Stories from Friday, December 18, 2015

The Green Forest basketball teams have been trying to improve offensively this week. Boys coach Brandon Stone said the Tigers are improving, but offensive efficiency is an issue. "We start speeding up and just get out of control," Stone said. "We are going to take this week to slow down and show the guys what happens when you run the offense."...

Thursday afternoon's office party marked my 25th year of tearing into Christmas goodies. Over those 25 years I have unwrapped a lot of presents and received many gifts. Up until recently, I had always said the best gift I ever received was a basketball goal. ...

Most times you want your younger players to get game experience when the game is out of hand. In Tuesday night's 69-61 win over Magazine, the Eureka Springs Highlanders were forced to play some of those younger players earlier than expected. With J.M. Gregg missing the game because of semester testing, sophomore Austin Kimbrell had to step up in his place, and after Jacob Holloway got two fouls in the first quarter, sophomore Linzy Wolfinbarger had to play a majority of the first half...

BERRYVILLE -- After a difficult weekend at the NWA Duals in Rogers, the Berryville Bobcats bounced back nicely by defeating the Rogers Heritage War Eagles, 42-21. "We didn't perform as well as we wanted to over the weekend," Berryville coach Matt Ferguson said. "We wanted the guys to wrestle a little tougher. That is what we are all about, the effort, and putting forth more effort than anybody else."...

Days after the Eureka Springs Highlanders gave up 49 points in the first half to the Shiloh Christian Saints, the Berryville Bobcats only allowed 53 for an entire game in a 67-53 victory. "Our defense was pretty decent," Berryville coach Brent Compton said. "We tried not to let them get us out of control. That is their whole philosophy, to try to speed the game up and we tried to stay as under control as we could."...

The Greater Eureka Springs Chamber of Commerce held its annual awards banquet Tuesday night at the Inn of the Ozarks Convention Center, looking back on a sometimes tumultuous 2015 with an optimistic eye toward the future. The chamber introduced Tammy Thurow as its new president and chief operations officer. Although Thurow's hiring was announced earlier this month, Tuesday's banquet marked her first public appearance in her new role, and she addressed the audience briefly...

Diane Murphy presented information on the proposed Eureka Springs Community Center on Tuesday night at the Eureka Springs Chamber of Commerce Banquet. The center, Murphy said, will be built on the property of the old Eureka Springs High School. Murphy is chairwoman of the Eureka Springs Highlander Community Center Foundation; she said the foundation has been working with the Eureka Springs School Board to establish a lease agreement to be completed in 2016...

Dec. 10 Joseph Caustin Butler, 23, Eureka Springs, was booked on revocation. Charles Walter Donahue, 44, Eureka Springs, was booked on court commitment. Gloor Laibwij, 26, Springdale, was booked on failure to appear. Gregory O'Brian Russell, 27, Winston Salem, N.C., was booked on obstructing government operations and reckless driving...

The Eureka Springs Community Center is one step closer to becoming a reality. Eureka Springs School District Superintendent Bryan Pruitt said at Tuesday night's school board meeting that he will be signing the contract agreement between the school district and the Eureka Springs Highlander Community Center Foundation this week. Once the contract is signed, Pruitt said the district's legal counsel will look it over...

The building pictured in Tuesday's Midweek issue was an apartment building when the photo was snapped. But it was built by Dr. J. R. Parker in 1931 as the Berryville Hospital, located on East Madison, next to First Baptist Church. When it began to fail, possibly because of Parker's death, Dr. ...

While growing up, every Christmas season I would watch one of the film adaptations of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" (I still watch and think that George C. Scott's rendition is the best of the lot). The most frightening scene, regardless of the version, was always the Ghost of Christmas Future's knurled finger pointing at Scrooge's gravestone...

If you're enjoying the holidays with a drink, the Carroll County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) has a message for you: Drive sober or get pulled over. A press release from CCSO says officers will be actively searching for and arresting drunk drivers from Dec. 18 to Jan. 3 because of the increase in alcohol-related fatalities around the holidays each year. Officers will be increasing the number of patrols and using local media to reach out to all drivers during this time, the release says...

On Monday evening, students from Elite Dance Studios in Berryville went caroling. Employees and patrons alike at Price Cutter, Sears, and Dollar General were delighted to see the group of dancers and singers, ages 5 through 18, perform their own rendition of 'Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.' (Photo by Tavi Ellis/Carroll County News)...

An 18-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a burglary at Towering Oaks Church on Highway 62 West in Berryville, according a press release from the Carroll County Sheriff's Office. According to the release, Trevor Schanke was arrested on Wednesday, Dec. 16, after admitting his involvement to CCSO investigators...

Eureka Springs city council passed a law with an emergency clause during Monday night's meeting to raise water rates. Aldermen voted 4-1 in favor of the law. James DeVito and Terry McClung were absent and Mayor Butch Berry voted in favor of the law. Aldermen struck out references to sewer in the Ordinance 2234...

The Green Forest School Board on Monday agreed to purchase a property from Reliable Poultry for $300,000, putting the plan for a new maintenance and transportation building into motion. Superintendent Matt Summers said the property is about 8,000 square feet and features a mechanic pit, office space, bathrooms and showers. It is located at 1003 Venture St. in Green Forest...

The Berryville School Board voted to restructure the district's finance department Monday night. Superintendent Phil Clark explained that the restructuring will include job duty changes and a new salary schedule for the four positions in that department, likely costing the district $35,000 more per year. Clark said the extra expense would be the result of changing salary schedules...

A tractor-trailer sits on the side of U.S. Highway 62 between Berryville and Green Forest on Wednesday after the trailer buckled and collapsed. (Photo by Melody Strodtman/Carroll County News)

The Berryville City Council approved the city's 2016 budget Tuesday night. Revenues in the proposed budget are: $2,963,000 for the general fund; $42,800 for the cemetery; $597,000 for the community center; $39,000 for the community center depreciation; $75,300 for the industrial park; $387,000 for the parks commission; $163,700 for retirement funds; $69,100 for Saunders Museum; $54,300 for the swimming pool; $31,500 for tourism; $1,499,000 for streets; $1,590,000 for the sewer system; $424,000 for the sewer bond; $120,600 for sewer depreciation; $1,863,000 for the water system; and $1,345,500 for the half cent sales tax.. ...