Stories from Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Dick Cheney has not emerged from government service as the most popular man in the world. He has filled many jobs, as congressman from Wyoming, Chief of Staff under Gerald Ford, then later he was Secretary of Defense under the first President Bush, and vice president under the most recent George Bush...

We were reading a column the other day in which this statement was made -- "It's no longer your father's Republican Party?" How true that is. As the Rush Limbaughs of the world continue to gain traction in the Grand Old Party, one wonders if the institution will survive at all in the face of obvious changing demographics in America...

Remember when kids just hated it when it rained. They wanted to go outside and play, so they waited for the rain to stop. That's what I remember. Yeah, sometimes on a hot day mama allowed my brothers and my sister and me to run outside and take a shower bath in our play clothes, but not if the weather was threatening....

Memorial funeral services for 74-year-old Bettie June Priest of Rector, who passed away on Tuesday, May 26, in the Piggott Community Hospital, were held Thursday, May 28, in the Irby Funeral Home Chapel with Ken Roden officiating...

Vernelia Smith of Marmaduke departed this life on Friday morning, May 29, 2009, at Arkansas Methodist Medical Center in Paragould. She was a member of Cappadocia General Baptist Church and was a homemaker...

Cougar long-range specialist Justin Duke will be taking his sharpshooting ability to the collegiate level, having signed with Crowley's Ridge College Monday at the RHS gym. For the past two seasons, Duke has wowed Rector fans with his clutch performances and his ability to bury the three-point shot with consistency...

Piggott has a new fire chief following action by the city council at a meeting Tuesday night. Aldermen reluctantly approved the resignation of John Harlan and, acting upon the recommendation of members of the fire department and Mayor Morris, named Bradley Scheffler to the position...

Arkansas Delta Byways, a tourism promotion association that serves 15 counties in eastern Arkansas, held its annual awards banquet Friday night at the Paragould Community Center. The banquet, originally planned for Jan. ...

The 14th annual Spring Fun-Fly and competition will be hosted by the Piggott Radio Control Modelers beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 6. The event is being held at Mayo Field, located three quarters of a mile east of the Piggott Swimming Pool...

Workers with the City of Piggott were busy Monday afternoon clearing an area for construction of the new flag pole in front of the Clay County Courthouse. A section of concrete and several pieces of the petrified wood were removed to make way for the new pole, while the other wood sections remained un-touched. ...

Throughout the just-completed school year, students at Piggott Elementary have enjoyed the benefits of a "Fresh Fruit and Vegetable" grant awarded by the Child Nutrition Department of the U.S. Department of Agriculture...

Blane Wilhite retired as a letter carrier with the local Post Office at the end of March. His former co-workers recently gathered to mark the milestone. Wilhite, who first started with the Postal Service in September 1986, spent his entire work career in Piggott and has great memories of his time here...

Remember when kids just hated it when it rained. They wanted to go outside and play, so they waited for the rain to stop. That's what I remember. Yeah, sometimes on a hot day mama allowed my brothers and my sister and me to run outside and take a shower bath in our play clothes, but not if the weather was threatening....

1969 John Douglas Johnson, 37, of Flint, Mich. was killed 40 years ago last week when the airplane he was piloting crashed behind his sister's house at Lower Boydsville. Johnson had left his family at the Kennett airport and was flying over the house of his sister, Betty Lou Milburn, to signal their arrival from Michigan and secure a ride from the airport at the time. ...

Winifred I. Brady, 86, of Piggott, passed away Tuesday May 19, 2009 at the Piggott Community Hospital. She was born November 18, 1922 in Piggott, and was the daughter of the late Louie and Lula May (Hogard) Settlemoir...

Robert William "R.W." Hitt was born at Piggott on December 8, 1924 to Dallas and Selless (Langley) Hitt. He passed away peacefully on Friday, April 17, 2009 at Hospice of Northeastern Illinois in Woodstock...

Douglas Elwood Moore, 66, of Piggott died Thursday, May 28, 2009, at St. Bernard's Regional Medical Center at Jonesboro. He was born in Chicago, Ill. on August 11, 1942, the son of Isaac Elwood and Marcel (Underwood) Moore...

Lona J. Jones, 89, of Piggott, passed away Monday, May 25, 2009, at the Piggott Community Hospital in Piggott. She was born September 9, 1919, in Piggott, and was the daughter of the late William J. and Lue (Latta) Nettles...

Homer Harold Phillips, 76, of Piggott, passed away Tuesday, May 26, 2009, at the Piggott Community Hospital. He was born May 7, 1933, in Boydsville, and was the son of the late J.W. (Jim) and Bertha (Bradberry) Phillips...

Memorial funeral services for 74-year-old Bettie June Priest of Rector, who passed away on Tuesday, May 26, in the Piggott Community Hospital, were held Thursday, May 28, in the Irby Funeral Home Chapel with Ken Roden officiating...