Update on Bailey Vann’s battle with cancer: Resident Press has run multiple articles about Bailey Vann and his battle with cancer. October 27th 2018, Bailey Vann underwent surgery to remove a tumor between his heart and lung. He then went through a regiment of Chemotherapy treatments. On Wednesday January 2, 2019, Bailey’s mother, Aliesha Wells, posted this update to her Facebook page, Bailey beating Cancer
“I just received the best Christmas & New Years present a mother could ask for. As many of you know, my oldest son Bailey Vann was diagnosed with cancer in August & he underwent chemo through December. Today we found out he is CANCER FREE!!! What a blessing. God is good! I want to thank everyone for their prayers & support. 2019 is going to be an AMAZING Year!❤🎁🎗 #noonefightsalone #teambailey”
Bailey with his football team.
Bailey was a Senior at Lavaca High School and a member of the football team. Obviously, he had to miss his senior football season. However, his team, friends, Lavaca High School, and the City of Lavaca came together to prove that no one fights alone. Multiple fundraisers were conducted to help Bailey’s family help deal with the financial burdens this dreadful disease causes, and a ton of prayers were sent on Baileys behalf. Lavaca came together like small towns are supposed to do to help a neighbor in need. Aliesha Wells had this to say about the support their family received,
“The entire town of Lavaca did so much to help. Davin Green & Christy Marshall were instrumental in putting together fundraisers. Also a very special thanks to the staff at Lavaca High School for their support & assistance in ensuring Bailey was able to keep up with school work via the special assignments they offered. The entire town of Lavaca was a blessing to us in our time of need & we will be forever grateful.”
(Mark 2:1-12) A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. “So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
We see in this story that Jesus has the power and authority to not only forgive someone’s sin but also to heal them. First, let me mention, these men who took the paralyzed man to Jesus. These men literally took the roof off to get their friend to Jesus. Jesus had such a reputation, because everyone was following him just to hear and be near him. Even the “teachers” knew his reputation. They followed Jesus everywhere hoping to see him mess up or say something that was wrong.
There is always going to be people in your life watching and hoping that you mess up. We need to surround ourselves with people like those guys who took the roof for their friend. When we have people to talk to and to help us get through difficult times in our lives, life will be a lot easier. Also, we need to be friends to other people like these guys in the scripture. Above everything else, we need to have a relationship with Jesus, because without him, this story wouldn’t even be in the bible. We don’t have to wait until we are perfect to come to Him. If we do that, then we will never be ready for Him. Jesus wants us to come as we are and He will begin to perfect us. He is the only one who can wash our sins away and give us life.
Bro. Jacob Hopkins and his fiancé, Loren Lale
A little about Bro. Jacob Hopkins…
Bro. Jacob Hopkins is 26 years old and has lived in Mansfield his whole life. He attends Mansfield Assembly of God and has been preaching for about three years. Bro. Jacob just loves to go preach where ever he might be asked and has spoke at churches around the Mansfield area.
Bro. Jacob is attending University of Arkansas Fort Smith and seeking a degree in Engineering . He currently works at Heartland Pharmacy in Mansfield. He just recently got engaged to his fiancé, Loren Lale. His hobbies are watching movies and of coarse hanging out with his fiancé.
When we asked Bro. Jacob when he felt he was called into the ministry, he told us, “I felt the Lord put in my heart one day that I should preach for my church sometime. If you knew me in school, I wasn’t that out going and would never get up and talk in front of a crowd. In my mind I was telling myself that I don’t need to do that. Then one day my pastor asked if I would preach sometime for him and I knew that was from the Lord.”
By Tammy Moore Teague
The Arkansas Department of Education announced today that local educator, Tracie Opolka, will receive a $1,000 sponsorship to attend the Computer Science Teachers Association Annual Conference this summer.
Opolka is a teacher within the Hackett School District. She and 17 other educators across the state received the sponsorship. These will assist educators with expanding their knowledge of computer science and give them the opportunity to network with other educators from around the world at the CSTA Conference, which will be held July 7-10, 2019 in Phoenix, AZ.
The sponsorships, according to the news release from the ADE, were open to Arkansas K-12 public school teachers, librarians, curriculum, coordinators, counselors, and other educators who have demonstrated their commitment to technology integration and computer science education at their school or district. Educators were selected by an impartial committee of ADE employees and statewide computer science specialists, who reviewed all the applications.
Congratulations to Opolka and to the Hackett School District.
Mansfield High School cheerleader, Caroline Nicodemus, has been named 2018 All-State Cheer. Caroline is a senior at MHS and has been cheering since the 8th grade. She has a deep love for cheer and many other sports including softball which she is planning on playing in college. Caroline would also like to major in Early Childhood Education.
Along with being Cheer Captain for the Mansfield Tigers, Caroline also made All-American Cheerleader at cheer camp this past summer. Caroline’s cheer coach, Ashley Wilson, is super proud of all of the hard work she has put into this past year and will miss her cheerful and spunky personality.
It’s been a great year for Lavaca Cheer! The Golden Arrow Cheer team has had Cheerleaders qualify as B2 All-Americans. One of which has had a big couple of weeks. Rylie Green is the freshman daughter of Amy and Justin Green. She has a great work ethic and is very coachable. Rylie was a big part of the Lavaca’s State Championship Cheer team. She just returned from San Antonio, where she performed at halftime of the Alamo Bowl, to find out that she has also, qualified as an All-State Cheerleader. With 3 more years at Lavaca High School, Rylie has a bright future in the sport. Lavaca Cheer Coach, Danelle Overton posted the following about Rylie’s accomplishment.
“She was moved all over the floor to different positions this competition season and kept a good attitude through it all. She also worked extremely hard to be able to pull a heel stretch by State to match Allie. As a coach, I couldn’t ask for more out of an athlete. Proud of you, Rylie!”
Rylie Green and Coach Overton
We at Resident Press want to offer our congratulations to Rylie Green for being named All-State in 2018! We look forward to watching you continue to perfect your talents and use those talents to lead your team to another State Championship.
It’s Game day for Lavaca!! The Golden Arrows will head east down Highway 22 to take on the Paris Eagles. The Arrows will take both Senior High teams as well as both Junior High teams. Junior High Girls will tip off the evening at 4:00. This should be another good match up for the Arrows. The Eagles are always tough especially in Paris. However, the Golden Arrow basketball programs are all playing very well. If you want to see some good basketball, make the short drive to Paris Friday night, you won’t be disappointed.
For the Lady Arrows, the keys to the game are going to hinge a lot on Rebounding and controlling the paint. Look for BethAnn May and Skylar Hyatt to play big tonight. Coach Wyles had this to say about tonight’s matchup,
“Should be a pretty good one. Paris has a lot of size and athleticism that can be tough to match up with at times. We’ll have to do a good job of keeping them out of the paint and limiting offensive rebounds.”
BethAnn May
As far as the boys game is concerned, Coach Reed shared his thoughts on tonight’s game. He said,
“Paris is physical and athletic. They push the ball well and thrive off offensive rebounds and turnovers. We need to make sure we keep our composure and have good possessions. We can’t back down physically and must control the glass. It should be a high energy packed game and I look forward to the matchup!”
Look for Andrew Wright to control the tempo and Jordan Fenner and Cayden Hearn to own the paint.
The Mansfield Sr High Tigers had a non-conference basketball game against the Danville Little Johns last Thursday night. Coming out of Christmas break and a long list of injuries, the boys’ team was looking to shake the rust off with this match-up but ended falling short 44-32. Jr Guards Ethan Stovall and Layton Howard led their team with a combined 21 points. The Tigers were, however, able to utilize the game to get quality minutes for several young and developing players. Boys Coach, Keith Dake, says the (1-4) Tigers look to bounce back and overcome their scoring struggles when they faceoff against the (1-3) West Fork Tigers in their conference home game on Tuesday, January 8 with the Jr High starting at 4 pm.
Layton Howard and Ethan Stovall
The (0-5) Mansfield Lady Tigers had problems of their own when they took on the Lady Little Johns. Although the girls ended up with a loss of 59-33, it was a great game to get the Lady Tigers warmed back up after their Christmas break and prepare them for conference play against the (1-3) West Fork Lady Tigers. In their game against the Lady Little Johns, the Lady Tigers were led in scoring by Makayla Strutton with her second double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Amber Elmore brought in 4 points and Hailey Walker, Mikayla Harrison, Rylea Weaver, Maggie Strunk, and Brooke Wright made a combined total of 9 points for the Lady Tigers. The Jr and Sr High Tigers teams will host the West Fork Tigers on Tuesday the 8th at 4 pm.
Are you the kind of fan who loves to watch an absolute blowout? How about the kind of fan who loves an edge of your seat thriller from tip-off all the way to the end? Well, have we got a deal for you. The Jr High Tigers and Lady Tigers showcased both types of basketball last night at Danville against the Little Johns.
The Mansfield Lady Tigers started off with a heavy dose of high octane offense in a 40-12 route of Danville. With all the rain outside, the Lady Tigers decided to bring the weather inside as they sank buckets the entire game. Alyson Edwards led the Tigers by scorching the Little Johns defense for 13 points on the night. Sadie Roberts took the fast pace breakaway role sinking 8 points while Skylynn Harris used power with finesse to rack up 6 points for the Lady Tigers. Natalie Allison, Kynslee Ward, Kaile Sysakayavong, Brooklyn Adams, and Haylee Helms added to the Lady Tigers blowout of the Little Johns.
On the Tigers boys squad, you had a matchup of epic proportions. The Tigers fell to Danville 46-43 in a nailbiter game. The wooden seats of the Little John arena were literally the size of toothpicks by games end. Both teams spent the first half playing tag on the scoreboard and then set the place on fire in the second half. Ethan Pettus and Tyler Escalante fed off of each other like Michael Jordan and Scotty Pippin. Both scored in every way you can score in the game of basketball with Pettus leading the Tigers with 20 points while Escalante knocked out 19 points. The Tigers also got BIG help from their BIG men in the game with Zayne Dugan and Dalton Pettigrew eating up rebounds. Dugan and Clint Stovall capped off the Tigers scoring by combining for 4 points. The Jr High Tigers will play again on Tuesday, January 8 against West Fork at 4 pm.
