Stories from Friday, March 1, 2013

BERRYVILLE -- Berryville opened the baseball season with a 9-8 win in walk-off fashion over Greenland as Anthony Noftsger plated Austin Lehr with no outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to break an 8-8 deadlock. The Bobcats jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first inning as Noftsger pitched the first two innings. But the Pirates chipped away at the lead and tied the game in the top of the seventh to set up Noftsger's heroics...

BERRYVILLE -- Coming off an undefeated 1-4A Conference title last year, Berryville coach Don Earnest was hoping to see the same tenacity from the girl's team that won a school-best 13 games last year. The Lady Bobcats got off to a good start on Thursday, blanking Decatur 8-0 at Ronnie Clark Field to kick off the 2013 season in victorious fashion...

BERRYVILLE -- Berryville scored all eight goals in a 7-1 win over Decatur Thursday night, allowing only an own goal in a season-opening win at Ronnie Clark Field. Oliver Perez opened the scoring just 30 seconds in before goalie Lorenzo Lara Yucute allowed the own goal when Jerry Valdez attempted to pass the ball back to Lara Yucute. The goal tied the affair at 1-1. But that was all the Bobcats would allow for the remainder of the match...

BERRYVILLE -- Whether it was Berryville coach Kevin Lea having his pants pulled up or Harlem's Deon Hughes II having his pulled down, fans of all ages were treated to a fun-filled night at Bobcat Arena on Wednesday. And while the Ambassadors escaped with an 89-87 victory over the Kiwanna Players, comprised of local talent, the true winners are the students who receive scholarships with the money raised during the event...

Jack Beeson, 77, of Berryville, AR passed away Feb. 21, 2013. He was born Jul. 27, 1935 in Berryville to the late Fay and Mary Beeson (Stephenson) Maurer. On Jul. 29, 1955 he married Glenda (Warren) and to this union two daughters were born. Jack joined the U.S. Air Force in 1952 and retired after 23 years of service. After his retirement he worked for the Carroll County Highway Depart- ment and also served as Car- roll County Judge...

James Franklin "Jim" Jones, of Alpena, passed away on Feb 20, 2013 in Eureka Springs. He was 75 years old. Visitation will be on Tuesday, Feb. 26 at Holt Memorial Chapel from 5 to 7 p.m. Funeral service will be on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 10 a.m. also at the Chapel. ...

Margaret Mary Kennett, a resident of Berryville, AR, was born Apr. 17, 1922 in Chicago, IL, a daughter of Alfred Paul and Frances Henrietta (McDonnell) Regitz, Sr. She departed this life Friday, Feb. 22, 2013 in Berryville, AR, at the age of 90 years...

BERRYVILLE -- The Berryville Community Center will offer a women's self-defense class from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on March 9. The class will be taught by former law enforcement officer Fred Anderson, who also holds a fourth-degree black belt in Shito-Ryu Karate...

Carroll County News CARROLL COUNTY -- For weeks, Spring has muscled her way through the frozen dirt. One day soon, she'll appear in the flower bed, like a mercury dime after a hard rain, and gardeners everywhere will be waiting -- with rakes and up-rolled sleeves -- to comb the worms and daffodils from her hair...

CARROLL COUNTY -- Two Berryville cattle ranchers have been recognized nationally for the quality of their herds, according to the American Angus Association. Smith Registered Angus and Rocking "A" ranches were both listed in the 2013 "Pathfinder Report," published by the association each year...

The Carroll County Department of Emergency Management and Berryville Fire Department will host a National Weather Service storm-spotter training program on Monday, March 11. The SKYWARN Weather Spotter training session will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Berryville Fire Department meeting room. The training is free and open to anyone in the region...

On Monday, Arkansas legislators narrowly rejected a bipartisan proposal that would have made the 28 elected prosecuting attorneys in the state nonpartisan positions. Probably, it seems a bit late, then, for a discussion. However, it seems to me that Monday's decision should have special resonance in Carroll County, where a poisonous partisanship seems to pervade all levels of government, seen most recently in the shadow war being waged or not waged, depending upon whom you ask, between the offices of Sheriff Bob Grudek and Prosecuting Attorney Tony Rogers.. ...

BERRYVILLE -- The Berryville School Board voted Monday to move forward with a $150,000 renovation of the Bobcat Gym and to spend nearly $160,000 on new computers for students and teachers. Superintendent Randy Byrd said the renovation was expected to be completed by July and would include installing new bleachers, floors, and lighting; overhauling the locker rooms; and repainting the interior of the building...

BERRYVILLE -- As Jerry Hatley drove home from work last Friday, he saw a pillar of smoke rising into the sky over his neighborhood and thought, "I sure hope that's not my house burning." A few hours later, he watched with his family as firefighters doused the charred remains of his home with water. According to Hatley's sister, Vickie Poulson, only a chimney withstood the inferno...

CARROLL COUNTY -- It might be forgivable to toss the instructions in the waste bin when putting together Johnny's new bike. Even if his birthday gift ends up looking more like a unicycle, Johnny can always join the circus. Simple carelessness can have much heavier consequences when installing a child's car seat...

LITTLE ROCK -- Arkansas House Bill 1312 ended up with a 9-9 split vote Tuesday in the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee. The bill, sponsored by Republican Bruce Westerman of Hot Springs, gives local control over fluoride levels in water systems and gives each public water system the right to determine whether it will adjust the quantity of fluoride in the water to maintain the level established by the Arkansas Department of Health or even fluoridate at all...

"God said it, I believe it, and that settles it." This slogan is one of today's all too common bumper sticker defenses of the Bible. The phrase is sometimes amended to read, "God said it...and that settles it," to reflect that personal belief is inconsequential in the matter...

EUREKA SPRINGS -- The Rev. Clare M. Kelley, pastor of the Northwest Arkansas Presbyterian Larger Parish, was installed as vice moderator of the Presbytery of Arkansas on Feb. 16. The service was a highlight of the Presbytery's 122nd Stated Meeting held recently at the University of the Ozarks at Clarksville...

More than 170 third-graders from Berryville will participate in a production of the "Principal and the Pea" on Tuesday, March 5. The production, a musical in rhyming form, is a story about a school with perfect students and a perfect principal -- that is, until the principal retires...

The old Berryville gym was home to a donkey basketball game and even though baskets were scored it seems the real winners were probably... the donkeys. Regardless, the packed house roared with laughter as the obstinate animals were mostly uncooperative... and the donkeys didn't give in too much either...

GREEN FOREST -- Two Green Forest business owners awoke last Monday morning to find their shops had been burglarized in the night. Both Mane Street Salon, on Broadway Ave., and Reliable Poultry, in the Green Forest Industrial Park, were burglarized between Sunday evening and the following morning, according to police reports...