Stories from Tuesday, June 21, 2016

The city of Berryville and the Chamber of Commerce are teaming up again this year to set off the Fire on the Mountain fireworks display. Chris Claybaker, economic development director for the city of Berryville and executive director of the Berryville Chamber of Commerce, said Fire on the Mountain is an annual Fourth of July celebration for the city. ...

Carroll County lost one of its most dedicated advocates for the health and safety of children last week. Dr. Merlin Leach, the founder of the Merlin Foundation, died Wednesday, June 15. He was 71. Leach founded the Merlin Foundation with his wife, Anita Engert, in 1993 as a way to provide assistance to victims of child abuse, rape and domestic violence in the Ozark Mountain region of Northwest Arkansas. ...

While Green Forest will never forget the sacrifice of Tommy Ratzlaff, a native of the city who gave his life while serving overseas as a U.S. Navy SEAL, the annual Rat Race 5K helps the community move forward from its loss. That was the opinion of Nancy Ratzlaff, Tommy Ratzlaff's mother, as she watched people from across Carroll County and the state participate in the event...

A traffic accident Saturday night on Highway 62 west of Eureka Springs left two people dead and another in jail facing charges of negligent homicide. A preliminary report from the Arkansas State Police says 44-year-old David Magee and 45-year-old Marquita Magee, both of Barnsdall, Okla., died after another driver crossed the center line and struck their motorcycle...

What started as a fairly routine meeting of the Carroll County Quorum Court on Monday, beginning with a series of unanimous votes on appointments and appropriations, turned a bit testy when justices of the peace considered a proposed ordinance to regulate unsanitary conditions on property in the county...

HOLIDAY ISLAND--The Holiday Island Suburban Improvement District Board of Commissioners approved a $192,947 bid during its meeting Monday from Hutchens Construction Company. It was one of two bids for chip and seal and concrete hot mix overlay work. The Hutchens bid was more than $75,000 less than a bid from Marion County Paving, LLC...

I didn't get a Father's Day phone call from either of my sons on Sunday, but I'm not angry at them about it. Some of you readers may recall that both of my sons are members of the Marine Corps Reserves. Their unit, based at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock, is currently on summer drill in Twentynine Palms, Calif. ...

The recent auction of tax-delinquent properties in Carroll County collected more than $46,000 for county and state government, the commission of state lands announced. The land commission's office conducted the auction of delinquent properties recently at the Best Western Inn of the Ozarks in Eureka Springs. The auction drew 17 bidders and sold 10 parcels for a total of $46,147.33 for Carroll County and state government...

Want a little relief from the heat? Here's a picture to help remind you that winter will be here soon (notice the snow blowing across the picture.)This week's 'Then' picture is obviously older and the log, as noted at top, is 6,000 pounds. Some of the details written on the front have been blurred out and will be revealed in Friday's Weekend edition, along with additional details and a photo of the location as it currently appears. ...

The Carroll County Legend baseball team brought out the brooms this weekend in Berryville, going 5-0 to claim the 10-year old Cal Ripken district championship. Coach Chad Hipps is very proud of the way his team played. "It's the same team that I had from last year," Hipps said. "We started practicing real early and so we have played a lot of baseball."...

Green Forest native and U.S. Navy SEAL Tommy Ratzlaff is gone, but he will never be forgotten. Ratzlaff graduated from Green Forest High School in 1995 and entered the Navy in the same year. He worked his way up the ranks and became a member of the elite SEAL Team VI. ...

I would make for a terrible sports bookie. The Golden State Warriors had won 73 games during the regular season. The Cleveland Cavaliers were down 3-1 heading back to Golden State, where the Warriors had lost three games all year, and they had three chances to close out Cleveland, two of which were at home. ...

The Berryville Lady Bobcat basketball team returned home from a three-day basketball camp in Little Rock last week where they faced the likes of Pulaski Academy, Prairie Grove and Central Arkansas Christian. Coach Daniel Cornelison went into the camp wanting to see growth from his team and he believes he saw it...

For my money, the greatest devotional book ever written is "The Magnificent Defeat," by Frederick Buechner. It is a collection of meditations based on talks he delivered to college students long before I was born. His words, decades later, are as relevant and as profound as ever...