Stories from Wednesday, April 18, 2001

Clay County's libraries could feel the financial pinch since a state funding shortfall could mean a cut in publications, programs and public services. According to news reports, Gov. Mike Huckabee had proposed eliminating all library funding as a means to help balance the state's budget since anticipated revenue was well-below estimated figures. The governor later revised the proposal...

A public reception honoring Rosemary Janes, education coordinator for the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Education Center in Piggott, will be held from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Monday, April 30, on the lawn of the museum and educational center. Janes has announced her retirement, effective at the end of the month...

In late news from Pocahontas, the doubles team of Courtney Carrens/Meagan Swann took first place in the district tournament Tuesday and will begoing to Pine Bluff to compete at state. Joe Blascoe will also be making an appearance in singles play. The duo of Anthony Lane/Philip Hamilton placed third and have a chance at a wild card berth.The tournament will be held April 26-27...

Two Piggott Mohawk seniors are hoping to reach the golf state tournament for their fourth year in a row. Michael Hoggard and Joel Coomer both qualified for regional tournament play last week as they carded 81 and 84 respectively in the district match to lead the Piggott team...

The Piggott Lady Mohawks got their bats going and picked up a 15-14 win over the Gosnell Lady Pirates on Monday night, after losing both ends of a doubleheader to Pocahontas on Thursday afternoon. Monday at Gosnell, Micha Morgan and Kara Bedwell both led The Lady Mohawks with four hits each...

The Piggott Mohawk girls tennis team finished their regular season with a 6-0 shutout over Corning on Thursday afternoon. The win evens their season record to 6-6. Meagan Swann, Amanda Lovelace and Fallon Wicker all won their singles matches 6-1. Swann/Courtney Carrens won their doubles match, 6-0, while Ashley Smart/Tabitha Bell won, 6-3. Lacet Grammer/Casey Dalton also won, 6-2...

As the Piggott High School baseball regular season winds to a close, coach Brock Swann and his players are gearing up for the district tournament. The Mohawks, now 8-7 after last week's games which included a doubleheader win over Hoxie, will wind up their regular season Thursday night against Brookland. The scheduled season finale against Rector has been cancelled...

Mayolar Williams Utley, 86, of Corning, formerly of Piggott, died Wednesday, April 11, 2001. She was born Oct. 16, 1914, in Steele, Mo., the daughter of the late David Lee and Minnie Rose Earl Williams. She married Rev. William Garfield Utley on Nov. 10, 1929. She was of the Baptist faith...

Waldon Bill Mann, 82, of Piggott died Sunday, April 15, 2001, at the Piggott Nursing Center. He was born April 6, 1919, the son of the late Robert Earl and Zelpha Jane Hutchison Mann. He married Lorene Virginia Lack on Aug. 3, 1940. To this union four sons were born...

Doyne Lemmons, 66, of Walnut Ridge died Tuesday, April 17, 2001, at Arkansas Methodist Hospital in Paragould. He was born Sept. 13, 1934, the son of the late Doyle and Callie Lemmons. He was preceded in death by his wife, Virginia. He is survived by his son, Randy Lemmons, and wife, Sandy, of Piggott; daughter Kathy Pritchard of Pocahontas; a brother, James Lemmons of Pocahontas; three sisters, Marjorie Myatt, Phyllis Vaccari and Barbara Brand of Walnut Ridge; five grandchildren, Michael, Christopher, Randy and Jeremy Lemmons and Cody Pritchard; and one great-grandson, Hayden Lemmons.. ...

The Clay County Quorum Court had a light agenda during Monday night's regular meeting in Corning. Justice Charles Midgett was absent. The justices unanimously approved an ordinance to amend the 2000 budgets for general, jail, health department, Department of Human Services, Office of Emergency Management, Chalk Bluff, Extension office, veteran's office and public relations and grants administrator...

April showers may bring May flowers, but it also carries an increased risk of severe weather. Jenny Hancock, Clay County coordinator for the Office of Emergency Management, said families should have a plan in the event a weather-related disaster occurs...

While many may be complacent when it comes to severe storms, believing tornadoes rarely strike this area, there was a time when some local residents learned all-too-well the fury that Mother Nature can spawn. On June 5, 1916, a tornado touched down in the Chalk Bluff Community, leaving destruction in its wake and claiming five lives, two of them young children...

Students in Laura Ort's world geography class recently visited with Piggott native Susan Jeffries, a Bryant, Ark., teacher who gave a lecture on her summer trip to Japan last year. Jeffries was one of several teachers chosen for the program through the Fulbright Memorial Fund, which is funded through the Japanese government. She went to Japan last June and spent most of the month in that country learning about its culture and its educational system...

Harry Elbert Bradshaw Sr., 89, of Piggott died Sunday, April 15, 2001, at Piggott Community Hospital. He was born Jan. 7, 1912, in Holcomb, the son of the late Scott and Laura Knox Bradshaw. He married Bonnie Dye in 1929. She preceded him in death in 1943...

Lora Beth Somers, 70, of Piggott died Monday, April 16, 2001, at Piggott Community Hospital. She was born Jan. 28, 1931, in Piggott, the daughter of the late Joe Alvin and Lora Lewis Nichols. She married Billy Hayes Rainwater in 1963. He preceded her in death on Dec. 26, 1979...

E.V. Nichols, 75, of 505 North Second Street, Marmaduke, died Saturday, April 14, 2001, of heart failure at Arkansas Methodist Hospital in Paragould. He was born Aug. 1, 1925. in Burdette to the late Bragg Nichols and Agne (Thompson) Nichols and lived most of his life in Osceola...

Selma M. Gatewood, 92, of Flint, Mich., a native of Rector, died Thursday, April 5, 2001, at McLaren Regional Medical Center in Flint. Mrs. Gatewood was born Sept. 11, 1908, in Rector to the late Charles and Rosa Johnson and had been a resident of the Flint area since 1939. She was employed by The Fair Store and J.C. Penney for many years...

Sadie L. Delaney, 87, died Thursday, April 5, 2001, at Stockbridge Country Manor in Stockbridge, Mich. She was born Jan. 23, 1914, in Guy, Ark., the daughter of Earl and Ruth (Dodd) Rowlett. She had lived in the area for eight years. She was married to Herbert D. Delaney, who preceded her in death in 1991...

"We're getting better with every game," Rector head softball coach Shane Robinson says about the play of this year's Lady Cougars. And that they have. After winning only one game in their first eight contests this season, the Rector girls got things going last Thursday night, taking both ends of a doubleheader from Walnut Ridge...

The Rector Cougars boys baseball team is heading into their final week of regular season play before beginning the post-season district tournament. The Cougars, now with an overall season record of 12-4-1, traveled to Monette on Tuesday night and will host the Marmaduke Greyhounds on Thursday...

The Associated Press last week released the final poll for the 2000-2001 Arkansas High School Basketball season. In the boys division, the top slot was a tie between AAAAA state champions Osceola and AAAA champs Little Rock Central. Third place went to Little Rock Hall with Hughes finishing fourth. Following Hughes were Clarksville, Marked Tree, Emerson, Conway,Pine Bluff and Harrison...

Rector's Alan Rabjohn shot a 95 at the Paragould Country Club last week which qualified him to advance to the regional tournament at Melbourne this week. Rector as a team shot a 208 which placed them fifth overall in the tournament. Only the top three teams advance to the regionals...

Ruby Stokes Gatewood, 88, of Rector died Saturday, April 14, 2001, at Heritage Nursing Home in Kennett. She was born Nov. 9, 1912, in Rector to the late Alfred Marion and Stella Stokes. She was a homemaker, a member of the Fifth and Pine Church of Christ, the Eastern Star and the Clay County Extension Homemakers Club...

David Neal Shelton, 37, of Rector died Monday, April 16, 2001, at his home. He was a sanitation engineer for Shelton Sanitation and was a lifelong resident of Rector. He was born Dec. 28, 1963, in Kennett, Mo. Shelton was an outstanding athlete at Rector High School, earning all-state honors as a second baseman. He was the leading hitter on his high school team...

Virginia and Dan Reid of Rector are extremely proud of their son, North Little Rock police detective Mike Shepard, who, almost two years ago, devised the Morgan Nick Alert System, a statewide emergency program designed to spread news quickly about abductions through 250 Arkansas radio and television stations...

Two Boydsville men were arrested on drug-related charges following an investigation by the Clay County Sheriff's Department and Arkansas State Police. According to a news release, the persons arrested were Dennis Dewayne Calhoun, 53, and Allen Ray Morgan, 39. They were charged with criminal intent to manufacture methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, and over-possession of pseudoephedrine...

The youth of the Rector First Baptist Church hope to help Arkansas Children's Hospital and get a chance to shave the head of their youth director, Mike Benson. The teens recently began "Project Snapshot" to raise money for the purchase of Polaroid film used by the hospital to take photos of hospitalized children on their birthdays, at going home parties, at last treatment parties or at a party to cheer someone who is depressed...

There will be fun for the whole family when Marmaduke holds its 13th annual Mayfest Friday and Saturday, May 4 and 5, in the city's downtown area. Sponsored this year by American Railcar Industries (ARI), Smoot Mobile Homes and the Bank of Paragould, the event will begin with a free bean and cornbread supper at 5 p.m. May 4 at the Marmaduke United Methodist Church. A concession stand operated by the Marmaduke police and fire departments will open that day at 5:30 p.m...

The Marmaduke High School Class of 2001 will graduate in ceremonies Friday, May 4. Lindsay Michelle Ussery, the 18-year-old daughter of Fred and Cathy Ussery, has been named as valedictorian. Ussery holds a 4.0 grade point average and works at Dixie Cafe in Paragould. She served her school as BETA President, Library Club vice-president and was a member of HAD, GT, FBLA, Pep Club, JUST, FCCLA, Student Council and the school newspaper staff...

A day of old fashioned family fun is in store for Rector area residents when the city's Parks and Recreation Commission holds its first annual June Fest Saturday, June 23, at Rector Memorial Park. The event will be held this year in conjunction with the Rector Area Chamber of Commerce's annual Toy Show, to be held that day at the Rector Community Center...

Ticket sales have been brisk for the Rector Area Chamber of Commerce banquet Thursday, April 26, and Chamber members are hard at work this week contacting businesses and friends and finalizing other areas of work for the big event. The 2001 banquet will honor Rector businesses and industries and will feature the lively music of The Old School Bluegrass Band of Little Rock. Speaker for the evening will be Alan McVey, deputy director of the Arkansas Department of Economic Development...

Andrew Dodd and Matt Floyd combined to toss a one-hitter against East Poinsett County in Marmaduke Greyhound baseball action on Wednesday. The Hounds won by a score of 10-0. Dodd picked up the win for Marmaduke giving up one hit in the first three innings. Floyd earned the save working the final two frames and allowing no hits...