With Fall festivities underway and the weather finally rumbling in, it’s beginning to look a lot like Autumn. It’s time to turn on the oven and start baking! In this article, I want to share an easy recipe for a Peach Dump Cake. You can easily substitute the peaches for Apple or Cherry instead depending on your fruit preference. It honestly just depends on which fruit you prefer best. I have tried all three and I promise they will smell and taste wonderful no matter which one you decide to dump into the pan! This is a simple recipe that doesn’t take hardly any prep time and is delicious if served hot with a side of vanilla ice cream. Now, lets get to baking!
Peach Dump Cake warm from the oven, and the only thing missing is a side of vanilla ice cream!
Ingredients:
1 Yellow Cake Mix
2 Cans of Peaches (or 2 cans of Apple Pie Filling or 2 Cans of Cherry Pie Filling… depending on which fruit you prefer)
2 Sticks of Margarine or Butter (whatever your preference is)
Cinnamon
Nutmeg (Only needed when using Peaches)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9×13 cake pan with non-stick cooking spray. Place two cans of fruit filling into the cake pan and spread around. Sprinkle cinnamon (approximately 2 teaspoons) and nutmeg (approximately 1 teaspoon) on top and use a spoon to stir around the spices. Remember, do not use the nutmeg spice if you are making an Apple or Cherry Dump Cake. Nutmeg is only for the Peach Dump Cake. Now, sprinkle yellow cake mix on top. Make sure it is spread evenly on top of the fruit. Next, slice the two sticks of butter into squares. Cover the top of the cake pan with butter squares. If making the Apple Dump Cake, sprinkle some cinnamon and sugar on top of the cake before placing in the oven. Next, place dump cake into the oven. Bake for approximately 20 to 30 minutes until the top of the cake is golden brown. Serve while warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! Enjoy!
If you have looked outside today, you might realize that its wet. The forecast shows no relief in sight until Friday. So, as a parent what do you do with the all of the costumed up kiddos who are wanting to fill their baskets with candy? In Lavaca the answer is simple. Both First Southern Baptist Church and First Baptist Church have you covered.
First Southern will have a chili cook-off and Harvest Festival tonight inside the fellowship hall. First Baptist will also have their Trunk or Treat inside. Make plans to come out to one or both of these churches as they have a good family friendly solution to tonight’s weather.
Lavaca Junior Arrows football team finished their season up last night with Subiaco. The Arrows put up 30 points defeating Subiaco 30-14. This team has really grown this year. Record wise this Arrow team finished at 4-4, but that’s not really the story. They had a rough start to the season going 1-4. However, once they figured things out they rebounded finishing with a 3-1 record over the last 4 games. The 9th graders will be playing for the high school next year and as so it was good to see the grit they had in how they finished.
Coach Schlinker said, “I’m proud of our Jr High…They really grew and matured during the season”. This is promising for the Lavaca Arrow program. The High School team is definitely senior laden. They will graduate 13 seniors this year and these 9th graders will definitely have to step up next year. Lavaca should have between 10 and 12 kids that will move up to the high school next year. “Their growth (this year) is huge. They are the future of our program. We will looking for those guys to help us a lot next year.” Said Coach Schlinker.
The High school will travel Thursday night, at 7:00, to Lamar to finish out their regular season in a non conference matchup. This will be a final rehearsal before the playoffs start.
As Always,
Go Arrows!!
Arrow Pride!!
For nearly the entire 2018 cross country season, Mansfield’s seventh and eighth graders have been taking their cues from the Lady Tiger freshmen. At the Tom Stuthard Top 25 Southwest Regional in Acorn on October 24, it looked as if the younger athletes learned their lessons well. Without the benefit of their ninth grade teammates, the junior girls still brought home a trophy prize.
“This is on us,”exclaimed eight grader Jadelynn Wood before the start of the regional race. “Each one of us are gonna have to step up. We can do this.”
Wood, one of the Lady Tigers’ most improved players from a year ago, instinctively took over the leadership role on the junior team. Her older teammates moved up to the high school squad after the conference meet last week making them ineligible to participate in the lower ranks.
Wood emphasized to the nine remaining players that they could get the job done even without the services of their usual scorers. She was right. Seven sets of Mansfield’s young legs landed in the Top 25 and claimed the Southwest Regional Runner-Up Trophy.
Olivia Bouse paced the team with a third place overall medal. The eighth grader blistered the 1.5 mile loop in 10:33.6. It was her best overall finish of the season.Wood came in at ninth place. She trekked the short distance race in 11:10.9.
Ashton Hinkle earns a Top 25 medal at the SW Regional Championships for Mansfield’s junior boys.
Others making the Top 25 from Mansfield included Heidi Ebarb (12th at 11:19.0), Raine Hecox (17th at 11:32.0), Alyssa James (19th at 11:38.0), Eden Mounts (21st at 11:57.3), and Darby Jones (25th at 12:25.2). All but Bouse, Wood, and Hecox were first time medal winners.
“It was a nice way to finish the season,” professed Mansfield coach John Mackey. “Many of our kids were so close to earning medals throughout the year. Now they can truly feel the hard work paid off.”
The junior Tigers’ participation was at a true regional meet. Multiple schools from multiple classifications represented from as far north as Mansfield to as far south as Horatio. In fact, it was these two directional opposites that dominated the proceedings.
Horatio finished first in the junior girls event with 25 points. Mansfield was second in the team standings with 45. Acorn closed fast for third at 50.
Lita Hecox and Lauren Poston completed the MHS junior girls’ running roster.
For the junior boys, they were in a similar boat as the girls. Most of their original team members moved up to the senior high ranks for this meet in preparation for the state meet on Friday, November 2.
Ashton Hinkle was the lone All-Regional runner for the Mansfield junior boys. The eighth grader covered the final distance race of the junior high season in 10:12.0. He crossed in 22nd place.
Logan Yoss, a ninth grader, stayed down in the junior high ranks to give Hinkle his only Tiger teammate. Yoss clocked in at 12:04.95 for 38th place.
Mansfield’s senior women have had the numbers to compete as a full team for most of the 2018 cross country season. The senior men on the other hand have not.
Starting with the conclusion of the conference championships a little over a week ago, Mansfield elevated it’s freshmen runners onto both squads. Now the Mansfield men just like the Mansfield women have a chance to compete for team honors.
Freshmen Ethan Chapman, McKenzie Griffin, Faith Rainwater, and Shelby Cole gain All-Region status at the Tom Stuthard Top 25 cross country meet.
The Southwest Regional in Acorn on October 24 saw both squads in action. It was those freshmen darlings that made an immediate impact too.
Four of the ninth graders rounded the 3.1 mile two loop course fast enough to claim Top 25 All-Regional status. Faith Rainwater, Shelby Cole, and McKenzie Griffin for the girls took such honor. Ethan Chapman did so for the boys.
Rainwater ran both the junior high and senior high courses a week ago at the 3A-1W District Championships. At the SW Regional at Acorn, the diminutive dynamo only had to run one senior high race.
It was her best 5K time of the season. She punched in at 23:14.1 to secure an eleventh place finish among nearly 80 runners.
“Faith has established herself as our number one runner regardless of age or distance,”spoke John Mackey the coach of all Mansfield cross country teams. “She has a bright future so long as she continues to work. It will take plenty of miles and a trained tolerance to pain to get where we all think she can be. I look forward to seeing her journey.”
Cole ran her best time of the year as well at the 5K distance. Since the junior high volleyball season concluded, the dual sport athlete has excelled in the running department. Her 23:57.0 mark was second best on the Lady Tiger team and top 20 among all regional participants.
Griffin was only 9.8 seconds behind Cole for 21st place. The freshmen sensation has been showing a real aptitude for the longer senior high races.
Mansfield’s Ethan Chapman turns the first loop at the SW Regional XC meet.
On the men’s side, Chapman shined in his first completed senior high event. The young gun averaged 6:10 miles to complete the 3.1 mile distance in 19:08.5. That measure was good enough to finish in 20th place among 82 entries.
“Ethan has a real gift,”stated Mackey. “The next three years could be really fun with this freshmen class. Ethan is a valuable part of that.”
Mansfield’s two senior teams finished third and sixth respectively.
The Lady Tigers were top three with 85 points. They followed DeQueen’s 19 and Waldron’s 72. The Tigers were sixth with 149 points behind DeQueen (25), Ouachita (56), Acorn (89), Waldron (107), and Mena (also 107).
Artem Zirka has about 1000m left of the SW Regional 5K race.
Exchange student Artem Zirka off the men’s team continued shaving time off his total with a season best 19:43.1. The mark was two places away from All-Regional status at 27th.
“Artem has steadily transformed into a terrific runner,” exclaimed the coach. “He did not have a background in distance training back in his home country. He’s only been running since August. In two months time, he has inched closer and closer to an elite runner.”
Mikeal Harrison (20:23.5), Renden Emery (20:33.5), and John Branche (23:44.1) rounded out the Tiger scoring five. Zac Desormeaux (23:51.4) was the group’s only displacer.
The Lady Tiger squad saw Harleigh Mars (26:05.2) and Jessica George (26:14.3) join Rainwater, Cole, and Griffin for their scoring set.
Josefin Lofving and Sara Willadsen served as displacers. Alyssa Berry, Addison Goetz, and Janna Coplin completed the senior high roster.
Mansfield will head to Hot Spring’s Oaklawn Park on Friday for the cross country state championships. Class 3A men race at 12:45. The corresponding women’s race begins at 1:15.
By Jack James
Water is a pretty precious commodity on this planet. Did you know that 71% of the planet is covered by water? Did you also know that only 1% of the world’s water is freshwater that is suitable for drinking?
I still drink from a metal water dipper that hangs by our kitchen sink. It saves all kinds of dirty glasses in the dishwasher. My family has always had a dipper by the sink as long as I can remember.
We didn’t have the luxury of running water when I was growing up. We had a well in our backyard that supplied all of our fresh water needs for years. The water came from flooded underground coal mines and was as sweet as sugar water. All you could see of the old well was the clay pipe that came up from the ground. A couple of tall cedar posts held up a small roof made of scrap lumber and old sheet iron. Every part of the wood was covered with white wash, homemade paint. Dad would go out back and lower the old well bucket down using an old iron pulley on a long length of chain. It was tough pulling the full bucket back up from the deep cavern.
The water was released in a white enamel pail with a red, painted rim, a wire handle and a worn, red wooden hand grip. The rest of the water filled a large aluminum pitcher with a tall handle. The water pail was taken to the kitchen and covered with a thin board over a thin piece of a worn dish towel. The old metal dipper rested on top of the board. When you got a drink, you got only as much as you wanted to drink because you couldn’t be wasteful and didn’t dare pour it back. Leftover water went into a different pan to be used for other purposes. Water from the old pail was used for cooking and needed refilled several times a day.
There was an old weather worn table that stood by the door on our back porch. The aluminum pitcher filled with the cool well water sat near a white enamel wash basin. There was always a towel hanging on the edge of the table or on a nail beside a mirror, surrounded by an old homemade frame that hung crookedly on a stretch of old bailing wire. There is no telling how old that mirror was with the silver so thin and poor on it from years of being in the elements. It was here that we washed our hands and faces after a long day of playing in the yards and alleyways around our houses before we could come in to supper.
In the summer time, we bathed on that back porch in an old galvanized wash tub. A trellis filled with morning glories and roses filled the wooden slats of the tall trellis and an Elderberry bush helped us to keep or dignity from neighbors. In the winter time, we would heat water in the kitchen and take a quick bath in the same wash tub that sat by the stove for warmth. When we didn’t want to go to the trouble of filling the tub, we would warm enough water to fill the basin and wash with a ‘worsh rag’ as we called it.
When Huntington hit the big time, they drilled a city well near Highway 71 coming into town. We could take five-gallon buckets and pails to the city well and simply turn on the faucet. I remember sitting in a long line of our friends and neighbors as we took turns filling our containers.
When city water pipes were eventually laid in the neighborhood, we gave up the basins and pitchers, the water bucket and wash tub. But we never gave up the dipper. And it was even harder to give up the old outhouse. It felt as if there was just something very wrong with using the bathroom in the house.
By Jack James
The clouds parted from two days of rain and the beautiful blue sky welcomed the annual LavacaBerry Festival on Saturday, October 27 The Sebastian County Ballfield east of Lavaca on Featherhill Road was the perfect spot for it too!
Sponsored by the Lavaca Area Chamber of Commerce, somewhere around fifty vendors preregistered for booth spaces. Vendors selling homemade jewelry, furniture, jams and jellies, acrylic paintings, soaps and more, lined the three roads inside the area that surrounded the pavilion that is the concession stands for the ballfields. Food vendors set up behind the pavilion and sold BBQ, hamburgers and even gumbo and more to the many people who came to the festivities.
Raffles for a fresh LavacaBerry Cobbler and a homemade quilt were in the Chamber booth. Proceeds from the quilt will go to the Lavaca Senior Citizens Center. The drawing for the quilt will be held on November 20 at the center.
Local band and singers took the stage in one-hour shifts. The bands called Frog Bayou Boys, Wild Card, Common Thread and Craters in the Moon played as well as Soul Fire Ministry and the lovely and talented Brittany Morse sang as well. People brought their lawn chairs and enjoyed the day of good music.
Veteran’s groups set up drawing attention to the fact that 22 Veterans commit suicide every day from PTSD and other issues from fighting or coming home to problems. A veterans group set up a raffle to give a brand new motorcycle and the 9/11 Firetruck was on board to draw attention to the tragedy of the bombing of the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and those who brought down the plane before it could do harm.
Young and old alike enjoyed a cakewalk provided by a group who were and are raising funds for a local girl and her family. She is a young teenager who just had open-heart surgery and the proceeds helped her family with the bills from surgery and missing work. They gave the best looking desserts as prizes too.
There were all kinds of games and activities for the kids to enjoy too! The pony rides, bounce arounds, carnival games giving prizes every time made the kids very happy and their parents too.
While this year’s festival is in the books, tired Chamber members are already whispering about the plans for next year. If it’s half as good as this year’s festival, it will be a great one!
The Waldron City Council adopted resolution 2018-04 in August, which entered the city into a partnership with the Arkansas Department of Transportation. Additionally, both parties agreed to the guidelines set forth to proceed with the project. In the final installment of this series, Waldron Mayor Neil Cherry speaks out on the prospective economic growth and future following the resolution’s passage.
Cherry stated that “due to all the misinformation out there on this, I feel like this needs to be addressed. This access break on Highway 71 will come at no cost to the City of Waldron.”
Cherry expressed his satisfaction with the recent partnering Agreement of Understanding between the City of Waldron and The Arkansas Department of Transportation after receiving the City’s copy of the executed agreement from the Department.
“You can’t spend money you don’t have,” stated Mayor Neil Cherry, “and we have no intension of spending the City’s operating funds for the development of a street between Harp’s Foods and the former Wal-Mart building. Furthermore, any such construction by a developer will be years down the road.”
Cherry went on to explain that a first step has been made with the Agreement of Understanding approved last August between the City of Waldron and the State Highway Department that allows for a future break in access to be processed when the time is appropriate. “The ice has been broken,” stated Cherry.
At some time in the future when a developer provides the City with a proposed, engineered, and platted street plan for the property, the plans will be reviewed and approved by the City. The expenses for the platting and engineering will be paid by the developer. Then, the City will run the course of approving the plan and incorporating it into the City’s Master Street Plan. The extension of the street onto the bypass will also have to be approved by the Federal Highway Administration.
“I certainly hope at this point, the City can locate an available grant and assist with the development. We would like to see consideration for extending any proposed street on the property to also connect behind Harp’s from West 6th Street and extend to West 2nd Street behind the former Wal-Mart building. This would greatly improve traffic flow and safety.”
Local governments often participate in development for economic growth or for retainage of existing businesses when there is concern about losing a business or industry. Cherry referenced the recent extension of a sewer line north along U.S. Highway 71 Bypass in 2016 that served such a purpose.
The last part of the agreement with the State will be for the City to accept maintenance for a portion of Highway 80, between 71 and Highway 71B. Before this part of the agreement is completed, the segment of highway will be repaired to state highway standards and receive a complete asphalt overlay.
In August the City of Waldron passed proposed Resolution No. 2018-04, which expressed the willingness of the city to partner with the Arkansas Department of Transportation for Highway 71 improvements, break-in access and Highway 80 improvements. The complete resolution reads in full:
WHEREAS, the City of Waldron (City) has expressed interest in partnering with the Arkansas Department of Transportation (Department) to obtain a new access break on Highway 71 (a partially controlled access facility between Highway 80 and 2nd Street; and
WHEREAS, the new break in access will enhance economic development within the City; and
WHEREAS, the City agrees to accept ownership and responsibility for the portion of Highway 80 between Highway 71 and Highway 71B upon completion of improvements to Highway 71 and Highway 80; and
WHEREAS, the Department has agreed to make improvements on Highway 71 to accommodate the break in access and to provide an overlay of the portion of Highway 80 to be transferred to the City; and
WHEREAS, these improvements will be contingent upon the concurrence of the Federal Highway Administration; and
WHEREAS, the Department will cover all costs and handle all phases of this project;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WALDRON, ARKANSAS THAT:
Section I:
The City will participate in accordance with its designated responsibilities as described above.
Section II
The Mayor, or his designated representative, is hereby authorized and directed to execute all appropriate agreements and contracts necessary to expedite the construction of this project.
Section III
The City pledges its full support and hereby request that the Arkansas Department of Transportation initiate action to implement this project.
THIS RESOLUTION passed and approved this 14th day of August 2018.
Mayor Neil Cherry was well-pleased with passage of the resolution. In a second part of this story, Cherry will explain how this decision will benefit the City of Waldron and its future economic growth.
