Stories from Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Both the Rector Cougars and the Marmaduke Greyhounds are participating in state baseball tournaments this week. Rector will face Dierks at 2:30 p.m. Friday at White Hall High School in Pine Bluff. The Cougars finished third in the regional tournament at Tuckerman by posting a 10-6 win over Riverside in the consolation game...

The Arkansas Activities Association has released the pairings for the Class 2A State Softball Tournament which begins Friday in Rector. Here are the games: Friday, May 9 Field 1 12:00 -- Foreman vs. Bay 1:45 -- Johnson County Westside vs. Des Arc 3:30 -- Woodlawn vs. Magazine...

The talented young men and women of the Rector High School drama department received recognition for their many hours of work and overall dedication to bringing the arts to their community during the 32nd annual Academy Choice Awards held Saturday night in the school cafeteria...

Kris and Leigh Ann Beck would like to announce the birth of their first child, Kary Lane Beck, born at 9:56 p.m. March 25, 2008, at Arkansas Methodist Medical Center in Paragould He weighed seven pounds, two ounces and was 19.8 inches long...

Josh and Amy Robins of Piggott would like to announce the birth of their daughter, Gracelyn Ann Robins. She was born April 25 at St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro, weighing seven pounds and 15.3 ounces...

Shayne Roofe, the store manager for Harps in Rector, presented a $5,000 check to Helping Hands Foundation board members on Monday. The company, which has 53 stores in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, has raised more than $1 million dollars for charities through its annual Charity Golf Classic. The funds are then distributed among the stores to be turned back into the communities in which they are a part...

Downtown Piggott took on a deepened air of culture over the past weekend, as the Chamber of Commerce hosted the first-ever Piggott Art Festival. "We had 18 different artist booths set up in the Piggott Diner building," chamber secretary Sharon Bellers noted. ...

The boom of cannon and muzzleloader fire, and the acrid smell of blackpowder, once again fell across the fields around Chalk Bluff on Saturday as an historic Civil War battle was remembered. The occasion was the 145th anniversary of the Battle of Chalk Bluff, which took place along the St. ...

For the past 10 years, there have been two annual car shows in Piggott each summer. While large crowds come to town both to display their own unique vehicles and see those of their fellow enthusiasts during the Super Cruise and Rod Run each May, just as many people enjoy seeing the smaller scale assortment owned by Piggott's own Bill Holt...

(Editor's note: This feature story on artist Paul Frets first appeared in the Clay County Democrat in 2004. It is being reprinted at this time in recognition of Frets' recent trip to Rector to visit with local students and in advance of his show during this year's Labor Day celebration. It was written by staffer Jennifer Vernon)...