Stories from Wednesday, August 21, 2002

RECTOR -- A local family to whom summer baseball is literally a lifestyle was recently associated with a level of baseball that to them seemed like Christmas in July! The patriarch of the family, Dan Hamm, who is the commissioner of Baseball in Rector, said, "Even though we seem to live at the ballpark during the summer, we had never experienced anything like the National AAU Tournament we attended last month. ...

A 9-10 year old Little League tournament that concluded at Rector Thursday, July 28, saw Corning crowned tournament champion while Senath-Hornersville took home second place. On Monday Marmaduke beat Rector 7-1 and Corning defeated Senath-Hornersville 10-5. ...

Ralph Ervin Pruett, 74 of Rector died Monday, Aug. 12, 2002, at Arkansas Methodist Medical Center in Paragould. He was born Nov. 29, 1927, in Rector, the son of the late Carl Ervin and Pearl Blackwell Pruett. He was a barber and was a veteran of the Merchant Marines. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church and was a 50-year Mason with Dannelly Lodge 300...

The fact that Monday night's public hearing on the future of the Marmaduke city-wide yard sale held at the Community Center was well attended can be mostly attributed to the hard work of the Marmaduke Civic Committee. Committee president LeeAnn Parrish said, "We really went at it last week. There are 600 houses in Marmaduke and last week we knocked on the front door and gave out fliers at every one of them...

Clois Wan Butler, 87, of Rector, prominent farmer and 47-year director of Clay County Electric, died Friday, Aug. 16, 2002, at Arkansas Methodist Medical Center in Paragould. Mr. Butler was a former director of the state board of directors of REA and was a member of the Soil and Water Conservation Board...

The threat of West Nile Virus has now spread to Clay County with three birds testing positive as of Friday, according to the Arkansas Department of Health. To date no human cases have been confirmed in Arkansas. Clay County has applied for $20,000 for mosquito control and education from the $1 million in emergency funding released by Gov. Mike Huckabee to combat West Nile Virus in the state...

Rector will be festooned in red, white and blue for the annual Labor Day Picnic on Monday, Sept. 2. This year's theme will be patriotic, and all residents and businesses are encouraged to decorate for the occasion. Richard Simmons will serve as grand marshal of the Labor Day parade...

"Things sure are different out there." That is what 2000 Piggott High School graduate Eric Fuller had to say about living in Dallas while he attends Dallas Baptist University. While things may surely be different in that metropolis in the Lone Star state than they are in Fuller's hometown of Piggott, the differences that Fuller is about to encounter will make Dallas feel like home sweet home...

Former Piggott head boys basketball coach, Steve Wilson, has accepted the job of head senior high and junior high boys basketball coach at Van-Cove High School which is located 15 miles south of Mena in far west Arkansas. Van-Cove is a Class A school and is home of the Stinging Hornets...

Robert Joseph Mack, 21, of Greenbrier, Ark., died Sunday Aug. 18, 2002. He was a student at Henderson State University. He taught a college Bible study class, a member of Alpha Eta Rho, a licensed airplane pilot, a certified scuba diver and a black belt in martial arts...

Olive Pollock Cox, 72, of Dearborn Heights, Mich., died Saturday, Aug. 10, 2002, in the Heartland Heights Care Center in Dearborn Heights. She was born March 24, 1930, in Pollard, the daughter of the late Thomas and Aidella Mayo Pollock. She was preceded in death by her husband, John Burl Cox on Nov. 3, 2000; one son; three sisters, Mary, Bertha and Margie; and one brother Jim...

Narine Bradberry, 83, of McDougal, died Thursday, Aug. 15, 2002, in the Piggott Nursing Center. She was born Oct. 6, 1918, in Boydsville, the daughter of the late Grover and Lula Harris Neeley. She was united in marriage to George Edmond Bradberry on May 10, 1935, and to this union three children were born...

Clois Wan Butler, 87, of Rector, prominent farmer and 47-year director of Clay County Electric, died Friday, Aug. 16, 2002, at Arkansas Methodist Medical Center in Paragould. Mr. Butler was a former director of the state board of directors of REA and was a member of the Soil and Water Conservation Board...

Tommy Risinger has announced he will seek re-election to the Piggott City Council in the November General Election. He has been serving as alderman in south ward position two and is completing his first term. "Thanks for everyone's support during my first term," Risinger said...

Mayor Garland "Bud" Holcomb of Piggott has announced he will seek re-election in the November General Election. "It is an honor to serve as your mayor," he said. "Working together, we have accomplished much, but there is so much more to be completed."...

Filing for municipal offices in the November General Election opened Saturday, Aug. 17 and will close at noon Friday, Sept. 6. As of Tuesday, filing for the Piggott mayor's office were incumbent Garland "Bud" Holcomb and challenger Gerald Morris...

A Piggott businessman has been named as president of the Arkansas Land Title Association. Van Winton, president of Clay County Abstract, was named to the post during the association's June conference in Little Rock. Winton is also a member of the legislative committee for the Arkansas Title Insurance Licensing Board...

The threat of West Nile Virus has now spread to Clay County with three birds testing positive as of Friday, according to the Arkansas Department of Health. To date no human cases have been confirmed in Arkansas. Clay County has applied for $20,000 for mosquito control and education from the $1 million in emergency funding released by Gov. Mike Huckabee to combat West Nile Virus in the state...