By Tammy Moore Teague
On Saturday evening, at 6:30 p.m., the City of Mansfield will host its inaugural tree lighting ceremony. West Fraser generously donated the living tree, which was planted near the town’s gazebo.
West Fraser Controller, Missy Williams said James Travis, Mill Manager, wanted to have a stone set beside the tree to mark the occasion. Williams contacted Sammy Callahan, owner of Heritage Memorial Funeral Home and Monuments, for a quote. “He came back and said he wanted to donate it,” stated Williams. “It was so generous of him!”
The stone marks the month and year the tree was planted so generations to come can reflect on it’s history. “It was something good we wanted to do for the City of Mansfield. We are proud to be a part of the community,” said Callahan.
Everyone is invited to come out and be a part of this historic tree lighting event!
Funeral Home Donates Plaque to Memorialize Tree Lighting
7th Grade Tigers Prepare To Joust In Jamboree
By Megan Hecox
On Dec 8th, the Mansfield Tigers will be hosting their 7th Grade Jamboree which will be held in the Mansfield High School Gym. The Tigers will first face Union Christian Academy starting at 10 am. They will finish with Hackett starting at 1 pm.
It will be the first time this season that Mansfield will be going up against both Union Christian Academy and Hackett. The Tigers and Lady Tigers have already held their own against Paris and Charleston. Now they are looking to do the same this Saturday.
If you don’t already have plans, be sure to stop by and show your support for these incredibly talented teams. In order for a program to be successful, it must have motivated players. Support needs to be shown early in a child’s playing career so that they will have the desire to keep going. Help motivate these players by showing your support in what they do and give them a reason to continue building their basketball programs.
MMS Artists Illustrate Talents
Mansfield Middle School working on some art skills in Mr. Love’s 7th and 8th grade art class.
Students have been continuing growing their artistic ability throughout the year. Kinley Hanfelders’ picture (above) of an ostrich is spot on with a magnificent array of colors. Doug Portman’s samurai warrior (below) from cardboard is another fantastic art piece displayed in the art room as well.
Sr High Tigers Will Never Stop
By Megan Hecox
It was a hard fought game for the Sr High Tigers in last nights conference match against Charleston. The Tigers lost 71-52 and the Lady Tigers had a 51-22 loss. This was the first conference game of the Tigers season but they will not be letting this loss define them. It’s no secret that the Charleston Tigers are quick and fierce in their gameplay. But the Mansfield Tigers will get a shot at redemption when they play Charleston again in January for Homecoming.
For the Tigers, the biggest issue in last nights game was ball security. “We had several turnovers in the first half and Charleston was able to capitalize on those turnovers,” Boys Head Coach, Keith Dake, said.“When combining our turnovers with some extremely early foul trouble to key players, it was a recipe for a 20 point halftime deficit.” The Tigers were able to come back out after the half and close the gap to 12 points before giving way to their foul troubles once again. “Our mistakes are all easily correctable over time,” says Coach Dake, “We will be better down the stretch once we get a few more games under this young teams belt. We are not going to be a team people will want to face late in the season!”
Although the Mansfield Lady Tigers had the intensity in their game against Charleston, it just wasn’t enough to keep up with the Lady Tigers firepower. “Our girls did well with playing the help side on defense to keep Charleston from driving the lane but we failed at stopping their big shots,” said Girls Head Coach, Joshua Bryan. “Charleston shot very well from beyond the arc, making over a dozen 3-pointers.”
The Tigers will get a little bit of time to regroup before bouncing on to their next conference game against the Lincoln Wolves on December 11th. Coach Bryan tells us how the Lady Tigers will be getting ready to face the Lady Wolves. “Lincoln is another good girls basketball program. We will prepare to stop another run and gun shooting team by making them slow down their offense and keeping them from transition scoring.”
MMS Career Development Class Visits UofA
By Raine Hecox
On November 14th, Mansfield Middle School Career Development class went to the University of Arkansas Fayetteville to learn about life as a college student.
They visited the Engineering building and did an activity with Architecture. Next students ate all you can eat (and boy did they eat) lunch in the Brough Commons Cafeteria.
Last they visited the nursing building and learned how to take a pulse and CPR.
Sr Hornets Put The Sting On Yellow Jackets
By Megan Hecox
It’s not important to win. It’s important to make the other guy lose! The Hackett Hornets walked onto the court last night at Mulberry with one goal in mind. To walk out of the gym victorious. And they did just that. The Lady Hornets won 36-23 and the Hornets scored their 3rd straight win 48-43.
Boys Head Coach, Broc Adams, says they are still improving, “We have some kinks to iron out but the attitude and intensity are there and we can work with that. We are getting better with every game.” Dylan Kats secured 17 points for the Hornets while Brady Hester brought in 13 points. Avery Hester made 7 points and 6 rebounds and Zach Gragg added 6 points and 6 rebounds to that total.
Super proud of his girls is Head Coach, Claude Foster. “The girls are getting better each game they have played.” In the Lady Hornets court, there are no objections. Only rejections! And because of their will to never quit, the Lady Hornets are going to fly through their season with ease.
Hackett is getting ready for their first conference game of the season. December 7th, the Hornets will face Danville on home court. The Jr High boys will open the game at 5 pm.
“They are one of the most physical teams we play,” expresses Coach Adams. “They are very active and run the floor well. We are going to have to match their intensity but slow the game down a little and try to get them out of their rhythm!”
Coach Foster gives his thoughts on Danville, “The Lady Little Johns is a very talented team and most have picked them to win the conference, so the Lady Hornets will have their hands full on Friday night. How we do against them will tell a lot about how the conference season will go for us!”
MMS is Beating the Odds with ACT Scores
Mansfield Middle School has been recognized by the Office for Education Policy (OEP) at the University of Arkansas as a school that is “Beating the Odds”, because students demonstrated high growth on the ACT Aspire even though the school serves a population of students who participate in Free and Reduced Lunch!
As you may know, the OEP creates an annual report entitled the Outstanding Educational Performance Awards, and this year we are recognizing schools with high student growth. We think growth is the best indicator of the positive impact that your school is having on students.
In the Beating the Odds report to be released tomorrow, Mansfield Middle received the following awards:
Statewide “Beating the Odds” Overall Growth: Middle Level
Statewide “Beating the Odds” Math Growth: Middle Level
“Beating the Odds” Math Growth: Middle Level (Northwest Region)
Awards are based on the 2018 content growth score calculated by the Arkansas Department of Education. These growth scores reflect how much students at the school improved from 2017 compared to how much they were expected to grow considering prior achievement. We recognize schools based on Overall growth, as well as for growth in Math and English Language Arts separately. To learn more about how we determined the OEP award winners and to see the full list of award recipients, you can view the report here.
This year’s full list of OEP awards can be found here.
Day #4 of “Oh, Fudge!” brings you Rodger’s Cookie Dough Fudge
By: Kimberly Boyd
My momma was a single mom up until my 10th grade year when she married my study hall teacher. So, as a kid I watched her work hard for every penny she earned to support my brother and me. Even though I didn’t grow up in the traditional family setting, we still created memories as a family. My dream one day was to have my own family and my own traditions.
So, when my husband and I got married, I had dreams of having “that” family. He came from a beautiful family with lots of traditions. I tell him all the time he has a “Leave it to Beaver” family! Every since I was little, I wanted a house filled with sweet smelling cookies baking in the oven and kids playing sweetly in the floor. I wanted that all-American family dream with lots of traditions and memories!
God blessed us with four children, and I do bake cookies and pray they don’t burn while I am running around taking care of the house. The kids play in the floor; however, WWIII is usually breaking out as someone is blaming the other one for cheating on a game of UNO or one of the kids have body slammed the other one on the couch trying to do a WWE move. Our house isn’t perfect, but it is filled with love, traditions, and making memories.
One winter December day of 2014, I had gone to town visiting my mom, picking the kids up from school, and shopping at the dollar store. My husband came home from work, and calls me and says, “Hey! I just got home and there is a package on our porch.”
I rushed home with excitement wondering what in the world it could be. I wasn’t expecting any packages. We all sat down in the living room and opened the unknown Christmas package. As the kids peeled back the paper, there sat an Elf on the Shelf and the book explaining his history. My kids leaped for joy and we decided to name him, Rodger.
If you know me well, Rodger has become the most excitement ever in our household! Our kids count down the days for his return! For years, we never knew where he came from (I do now but it’s still a secret to all four of my kids even my 18 year old doesn’t know!), and our little kids still believe he came from the North Pole. But, his appearance and visits has become a family tradition that I absolutely love! Rodger the Elf is very mischievous and has done down right crazy things. From stealing our living room TV, permanent marker Elf tattoos while they slept, toilet papering our Christmas tree, booby trapping the kids in their rooms, silly stringing the entire house, elf snotting them while they slept, you name it and Rodger the Elf has done it! Our Elf on the Shelf is known for his pranks! But this… this just makes Christmas memories even sweeter for the kids!
So, for day #4 of “Oh Fudge”, I bring you Rodger’s Cookie Dough Fudge truly inspired by chocolate chip cookies and Christmas memories! Just remember, the memories created as a family last a life time of joy and blessings that kids never forget!
Rodger’s Cookie Dough Fudge
Ingredients:
1 stick of Butter
¾ cup of Sugar
1 teaspoon of Vanilla
1 cup of Self-Rising Flour
1 ¼ cup of Mini Chocolate Chips (divided)
1 (14oz) can of Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 ½ cup of White Chocolate (melted)
Directions:
First, grease an 8×9 square pan with cooking spray. Line with parchment or foil paper.
Next, with a mixer, beat butter, sugar, and vanilla till smooth. Add the flour and beat until combined. Stir in one cup of the mini chocolate chips. This makes the cookie dough mixture.
In another bowl, melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave for about 30 to 45 seconds and then combine sweetened condensed milk. Last fold in the cookie dough mixture with the other bowl of sweetened condense milk and melted white chocolate. Stir until all is combined.
Pour cookie dough fudge into the lined pan and top with the remaining ¼ cup of mini chocolate chips.
Refrigerate until fudge is firm. This takes about two hours. Remove from pan by lifting the edges of parchment paper and cut into squares. Enjoy!
Lavaca Alumni Spotlight – Pablo Mendez
Pablo Mendez is a 1994 graduate of Lavaca High School and is this months Alumni Spotlight. He was born in Chicago, IL and moved to Lavaca when he was 13 years old. While Pablo was in school at Lavaca he played football and ran track. In 1999 Pablo married the love of his life, Susan Mendez (Hays). Susan is also a Lavaca High School graduate. Together they have 4 children, Amaya, Malakai, Kaesha, and Alana. They are all currently enrolled in Lavaca public schools.
Both Pablo and his wife Susan are volunteer coaches. Pablo has been coaching for 14 years. He coached Little League until this year, when he became a volunteer coach for the Lavaca High and Jr High football programs. Pablo had to take several classes, a background check, and a ton of time consuming paperwork to get certified to coach in school. He did all of that on his own dime and his own time. Pablo has coached Baseball, softball, basketball, and football. His wife Susan coaches both the 3rd and 4th grade and 5th and 6th grade cheerleaders. Pablo, also announces all of the basketball games for Lavaca public schools, and Little League Football games. Back in 1995 and 96, Pablo announced the Lavaca football games on the radio. Pablo bleeds purple and gold! When it comes to his coaching, Pablo says, “I love the kids, the game, and our community.” Coach Brian Schlinker, head football coach at Lavaca, said, “It was such a blessing having Coach Pablo join our staff. He loves Lavaca and he truly has a passion for the youth of our town. He brought great enthusiasm and knowledge of football.”
Pablo describes himself as a “goofball, a big kid at heart, who loves to dance, laugh and make others laugh.” He also sees himself as a “music guru”. If you have spent any time around Pablo, you can see that he loves his family, community, school and people as a whole. Coach Mark Headley, the Athletic Director at Lavaca High School, had this to say in regards to Pablo, “It is unbelievable the amount of time he puts into the kids of Lavaca. He works a full time job and the volunteers with Little League, Junior High and High School athletics. Pablo has a servants heart and we are thankful for all that he does.”
Pablo and his family exemplify what hometown spirit is all about. As a community, we can not thank him enough for the selflessness and caring that he has given. Over the past 14 years, not many of our student athletes have not been influenced by the Mendez family at one time or another. When you run into Pablo, and you will if you attend any of Lavaca’s sporting events, take the time to thank him for his service to our community. He truly is a friend to Lavaca.
Sebastian County Assessor’s Office Sponors Toy Drive
By Tammy Moore Teague
For the past 14 years the Sebastian County Assessor’s Office has been collecting toys at Christmas time. Current Assessor, Zach Johnson, looks to continue that tradition. “We are reaching out to ask for help with a project that is near and dear to our hearts,” stated Johnson.
Sebastian County has the highest number of children in foster care within the state of Arkansas. As many as 800 children from Sebastian County are in foster care at any given time during the year. Many are sent to different parts of Arkansas due to the lack of certified care givers and homes in our area. Although DHS does its best to keep siblings together, sometimes it’s not always possible.
“It makes a tough time of year even rougher on these children,” added Johnson. “Our toy collection was started by Ms. Becky Yandell, my predecessor in the Assessor’s office. Ms. Yandell saw a need in our area and did her best to help out where she could. This is why I am reaching out to you. While the needs are great, our individual resources are limited. We do the best we can, but are hoping to partner up with our communities to create as much Christmas joy for these children as possible.”
Beginning December 3, their office will begin accepting donations of toys at the Fort Smith and Greenwood courthouse locations. These donations will be delivered by DHS during the week of December 17.
“Thank you so much for your consideration in helping us achieve our goal of providing some positive memories for the children. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or even potential ideas, we welcome them all! We look forward to seeing what happens when a community comes together for the good of the children! Have a very Merry Christmas!”