Professional Checkers competitor, Quint Hodges, will team up with the current Arkansas State Champion from Russellville to host the first Arkansas Youth Checkers Tournament in the state. Hodges plans to hold the event at Buckner Park in Witcherville during the 2019 spring break.
Additionally, Hodges will begin holding classes to teach those interested in learning how to play. The classes, which will be free, will start with the basics and progressively prepare the student for tournament play. “The classes are to make sure they know all the rules and regulations of tournament play,” added Hodges. Classes will be held at the Witcherville Community Building on Tuesday nights at 6 p.m., beginning next month. Both the classes and tournament will be open to all Arkansas youth.
“As far as I know this will be the first Arkansas Youth tournament,” stated Hodges. If parents have any questions or want to get their child involved, you can contact Hodges at 479-806-6321. He added that parents will need to be prepared to accompany their child during practice.
By Tammy Moore Teague
In May of this year, the White Bluff/Rye Hill Volunteer Fire Department began accepting donations to erect a flag pole and memorial to honor the life of their retired Chief, Charlie Mitchael. Mitchael passed away last December and those who knew him were well aware of the dedication he had to his department and to the community, which he served proudly for over 27 years.
The ground breaking took place in July. Members of the community donated and helped fund the project. The funding goal was $2,900, which included a commercial grade flag pole, dusk to dawn lighting, landscaping and a bronze or granite plaque in Mitchael’s memory.
The dedication ceremony will take place October 1 at 6:30 p.m., White Bluff-Rye Hill Fire Station located at 12407 White Bluff Road, Fort Smith.
Rains riddled the area Friday night and Saturday morning. With it a muddy, wet path was left along the course of the University of Arkansas’s Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival on September 22.
Mansfield sent a small band of junior high runners to participate in the Chile Pepper lineup featuring college, high school, and junior high races. Like many of the masses that attended, the Tigers found the ground slippery when wet.
Mud sucked shoes right off the runner’s feet. Downhills seemingly pulled the rug right out from under their legs.
It was slosh, muck, and sludge even though the rains held off during the actual races. Through it all, the collective feeling from the Tiger camp was that it was a lot of fun.
Jadelynn Wood (Left) and Harleigh Mars (Right)
“It was so much fun,” said eighth grader Jadelynn Wood. “I fell a couple of times. I even have a muddy handprint on my back where someone pushed me.”
Wood was among a group of eight Mansfield runners to attend the half day long festival at the Agri Park off the U of A campus.
Faith Rainwater, McKenzie Griffin, Olivia Bouse, Shelby Cole, Harleigh Mars, and Wood represented the Mansfield junior girls. Steven Perez and Ethan Chapman ran for the Mansfield boys.
“This is really a prestigious meet,” said Mansfield coach John Mackey. “Among our kids, only those that meet Tiger qualifying marks are invited. It’s an exclusive club and these eight were excited and eager to participate.”
According to the official Chile Pepper results site, over 1200 runners completed the 5K junior high course. For the entire 11 race docket, there were 5,148 participants.
Rainwater, a freshman, performed admirably with a time of 25:15.9. It was her first official 5k race and the best mark among Lady Tigers this season including senior high runners. Rainwater’s time placed her 175 out of 525 runners.
Griffin, also a freshman, was seconds behind with a clocking of 25:19.9. She stormed across the line in 180th place.
According to teammates, Griffin was the only Lady Tiger not to slip and fall along the downhill section of the course.
Bouse, just an eighth grader, gave Mansfield three runners to break the 26 minute mark. She tallied a 25:26.8 measure for 188th place.
Cole (27:23.7), Wood (27:53.8), and Mars (28:04.5) completed the Lady Tiger scoring landing the team into 31st place. Fifty-six schools sent competitors to participate.
Perez and Chapman crossed in consecutive order in the boys race. Out of 722 runners, the Tiger pair claimed 274th and 275th. Perez’s time was 22:07.7. Chapman was 22:08.6
This was the first 3.1 mile race for all the Mansfield prep stars. Typically, the junior high division includes races of 1.5 to 2.0 miles in length.
Mansfield graduate and now Southeastern Oklahoma State freshman, Megan Rose, continues producing positive marks for her cross country team. At the Chile Pepper Festival on September 22, the rookie college runner once again ran a solid time.
At the women’s 5K race that included SEC power and festival host Arkansas, Rose posted a time of 20:47. That landed her into 230th place among 425 total runners.
Rose admitted that she should have finished higher but the mud from the rained soaked course pulled her shoe off. It was in fact the shoe with her chip timing device that came off.
Rose was forced to go back and get her shoe. She carried the chip in her hand to get scored by the end. Before that end, Rose kicked off her other shoe as well making the going even more treacherous.
Despite the conditions Rose ran nearly 46 seconds faster than her debut race at North Texas State a week earlier. She also held her own against other local runners that ran for different colleges around the area.
Kennedy Timmerman, who attended Ozark High School, ran a 19:53 for UCA. Morgan Fagan of Acorn and now UAFS ran 21:27. Faith Hill also of Acorn measured in at 21:35 for UA Rich Mountain.
Rose and her Southeastern teammates will travel to Lawrence, Kansas for another meet on September 29.
So far in both meets this season the Mansfield native has been among the scoring five for her Savage Storm team.
The Lavaca Golden Arrow Cheer squad is deep with talent. Coached by Danielle Overton, their hard work is evident and paying off in a big way. Four of the Junior high cheerleaders and five of the High School Cheerleaders have qualified as All Americans. Those All Americans are: from the JR High;
Rylie Green, Selena Shelly, Payton McMahan, and Reshia Sparkman; and the Varsity qualifiers are; Morgan Taylor, Taylor Lile, Ali Simpson, Austin Walchli , and Allie Colclasure. LJHS Cheerleaders
They have all been invited to participate in the halftime show for the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio on December 28, 2018. Rylie Green and and Selena Shelly are the only ones traveling this year. Subway will help them raise the money to make the trip by donating a percentage of proceeds to them. Please come out and support them while enjoying a great sandwich. Hours are between 5:00 and 8:00 today at the subway located at 8612 Rogers in Fort Smith. Lavaca Varsity Cheer
Also, you can watch the girls perform on Thursday and Friday nights as they cheer on the Arrows! These girls will amaze you with their stunts and tumbling. The team will open up their competitive cheer schedule sometime in November as they look to bring home another State Championship.
As Always,
Go Arrows!
Arrow Pride!
Pictured above from left, top row: The annual can food drive for the Lavaca Food Pantry. Left, bottom: the chapter’s end of the year party. Center: Landen Wood President of Lavaca 4-H with his Grand Champion Swine. Right, top the Lavaca 4-H group at the fair: Kacie Crawford, Baiden Littleton, Austin Sutherland, Reagan Ralston, Madison Proctor, Isis Nichols, Reagan Nichols, Brooklyn Okelly, Grayson Proctor, Landen Wood, Payton Scantling, and Sutton Scantling. Right bottom, the youth have fun during the meetings.
[hr style=”single”] By Tammy Moore Teague
Lavaca 4-H Chapter Leader Bessie Wood is proud of the organization and the participating youth. The local chapter is a part of the Sebastian County 4-H group. Like others, the chapter participated in this year’s Sebastian County Fair, held in Greenwood.
Wood is assisted by Rocky Stockdale. Together, they have led the organization for the past two years. Recently, the group has changed their meeting day and time. “We will meet the second Sunday of the month at 2 p.m.,” explained Wood. “Our next meeting is Sunday, October 14, 2p.m., at Belle Point Ranch.”
The owner of that ranch is Susan Taylor. “She allows us to use their building and to have our meetings there,” stated Wood. Adding that “4-H is not all about showing animals, they also learn other things like cooking, arts and crafts, fashion, talks and demonstrations, technology and so much more.”
Four families have joined the 4-H chapter this year. The organization also participates in various camps, county events and community service activities. Lastly, It’s free to join. If you have questions, or are interested in joining you can contact Wood –here.-
By Tammy Moore Teague
The City of Lavaca’s Police Chief, Charles Toon is a cornerstone in the community in which he lives and works. The Lavaca native has been in law enforcement for over 23 years and plans to continue this labor of love until he is ready to retire.
Toon began his career as a animal control officer for the City of Greenwood. After working as a reserve officer for Lavaca, he began working his way up the ranks until being named Chief earlier this year.
Its not just the title in which he holds that separates Toon from others in the field. He has a passion for the work he does and the community which he serves. Additionally, he is quick to give credit to those who work with him. “A group that works this well together, it makes it easy to enjoy the job,” Toon explained.
His second in command, Sergeant Jeremy Smith, is according to Toon, an amazing asset to the department. Adding that “the school and the community love him.” Smith has been with the LPD for four years. He began his career in Barling as a reserve officer and worked at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith as a campus policeman.
The department recently moved into its new facility located at 405 Dogwood Street. It is staffed with three full-time, four part-time and three reserve officers. Because the department is dependent upon limited funding, vital equipment such as body cameras and police radios have been acquired through outside contributions. That call has been answered by the community and local politicians. State Representative Charlotte Douglas, Arkansas House of Representatives District 75, purchased and donated a base radio station to the department. The furniture at the new station was donated by local businesses and the flooring and five new bullet proof vests were donated by Belle Point Beverages. Most recently, the Punishers L.E.M.C., a Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club, held a fundraising event and raised enough money for the department to purchase body cameras. The event was so successful that they are already making plans to repeat it next year.
Although the department is still in need for four more radios and a generator, Toon remains optimistic and states that “Every dime is spent to make us better.” Three words define the department, which directly reflects Chief Toon, passionate, committed and professional.
“My name is Terri Churchill. I have enjoyed my work as your Assessor. I have moved the office forward and will continue to do so. I welcome any questions and I look forward to helping resolve any issues. I strive to be fair while abiding by state guidelines.
I am asking for your vote for Scott County Assessor. I look forward to serving you again. Thank you, Terri.”
By Tammy Moore Teague
With the looming date of a November election, the Mansfield City Council discussed formally defining the duties for the office of Mayor. Current Mayor, Mike Gipson, will be stepping down and one of the two candidates running for the office will assume those duties on January 1.
Before former Mayor Larry Austin resigned, he had proposed and the council subsequently approved, a manual of duties for that office. Ultimately, those duties were stripped from the mayor and given to City Recorder/Treasurer, Becky Walker. Formally, those duties were never returned to the mayor, however Gipson has been carrying out those duties since filling the office.
Alderman Dave Johnson recommended that the council officially grant those responsibilities back to the mayor, and further define what all the position entails. City Attorney Matt Ketcham suggested a study session to go line-by-line of each of the duties of both offices, Mayor and City Recorder/Treasurer. “It doesn’t have to be all mayor or all recorder/treasurer,” said Ketcham. “I’d like to see a member of the city council go to these interviews so when executive session comes, you can get in your two cents.”
Johnson suggested this happen before election so that the candidate for mayor will “know what he’s getting into.” Gipson responded saying “If the next mayor is that worried about the duties of the office then they don’t need to be here. You have to be here for the citizens.”
Alderman Beverly Lyons reminded the council that although the city is “staying above water,” they will need to plan on what areas of funding will have to take a cut when the new mayor takes office. “We will have a new mayor and have a salary to pay.” Currently Gipson is serving as mayor without taking a salary.
No board action was taken at the meeting, but if action is to be taken before the next election, the board will have to make that decision during the October session.
By Tammy Moore Teague
At Thursday’s Mansfield City Council meeting, no action was taken in regards to the proposed yard sale ordinance the council had considered back in August. –See related story.
City Attorney Matt Ketcham was on hand and answered questions regarding inquiries the council has received on being charged to obtain permits for the yard sales. “I want to clarify that there will be no fees for obtaining permits,” stated Mayor Mike Gipson. Ketcham responded saying he agreed, and that it is mainly a way to keep track of “who’s having them, when they’re having them and how long.”
Additionally, it is a way to control signage, which has been an apparent problem for the city. That is, people putting signs up on city property and failing to take them down.
Alderman Georganna Mabry interjected that if the problem is mainly signage, why not address that problem. Ketcham said their should be a current ordinance in place that forbids signs being put on city property. She responded, “If thats the case we need to enforce the ordinance we already have.”
Following the discussion, no formal action was taken to move forward with the permits.
