CitizenDailyThe

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Vol. 156, No. 269©2010 The Daily Citizen

“ ”A lot of people like snow.

I find it to be an unnecessaryfreezing of water.

CARL REINERAmerican actor, 1922

Contact us: 3000 E. Race, Searcy, AR 72143, (Phone) 501-268-8621, (Fax) 501-268-6277

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2010 50¢

RIVERVIEW AIMING FOR PLAYOFF WIN

www.thedailycitizen.com Serving Searcy and White County, Ark., since 1854

The Raiders head to Elkins Friday for the firstround of the Class 3A state playoffs. — PAGE 1B

BEEBE PROPOSES CUT ON GROCERY TAXThe governor asked lawmakers on Tuesday to cutanotherhalf-cent fromthe state’s grocery tax. — PAGE 2A

Hwy. 13meetingset forTuesday

NATION & STATE, 2AOPINIONS, 4A LIFESTYLES, 5ACALENDAR/OBITUARIES, 6ASPORTS, 1B CLASSIFIEDS, 5B

I N D E X

Morris: ‘I did not decline’ debateSEARCY MAYORALRUN-OFFWhen: Tuesday, Nov. 23

LAFORCE MORRIS

By Jacob Browerjbrower@thedailycitizen.com

Searcy mayoral candidate DavidMorris denied declining a scheduleddebate with current Mayor BelindaLaForce — set for either Monday, Nov.15 or Tuesday, Nov. 16 — in a letterdelivered to The Daily Citizen Tuesdayafternoon, adding that he will only cor-

respond with the newspaper in writingin the future.

After agreeing to the debateThursdayevening, Morris delivered a letter to TheDaily Citizen officeFriday afternoon stat-ing that "my timeshould be utilizedknocking on doors and making tele-phone calls to discuss my campaignwith the residents of Searcy, rather thanengage in a discussion with the currentmayor."

A letter from Morris delivered to The

Daily Citizen on Tuesday stated the fol-lowing:

"I did not 'decline,' as you errone-ously stated in the bold headline. Dueto this and other incidents that haverecently occurred in working with TheDaily Citizen newspaper, I respectfullyrequest that all future correspondenceand questions concerning me and mycampaign for the office of mayor ofSearcy be addressed in writing."

Morris did not return e-mails orphone calls asking for clarification of

Candidate states he willonly communicate withnewspaper in writing

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3A

OUR VIEWPage 4A

Laura Adams, 6, of Searcy helps place flags at White County Memorial Gardens Tuesday in preparation for Veterans Day, which is tomor-row. Also pictured is Ronda Higbee, left, with the American Legion Auxiliary, who organized a group of volunteers to place the flags onveterans’ graves. Warren Watkins/warren@thedailycitizen.com

Honoring veterans

HWY. 13 EXTENSIONWhen: 4-7 p.m. TuesdayWhere: Valley BaptistChurch, 3328 Highway 36 W.What: Information about pos-sible routes

By Warren Watkinswarren@thedailycitizen.com

State highway departmentofficials will be on hand toexplain three routes — withnone of them the preferredroute — for the extension ofHighway 13 during a publicmeeting. The event will be 4-7p.m. Tuesday at Valley BaptistChurch, 3328 Highway 36 W.

A quicker route for traf-fic between the west part ofSearcy to Highway 67/167,which is the freeway to LittleRock, by connecting Highway36 west to Highway 267 is thegoal of the extension, whichhas been under design and dis-cussion for years. Honey HillRoad was once the depart-ment’s preferred route but that

Gun deerseason setto openSaturday

By Warren Watkinswarren@thedailycitizen.com

With the opening ofgun season for deer set forSaturday, thousands of WhiteCounty hunters are cleaningtheir rifles and shotguns andstocking up on everythingfrom food to ammunition.

John Key, owner ofUltimate Outdoors, 608 S.Main St., said archery seasonfor deer has been ongoing ashas squirrel season, and theyouth gun season for deerwas last weekend.

“One thing I’m seeingwith the economy the way itis, hunting is supporting itselfpretty well,” Key said. “Inmy opinion, some people aresaying, ‘Instead of taking thatbig trip to Disney World orthe Bahamas, let’s go aheadand get that new bow or gunand stick around here thisyear. I’ve also been told thatabout camping.”

Key has seen a growingtrend toward youth and ladiesparticipating in hunting.

“Youth are getting moreinvolved in archery hunt-ing because of the growingemphasis on archery in theschools,” Key said.

But on Saturday morning,

Beebe School District receives praise fromAdvancEDBy Erica SirrattSpecial to The Daily Citizen

The Beebe Public SchoolDistrictreceivedeightcommen-dations and three recommen-dations from the AdvancEDQuality Assurance ReviewTeam during their evaluationfor national accreditation onOct. 31 through Nov. 3.

The team commended the

district for the “highly trainedand dedicated teaching force”and their “highly informed,visionary superintendent whois in touch with and sensitiveto the needs and concerns of allstake holders.”

The team also praised thedistrict for their strong responseto community needs with pro-grams such as the Child Care,

Camp Beebe and the beforeand after school child care.

AdvancED did recom-mend that the district developa Strategic Action Plan anda more precise vision state-ment. In two years, the dis-trict must report its progress toAdvancED.

“We were pleased withthe outcome,” Assistant

Superintendent Scott Embrysaid. “They were very compli-mentary of our school district.It was a good learning experi-ence. Thank goodness it onlycomes every five years.”

The team consisted of fivetrained professional fromacross the state and nation.They reviewed district docu-

Bradford city council approves hiring of 2 auxiliary officersBy Julie KohlSpecial to The Daily Citizen

The Bradford city council unani-mously approved the appointment oftwo Auxiliary officers to the policeforce at Monday night’s meeting.

Daniel Brady and Wade Jackson,both of Bradford, will serve as part-time auxiliary officers on a non-paidvolunteer basis. Brady and Jacksonwill serve alongside a certified offi-cer and will have all of the sameauthority as the officers as long asthey are within the city of Bradford.

The Bradford Police Board is alsolooking into hiring two additionalofficers to fill part-time positions,

working towards 24-hour policecoverage. No official decision wasmade at the council meeting as thepolice board has elected to furtherreview the applications.

The board will meet before theend of the week to make a finaldecision and if officers are hiredthey will serve a probationary perioduntil the next city council meeting.

The Bradford Fire Departmentrecently purchased two used firetrucks from a Pennsylvania firedepartment that was merging with

another department. The city pur-chased a 36-foot, 2,500 gallonpumper truck to replace one of theolder trucks. Because the truck is alittle longer than what the firefight-ers are used to they will be perform-ing several practice drills with it.

Also purchased was a FordRanger truck that will be classed asa service truck. It will replace thecurrent rescue truck but maintain allof the same equipment.

Fire Chief Dennis Whitenerspoke highly of the PennsylvaniaFire Department from which theypurchased the trucks.

“The department prides itself intheir trucks and they were very welltaken care of,” he said.

He went on to mention that they

show their trucks like many peopleshow antique and classic cars andhad received many trophies and rib-bons and that he hopes to instill thissame pride within Bradford’s FireDepartment.

Mayor Dunn also seemed pleasedwith the purchases.

“Both trucks look real good,”he said.

In other business, progress con-tinues on changes to be made tothe city park that is being fundedthrough the Arkansas Parks andTourism “Fun Park Grant.”

The bid for the concrete has beenapproved and work will begin assoon as the contracts are signed.The council is currently looking at

No preferred routeamong 3 chosen

BEEBESCHOOLBOARDNext meeting:Dec. 14, 6:30p.m.Where: Centraloffices

AUXILIARY OFFICERSAuxiliary officers: Daniel Brady,Wade JacksonNew vehicles: 36-foot pumpertruck, service truck

Officials: Hunting onrailroads forbidden

Town purchases 2 newfire and rescue trucks

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2A

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The Daily Citizen Wednesday, November 10, 2010 • Page 3A

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Danny Games,Senior Director-CorporateDevelopmentof ChesapeakeEnergy com-pany, presentedan update onCheapeake'sactivities inWhite Countyto the SearcyRotary ClubTuesday.Games saysthe companyhas slightlymore than400 producinggas wells. HerbBacon/Special toThe Daily Citizen

Searcy Rotary Club speaker

"other incidents" occurred as of presstime.

Mike Murphy, publisher of TheDaily Citizen, said the newspaper willcontinue business as usual and reporton the election in a professional man-ner.

“We will continue to call Mr. Morrisfor his comments whenever appropriateand do our best to convey his senti-ments as clearly as possible,” he said.The Daily Citizen planned to spon-

sor an hour-long debate and hadreached an agreement with Morrisand LaForce Thursday evening. WhiteCountyElectionCommissionChairmanWinston Collier agreed to moderate,

and plans were being made to hold theevent at Harding University prior toMorris’ reversal.

The full text of Morris' Tuesday let-ter is below:

"The headline in the front page arti-cle in last Sunday's edition of The DailyCitizen was incorrect. In a memo thatI hand delivered to you at The DailyCitizen office on Friday, Nov. 5, I statedthe following:

"'With early voting beginning injust over a week and such a short cam-paign period until the mayoral runoffelection, I feel that my time should beutilized knocking on doors and makingtelephone calls to discuss my campaign

with the residents of Searcy, rather thanengage in a discussion with the currentmayor. Possibly we can revisit thiscloser to the election.'

"Therefore, I did not 'decline' as youerroneously stated in the bold headline.

"Due to this and other incidents thathave recently occurred in working withThe Daily Citizen newspaper, I respect-fully request that all further correspon-dence and questions concerning me andmy campaign for the office of mayor ofSearcy be addressed in writing. Likewise,Iwill respond to you inwriting in a timelyfashion.

"In advance, I wish to thank you foryour cooperation."

was dropped after opposition,highway department officialssay.

Officials have set aside$24 million for the projectand a public hearing sched-uled for Sept. 30 was can-celed.

Two main routes — theNicholson Road route andthe Honey Hill Route — hadcome to the forefront of dis-cussion, both of which beginwhere Highway 13 nowends at its intersection withHighway 267, which is onlyfour miles from Highway67/167 via Highway 13.Both main routes will travelup Copperas Springs Roadto Wooten Lane, but at thatpoint the two routes are dif-ferent.

The Nicholson Road routewould veer northwest acrosscountry from Wooten Laneto connect with NicholsonRoad, intersecting Highway36 at the Nicholson/CrosbyRoad intersection.

TheHoneyHillRoadroutewould veer northeast acrosscountry from Wooten Laneto connect with Honey HillRoad, intersecting Highway36 at the Searcy city lim-its. A variation of the HoneyHill route goes northeast upHighway 267 to near KikeAcres Road and going north-west across country to con-nect with Honey Hill Road.

The points of connectionon Highway 36 west for thetwo routes are two milesapart.

No new information aboutthe actual routes will be seen

at the meeting, according toDavid Nilles, public informa-tion officer for the ArkansasHighway TransportationDepartment.

What will be seen for thefirst time, however, is theresult of field assessments inthe form of traffic studies,showing the frequency of useby drivers on each route andthe number of vehicles thattravel the routes.

at least one company is con-cerned about protecting landrights, with Union PacificRailroad urging hunters toresist the temptation to hunton railroad property this sea-son. Wildlife tend to migrateand feed along the edges offreshly-harvested fields mak-ing these areas prime huntingspots. With many fields adja-cent to Union Pacific tracks,hunters find it very temptingto hunt on or near the tracks.

“As part of our ongoingUP CARES initiative, wewant to remind hunters thatwalking on or near railroadtracks is extremely danger-ous because you never knowwhen a train will comealong,” said Dennis Jenson,assistant vice president-chiefof police.

“It can take a mile or moreto stop a train and by the timea locomotive engineer seesyou on the track, it wouldbe too late,” said Dale Bray,director — public safety.“Locomotives and rail carsoverhang the tracks by at least

three feet on either side of therail and loose straps hangingfrom rail cars may extendeven further. If you are nextto the tracks, you can be hitby the locomotive, a rail caror anything that may be hang-ing loose from the car,” addedBray.

UnionPacificiscommittedto public safety through vari-ous outreach channels suchas community events, media,UnionPacificRailroadpolice,employee resource groupsand Operation Lifesaver. TheUP CARES (Union PacificCrossing Accident ReductionEducation and Safety) publicsafety initiative brings togeth-er communities in a collab-orative and caring effort topromote railroad grade cross-ing and pedestrian safety.

UP CARES activitiesinclude:

■Grade crossing enforce-ment with local, county andstate law enforcement agen-cies;

■ Safety trains that pro-vide local officials a firsthand

look at what locomotive engi-neers see daily while theyoperate trains through a com-munity and

■ Communication blitzesthat educate the community atevents or media outreach.

Hunters are not the onlyones drawn to railroad tracks– hikers, bikers and fisher-men are as well.

Through August of thisyear, nearly 26,000 peoplehave been caught trespass-ing onUnion Pacific Railroad

property. Trespassers on rail-road property can be arrestedfor violating trespassing laws.If they are caught, they couldserve jail time and/or have topay a fine. Anyone choos-ing to walk on or near rail-road tracks could face a tragicconsequence. Last year, 428people died and 346 wereinjured while trespassing onrailroad property throughoutthe United States accord-ing to the Federal RailroadAdministration.

Morris: Candidate states he did not decline debateCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A

Season: Gun deer season set to open SaturdayCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A

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Highway: Meeting setCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A