Stories from Tuesday, March 27, 2012

It is time for the Annual Transition Fair event. The transition fair provides a yearly opportunity for area high school students with special needs and disabilities to meet with companies and organizations that could be of service to them when they transition from high school to adulthood...

University of the Ozarks at Clarksville will hold its annual Discover Ozarks Preview Day for prospective students and their parents on Saturday, March 31. The event will include campus tours as well as information sessions on academics, student life, student support services, financial aid, and athletics at the university...

Kaela Elizabeth Swarts, a music major from Eureka Springs, has been recognized by Truman State University as an undergraduate student who qualified for the Fall 2011 Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs List. To qualify for this list, students must attain a semester 3.50-3.99 grade point average and must complete 12 semester hours of credit...

The staff at Berryville Intermediate School is able to provide weekend meals for needy students, thanks to the generous support of locl businesses. As sad as it may seem, the majority of meals some students eat are the ones they receive at school. Seeing this need, school nurse Jennifer DePew and school counselor Linda Winkle implemented the Berryville Intermediate Student Assistance Program...

CARROLL COUNTY -- The beautiful weather over the weekend found young ball players, and coaches or parents, out at the county's ball parks, getting a headstart on the upcoming season. Their practice was just a warmup for the activity that will be swirling around these places in just a few days...

I loved former CCN sports editor Dave McNeal's weekly columns. Dave knows sports and when he speaks people listen. But I like especially his columns that stretched the definition and made me laugh. In particular I remember the story of how he gave a rather large biker, who had run out of gas, a ride on his rather smallish, medium-sized BMW cycle. ...

BERRYVILLE -- Arkansas is number one in a national ranking. And it's not one of those rankings that causes Natural State residents to groan. "Arkansas has more kids shooting trap than any other state in the U.S.," says Steve Warren, one of several volunteer coaches on the Berryville team. "We've got about 5,800 kids participating in the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Youth Shooting Sports Program."...

A beautiful butterfly perches on spring lilacs at a Eureka Springs home. After such a mild winter, insects -- both beautiful and troublesome -- are expected to thrive and multiply this summer.

BERRYVILLE -- The Western Carroll County Ambulance District is facing a tough choice on awarding its five-year ambulance service contract, beginning July 1 of this year, based on bids opened at the county judge's office Friday. Out of six bid packages mailed out in February, two returned bids: Eureka Springs Fire/EMS (the current contract holder) and Mercy EMS of Springfield, Mo...

Grants insufficient for start-up costs

GREEN FOREST -- It's a story reminiscent of Goldilocks. When a Green Forest resident took her children home Thursday afternoon, she found a strange man asleep in her bed, according to Green Forest Police Chief John Bailey. She gathered her children and left the home and called the police...

EUREKA SPRINGS -- The price of gas and the reopening of the Gulf Coast might be concerns for the Eureka Springs tourism season according to Mike Maloney, executive director of the City Advertising and Promotion Commission. He was speaking at the CAPC workshop on March 14 about what he had learned at the recent Governor's Conference on Tourism, and said the state tourism industry is watching these factors just as the locals are...

Members of Girl Scout Troop #5138 of Berryville joined with other scouts in the Ozark Trails Council Sunday, March 18, to close Girl Scout week with a birthday celebration in Harrison. In addition to cake and celebratory activities, each girl in attendance completed steps to earn Juliette's Legacy Patch...

A Relay for Life team captains meeting is set for 6 p.m. this Thursday, March 29, at Chafin Station, also known as the Berryville fire station. All teams and team members must be registered by March 29 in order to get participation T-shirts. People can register online or print out the registration form and bring it to the meeting...

HARRISON --Not counting skin cancers, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer found in men and women in this country. The American Cancer Society estimates that approximately 141,210 new cases of colon cancer will be diagnosed this year. Thanks to colorectal cancer screening, polyps can be found and removed before they become cancerous. Colorectal cancer found earlier can result in earlier treatment and better outcomes for patients...

Bob Torchia, born July 11, 1938 to Frank and Dorothy Torchia in Oswego, KS, departed this life on earth on Monday, Mar. 19, 2012. A letter from a friend is a testament to Bob's character..... "Dear Bob, .... Looking back at our school days together, I appreciate the fact that you were always friendly to me though I was actually an outsider. ...

Donald Lee Stidham, 60, of Paris, passed away December 2011 at his home. Graveside services will be held Saturday, Apr. 14, 2012 at 11 a.m. at Moreland Cemetery in Grandview, AR. Cremation was under the direction of Bright-Holland Funeral Home. Donnie was born July 12, 1951, as the youngest child of 14 to David Leslie and Ada Grace VanScyoc Stidham, in Berryville, AR...