By Tammy Moore Teague
At 6:30 p.m. Monday evening four males escaped from the Juvenile Treatment Center near Mansfield, AR. One of those escapees has been captured, three remain at large.
In the overnight hours, one or more of those escapees allegedly broke the glass in the front door of the Dollar General Store in Mansfield and reportedly stole items. Additionally, one vehicle, a van, was also reportedly stolen in Mansfield.
The Mansfield Police Department, Arkansas State Police, Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office, and the Scott County Sheriff’s Office are continuing their search at this hour.
Residents are cautioned to remain vigilant. The escapees are described as two white males, one biracial and one Marshall Islander. They are reportedly wearing an orange or blue shirt, tan pants and possibly tan jackets. They range in ages from 15 to 17.
Anyone who has any information on these escapees can contact the Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office at 479-783-1051.
One Juvenile Captured, Three Remain at Large
Mansfield Cheer Off To Next Competition
By Megan Hecox
The Mansfield Jr and Sr High Cheerleaders competed at the Spa City Classic at Lake Hamilton High School this past Saturday in Pearcy, Ar. Altogether, there were over 50 teams that showed up to compete in the competition. The girls were the only school to sign up in the 3A conference. Although neither team placed, there was only a 1 point difference between the Lady Tigers and 2nd/3rd place winners.
The girls aren’t done just yet! On Saturday, December 8th, both Jr High and Sr High Cheerleaders will compete in the Northwest Arkansas Classic at Bentonville High School. Both teams will be cheering in the 4A Game Day Division. The Jr High Lady Tigers will compete at 11:42 am while the Sr High Lady Tigers will compete at 2:18 pm and 5:30 pm.
Conference Play Starts For Sr Tigers
By Megan Hecox
Today is the day. The time has come for the Mansfield Sr High Tigers to battle in their first conference game of the season. Both Mansfield teams have already competed against some heavy hitting teams in non-conference play. The (2-3) Tigers have earned net results against Lavaca, Hackett, Booneville, Dover, and Danville. The (2-3) Lady Tigers have done business with Waldron, Dover, Booneville, Hackett, and Lavaca.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers will be facing the Charleston Tigers in their first conference game of the year. They have been working hard in games and practices to establish what works best for them as a team. Head Boys Coach, Keith Dake, is feeling confident going into today’s game against Charleston. “Regardless,” says Coach Dake “This game will be an absolute battle between two juggernaut teams.”
Coach Dake goes on to explain what sets the Tigers apart from other teams. “The thing that separates this team from other groups is their will to fight. From the starting tip-off to the final buzzer, they are absolutely relentless. They play with total disregard of the bodies well being and play each possession as if it could be their last. Their hustle, heart, and intensity is something that is instilled within each one of them and their desire to win is unmatched. That’s why we walk into every game knowing that we have a chance, regardless of the odds.”
The Lady Tigers will be bringing their sheer willpower and velocity to the court when they take on Charleston. The girls exceed the example of true grit and are ready to show that this is the year of the Red Tiger. The Tigers and the Lady Tigers will play Charleston tonight in Charleston at 6 pm.
Day #2 of “Oh, Fudge!” brings you Grandpa’s Buckeye Fudge
By: Kimberly Boyd
Growing up I think I had some of the best grandparents a kid could ask for. They were the sweetest people you could possibly have ever met. They didn’t have a lot of money, but they had tons of love, an abundance of wisdom, and lots of Jesus. One thing I remember about my Grandpa was walking around outside with him and finding buckeyes on the ground. He would pick it up and say, “Now, put it in your pocket for good luck!” My pockets were always full of buckeyes, rocks, and treasures we found.
One Christmas, I was about fourteen years old. My momma was hosting the big Schlinker family Christmas at our house. I remember Momma having us clean and then clean some more getting ready for all her family coming over. It was going to be a feast to remember. My momma has tons of brothers and sisters, so the Schlinker Christmas was always huge every year.
My aunts, uncles and cousins started gathering in carrying all their covered dishes that smelled wonderful. After our feast, Grandma passed out little gifts to all of us grandkids. It wasn’t anything big, but it was given in love. Coloring books and candy canes was the usual gift. Then, it was time for music. As tradition, all my uncles gather around with their guitars and harmonicas and sing Christmas Carols. However, this Christmas, they didn’t rush to sing, and instead they all disappeared. I remember going to look for them wondering why it wasn’t time to sing. I went to search outside, because, sometimes, they would play a game of basketball. However, I still couldn’t find them.
An hour passed by, and I heard a truck pull up and some commotion at the front door. I ran outside and I saw my uncles carrying an old upright piano through our front door. I ran to my momma and asked her what was going on and she said, “Go ask your grandma.” So, I ran to my Grandma and asked her why my uncles were carrying a piano through our door.
She said, “Well, honey, someone wanted to give me this piano, but I told them I had a granddaughter who would love to have it more. I thought this would be a good Christmas present for you as long as some day you promise me you will play it for me.”
I remember crying, hugging her tight, and thanking her a thousand times! I couldn’t believe it…my very own first piano! Once it was moved in and settled, all my family gathered around, and my aunt sat down to play it. My uncles grabbed their guitars, and we all sang Christmas carols! This was one Christmas I would never forget!…when Grandma gave me a piano!
Always cherish your moments with your grandparents. You never know how long you have to make memories with them. So, in honor of my grandparents and for Day #2 of “Oh, Fudge!” I bring you the recipe Grandpa’s Buckeye Fudge!
Grandpa’s Buckeye Fudge
Ingredients:
This is a two-layer fudge.
Peanut Butter Layer:
1 cup of Butter
1 cup of Creamy Peanut Butter
1 teaspoon of Vanilla
3 ¾ cups of Powdered Sugar
Chocolate Layer:
7 oz Sweetened Condense Milk
(This is a ½ can.)
1 ½ cup of Chocolate Chips
2 tablespoons of Butter
Directions:
Peanut Butter Layer needs to be made first.
Line a 8×9 pan with parchment paper or foil then grease the pan with cooking spray or butter.
Combine peanut butter and vanilla in a glass bowl. Then, melt mixture in the microwave for 90 seconds. Stir to combine. It should be smooth and creamy. Slowly, add in powdered sugar with just a cup or so at a time. Stir and combine thoroughly. You do not want lumps. Last, press the peanut butter mix in the pan.
Now it’s time to make the Chocolate layer. Combine milk, chocolate, and butter in another glass bowl. Heat in the microwave for 90 seconds. Remove and stir the mixture. Cook another 15 seconds in the microwave. Remove and stir until smooth. Do NOT overcook in the microwave. If you do, the chocolate will not pour well over the peanut butter layer. Pour this chocolate layer over the Peanut Butter Layer. To level the chocolate, you may have to lift your pan and slightly shift it back and forth to even out your chocolate layer.
Place Grandpa’s Buckeye Fudge in the refrigerator to cool for a couple of hours until firm. This fudge is good to store for up to a week in the refrigerator. Enjoy!
Day #1 of “Oh Fudge” Brings you Dad’s Famous Chocolate Fudge
By: Kimberly Boyd
One of my favorite Christmas memories was when I was a kid in the 80’s. It was the Christmas I got my very own first cassette tape, radio, and a sewing kit. The cassette tape was Phil Collins! Yes! I am old! I remember the tape featuring the song, “In The Air Tonight!”
That Christmas night, when we got home from all the Christmas festivities, I sat in my room listening to that song and trying to learn how to sew a pillow and blanket for my Barbie with my new sewing kit.
As a kid, I didn’t worry about world problems or money. My mind was focused on learning the lyrics of every Phil Collins song on that cassette tape and sewing that pillow for my Barbie. There is just something about thinking back about Christmas as a kid that brings a smile to my face!
When life was easy, and life was sweet without a care in the world, and I really believed Santa could bring me whatever I asked for and I could eat as much fudge as I could sneak away with not worrying about the extra pounds it added to my hips, those were the days of innocence!
So, for Day #1 of “Oh, Fudge!,” I bring you my Dad’s famous chocolate fudge recipe. He makes a pan of chocolate fudge as well as peanut butter fudge every Thanksgiving and Christmas, and he always sends a pan of fudge home with each of us kids. It’s not a holiday without Dad’s Fudge!
When life is simple and just filled with chocolate fudge, with bad haircuts from the 80’s, fake silver icicles on the Christmas tree, and a little snow on the ground, now that…that can make a perfect Christmas.
Dad’s Famous Chocolate Fudge
Ingredients:
6 cups of Sugar
1 ½ cups of Butter
2 (5 oz.) cans of Evaporated Milk
3 packages of Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 Large jar of Marshmallow Cream (13 oz.)
{Or you can buy 2 (7 oz.) small jars}
2 teaspoons of Vanilla Extract
2 cups of Walnuts
Directions:
Line a large cake pan with foil or parchment paper. Spray with cooking spray and set the pan aside.
Mix sugar, butter, and milk in a medium size pot. Place on the stove and place it on medium to high heat. Bring it to a boil. Boil this mixture on a full boil for minimum of 5 minutes or until the temperature reaches 235 degrees if you have a candy thermometer to check the temp.
Once you have boiled this for 5 minutes, take the mixture in the pot off the heat. Add the chocolate chips. Stir until melted. Then, add the jar of marshmallow cream and stir until smooth. Add 2 cups of walnuts if desired. Last, add the vanilla and stir well. Pour into your greased pan and cool fudge in the refrigerator for two hours until all the fudge has harden. Enjoy!
Beverly Post Office & Store
By Jack James
If you find yourself bored and needing something to do, take a small trip about five miles east of Lavaca. Located on the corner of highways 217 and 252, this old structure can be found on the Harold and the late Pauline Jones home place. Hickory Ridge Cemetery is just down the road to the east.
The old building is in bad shape. The native rock walls stand firmly holding up ailing walls of weathered wood and a rusted tin roof. You may not know it, but the building is an important piece of area history.
I am getting some of my information from an old article printed many years ago. It has been in the museum since I inherited my position there in 2005 and the print is very faded. This page drew the attention of several visitors recently so I thought maybe I should bring it back to our view.
I researched a few sites and discovered that the building is listed on an 1887 map of Sebastian County and detailed in the Beverly Township area. The article visits a genealogy of people and homesteads of the area and suggestions about who owned the land and when. Mr. Luther Seaton is quoted in the article as saying that a post office was once located in the space. Sure enough. On the 1887 map, it is plainly documented as “Beverly P.O.” According to Seaton, the place where the building stands was once given as a wedding present by a Mr. Hunter to his daughter Ellen who married F. M. Nixon. Mr. Nixon used the structure for a store at that time. It also held the post office.
According to my research, the postmaster of the Beverly area was Mr. T. H. Carter in 1888. The area also was home to the Carter Plantation where the first post office was located in 1877. This Carter Plantation was once over 1000 acres that were worked by slave labor and had its own grist mill, gin and this store, evidently. There is history that states a wedding anniversary party took place there in the early 1900s and the happy couple received congratulations by President and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt. (Perhaps this is why he made a Whistle Stop campaign tour through Lavaca when he was running for the presidency?)
The post office was located there until 1915, according to some pages that I found online. Slowly, the postal service from the outlying areas of Arbuckle Island, Union, Ursula and Beverly were consolidated with Lavaca. The little building was still a store until the 1930s when a new store was built and the old place became used as a barn.
This neglected little building is, by my calculations, somewhere in the neighborhood of 128 to 138 years old. Harold and Pauline Jones are quoted as wishing that the structure could be restored for historical value. Harold just passed away this week, joining his beloved Pauline in the hereafter. I hear that others in the family agree that it needs to be saved. I don’t have a say in the matter except I do think that it would be a shame to let this little building fall down and be destroyed.
How about someone taking an interest into seeing if preserving this place? It may be eligible for becoming a historical structure and placed on the National Historic Register! If I can help as a part of the Lavaca Museum, please let me know. Also, if the history that I have written from other writings is mistaken, please drop by the museum this Saturday and help me straighten it out.
See? Sometimes we pass things time and time again and never really pay attention! Keep your eye out for other places in the area that you would like to know about and we will see if we can uncover the real untold story!
First Train to Charleston
By Jack James
The first passenger train on the Arkansas Central Railroad was run on March 1898, when the Commercial League was asked by the management to inspect the road and the car occupied by a large number of Fort Smith’s representative citizens. An empty coal car was also attached and it contained a number of people, who called it the “observation car.” The train left Fort Smith at 1:15pm and made the 28-mile trip to Charleston in one hour and forty minutes, although they made many stops to take on passengers.
Cotton and coal mining was a large part of the area’s economy. Therefore, the coming of the railroad was a tremendous boon the Charleston and the area. In 1898, Lavaca had two cotton gins and Charleston had three. The coming of the railroad caused an increase to the population of Charleston. By 1900, Charleston had grown to 650 residents.
They train was welcomed in Charleston by the shooting of guns, the music of a band and all of the residents turning out to greet them. Major A. S. Cabell made an opening speech, making everyone feel at home, and then the crowd marched toward the business center of the town. At Colonel J. P. Falconer’s store they were met by the hosts of the festivities, Colonel Falconer, General B. F. Armstead, Colonel Pettigrew, Dr. R. M. Southard and other prominent men of Charleston. Although they didn’t have much to say, they were so happy that they seemed to have hugged everybody that they met and, it is said, that in their excitement, “they hugged themselves.”
George Sengel gave an address in which he spoke on behalf of the Commercial League. He recalled what they had done for the railroad, calling the Arkansas Central, “Fort Smith’s $5,000 baby.” Colonel Pettigrew’s response paid a glowing tribute to Colonel Godman, the projector and builder of the road. Colonel Godman made a few remarks, after which a beautiful dinner was served by the townspeople.
The railroad was an important part of the area in both trade and as a passenger route as it connected Fort Smith and down to Paris. Depots along the line began to vanish in the 1920s but freight trains continued the route in some capacities until the tracks were removed in the 1990s
(Information references from an undated clipping from The Charleston Express and the Encyclopedia of Arkansas)
SADA Assists in Tornado Cleanup
By Tammy Moore Teague
Local non-profit SADA, Students Against Drugs and Alcohol, wasted no time in responding to the need of their neighbors in wake of Friday’s tornado.
The group worked in the Parkridge addition and old Uniontown Road area near Van Buren. They began working early Saturday morning and worked through the evening. Their work was critical as they cleared trees from the roadway to allow first responders access to hard hit areas.
Additionally, the charitable group worked to clear a tree off a home belonging to a 97-year-old, 40 year navy veteran. Their service minded mission is for veterans, children and community. Time after time they have proven their dedication to that motto. SADA owner, Tom Ross is proud of the group’s service and dedication to the community.
After working to assist the tornado victims in Crawford County, SADA members made their way back to Lavaca to appear in the city’s annual Christmas parade. “These guys do this because they care about our community,” stated Ross.
The group is a great asset to this community, and supports local organizations and events such as Barling Cruise Night. If you are interested in learning more about this organization you can visit their Facebook page.
Every dollar that is donated to SADA goes to toward the mission. Ross explained that no one within the organization receives payment for the assistance they provide. If you would like to donate or help with this mission you can go here.
Scott County Sheriff’s Office Hosts Christmas Party, Honors Employees
By Tammy Moore Teague
The Scott County Sheriff’s Office held a Christmas party at the fair grounds on Sunday, December 2 at 4 p.m.
Approximately 60 people attended the annual event. Those attending included the employees and families from the jail, collectors office and sheriff’s department.
During this time, Scott County Deputy Jonathan Woodard received a Valor Award. This award was presented to Woodard following the officer involved shooting which occurred at Nella. Woodard has been a deputy within the department for the past eight years.
Additional awards went to Jamie Goff, who was voted “Best Dispatcher,” Abbie Sparks, who was named “Female Jailer of the Year,” Nathan Sneed, who was named “Male Jailer of the Year,” Sean McNevin, who was awarded “Control Tower Operator of the Year,” and Joey Bolin, who was named “Deputy of the Year.”
Employees of the department presented the sheriff with a Case knife and keepsake box with the Sheriffs Prayer. Scott County Sheriff’s Office Dispatcher Jamie Goff said, “We had a great night celebrating Christmas, with food and fellowship. We are so thankful to work for Sheriff Shores and we appreciate all the work Randy and Terri Pyles did to make the Chris
tmas party a success!”
Chamber Sponsors Annual Parade
By Jack James
The 2018 Lavaca Christmas Parade on Saturday, December 1, did not disappoint! The streets of downtown and along Main Street were filled with anxious local citizens: parents and grandparents looking for their loved ones riding on floats, groups looking for the vehicles representing their organizations and churches and children with plastic bags cheered, clapped, grabbed and dodged candy being tossed from festive floats. It was Lavaca at its best!
Somewhere around thirty vehicles, ranging in size from a child on a battery-powered toy car to a gigantic 18-wheeler, drove down our Main Street from the parking lots of the First Baptist Church to the parking lot at the intersection of 255 and 96. Indeed, there was something for everyone. Bright lights were blinking from entrant’s cars and trucks, beautiful music and singing filled the night air. Even old Santa was there, bringing up the rear of the parade atop one of our beautiful firetrucks, on his way to City Hall to greet children and find what they wanted for Christmas this year.
Spearheaded by Shelly Hockaday, Lavaca’s City Recorder and Water Clerk and the city representative to the Lavaca Area Chamber of Commerce, the parade was in expert hands. She represented herself and the many hats she wears very well. The Chamber is proud to have Shelly and the city partnered with us to make Lavaca a better place to live and work.
The purpose of the Lavaca Area Chamber of Commerce is to promote business in and around our community. This parade not only was fun for our people but allowed others to see our great town, drawing people to local shops and restaurants. Hopefully they will consider us if they need a home or want to open a business of their own.
Our chamber donated funds to help pay for awards to the winners of the different divisions. Those included:
Large float:
First place- Lavaca 4-H
Second place- Cub Scout Pack 674
Third place- Lavaca 1st Assembly of God
Small float:
First place- Mark and Elaine Williams family
Second place- Big Knife Shop & Welding
Third place- SADA Students Against Drugs and Alcohol
Walking/Battery powered:
First place- Gideon and Emma Mounts
Second place- Kinley Cole
Third place- Brixx Dye
Side by Side/ATV:
First place- Lorie Robertson
Second place- Cody Christian
Third place- Chasidy Beavers
Vehicles/Antiques Clubs:
First place- GCC Ready Mix
Second place- Johnny Helms
Third place- Larry Tracy
Band First- Lavaca High School
Animal Drawn/Clubs:
First- Don Weaver
Second- Bobby White
Third- Kari Cannedy
On behalf of the Lavaca Area Chamber of Commerce, Merry Christmas!
