Stories from Tuesday, March 19, 2013

BERRYVILLE -- A Berryville animal control officer has been reprimanded after he allegedly shot a man's dog, buried it at the city pound, and then tried to conceal the animal's death from its owners, according to the mayor's office. The debacle began in the wee hours of March 11, when Deb and Darrin Hatfield noticed their two German Shepherds, Egon and Fritz, had escaped from their yard...

HOLIDAY ISLAND -- Locals will soon see a change of name at the lube center in the Park in Holiday Island, although the business has already been open for two weeks. Holiday Island Auto Repair and Carwash has been opened by Mike and Deyone Lane. The business offers oil changes and carwashes as the location always has, but also offers auto repair and maintenance. Mike has 25 years' experience as an auto mechanic...

ST. LOUIS -- An appeals court heard arguments last Wednesday in the civil rights lawsuit against Carroll County Sheriff's Deputy Joel Hand. The hearing was the latest development in a legal battle that dates back more than two years. In the initial complaint, filed on July 7, 2011, Edward "Blue John" Chevallier contended Hand had violated his rights under the 4th and 14th amendments when he arrested him the previous August, following an argument between Chevallier and a tenant at his Berryville trailer park.. ...

HOLIDAY ISLAND -- At its regular meeting Monday, the Holiday Island Board of Commissioners voted to go forward with generating a Request for Proposals for a contract to detect leaks in the community's water system. The community in experiencing 80 percent loss of treated water...

EUREKA SPRINGS -- Spend half your life doing any one thing, and at some point, you're bound to question whether or not that one thing was the right thing. For Jason Crabb, longtime powerhouse lead vocalist for Gospel music group The Crabb Family, the "right thing" has never been a question...

HOLIDAY ISLAND -- In 2009, former St. Louis resident Joanie Kratzer met Carole Hilmer on a Holiday Island Hiking Club walk. Joanie learned about Carole's dream of holding a benefit walk for The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Carole, a retired medical illustrator, had been a patient at MD Anderson. ...

EUREKA SPRINGS -- Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge hosts its 23rd annual Kite Festival celebration March 23. "Art with an Altitude," sponsored by KaleidoKites of Eureka Springs, is a free family event inviting attendees to bring their own kites or buy one at the refuge. The celebration includes vendors, contests and fun activities for parents and children. A performance by local band, The Skillet Lickers, is scheduled 1 to 4 p.m...

EUREKA SPRINGS -- Judge Roy Bean's Old Time Photos in Eureka Springs earned major honors at the 2013 Antique and Amusement Photographers International Photo Contest held in Las Vegas on Feb. 8. Photographers Casey Lipok, Susan Tharp and the entire staff at Judge Roy Bean's Old Time Photos earned 16 awards, three of which were first-place ribbons...

FAYETTEVIILLE -- Arkansas ranchers who sold livestock in 2012 due to the drought may get a little extra time from the Internal Revenue Service to report income from sales. There were many ranchers who did sell last year. A study of the drought's effects on the state's beef cattle industry done by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture (http://srmec.uark.edu/beef/) found that 49 percent had sold more mature cows than in a typical year and 41 percent sold more heifers...

Hello to all of you readers and fiddle music lovers. The 30th Annual Fiddlers Convention is right around the corner. Starting Thursday, March 21, there will be music in the air and campers on the parking lots of North Arkansas College's southern campus in Harrison...

Friends of the Buffalo National River are alarmed at the recent issuance of a permit by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality for the construction of a 6,500-head hog farm on a tributary of the Buffalo River in Newton County. There are numerous concerns about this industrial scale confined animal feeding operation (CAFO), not the least of which is the fact that the Buffalo National River was not notified of this project until long after the permit was issued...

Beloved by some, but despised by most, is the unmuffled engine roar of Harleys riding through downtown Eureka Springs. Say the word pollution and everyone in Eureka Springs will tell you they are against it, whether it be releasing raw sewage into Leatherwood Creek, exhaust fumes, or injecting foreign fluoride into our drinking water. ...

We read to experience other lives. We want to sympathize with the characters so that, as we live their lives with them, we feel what they feel. But sometimes we are disappointed. The characters seem distant. We don't care enough about them. What happened? How did the writer fail?...

Lately I've witnessed more evidence of the differences between the North and the South. Recently I went to the big box store in town to pick up some prescriptions and to do some shopping. My husband usually accompanies me when I have a lot of shopping to do, but that day I was alone...

EUREKA SPRINGS -- The Eureka Springs Opera Guild will hold its annual membership meeting on Sunday, March 24 at 3 p.m. in the Conservatory of the Crescent Hotel. Anyone who is interested in opera, Opera in the Ozarks, vocal performance music, or just wishes to learn about the functions of the Guild is invited to attend...

REEDS SPRING, Mo. -- Jamie Featherston and C.J. "Chad" Davis were united in marriage on March 1, 2013, in Reeds Spring, Mo. The wedding was attended by family of the bride and groom. Jamie is the daughter of Leasa Featherston of Austin, Ark., and Chris Featherston of San Antonio, Texas...

Two teams of Berryville students brought home top honors from the 2012-13 Quiz Bowl Championships, hosted by North Arkansas College in December and January. Students with the 3rd-to-4th and 5th-to-6th grade teams outsmarted competitors from 15 other schools at the tournament, sponsored by the Ozarks Unlimited Resource Educational Service Cooperative. ...