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Magazine RB Eats Yard Markers For Breakfast

Sports

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2:49 pm

Magazine RB Eats Yard Markers For Breakfast

Have you ever seen a rattlesnake hunt? They use stealth and speed and strike their prey with extreme precision and force. A rattler’s prey never knew what hit em’ until it’s too late. That’s exactly what Magazines Sr High Running Back, Caleb Hyatt, does to defenders week in and week out. At 6’1 and 200lbs, senior Hyatt excels at playing ground and pound football which is something rarely seen on the field these days with spread offenses taking over the game.

Many overlook small-town players deeming them as weak due to a “lack of competition.” The Rattlers defeated 2A powerhouses such as Hackett, Hector, and routed Carlisle last season on their way to the second round of State Playoffs. But in Caleb Hyatt’s case, the numbers speak for themselves, not the competition. In the Rattlers 2018 season, Hyatt rushed for 1,328 yards averaging 6.6 yards per carry and scored an astounding 16 touchdowns. He also accounted for 14 catches for 148 yards and a touchdown in the Rattlers passing game.

Head Football Coach, Doug Powell, has been coaching this football dynamo since he was in the seventh grade. “He is goal-driven and loves challenges,” Powell says of Hyatt. “I think his best strength is his competitiveness but play wise he works hard for extra yards.” Those close to Caleb would say he is what I like to call a Super S3 Player. Someone who is overly blessed with size, speed, and strength. From the day he could pick up a football and start playing, Caleb has become as successful as he is because of his inspiring work ethic that is easily noticed by those around him. That coupled with his drive to be better than he was the day before, is what makes him a force to be reckoned with.

Caleb Hyatt started playing football when he was in the first grade. He decided to give it a shot when some of his friends signed up to play. And it’s a good thing that he did because since then, Caleb has been crushing the competition while leaving everyone in his dust. Along with football, Caleb also enjoys participating in track and spending time with his dogs and friends in his free time. After high school, Caleb has plans to attend college.

Photos provided by Lawaynea Cox

Lady Bulldogs Serve Up Success At V-ball Camp

Sports

Megan Hecox

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1:40 pm

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Lady Bulldogs Serve Up Success At V-ball Camp

Over a period of three days, the Waldron Lady Bulldog 7-12 grade volleyball teams took part in an informational and encouraging volleyball camp. The Jane Sargent Camp was a great way to get the girls prepared for the upcoming season. Over 20 Lady Bulldogs showed up ready to fine-tune their skills while having fun in the process.

During the course of the camp, the girls were able to learn several new drills from the basics of volleyball. The camp was informational for the coaches as well because they got to learn new drills that can be incorporated into their daily practices. The camp starts from the bottom and breaks down the basic volleyball fundamentals. Each day the Lady Bulldogs worked their way through certain skills and on the last day a scrimmage was held where the girls were able to show off everything that they have been working on. The Lady Bulldogs will get their volleyball season underway with the Varsity squad participating in a benefit game against Lavaca on August 20 at 430 pm in Lavaca.

Ladd Announces Candidacy For New Sebastian County Circuit Judge Seat

Headlines

Tammy Teague

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5:41 pm

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Ladd Announces Candidacy For New Sebastian County Circuit Judge Seat

Dianna Hewitt Ladd has announced that she will be a candidatefor the Sebastian County Judge’s position, which was just recently added by the Arkansas Legislature. “I am very excited that the Arkansas Legislature has added another Judge’s position to help relieve our current caseload in Sebastian County. This will mean quicker and better access to the Courts for Sebastian County residents.” The election for the new position will be held on March 3, 2020. This particular position will hear family law cases such as Juvenile cases, Adoptions, Guardianships and Probate, as well as Civil disputes. “It is important that that Sebastian County elects someone who has professional and personal insight into these very emotional cases.”

“For nearly 20 years, I have been helping Sebastian Countyfamilies and individuals through complex and emotional legal matters. More often than not, the Courts are involved. Helping people move through the Courts and to the other side of a problematic situation is very rewarding. The most natural next step for my work in the community is public service.”

Ladd, 50, earned a Bachelor’s degree in 1996 from John Brown University where she was on the Dean’s and President’s Academic lists. She graduated with a Juris Doctorate Degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 2000.

“As a Judge, I would ensure integrity and fairness are paramount. It is critically important that Sebastian County residents have confidence that they will receive a fair day in Court, without politics or favoritism playing a part, and that they have a Judge who has real experience.”

Ladd has been a resident of the River Valley for about 40 years. After graduating from law school, she resided in Greenwood andworked in private practice. “While District Court and Circuit Court are very different, I have extensive experience in both Courts. I have tried hundreds of cases in Sebastian County Circuit Court and have served as the District Court Prosecuting Attorney for several area cities within and outside of Sebastian County for approximately 17 years. I have also served as a Special Judge numerous times during my legal career. “

She currently serves on the School Board for Immaculate Conception School in Fort Smith and she actively volunteers for the Don Reynolds Crisis Intervention Center as a Sexual Assault Response Advocate. After serving as an active member for the Junior League of Fort Smith from 2008-2015, she continues to support the non-profit as a Sustainer. She has also served as a member of Women with A Mission for the Mercy Health Foundation and was a former Cabinet Head for Greenwood Division of the United Way, as well as a former President of the South Sebastian County Lion’s Club. Ladd received an award for Best Oral Advocate in law school and was in the Time Record Best of the Best top 3 for 2018. She is licensed to practice law in all Arkansas trial Courts, the Arkansas Court of Appeals and the Arkansas Supreme Court, as well as the 8^thCircuit Court of Appeals. She and her husband Jeff Laddcelebrated their 20^th wedding anniversary in July. They reside in Fort Smith with their two children, Reece and Knox.

Need A Healthy Yummy Breakfast? Try This!

Resident News Network

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1:08 pm

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Need A Healthy Yummy Breakfast? Try This!

Recently, our family traveled to Tampa, Florida to visit my brother and his family. We arrived late that night after 18 hours on the road, and we were ready to sleep. The next morning, we woke up to this sweet aroma cooking in the kitchen! Of coarse, my nose had to follow the smell. My sister in-law was cooking this delicious Healthy Breakfast Hash. At first, I was a little nervous to try it since I’ve always been a picky eater, and I usually stick with “my ingredients” when creating dishes. However, the smell to this dish was so good that there was no way I could turn it down! Even my kids woke up talking about how wonderful the smell was as it was cooking in the skillet. They couldn’t wait to try it and they are picky eaters too! This is a perfect dish to cook for a lot of people as there was ten of us to feed. Also, when you indulge in it’s goodness, you won’t feel guilty eating it since it’s all healthy and cooked in coconut oil! It’s not a messy prep, and it’s not expensive either! Also, if you have leftovers, this is great warmed up. You could cook it up on Sunday and eat this healthy breakfast all during the week! So, who’s ready for this yummy healthy breakfast? I know I am!

Time to cook up some healthy yummy Breakfast Hash!

Ingredients:

2 Granny Smith Apples (cored and diced into cubes)
1 Large Sweet Potato (diced into cubes)
2 Tablespoons Of Coconut Oil
1 lb. of Ground Sausage
Extra: This is great to serve with a side of scrambled eggs!

Directions:

In a large skillet, place two tablespoons of coconut oil. Once the skillet is warmed, placed the diced sweet potatoes in the skillet. Cook on a medium heat for approximately 10 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are close to becoming soft. You don’t want to cook it too fast, because it will burn. You also don’t want to cook it too long and become mushy. While this is cooking, begin to cook and brown the ground sausage in a separate skillet. After about 10 minutes of cooking the sweet potatoes, add in the diced apples. The apples will cook faster than the sweet potatoes. Make sure you are stirring the skillet frequently so that the apples and sweet potato cubes are not sticking, and everything is being evenly cooked in the heat. During this time, it would be great to cook scrambled eggs to accompany your Healthy Breakfast Hash. Once the sausage is finished, browned, and drained, add it to the skillet with the apples and sweet potatoes. Place the heat on low, and simmer for about 3 minutes with all ingredients together. Then, you are ready to serve!

Enjoy with no guilt!

LL Dragons Ready To Fire-Up 2019 Season

Sports

Megan Hecox

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10:33 am

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If there was a year where the chips were set just right for the Mountainburg Little League Dragons, it would be the 2019 season. The Dragons will face off with all three of their neighbors as they will be hosting Cedarville and traveling to Greenland and West Fork. All of which should be slobber knocker games. To top it off, Mountainburg will host the WCFL North Jamboree and the league has extended its playoffs to six teams rather than the original four team system, to give more programs a shot at earning a spot in the coveted Playoffs. Mountainburg has just one thing that could be holding them back from “Dragon Domination” though. A full roster.

The Mountainburg Little League Dragons program has a goal set for 2019. That goal is quite simple. Growth. The Dragons went through their 2018 season with the same nagging problem bugging them in every game. They were short on players. The Dragons fifth and sixth grade team suited up only 11 players by their first game against Mansfield while the third and fourth grade had merely a few more than that. This season is looking a little bit better, but they could definitely use the community’s help in getting more kids to suit up in Dragon Blue.

Mountainburgs WCFL representative Adam Hamilton said “We’re really looking forward to this season. I am excited about picking up where we left off. Last season, we saw a lot of improvement in skill and confidence of our players. By the end of last year, we were playing some really good football and I honestly believe we could have held our own against anyone.”

It’s been said by some college and professional football coaches that “all you need is 11 players with a little talent and a lot of heart.” Mountainburg definitely has the talent and is LOADED with more heart than most teams they face off against. But it sure wouldn’t hurt to have some more players too. So they’re reaching out to the community to help spread the word. Could you imagine 20 Dragons on each team with the same heart and determination as the 2018 teams had? It would make 2019 an impeccable season for Mountainburgs Little League football program.

District Court Judge to Run for Sebastian County Circuit Court, Division VII

Headlines

Tammy Teague

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10:03 am

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District Court Judge to Run for Sebastian County Circuit Court, Division VII

District Court Judge and Fort Smith native Sam Terry has announced his intent to seek election for Sebastian County Circuit Court, Division VII. The nonpartisan election is scheduled for March 3, 2020.

Terry has an extremely broad range of experience, having engaged in civil litigation representing both plaintiffs and defendants. He is a former deputy prosecuting attorney for Sebastian County, and served as law clerk to Chief U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes. Terry is currently Fort Smith District Court Judge, Division Two, having been appointed by Governor Asa Hutchinson to fill the vacancy in June 2019. The appointment precludes him from running for election in the same role.

He also served as a Trust Officer and Asst. Vice President at First National Bank of Fort Smith. In that position, he handled a wide range of complex legal and business issues, including financial planning and the administration of trusts and estates.

Judge Terry has a long history of leadership in the community including serving as Chairman of the Sebastian County Election Commission, President of the HOPE Humane Society, and President of the Children’s Emergency Shelter Foundation. He is past president of the Sebastian County Bar Association, which was recognized by the Arkansas Bar Foundation as an Outstanding Bar Association during his tenure. A graduate of Leadership Fort Smith, Terry now sits on the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Education Committee which oversees the program, and was involved in the implementation of the successful Junior Leadership Academy.

Judge Terry was previously appointed to serve as Special Associate Justice for the Supreme Court of Arkansas. He is a member of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s Forty under Forty Class of 2018 and a member of the Arkansas Bar Association since 2005, including serving as a member of the House of Delegates. He is also an active member of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church.

“I am excited at this opportunity to continue serving the community I care so much for on the Circuit Court,” said Judge Terry. “This additional circuit position is crucial to Sebastian County’s continued growth and creating a more efficient judicial process for the region. My wide experience and temperament make me well suited for this role, and I will always strive to implement policies of respect, collegiality, fairness, and justice to all who come before the Sebastian County Circuit Court.”

1903 Packsaddle Community Families

Networks

Resident News Network

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11:04 pm

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This wonderful old photo was taken in 1903 from a gathering of related families in the Packsaddle Community of Scott County.

The top row of men, left to right, are listed as: ? Whitmar, Newton MacDaniel, John Pool, Sam Metcalf, and Columbus Edward Smith. The women on the bottom row are listed as: Dora Graves Pool (wife of John above), Aunt Becky Whitmar, Nancy Jane Tidmore Pool Doyle (mother of John above), “Grandma” MacDaniel (mother of Newton above), and Minerva Jane Pool Smith (wife of Edward above). In the center of the photo is the son of John Pool, George.

You will notice the gun belt and pistol on the waist of Columbus Edward Smith. Edward was the law in the Packsaddle Community at the time.

Broadband, the Electricity of Our Time

Networks

Tammy Teague

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4:20 pm

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By Ryan McGeeney
U of A System Division of Agriculture

As the nature of working life continues to shift away from manual labor and local manufacturing, creating a digital ecosystem will likely prove key to revitalizing rural areas.

This was Matt Dunne’s message to those at the 2019 Breakthrough Solutions conference, held in late June in Little Rock. Dunne, founder and executive director of the Center on Rural Innovation, based in Hartland, Vermont, delivered a presentation titled “Stemming the Tide: Creating Digital Ecosystems in Rural Areas.”

One of the building blocks of a digital ecosystem is broadband connectivity. “I could talk for days about broadband,” Dunne said. “It is the electricity of our time.”

Broadband is “the way to connect to marketplaces around the world, to allow education to happen, to have access to information and collaboration.”

Dunne was the keynote speaker for the Breakthrough Solutions conference, the theme of which being “Creating connected communities in in the 21^st century.” The annual conference is hosted by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Breakthrough Solutions Program, which is a partnership initiative with the purpose of equipping communities and regions to prosper in the emerging 21^st century economy.

Breakthrough Solutions is offered through the Community and Economic Development unit of the Cooperative Extension Service, which puts a focus on identifying assets in struggling towns or rural communities, and helping those communities use those assets to build their economies.

Dunne said a common pitfall for rural communities trying to find their way into the digital economy has been that they historically focus on training a potential workforce, without simultaneously developing a local community that will entice that newly-trained workforce to stay.

“Our belief is that you have to do many things at once, and that just focusing on the tech training piece is not going to be your long-term solution,” Dunne said.

He emphasized five things communities need to do, more or less simultaneously: provide education and training for the digital economy; develop an intentionally distributed work community, which can do work for companies located elsewhere; establish entrepreneurship programs; invest in downtown housing; and finally, promote amenities and culture.

“The real core of economic development are the ‘three B’s,’” Dunne said, emphasizing the importance of establishing a social community attractive to a younger workforce: “broadband, blues and beer.”

Mark Peterson, professor of community and economic development for the Division of Agriculture, said Dunne’s presentation connected powerfully with those in attendance, many of whom were community leaders looking for ways to bring their home towns into the mainstream of the modernizing economy.

“Conference participants could see multiple ways in which they can become connected to new resources and strategies to move forward, and several indicated they are ready to go back and make a difference in their communities,” Peterson said.

Emergency Conservation Program Set to Begin

Headlines

Tammy Teague

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3:41 pm

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Emergency Conservation Program Set to Begin

Farms and ranches suffering severe damage are eligible for assistance under the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) administered by the Sebastian/Crawford/Scott County Farm Service Agency (FSA).

For land to be eligible, the natural disaster must create new conservation problems that, if untreated, would:

• be so costly to rehabilitate that Federal assistance is or will be needed to return the land to productive agricultural use

• is unusual and is not the type that would recur frequently in the same area

• affect the productive capacity of the farmland

• impair or endanger the land

A producer qualifying for ECP assistance may receive cost-share levels not to exceed 75 percent of the eligible cost of restoration measures. Eligible socially disadvantaged and beginning farmers and ranchers can receive up to 90 percent of the eligible cost of restoration. No producer is eligible for more than $500,000 cost sharing per natural disaster occurrence.

The following types of measures are eligible:

• removing debris from farmland

• grading, shaping, or releveling severely damaged farmland

• restoring permanent fences

To be eligible for assistance, practices must not be started until all of the following are met:

• an application for cost-share assistance has been filed

• the local FSA County Committee (COC) or its representative has conducted an onsite inspection of the damaged area

• the Agency responsible for technical assistance, such as the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), has made a needs determination, which may include cubic yards of earthmoving, etc., required for rehabilitation

Producers who have suffered a loss from a natural disaster may sign up for ECP from July 22, 2019 through September 19, 2019.

For more information about ECP, please contact the Sebastian/Crawford/Scott County FSA Office at 479-646-8300Ext. 2, Monday – Friday, 8:00 am – 4:30 pm located at 3913 Brooken Hill Drive, Fort Smith, Arkansas.

USDA IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY PROVIDER, EMPLOYER, AND LENDER

Persons with disabilities who require accommodations to attend or participate in this meeting/event/function should contact Kaci Crumb at 479-646-8300 or Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339.

Sr Tigers Strengthen Ties Within Community

Sports

Megan Hecox

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3:24 pm

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Sr Tigers Strengthen Ties Within Community

The Mansfield Tigers are no strangers to working hard on and off of the field. When it comes to team bonding and volunteering for the community that they love, the Sr High football team seems to flawlessly do it all. Recently the Tigers were called in to assist in helping to move an elderly woman from Mansfield uptown to Barling.

Tiger Coach Keith Stovall gives his thoughts on the positive effects of young people and volunteering and what it does for his team, “Volunteering is what keeps a community together. It allows you to connect with people in your community that you may not have known before. Helping in small ways can make the largest difference for another person. To high school students, it allows the opportunity to establish new friendships and expand on their networks. Networks which can provide future opportunities. For our team, it reinforces working together for a common goal which is so vital to success and they develop unity as a team. I couldn’t be more proud of this group of young men in just the numbers that showed up to help. It certainly shows the strength of their character!”

Head Tiger Coach, Tim Cothran, expresses his feelings about this wonderful group of players, “We have a very selfless group of young men. They are shining examples of our community. This is evident in their schooling, the way that they play ball, and the way that they treat one another. I’ve never seen a more selfless bunch willing to give for the good of each other.”

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