Stories from Wednesday, December 14, 2011

The Holiday Island Hikers enjoyed taking in the holiday spirit offered in Eureka Springs last week, as they posed for a photo at Basin Park. "Our final destination was the new Chicken Coop restaurant where we feasted on a delicious buffet lunch. Thanks too, to Diane Zykus for the gourmet Christmas cookies she baked," said Hikers coordinator Connie Stielow. "We'll have to watch our waistlines...the last four hikes we have really been indulging!"...

Boyce Williams of Holiday Island was approved in a special meeting Tuesday to be Holiday Island's interim district manager until the district can fill the position on a permanent basis. Williams is a former commissioner who served a three-year term from 2002-2004 and was appointed to fill out the remainder of Commissioner Fred Pierson's term in 2009...

EUREKA SPRINGS -- In one of the highest points in all of the Arkansas Ozarks sits a mountaintop spa resort that was built back in 1886. The hotel is surrounded by 15 acres of forestland crisscrossed with walking trails and manicured gardens adjacent to the four-story, limestone structure. It is here in these manicured gardens that every December for the past six years that well-decorated, illuminated Christmas trees seem to spring up...

Young Evelyn Brown was checking her reflection in the mirror while her aunt Merrie Reynolds was purchasing handmade jewelry at the Christmas Gift and Craft Fair that took place at the fairgrounds Dec. 9-10. Both girls live in Berryville and were shopping at the Handmade by Joe booth, one of several featuring made in the U.S.A. products...

Arkansas suffered through a hotter, drier summer than usual this year, but according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) we should prepare for warmer, drier conditions this winter, and this will affect livestock producers, says Dr. David Fernandez, Cooperative Extension Program livestock specialist at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff...