Like many high schoolers and college grads, young Arkansas black bears will be striking out on their own early this summer to find their place in the world. Unfortunately, just like young humans, the bears may find themselves in some sticky situations as they learn the ropes of life without a net for the first time. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission usually sees an uptick in nuisance bear complaints each spring and almost all of the culprits are young males that are looking for new territory.
“It’s part of how Mother Nature works,” Myron Means, AGFC large carnivore program coordinator, said. “When it’s time for a female bear to start working on a new litter of cubs, she will allow her daughters to stay in part of her territory, but she chases the young males away. It helps prevent inbreeding and promotes the expansion of the species. But it also means those young males will be on the move, looking for a new place to call home.”
That search can sometimes land bears in people’s backyards, where they find an easy meal and become a nuisance. According to Means, 90 percent of the calls received by the AGFC about nuisance bears stem from the bears finding food in the form of unsecured trash cans, loose pet food and bird feeders. The problem can be solved quickly with the removal or securing of those attractants.
“That bear is looking for a new place to live, so if you take away anything that attracts it, it usually will move on fairly quickly,” Means said. “Ninety percent of the nuisance calls we get can be handled simply by removing the easy meal.”
The problem often arises when people encourage them to stay or think they’re helping by putting out more food for the wayward bruin. Once that bear begins to lose its fear of people, it can become more aggressive or damage property seeking more food. With no negative response to the bad behavior, the bear doesn’t know any better than to continue seeking food and pushing its way around.
“That’s not good for people, and removing it isn’t good for the bear,” Means said. “It’s best to simply stop the feeding and make sure the bear gets the hint that it’s not welcome from the beginning.”
Means and other biologists from throughout the Southeast have worked together to help people learn more about bears and how to live in areas where bears may be present. Together, they formed a special website to deliver bear safety tips and information. Visit www.bearwise.org to learn more.
On Saturday, May 8, the South Sebastian County Trap Team hosted the first annual Peace Keepers vs. Trap Shooters event.
“I want these kids to know and respect our law enforcement,” shared Head Coach Lisa Buckley.
Officers from Huntington, Hartford, Mansfield, and Barling participated in the friendly competition. The trap team students are from Hackett, Mansfield, and Fort Smith.
The team will head to Jacksonville on May 13, to compete in a regional tournament.
After beating Charleston 10-6 for 3rd in District, the Hackett Lady Hornets strapped on their Regional wings and flew into the first round of the 3A Softball Region 1 Tournament. The Lady Hornets were prepped and ready to take on the West Fork Lady Tigers and after 7 hard-fought innings, the Lady Hornets stamped their ticket to State with a 15-5 victory. Madeline Freeman led the offensive invasion as she scored 5 RBI on 2 hits. Running as if they were being chased by zombies (the fast ones not the slow ones) was Kayla Richardson, Olivia Bouse, and Shayla Foster who each hooked triple runs. Madi Taylor, MacKenzie Mendenhall, and Richardson got their hands on one stolen base each. Pitcher, Kayla Richardson, helped with the win as she worked five innings, striking out six.
Olivia Bouse and Jamye Durham
Moving on to the semifinal round of Regionals, the Lady Hornets knew it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park as they were tasked with taking on sports giants, the Booneville Lady Bearcats. Unfazed by what lie ahead, Hackett suited up and hoped for the best. With Booneville laying down 9 runs in the first inning, the Lady Hornets were unable to respond and the game ended 14-1 Booneville. Down but not out, Hackett had a chance for 3rd Place glory as they went head-to-head with the #4 team in 3A, the Valley Springs Lady Tigers. Both teams brought their A-games to the dirt during the fierce finale of Regional play.
Kayla Richardson and Emma Infalt
After eight Herculean innings and being tied 5-5 at the close of the seventh, Hackett topped the eighth with one more run but took a fall when Valley Springs homered in the bottom securing two runs and ending the game 7-6. Madi Taylor was the head honcho in the runs category with twins while Richardson, Bouse, Foster, and Lexi Gann each netted a single. The Lady Hornets had 0 errors in the field and 21 putouts with Alona Rothwell and Sarah White tieing with 7 apiece. It’s now on to the State Tournament where the Hackett Lady Hornets will play on Thursday, May 13 at Ashdown against Baptist Prep at 3 pm. Should the girls carry on, they will then face the winner of the Ashdown/Rivercrest game.
After an unconventional start to the 2A West Regional Softball Tournament, the Mansfield Lady Tigers not only carried on to earn a seat at State but they made a clean sweep of Regionals to claim champion status. The first round of Regionals was to be played against the Decatur Lady Bulldogs but the Lady Bulldogs forfeited sending Mansfield on to the semifinals. With feet firmly planted, the Lady Tigers, who were next slated to face the Flippin Lady Bobcats, had no intentions of falling from grace. So in doing what the Lady Tigers do best and had done all season long, they left the Lady Bobcats scoreless with a 2-0 final score (thanks to the pitching prowess of Alyson Edwards) and found their spot in the championship round. Making the plays for Mansfield was Edwards who doubled on a line drive advancing Brooklyn Adams home and Adams who passed it forward in the next inning by singling on a line drive allowing Hailey Walker to score a run.
Alyson Edwards and Harlie Fuller
For the conclusion of Regionals, the Lady Tigers took on conference foes, the Acorn Lady Tigers, in a championship battle of top feline. After a painstaking hour and a half rain delay, it was batter up. Both teams stayed ready steady in the first five innings as they played quid pro quo starting the top of the sixth 3-2 Mansfield. But then the ladies in red woke up faster than Sleeping Beauty and delivered 7 big-ticket runs that sent Mansfield over the top with a final score of 10-2 and the title of 2A West Regional Softball Champions. Leading in hits for the Lady Tigers was Adams who handed over 3 along with 2 RBI. Skylynn Harris kept her legs moving faster than Sonic the Hedgehog providing 3 of the 10 runs.
Seniors, Walker and Creekmore and Cole Smith
Harlie Fuller picked up a pair of runs and rounding out the total with a single each was Alexis Chestine, Chloe Creekmore, Kiara Thomas, Cole Smith, and Serenity Brunson. With 21 putouts, Harris along with Creekmore supplied 11 and 8 respectively. The Mansfield Lady Tigers will enter into the State Tournament with a 15-4 total play record. The Lady Tigers will play their first round of State at Carlisle against Fordyce on Thursday, May 13 at 3 pm.
It may not seem like spring with the cool temperatures and the heavy rainfall, but it is, and it is time when high school football programs across the state transition from the spring sports season to the upcoming fall seasons. And new Paris head football coach Jeff Weaver has not let up since the day he was hired a few weeks ago.
Resident Press had planned to photograph the Eagles spring football practice today, but the weather forced the the team indoors. When I visited the team today, the senior high football players were hard at work in the weight room, and their new head football coach was preparing to meet with the team to continue the install of his system. I want to publicly thank Coach Weaver and the entire football staff for allowing me inside today to photograph the players as they worked through their weight and strength training program.
Resident Press Photo
Before the players finished their workout, I had the opportunity to sit down with the new Paris coach to talk about spring football practice and the progress he is seeing in his new team. Coach Weaver was very generous in taking time to visit with me before his meeting with the team, and I sincerely thank him for giving me and the Paris football fans a glimpse into how the program is progressing under his leadership.
I started out our conversation by mentioning to Coach Weaver that one of the many things I have been impressed with him so far is how he has “hit the ground” running since his hire by the Paris school board. Coach Weaver was hired on a Thursday night, and on the very next morning, he met with every group of players in the program, as well as watched the senior high team work out. Coach Weaver is a seasoned head football coach and he knows exactly what he wants to do and how he intends to accomplish the goals that he has for himself and the team.
Resident Press Photo
So, with the rain pouring outside, Coach and I visited in the quiet office that would precede his players meeting. Coach Weaver began by saying, “From what I am used to, I am a little worried about the late start (having been hired in late April). Coming in late April, having spring ball right around the corner…so it was real important to me to get over and observe and get to know the kids and coaches. I really spent two weeks more or less just watching and planing for our spring. I was immediately impressed by the work ethic of the kids. I think the staff has done a great job of holding them together during the time they were going through the head coaching search, and the kids enjoyed last season’s success and are hungry to go out and duplicate or even improve on that. So, I have been really impressed with the team; there is no entitlement attitude here. The kids are fired up and are going to work. Now that we have started spring practice, I continue to see that. I feel like we have the potential to have a really good football team.”
Resident Press Photo
Now that baseball season has ended and Coach Weaver has those players in his program for the duration of the 2021 football season, I asked Coach where he felt the team was with respect to their progress in learning his system and installing terminology and concepts into the playbook for 2021. Coach Weaver said, “We have really focused on offense so far, because we will keep our base defense with Coach Baxter being the defensive coordinator. We plan our third practice, which now will be on Thursday, to be more defensive, but we have had a few days of offensive practice. The good thing is what they (Paris) did the last three years offensively and what we will do this year moving forward will be similar. To the naked eye, it will probably look somewhat like the same, but it’s a lot of new terminology, and there are little changes that are being made here and there. But since our kids are already use to that, it’s not like coming in from a “ground and pound style” to something totally different. It’s very similar. So I think we are able to get quite a bit in right away. We are behind, but a lot of people are due to baseball, track, etc. But I feel like we are not so far behind that we can’t get to where we need to be by the end of June. I like to have everything pretty much in by the end of June.”
Having a senior-heavy team will help the new coach in the rapid install of his system for the upcoming season. Coach remarked, “It makes it a lot easier to have, especially, a three year starter returning at quarterback…again, there is new terminology that he and I can go in and watch film, go through our drill, all of those sort of things, and communicate really quickly. We’ve go running backs back, we have linemen back…we have moved players to receiver just because of how we like to use certain plays to get the ball to different positions. Those guys have made the move and are doing really well. So, the experience that they bring has certainly made it a lot easier to install.”
Without diving too far into Coach’s strategy on how he may attack certain opponents on his schedule, I asked him about his offense and defense’s ability to play against a variety of offensive attacks, including the physical, flexbone attacks of West Fork and Booneville. Again without divulging too much detail, I will just leave it at this: Coach knows what he wants to do, and his team will be prepared. That is all I am going to say, but in our conversation, I was impressed by a coach who “has done this before”, and he and the Eagles will not be afraid of anyone.
In fact, Paris will still be the bigger team against many of their opponents on the 2021 schedule. So it will not be as if Paris will be playing with a decided size disadvantage this coming season. Coach Weaver added, “I think their (the Eagles) experience last year against these teams (West Fork, Booneville, and others) makes our kids not afraid of anybody and we just have to go out and execute our stuff.”
Depending on the outcome of the Paris Lady Eagles’ title run this week and potentially next weekend, Resident Press will be at one of the late week spring football practices next week to bring you photos of the action and more comments and reactions from Jeff Weaver. Coach Weaver reminded me that anyone is welcome to attend the Paris football practices. The late practices next week will have scrimmages that could include live contact as part of their preparation. There will not be a blue / white game at the end of spring ball, but he encourages the public to come out and see the scrimmage components of the individual practices. Spring practice will end on approximately May 25. The final two Fridays will have significant scrimmages included in the practices.
Resident Press Photo
Moving into the summer, Coach Weaver has the team scheduled to participate in 7-on-7 scrimmages to get in extra offensive reps before August pre-season practice begins. Coach said, “We have a 7-on-7 tournament in June at Poyen (located west of Sheridan), another in July at Clinton, and a team camp at Clarksville in June. I am looking for a couple of more team camps. And then there are some 7-on-7 passing leagues in Russellville that Dardanelle hosts that I am probably going to put us in, as well. I have always done quite a bit of 7-on-7; I enjoy them and I think the kids enjoy them. Every year, I will always have us in two or three tournaments. I created one when I was the coach at Little Rock Christian.”
Coach Weaver and the Paris football program will hold a meeting next Tuesday, May 18, at 7 p.m., at the high school cafeteria of all football players and parents of students who will be in grades 8-12 in the 2021-22 school year. I will publish this announcement on Facebook at Paris Eagles Sports as well. Coach Weaver asked me to spread the word of this important football parents/players meeting next Tuesday at PHS.
So…Eagles fans….are you getting excited? I am…I left Coach Weaver’s office wishing the new football season was starting this Friday night! But, it will be a busy spring and summer for the football Eagles, and before you know it, they will be reporting for fall practice, and a short time after that, it will be time for the pre-season practice. And then…just a little more than a week later, the season will start!
So stay with Resident Press as we bring you all of the latest and the most complete coverage of Paris Eagles football!
The “Waldron War” took place during the Reconstruction period and was marked by violence. Armed conflict between warring factions broke out in Waldron, Scott County, in West Central Arkansas in the Summer of 1875. Murder and arson left the town in a state of lawlessness.
A trip down Highway 71 to the Abbott area of Pleasant Grove #2 Cemetery will pique your interest in this historical event. It is there you will find a headstone engraved: “JOHN L DAVENPORT ASSASSINATED by the Waldron Ring Feb. 6, 1878”
The assassination of the well-known Scott County man, John L. “Shabe” Davenport, occurred at the peak of the Waldron War. Years prior, Governors Garland and Miller had utilized the state militia forces to maintain peace. Lawlessness left the city in ashes and the government struggled to restore order.
Davenport was from the northern part of the county. After receiving news of his death, a mob gathered just north of Hon at Lookout Gap. The mob rode through Hon on its way to Waldron. However, the overflowing Poteau River caused them to turn back.
Civil unrest reigned in the area following Davenport’s death. In fact, it was years later before order was restored in the county.
Are you interested in learning how to know if you have what it takes to be a logger? If so, read on to learn some of the responsibilities and challenges inherent to the profession. Logging is a rewarding but incredibly difficult career. It’s not for the faint of heart. However, people up to the task benefit by working with their hands in beautiful, outdoor settings.
Physical Strength
The logging profession puts a tremendous amount of pressure on its workers’ bodies. Many of the responsibilities and positions of a logger require them to be in top physical condition. Workers distinguish between specialized roles by using a whole collection of logging terminology.
Tree climbers, for instance, strap on harnesses and climb trees while carrying heavy equipment. They scale trees to remove the trees’ limbs. Buckers also have a very physically demanding job. They use chainsaws to cut felled trees down to their desired lengths. If you think you’re in good enough shape to take on these tasks, logging may be a viable career path.
Great Reflexes
Though the industry invests heavily into safety for its employees, logging sites are still dangerous places. Loggers need to contend with the constant threat of several tons of wood crashing onto them from above.
Fallers—the loggers that cut down trees with chainsaws—need to be ready to leap out of the way if the tree they’re cutting falls back onto them. The chokermen are in even more danger. They cross fields covered with huge logs to strap hooks and cables onto downed trees. At any moment, the logs can crush them, so constant surveillance and strong reflexes are a must for this job. Think about whether you can handle that kind of pressure.
Comfortable Outside
Logging is an outdoor industry, which can be its greatest appeal to many loggers. But no one should go into logging believing that it will be all blue skies and rainbows. If you want to figure out how to know if you have what it takes to be a logger, you should ask yourself how much you would enjoy working in the rain. You may also find that bugs surround you on many days. Working with frozen hands in cold climates is also a likely possibility.
Attention to Detail
Logging isn’t just about brute strength or rough-and-tumble grit. A good portion of the work can be mental as well.
Log graders and scalers are responsible for measuring logs to determine their volume. Furthermore, they examine logs for defects. Log sorters mark and organize felled trees based on their species, ownership, and size. If you would like to take on either of these positions, you must have a keen sense of observation and order.
Pictured: Mansfield produced 3 All-State throwers at the Class 2A State Track and Field Championships on May 5. Skylynn Harris, Bri Sanderson, and Brooke Wright are pictured after claiming their high marks.
Mansfield’s track team was looking for more, but the bounty they hauled home from the class 2A State Track Meet in Gurdon on May 5 was still pretty good. With a pair of outstanding performances off the women’s team and another two from the men’s squad, the Tigers brought back four All-State performances and a renewed indication the MHS spring sport is back on track.
Brooke Wright headlined the afternoon for the Mansfield senior girls team. The All-State volleyball player as well as the Class 2A State Volleyball Tournament MVP, turned in another outstanding performance. Although in a different arena, Wright was right at home in her next best sport, the discus throw.
The senior, multi-sport athlete won the discus event with a career-best heave. In a highly competitive showdown with Janet Ridley of Yellville-Summit, Wright met the challenge with a final mark of 104’ 3” for the win and All-State honors.
Mansfield pinned three more names to the All-State list as the day moved forward. Teammate Skylynn Harris led for a moment in the shot put finals before getting knocked out of first by a mere 8 inches. Harris still met the All-State criteria with a silver medal, second place toss of 34’ 7’.
Ryan Hayslip off the boys’ team climbed into the high rankings next with a personal record in the pole vault. The junior vaulter, who picked up the vertical jumps event late last season before the Covid strike, had a fantastic day. Going over a height of 11’ 6” for the first time, the rookie jumper edged into second place narrowly missing first by 4 inches.
Mansfield’s Ryan Hayslip clears the opening height at the 2A State Track Meet. Hayslip goes on to clear a personal record 11′ 6″ to claim state runner-up and All-State status for his effort
As second place in a state track event assured Hayslip All-State status, teammate Bri Sanderson did similarly at the discus ring. Sanderson, a mammoth thrower for the Tiger men’s team, took second place with a throw of 133’ 9”.
Sanderson was in stiff competition with Jaxon Walker of Caddo Hills. The pair had been bouncing between first and second in the state rankings most of the season. At Gurdon, Walker woke up to beat the Mansfield native with a huge throw of his own.
The early field events were Mansfield’s main source of production. The Tiger women took the morning lead and held serve for a good portion of the day. With high marks in the long jump and 100m hurdles, their point production unfortunately nearly reached its peak with limited scoring opportunities remaining.
The MHS girls were unable to keep pace as a tight race at the top of the standings got even tighter. They did hold on for sixth place among the potential 64 team bracket after flirting inside the top five team standings until the final race of the night.
Yellville-Summit, the favorites in the women’s division before the day started, had to win the final relay race to claim the 2A State Title. The new state champs did just that leaping ahead of Bigelow with a 10 point victory in the 4x400m relay.
Bigelow, who had a one-point lead over Yellville-Summit going into the last event, only managed third place in the relay.
Yellville-Summit won the women’s team title with 89 points. Bigelow took runner-up with 86. Lisa Academy (80), Melbourne (76), and Parker’s Chapel (67.5) rounded out the top five.
Mansfield pole vaulters Haylee Helms and Faith Rainwater prepare for the state finals in Gurdon on May 5
Mansfield closed at 67 points losing out on a chance to claim their 13th state track title by a narrow 22 points.
The Mansfield men muscled up 30 points to form a tie with Melbourne for 8th place in the team standings. District 2A-4 conference rival Acorn won the men’s state championship with 90 points.
The MHS Tigers scored in the shot put with Sanderson’s fourth-place toss of 43’ 9”. They added a fifth-place nudge from Tyler Escalante in the 400m dash at 55.84.
Tommy Phang sprinted a 200m dash in 25.30 to give them 2 more points from a seventh place mark. Phang also anchored the seventh-place 4x200m relay team with Escalante, John Branche, and Victor Steffen to complete their scoring.
The Lady Tigers pushed their total forward with 6 points off a third-place discus finish by Harris (92’ 4”). Makayla Strutton also claimed third-place points with a career-best 17.22 clocking in the 100m hurdle finals.
Danielle Lillie (17.91) and Madelen Jones (17.95) followed close behind as Mansfield went third, fifth, and sixth in the 100m hurdles.
Strutton, Lillie, and Jones teamed with Faith Rainwater to take fifth in the 4x100m relay.
Strutton also claimed fifth in the 300m hurdles with another personal record. She navigated the eight barrier race in 51.83.
Thrice more Mansfield took the fifth. Jones went 15’ 3” in the long jump finals for fifth. Jones, Lillie, Strutton, and Jadelynn Wood went 4:40.56 in the 4x400m relay for fifth. Then, Hope Rainwater, Wood, Darby Jones, and Faith Rainwater went fifth in the 4x800mrelay at 11:44.67.
Haylee Helms and Faith Rainwater both jumped 7 feet in the pole vault for sixth and seventh place respectively. Wright took seventh in the shot put at 28’ 3.5”.
Senior Victor Steffen takes a memory photo with track coaches Josh Bryan, John Mackey, and Kaylie Pyles at the conclusion of the 2A State Track Championships. Steffen was the leading scorer for the Tigers at the district level. He advanced to the state finals in the 110m hurdles, 300m hurdles, and 4x200m relay
Darby Jones and Faith Rainwater went seventh (2:51.59) and eighth (2:54.68) in the 800m run to round out the Lady Tiger scoring.
Helms, Shelby Cole, Natalie Allison, and Wood made the finals of the 4x200m relay but failed to point. Allison made the finals of the triple jump and high jump but was short of the scoring marks as well.
Sarah Fisher made the 200m prelims but her 33.06 time did not advance. Faith Rainwater and Darby Jones ran the 3200m run but were taxed from earlier races and did not crack the top eight places.
Wright, who claimed her individual state discus title on her next to the last throw, will now advance to the Meet of Champions.
The MOC is populated by the six state champions from each state classification for each event. The next best 12 state marks regardless of classification are also invited to complete two heats per event.
This year’s Meet of Champs is scheduled for 1:00 PM on May 15 at Harding University in Searcy.
After earning the titles of Conference and District Champions, the Mansfield Tigers added yet another trophy to their case after spending the past week trouncing the competition in the 2A West Regional Tournament. The Tigers started tournament play on May 6 when they took on Cotter in the first round. By the time the seven innings were up, Mansfield pitchers, Zayne Dugan and Trey Vaughan had catapulted the Tigers past the Warriors in a 3-0 victory while also sealing their bid to State. The Tiger pitching duo combined for 10 strikeouts and 78 total pitches. Securing the runs with a single each was Fisher Willsey, Cody Fudge, and Nate Brewer who along with Drew Elmore, contributed 2 steals each of the 9 stolen bases.
Drew Elmore
For the semifinal round, Mansfield hit the dirt against Yellville where they issued another blowout win taking the Panthers for a ride to a 12-2 final score. Drew Elmore took over on the mound for the Tigers and went 5 innings only allowing 2 runs on 3 hits along with 10 strikeouts and 83 pitches. It took only two innings for the Tigers to earn their payday as they brought home 8 runs in the second inning and 4 in the fourth. Mansfield also walked away with 9 hits and 11 RBI. Since you can’t have the hop without the hip, the Tigers continued their fantastic voyage straight into the championship round of Regionals.
Peyton Martin
After an hour and a half rain delay, the Mansfield Tigers and the Mountainburg Dragons were ready to slug it out. And slug it out they did. It took seven innings and 13 hits but by the end of the night, Mansfield was victorious 11-6 and stood tall as the new 2A West Regional Baseball Tournament Champions. Vaughan and Nate Brewer (4 RBI) led the Tigers ambush with 3 runs each followed by Peyton Martin with 2, and Aaron Brewer, Willsey, and Elmore with 1 each. Mansfield made 21 putouts with Fudge making 7 and Randy Claude and Nate Brewer making 5 each along with 0 errors.
#13 Randy Claude and pitcher, Zayne Dugan
The Mansfield Tigers are sitting with a 20-7 record as they regroup and prepare for State which kicks off on Thursday, May 13. The 2A Tigers will travel 3 hours east as they head to Carlisle for Round 1. Mansfield will first face Horatio at 3 pm and if they move on, they will then face the winner of the McCrory/Salem match the following day.
