Old lodge to welcome bird lovers
Bill Thompson of Cabot can't wait for fall, when thousands of bird lovers will descend on the Big Woods of east Arkansas in search of the elusive ivory-billed woodpecker. Thompson, former chairman of Community Bank of Cabot, is one of the owners of a duck-hunting lodge near Brinkley, and he and his partners are turning it into a lodge for bird watchers. [FULL TEXT]

Couple still fighting for Russian kids The Jacksonville couple who couldn't bring home the two Russian kids they had recently adopted will go back soon to fight for the right to fly their children to Arkansas. [FULL TEXT]

Russians keep couple from adopting kids
David and Monica Kraus of Jacksonville thought they had adopted a couple of Russian children and would fly them home after spending thousands of dollars and dealing for months with bureaucrats here and in Russia. [FULL TEXT]

Death of a tenor giant
John Stubblefield, a great tenor saxophone player who was born in Little Rock and worked as a jazz musician in New York with some of the most talented people in the business, died on the Fourth of July at the age of 60 after battling prostate cancer. [FULL TEXT]

Editor wins prize for column
(This column from last December won first place in the National Newspaper AssociationÕs Better Newspaper Contest.)
The state Supreme Court could put the so-called payday lenders out of business in Arkansas. Consumer advocates are challenging Act 1216 of 1999 that allows predatory lending in the state with rates as high as 650 percent. [FULL TEXT]

Music still fills the air over area
You can create your own endless summer festival if you travel far enough to find your favorite musicians. Over the Fourth of July weekend, fans traveled to Mississippi hill country north of Greenwood, where near the community of Avalon, off Hwy. 7, relatives and fans of Mississippi John Hurt honored the memory of the great country blues artist. [FULL TEXT]

See you in court
The split between state Rep. Will Bond and former Rep. Mike Wilson, both Democrats from Jacksonville, isn't exactly like one of those big breakups you read about when lawyers leave their law firms and take their big clients with them. [FULL TEXT]

Highway spoils
President Bush signed the 2005 highway bill, the largest pork barrel in American history, and proclaimed it a great economic stimulus. The Arkansas Highway Commission, which normally is eager for every highway dollar it can get, considered it a mixed blessing. [FULL TEXT]

Insuring uninsured
The elderly and then children were the people who could not afford insurance and were "underserved" by the health-care system. Medicare under Lyndon B. Johnson and Medicaid expansion under Bill Clinton largely but not altogether solved those problems. Now a different group, reasonably young working adults, is the population in distress. [FULL TEXT]

The virtue of inaction on budget surplus
Deficits are orphans unclaimed even by the parents, but no one can avoid fondling a surplus. The state government ended the fiscal year with leftover cash of a little more than $100 million, about 2 percent of the state budget, and every day's news brings more proposals for handling it. [FULL TEXT]

Gold in them thar hills
"What was all that about?" a few of you may have been wondering when Deltic Timber Corp. moved the heavens this spring to get legislation from the General Assembly to prevent the Central Arkansas Water utility from condemning some of Deltic's land on the south shore of Lake Maumelle, the region's principal source of water. [FULL TEXT]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

Cabot Westside Elementary School kindergarten teachers Stacy Rhodes (from left) and Mandy Coen prepare sound muncher creations to hlep promote phoenetic awareness in their classes. Schools open Friday.

 

Playground area given new look
IN SHORT: This summer, volunteers from Little Rock Air Force Base, led by MSgt. John Simonof of the 314th Maintenance Squadron, refurbished two Tolleson Elementary playground areas and made them into one playground. About 80 percent of the students at the Jacksonville school are children of military parents. "It's just a goodwill community project," Simonof said.
[FULL TEXT]

CAW to raise water rates for its customers
IN SHORT:. Although not directly related to the need for Central Arkansas Water to purchase about 1,300 acres of sensitive land from would-be developers on Lake Maumelle, water rates to some customers, including Jacksonville, will be raised. [FULL TEXT]

Council in Cabot is feisty as ever
IN SHORT: Stubby Stumbaugh is running for Congress, which means he has only 15 months left as Cabot's mayor. But on Monday night, his first city council meeting since the announcement Saturday, it was clear that nothing else has changed.
[FULL TEXT]

Funding lawsuit hearing is Friday
IN SHORT: General Improvement Fund projects worth $52 million, earmarked for House and Senate districts across the state, hang in the balance as Pulaski County Circuit Judge Willard Proctor holds a preliminary hearing Friday on a lawsuit filed recently by Jacksonville attorney Mike Wilson.
[FULL TEXT]

Complex is planned for elderly
IN SHORT: Rep. Vic Snyder was among the speakers at a groundbreaking yesterday for construction of a three-story, 44-unit apartment complex for low-income seniors adjacent to the Jacksonville Towers.
[FULL TEXT]

Clerk in Cabot settles lawsuit
IN SHORT: Cabot Clerk-Treasurer Marva Verkler has dropped her federal lawsuit against the city and Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh.
[FULL TEXT]

Austin has a clinic once again
IN SHORT: A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in Austin Monday for the re-opening of the health clinic there.
[FULL TEXT]

Jacksonville offensive guard Keith Ransom, left, blocks defensive tackle John Ottis Monday afternoon during a Red Devil srimmage.

Stoerner stops by Wildcat workout
IN SHORT: The North Little Rock Charging Wildcats had a special guest drop by a recent practice last week.
[FULL TEXT]

Panthers getting over injury bug
IN SHORT: The Cabot Panthers continue to suffer through more injuries.
[FULL TEXT]

 

 

AUGUST 10, 2005

Col. Dave Watson, 314th Airlift Wing vice commander, says a few words at the start of the Little Rock Air Force Base-Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce Community Relations Tournament held on Foxwood Country Club's new greens on Friday. A ribbon cutting celebrated the reopening of Foxwood Golf Club.

 

Less pop, more pep for students
IN SHORT: Local administrator fears there is not enough time in the school day for new regulations such as more physical education. [FULL TEXT]

PCSSD is accused of illegal cutbacks
IN SHORT: The state Education Department has rejected for now Pulaski County Special School District's fiscal distress improvement plan, pending a satisfactory explanation of the district's "actual authority to eliminate paid holidays, reduce the number of days in an employment contract and freeze salary schedules and steps for all employees," according to a letter received by interim Superintendent Robert Clowers July 25.
[FULL TEXT]

Schools hurry to remedy citations
IN SHORT: The state places Cabot High School on accredited-probationary status for not offering enough instructional time.
[FULL TEXT]

Cabot shelter plans low-cost clinic
IN SHORT: There will be a reduced cost spay, neuter and shot clinic at the Cabot Animal Shelter, 8000 Kerr Station Road by appointment only Aug. 23 through 25.
[FULL TEXT]

Preserving Lonokes history
IN SHORT: After seven years, museum finds a permanent home.
[FULL TEXT]

Panthers making moves early
IN SHORT:Cabot football team began practice Monday with a few players in new positions and several new faces working with the varsity squad.
[FULL TEXT]

Injury bug biting Cabot hard
IN SHORT:Eight players, including several key contributors, are injured and sitting out Panther practices.
[FULL TEXT]

Practice picking up for SH Bears
IN SHORT: Sylvan Hills players are getting used to the heat and practicing with more intensity this week. Head coach Ron Sebastian says his players are showing improvement in the mental aspects..
[FULL TEXT]

 

July 27, 2005

Suphot Phimboun (left) and Fred Marquardt decorate a more than 800-pound Buddha statue that was moved from the corner of Second and Mulberry streets in Jacksonville to a new temple at 1410 Hwy. 294 near Furlow. The new temple is big enough for the Buddha to be placed inside. In Jacksonville, the Buddha sat outside for lack of space inside the temple. A meditation ceremony will be held from 11 a.m. to noon Sunday at the new location.

 

Tax supporting Cabot projects on ballot again
IN SHORT: Proposal would raise $26 million for a new sewer plant, railroad overpass, community center, animal shelter and other projects, but if voters reject the tax, their sewer rates would more than double, officials say. [FULL TEXT]

Veterans get toilet after fight with city
IN SHORT: Group files suit to make Cabot officials keep promise to rebuild facilities at park.
[FULL TEXT]

Single-gender school ready
IN SHORT: Boys principal defines the problem as the Pulaski district rolls out an innovative, if so-far unproven, approach to education.
[FULL TEXT]

Rainfall helps some farmers, late for others
IN SHORT: Drought has hurt some Lonoke soybean fields, but flooded fields hurt others as farmers hope for good yields.
[FULL TEXT]

Having a blast
IN SHORT: ItÕs not just rocket science at Cabot space camp.
[FULL TEXT]

IN SHORT: The Sherwood Sharks won their sixth and final meet of the season, and clinched their second straight Central Arkansas Swim League championship with a closer-than-expected 768-730 win over the Maumelle/YMCA consolidated team. [FULL TEXT]

Joyner to coach Red Devils
IN SHORT:Former North Pulaski coach moving across town to lead Red Devils
[FULL TEXT]

 

July 20, 2005

Cabot voters said no Tuesday to a millage increase that would have paid for a community center and railroad overpass. The vote on the railroad overpass was 537 against and 493 for. The vote on the community center was 551 against and 475 for. [FULL TEXT]

 

Officials tell panel base can take on growth
IN SHORT: Central Arkansas top guns remind BRAC commissioners of LRAFBs ability to expand its mission. [FULL TEXT]

Beebe rejects city expansion
IN SHORT: Only voters in Searcy were in an agreeable mood, approving a 1-cent sales tax for a new fire station and to retire old debt.
[FULL TEXT]

Board votes to remove stickers
IN SHORT: Beebe Schools end standoff with ACLU over evolution-versus-creation disclaimer in textbooks.
[FULL TEXT]

IN SHORT: The Sylvan Hills Bruins A squad has been on a roll in the American Legion zone tournament at Burns Park. The Bruins won their first three games in the tournament in decisive form, controlling all three games both offensively and defensively. [FULL TEXT]

Ruff-Neks take ASA state title
IN SHORT: Things didnt go as easily as they were supposed to, but the Cabot Ruff-Neks 12-under fastpitch team did manage to win the ASA state championship game Sunday afternoon in Cabot.
[FULL TEXT]

Buried in books
IN SHORT: The Ward Public Library on Friday ended its summer reading program with a bang, getting a $500 donation from First Electric CooperativeÕs Operation Round-Up program.
[FULL TEXT]

June 29, 2005

As of 9 p.m. Tuesday, motorists moving between Hwy. 67/167 and the adjacent frontage roads on the stretch between McCain Boulevard and Wildwood Avenue no-longer face nerve-wracking and dangerous two-way traffic. [FULL TEXT]

 

Were Number 1
IN SHORT: LRAFB is center of C-130 universe as rodeo team is big winner again. [FULL TEXT]

Officials say sewer woes not as bad
IN SHORT: Problems cited by state and federal officials have been addressed in Cabot.
[FULL TEXT]

Fourth of July family fun set
IN SHORT: Fireworks, food, frolic and fellowship abound when communities hold their holiday celebrations starting this weekend.
[FULL TEXT]

Gwatney misses several chances
IN SHORT: After a red-hot start to the Sheridan Wooden Bat Classic, the Jacksonville AAA team cooled off considerably the rest of the way. [FULL TEXT]

Local all-stars shine
IN SHORT: West wins All-Star game, East defense still strong [FULL TEXT]

Banding together
IN SHORT: Shepherd¹s Center members mark hummingbirds [FULL TEXT]

June 22, 2005

Change along Hwy. 67/167 corridor could start next Monday evening

Barring last-minute glitches, commuters will awaken Tuesday morning to find Landers and Warden roads between McCain Boulevard and Wildwood Avenue converted to one one-way roads, according to the state Highway and Transportation Department. [FULL TEXT]

 

Leader gets 21 awards from APA
IN SHORT: The Leader has won 21 awards, including six first-place honors, in the Arkansas Press Associations Better Newspaper News-Editorial Contest. [FULL TEXT]

Lesson: FOI law must be obeyed
IN SHORT: Beebe board told to hold more of its meetings in public as critic is silenced. [FULL TEXT]

Sewage rates may double in Cabot
IN SHORT: Aldermen move toward raising sewer costs to build new treatment plant. [FULL TEXT]

Bank appeals ruling on new Ozarks branch
IN SHORT: First Arkansas Bank files an appeal to have Bank of the Ozarks Jacksonville branch approval reversed.
[FULL TEXT]

Idea House
IN SHORT: Benefit is set in Cabot for Open Arms on July 9-10
[FULL TEXT]

Gwatney AAA team improves to .500
IN SHORT: Jacksonville¹s AAA American Legion team swept Sheridan on Saturday, the team will split with Searcy Monday to move to 5-5 on the season.
[FULL TEXT]

Piranhas top Bryant-Lonoke team
IN SHORT: The Cabot Piranhas youth swim team got its first win of the season Saturday against the Lonoke-Bryant consolidated swim team at the Lonoke Community Center.
[FULL TEXT]

 

 

AUGUST 17, 2005

>>THIS WEEKS CLASSIFIEDS
{FULL TEXT}

>>THIS WEEKS OBITUARIES
{FULL TEXT}

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