Stories from Saturday, June 13, 2015

If all goes according to plan, Green Forest will have a new city hall building in the next few years. Mayor Charles Reece said Tuesday morning that he has been working with Modus Studio, a Fayetteville architecture firm, to draft initial plans for a new city hall building in the grassy area behind the current building...

From clean floors to warm meals, every detail is critical during a hospital stay. That's literally the case at Mercy Hospital Berryville, where a series of equipment upgrades has satisfaction scores soaring. "Our old floor scrubber was wearing down and it was nearly impossible to find replacement parts," said Curtis Shaw, the hospital's director of plant operations and environmental services. ...

The Eureka Springs City Council voted 6-0 at Monday's meeting to ask Mayor Butch Berry to contact the Municipal League about representing the city in an effort to keep Ordinance 2223 enforceable. The city's anti-discrimination ordinance, adopted by the council in February and ratified by an overwhelming majority of voters in a May special election, could be nullified by a state law that prohibits cities and counties from adopting their own anti-discrimination measures...

After four years of increasing participation, the Carroll County Senior Activity Center won first place at the Northwest Arkansas Senior Games on May 10 in Harrison. The center will receive a $500 prize for the win. Carroll County residents Kristy Estrem and Richard Keller each received the most points for their gender. Estrem and Keller beat out 266 other seniors from 17 senior centers throughout Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma...

Friends of David Stettenbenz lit candles Tuesday night in his memory on Highway 62 East in Eureka Springs. Stettenbenz died after his motorcycle was struck by a semi-truck at the intersection of Highway 62 East and Rock House Road, near the Echo Clinic, at 4:11 p.m. Saturday...

The Green Forest School Board held a special meeting Tuesday regarding personnel. ]The board accepted retirement and resignation letters from Connie Kleffman, Britney McKown and Summer Fultz. Shilo Evans was hired as an elementary teacher, with Amanda Farrar being hired as an elementary ESL teacher and Cody Strahan as a high school English teacher...

The Eureka Springs Garden Club is in search of Garden of the Season. The club awards honors to a Commercial, Home, and Theme Garden. The club is looking for large or small front yards, or easy access backyards, porches, etc. All of the entries will be judged equally. ...

This year I've been coaching Little League baseball. It has been a lot of fun, for the most part, because 12-year-olds experience the whole "Field of Dreams" mystique in a way that is lost on older players. It is also a marvelous thing to watch these young boys mature in the game as they learn to hit and field; to play as a team and not devour another player when he makes a mistake; to control one's emotions (and they are often more accomplished at this than most of their parents in the stands); and to persevere in difficulty.. ...

On Friday, March 18, 1927, the first of two tornadoes in a decade hit Green Forest. The rubble in the picture in the Midweek 'Then and Now' was the Green Forest School. The reverse words blurred out on the front of the historic picture read 'School Bldg - Green Forest Ark - After Tornado - 3-18-27.' The current high school is located where the 1927-era school once sat...

Seven candidates have applied for the director's position with the Greater Eureka Springs Chamber of Commerce, chamber board chairman Cathy Handley said at a board meeting Monday. "Right now, we have about seven applicants for the director's position," Handley said during the meeting, which was held in the Pine Room at the Best Western Inn of the Ozarks. "We will be interviewing those people in the month of June and see where we come with that."...

June 4 Edward Lavy Brown, 37, Berryville, was booked on revocation. William Cespedes, 36, Berryville, was booked on criminal attempt at breaking or entering and theft of property. Rachel Michelle Emmons, 25, Berryville, was booked on hold. Tabetha Debra Jorns, 24, Berryville, was booked on revocation...

James Myatt of Harrison has been appointed by Arkansas Speaker of the House Jeremy Gillam (R-Judsonia) to serve on the Arkansas Rural Development Commission. Myatt is the market president and agricultural commercial lender for Cornerstone Bank in Berryville...

The Kings River Watershed Partnership hosted its 10th annual Carroll County cleanup on Saturday, June 6. The event had been postponed because of high water, and even a week later the flow was too strong to allow for safe trash and tire removal, so the group instead opted to clean a section of the smaller Osage Creek that is a major tributary...