TOP STORY>>Jacksonville plans two major street projects

By RICK KRONLeader staff writerJacksonville will spend slightly more than $1 million to revamp two major intersections.Aldermen last week agreed to a trimmed-down redesign of the James-Main-Dupree downtown intersection and a roundabout to solve backup and speeding problems at Main Street and Harris Road.At the regular council meeting, City Engineer Jay Whisker presented a $512,000 plan for the downtown intersection. […]

TOP STORY>>Coping with blindness in midlife

By JEFFREY SMITHLeader staff writerThe Jacksonville Lions Club recently hosted special guest Roger Echols, a retired Army Ranger who became blind three years ago after battling ulcers.Echols and his wife Tracey, who also attended the meeting at the Bar-B-Que Shack, moved to Jacksonville in May from Long Beach, Calif. They moved into their own home in Sunnyside last week. “I […]

TOP STORY>>Districts given test results at year-end

By RICK KRONLeader staff writerSeveral area schools were perfect or near perfect on end-of-year testing in math, but they all scored below average in biology.Only 21 Lonoke Middle School students took the federally mandated algebra end-of-course exam this spring, but all 21 scored advanced. They join all 109 Cabot Junior High School North students, who scored proficient or advanced on […]

SPORTS>>Points standings making classes close at Beebe

By JASON KINGLeader sportswriterWith less than three months to go on the Beebe Speedway racing schedule, some interesting battles in the season points standings are taking shape.Many drivers do not run for season championships and opt to simply take their programs week-to-week, but the drivers who do compete for track titles are also contenders for weekly race victories in most […]

SPORTS>>Fast finish comes from humble start

By TODD TRAUBLeader sports editorI don’t do anything in the morning without having my coffee first, and that includes running a 5K.But my daily ritual cost me in the Firecracker 5K in Little Rock on Saturday.In fact I can safely say, thanks to a pre-race, coffee-induced pit stop, I was the very last man to start the annual, 3.2-mile downhill […]

SPORTS>>Pitching propels Cabot to victory

By TODD TRAUBLeader sports editorA fifth-inning rally and a strong start by Chase Beasely lifted Cabot Centennial Bank to a 4-2 victory over Searcy Crain Team in the Fourth of July American Legion Classic at Dupree Park on Sunday.“That was a real baseball game and I was happy that we were able to win a close ballgame,” Cabot coach Jay […]

SPORTS>>Bigger purse entices cars out to track in modifieds

By JASON KINGLeader sportswriterAn increased payout led to an increased car count in the modified division at Beebe Speedway on Friday.The weekly feature paid $1,000 to the winner, and brought 26 modifieds to the track for the biggest field of cars this season.But in the end it was points leader Randy Weaver in his F1 Shaw chassis winning in dominant […]

SPORTS>>Benton holds off Gwatney

By TODD TRAUBLeader sports editorSlow-starting Jacksonville Gwat-ney Chevrolet made it interesting, but Benton was able to hold on for an 11-8 victory in the Fourth of July American Legion Classic at Dupree Park on Sunday.Gwatney rallied from a 4-0 deficit to tie it, and cut a 9-4 lead to 9-8 with a big fifth inning. But Benton got a pair […]

EDITORIAL >> Would Huck lie to us?

Mike Huckabee, the Florida TV emcee, former and maybe future presidential wannabe and, yes, former governor of a poor, insular Southern state, was in Charlotte, N. C., Sunday for a July Fourth sermon at the First Baptist Church. The Charlotte Observer, the state’s largest newspaper, collared him before the service and published a long verbatim interview Monday.He talked about how […]