Stories from Friday, July 19, 2013

It was the early 1980s. It was Texas. It was December. It was a Southern Baptist church. It is customary in Southern Baptist churches to take up an offering during the Advent season to support missionaries overseas. This collection is called the "Lottie Moon Christmas Offering," named after a Baptist pioneer missionary to mainland China more than a century ago...

SPRINGDALE -- Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) has launched a new corporate website that features hundreds of its employees and uses more visuals and graphics to tell the story about America's leading meat and poultry company. The new TysonFoods.com includes more than 150 website pages, 800 photos and 24 videos designed to help the public learn more about such things as the company's relationship with family farmers, food safety and product development efforts, international operations, and hunger relief initiatives.. ...

Jackie Rose weeds the front entrance to Holiday Island, pulling out weedy vines. She said she takes care of this section on her own, as HISID had not gotten to it. She received permission from Golf Course Superintendent Mark Mowrey to bring a hose and water areas near the golf course. Known as "the garden lady," Jackie lives on LaQuinta Loop, and she and her husband, Richard, were the winners of the 2011 Garden of the Season from the Holiday Island Garden Club...

BERRYVILE -- The Carroll County Election Commission approved the ballots that will be used in the school board elections at their meeting on Thursday. The schools approved ballots before the commission gave the final OK. At their previous meeting, July 9, the commission conducted a ballot drawing to decide in what order the candidates will be presented on the ballot. After this meeting the first draft of the ballots were sent to the different school districts and approved by them as well...

GREEN FOREST -- The Green Forest School Board began serious discussions about their new cafeteria project, accepted bids for fuel and bread, allocated funds for school supplies and decided to open no polling places for the upcoming school board elections at their meeting on Monday, July 15...

CARROLL COUNTY -- Those who wish to appeal the assessed value on their property for tax purposes have until Aug. 19 to file an application with the county clerk. Each year every county in the state convenes a Board of Equalization, whose purpose is two-fold. The first is to review and equalize overall county assessments done by the assessor on all properties, which include acreage lands, city and town lots, other real property and personal property...

CARROLL COUNTY -- An officer of the Carroll County Sheriff's Office accepted and passed a polygraph test to prove that he was wrongfully accused of being a "bad" or a "dirty" cop by a criminal informant, said Sheriff Bob Grudek in a press conference last week...

As part of their youth outreach program Valley View Baptist Church between Berryville and Eureka Springs sponsors volleyball twice a week. The sand-filled court is in front of the church and passersby on US 62 can see the action from 6-8 p.m. on Wednesday evening and from 10 p.m.-midnight on Fridays. Here, 19-year-old Arkansas Tech student and Holiday Island resident Ben Harris, at left, smashes the ball to Adan Willett...

EUREKA SPRINGS -- The group called Friends of the White River held a short meeting on July 10 to apprise local residents in the Eureka Springs West area about its efforts on behalf of stopping the 345 kV transmission line proposed by SWEPCO. One of the group's organizers, Glen Sims, summarized the position of the group. ...

BERRYVILLE -- The Berryville School Board named new principals for the high school and middle and elementary schools at its meeting on Monday, July 15. Kelly Swofford was moved from the serving as the school's EAST Lab instructor to being the new elementary principal, replacing David Gilmore. Gilmore will now be the middle school principal. And the new high school principal will be Owen Powell...