Stories from Tuesday, May 20, 2003

What are apparently Carroll County's two oldest still-operating churches are celebrating their 150th anniversary this year. But which one is the oldest remains in question. Rock Springs Baptist Church, located just west of the King's River two miles north of U.S. Highway 62, recently reported that it was organized between 1850 and 1853. That varies slightly from an earlier report that the organization was in 1853...

Maybe it's the hymns playing softly outdoors. Or the gurgle of trickling water. Or the heavenly fragrance of Biblical plants. Then again, as some say, maybe it's more than that. "There's definitely a presence here," said Warren Dexter, botanist, gardener, minister, and owner of Covenant Gardens, a family dream and Christian ministry that has quietly evolved over the years in a secluded forest off of U.S. Highway 62 just east of Eureka Springs...

GREEN FOREST ---- Alpena Fire Chief Walt Record, a longtime leader in emergency services in Northwest Arkansas, died Tuesday, May 13, of a heart attack. He was 56. Mr. Record's sudden death stunned many people in this area, where he is well-known for his community service and as the first man on the scene at many Carroll and Boone county emergencies...

A committee of the Carroll County Quorum Court agreed Wednesday that Judge Ed Robertson should approach the county's municipal police to formalize in writing "gentlemen's agreements" that have been in place for years, and to investigate ways to settle unpaid costs for city prisoners...

LITTLE ROCK ---- Two Berryville Bobcat football players, Elliott Ginn and Nathan Keys, attended an athletic combine at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock on Saturday, May 3, in order to have their athletic abilities evaluated. Elliott is the son of Larry and Vickie Ginn of Shell Knob, and Cindy Weathers of Berryville. Nathan is the son of Nathan and Rosalie Keys of Berryville...

The Carroll County high school girls' golf teams all got it done at their regional tournaments this week, with the Berryville and Eureka Springs teams both placing third, qualifying them for state competition next week. The Green Forest girls didn't qualify as a team, but did as individuals, and will play on Tuesday, May 20, in the Class AAA state golf match at the Lost Creek course in Heber Springs, along with the Berryville Lady Bobcat team...

ANTHONY "TONY" WEBER, a resident of Green Forest, Arkansas, was born August 7, 1916, in Chicago, Illinois, a son of Joseph and Anna (Toth) Weber. He died on Saturday, May 10, 2003, in his home at the age of 86. Mr. Weber was a carpenter and painter. ...

WALT RECORD, of Alpena, died Tuesday, May 13, 2003 in Green Forest, Ark. at the age of 56. He was the son of Roy and Ruth (Meyenberg) Record, born May 27, 1946, in Greenfield, Calif. Mr. Record had been a resident of Boone County for 30 years and was fire chief of the Alpena Fire Department. ...

HOOD GERALD NEWTON, 92, of Rogers, died Monday, May 12, 2003, at Washington Regional Medical Center. He was born May 30, 1910, in Kansas City, Mo., to the late Roy Bingerman Newton and Grace Greenwood VonHood. He was retired from the U.S. Navy. He was the owner of Mount Air Court and Cafe, Ozark Postcard Publishers, Inc., K.O.A. Campground of America and the Hillbilly Gift Shop...

DEAN NEWMAN, a resident of Berryville, Arkansas was born April 13, 1924, in Berryville a son of Clyde Altus and Beulah (Fulton) Newman. He died Thursday, May 8, 2003 in this home at the age of 79. Dean had worked in the Berryville Drug since the age of 16 and graduated from the St. ...

GEORGE C. MILLER, a resident of Holiday Island, Arkansas was born November 7, 1912 in Peru, Illinois, a son of John F. and Minnie B. (Wheeler) Miller. He died Saturday, May 10, 2003 in Eureka Springs at the age of 90. Mr. Miller was a veteran having served his country with the U.S. ...

Sometimes bad things happen to good people. And sometimes those good people need a little help from those who love and respect them. Such is the case with Pastor Michael Ricks, pastor of First Baptist Penn Memorial Church in Eureka Springs. In late January Pastor Ricks was hospitalized in Little Rock and diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a malignant cancer of the lymph system. It is being treated by extensive chemotherapy and radiation...

The behavior of a former Berryville High School coach, serving two consecutive one-year sentences on charges of misdemeanor terroristic threatening and false imprisonment, appears be improving, despite appearing on a petition for revocation on Monday in Carroll County Circuit Court...