Festival (which will get its old King Biscuit name back next year) in Helena, where the amazing B.B. King opened the festival on Thursday night before a jam-packed crowd, to CabotFest and to the biggest air show at Little Rock Air Force Base.

All you had to do is pace yourself and catch all the fun: Go to the air base or CabotFest and then watch the Razorbacks beat the Aggies on Saturday and still have time to catch the air show the next day, along with 220,000 Arkansans.

This year’s air show featured nearly 5 1/2 hours of flying demonstrations, which included the Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration team, the Army Golden Knights and Canadian SkyHawks parachute teams, a World War II reenactment of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Disabled American Veterans B-25 demonstration, Shockwave jet truck, Air Force A-10 Warthog, Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier and Navy FA-18 Super Hornet jet demonstrations and the base’s C-130s from the 19th, 314th and 189th Airlift Wings. Eleven C-130s airdropped equipment and nearly 400 Army paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division.

Lots of amazing fun. But you know that because you were there.

TOP STORY > >Permit hearing on waste disposal

By JOAN McCOY

Leader staff writer

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality will hold a public meeting and hearing Oct. 28 at the senior citizen center at Griffithville to accept comments on a draft permit for a new company that intends to take over a defunct business that was permitted in 2007 to store wastewater from drilling for natural gas on land.

The old company left be-hind two storage ponds full of untreated water. The new company, Oilfield Compliance Solutions, LLC, will have to treat the water before it can be applied to the land.

Mo Shafi, the assistant chief of ADEQ’s water division, said he met with the previous owners and requested that the water be treated “for the sake of the citizens.” Instead of treating the water, the company sold to Oilfield Compliance Solutions, Shafi said.

ADEQ will be present for the testing of the water to ensure that it was safe to be applied, he said.

The hearing this month is only about the disposal of that water. Shafi said ADEQ will likely announce this month that Oilfield Compliance Solutions, LLC also has asked for a permit to treat and dispose of drill cuttings and to treat water-based fluids and discharge the water into White Oak Creek.

Andrew Rike, named the responsible person on the ADEQ permit application, said in a letter to the ADEQ written in January that the proposed facility “will allow for the storage and treatment of drilling fluids and surface discharge of treated drilling fluids.

“The facility would accept and store drilling fluids in two existing storage pits, thence treat the fluids, thence the treated wastes would be pumped to White Oak Creek while the brine and solids byproducts would be disposed of off site,” Rike wrote.

The site is located 2.8 miles northeast of Griffithville near the intersection of Stewart Road and Jim Hamilton Road.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m. The senior citizens center is located at 208 Main St., in Griffithville.

ADEQ will consider only oral or written comments in deciding if the permit request will be approved. The public-comment period ends at the close of the meeting.

The draft permit may be reviewed online under the permit search number 4929-WR-3.

The address of the site is http://www.adeq.state.ar.us/home/pdssql/pds.asp.

For more information contact Stephen Hogan at hogan@adeq.state.ar.us.

Send written requests to Department Requests, Stephen Hogan, Permits Branch, Water Division, Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, 5301 Northshore Drive, North Little Rock, Ark. 72118-5317.

TOP STORY > >Union back in saddle at PCSSD after power shift

By JOHN HOFHEIMER

Leader senior staff writer

At 7:50 p.m. Tuesday, the Pulaski County Special School District board unanimously recognized the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers, and union members who had packed the board room sprang to their feet applauding, whooping and laughing, ending two years of contentious efforts by the board to decertify the union.

A moment later, the scene was repeated with unanimous recognition of the Pulaski Association of Support Staff.

The board approved resumption of contract negotiations with both PACT and PASS.

And the good news didn’t stop there for the jubilant union members enjoying the fruits of electing their own candidates to the board in place of former board members Charlie Wood and Danny Gililland, who worked with Tim Clark and Mildred Tatum to decertify the union.

officers elected

The board was reorganized with Jacksonville board member Bill Vasquez elected president, new member Gloria Lawrence of Sherwood, vice president; long-time union supporter Gwen Williams, treasurer, and Mildred Tatum, who voted reliably against the unions for the past year, was elected parliamentarian.

Board members signaled their intent to fire—or not renew the legal services contract—of Jay Bequette and Keith Billingsley, the two lawyers who helped the former, anti-union board, try to decertify the unions, running up a tab of about $250,000 in the process.

The board voted to extend their contract until the next board meeting while Superin-tendent Charles Hopson investigates hiring a staff lawyer instead of retaining general counsel and paying them by the hour.

The board did rehire Sam Jones of Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates and Woodyard to continue to represent the district in desegregation matters.

Mayor Gary Fletcher and nearly all Jacksonville aldermen spoke during public comments to assure the board that the people of Jacksonville favor a standalone school district, despite what Williams told them last month.

Then Rizelle Aaron spoke to say that blacks and other minorities in Jacksonville don’t want to leave PCSSD and that the Jacksonville NAACP opposes the district, in large part because they feel they’ve been snubbed by those Jacksonville activists advocating for the new district.

Jacksonville NAACP president Ivory Tillman spoke to confirm that. “We’ve been dissed,” he said. “We can’t support the Jacksonville district at this time.

HOPSON Gets Way

Hopson put his credibility on the line, proposing a consulting agreement between the district and Pacific Educational Group for $281,000, plus travel expenses.

Hopson has worked with Pacific in the Portland, Ore., School District with the aim of increasing cultural awareness and narrowing the disparity between white students on the one hand and poor and minority students on the other.

“I looked this group up online,” said Lawrence, “and I’m pretty upset. “It said Glen Singleton (Pacific Educational Group’s president) became a rich man hired to scapegoat teachers.” She said he was racist and thought only whites could be prejudiced.

“I’ve worked with him,” said Hopson. “Race is difficult to talk about.”

But he challenged the board saying, “I share some of the same philosophy and I was considered somewhat controversial.”

“This is at the heart of how I plan to move forward to address the inequities. The goals you set for me will not happen without (these consultants).”

Racial DISPARITIES

“This is about eliminating academic and discipline disparities,” he insisted.

Hopson offered to bring Singleton to talk with them, but said he would like to move on with the program now.

“We have a long way to go and a short time to get there,” he said.

Brenda Bowles of Pupil and Equity Services reminded board members that one of the biggest shortcomings in the district’s desegregation efforts has been trying to reduce racial disparities in academics and discipline.

Singleton has already done some training of Hopson’s cabinet, and deputy Superintendent June Elliott said some things Singleton talked about were hard to hear and made her uncomfortable, but were necessary and important.

Vasquez and new board member Tom Stuthard expressed concern about spending the money on the consultants instead of books or buses, but Hopson said the money in question could only be used for professional development and was coming from shutting down other professional development programs that had proven ineffective.

Finally, Vasquez made the motion to enter into the contract with Pacific Educational Group, Tatum seconded it and it was unanimously approved. Williams had already left for work, so it was a 6-0 vote.

PROCUREMENT CARDS

In other action, the board unanimously approved using US Bank procurement cards to limit, monitor and control spending, first by cabinet members, later by those who buy supplies and materials.

The board voted to satisfy one concern of the legislative auditors by discontinuing the practice of cash advance for out-of-district travel.

The board approved $90,835 for a school-level call system to allow the district and schools to e-mail, text and auto call students, parents or guardians and employees to notify them of emergencies, inclement weather notices or school events.

The board appointed Hopson as financial secretary, and chief financial officer Anita Farver as treasurer.

Originally, this agenda item also would have rehired Bequette and Bill-ingsley as general counsel and Paul Blume as the board’s counsel for hearings and meetings. Those will be reconsidered at the November meeting.

The meeting originally threatened to stretch late into the night and perhaps shift into a contentious gear to consider six agenda items that Vasquez added to new business, but he tabled those items.

Three of those items related to Vasquez’s wife, Pam, and his sister-in law, Rhonda Shillito, both of whom were hired before Vasquez ever ran for the board.

Also included was a proposal to immediately cease all legal appeals concerning PACT and to cancel any contracts for third-party legal services.

Vasquez also wanted the superintendent to make contingency plans for the loss of desegregation funds that currently total about $18 million a year. When the desegregation case ends, the extra money will likely be phased out.

He also would direct the superintendent to identify budget reduction items that could be implemented to generate at least $10 million a year for debt service to pay any new bonds for construction or improvement of Jacksonville-area facilities.

SPORTS>>Badgers travel to Blytheville with hot hand

By JASON KING

Leader sportswriter

The Beebe Badgers passed their biggest test of the season last week with a 7-0, homecoming victory over Wynne to remain unbeaten in the 5A-East Conference.

The Badgers will face another tough test this week when they hit the road to face Blytheville at Haley Field Friday.

The Chickasaws (3-3, 1-2) dropped their conference game 13-8 to Greene County Tech. They suffered a 35-26, Week-4 conference loss to Wynne before beating Nettleton 41-12 the following week.

“They are very athletic,” Beebe coach John Shannon said. “They look very good on tape — their running backs especially. They will go from their single wing to the spread. Their quarterback can throw, andthey have a couple of receivers that can fly.

“Defensively, it’s going to be a challenge for us just because they do so many different things.”

The Badgers (3-3, 3-0) have improved their ranking in the 5A polls each week since the start of their conference schedule three weeks ago. They were expected to beat a down Paragould team despite entering that game with a 0-3 non-conference record and delivered with a 60-14 rout.

Next was a road game at favored Forrest City, where Beebe began to earn respect around the conference with a 41-33 upset victory, but the following week’s game against the Yellowjackets was the Badgers’ best performance of the year.

Beebe held Wynne’s offense to 107 yards, including 88 rushing. The defense did not allow a drive inside the 20, stopping the Yellowjackets’ Diamond-T rushing attack in its tracks.

“The real turning point for us was the second half of the Forrest City game,” Shannon said. “We’re down at the half — we’re playing decent but not good enough to win. But we go out for the second half and play solid on both sides of the ball.

“I told the coaches that night I saw something I haven’t seen in two years in our defense. They played with emotion and a sense of urgency, and they really got after Forrest City in the second half.”

The Badgers did not have the same high-octane offensive performances against Wynne they enjoyed in the Paragould and Forrest City victories, but still managed 326 yards, led by senior fullback Colby Taylor’s 152 yards on 23 carries.

In fact, Taylor made the game’s only score when he broke free from the line of scrimmage and ran 52 yards for a touchdown on the third play of the game. Beebe had a couple of other chances but fell short when promising drives stalled.

The Chickasaws will present a challenge for the Badgers with a 4-4 defense that has given up an average of 12.5 points the last two weeks.

Letdowns can sometimes follow big victories like last week’s triumph over Wynne, in which the Badgers shut an opponent out for the first time since 2007, but Shannon does not expect focus to be an issue for his team.

“You always worry about letdowns, especially with high-school kids,” Shannon said. “But our kids realize the big picture, that we are in position to go after a conference championship. And, we’re not in the playoffs just yet. We probably need at least one more win to be guaranteed to get in the playoffs.

“We’re not that far removed from being 0-3, so that’s also in the back of their heads. I like where my team is at physically and mentally; I’d be surprised if we had any letdowns.

“Now, Blytheville will have a lot to say on whether we win or lose, but I’d be shocked if we weren’t ready.”

SPORTS>>’Rabbits ailments not hurting homecoming

By JASON KING

Leader sportswriter

Nothing helps the healing process like homecoming week.

Lonoke will host its second winless opponent in as many weeks when Cave City comes to James B. Abraham Stadium on Friday.

The Jackrabbits handily defeated Southside Batesville 50-14 last week without the services of three senior starters, but coach Doug Bost expects receiver/defensive back Wes Plummer and all-purpose player Darius Scott to return, and hopes lineman Justin Carpenter will also be ready to go.

“He wants to play really bad — it’s homecoming,” Bost said of Carpenter. “We’re just not sure right now.”

The Cavemen (0-6, 0-3 2-4A Conference) have a run-oriented offense and use the Double-wing formation similar to that of 5A Vilonia.

“Their offense is a concern for us,” Bost said. “They have their linemen and tight ends foot to foot, and they’re coming right at you. They’ve got a big old fullback, and you have a lot of misdirection — a lot of double handoffs.

“They’re huge on film. Their line is as large as Heber’s, and that’s the biggest line we’ve seen this year. They definitely fire off on the hole.”

Another similarity between the Southerners and the Cavemen is their defensive philosophies.

“From what we’ve seen on film, they run that 3-5-3, which is exactly what Batesville ran against us,” Bost said. “That was really our first time to see that was last week. So that would be good if we were able to see that last week and have to see it again this week.”

The Jackrabbits (5-1, 2-1) let the Southerners hang around longer than many expected with a modest, 28-14 halftime lead before dominating the second half.

“We came out flat in the first half,” Bost said. “But the O-line kicked it in there in the second half. They opened some big holes for us.”

The theme last week was new players emerging as big-play contributors.

Scott’s absence on offense gave more chances for sophomore running back Eric Williams, who carried 17 times for 170 yards, and sophomore receiver D.J. Burton, who had five catches for 103 yards.

“We had to try some new things because of the injury situation,” Bost said. “Eric Williams I think had about 10 carries all season before last week, and D.J. Burton had one reception, but last week, he catches for 103 yards.

“It was good to get those guys more familiar with the system and get them into a more productive role.”

Senior defensive back Justin Smith has been a strong part of the Jackrabbits’ upperclassmen-led secondary for the past two seasons, and had the game of his career last week with three interceptions and a fumble recovery, all but one which led to Lonoke scores.

“Justin’s been a two-year kid who’s started for us,” Bost said. “He’s just one of those kids that does everything right. I think he had one interception through the first five games. He’s a good senior leader, and he’s been a real good football player for us.”

Some coaches chafe at the distraction that goes with homecoming week, but Bost said it is simply one in a long line of potential focus-busters.

“You’ve got something going on every week that’s distracting,” Bost said. “That group of seniors last year, they lost their homecoming, so this bunch, I think they’ll be ready come game time.”

SPORTS>>Cabot gets in stride, turns eyes on Central

By Todd traub

Leader sports editor

Cabot coach Mike Malham will be the first to say the Panthers always have room for improvement, but Cabot is at least coming off its best performance by far as it prepares to travel to Little Rock Central on Friday.

Cabot beat North Little Rock, the preseason 7A/6A-Central Conference favorite, 14-7 in overtime at Panther Stadium last week.

Cabot did not commit a single penalty and only had one turnover on an end-zone interception of an under thrown ball by quarterback Zach Craig.

“We’ve been averaging about three or four turnovers a game,” Malham said. “If we’d have done that Friday night, we had no penalties and one turnover, if we’d done the same thing we’d been doing the last three or four weeks we wouldn’t have won.”

The interception, by North Little Rock’s Gary Vines, eventually led to the ChargingWildcats’ first touchdown and a 7-0 lead with 2:55 left in the third quarter.

But the Panthers responded with a one-yard touchdown run by Spencer Smith with 1:36 left in the game, and Edgar Atilano missed a 37-yard field goal with 16 seconds left to bring up overtime.

Smith scored on a two-yard run in the extra period and after a holding penalty wiped out a North Little Rock touchdown, Charging Wildcats quarterback Kaylon Cooper ran out of bounds near the 5 on fourth and 16 to end the game.

“Hopefully it gives the kids a little confidence and they start feeling good about themselves,” Malham said. “If you don’t believe it, you’re not going to achieve it, that’s for sure.”

Almost lost in all the excitement of Friday’s overtime victory was the performance of sophomore kicker Jesus Marquez. Logan Spry entered the season as the acknowledged starter, and punter, with Marquez being groomed to take over next season.

But a stomach injury has relegated Spry to defensive back only and Marquez has come through. His two extra points Friday — one to tie, one that would have kept a touchdown from tying in overtime — helped make the difference.

“He hasn’t had any mishaps in a game yet as far as extra points or scoring opportunities so that’s a pleasant surprise there,” Malham said of Marquez. “Logan’s a senior. Marques is a sophomore so obviously we were just trying to get him ready for next year, but he got the call a little earlier that we anticipated.”

The victory kept Cabot (4-2, 2-1) in the hunt for a conference title entering this week’s game at Central, though right now that would require a loss by Conway.

First-place Conway (6-0, 3-0) trounced Cabot earlier this season and plays Bryant (5-1, 3-0) this week. Cabot still has a home game left against Bryant, the only team to defeat the Panthers in the regular season last year.

“The only team that can beat us Friday is Central,” Malham said.

Under veteran coach Scooter Register, who left Little Rock Catholic to take over the storied Central program, the Tigers ended a 25-game losing streak with a 28-27 victory over Russellville last week.

Central is one of the most notable and historic programs in the state and the subject of a new book “Carrying the Rock,” by Jay Jennings. The Tigers, under now retired coach Bernie Cox, were winless the past two seasons after winning six games in 2007, a conference championship in 2006 and the second of two consecutive state titles in 2004.

Malham is concerned the Tigers are again showing signs of life.

“We can’t take anybody for granted,” Malham said. “They’ve got athletes, they can run. Just like North Little Rock, they were bigger; they were faster. We’ve got to do things right. We’ve got to play disciplined football and do things right. We can’t give up the big play.”

SPORTS>>Two teams, one journey

By TODD TRAUB

Leader sports editor

It could be said Jacksonville and Searcy are walking the same streets entering Friday’s 7A/6A-East Conference game at Jan Crow Stadium in Jacksonville.

Both are previously strong programs battling back to respectability after some recent down turns, and both are jockeying for postseason position.

Searcy (3-3, 2-1) returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2001 in Tim Harper’s first season as coach last year. The Lions quickly bowed out to Watson Chapel, 42-7, and are hoping to reach the postseason again and this time advance.

Jacksonville (4-2, 2-1) won just two games last year after winning six in 2008 and winning a 6A-East Conference championship in 2006. But under first-year coach Rick Russell, the Red Devils are poised to lock up at least a .500 season Friday and are also seeking a playoff berth.

Russell, the former Jack-sonville defensive coordinator who returned to lead the program this year, has improved the defense and, with first-year offensive coordinator Barry Hickingbotham, has balanced the offense.

The Red Devils are coming off their most dominant defensive effort, Friday’s 29-0 victory at Little Rock Hall.

Jacksonville turned in two goal-line stands, blocked two punts and recovered a fumble. The fumble, forced by Rhakeem James and returned 17 yards by D.J. Harrison, set up the Red Devils’ final touchdown, which came on a 14-yard pass from Logan Perry to Xavier Brown.

Brown also kicked a 31-yard field goal set up by a reversed field run by D’Vone McClure.

Perry hit McClure with a 23-yard touchdown completion, in which McClure out jumped two defenders, to make it 19-0 in the second half, and connected with Fletcher Berkley on a 75-yard pass to open the scoring in the first quarter.

Antwone Mosby added a three-yard touchdown run to make it 13-0 at halftime.

The Red Devils also beat Mountain Home 26-2 in the conference opener while losing 34-20 to Jonesboro.

Searcy is coming off a 34-13 loss to preseason conference favorite West Memphis and also has a 15-12 conference loss to Marion. The Lions’ lone, 7A/6A-East victory was 28-21 in overtime against Little Rock Parkview.

The Lions won four games in Harper’s first season after he left Des Arc last year, as many as they did in their previous four years combined. That included a 40-14 victory over Jacksonville.

Attempts to reach Russell, Jacksonville athletic director Jerry Wilson and Harper were not successful by press time Tuesday.

SPORTS>>Bears blocking Falcons’ route to first victory

By JASON KING

Leader sportswriter

No one is pulling harder for North Pulaski’s Terrod Hatcher to get his first victory as a head coach than Jim Withrow.

The Sylvan Hills coach just doesn’t want to see it come this week against his Bears.

Withrow empathizes with Hatcher, who took over the North Pulaski job in August when Rick Russell returned to Jacksonville to become the head coach. Withrow’s situation was similar in the late 1990s when he became head coach at Mills University Studies.

“I’m for him, and I’m behind him, I just hope he gets it the following week,” Withrow said of Hatcher, who at 23 is the youngest coach in the state. “I was 30 or 31 when I got my first head coaching job. I was the youngest in 5A, and I took over a program that had lost 23 in a row.

“I know what it’s like to be in his shoes. He’s just got to hang in there. He’s a smart guy and a hard worker, and at 23, he obviously still has plenty of steam. He’ll be fine.”

Withrow was able to turn the Comets into perennial playoff contenders before taking over Sylvan Hills in 2007. He led the Bears to the 6A state semifinals in 2007, and they have reached the playoffs the two years since they dropped to Class 5A.

The switch from 6A to 5A put the Bears (2-4, 1-2) in the 5A-Southeast Conference with North Pulaski, and the Bears have won both league meetings.

Hatcher, who began hiscoaching career last season as offensive coordinator at North Pulaski under Russell, has also stepped up to lead a program that has struggled to find success. The Falcons have won three games since the start of the 2006 season.

“He and I talked quite a while at the JV game,” Hatcher said of Withrow. “He just gave me encouragement, and told me he knew how tough it is.”

Withrow has led the Bears to a pair of victories over the Falcons, including a 55-14 trouncing at home in 2008, and a 27-0 shutout last year.

Hatcher and the Falcons may find inspiration in playing their closest conference rival this week.

“I’m sure they’re saying that,” Withrow said. “And they have good running backs; they’re thinking they probably have a chance this week. They have a couple of kids who went to middle school here, and we have a couple of kids who probably went to elementary over at Northwood. I’m expecting it to be a hard-fought game.”

Northwood feeds the upper levels of the North Pulaski school system.

The Falcons hung around most of the night against White Hall last week before eventually falling 29-6. Penalties hurt North Pulaski on a number of drives and Hatcher has preached the importance of avoiding such mistakes all season, but he feels his team has taken a step backward.

“Focus, discipline, being able to keep a cool head,” Hatcher said. “We killed ourselves with penalties; we probably had over 100 yards of penalties. We can’t keep our cool.”

Hatcher said he hopes some additional running drills in practice this week will help curtail some of those urges.

“Just trying to keep them busy, busy, busy,” Hatcher said. “They have to see that there are consequences for what you do.”

Withrow’s biggest concern is the Falcons’ running backs, led by senior fullback Darius Cage. Halfbacks Willie Frazier and Derrick Hart have also left an impression on Withrow after watching game film.

“They’ve got three or four backs that can scoot,” Withrow said. “I like their backs. We’ve got to control the line of scrimmage like we did last week, especially when they do their shotgun stuff they run. We have to get penetration, if not, it will hurt you.”

The Bears struggled through the first two weeks of conference play with several injured starters out. Many of them returned in time for Sylvan Hills’ 43-13 victory over Crossett.

The Bears mercy ruled the Eagles 43-13 to capture their first 5A-Southeast Conference victory.

Sylvan Hills’ first-team defense shut out the Crossett offense, and the Bears went up 36-0 at halftime aided by junior running back Trey Bone’s three touchdown runs.

The only player still sitting out is junior skill player Trey Sims.

“I don’t know if he will be back in time for this week or not, we’ll have to wait and see,” Withrow said. “It was good to get all those linemen back, and they did well to execute the way they did after being out.

“As we go along, we should be better and better off if we don’t get more dings. Hopefully, we can stay healthy.”

TOP STORY >> Post commander’s life as a POW

IN SHORT: Joe McGloflin was imprisoned in Vietnam for nearly three months.

By Jeffrey Smith
Leader staff writer

If you attended Cabot High School in the past 25 years, you may remember seeing custodian Joe McGloflin maintaining the athletic facilities.

What you may not realize is that he was a prisoner of war for nearly three months during the Vietnam War before escaping. McGloflin is a decorated Vietnam veteran, who was awarded two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars and four Purple Hearts.

These days you can find McGloflin in the mornings at the American Legion Post 71 of Cabot inside the mini-mall on North First Street in downtown.

McGloflin, the post commander, has been a Legionnaire for 22 years. He is a lifetime member and dedicated to the Legion.

“It is a way for me to still serve God and country, and bring to light benefits for our troops serving overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said.

“Every time I see a serviceman, I shake his hand and thank him for his service to our country,” McGloflin said.

McGloflin was a UH-1H “Huey” helicopter crew chief in the Army’s First Calvary Division, Seventh Regiment from 1969 to 1973. He served three tours in Vietnam and was stationed at Nha Trang. He had 1,500 hours flying.

“I chose to be a crew chief. I qualified to be in the maintenance division but I wanted to be in the air,” McGloflin said.

The helicopter crew had a pilot, co-pilot, crew chief and door gunner. They flew from south of Hanoi to the tip of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. As a crew chief, McGloflin checked out the surroundings in the air looking for enemy movements and camps on the ground.

They also delivered troops to landing zones. In Vietnam he was presented with the Bronze and Silver Stars for heroism. He and his crew saved lives and guided other artillery units in on enemy sites.

“Most of the time, we were under fire,” McGloflin said.

He was wounded multiple times from enemy fire. Once he was hit in the side and the other times he was hit in the leg. McGloflin had a choice of coming home or staying; he stayed.

“Guess I liked combat,” he said.

Seven times McGloflin was on a helicopter that was shot down.

“Most of the time we were picked up, except for the last time,” he said.

While flying a night mission in 1972 the crew’s helicopter came under fire. The pilot and co-pilot, close friends of McGloflin, were shot and killed. The helicopter crashed down near the Vietnam and Cambodia border. McGloflin and the door gunner survived the crash but were surrounded by North Vietnamese soldiers. They were blindfolded and their hands bound behind them.

McGloflin was a prisoner of war for 89 days at a camp near the Cambodian border. He recalled being put into a pen made of bamboo fencing with gaps large enough to stick a hand through. It was hot and they lost weight. The Vietnamese made fun of the POWs, poking them with sticks.
“It was very hard being a POW. The treatment was nothing like I’ve been through before,” he said.

McGloflin said over time they became friends with one of the prison guards and one day the guard left the gate unlocked. McGloflin and 15 other POWs made their escape to freedom. McGloflin, still in his flight suit, made the one-day walk to Cambodia.

“The Cambodians treated us like royalty. They took us in, fed us and took care of all our needs physically. We got to take a shower. The Cambodian people helped us get to Thailand,” he said.
Crossing Cambodia into Thailand took two days riding in an ox-drawn cart.

From there, they made it to a U.S. Army/Air Force base in Bangkok. They were able to eat, gaining back their weight and strength.

McGloflin kept in touch with many of the former POWs over the years.

“We corresponded for several years. Many are now in bad health or deceased. The door gunner I had, a month ago his wife called me and said he’d committed suicide,” McGloflin said.

McGloflin has no lingering physical effects from his injuries, however he was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.

He has flashbacks about combat. He copes with the memories by talking about it and discussing what happened to help him heal. McGloflin is thinking about writing down his experiences to have a record for his nine grandchildren.

After his POW experience, McGloflin served in the military three more years, spending one year in Okinawa, Japan, and two years stateside. He went into the Reserves in 1976.

He was stationed at Camp Robinson, where he maintained supplies and handed out equipment to the units. He served 14 years in the Army, both in active and reserve duty.

McGloflin was born in Searcy into a military family. His father Sam, a master sergeant, had a 30-year career in the Army. He was a engineer who served in the Second War World, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

McGloflin graduated high school in Stuttgart, Germany, and volunteered for the service three months later.

McGloflin wanted to be an Air Force fighter pilot but bad knees from playing sports kept him from being accepted. He went into the Army, and eight months later he was in Vietnam.

His brother Charles, had a 20- year career in the Air Forceand also served in the Vietnam War.
McGloflin moved to Cabot in 1976 because his parents lived there. He went back to school, attending ASU-Beebe, then transferred to Arkansas State in Jonesboro, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science.

He then earned a master’s degree in political science from the University of Arkansas through correspondence classes.

McGloflin served on the Cabot City Council for two years from 1983 to 1985. He was a former Lonoke County Democratic Party chairman.

“Then, I saw the light and switched parties,” he said.

He later was a Lonoke County Republican Party vice chairman.

McGloflin and his wife Linda have been married for more than 20 years. They have three adult children: Trish Staley, Joe McGloflin III and Lisa Felling.

McGloflin retired in 2009 after a 25-year custodial career working for the Cabot School District.
“Our school system is the best in the state. We have a wonderful superintendent, support staff and facility,” he said.

“A lot of kids would ask for advice and ask about the military. I would always talk up all branches of the military,” he said.

He’s heard from several former students who have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
McGloflin remembers how other Vietnam veterans were treated when they came back to the U.S. The Legion works to change the perception of Vietnam veterans.

“We did not lose the war. The politicians lost it,” McGloflin said.

“Nobody in the media actually portrays the Vietnam War the way it actually happened. When we did come home, we were spit on. We were called baby killers and some even urinated on us,” he said.

“That is why I am glad we had the Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans parade on May 8, because we never got that the first time,” McGloflin said.

McGloflin plans on putting his medals in a glass case for display in the Museum of American History at Cabot for all to see.

“If I had to go do it all over again, I’d still do it. I love God and county. I still get chill bumps when I hear the national anthem play,” McGloflin said.

EDITORIAL >> O'Brien gets Leader's vote

Sometimes the local boy really is the superlative candidate, not just the favorite son for whom support is obligatory. Pat O’Brien has about the best credentials one could have for secretary of state, and he also is lucky in his opponent, perhaps the state legislature’s leading abuser of the public trust.

A county clerk, especially the clerk of the state’s largest county, has the perfect training for secretary of state. Both are the custodians of the vital public records, and they are the voting registrars and supervisors of elections. A county clerk is actually more deeply involved in the conduct of elections and in tending to their efficiency and integrity than is the secretary of state.

Everyone surely remembers the scandalous conditions at the Pulaski County Courthouse when O’Brien came along in 2004 and secured the circuit and county clerk’s job. Judges and the prosecutor were ready to invoke legal proceedings to remove the clerk from office. The job was simply over the head of the poor clerk and her staff. Perry County she might have handled. Every election was bollixed so badly that droves of fuming voters left the polls not to return. The courts had to order the polls to stay open past hours because of the confusion. No one could be sure of the accuracy of the votes. Nearly 300,000 names were on the voter rolls but nearly a fourth of them were questionable. The lines for people who were voting early snaked through the halls of the Courthouse and onto the street.

O’Brien went to work overhauling the registration and the voting system. The Pulaski elections two years later were models of efficiency, the smoothest and quickest in a dozen years. Voting became a pleasure again, not a nightmare. He developed an early-voting system that had people in and out of the polls within three or four minutes in the 2010 primaries.

When the state car wars began this summer and practically every public official was sullied by his or her abuse of official vehicles, O’Brien said he would not have a state car — he will be the first in perhaps 30 years not to have one — and every employee in the department will be barred from using a vehicle for personal travel. He said he expected to reduce the department’s fleet by a third. He doesn’t drive a county car.

And his opponent, state Rep. Mark Martin? He has served unnoticeably in the House of Representatives for six years. Term limits bar him from running again and he needs to find a place to land. Last year, House records show that he pocketed $56,000 in expense checks for his legislative service. That is in addition to his state salary and per diem. Martin seems to have nothing in the way of a career and travels to Little Rock for legislative committees when he is not even a member of the committees, collecting reimbursement for the expenses in the capital city and along the way. The taxpayers rent an office for him in Springdale during the roughly 300 days of the year that the legislature is not in session. That is his campaign office, too, so the taxpayers are subsidizing it, too.

For secretary of state, the Leader recommends a vote for Pat O’Brien.

EDITORIAL >> Why it's Joyce Elliott

Tim Griffin, the Republican candidate for the U. S. House of Representatives, deflects questions about what he has done the past 15 years by saying that he wants to talk about the future, not the past. It is a clever riposte. Who does not prefer to talk about the future?

But what could be more important in guessing how a largely unknown politician will perform in the future as a congressman than knowing what he has spent his adult life doing? The election of a U. S. representative from central Arkansas is all about the candidates’ pasts, or else it should be, because their records are the most reliable predictor of how they would approach the work of representing the people of the Second District.

We think a comparison of their careers favors Joyce Elliott, a schoolteacher who was graded as one of the most effective state lawmakers of the decade. You may prefer Tim Griffin’s lusty record as Washington political hatchet man — no, there is no better phrase to describe it — but it ought to be discussed and reviewed as thoroughly as Elliott’s record in the state Senate and House of Representatives.

You can examine Griffin’s résumé on his campaign website. It lists his jobs in Washington from 1995 until his bosses at the White House had U. S. Attorney Bud Cummins fired in 2006 to make room for him. But the job titles do not tell you much about what he did. Griffin was an opposition researcher, which meant he dug up dirt on Democrats. His first job was for a special prosecutor looking into San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros’s payments to a woman with whom he had once had an affair. Cisneros became President Clinton’s housing secretary. That trifling work, if you can believe it, took a couple of years.

Griffin went to work in 1997 for Congressman Dan Burton’s Government Reform Committee investigating Bill and Hillary Clinton. Burton called the president “a scumbag,” adding, “That’s why I’m after him.” Griffin and the notorious David Bossie, with whom he would later work again, tried to unearth fundraising scandals on Clinton and the Democratic Party. Bossie’s treacherously edited transcripts of audiotapes of a prison interview with Little Rock lawyer Webb Hubbell turned into a scandal itself. Republicans, including Speaker Newt Gingrich, denounced Burton’s investigation and Burton eventually apologized and fired Bossie for concocting the lying document and putting it on the air. Griffin quietly stayed on. Griffin’s boss, Burton, who had castigated Clinton for his affair with Monica Lewinsky, had to admit when a Vanity Fair article revealed it in 1998 that he had himself fathered a child with a government employee under him.

Griffin left Burton to direct opposition research for the Republican National Committee in 2000 and 2004. He surfaced in a BBC documentary, “Digging Dirt,” bragging about planting derogatory stories in the media about Democrats. He said he “makes the bullets” for the “war” against people in the other party. Above his desk was a poster that read “On my command, unleash hell (on Al).”

A 2004 article titled “Playing Dirty” in the stately old magazine The Atlantic recounted Griffin’s labors scouring the news and TV shows looking for derogatory things about Democrats and planting them in newspapers and with friendly TV and radio hosts. Media columnist Howard Kurtz in the Washington Post wrote about Griffin’s work in 2003: “As the man in charge of investigating the opposition, the research chief blasts his findings to the entire press corps in mass e-mailings, then sits back and watches the negative stuff spread like a computer virus.” Each time a Democrat announced that he would run for president Griffin flooded media in-boxes across the country with derogatory stories and rumors about him.

Griffin was a Washington operator, but he occasionally favored Arkansas. His résumé once listed a stint as campaign manager for Betty Dickey, the prosecuting attorney at Fort Smith who ran for attorney general in 1998, but that has been scrubbed from his biography. Here is why:

Although he left his party work in Washington to run Dickey’s campaign, Griffin went on the state payroll in Arkansas as a deputy prosecuting attorney. He ran her campaign from the prosecutor’s office, savings precious money for Dickey’s campaign fund. His work was exposed when Mark Pryor, Dickey’s opponent, demanded that she release her office’s telephone records, which he said would show political calls from her government office. Dickey admitted that she and Griffin had made campaign calls from the office but she said the long-distance calls were not paid from public funds but from her own.

She said Griffin had been on the government payroll as a deputy prosecutor but only for a month or two. Then she put him on the campaign payroll. Contacted in September 1998 by a reporter for the Arkansas Democrat Gazette in Washington, where he had returned to work with David Bossie, Griffin said he had paid for the long-distance calls from the prosecutor’s office with his credit card and that if anyone could find calls that he had overlooked (the phone records were not made public) he would happily write a check to the county government.

But paying for toll calls was not the point. He had been running a political operation from government offices while he was a government employee, if only in name. That was illegal.

You know about his more recent work, as an employee of the White House political office under Karl Rove, which masterminded the ouster of Republican U. S. attorneys like Cummins who were not considered aggressive enough in protecting Republicans and tarnishing Democrats. Griffin told people at the White House and the Justice Department that his friend Cummins was lazy. He landed Cummins’s job for a few months under an emergency appointment but quit rather than face questions about his past from a Senate subcommittee.

People in the Second District may not know much about this young man who recently moved into their midst, but his reputation in Washington, D. C. and the House of Representatives is very well known. We are not sure that will be advantageous to the people of the district.

Senator Elliott’s reputation will better serve them.

SPORTS>>Lady Panthers victorious

By JASON KING

Leader sportswriter

Senior night became a statement match for the Cabot Lady Panthers on Thursday.

Although mired in seventh place in the 7A-Central standings, the Lady Panthers showed they are not to be counted out of the state tournament chase with a 3-0 sweep over North Little Rock at Panther Pavilion, taking a dominant and emotional victory, 25-22, 25-18, 25-19.

Senior hitter Ashley Daniels ripped the Lady Wildcats with a match-high 17 kills, plus two aces and four blocks, two of which were assisted. Teammate Jenny Evans was not far behind with 13 kills, two aces and three blocks, including two assisted.

The Lady Wildcats (4-7 in conference) jumped to an early 5-1 lead in the first game before the Lady Panthers (2-9) took over the match. A kill by Evans tied the score 12-12 and a scorching kill by Daniels gave Cabot its first lead of the night.

“We were playing with more intensity tonight,” Cabot coach Terry Williams said. “This is their last home game. We have six seniors. Of course, that’s motivation right there.

“We didn’t have those dips like we usually do. We kind of stayed at a high level and played more consistently throughout the match.”

Cabot answered North Little Rock’s strongest hitting threat with blocker Carlee Wright, who stopped a number of solid attempts to keep the Lady ’Cats off balance. Wright finished the night with five blocks, one assisted.

“You look at the first time we played teams in the conference and the second time we’ve gone through, we’re scoring a lot more points,” Williams said. “We’ve been gradually improving — just slowly but surely.”

Daniels and Evans took turns dominating the net with their rotations in Game 2. Evans scored two straight kills to give the Lady Panthers a 9-4 lead early, and Daniels took over in the late stages with a pair of kills to give the Lady Panthers an 18-12 lead, and she scored two of Cabot’s final three points with kills.

“She did a good job,” Williams said of Daniels. “She’s been working on her hitting, trying to stay aggressive up there. She had some difficulties a couple of matches ago, but she’s fixed it. She was up there swinging tonight.”

Stevie Brock also gave North Little Rock’s defense fits from the left side in the second game. Brock scored twice on a pair of cross-court smashes, and scored another point with a shot behind her back that the Lady Wildcats did not return. The Lady Panthers also had a good performance at the service line by Brylee Staten.

Other contributors for Cabot were Chloe Eifling, Kori Maloy and Lauren Hardiman.

The Lady Wildcats hung around in Game 3 until the Lady Panthers went on a 9-3 run in the final stages. Daniels drilled one last kill to end it and began a celebration that included as many tears as it did smiles.

“They were crying in practice today around noon, so I knew it was going to be rough,” Williams said. “They were excited, and the younger girls did a great job with their intensity on the bench. It makes a difference when those little ones are cheering their hearts out too. I thought it was a good group effort.”

The victory still leaves Cabot in seventh place, five points behind Little Rock Hall, 37 to 32, in the 7A-Central standings with three matches remaining. Williams said the fight to secure the sixth and final tournament seed is still alive.

“I think mathematically we can, but we’ve got to get some wins,” Williams said. “We’ve got to get at least two more wins the rest of the season. It’s going to be hard, but it’s not impossible.”

SPORTS>>Red Devils get stingy in shutout of Warriors

By todd traub

Leader sports editor

Jacksonville got back to winning form in a big way with a 29-0, 7A/6A-East Conference victory at Little Rock Hall on Friday.

A week after its conference loss to Jonesboro, Jacksonville posted a defensive effort that featured two goal line stands, two blocked punts and a fumble recovery while quarterback Logan Perry passed for three touchdowns.

“I’m very proud of our football team,” first year Jacksonville coach Rick Russell said. “Little Rock Hall had a good defense and they put a lot of pressure on us and they just kept plugging. We put some good plays together and made some good things happen.”

Under Russell, the former defensive coordinator who returned as head coach this year, the Red Devils (4-2, 2-1) are now able to think about reaching the postseason after winning just two games last year.

“We’ll take it week by week and we’re excited,” Russell said. “We’re trying to get a good seed in the playoffs”

The Red Devils made their goal line stops in the first quarter and midway through the third. Rhakeem James forced a fumble that J.D. Harrison returned 17 yards to set up Jacksonville’s last touchdown that came on a 14-yard pass from Perry to Xavier Brown early in the fourth quarter.

Brown added a 31-yard field goal in the closing minutes.

Jacksonville’s first score came on a 75-yard touchdown pass from Perry to Fletcher Berkley in the first quarter.

“Logan did a good job moving in the pocket and finding the open receiver,” Russell said. And Fletcher was alone on the right sideline.”

Russell said Berkley had caught a pass in every game but came up big Friday.

“He was the long receiver tonight,” Russell said.

Antwone Mosby scored on a three-yard run to make it 13-0 in the second quarter, and the Warriors stopped the Red Devils’ conversion run after an offsides penalty on Hall led Jacksonville to go for it.

D’Vone McClure outjumped two defenders in the end zone for a 23-yard touchdown reception that made it 19-0, following a missed extra point, in the third quarter.

“It was a great pass and a great catch by D’Vone,” Russell said.

McClure also reversed field on a run that set up Brown’s field goal that ended the scoring.

Russell said he was concerned Hall would try to run the kind of sweeps that Jonesboro used to great success in the previous week’s 34-20 victory. But a week of film study and chalk talk had the Red Devils ready, Russell said.

“We made some adjustments and alignments and in our line stunts and we did a good job following through with our game plan,” Russell said.