Stories from Thursday, August 30, 2007

The members of the Piggott School Board and top administration officials have apparently reached the breaking-point on the current building projects at PHS. The next step is to seek the advice of attorneys as the board looks into what legal recourse they may have against GAG Construction and Cahoon Design...

Thursday, Aug. 30 Mohawk Tennis Team @ Ridgefield Christian Lady Mohawk volleyball at home against Walnut Ridge 4:30 Junior Mohawk football @ Walnut Ridge 7:00 Friday, Aug. 31 Senior Mohawk football @ Portageville 7:00 Tuesday, Sept. 4 Mohawk Tennis Team @ Pocahontas/Highland...

The Piggott Marching Mohawks have been braving the heat the past several weeks, as they prepare for the upcoming marching season. This year's band is slightly smaller in numbers but big on talent as they prepare for performances at this year's football games and the competitive marching season. This year's marching program theme is based on the music of the 1990s...

On the wall above the desk of Piggott Junior Mohawk football coach Michael Harrell, is a dry-erase board with the simple message "2-7." Last fall, at the end of his first season as head coach, Harrell wrote the note to himself as a gentle reminder of what had been a long season for a very young team, and it remains to this day...

(taken from the Football insert) To say the Piggott Mohawk football program has a rich history is a bit like saying it's been a little hot lately, it's hard to put into words. But to longtime followers of the Tribe it's been feast or famine the last several decades. ...

An error was made last week in the pallbearers listed for Velma Katherine Trafford. It should have read: Pallbearers were, David Finley, Howard R. Spicer, Mark Davidson, Troy Davidson, III, Tim McCluskey, Mark McCluskey, and Matt McCluskey. Honorary Pallbearers were Jack Byrd and Wayne Spicer...

Judy Anne Niederkorn, 48, of Rector, died Thursday, Aug. 23, 2007, in the Elvis Presley Trauma Center in Memphis. She was born Dec. 7, 1958, in Detroit, Mich., and was the daughter of the late Marvin and Eleanor Mitchell Adkinson. She was married to Frank Niederkorn on Oct. 30, 1982, and to this union two daughters were born...

Wilburn H. "Arkie" Whitaker, 88, of Vassar, Mich., died June 15, 2007 at his daughter's residence. He was born on May 23, 1919 in Pollard, the son of the late Henry C. and Ada (Vincent) Whitaker. On June 22, 1937, he married Erma Pearl Lingle and shortly thereafter moved to Michigan...

Robert G. Hampton, 78, of Piggott died Aug. 27, 2007, at Arkansas Methodist Hospital. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Charlotte Hardcastle Hampton; daughters, Melida Baureis of Jonesboro and Charlotte Wilhite of Piggott; son-in-law, Blane Wilhite; grandsons, Christopher Shane Alan Morris of Gainesville, Fla.; Richard Matthew Baureis of Jonesboro, John Erik Baureis of Little Rock; brother, Ralph Hampton, Jr. ...

Upstairs Downtown, above the Downtown Inn in Piggott, will open Sept. 14, offering tea room services to the area. The operating hours will be 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Use of the room will be appointment only, but groups may book weekdays or nights...

The little town of McDougal will swell this weekend as hundreds of folks will stream into the Edna Cooper Memorial Park for the annual McDougal Picnic. Events are scheduled to get underway at 9 a.m., and will wrap-up around 8 p.m. The day will begin at 9 a.m. ...

The Karl and Matilda Pfeiffer Museum and Study Center will host the fourth annual Native American Day on Saturday, Sept 15. The event will be held on the grounds of the museum, at 1071 Heritage Park Drive in Piggott, with activities from 11 a.m. till 3 p.m. There will be no house tours on that day, and there is no charge for admission...

A one car accident last Wednesday left a Piggott man badly injured. According to a report from S/Cpl. Allen Earnhart of the Arkansas State Troopers, Michael Leonowicz, 52, was injured when his 1999 Ford Explorer lost control, leaving Highway 139 about two miles southeast of Piggott. ...

Not many school districts have the distinct honor of having one of its teachers author a textbook. The Piggott School district now joins the elite list of those having that honor as PHS teacher Danny Self will be using the textbook he authored in the classroom this year...

It's only a thirty minute drive from Paragould, but it took 51 years for Michael Cox to make Piggott his home. Now, as the new preacher for South Thornton Church of Christ, Cox knows he'll be here for the next 19 years. "Coming to Piggott is like coming home," said the Paragould native of his move from the West Memphis area. "Piggott reminds me a lot of the Paragould I knew growing up."...

Two Rector women were recently arrested with drug related charges. Carolyn Frost, 51, and Tammy Davis, 28, were arrested last week in Rector. The Clay County Sheriff's Department had received information from the Greene County Sheriff's Department than an individual who lived at 31 Melissa Road just outside of Rector had been purchasing ingredients in Greene County to cook methamphetamine. ...

Everybody's got a different way to say good-bye. Good-byes vary based not only on just who's saying it, but what the occasion is. My sister-in-law, Kristina, who is 18 years younger than I am, would stand at the screen door as a toddler and cry her head off when BJ and I would leave after a visit...

1967 It was a busy week for law enforcement officials with several arrests reported. Four were arrested near Peach Orchard for stealing phone wire along the railroad track, and a Kennett man was arrested for a break-in at Chamberlain's Grocery at Holly Island. Six teenagers were also arrested in the Knobel area for a string of break-ins...

Since its inception in 1941, every Labor Day Picnic in Rector has held special memories for the thousands who gather to witness a colorful parade, see old friends, eat good food, hear great entertainment and cheer a bevy of beauties in the picnic's many pageants...

John Carter Cash, 37, son of musical artist Johnny and June Carter Cash, was given a historical tour of Delta country life as he picked cotton near his father's boyhood home in Dyess and chased the illusive Buffalo fish from the banks of the Tyronza River...

The new owners of Rector Flowers are enjoying their role in the community. The mother-daughter team of Teresa and Pamela Sain officially took ownership of the flower shop Monday, Aug. 20. In that time, the Sains have been hard at work learning their new trade...

New Marmaduke superintendent Tim Gardner is proving that one can go home again. Since taking the position in July, Gardner, a 1976 Marmaduke graduate, has been reconnecting with the area in which he was raised. "It's been good," Gardner said. "I've gotten reacquainted with a lot of people I knew and went to school with. It's been about 30 years since I've really been in the community. I mainly just came back occasionally whenever our schedules allowed."...

Judy Anne Niederkorn, 48, of Rector, died Thursday, Aug. 23, 2007, in the Elvis Presley Trauma Center in Memphis. She was born Dec. 7, 1958, in Detroit, Mich., and was the daughter of the late Marvin and Eleanor Mitchell Adkinson. She was married to Frank Niederkorn on Oct. 30, 1982. They had two daughters...

Last minute preparations are underway as the Cougar football teams prepare to open their respective seasons at the end of this week. The action starts Thursday, as the Junior Cougars open up play with Valley View visiting Temerian Field for a 7 p.m. kickoff time...