Stories from Friday, September 4, 2015

JOAN T. POWERS, a resident of Oak Grove, Arkansas, was born June 28, 1935 in Brooklyn, New York, a daughter of Edmund Joseph and Margaret Regina (Gordon) Powers. She departed this life Friday, September 04, 2015 in Oak Grove, Arkansas, at the age of 80 years...

Chris McCallister isn't happy about Berryville's plans to widen College Street. McCallister, who lives on the corner of College and Sycamore streets, asked the Berryville City Council to avoid cutting down an oak tree outside his property Tuesday night. The tree, McCallister said, is a 300-year-old wolf oak tree...

Holding a bouquet of flowers, Lauren Girkin beamed at the Miss Carroll County 2015 Fair Queen Pageant Wednesday night. Girkin was named Miss Carroll County 2015. This accomplishment, she said, was years in the making. "I'm actually a very shy person. It's something I've tried to work through," Girkin said...

Mid-States Specialty Eggs, Inc. (MSSE) can start building in Berryville soon. The Berryville City Council on Tuesday night approved an ordinance rezoning property off of Hailey Road from R-1 Single-Family Residential to I-1 Industrial, allowing MSSE to build an industrial facility on the property. The council passed a resolution at its meeting Aug. 18 allowing the city to sell the property to MSSE for $66,000...

Eureka Springs firefighter Rod Wasson's condition is improving, according to a post Wednesday afternoon on the Eureka Springs Fire & EMS Facebook page. Wasson was injured while fighting a house fire late Saturday night on Grand Avenue in Eureka Springs. Wasson's breathing regulator became dislodged and fellow firefighter Josh Beyler had to remove him from the residence...

By all accounts, the repair of a blocked storm drain underneath a parking lot in downtown Eureka Springs was a success. Settling the financial issues related to that repair? Not so much. The City of Eureka Springs has offered to reimburse Carroll County $51,255.80 for the county's portion of the project. That money would come from a grant of $69,413.50 that the city received from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The city would keep the remainder of the grant money...

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge issued an advisory opinion Tuesday afternoon saying ordinances adopted in Eureka Springs and other Arkansas cities that prohibit discrimination against LGBTs are unenforceable. The opinion was issued in response to a question from state Rep. Bob Ballinger (R-Hindsville) about whether Act 137, which was passed by state lawmakers earlier this year and took effect in July, prevents the enforcement of laws such as Eureka Springs' Ordinance 2223...

Sociologist Robert Putnam wrote a book some years ago titled, "Bowling Alone." Bowling, unbelievably, is the most participated in sport in America. Annually, more people bowl than participate in any other single sport. But, fewer people are bowling in leagues than any other time in U.S. history. Thus, people are "bowling alone," in isolation, not in community and connection with others...

Loaves and Fishes Food Bank's Operation Food for Hungry Kids has been notified that it will receive a $4,000 grant from the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Arkoma to support the purchase of food items for the Food for Hungry Kids program. Operation Food for Hungry Kids came about in 2013 when Berryville school nurses, concerned that children in the Berryville Schools were hungry on the weekend, contacted Mercy Hospital Berryville to ask for help. ...

The picture of the two adjacent general stores in Tuesday's Midweek issue was made in Osage, just off U.S. 412 on Arkansas 103. The store at the left is the old McCracken Store. Today it's just a vacant lot. The store at right is the old Stamps Store and today it serves as the Osage Clayworks, producing 'handmade pottery in a neat old building.' The 'Then' picture did not have a date but the truck in the photo appears to be a late 1950s model. ...

Aug. 28 Lori Ann Bingaman, 47, Holiday Island, was booked on driving while intoxicated, careless and prohibited driving, no proof of insurance and drinking on the highway. Seth C. Dulin, 32, Eureka Springs, was booked on possession of drug paraphernalia and carrying a prohibited weapon...