Stories from Thursday, July 14, 2005

GREEN FOREST -- Talk of a grant award for renovation work on the old railroad depot prompted a meeting of the Community Improvement Committee last Thursday. Although there was some confusion and the grant had not been awarded as reported, the potential was enough to get committee members back together again...

HOLIDAY ISLAND -- The Holiday Island Planning Commission (HIPC) referred a local building contractor to the electric cooperative Friday when it learned he may have a dispute over a power pole placement. Builder Ken McCoy approached the commission for advice because the sewer pump of a house he built at 119 Appaloosa Drive failed. McCoy had a bill from the plumbing subcontractor for the repair, which the Holiday Island Water Department fixed...

EUREKA SPRINGS -- A plan to expand the Eureka Springs Transit System into the rest of Carroll County was unveiled by the system's director, Lamont Richie, last Thursday. Richie said that his office is currently seeking public comments on the proposed expansion in an attempt to guage public support or opposition to it and to determine how best to expand service beyond Eureka Springs' city limits...

BERRYVILLE -- A Berryville woman was in custody in Springfield, Mo., at midday Monday after waiving extradition on Carroll County charges stemming from the Nov. 26, 2004, murder of David Harkrider. Rachelle Dawn Allred was arrested in Springfield without incident on July 8 after an arrest warrant was issued earlier that day for first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence, and obstruction of governmental operations...

Poker is not a sport -- it's a game. Every time I've picked a daily newspaper up this week there has been one article after another about the World Series of Poker main event. You know. The no-limit Texas Hold'em event at the Rio hotel-casino in Las Vegas that has a $7.5 million first-place prize waiting for one lucky player. The one where 5,619 people enter, and after three days 1,884 were still hanging in, trying to get to that final table...

CARROLL COUNTY -- There are two new faces and one familiar one that have just joined the Berryville coaching staff as the 2005-06 school year approaches. Returning is Bobby Bishop, who was a Bobcat coach for 10 years under head coach Ron Clark. Bishop returns after sampling the private business waters since 1996, the year he stepped out of coaching...

CARROLL COUNTY -- The Thunder rumbled, the Giants fell in two, and the Carroll County 10-year-old Cougar team battled to exhaustion. That's how action in state tournaments went this past weekend, with the coaches reports up next. GIANTS (8-year-olds)...

DAVID ALAN HARKRIDER, a resident of Berryville, was born July 16, 1958, in St. Joe, Mo., a son of Harlyn and Elsie (King) Harkrider. He died Nov. 26, 2004, in Berryville at the age of 46. On July 30, 1994, he was united in marriage with Stephanie (Mathis) Harkrider, who survives him. He is also survived by his four children, Kayla, Ashley and Laura, all of Shell Knob, Mo., and Deidre of Harrison; and his parents, harlyn and Elsie Harkrider of Shell Knob...

MARGE DICKERSON, 77, died on July 6, 2005, at her home in Eagle Rock, Mo. Mrs. Dickerson, formerly of Prairie Village, Kan., was born on Aug. 2, 1927, in Kansas City, Mo. She is survived by her husand, Fred Dickerson of the home, two daughters, two step-daughters, nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren...

TOMMY LYNN GONCE, a resident of Alpena, was born Oct. 17, 1956, in Springdale, a son of Jessie Eugene Gonce and Rosa L. (Slape). He died Thursday, July 7, 2005, his home at the age of 48. He is survived by four daughters, Katrina Hurt, Heather Gonce and Tiffany Gonce, all of Berryville, and Milissa Strite of Van Buren; one son, Tommy Strite of Van Buren; two sisters, Glenda McCracken of Lead Hill, and Helen King of Fayetteville; his mother, Rosa Hobbs of Green Forest and eight grandchildren...