kyle troutman

CitizenDailyThe

W E A T H E RToday: Mostly cloudy. Rain likely. Highs in the upper 60s. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph. Tonight: Mostly cloudy. Rain likely. Lows in the lower 50s. West winds 5 mph.

Vol. 158, No. 293©2012 The Daily Citizen

“ ”Character is power.

BOOKER T. WASHINGTONAmerican educator

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

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2012 75¢

Serving Searcy and White County, Ark., since 1854

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

I N D E X

TheDailyCitizen.com

PIONEER VILLAGE GETS READY FOR CHRISTMAS

A year-long discussion with the Searcy City Council con-cluded Thursday night as the council approved giving one-time bonuses to all city em-ployees.

All of the city’s 228 employ-ees will receive bonuses, as well as four elected offi cials within

the city.In total, the bonuses will cost

the city $101,821.04.Each of the 216 full-time em-

ployees in the city will get $400 and each of the 12 part-time employees will receive $200.

Searcy Mayor David Morris, City Clerk Jerry Morris, Dis-trict Judge Mark Pate and City Attorney Buck Gibson will re-

ceive $400 bonuses as well.The money to fund bonuses

will be covered by one of two certifi cates of deposit (CDs) the city has, with one CD total-ing $200,000 and another CD worth $100,000.

Alderman Don Raney sug-gested the amount of $400

City approves bonusesBY MOLLY M. [email protected]

Quorum courtWho: George “Bud” Os-

born, 80What: Died Wednesday

evening

City council

What: Approved employee bonuses

Amount: $400 for full-time employees, $200 for part-time employees

Total: $101,821.04

Longtime JP Osborn

dies

Longtime White County Jus-tice of Peace George “Bud” Os-born, D-Searcy, died Wednesday evening. He was 80 years old.

O s b o r n ’ s daughter, Por-tia Routon, said he died of natural causes.

O s b o r n was originally from Garner but lived in Searcy for the latter part of his life, as he repre-sented the central portion of the city on the Quorum Court.

Routon said her father retired from Entergy, where he worked most of his life. She said funeral arrangements will be made at

BY MOLLY M. [email protected]

Searcy justice served on

Quorum Court for 20 years

Osborn

Molly M. Fleming/[email protected]

Faye Jones of Kensett tests out some of the toys available for purchase Thursday afternoon in the gift shop at Pioneer Village in Searcy. The village will host its first-ever Christ-mas open house Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Santa Claus will be on site for photographs, as well as other Christmas festivi-ties.

Sonja Wilks (left) and Elizabeth Heard look at some Christmas stockings on the front porch of the log cabin at Pioneer Village as they decorate on Thurs-day. Wilks said the stock-ings belonged to a dear friend of hers and she has since inherited them. She said they are at least 80 years old.

Molly M. Fleming/[email protected]

All people are potential vic-tims for con artists, and the Searcy Police Department sug-gests residents learn the warn-ing signs to avoid becoming victims.

Brittany Eacret, SPD spokes-man, said that scams usually

increase during the holiday sea-son, be it in person, over the In-ternet or by phone.

“All of these types of calls are high-pressure and are almost always unexpected,” Eacret said. “They are a threat to any-one with a phone number.”

Fraudulent charity solicita-tions are one type of phone scam and can appear in many forms. By phone, someone might call asking victims to do-nate money to charities that do

Searcy police warn of scams during holidaysSeason poses higher risk for scams, police say

Searcy scamsThe Searcy Police Depart-

ment warns residents of scams and warning signs to heed during the holiday season.

LITTLE ROCK — An Arkansas doctor sentenced to life in prison for a 2009 bombing that nearly killed the head of the state medi-cal board should be resentenced on some convictions, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

A jury convicted Randeep Mann, 54, in 2010 of conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruc-tion and other charges. The Feb. 4, 2009, bomb attack took away Dr. Trent Pierce’s sense of smell and left him blind in one eye and deaf in one ear.

Mann’s attorneys appealed his convictions and sentences, arguing there wasn’t enough evi-dence to convict him.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Thursday that Mann shouldn’t have received a sentencing enhancement based on allegations that he ordered the assault of an inmate. The panel said the allegation was never brought up in court and

Court ordersresentencing in Arkansas

bombingBY JEANNIE NUSS

Associated Press

Please see OSBORN | 2A

Please see SCAMS | 3A

OLD PIPES LEAD TO KENSETT MAIN BREAKCity officials hope that a boil order will be lifted today or Monday for some Kensett streets. — PAGE 3A

HARDING ACADEMY DEEP AT RECEIVERSix Wildcats have at least 200 yards receiving this season coming into Saturday’s title game. — PAGE 1B

Bonuses to be paid out of certificates of deposit totaling $300,000

Please see BONUSES | 2A

Please see RESENTENCING | 3A

W E A T H E RToday: Mostly sunny. Highs around 40. South winds 5 mph. Tonight: Mostly cloudy. A slight chance of rain and light snow after midnight. Lows in the lower 30s.


“ ”We cannot teach people anything;

we can only help them discover it within themselves.

GALILEO GALILEIItalian astronomer, mathematician and physicist



I N D E X

LOCAL WINTER WHEAT SAFE AMID SNOWFALLWhite County farmers are calling the five inches of snow that fell in the area on Christmas day a blessing. — PAGE 3A

BALD KNOB SENIOR SHOWCASES SKILLSCordell Crisp is hoping to turn heads at today’s All-American Game in Houston. — PAGE 1B

Beebe officials hope that people looking for signs of the end of the world will not be able to find one in Beebe Monday or Tuesday.

The city that has become infamous for having a number of dead black-birds on the streets on New Year’s Day for the past two years.

Beebe issues fireworks banBY MOLLY M. [email protected]

Robertson

Beebe fireworksBeebe City Council issued an

ordinance earlier this year ban-ning fireworks in areas of the city where blackbirds are known to roost. For the past two New Year’s Eves, the city has awo-ken to hundreds of dead black-birds, killed by fireworks.

Residents cannot shoot fireworks in areas where blackbirds are known to roost

The recent mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., has sparked a nationwide de-bate on gun control.

While business has been ripe for many gun shops and sporting goods stores in recent years, business is now booming more than ever.

John Key, owner of sporting goods store Ultimate Outdoors in Searcy, said his top-selling weapons are hand-guns and semi-automatic rifles — also known as assault rifles — but there’s more to consider in gun sales than the Newtown shooting.

“The shootings are terrible and we don’t want to consider it an advantage to our business,” he said. “But, [the shootings], political environment, Christmas and hunting season all happened at the same time.”

Key, whose store focuses on selling guns for hunting purposes, said he’s had a lot of people that he wouldn’t expect coming in to bear arms.

“I’ve sold so many guns to folks

who might not own one,” he said. “Their attitudes when they come in is, ‘I think I might need to own a gun.’ I know there’s huge debate about guns, and our customers aren’t buying guns to shoot people, they’re just afraid of the government saying they can’t have them anymore.”

Richard Hall, manager of Ozark Sporting Arms, said his shop has seen increases in gun sales since the elec-tion of President Barack Obama in 2008, especially in the first three days after his inauguration.

“We went up about 50 percent or more because people don’t trust the government,” he said. “Anytime some-thing may go away, people go out and

buy more, but we’ve still sold more hunting guns than anything else.”

Hall said the store sells a lot of semi-automatic rifles, selling many more .22-caliber weapons than semi-auto-matic rifles, and it’s getting hard for the store to even get guns.

“We had one only .22-caliber traded in [last week], and Ruger is behind on their small arms by 11⁄2 years,” he said.

Key said gun sales are so high na-tionally that his employees have had to put in some work at home.

“People are scared of what’s to come and an interesting piece of data to have is how many guns have sold in the past two weeks,” he said. “[The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Fire-arms’] background check system has been completely overwhelmed, so we’ve been having to run background checks at home after hours.”

Key said his sporting goods store has been so busy he hasn’t even had time to sit down and see how much of a boost his sales have seen.

LOCAL GUN SHOP BUSINESS BOOMING

BY KYLE [email protected]

Kyle Troutman/[email protected]

Rusty Fischer, employee of the sporting goods store Ultimate Outdoors in Searcy, attaches a scope to one of the store’s top-selling guns, a Savage Model 111 .30-06 rifle, at the store Thursday night. John Key, owner of Ultimate Outdoors, said he has seen a rise in gun sales recently.

Politics, protection and hunting lead to high gun sales

Gun salesLocal gun shops and sporting

goods stores are seeing an uptick in gun sales with a combination of politics, tragedies and hunting season.

The city of Kensett has ap-proved a 2013 budget of $1,146,732.15 and is on pace for a more than $333,300 sur-plus, which is about two-thirds as much as last year.

The largest changes from 2012 include a $52,403.42 drop in expected revenue and a $68,072.34 rise in general fund expenditures.

Kensett to spend

more, save less


City of KensettWhat: Passed a 2013

budgetChanges: The new bud-

get sees a $52,403 drop in expected revenue and a $68,072.34 rise in gen-eral fund expenditures. The city is aligned to have a $220,398.96 surplus at the year’s end.

Alderman not happy with how some funds

being managed

McDonald

Fathers and daughters will have ample time to bond during the annual Winter Snowflake Ball in January.

The Arkansas Distinguished Young Women Scholarship

Ball proceeds to benefit

scholarshipBY WENDY JONES

[email protected]

Scholarship Program

What: Will host a Winter Snowflake Ball for father fig-ures and daughters

When: Jan. 19, 6:30-9 p.m.

Where: Ann’s Bridal, The Rose Room

Cost: $15 for dads, $10

Please see KENSETT | 2A

Please see BIRDS | 3A

Please see BALL | 2A Please see SALES | 2A

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2012 $125

CitizenDailyThe

W E A T H E RToday: Mostly cloudy. Patchy fog in the morning. Highs in the lower 70s.Tonight: Mostly cloudy. Patchy fog after midnight. Lows in the lower 50s.


“ ”To love oneself is the beginning of a

lifelong romance.

OSCAR WILDE19th Century Irish writer and poet



I N D E X

SEARCY CHRISTMAS PARADE DRAWS CROWD

The proposed 2013 budget on which members of the Searcy City Council will vote this month will include a line item to reopen the leaky municipal pool for

the 2013 season.Mayor David Morris said he will pass

along a budget proposal to the council that includes funding for the nearly

Pool in 2013 budget proposal

BY JACOB [email protected]

Mayor recommends keeping pool open despite financial, environmental concerns

Municipal PoolWhat: The proposed bud-

get on which members of the city council will vote includes funding to keep the pool open another year.

Cost: Pool season this past summer cost the city $128,152.39

Morris

The fi nancial situation at the Searcy Sanitation Department has improved, but the num-bers are still in the red.

As of the end of July, the depart-ment had a negative balance of $48,967.01, but as the end of October, the department only had a nega-tive balance of $23,457.67.

City sanitation finances

improving

BY MOLLY M. [email protected]

Shock

Searcy Sanitation

Earlier this year, the Searcy Sanitation Department had lost nearly $50,000. How-ever, the department has im-proved its financial state and is only down $23,457.

Department still losing money, despite

revenue sources

Please see SANITATION | 2A

Every year since 1998, on the Saturday following Thanksgiv-ing, 39-year-old Judsonian Brad Allen calls ducks.

H o w e v e r , Allen isn’t in a blind or a fi eld. He’s on Main Street in Stutt-gart.

This year, Allen won his second duck calling world championship. Al-though the prize package is worth

Judsonia man revels in second

title


Allen

World champion duck caller

Who: Brad Allen, 39, of Judsonia

What: Recently won his second duck calling world championship in Stuttgart

One-of-a-kind duck call helps Allen win

Please see ALLEN | 3A

With winter weather quickly approaching, local fi re depart-ments are hoping to make sure residents stay safe while stay-ing warm.

Bald Knob Fire Chief Danny Holobaugh said space heaters are the biggest threat to homes, but not the only one.

“Everyone uses space heat-ers and they never put them in the right place,” he said. “A

space heater is what it says — it needs space.”

According to the National Fire Protection Association, heating equipment was in-volved in an estimated 57,100 house fi res in 2010, resulting in 490 deaths, 1,540 injuries and $1.1 billion in property dam-age. Nearly half (49 percent) of these fi res occurred in Decem-ber, January and February.

More than half of the fatal home fi res (53 percent) were attributed to space heater placement. Space heaters should be kept away from

things that may burn, such as furniture, clothing, mattresses or bedding.

“People set up the space heater, plug it in, then never pay attention to it when it could be close to something and get hot,” Holobaugh said. “Space heaters need to be put in an area with plenty of room.”

Lisa Coleman, Searcy fi re marshal, agreed about the dangers of space heaters and shared her advice on how to handle them.

Local firefighters stress safety in winter


Space heaters, chimneys leading

cause of house fires

Fire safety

What: Local fire depart-ments hope citizens will make themselves aware of fire safety in the winter

Leading cause: Heating equipment (space heaters) was involved in an estimated 57,100 house fires in 2010, resulting in 490 deaths, 1,540 injuries and $1.1 bil-lion in property damage.

Please see SAFETY | 2A

Please see POOL | 2A

BIG STOP SECURES TICKET TO TITLE GAME

Serving Searcy and White County, Ark., since 1854

Harding Academy’s defense rose to the challenge, sending the Wildcats to the title game. — PAGE 1B

LETTER EXPLAINS MAYOR ASSAULT VERDICTJudge Mark Pate said the state did not meet its burden of proof in prosecuting an assault case. — PAGE 3A

TheDailyCitizen.com


Santa Claus waves to people lining the street as he pass-es the White County Court-house during Searcy’s annual Christmas parade Saturday evening. At left, Belinda An-derson and Kaleigh Anderson, 3, wave at Santa Claus as he passes them near the corner of Main Street and Race Av-enue during Searcy’s parade.

Special to The Daily Citizen WACO, Texas — After go-

ing a perfect 3-0 to win the Houston Regional, the Arkan-sas baseball team travels to Waco, Texas, to face the No. 4 Baylor Bears in the Waco Super Regional at Baylor Ball-park. Game times for the best two out of three weekend se-ries are set for 4 p.m. on Sat-urday and 3 p.m. on Sunday and Monday.

All games from the Waco Super Regional will be tele-vised on the ESPN family of networks with Dave Neal and Jay Walker on the call. Sat-urday and Sunday’s games will be shown live on ESPNU, while the “if necessary” game on Monday will be televised by ESPN2. All three games of the series will also be streamed online on ESPN3.com. The games will also be available on the Razorback Baseball Radio Network from IMG. Three-time Arkansas Sportscaster of the Year Chuck Barrett (play-by-play) and former Arkansas Sports Information Director Rick Schaeffer (analyst) will call the action. A live blog and live stats will also be available on ArkansasRazorbacks.com.

Arkansas faces No. 4 Baylor on the road

SATURDAY, JUNE 9, 2012 SPORTSSECTION B

Sports Editor Kyle Troutman501-268-8621

[email protected] Citizen

The

RODEO FINALS CHAMPIONSHIPS TONIGHT

Hogs baseballRecord: 42-19Super Regional: Arkan-

sas will head to nationally ranked No. 4 Baylor for the first game of a best-of-three series beginning at 4 p.m.

Hogs open Super Regional

play today

BY BETH HARRISAssociated Press

NEW YORK — The Triple Crown curse lives. This time the horse didn’t even make it to the starting gate.

I’ll Have Another’s bid for the fi rst Triple Crown in 34 years ended stunningly Friday when the chestnut colt was retired on the eve of the Belmont Stakes with an injury to his left front tendon.

“I’m afraid history is going to have to wait for another day,” said J. Paul Reddam, the colt’s owner.

I’ll Have Another, who won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes with stirring stretch drives, was the 4-5 early favorite to win the Belmont and become the 12th Triple Crown winner and fi rst since Affi rmed in 1978.

Instead, he’ll make one fi nal trip to the racetrack with his jockey Mario Gutierrez to lead the other Belmont horses dur-ing Saturday’s post parade — no longer a prelude to greatness, but merely a wistful farewell.

“He’ll be my hero forever,” a somber Gutierrez said. “What I’ll Have Another did for me is so amazing. He brought happi-ness to my life.”

Always the longest and tough-est of the Triple Crown events, the 1 1-2-mile Belmont was in-stantly reduced to being just an-other big race.

The favorite’s role fell to Dullahan, who ran third in the Derby and had been second in the morning line for the Bel-mont. He was made the 9-5 early choice.

Trainer Doug O’Neill said I’ll Have Another was being retired because he developed swelling in his left front tendon that was the beginning of tendinitis.

“This is extremely tough for all of us. It’s far from tragic but it’s extremely disappointing,” he said.

O’Neill’s brother, Dennis, said it was hard to tell anything was wrong just by looking at the horse.

“He looks great. He’s sound. He went great this morning. He looks super (but) you just can’t take a chance,” he said. “He’s too valuable of a horse and we love him to death like all of them. You wouldn’t run a horse if you think something might happen.”

The scratch comes a day be-fore an estimated 100,000 fans were expected to converge on the track in hopes of seeing, at long last, a Triple Crown winner

— a champion who would help resurrect a struggling racing in-dustry.

I’ll Have Another joined 11 other horses since Affi rmed who won the Derby and the Preakness, but were unable to complete a Triple Crown sweep in the Belmont, extending the longest gap between Triple win-ners to 35 years. The colt also became the third winner of the fi rst two legs who was unable to run in the fi nale; Burgoo King in

1932 and Bold Venture in 1936 were the others.

“It’s like completely letting the air out of a balloon,” said Ken McPeek, who trains Bel-mont contenders Atigun and Unstoppable U.

Dale Romans, who trains Dullahan, said: “This was go-ing to be a special race, one of the biggest races of our time. I’d rather have him in there. It would have been something special to beat him.”

Doug O’Neill said he fi rst no-ticed something might be wrong with the colt Thursday, hours after his usual morning gallop.

“We prayed he kind of hit himself and that it was a little bit of skin irritation,” he told a horde of media gathered out-side the detention barn at Bel-mont Park.

O’Neill had called an audible Friday and taken his horse out to gallop at 5:30 a.m., three hours earlier than he had been working out in the days lead-ing up to the race. He wanted to avoid the congestion created by all the Belmont horses going to the track at the same time.

“I thought he looked great on the track,” he said, “and then cooling out, you could tell that swelling was back, and at that point I didn’t feel very good.”

A veterinarian confi rmed the diagnosis and suggested that O’Neill give the colt three to six months off before resuming training. But O’Neill said he and his brother, along with Reddam and his wife, were unanimous in deciding to retire the colt who had won four consecutive Grade 1 races, starting with the Santa Anita Derby in April.

“I really thought he was going to run off tomorrow and reallyshow something,” Reddam said. “So we were all a bit shocked, but we have to do what’s best for the horse.”

Dr. Larry Bramlage, on-call veterinarian for the Belmont, said it wouldn’t hurt I’ll Have Another to walk on the track “but would be a concern at a mile-and-a-half at full speed.”

I’ll Have Another suddenly retires with injuryBY TIM REYNOLDS

Associated PressMIAMI — LeBron James has

no idea what he will do for an encore.

He offered a simple vow in-stead.

“I won’t regret Game 7,” James said.

There may not have been another sentiment the Miami Heat would have preferred hearing more as they prepare to host the Boston Celtics Sat-urday night.

James is coming off a sea-son-saving 45-point, 15-re-bound, fi ve-assist effort to force Game 7. The winner will head to Oklahoma City to start the NBA fi nals on Tuesday night and the loser heads into an offseason of decided uncer-tainty.

“Win, lose or draw, I’m going to go in with the mindset like I’ve had this whole season,” James said. “And you know, we’ll see what happens.”

A series that has gone back and forth — Miami won the fi rst two games, then lost three straight before James carried the Heat to a win that denied Boston the East crown on Thursday night — comes down to an ultimate game.

For the Heat, it’s a chance to play for the ring they couldn’t win last year in the opening act of the Big Three era. For the Celtics, it’s probably one last chance for their current core to reach the NBA’s mountaintop.

“This team has been about adversity all year long, you know, so this is not going to be nothing new,” Celtics forward Paul Pierce said. “It’s been tough for us all year long to get to the point where we would be at, and why wouldn’t it be tough now? Winning is hard. Trying to get to the fi nals is hard. And this is as hard as it gets. And I think we are pre-pared for it.”

It’s the 111th time a best-of-seven NBA series has gone the distance. Home teams are 88-22 in the previous matchups.

That means little to Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. The last time Boston was on his team’s

Celtics, Heat set for Game 7 to

decide East title

Please see HOGS | 2B

Please see HEAT | 2B


Tyler Britt, of Royal, prepares to jump off his horse and tie down a roped calf at the Arkansas High School State Rodeo Fi-nals Friday night at the White County Fairgrounds. Britt roped his calf in 13.887 seconds, which was good for second place in his long-go round, qualifying him for the final round today, with events starting at 6:30 p.m. Fairgrounds Board President Mitchell Spurlock said the three-day event will bring about 500-600 people to Searcy, generating a $100,000 to $150,000 boost to the local economy.


Searcy’s and Bald Knob’s football teams will hit the grid-iron today for the last time until July.

The Lions and Bulldogs will participate in the Bison 7-on-7 Tournament, which begins at 9 a.m. today at First Security Stadium, and features 12 teams from across Arkansas and two out-of-state-teams in Ouachita Christian from Monroe, La., and Trinity Christian Academy from the Dallas area.

Searcy Head Coach Tim Harper said the opportunity to play out-of-state teams has its advantages and disadvantages.

“The good news is, they haven’t seen us either,” Harper said. “When you get down to it, We just want to see the kids compete.”

Johnston said the out-of-

state competition is a good chance for his players to learn how to read opposing teams’ schemes.

“I can’t say we’ve got any preparation for them, but we want the kids to be able to read and assess coverages and defenses, so it’s good to play someone you’ve never seen be-fore and get something new,” he said.

Both teams will be missing some players in the morning, with ACT testing confl icting with the tournament.

“We will be a bit depleted because we have about 10 kids taking the ACT,” Harper said. “So, it’s a good chance to work on our depth at defensive back and look at a new receiver or two.”

Bald Knob Head Coach Paul

Johnston is in the same boat as Harper, with six of his players taking the ACT today, but John-ston said it shouldn’t affect the Bulldogs, who are familiar with the Bison 7-on-7 Tournament.

“We’ve participated in this tournament the last three to four years and always get to see different styles of offense and defense,” he said. “It’s good for kids to see different formations and coverages, so we get a lot of benefi t out of it.”

Searcy’s projected starting quarterback, Antwan Arnold, will be taking the ACT, so back-up Cam Woodruff will have a chance to get in some work un-der center at the tournament.

“Cam will be our backup quarterback, and [today’s tour-nament] should get him some good reps and experience,”

Local teams in 7-on-7Bisons 7-on-7

What: Harding University is hosting the Bison 7-on-7 Tourna-ment at First Security Stadium.

When: Beginning 9 a.m. today, with the championship game around 4:30 p.m.

Teams: Searcy, Bald Knob, Forrest City, Batesville South-side, Brookland, Valley View, Lonoke, Wynne, Ouachita Chris-tian (La.) and Trinity Christian Academy (Texas).

Lions, Bulldogs look to get reps today before dead period

Please see LIONS | 3B

Associated Press

Trainer Doug O’Neill brings out I’ll Have Another, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, for a news conference at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., on Friday. I’ll Have Another’s bid for a Triple Crown ended with the shocking news that the colt was out of the Belmont Stakes due to a swollen left front tendon. The Bel-mont Stakes horse race is Saturday.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012 SPORTSSECTION B

Sports Editor Kyle Troutman501-268-8621

[email protected] Citizen

The

Searcy’s varsity softball team’s state tournament sched-ule changed on Tuesday.

With Russellville’s Monday night win over Conway, the Lady Cyclones amassed enough power rating points to move from the No. 4 seed to the No. 2 seed, relegating Searcy to the No. 3 slot.

With the seeding change, No. 3 Searcy will now face No. 6 Pine Bluff at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Lady Lionsdrop to

No. 3 seed

The Daily Citizen

Harding Academy’s varsity softball team was behind 2-1 halfway through the 3A Region 2 third place game, but the Lady Wildcats’ persistence paid off.

In the top of the sixth in-ning, Kristen Lester and Jordan Landis hit an RBI single each to bring Harding Academt to a 3-2 lead, then Shelby Gowen hit a sacrifi ce fl y for a 4-2 lead.

Benton-Harmony Grove scored a run in the sixth, but Harding Academy held on in the seventh inning for the comeback win and a No. 3 seed in the state tournament.

“It was a solid win for our kids,” said Rusty Garner, Hard-ing Academy head coach. “I told the kids to play it like a state tournament game and they did. We had sacrifi ce fl ys and sacri-fi ce bunts, and it had the feel of

a state tournament game.”The Lady Wildcats, 23-7,

will face Smackover in the fi rst round of the 3A State Tourna-ment, and Garner said the win Tuesday was a confi dence boost.

“We’re excited about how we’ve played going into the state tournament,” he said.

Harding Academy will play Smackover Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the fi rst round of the 3A State Tournament in Harrison.

Lady Wildcats rally for winBY KYLE TROUTMAN

[email protected] Wildcats softball

Record: 23-7Tuesday’s result: 4-3 win

over Benton-Harmony Grove to take third place in the 3A Region 2 Tournament

Next up: Harding Academy will face Smackover at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the first round of the 3A State Tour-nament in Harrison

LADY RAMBLERS REPEAT

Rose Bud’s varsity soft-ball team was one out away from falling in the 3A Re-gion 2 championship game, but the Lady Ramblers came through with the game on the line.

With two outs and runners on second and third base, Misty Newcom hit a double to left fi eld, getting two RBI and tying the game at 7-7. Rose Bud allowed Arkansas Baptist to fi ll the bases in the top of the eighth inning with one out, but a Tori Lemieux strikeout and a ground ball to Sara Sartin at fi rst base for an out gave Rose Bud the chance for a walk-off win.

With runners on second and third, Tori Willborg blasted a single up the mid-dle, bringing home Marissa Holland from third and giv-ing the Lady Ramblers, 31-3, their second consecutive 3A Region 2 title.

“I’ve learned these girls never quit or lay down,” Head Coach Matt Porter said. “When push comes to shove, they will get the job done.”

Porter said Newcom, who was battling tears in between the seventh and eighth innings, came up big

after missing the fi rst four weeks of the season.

“Newcom’s hit was unbe-lievable,” he said. “She hus-tled back and it’s unbeliev-able what she did in a clutch situation.”

Willborg, who hit the walk-off RBI, said repeat-ing as regional champions in such fashion was exciting.

“That win was huge,” she said. “We’re happy to bring [a title] home two years in a row. It’s great for our school. It’s also more special to win regionals as a senior.”

Not everything was peach-es and cream for the Lady Ramblers, as starting pitch-er Dana Naquin was unable to pitch the game because of pain in her arm, forcing Lemieux to take the mound

in the biggest game of the year thus far.

“Dana’s arm hurt, so we decided to go with Tori and give Dana some time to heal before Thursday,” Por-ter said. “At the beginning of the game, it shocked us a bit [that Dana would not be pitching], but we knew Tori would come in and do work, and she performed.”

Willborg said losing Naquin was a tough, but the team always had faith Lemieux would pitch well. “It was a shock,” she said.

“But we knew Tori could do it.”

Rose Bud will head to the 3A State Tournament Thursday to face Genoa Central. As conference, dis-trict and regional champions two years straight, the Lady Ramblers are hoping avoid repeating last year’s state tournament, where they fell in the fi rst round.

“This win gave us a lot of momentum,” Porter said. “It showed we will have to battle in every game in state. We’ve got to play harder than we’ve played in our entire lives for four games, or it will just be one game.”

Rose Bud will head to Harrison Thursday to face Genoa Central at noon.


Lady Ramblers softball

Record: 31-3Tuesday’s result: 8-7

eight-inning win over Ar-kansas Baptist to repeat as 3A Region 2 Champi-ons

Next up: Rose Bud will face Genoa Central Thursday at noon in the 3A State Tournament in Harrison

Lady Lions softballSeed change: On Tuesday,

Searcy moved from the No. 2 seed to the No. 3 seed

First round: No. 3 Searcy will now face No. 6 Pine Bluff at 7:30 p.m. Thursday

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Tiger Woods is about the only person not in a panic about his game.

These remain curious times for the guy trying to show he can still dominate golf as he once did. In his last four tour-naments, Woods walked off the course in the middle of the fi nal round at Doral with tight-ness in his left Achilles tendon, won by fi ve shots at Bay Hill for his fi rst PGA Tour title in 30 months, was an also-ran at the Masters with his worst performance as a pro and missed the cut at Quail Hollow for only the eighth time in his career.

In the absence of trophies, there is no shortage of opin-ions.

Peter Alliss, the player-turned-broadcaster, said be-fore his induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame that Woods is “gone at the mo-ment.” Nick Faldo, a six-time major champion who works for CBS Sports and Golf Chan-nel, said Woods no longer has the self-belief that made him No. 1 for all those years. Bran-del Chamblee, a journeyman on the PGA Tour and now an analyst for Golf Channel, said Woods should fi re Sean Foley and call his old coach, Butch Harmon.

“And I know he’ll never do that because he’s letting his ego get in the way of common sense,” Chamblee said on a conference call for The Players Championship, which starts Thursday. “He wants to prove to people he’s right. He would rather prove to people he’s right than be right.”

Woods has been down this road, though not with so many detours.

“Guys, I’ve done this be-fore,” Woods said. “I’ve been through this. Actually, a lot of you guys lived it with me, went through those periods where I wasn’t quite where I wanted to be. I had some pretty good runs after that, and this is no different. It takes a little bit of a time, and I keep building and things eventually come around

Woods hopes forPlayers’recovery

BY DOUG FERGUSONAssociated Press

Bald Knob’s varsity baseball team took seven innings to get a run, but what an important run it was.

The Bulldogs, 18-7, were in a scoreless game with Mayfl ower until the last inning of the third place contest in the 3A Region 2 Tournament. After pitcher Cordell Crisp went three up and three down in the top of the sev-enth, Bald Knob had a chance to win with a single run in the bot-tom of the inning.

After a pop-fl y out, Tristan Falwell singled to get on base for the winning run. Then, after another pop-fl y out, Crisp sin-gled to move Falwell to second.

Enter Tyler Gilmore.The senior stepped up to the

plate with two outs and hit a line drive to left fi eld, allowing Falwell to round third and cross home unchallenged for the walk-off run.

“We just tried to get runners in scoring position,” said Ran-dy Johnston, Bald Knob head coach. “We were going to play small ball, but with two outs, we decided to shoot for the gaps. It was huge for Tyler to get that hit.

“That was a great job compet-ing with two outs and one run-ner in scoring position, but he’s been a team leader for us all year.”

Crisp pitched a full game and a shutout for Bald Knob, and Johnston said he couldn’t have asked for more from the multi-sport junior.

“Cordell gave us one of his best performances all year,” he said.

Bald Knob will head to the 3A State Tournament in Prescott Thursday, facing Smackover in the fi rst round at 7:30 p.m.

Bulldogs win in

walk-off fashion


Searcy moves down after Russellville win


Rose Bud’s Marissa Holland (left) removes her helmet after scoring the game-winning run while teammate Tori Lemieux sprints up the first base line to celebrate with game-winning RBI hitter Tori Willborg.

Bulldogs baseball

Record: 18-7Tuesday’s result: 1-0

walk-off win over Mayflower to take third place in the 3A Region 2 Tournament

Next up: Bald Knob will face Smackover 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the 3A State Tournament in Prescott.

Rose Bud gets comebackwin over Arkansas Baptist

Senior comes up big in 1-0 win

INDIANAPOLIS — DannyGranger scored 25 points to help the Indiana Pacers defeat the Orlando Magic 105-87 on Tuesday night and clinch their fi rst-round Eastern Conference

Pacers finishoff Magic

BY CLIFF BRUNTAssociated Press

Please see WOODS | 3B Please see PACERS | 3B

kyle troutman

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