Stories from Wednesday, July 16, 2003

The battle of words between Gov. Mike Huckabee and rural school administrators over court-mandated educational reform is premature, according to Rep. Phil Jackson, R-Carroll County. The Arkansas Rural Education Association met last week in Eureka Springs, and came away with one solid opinion: There is no way they would compromise on Huckabee's reform plan because it included an arbitrary number of 1,500 minimum enrollment ---- smaller schools would have to consolidate, according to the governor's plan.. ...

The Arkansas Activities Association (AAA) that directs high school sports in the state is looking at enrollments at high schools in grades 10-11-12 as they prepare to set the conferences for the 2004-06 athletic cycle. What this all means is that athletic conferences will once again be up for another two-year shuffle if enrollments have changed...

He will be coaching the Tigers again, and they'll be wearing red and white, again, but it won't be at Green Forest this go around for Jeff Morrow. Morrow, the head boys' basketball coach at Green Forest for the last four years, has taken the same job at Lead Hill, in the 1A conference. He will be junior and senior high boys' basketball coach, boys' athletic director, and will coach a spring sport, probably track...

Coach Matt Carter of Des Arc will be the man who replaces departed Bobcat girls' basketball coach Mitch Myrick for the 2003-04 season. The Berryville position came open when Myrick decided to pursue coaching in the boys' program at Huntsville next year...

Week of July 7 July 7 4:45 p.m. ---- Police went to Tyson Foods to take a report. One person was transported to the police department for an interview. 5:21 p.m. ---- Police went to an apartment near Richies Gift Shop. A subject was transported to the police department for an interview...

Week of July 7 July 7 9:36 a.m. -- Incident report taken after two chain saw carvings where missing at business. 12:19 p.m. -- Accident report taken after an unattended vehicle parked at restaurant rolled across the street, hit a vehicle and then went down embankment...

Week of July 7 July 7 1:05 a.m. ---- Loud noises reported at Country Court. Nothing found. 6:57 a.m. ---- Juveniles warned about shooting fireworks at Locust Heights. 10:38 a.m. ---- Funeral escort at Nelson's. 2:27 p.m. ---- Mother cited at Tyson Foods for leaving children in car in parking lot...

DOROTHY ANN HENSON, 90, of Berryville, and formerly of Independence, Mo., died July 9, 2003, at the Carroll County Nursing Home in Berryville. Services were held Saturday, July 12, at George C. Carson & Sons Funeral Home, and burial followed in Lawson Cemetery, Lawson, Mo...

RUTH MAE CAPPS, a resident of Berryville, Ark. was born May 5, 1926 in Tyronza, Ark. a daughter of William Frank and Linda (Bennett) McMullin. She died Saturday, July 12, 2003 in Berryville at the age of 77. Mrs. Capps worked in nursing at Cordell Memorial Hospital in Cordell, Okla. She was a member of Freeman Heights Baptist Church in Berryville...

Dr. John P. Spurlin left this world on Friday, July 11, 2003. His family, friends, his staff, and community have all suffered a great loss. John will be dearly missed by his wife and friend Sharon, his children John Frank and Mary Elizabeth, his son-in-law Phillip Springer, and granddaughters Taylor Elise and Sarah Parker, currently living in Lima, Peru...

Seems to us like there's a terrible amount of posturing in the governor-versus-rural schools debate, especially in light of the comments by Carroll County's own state representative Phil Jackson this week. The public debate (or ranting and drawing of lines in the sand, if you will) is regularly page one stuff in the state's big dailies, as rural educators and rural legislators line up to give a solid front in opposition to Gov. ...

The new countywide 911 dispatch center is getting closer to reality. After years of planning, a target date of Nov. 3 has been set for "going online." The center will be a far cry from what planners had initially envisioned. Instead of a separate structure built specifically for 911 dispatch, the center is housed in vacated rooms withing the confines of the county courthouse. And, instead of four dispatcher stations, there will be two...

Dr. John P. Spurlin, long-time resident of Berryville, died at Saint John's Regional Hospital in Springfield, Mo. at the age of 62 on Friday. After receiving his dental degree from the University of Missouri, Dr. Spurlin first practiced in Springfield for two years and then moved with his family to Berryville in 1969, where he practiced dentistry the rest of his life...

by David McNeal July events are moving faster than a fly ducking a horse's tail, with the next three weeks loaded up. And after that? Why, its football season, with area teams cranking up two-a-days on Aug. 4. But back to July, and especially this week. ...