Arkansas Times - October 05, 2017

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NEWS + POLITICS + ENTERTAINMENT + FOOD / OCTOBER 05, 2017 / ARKTIMES.COM

The use of ‘synthetic marijuana’ in prison is soaring with, sources say, deadly consequences BY JACOB ROSENBERG


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It’s the Party to the Party! On October 7th Ride the Arkansas Times Blues Bus to the King Biscuit Blues Festival! It’s the Biscuit, Baby! And we can’t wait! King Biscuit turns 32 and we are going to see Government Mule!

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INCLUDES: Transportation provided by Cline Tours (let’s go in style y’all), Entrance to the Blues Festival, Lunch at the Hollywood Café, Live Music on board the bus by Bill “Bluesboy” Jagitsch, and adult beverages.

Tickets available on centralarkansastickets.com BUS TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED BY CLINE BUS TOURS.

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ARKANSAS TIMES (ISSN 0164-6273) is published each week by Arkansas Times Limited Partnership, 201 East Markham Street, Suite 200, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72201, phone (501) 375-2985. Periodical postage paid at Little Rock, Arkansas, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ARKANSAS TIMES, 201 EAST MARKHAM STREET, SUITE 200, Little Rock, AR, 72201. Subscription prices are $42 for one year, $74 for two years. Subscriptions outside Arkansas are $49 for one year, $88 for two years. Foreign (including Canadian) subscriptions are $168 a year. For subscriber service call (501) 375-2985. Current singlecopy price is 75¢, free in Pulaski County. Single issues are available by mail at $2.50 each, postage paid. Payment must accompany all single-copy orders. Reproduction or use in whole or in part of the contents without the written consent of the publishers is prohibited. Manuscripts and artwork will not be returned or acknowledged unless sufficient return postage and a self-addressed stamped envelope are included. All materials are handled with due care; however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for care and safe return of unsolicited materials. All letters sent to ARKANSAS TIMES will be treated as intended for publication and are subject to ARKANSAS TIMES’ unrestricted right to edit or to comment editorially.

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COMMENT

From the web In response to Mara Leveritt’s Sept. 28 cover story, “Who’s afraid of Barry Seal?”: Not sure of the exact time, but back then a county deputy (later a drug task force officer) told me he’d been on a mountaintop near the Polk County line when a large twin-engine aircraft flew over so low that he threw himself on the ground to avoid the propellers. This guy is now deceased, but he never lied to me about anything else.

sports statistics and articles about the actual game. He doesn’t like politics and works 60 hours a week and has a demanding family to take care of, so he barely has time to sleep. He is irked that Trump has invaded the one place he can relax and filled it with his ugly, ranting political outbursts. ShineonLibby

ety with such open and easy access to guns was paid by the poor folks shot to pieces like fish in a barrel last night. Until American society decides they’ve had enough of this crap and starts getting serious about putting some controls on the easy availability of guns, this is only going to continue. Rick 1

In response to the Oct. 2 Arkansas Blog post, “Arkansas officials react to mass shooting” in Las Vegas:

Yes, in general, more guns make us safer, but rifles designed solely for killing large numbers of human beings make us the most safe. Whether it be an AR-15 or an AK clone, every family

louie

The price to pay to live in a socilouie, when I lived in NW Arkansas there was an emergency services director who came from Polk County. He told me about a plane crash in which the plane was full of guns. And of seeing Oliver North in town before anyone knew who Oliver North was. Vanessa In response to Gene Lyons’ Oct. 2 column, “Trump and sports”: Gene, you’re spot-on with “... sports stars have constituencies of their own.” Trump would do well to walk away from that battle. Could this be the straw that breaks the Donald’s back? We can always hope. Tony Galati President Trump took an oath to defend the country when he took office, so if sport stars are entitled to speak their issues, this wrestling style takedown by the world leader slaps fiction to life with honest tell-it-like-it-is truth. I don’t know if Betsy Ross was real or make-believe, but I do know American soldiers were sacrificed liberating German concentration camps during WWII and were symbolized by the flag they hoisted high, Old Glory. Receiving the Stars and Stripes, a treasured piece of cloth, those Holocaust survivors knew for the rest of their days it was to be a symbol that brave men stood for something. Freddy Odd, then, that Trump showed comparatively little indignation when Charlottesville marchers carried swastikas, don’t you think? Aloysius The first line of Gene’s article describes my brother. “For normal people, sports often serve as a refuge from politics.” After a hard, long day at work, he just wants to come home, go to the internet and relax by reading 4

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needs one. Ivan the R epublican Sickening weak responses from the usual numbskulls. Here’s a thought: gun control, tougher gun laws, military weapons not sold to random batshit civilians, and praying mantis legislators resign so effective laws can be passed. Warren In response to the Oct. 2 Arkansas Blog post, “NFL fans boo players kneeling to pray before Anthem: It isn’t about the flag”: That the kneeling that is supposedly “dividing” the country is a phenomenon driven by the pig grunts of hate being uttered by The Orange Idiot, who seeks to actively sow hatred and division as a distraction from his complete unfitness for office and his utterly failed administration filled with con artists, gangsters and grifters. Tsallernarng

WE SPEAK SPANISH, DO YOU NEED HELP?

The whole point of Kaepernik’s kneeling was that there were cameras attached to a mass audience. As a conversation starter, it seems to have worked. Silverback66

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Ever think about how history will treat The Donald? If he’s lucky he’ll be remembered around the world as an arrogant, egotistical and crass jackass. PVNasby

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In response to the Sept. 27 Arkansas Blog post, “Governor laments defeat of Obamacare repeal. 300,000-plus Arkansans don’t join him”: Asa Hutchinson has certainly shed a tear or two for the propertied class. “... [I] will continue to focus on creating a more efficient, sustainable system of health care in The Natural State for future generations.” Translation: “If we can make the NOS rules more byzantine, we can cull the MEXICA ON LA YA NO S DE LOS ÍA MAYOR MENTADOS rolls of folks, who will then hopefully U INDOC dutifully die, thus freeing up money PÁG. 13 for more top-rate income tax cuts. As 9 ág 1our lawd of prosperity gospel intends.” P . Tsallernarng TOS

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I’m still at a loss as to why he was willing to give $6 billion away. This country we live in under Republican domination is becoming more and more bizarre! golfpro


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Let’s not kid ourselves. This governor can do math. He knows full well what the passage of Graham-Cassidy would have done to Arkansas, to the state budget and to his ability to continue to cut taxes (which has been made possible by all of the Obamacare money flowing into the state’s coffers). The bill’s failure allows him to have his cake and eat it, too: healthy budget, more tax cuts and the opportunity to say all the things that the mouthbreathers want to hear. He’s safe, but his right flank is wobbly and his legislative allies need him to toe the line on this issue.

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In response to the Sept. 25 Arkansas Blog post, “Husbands’ influence on the vote of women,” citing a wife who voted for Trump because her husband worked in the coal industry: You’d think a college-educated woman would be able to look around her and see that coal is a dying resource for power generation or much of anything else. Well, unless WWIII breaks out. Then we, or rather those of us who are still around, will use anything we can scrounge up. Do you think that woman will be able to adapt? Doigotta In an election where you had two evils, either vote was going to be a loser. The man didn’t seem to have any influence on the woman who voted Trump. As a thinking person, she gave it the economic thought about who would do better for an industry her husband had a stake in, and he didn’t have to tell/ ask/beg her to make that Trump vote. Still, this mass hysteria is rather illuminating as those who seek to blame those percentage of women that had valid reason, based in fact, of why they wouldn’t stomach Hillary Clinton as president. Steven E I’m happy that my wife and I agree on politics. I can’t imagine what it would be like to live in a house divided, such as that of Mary Matalin and her husband, James Carville, who not only vote differently, but actively work for candidates who are diametrically opposed on all of the critical issues. I am sure there have been times when each has had to destroy the other politically. How can love survive in such an atmosphere? plainjim

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EYE ON ARKANSAS

WEEK THAT WAS

Quote of the week “Put yourself in our shoes. You have 50 people calling you. You’re trying to decide, ‘Do I give an equal amount to everybody that asks? What would be best for my district?’ All these organizations are doing good stuff. It’s not like the KKK of Arkansas, where you really shouldn’t have given money.” — Rep. Jana Della Rosa (R-Rogers), defending in an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article the disbursement of state surplus money. The Oct. 1 article reported that former Sen. Jon Woods (R-Springdale) and Rep. Micah Neal (R-Springdale) — both under indictment for a separate misuse of state money — and Sen. Bart Hester (R-Cave Springs) and Della Rosa authorized $40,000 funneled through the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District for Saline County insurance agent Charles Snider’s Arkansas Health and Economic Research Inc., which billed itself as promoting dubious alternative health practices, including “ozone therapy.” Della Rosa told the DemocratGazette she didn’t remember sponsoring a $2,500 grant to Arkansas Health and Economic Research in November 2015. (Blogger Russ Racop reported the disbursement and the Arkansas Blog followed up on it in January.)

appointed by President Obama; new administrations customarily put their own people in place. Hiland was a prosecuting attorney in Faulkner County. That position is nonpartisan, but Hiland is a Republican and made an unsuccessful race for the state Court of Appeals last year. The Eastern District is based in Little Rock and covers 41 counties. Dak Kees, director of global ethics governance at Walmart, has been nominated by President Trump to be the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, but has not yet been confirmed.

Hiland confirmed as U.S. attorney

Arkansas man wrongly linked to Las Vegas shooting

The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Cody Hiland of Conway to be U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. No objections had been raised during a speedy approval by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Patrick Harris, a career prosecutor, has been serving as interim U.S. attorney since the previous political appointee, Chris Thyer, stepped down. Thyer, a former Democratic legislator, was

A Bella Vista man who was once married to a woman identified as a companion of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock received death threats after social media posts wrongly linked him to the Sunday shootings. Geary Danley of Bella Vista and Marilou Danley were wed in Las Vegas in 1990 and divorced in Nevada in 2014 after separating in 2013. She had worked as a casino hostess. Geary Danley and

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family members told KHBS, Channel rulings that the labels of the killing drugs 40/29, that Marilou Danley, identified — potassium chloride and subsequently as a live-in companion of Paddock, had midazolam — should be released under never lived in Arkansas, despite some state FOI laws. Little Rock lawyer Steve website directories that indicated she had. Shults filed both FOI cases in Pulaski Marilou Danley was in Tokyo Monday Circuit Court; the stay allows the labels to and has not been identified as having be kept secret while the state appeals the a role in the shooting, various news rulings. Without the stay, the state would accounts have said. Prompted by an have had to turn over product information early request by police for information, inserted in drug packets by last Thursday. people doing internet research found The stays, it’s safe to say, provide she had been married to Geary Danley some suggestion of the leanings on the and erroneously concluded he was court on the ultimate issue. Different involved in the shooting. judges have found that the legislature — Danley, joined by his children, made in attempting to put a shroud of secrecy a statement outside his home in Bella over executions — failed to enact specific Vista that he didn’t know Paddock or language about drug labels. The state anything about his relationship with has argued that the labels can be used to Danley’s former wife. identify those who provided the drugs, and that such publicity can make it hard to obtain the lethal drugs. An execution is scheduled in November. New supplies of drugs were needed to resume executions because The Arkansas Supreme Court again previous supplies had expired. blocked a lower court order in a Freedom The Supreme Court’s ruling came of Information Act case seeking product in a brief unsigned order. It said labels for drugs used by the state to put Chief Justice John Dan Kemp would people to death. have denied Attorney General Leslie It was the second time the state Rutledge’s request for a stay of the lower Supreme Court has stayed Circuit Court court order.

Court blocks disclosure of execution drug info


OPINION

Fishy lawmaking

behind a 2014 constitutional amendI’d like to see independence strongly ment — unwisely approved by voters — affirmed. A good Arkansas Supreme that strengthened legislative control over Court decision — if there ever is such a executive agency decisions. Governor thing — might agree that it’s a violation ast week, the legislature decided which were introduced into some major Hutchinson doesn’t like it much, under- of Amendment 33 for the legislature to not to press a fight that could have Arkansas lakes years ago. The striped standably. That amendment also left an dictate to the colleges on campus safety further upended a balance of power bass guides complained to legislators. open question of whether it, by implica- policies. In other words, the legislature in Arkansas already tilted too far in favor Fifteen legislators — the usual GOP tion, overrode Game and Fish indepen- might have gone too far when it said colof the legislative branch. suspects (think dence as well as the independence of leges must — despite unanimous oppoAfter threatening to require the bullying Mary the Department of Transportation and sition from college governing boards — Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Bentley of PerDepartment of Higher Education. The allow concealed weapons on campus. In to submit to legislative approval of ryville) — raised latter two divisions of government also Georgia, a lawsuit has been filed contestagency rules, the legislature backed off heck in a letter that are given independence in separate con- ing just such a law imposed on the Uniand accepted filing of agency regulations was more about stitutional amendments. versity of Georgia in the face of similar MAX with the legislature. the business of a Someday, the issue needs to be state constitutional protection. BRANTLEY maxbrantley@arktimes.com Veteran Arkansas Democrat-Gazette handful of guides decided in court. I’d hope it would result The Georgia case will have no legal outdoor writer Bryan Hendricks than about prein continued independence for those application here. But perhaps it could explained what this particular fight was serving Arkansas’s ecosystems. Even- areas of government. encourage somebody to take on the really about. It seems that Game and tually, 35 legislators seemed willing to Understand that oversight of all these Arkansas legislature. Fish wanted to put some restrictions trash Amendment 35, which granted agencies is still political. Game and Fish, The power-hungry legislature isn’t on where live bait can be gathered and constitutional independence to Game transportation and colleges all are con- done. It has put an amendment on the transported. This was to prevent invasive and Fish in 1945, in a fight over fish bait. trolled by governor-appointed boards ballot next year that would give the legtrash fish — carp, particularly — from The striper guides stirred up the more (rich white male hunters nearly always islature control of court rules, too. This migrating into waters where they could powerful largemouth bass lobby. So came in the case of Game and Fish.) But we would be another big step toward onedo damage to other fish populations, par- the compromise on oversight of fishing don’t need the legislature setting duck branch governance in Arkansas. Imagticularly the largemouth bass. rules. Game and Fish will continue to season or trout limits nor having spe- ine what a bunch that can be swayed by Problem: The people who wanted to live uneasily as an independent agency. cific authority over highway spending. 30 fishing guides protecting their shad move bait around were people paid to I say uneasily because this legislature And higher education? People who can’t supply might do for, say, 30 corporate guide fishermen in search of striped bass, is hell-bent on power building. It was competently handle fish bait? defense lawyers.

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Tax tales

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he easiest task in the world may be to persuade people that they are paying higher taxes than folks in other communities, states and countries, but there is never a shortage of people taking on the task. President Trump, who hopes to register his first presidential success this fall by slashing rich Americans’ taxes, has said in a variety of forums, including a rally the other day in North Dakota, that the United States is the highest-taxed country in the whole world. Back in poor Arkansas, the legislature has hired, with your tax dollars, a corporate consulting firm to advise it on whose taxes to cut and by how much. You should have no trouble guessing who will benefit when the golden day arrives. Rightwing think tanks are pumping out studies showing that Arkansans are saddled with higher taxes and bigger and more wasteful government than their fellow citizens across the country. It works because polls show that most people nearly everywhere already believe they are taxed more than their neighbors. Last month, the Arkansas DemocratGazette published an op-ed from the Advance Arkansas Institute, which calls itself a free-market think tank, claiming

that Arkansas’s taxes and outsized government were far out of line with the rest of the country and were holding the state back. Trump and the Arkansas academics are just flat wrong. Trump cites no source for his figure, because there ERNEST DUMAS is none. The highest marginal income tax rate for corporations at 35 percent is about tops in the world, but the real, effective tax rate is far below that. Many big corporations, including Trump’s, pay no taxes. But Trump was talking about everyone’s cumulative taxes. Of the 32 countries of the developed world, the United States ranks 13th. Its taxes are about a third of the taxes paid by the average person in Luxembourg, but more than the struggling countries of Chile, Hungary, Greece, Turkey and Slovakia. Americans tie with the Irish. Norwegians, Swedes and Icelanders pay far more taxes than we do. The spoiler for the Advance Arkansas Institute’s claim about Arkansas’s outsized tax burden came at the outset, where the author invoked Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller

as the gold standard for conservatism. She said that Rockefeller, the first Republican governor since Reconstruction, stood for low taxes and small government, but then big-taxing-and-spending Democrats took over. The truth? Rockefeller tried to raise taxes far more than any governor in Arkansas history. He said the unhealthiest and worst educated state in the country had to invest in the people and services. In 1969, he proposed a slate of tax increases that would have raised state spending by 50 percent, mainly for education and health services. His income tax bill took the top rate to 12 percent, the highest in America, although he would have been one of the few paying 12 percent. The Democratic legislature defeated every bill, so he called a special session in 1970 and demanded again that it pass the program. When the Democrats again crushed every bill, he renounced his oath to serve only two terms and ran again. The man who defeated him reduced his income-tax bill to a small fraction of his rates and passed it. The man who actually did raise more taxes than any governor in history was Mike Huckabee, a Republican. But what about the actual tax numbers today? States and local governments raise and distribute their revenues in so many different ways that fair comparisons are hard to make. A good measurement of the relative tax burden in the 50 states is

the IRS’s deductions for state and local taxes. It’s measured to the penny. Texas, cited usually as a low-tax state, has a much greater deduction per capita than Arkansas. While Texas does not have a personal income tax, its property taxes are multiple times higher than Arkansas’s and it reaps tens of billions from extremely high taxes on minerals, a broader sales tax and a big business franchise tax. If Arkansas is such a big government spender, as the free-market expert claimed, what does it spend it on? Teacher salaries, which are the biggest expenditure in Arkansas’s budget, still rank 43rd in the country, up from 50th when Rockefeller was governor but still far behind the nation as a whole. The number of government employees in Arkansas is much lower than all the states near our population size. Exactly where is the bloated government? There is this: We spend lots more on prisons than do most. The conservative Democrat-Gazette published an editorial last week saying we need to spend lots more to lock up more people. Highway taxing and spending per capita in this sparsely settled state is a little higher than most. Never mind. Arkansas is going to follow the paths of the free-market paladins, Louisiana, Kansas and Oklahoma. Wait for it.

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hen the going gets tough, the ing Homeland tough go golfing. Security SecreDoubtless in years to come, tary Elaine Duke every home in Puerto Rico will proudly that her agency’s display replicas of the golfing trophy efforts were a President Trump dedicated to the brave “good news story,” GENE citizens of the beleaguered island to Mayor Cruz, who LYONS memorialize Hurricane Maria. had been wadUnless I miss my guess, donaldjtrump. ing through chest-deep water to reach com will soon be peddling them along stranded flood victims, got emotional. with Make America Great Again T-shirts, “This is not a ‘good news story,’ ” she ball caps, coffee mugs and engraved med- told a CNN reporter. “This is a ‘people als featuring the great man’s likeness. are dying’ story. It’s a life-or-death story.” The ball caps are $40, the medallions Indeed, the scope of the destruction $45. So I’m guessing maybe $50 for the in Puerto Rico was so vast as to beggar trophy. the imagination. There was no electrical OK, enough sarcasm. But can any- power or clean water anywhere on the body point me to a more tone-deaf presi- island. Hospitals had been shut down; dential gesture than Trump’s dedicating fuel for generators was in short supply. a golfing trophy to a desperate popula- Ports and airports had been rendered tion he’d described as lazy ingrates beg- inoperable, roads blockaded and teleging for a government handout? phone networks destroyed. “Such poor leadership ability by the “The level of devastation and the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto impact on the first responders we closely Rico, who are not able to get their work- work with was so great that those people ers to help,” Trump tweeted. “They want were having to take care of their families everything to be done for them when it and homes to an extent we don’t norshould be a community effort.” mally see,” an anonymous FEMA (FedComing from a guy who couldn’t eral Emergency Management Agency) change a flat tire without his chauffeur, official told The Washington Post. The that’s pretty rich. But then it’s only when Puerto Rican government’s inability Trump evades his White House mind- even to communicate with its own emerers and holes up at one of his private gency workers was critical. The storm country clubs that Americans get the full had essentially reduced the island’s 3.4 measure of their thin-skinned, boastful million citizens to a state of nature. chief executive. American citizens, let’s recall, every Basically that’s what happened dur- one. ing the long weekend after Category “I am asking the president of the 5 Hurricane Maria tore across Puerto United States to make sure somebody Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, leaving is in charge that is up to the task of savbehind a path of unimaginable, almost ing lives,” San Juan’s mayor said at a Biblical destruction the president news conference a week after Hurricane scarcely noticed. Instead of being on Maria made landfall. “I am done being the job at the White House as the storm polite. I am done being politically correct. approached, Trump was sequestered at I am mad as hell … . We are dying here. If his Bedminster, N.J., golfing resort — too we don’t get the food and the water into distracted conducting a Twitter war with the people’s hands, we are going to see NFL football players to grasp the enor- something close to a genocide.” mity of what was taking place. Trump, of course, took it personally. Partly, too, the cable TV news net- Because in his mind, everything in the works where Trump gets most of his world is about Donald J. Trump. “The information were a bit slow off the mark. Mayor of San Juan, who was very comBlame hurricane fatigue in the wake plimentary only a few days ago, has now of Harvey and Irma. But whatever the been told by the Democrats that you reason, the president only got engaged must be nasty to Trump,” he said on after the mayor of San Juan, Carmen Twitter. Yulin Cruz, made an impassioned plea Almost needless to say, there was no on behalf of her devastated island. evidence of that, only Trump’s paraReacting to a comment by act- noia.


Goal: 40 percent

ADULTT H IctG N r 20 O obe

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s gauged by the number of weekly ticularly in the conversations on the topic, the tech sector, and hottest 2018 race in Arkansas embracing diverpolitics is the race for mayor of Little sity. His aggressive Rock. With veteran Mayor Mark Stodola opposition to the planning to seek a fourth term, two oth- 30 Crossing projJAY ers are currently “exploring” the race ect when it didn’t BARTH with fundraising and media operations seem like an obvithat look like full-fledged campaigns: ous political winner won him points with Democratic state Rep. Warwick Sabin many activist progressives in the city. and banker and former State Highway The lingering question is whether he has Commissioner Frank Scott Jr. the personal skills to connect with voters The state of the race became more outside his central city base during the confused last week with a memo from campaign and to patiently work a system City Attorney Tom Carpenter arguing with obstacles to change if he’s elected. that Sabin and Scott should shut down One can see a pathway to the 40 pertheir early fundraising while counter- cent threshold next November for any intuitively greenlighting Stodola to use of the three Democrats running in a funds carried over from previous cam- technically nonpartisan race. Stodola paigns. On Monday evening, the City has the name recognition that comes Board asked the state Ethics Commission with being on ballots going back over to resolve a conflict between state and a quarter-century that will pay off in a city laws regarding early fundraising, but general election when numerous voters the courts — increasingly wary of limi- show up to vote for other offices. Sabin is tations on campaign fundraising — may arguably most in sync with the progresalso ultimately get involved. No worries, sive city ideologically and will have the all will have plenty of resources to run most sophisticated campaign operation. full-scale campaigns next year. An African-American candidate with A sense that Stodola lacks the energy roots in the city is certain to gain the and innovative ideas to push Little Rock vast majority of votes in heavily Africantoward its potential pervades the per- American precincts. This means that, no ception of those watching city govern- matter the efforts of his opponents, Scott ment closely. In his defense, the hydra- will dominate across the just-under 40 headed monster that is city government percent of the electorate that is African in Little Rock, separating power among American. a city manager, a city board and the Perhaps the more likely scenario mayor, makes leadership challenging. is that none of the three hit the magic That said, a view persists that a higher- number, resulting in a runoff around octane mayor could use the bully pulpit Thanksgiving. In a change-oriented envito advocate for more change in a city ronment, either Sabin or Scott would bogged down by forces of race and class be favored in a one-on-one against the that create, in essence, two separate cit- incumbent Stodola. A runoff between ies. The result is an environment prone Sabin and Scott would be a more unpreto dramatic upticks in crime such as dictable affair, although Sabin’s strength occurred across the first half of 2017. in those sections of the city with the The notion of a young, African-Amer- highest turnout rates would likely favor ican mayor is deeply attractive in a city him. with a trust gap with roots in Jim Crow Because of the lingering questions and reinforced by the Interstate 630 about the three candidates, some pine division. A native of Southwest Little for another big name to enter the race. Rock, Scott fits that bill. But, in his ties State Rep. Clarke Tucker has ruled it to the traditional business establishment, out and state Sen. Joyce Elliott and City his ardent support for the 30 Crossing Director Kathy Webb have announced project while on the Highway Commis- their plans for re-election. Probably the sion, and his religiously grounded social last candidate who could reshape the stances, Scott is more conservative than race is former Little Rock School District the median voter in the city. The key Superintendent Baker Kurrus, still highly question: Is he too conservative for a popular as a result of his work in that role. city that cast approximately two-thirds The takeaway from all this energy of its votes for Hillary Clinton last fall? among candidates and voters in Little Sabin’s progressive bona fides are Rock: There is a real sense that the future solid — both in terms of a focus on of Arkansas’s largest city is truly worth promoting entrepreneurialism, par- fighting for.

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10

OCTOBER 05, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

iven all upheaval, foreign and domestic, Arkansas beating New Mexico State by a comfortable, if unremarkable, 42-24 margin on Saturday genuinely meant a hell of a lot. To the “domestic” issues, these have been chronicled in abundance. Two bad losses to TCU and Texas A&M had cranked up the pressure cooker beneath Bret Bielema, and the coach just needed a damned win against a FBS school for the first time in 10 and a half months. He got it because Austin Allen looked more like the accurate, poised quarterback he was for roughly three-quarters of 2016, which might have been a surprise even against the perennially downtrodden Aggies of Las Cruces, because Jared Cornelius is gone for the year and this receiving corps continues to be a mystifying set. Here’s the upside on that: Redshirt freshman Jordan Jones looks like Cornelius did when he burst onto the scene three years ago. He’s not big, but he’s fast, instinctive and sure-handed, and he seems like he wants to emerge as a go-to asset on a team bereft of them. Jonathan Nance continued to produce as well, catching two more TD passes from Allen and showing the ability to grab balls underneath the coverage, not merely by sprinting past it. Sophomore Deon Stewart, meanwhile, had his most productive outing as a collegian yet, and it’s evident that the addition of muscle to his once-wiry frame isn’t going to impede his quickness. If there’s hope yet for the receivers, then the tailback trio also looks like it can be effective enough behind that large but intermittently porous line. The run blocking is better than the pass protection still, as Allen did face pressure from New Mexico State’s surprisingly athletic linemen. The most encouraging thing about Saturday’s win was Devwah Whaley showing some fire in the belly and looking like he wants to assert his four-star pedigree with Chase Hayden and David Williams nipping at his heels. The sophomore tailback went over the 100-yard mark for the third time in his young career, largely because he broke a couple of runs late to salt away the game against reserves, but he still had less dance and more drive in his heels. (Hayden and Williams, it should be noted, also combined for 95 rushing yards, with Hayden scoring twice.) All told, it was the kind of production Dan Enos craves as a playcaller: the 494 total yards gained went 264-230 in favor of the efficient passing attack, but called running plays doubled the passing attempts. Play-action was crisp and precise, and Allen, behaving coolly but still demonstratively,

commanded it all well, save for one errant throw into the red zone in the first quarter that ended up being his BEAU third interception in WILCOX four games. Interestingly, Allen was a fine 14-for-19 with two more touchdown passes after the pick, showing that he’s able to regain his footing after a minor error. The defense wasn’t pretty at times, softening up in the second half so NMSU’s appreciably gifted quarterback, Tyler Rogers, could rack up around half of his 344 passing yards in the final two quarters. Rogers is a sturdy, agile kid who has a lot of NFLready attributes in spades: He reminds me a little of a Joe Flacco or Carson Wentz, a guy who is trying to overcome the stigma of bottom-feeder competition to be coveted for his pro-style leadership and field authority. I think he can make things happen on Sundays somewhere as a project, and it’s really no discredit to Razorback defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads or his secondary that it was an occasional chore trying to rein in the senior quarterback. What happened elsewhere Saturday, however — this is that “foreign” element I was foreshadowing — is what gives Arkansas continued hope. Texas A&M hosted South Carolina, and the team that just handed Arkansas another agonizing loss a week prior extended its winning streak to four games against the Razorbacks’ next foe with a 24-17 come-from-behind win over the Gamecocks at Kyle Field. A weird thing is happening in College Station, too: Freshman Kellen Mond is taking control of the quarterbacking job, on the strength of productive outings against Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas, and that running game can take control of games in an instant. The rest of the league, yet again, is somewhere between mediocre and serviceable. Georgia has emerged as the undisputed class of the East, and South Carolina is shaping up as one of those teams that will sneak enough wins off the victory tree to get into a middling bowl again. But Arkansas has an interesting score to settle: In Bielema’s first year, the Hogs got bombed 52-7 by Carolina at Fayetteville, and the annual rivalry game between the two SEC newcomers from 1992 essentially was squelched thereafter because Missouri and A&M joined the mix. That shifted all the cross-division matchups around, and so this is a four-year ax to grind in waiting.


THE OBSERVER NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

American carnage

T

he Observer cried while shaving rience. And so, we can see our self in Mr. this morning. We cried all the way Mike McGarry of Philadelphia, Pa.., doing through our shower, tears mixing the only thing we know how in the face of with the tapwater pumped in from Lake a terrifying, hopeless situation: lying prone Maumelle. We fought back tears putting on top of him, arms outstretched so as to the toothpaste on the toothbrush and cover every possible part of his body with brushing our teeth, and spitting, and our body as the whining bullets spark and rinsing, as we tried to get our shit to- kick dirt, and bone and blood. We thought gether to put on a brave face for Junior. of Mike McGarry, and cried as we shaved, He’s old enough to understand moments and showered, and brushed our crooked of chaos like this now, a mannish boy of teeth; thought of the good life we have led, 17. But The Observer is his father, and we and how Junior’s life has just begun, like try, as we can, to keep our chin up in his the lives of some of the people who died presence. It’s one of the things they don’t in Las Vegas Sunday night. tell you about being someone’s mother The Observer is tired of waking up to or father: that they are always watching, this American carnage. Not the metaphorieven when you don’t know it, always cal American Carnage Dorito Mussolini learning how to be a man or woman in mentioned in his inaugural address — a this joyful, cruel, confounding world. So lunatic, Bizarro World Abe Lincoln calling The Observer tries to keep our chin up forth the worst devils of our nature instead when we can. of Better Angels. We’re talking about real It was a paragraph in The Washington carnage: the prophetic red comet trails left Post’s coverage of the Las Vegas massacre by the meeting of flesh and lead; the words that got me, on this black Monday. This “death toll” and “shooter”; the sad photos was the paragraph, still so heartbreaking that always emerge of things left behind as that even now, we have to bite down hard people fled from the hoof beats of death: a to stifle a lump in our throat as we type it: hat, a shoe, a stroller, washed in blue lights. “Mike McGarry, a 53-year-old financial Should we blame someone? The gunadviser from Philadelphia, said he threw makers? The NRA? Whoever sold what himself on top of his children as shots rang appears to be a full-auto assault rifle and out. ‘They’re 20. I’m 53. I lived a good life,’ at least 10 other weapons to a nutcase bent McGarry told the Reuters news agency. on mass murder? It feels like we should. The back of his shirt had foot marks from But The Observer is too tired to blame. people who stepped over him in the crush We’ve blamed in the past, raged and argued, to flee.” and what the hell good has it done? Not The Observer, who loves our boy like much, it seems. The carnage carnival rolls the air in these lungs, could see himself on, unabated, undaunted, smelling of popdoing something like that. In just a few corn and Cordite and blood. short years, The Observer will have been So, like Mike, we did the only thing we Junior’s father longer than we were not. knew how to do this morning. We hugged If Junior was in a burning building, we a groggy Junior extra tight and gave him a would rush in after him, even if there was rare day off school. We put our clothes on a 2 percent chance of making it back out and came to work, not really sad or mad with him clutching our shoulder, coughing anymore, just exhausted. Washed out. Gray smoke, because we would honestly rather inside. Bone tired. And now The Observer die with him than live without him. It has sits here, trying to find the end of this senbeen that way for Junior’s Old Man since tence, thinking: Maybe if I close my eyes, the day that child was born, eyes looking I’ll wake up in bed, and what happened in around the delivery room from the first sec- Vegas will have all been a horrible, horrible ond as if he was hungry for every new expe- dream. Here goes nothing.

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11


Arkansas Reporter

THE

KATHERINE ROBERTS

DOWNSTREAM LIVING: Katherine Roberts says a development up the hill is channeling rainwater into her home.

Underwater

Bryant homeowners sue the city after repeated flooding. BY DAVID KOON

I

f there is such a thing as a financial horror story, Katherine Roberts of Bryant is living one. Roberts and her husband, Joshua, say their brick home on Henson Place, just off state Highway 5 in Bryant, has sustained over $110,000 in damage from repeated flooding caused by a cityowned drainage easement — a kind of shallow ditch over the top of a culvert, designed to flow water underground during light rains and over the top of the ground during major rain events — that runs 20 feet from the north wall of the house. An average rain, Roberts said, can put a half-inch of water in her living room. Heavy rains have drowned the house in a 2-foot-deep deluge. She said repeated flooding has ruined furniture and led to toxic mold, mildew, falls — including a slip on wet tile that put her 7-year-old son on crutches from an injured toe — and an electrical fire that Roberts suspects was caused by damp wiring in the walls. Though Henson Place is not in a designated flood plain, the problem has been exacerbated, Roberts said, by a subdivision going in up the hill from her, which she believes caused new flooding

12

OCTOBER 05, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

despite a brief respite after the city completed a FEMA-funded drainage project. Roberts said the best outcome would be for the city to buy her out and demolish the house, so she and her family can escape the constant cycle of flooding, damage and cleanup. Unless that happens, she said, moving elsewhere is just not an option for them financially. In August, the Robertses and their neighbor, Cynthia Wilkins, filed suit against the city of Bryant, and Maples Development Co., which built the new Whistling Pines development nearby. Tax documents obtained from the state Department of Finance and Administration show that State Treasurer Dennis Milligan is a partner in Maples Development. Roberts bought the house in August 2001 when she was in her mid-20s. A traveling trainer for Alltel, Roberts was gone for weeks at a time, and would often come home to the smell of mildew from, she believes, small floods that happened in her absence. By the time she learned the house was flood prone — thanks to being at the lowest point of a natural bowl in the surrounding land, as well as having two small creek beds that converge 20 feet from her back door

and funnel water from several acres into the head of the easement — she had a mortgage and couldn’t get out. “I was young,” she said. “Every dime that I had was put into buying the home. I didn’t really have money to go anywhere else. I had dogs, so I couldn’t get an apartment. I was just kind of stuck.” Since then, Roberts said, the house has flooded “hundreds of times,” usually only enough to wet the carpets. Other events have been significant enough to leave a water line at the base of her grandfather clock and a scab of rust along the bottom of her steel front door. After repeated claims, the cost of her family’s flood insurance skyrocketed. Now, her family lives with bare concrete floors in the bedrooms and tile in the living room. Both her husband and son have asthma, Roberts said, and the mold is making them sick. In the lawsuit, filed by Bryant attorney Ethan Nobles, Wilkins and Roberts request unspecified damages to cover their losses, along with an injunction halting construction on the Whistling Pines subdivision until the drainage issues they claim the development is intensifying can be remedied. Robert said she has repeatedly pressured the city over the years to fix the flooding problem, and has been patient while they worked on the issue. “I was assured that they would fix it,” she said. “They accepted money from FEMA to make the repairs and assured us it was repaired, and yet, here we are, still flooding. They’re not maintaining the drains they put in. One of the drains has collapsed. It’s not the new one. It’s the original one. But the engineer that created all that told me the only way my house won’t flood is if those drains are working. The city is refusing to fix the drain. It’s underground. It’s not a repair that I can make. I’m literally at the mercy of the city.” Though the new culvert put in with the FEMA grant and a sump pump installed by her husband appeared to alleviate some of the problem for a few years, Roberts said that her home flooded again in 2016. It was the worst incident yet, sending water coursing through her living room like a river. “I said, ‘Something is wrong. Something’s changed. We shouldn’t be flooding. What is it that’s different?’ The city acted like I was dumb. I got in my Jeep and started driving around, and that’s when

I found this development, basically on the other side of my fence. That’s what had changed. There was a development uphill from me. ... They don’t have the houses yet, but what they’d done is clearcut all the land. It was nothing but dirt. There was no grass, no trees. They’d put in a detention pond, and it was at capacity with a pump in it, pumping the water off toward my house. It hit me like a ton of bricks.” Roberts claims city officials have repeatedly told her the new development, which is around 200 yards behind her house, has nothing to do with the most recent flooding she has experienced, statements she believes are motivated by politics: Like Milligan, Bryant Mayor Jill Dabbs is a Republican. Dabbs, Roberts said, has told her to just sell the house and move. “What idiot is going to buy it when I tell them it has flooded hundreds of times over the years?” Roberts said. “Somebody will buy it and make a rental out of it? OK, then, in good conscience, I’m supposed to do that and sleep at night?” Bryant City Attorney Chris Madison said city administrators held a meeting with representatives of the relevant departments about the lawsuit last week. The city’s defense in the case will be handled by attorneys with the Arkansas Municipal League, which Madison said has more experience with immunity claims. Madison said that the subdivision where Roberts lives was platted in the mid-1990s and met all city codes at the time. A smaller-diameter drainage pipe was buried through the easement beside Roberts’ home when the development was built, but after record flooding in the area, the city sought and received a FEMA grant to put in a 24-inch diameter culvert that runs alongside the original culvert next to Roberts’ house (Roberts claims the original culvert has collapsed and is now fully blocked). Two months ago, city workers installed curbside inlets in front of Roberts’ home to drain water from the street into the larger culvert. “From our standpoint, we’ve made regular progress on trying to address concerns and issues there,” Madison said. “It’s like anything else: As you learn things, you modify your rules to make it better.” Madison said one of the issues is that both Roberts’ and Wilkins’ homes


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are at ground level and very close to the drainage easement. “When there’s more water than what the pipe can handle, it’s designed to convey over the surface in the drainage easement,” he said. “If you look at Ms. Roberts’ house in particular, the house that’s directly north of hers is 4 or 5 feet [higher] than her house is. What’s that going to do with the water?” Asked whether the city should just buy out the affected homes and demolish them, given that the city approved the construction of the original development where the houses stand, Madison said that was “a policy question outside my legal scope.” He added, however, that he didn’t believe the city had a legal obligation to do so. “The houses, as far as I know, met the design standards that were in place at the time [they were built],” Madison said. “Should the city now have to come back and buy out houses that met the design standards at the time because we’ve learned more? You’re putting a really big potential cost on cities across the state if that’s the case. If I buy a house from the 1970s and don’t go in and [update] the electrical in it, and I have a short, does the city need to come buy it from me?” As for the Whistling Pines development uphill from Roberts’ home and Roberts’ claims that Maples Development ownership has led to inaction by the city, Madison said that he didn’t know Milligan was a partner “until about six months ago.” He added that when the development was in the planning stages, the city required Maples Development to allow an outside engineering firm with access to more data about flooding in the area to review its plan, which Madison said is not usually required. Madison noted that Roberts acknowledges that her house has flooded multiple times since she bought it in 2001. “There was the opportunity for her to go after the seller or the builder of her house for selling her a bad product,” Madison said. “Did she sit on her hands? We don’t know. Those are things to be explored through the case. ... She bought the house from somebody. Did they disclose to her the issues? Is it my fault, necessarily, that this was a bad deal?”

THE

BIG PICTURE

Inconsequential News Quiz:

Bentonville insider edition

Play in jail, with a ballpoint pen you had hidden up your hoo-hah!

1) Following the arrest of a female driver who had been reported swerving, a jailer in Bentonville made a surprising discovery while searching the woman. What was it? A) America’s dignity and respect among the nations of the world. B) The skull of Maude Crawford. C) The evolutionary missing link between slime mold and lobbyist. D) Three syringes, a folded $20 bill and a Dilaudid pill inside the woman’s vagina. 2) A recent casting call in Little Rock for the movie “God’s Not Dead 3” gave some hints at the plot of the film. According to character descriptions provided for the casting call, what will the film be about? A) A university files suit in court, seeking permission to demolish a picturesque church headed by “Pastor Dave.” B) Houston mega-church pastor Joel Osteen’s mattress, stuffed with $100 bills, is stolen and only Inspector Jesus can crack the case. C) Satan, George Soros and Barack Obama try to force a Christian baker to make a wedding cake for their three-way gay nuptials. D) The most talented Christian rock band in the country decides to call it quits, instantly upping the quality of American music by 3 full percentage points. 3) The teen birth rate in the U.S. has dropped more than 50 percent since 2007, thanks to increased access and usage of contraceptives by teenagers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which of the following is true of the birth rate in Arkansas? A) Most of the births are Duggars. B) 21 percent of the baby girls born in Arkansas last year were named “Ivaunkuh.” C) We’re still No. 1 in the nation for teen births, with a rate of 38 per 1,000 teenage girls — double the national average. D) The teen pregnancy rate in the state has cratered due to sterility in teen boys caused by the popular “Two Ball Croquet” fad. 4) Big River Steel, a state-of-the-art mill situated in Mississippi County, reported a bit of good news recently. What was it? A) Their metallurgists have finally succeeded in making Hulk-proof steel. B) They’re discontinuing corrugated roofing production to focus solely on making tinfoil hats for Alex Jones supporters. C) Their blast furnaces are no longer fueled by heaps of tax dollars. D) They’re paying off a $50 million loan from the state 17 years early. 5) A firefighter in the tiny community of Earle has been relieved of duty “indefinitely” after he did something that didn’t sit well with his superiors. What did he do? A) Turned out to be a member of the National Rifle Association’s spin-off, pro-kerosene advocacy group, the National Throw Kerosene On Raging House Fires Association. B) Got drunk and used a Sharpie marker to connect the dots on the departmental Dalmatian. C) Made a Facebook post in which he said any pro athletes who kneel in protest during the National Anthem should be shot in the head. D) Kept lubing the pole in the firehouse.

Answers: D, A, C, D, C

LISTEN UP

arktimes.com OCTOBER 05, 2017

13


K2 IN PRISON

The drug is widely available, difficult to detect and potentially

deadly

BY JACOB ROSENBERG | COVER PHOTO BY BRIAN CHILSON

K

2, otherwise known as synthetic marijuana or spice, is believed to be linked to multiple deaths in Arkansas prisons, according to former prison employees, inmates and internal communication obtained by the Arkansas Times. The Arkansas Department of Correction acknowledges that inmates are using K2, and that the rate of use is rising rapidly. The ADC recorded six incidents of K2 use in 2013. In the first seven months of 2017, the ADC has recorded 707 incidents. The ADC will not, however, confirm that K2 — which is actually not one drug but many and which Times sources said is being smuggled into prisons by employees — is killing its inmates. A prison spokesman said that ADC policy restricts the information the department can publicly reveal only to whether a death was by natural causes. But it is known that at least one inmate died in a cell this year after smoking K2. On the night of Feb. 17, a guard in the East Arkansas Regional Unit of the Department of Correction in Brickeys (Lee County) found inmate Julian Shavers unconscious in his cell and covered in vomit. “There was no pulse, but he was still warm,” said the guard, who is no longer employed by the prison system and who spoke to the Times on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. Shavers, 38, was rushed to the prison infirmary, but health care staff could not revive him. The incident was documented in a Lee County Coroner’s report, which notes that “ingestion of K2 synthetic pot” was a “significant condition contributing” to Shavers’ death. “We know for a fact it was [related to] K2,” the guard told the Times. “We found the blunt next to him.”

14

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

A catchall name for a drug containing dozens of man-made chemicals that are often sprayed on herbal materials and smoked, K2 has long been afforded a fairly benign reputation because of its association with marijuana. But in 2010, the Arkansas Department of Health placed an emergency ban on its sale, which had up to that date been legal. In 2011 the state began to classify K2 as a Schedule VI controlled substance, along with marijuana. The chemical compounds in K2 activate the same cell receptors as THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the active ingredient in marijuana. But experts say that synthetic marijuana is a misleading description of K2, which they say can be exceedingly toxic and potentially deadly. The near impossibility of detecting the drug in urinalysis makes K2 popular in prisons, inmates told the Times. “K2, it’s a big problem,” said Cassandra Summers, a former guard at the East Arkansas Unit, who left in June after 10 years with the ADC because she said understaffing was making the job unsafe. “The ambulance has been there so many times, coming to take [prisoners] to the emergency room because they overdosed.” “They’re just dying because of this stuff,” she said.

THE DEATH OF JULIAN SHAVERS Julian Shavers’ death is not given much attention in the institutional file held by the ADC: It is simply the last entry in a fivecolumn grid stretching over almost 20 pages that document his life during 15 years in the criminal justice system, given no more attention than a move to another Arkansas prison (“Transferred to Another Facility”) or a new job (“Work Assignment”).


BRIAN CHILSON

The science of K2 It’s not just one drug. BY JACOB ROSENBERG

W LEADING UAMS’ K2 STUDY: Paul Prather says even many fellow scientists wrongly think of K2 as ‘fake marijuana.’

The entry recording Shavers’ death man for Correct Care, said Gordon was notes, under “Details,” that it is “Pend- trying to give the prison “resources ing Investigation.” to better understand [K2’s] potential The ADC classifies Shavers’ death as impacts.” The company said that would “not known to be due to natural causes,” be its last word on the matter. spokesman Solomon Graves said in an email to the Times. SLOW TO REPORT But, while the file does not say much about Shavers’ death, emails obtained The State Police was not informed by the Times suggest that top ADC offi- of Shavers’ death until ten days after it cials, including Director Wendy Kelley, occurred, on Feb. 28, despite prison polknew he died after smoking K2. icy that deaths suspected of being from The Monday after Shavers died, unnatural causes are to be reported Dana Gordon, a regional vice president immediately to the State Police. of operations for the ADC’s health care Because the State Police was not provider, Correct Care Solutions LLC, informed in “a timely manner,” spokesemailed her employer asking for input man Bill Sadler said, the investigator on how to educate inmates on the dan- was “unable to conduct a normal invesgers of K2. tigation.” “We have had 3 recent deaths due to “It becomes more difficult” after K2 spice. The last one being over the so much time has passed, Sadler said. weekend,” she wrote. (The only other “There are challenges when an agent prison death that weekend was that of goes in [even] just hours after an incia 71-year-old man who had been suf- dent has happened; a body is gone, shift fering from diabetes, hepatitis C and changes have occurred,” Sadler said. “It cirrhosis, according to Arkansas State certainly concerned the investigator.” Police records.) Sadler said his agency never saw the A Correct Care Solutions patient Lee County Coroner’s report and it did safety officer responded to Gordon not interview the former guard who with fact sheets on synthetic drugs for found Shavers. The State Police also health care workers, correction offi- never saw the email by Gordon until the cers and patients. Gordon’s email and Times supplied it to the agency. the corporate response were copied to The ADC has repeatedly failed to two top ADC officials: Director Kelley notify or fully disclose details of potenand Deputy Director Rory Griffin. In tial criminal events in prisons to the response, Kelley did not express sur- State Police as required by ADC polprise at the deaths. Nor did Kelley notify icy. On July 22, a correctional officer the State Police about the death or Gor- fired three shots from a gun followdon’s email. Kelley informed Gordon ing a breakout of multiple prisoners at only that she had forwarded a fact sheet the Tucker Maximum Unit. The State to majors for shift briefings. Police only learned of the shots fired Gordon declined to comment on the after the Times inquired. The Associated email exchange. Jim Cheney, a spokes- Press also reported that two assaults,

hen he talks about K2, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences researcher Keith McCain asks people to imagine a room full of drugs. In the room there is cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines and a bevy of other familiar, deadly substances. In the corner, there’s K2. About to enter are his children. But before his children go into the room of drugs, McCain is given an opportunity to remove just one drug. “I would take out K2,” he says. McCain is one of the five investigators attached to a $2.7 million grant to study the toxicity of synthetic cannabinoids such as the ones that make up the multiple substances called K2. When Paul Prather, who is leading UAMS’ K2 study, first attempted to get funding to study synthetic cannabinoid toxicity, even some scientists reviewing the proposal were confused. Everyone thought of synthetic cannabinoids and K2 as squarely in the realm of “fake marijuana,” Prather said. “We would get review comments like, ‘Well, you know these products are not going to be toxic. I mean marijuana — no one has ever died from an overdose of marijuana,’ ” Prather said. “But that’s not at all what these products are … these compounds are not safe and they’re not marijuana; they have nothing to do with marijuana except they bind to the same site.” That site is, primarily, a cell membrane receptor called CB1. That, and CB2, are the receptors to which THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, binds. THC creates many effects, from relief of tension in the eye caused by glaucoma to the high that recreational users seek. In research to produce the medicinal, rather than psychoactive, effects, scientists began synthesizing chemicals that operated similarly to THC — synthetic cannabinoids. But the science of creating synthetic cannabinoids for medical benefit went off the rails. Consider John W. Huffman, a chemist cloistered in his lab at South Carolina’s Clemson University throughout the 1990s, who cranked out paper after paper identifying synthetic cannabinoids. Huffman would publish the synthetic cannabinoids, labeling

them in papers with his initials, JWH. People Prather calls “clandestine chemists” — who might have a degree in chemistry, but usually are not professional chemists — “look[ed] at these published articles and [saw] here are these thousands of chemicals they can synthesize in their lab.” “They don’t know what they do — all they know really about them is they bind to the CB1 receptor,” Prather said. “Well, if they bind to the CB1 receptor like THC, you can probably assume they activate the receptor.” The amateur chemists knew they might get you high. While Huffman and other scientists were slowly accruing knowledge about more synthetic cannabinoids and continuing the long, rigorous process of finding what they do, these “clandestine chemists” — often in Russia and China, Prather said — skipped ahead to human testing. They read the papers, created the drugs and gave them out for people to ingest. By 2010, Huffman was getting calls from law enforcement officials about one of his compounds, JWH-018. His initials, and those of other scientists who have developed cannabinoids, had become commonly discussed by K2 users as they attempted to suss out the variants of the drug they liked best. “I thought it was sort of hilarious at the time,” Huffman told The Washington Post. “Then I started hearing about some of the bad results, and I thought, ‘Hmm, I guess someone opened Pandora’s box.’ ” Here are the results of some of these rogue human tests: 439 overdoses in June 2014 in Washington, D.C.; nearly 120 overdoses in five days in Texas in 2014; 6,000 emergency room visits and two deaths in Brooklyn in 2015; 15 hospitalizations in one weekend in Los Angeles in 2016. Few statistics on K2 usage in Arkansas are available. The state Department of Health does not track overdoses or hospitalizations related to K2. The State Crime Information Center tracks K2 arrests under the broad category of “other hallucinogens.” In 2016, there were 19 arrests for possession and four arrests for the sale and manufacturing of “other hallucinogens.” The Poison Control Center in Arkansas received arktimes.com SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

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including one that led to the death of inmate John Demoret, 25, on Aug. 10, were not reported immediately to the State Police. The State Police called a meeting with ADC staff in late August to discuss “how important it is to get these reports to State Police in a timely manner,” Sadler said. The slow reporting of Shavers’ death, he said, “was one of the reasons for the meeting.” Since that meeting, the ADC has been reporting incidents more promptly, Sadler said. The State Police report on Shavers’ death is one page. It notes the agency “was not initially called to the prison regarding the death” and that the only action taken by the investigator was to obtain “a copy of the autopsy report completed by the Medical Examiner’s Office.” The ADC concluded that no “investigative actions” were necessary. The cause of Shavers’ death was redacted. Carolyn Flowers, Shavers’ mother, is considering filing a wrongful death suit. Her attorney, Catherine Ryan, declined to comment. HARD TO DETECT: Most drug tests don’t reveal K2; that makes it especially popular with prisoners.

IDENTIFYING K2 It’s unlikely an autopsy could have confirmed that K2 was responsible for Shavers’ death. The drug, made up of synthetic cannabinoids, is not manufactured in a controlled way and can be many combinations of chemicals — a makeup too complex for the State Crime Lab to identify. The lab sends samples to a commercial lab for testing. But commercial testing for K2 is still problematic. “Even when we send it out for testing, their tests are not always seeing [K2],” said Cindy Moran, scientific operations director for the crime lab. Testing has not kept pace with the creation of chemicals that go into K2, so when a test comes back negative for K2, she said, “it doesn’t mean the person didn’t ingest it.” “Since there are so many [synthetic cannabinoids], and they’re so varied, it’s very difficult to detect unless your particular laboratory has developed a method,” said Paul Prather, a researcher at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences who is leading a K2 study. Tests are often costly, too: $100 per specific cannabinoid tested. That can add up quickly when you’re searching for the few synthetic cannabinoids among hundreds that could have been 16

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ARKANSAS TIMES

ingested by a prisoner, said Jeff Moran, another UAMS researcher studying K2 (and the husband of Cindy Moran). “What makes K2 kind of a hard nut to control is that once scientists and lawyers and the police have figured out a particular five compounds that are being used — fine, OK — [manufacturers say] we don’t need those anymore and we will just ship in five new ones,” Prather said. “So, it’s an ever-evolving thing because people always realize: ‘Well, OK, we’ll get a new set of compounds that they won’t be able to detect.’ ” Even beyond the complexity of K2, research shows that most overdose deaths involve a mixing of drugs, and tests may not conclusively identify what drug — or the interaction of multiple drugs — causes a death. Deaths may be attributed to drugs that are easier to detect.

OTHER POSSIBLE K2 DEATHS Shavers was not the only inmate to


BRIAN CHILSON

die after ingesting K2, a former guard and inmates told the Times. Sources also said that prison handling of suspected K2 intoxication may have been a factor. The complexity of K2 makes it hard to treat, said Keith McCain, who is also on the UAMS team studying K2. There is no standard recommended treatment plan. “It is an ever-evolving type of symptomatology,” McCain said. “There is, unfortunately, not a good way to say, ‘Oh your patient is telling you they smoked K2 or spice — here’s what you’re going to expect.’ It’s more good symptomatic and supportive care and almost ‘Just expect everything under the sun is a possibility.’ ” Correct Care Solutions recommends that the prisons summon an emergency medical service to transport inmates high on synthetic drugs to hospitals. Care should not be administered at the prisons, the provider cautions. But that advice is not being followed at the prisons, according to six inmates

and four former guards. They said standard practice for dealing with prisoners who are high on K2 is to send them to the infirmary for a check of their vital signs and then move them into an isolation cell. ADC spokesman Graves, however, disputed that. “They basically do a pre-lock up check, like blood pressure; that’s it,” one inmate said. “After they leave the nurse, they get locked down.” Graves said no inmate sent to the infirmary for showing signs of K2 intoxication is released back to security until after “the medical issues requiring special monitoring are resolved.” Three inmates who corresponded with the Times said the June 6 seizure death of Glen Hughes, 46, in a isolation cell at the Maximum Security Unit at Tucker after he smoked K2. He was locked down, inmates said, in part for his K2 use. The state Medical Examiner’s Office autopsy ruled that Hughes’ death was natural, caused by “atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease complicating seizure disorder,” with chronic kidney disease and hypertension as contributory causes. K2 is known to cause seizures. The State Police, informed of the death more than two months after it occurred, on Aug. 8, closed its investigation 10 days later based on the Medical Examiner’s findings. (The Times requested all files related to Hughes’ death from the State Police on July 27; the State Police had no files associated with the death at that time, spokesman Sadler said.) Inmates claimed a third man, David Williams, 59, who was incarcerated at Tucker, was high on K2 when he died Aug. 14. Williams, however, suffered a liver condition and had sued the ADC for medical malpractice in its treatment for it. The suit ended with his death. The State Police did not investigate after the Medical Examiner report determined his death was from natural causes.

WHAT THE DIRECTOR KNEW The former Brickeys guard said the two most common factors related to deaths during the guard’s employment were “suicide and K2.” The guard said Director Kelley has been present during meetings to discuss “how many [K2-related] inmate deaths we’ve had this week or how many inmate deaths we’ve had this month.” Kelley declined to be interviewed in person, but in emails to the Times relayed through spokesman Graves she confirmed that she had attended meetings where K2 deaths were discussed.

101 calls in 2015 and 44 in 2016 related Arkansas, or even the United States. A to K2, but this only accounts for those study in the International Journal of who voluntarily called looking for help. Drug Policy, “Adding Spice to the PorThe state Crime Lab, which aids law ridge: The development of a synthetic enforcement agencies throughout the cannabinoid market in English prison,” state, records instances when a syn- argues that “the avoidance of detection thetic cannabinoid has been identified of drug use” is the “primary motivation in the course of an investigation. From for the consumption of synthetic canJan. 1, 2017, through March 31, 2017, the nabinoids in prison.” lab recorded 64 number of K2 incidents. The paper also notes that, beyond Since the agency began collecting data deaths or personal harm, K2 use is havon K2 in 2010, the number of incidents ing causing disturbances in English it recorded peaked in 2012 at 608. prisons. Huffman did not realize that what It says that a 27 percent increase in he’d created in synthetic cannabinoids assaults, a 31 percent increase in seriwas fundamentally different than mari- ous assaults, a 36 percent increase in juana. Prather’s team’s task is to dis- rise in violent incidents against staff, a cover how K2 affects people. 25 percent increase in self-harm inciScientists are still struggling to just dents, and a 27 percent increase in suiidentify most compounds, let alone cides are all “primarily attributed to learn what they do. the consumption of synthetic canna“You got a thousand chemicals binoids in prison.” that nobody has ever tested; clearly Prather doesn’t want to keep his you’re going to get a myriad of effects,” findings just in the lab. Prather said. “When you start hearing these stoPrather’s group, which is in the sec- ries … . I mean that’s when it really ond year of the five-year grant, is using affects you. This is not just something as a jumping-off point previous find- you can report on or something I can ings by others that K2 products, also investigate. It really affects people,” called “spice,” can cause psychosis, sei- he told me. zures, tolerance, dependence and death. People should know, Prather says, “People know how people typically that K2 can be deadly. And, that react when they smoke marijuana,” researchers are looking for solutions. said Jeff Moran, another member of Prather said CB1 antagonists have the UAMS team. “This is the first time been developed — and even tested cliniwe’re really seeing the use of these cally — that could potentially be used in types of cannabinoids in humans. And emergency situations to stop seizures this is the reason why we’re seeing or other acute reactions to synthetic death, suicides; I mean, you name it.” cannabinoids. You can smoke K2 12 times and Moran is trying to make synthetic feel fine, then get a batch with the cannabinoid testing for labs easier and compounds combined in such a way cheaper in Arkansas through an LLC that the effects are harmful. Prather’s laboratory called Pinpoint Testing. group’s initial findings also indicate “We’re in the final stages of receiving that synthetic cannabinoids may cre- clinical accreditations for our test. And ate worse effects over time for users once we receive those accreditations because of the way the compounds are we’ll be able to launch and go live and metabolized in the body: They stick offer, you know, at least some specialaround in your system. “You get kind of ized testing at reduced rates in coman accumulation and a snowball effect,” parison to other commercial entities Prather said. “The main compound that have picked it up,” he said. comes in and then these active metaboIn many ways, Arkansas is ahead of lites — that have been formed [by previ- the curve, Moran said. ous use] and accumulated — [combine] “I know this may sound crazy — but and you get even greater toxicity. the problems that we are currently “I think the first line of understand- dealing with in Arkansas are in large ing is there’s nothing common about part small in comparison to some other K2,” Moran said. “We just simply never states that haven’t had such a good know what we’re dealing with … . I’ve response. So Arkansas has done a very worked several death cases not only good job of responding to” K2 abuse, here in the state of Arkansas but, unfor- he said. tunately, across the U.S. UAMS has created a task force “It is not marijuana. It is not safe and working to disseminate K2 informait can kill you,” he said. tion. The appeal of synthetic cannabinoids to prisoners is not exclusive to arktimes.com SEPTEMBER 14, 2017

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She would not elaborate on the meetings. In a statement to the Times, Kelley said, “Efforts to educate the inmate population, visitors, and staff on the dangers of K2 continue. These efforts include signage throughout the interior and exterior of every facility along with educational videos, which are shown in the barracks. The Department also maintains various search and surveillance methods that are both active and passive. Finally, last month the Department revised its inmate correspondence policy in direct response to the use of mail to introduce drugs into facilities. “I am aware of contraband, inside of the facilities. That fact led to the placement of warning signage in 2016,” Kelley wrote.

ON THE RISE The 707 instances of K2 use in the prison recorded though July this year may represent only a fraction of the drug’s use. “K2 was the first drug [prisoners] could use and not get found dirty unless the officers found a sample of what you were smoking,” one inmate told the Times. “You get a free pass unless you flip out.” Three inmates said prisoners purposefully cover for one another when they’re high on K2 in an attempt to avoid punishment. A former guard said officers often do not write up every single drug offense. “We would get maybe five to 10 a night — inmates high on K2. And we’ve had it where we had probably over 30 one night,” the former sergeant at the East Arkansas Unit said. One inmate described Tucker Max as “flooded” with K2; another said there was currently a K2 “explosion” there. Tom Navin, director of prison ministries for the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock who traveled to prisons from 2004 to 2016, said that before he left the use of K2 was “rampant.” There are many ways that K2 is smuggled into prison. Sometimes, inmates and former guards who spoke to the Times said, outsiders may drop it into the farm fields where inmates are working.

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PRISON DIRECTOR KELLEY: She’s attended meeting about K2-related deaths. She says the department is working to educate inmates on the dangers of the drug.

But most said it is prison staff who are smuggling it in. Navin said the guards “don’t necessarily get caught, but their boss gives them a hard enough time that maybe they quit.” In the last year, according to dismissal files obtained by the Times, at least 12 employees have been dismissed for bringing in contraband to ADC facilities. One was terminated specifically for bringing in K2. A former guard who was himself fired for dealing drugs — a charge he contends is false — said delivery of contraband by guards is rampant. “The inmates [are] not walking out of their cells,” he said. Guards “can be like dirty cops.” Said one inmate who sells K2, “getting it in is the easy part.” Summers, the former East Arkansas

Unit guard, said prisoners “get ahold of K2 like we get ahold of [potato] chips [outside of prison].”

PSYCHOSIS, SEIZURES Inmates who have smoked K2 said they’ve also felt the varied and detrimental effects described in scientific studies of the drug: psychosis, seizures, dependence. “Sometimes it’s like a weed high,” one inmate who has smoked K2 wrote the Times in a letter, “but theres [sic] been times I thought every one [sic] was plotting against on me, another time I thought I was going to die throwing up everywhere not know[ing] who or where or what I was.” Another inmate reported “suicidal thoughts after taking it.”

“The K2 has caused guys to go into seizure, pass out, see things not there, try to jump off the tiers, scream and beg for mercy, strip naked because they get hot, rage at others, you name it,” an inmate who saw others high on K2 said. “Best way I can describe it is like a person hollering. One guy was just hollering, he just wouldn’t stop. Just hollering. Loud. Loud. Loud. Different people have different episodes,” another wrote the Times. Documents on how to treat K2 distributed by Correct Care Solutions note something called “spiceophrenia,” defined as “a psychotic syndrome that persists for months.” With chronic understaffing across ADC facilities, former guard Summers said, K2 users “climbing up the walls” and “foaming at the mouth, eyes rolling into the back of their head” have become dangerous for correctional officers, too. The prisons are “so short and understaffed; it’s unsafe,” she said. “It takes 19 or 20 people to run a post; [East Arkansas Regional Unit has] 9 or 10 or 11, and that’s on a good day.” Guards have to work 12-hour shifts and, Summers said, and with staffing problems, some have had to work back-to-back shifts. ADC officials have said for months that it needs more officers across units.

CAN PRISONS CHANGE? Navin, the former spiritual adviser, said he was unsure that prisons could ever stop drug use. “If I was faced with the conditions that they are — in that cell or in that pod everyday, with no goals to achieve and nothing to accomplish, I might be looking for drugs also,” he said. “They get so desperate they’ll take any drug — any drug. Anything that they get their hands or that’s offered to them, they’ll take it.” What prisoners can get is K2. It’s cheap and easy to smuggle into the prison. “They’re looking for relief. They’re not looking to be a drug addict, they’re looking for relief,” Navin said. “Just to medicate themselves long enough to forget about their present situation.”


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a driving force behind our involvement in the community in terms of the events that we have with the space.” With Amy handling the image and Chef Matt handling operations, South on Main has risen to the top of a heap of interesting, hip restaurants in Little Rock and a youth movement of chefs and restaurateurs. “The concept was, we were trying to fill a void within the dining scene in Little Rock and that was a mid-range Southern restaurant,” she said. “Basically, we wanted to make a space that was comfortable whether you were getting off work and having a beer with some friends or going out to celebrate an anniversary.” Today Amy continues in her marketing duties and also books much of the entertainment that appears on the South on Main stage. And true to form, she’s never too far away from her next pursuit. “I’ve had an interest in our bar program from the beginning,” she said. “I worked pretty closely as we did menu development, then that turned into me helping out behind the bar every now and then. Now I’m a pretty regular bartender.”

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truffles and other treats, Portillo began to develop products that blended the influences of the two worlds she loves best. “When I first started I was so hard up to do everything the European way and bring that aspect,”she said.“I had to realize, I’m born and raised in Little Rock and I have the technique and I can bring the quality, so how can I put a spin on some of the things that the South is notable for?” From this mentality came a line of Southern-inspired chocolate bark in pecan pie, ambrosia and Mississippi mud varieties. She’s proud of these highly original items, little bites of heritage as much cultural as culinary. “If you try to Google pecan pie chocolate bark, you will not find it,”she said.“Ambrosia is something that is a recipe from the 1800s, that people’s grandmothers used to make. It’s so nostalgic and identifying with the South and people absolutely love it in the translation of chocolate bark.” “It’s kind of like my homage. I’m not going to try to be the framboise anymore. I’m going to be something that’s high quality but also puts the South on a platform as well.”


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as former owner of Delicious Temptations was already familiar with breakfast fare. “I love breakfast, so I thought that was a fabulous idea.” Biscuits with gravy —or chocolate gravy — omelets, sweet potato pancakes and the Shotgun — two eggs, hash browns, grits or breakfast potatoes, a bread and a meat — are among the early morning offerings at Gadwall’s. “My cook is really good but sometimes it takes longer for breakfast,” she says. “Customers would complain about how long it took so I made these little table tents letting people know that it could take up to 30-plus minutes to get breakfast but to remember that you’re sitting with your family and friends drinking coffee and everything is cooked to order.” In her spare moments, Bryant and her 5-year-old daughter, Emerson, travel and do various activities together, including fostering dogs for local animal rescue agencies. “That’s something we enjoy doing together,”she says.“This business consumes me but she’s the love of my life and first priority.”

isha Gribble is a professional “plate spinner” of sorts. She owns Tisha’s Interiors, creates glitter tattoos through Glitterville, educates the public about the state’s rice industry through the Arkansas Rice Federation/Arkansas Rice Council, manages customers at Bungalow Flooring and raises money for the Heart of Arkansas United Way. She is also the 2017 chairman of the UAMS Partners Card, a member of the UAMS Winthrop Rockefeller Cancer Institute Envoy Board and vice chairman of the Hall High Alumni Association. “I tell people all the time that I like to have a lot of ‘plates spinning’ so that’s why I work for and with so many organizations,” says Gribble. Gribble learned during her first real job, as Christian education director at Trinity United Methodist Church in Little Rock, that she was good at connecting people, helping them find a Sunday school class or the right volunteer position. “It was also during this time that I became involved with the Junior League of Little Rock,” she says. “And, I credit that organization for the excellent training I received, which in turn helped me recognize that the nonprofit sector was a great fit for my personality. The fundraising and event-planning training I received from the JLLR was crucial.” She started Tisha’s Interiors in 1999 as a creative outlet, and when the Shoppes on Woodlawn closed earlier this year she relocated her business to the inside of Tanarah Luxe Floral and opened a second location in Franklin, Tenn. “My favorite part of what I do is really just being with people. I am a very social person with an outgoing personality. I get energy from the interactions I have with all the people that cross my path each day. I think that’s why I enjoy social media content management, too,” says Gribble. “I like to connect people with the perfect product, gift, resource and volunteer or fundraising opportunity.” She takes pride in educating people

about the Arkansas rice industry. “So many people who are born-andbred Arkansans do not know that Arkansas grows the most rice,” she says. “We grow over 50 percent of the rice consumed in the United States.” A typical day for Gribble includes checking the 10 social media pages she manages before heading to the United Way office. On any given day she may give presentations at companies, check on the inventory at her store, packaging and shipping Arkansas rice industry customer orders — logo caps, shirts and more. “And finally, at some point in the evening I’m pricing new merchandise for Tisha’s Interiors, following up with social media plus scheduling posts and eBlasts to roll out over the next several weeks,” she says. “My weekends are taken up with appearances at fairs/festivals/trade shows for Arkansas Rice, shopping events [like Holiday House] for Tisha’s Interiors and sometimes festivals for Glitterville. Whew!” Keeping all the plates going might be head-spinning, but it’s what she likes. She say’s simply, “I’m more efficient when I have a lot of things going on.”

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WOMEN Entrepreneurs

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TRACEY

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LEARNED SECRETS TO SUCCESS EARLY

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eanna Godley had a great tutor when it came to business. Her father, Leandrew Gray, was a serial entrepreneur and demonstrated the hard work and untiring hustle that fed success. “My father, I tell people all the time, he was a crazy little man,” she said. “He always had that entrepreneurial spirit. We were 11 years old selling Kirby vacuum cleaners, I’ll never forget. Our Saturdays were going door-to-door selling Kirby vacuum cleaners and that’s where I got the spirit of entrepreneurship.” Years later, Leanna cashed in on the family legacy with an office supply business of her own, and it would take every bit of the grit and optimism her father had passed along to make it work. “Initially when I started it people were like, ahh, she’s not going to stay in business. She’ll be gone in a few years,” she said. “But I’ve been able to prove them wrong and it’s been hard work. I won’t tell anybody that it’s just been a cakewalk. It has truly been some difficult times, but I’ve been able to overcome them and I just stay positive and keep pressing and grinding.” In fact, that Goddess Office Products are still here after 11 years is just this side of miraculous. The retail office supply market has long been in the hands of gigantic competitors with buying power and resources sufficient to strangle most independent operators. Godley has managed to survive by outmaneuvering these lumbering giants and capitalizing on her superior understanding of commercial contracts, especially those in the public domain. “I did a little bit of research and found out that I had a certain niche market,” she said. “I was woman-owned, I was minority and I could kind of take advantage of some of the mandates as well as goals that the federal government and the state of Arkansas had. That has helped propel me to this point today.” 22

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About 80 percent of Godley’s business is state and federal governmental contracts these days. Many originally hired her due to procurement requirements, but Godley’s been able to expand that business with superior customer service and the kind of one-on-one relationships she learned hawking Kirbys with her dad. “People will go online and see our company and look at the advantages of doing business with a company like mine,” she said. “But then, throughout the years I’ve traveled across the United States trying to make myself known within this industry. That develops word of mouth as well.” Leandrew Gray parlayed his door-todoor sales into real estate and lived out his days tending the dozen or so rental properties he would come to own. His daughter has turned the success of Goddess into something even more lasting: a livelihood for Goddess Office Products’ employees. “Employing people and seeing families grow, that makes me feel good,” she said. “When I can come onto the lot and see new cars or people saying, ‘We’re buying a house,’ that makes me feel good knowing that I was instrumental in helping them to achieve that. That really makes me feel awesome.”

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ard work, refined people skills and a keen eye for opportunity has propelled Tracey Rancifer to rarified heights in the local real estate market. But in the early days, real estate was little more than a pastime to be shared with her father. “When I was younger, my father always said, ‘You’ve got to own something. You need to look at real estate.’That was something that he pursued,”she said. “As he got further into his retirement he was going to drive my mom virtually insane if he didn’t have another type of job to go into every day. So, he started acquiring property.” Tracey was living in Maryland at the time her father started indulging this interest, but when both of her parents experienced serious health issues, the portfolio fell to her to manage. “Next thing I know, this little project that we had where we had been acquiring property together became my project,” she said. “The way I was brought up, if you’re going to be in something, you need to know all you can about it. Take some continuing education, some classes, learn what you can. That comes from being the product of two educators.” The 47-year-old Pine Bluff native dove into the process of educating herself on real estate by whatever means available — reading, taking classes, attending seminars and constant networking. She also landed a mentor, Little Rock real estate broker Vic Hiryak, who showed her the ropes. Beyond that, she said, it was all positive attitude and hard work that enabled her to thrive in a market dominated by men. “It’s challenging, but again, you’ve got some lemons, make lemonade,” she said. “All this is probably from growing up Southern because you learn not to focus on any negative in a situation. You take what you have and you build on it. “What I learned how to do was be creative. I always tell people that whatever it is, whatever challenge, it’s just inspira-

tion for you to be creative and understand that there are always different ways to solve a problem.” Rancifer’s creative approach was to leave no potential business or networking stone unturned, and over time she became one of the more well-rounded real estate professionals in the business. She’s a licensed real estate broker and auctioneer, holds six separate credentials and founded her own firm Ausum Realty in 2009. “It sounds like ‘awesome,’ but it’s actually Latin for ‘strong enterprise,’” she said. A sample of her board and committee service includes the Arkansas Real Estate Foundation, Arkansas Realtors Association and National Association of Realtors and Council for Residential Specialists, of which she’s served as state chapter president. She’s also received two gubernatorial appointments, to the Arkansas Home Inspection Registration Board (2010) and Arkansas Economic Development Commission (2017). Her list of volunteer activities in the community is equally impressive. “Working with people and working outside of the box is something I’ve always enjoyed doing,”she said.“I was truly blessed to have a hobby that turned into a career.”


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HELEN GRACE King, LEILA King and KAMIYA Merrick

CASEY

Finch

CREATING PERFECTION THROUGH HARD WORK

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asey Finch’s first job was at The Full Moon, a mainstay in the Heights/Hillcrest neighborhoods of Little Rock for the past 34 years. She worked there all through high school and college and for two years after graduating from college before she moved to St. Louis, where she spent a decade in the retail industry. She was an assistant manager at Neiman Marcus and then general manager at Harold’s before she became a fulltime mom to three children. In 2010, the time was right for her to come back to Little Rock and put all of her retail experience to work in her own business. “I pursued my lifelong dream of owning The Full Moon,” she says. Finch’s passion is helping customers is engaging and helping every customer locate the perfect item. who walks in the door,” says Finch. “We are “Our loyal customers, from all over the also busy checking in new merchandise, region, appreciate the fact that they can rearranging displays, restocking and gift come into the store and we help them find wrapping.” the perfect gift for ANY occasion,” she says. As a working mom, she faces the constant “We pride ourselves on carrying merchanback-and-forth pull of family and career. dise that you can’t get anywhere else, and “As any mother will know, finding we are always trying to support our local the balance between work, family and artisans and vendors. It doesn’t hurt that personal life is a challenge,” she says. we have beautiful, free gift wrapping and “I feel like I’m missing out on my kids’ front door parking! We also are known to events when I’m at work, and I feel like be the best place to create a unique bridal I’m neglecting work when I’m not there. and baby registry in Central Arkansas.” Balance is important!” She likes to brag She advises other on her sales staff, all “NOTHING PLEASES ME women who want to of whom she considers friends. MORE THAN WHEN I HEAR open businesses to do their homework. “I love coming to PEOPLE IN THE FULL “You may think, work with them each MOON SAY, ‘THIS IS THE ‘Oh, that sounds like and every day,”she says. Shestrivesformaking BEST GIFT SHOP EVER!’ ” so much fun,’but all the hard work and dedicasureeverythingisinplace tion has to come from before the store opens something that really drives you,” she said. in the morning, so she starts off answering “Nothing pleases me more than when I emails, working on media promotions, hear people in The Full Moon say, ‘This is paying invoices and writing sales orders the best gift shop ever!’ It makes me so so she can be on the sales floor, where she happy to come in here and I always love most enjoys being, by the time the first everything I find!’ That is what drives me customer arrives around 10 a.m. in owning my business.” “On the sales floor, our No. 1 objective

WOMEN Entrepreneurs

REVOLUTIONIZING TRADITIONAL RECIPES @ THE CORNER

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elen Grace King, Leila King and Kamiya Merrick were each on a different career path but once opportunity arose they decided to create, @ the Corner, a diner with a modern twist. “When the idea of opening a restaurant together with my two sisters and my mom as our driving force and glue, we knew we had the opportunity to bring something unique to Little Rock,” says Leila. Diners have a special place in their hearts, explains Helen Grace, Leila’s sister. “We have always loved the concepts of diners. They were found in our favorite movies, stories from our parents, and always represented happiness,”she says. They didn’t want theirs to be a traditional diner, though – they wanted one that incorporated fresh, local ingredients into a constantly dynamic, innovative menu. “Our aim,” explains Kamiya, Leila and Helen Grace’s sister-in-law,“is to constantly revolutionize traditional recipes, transform farm-to-table, inspire a ‘Make Yourself @ Home’ vibe, and to ultimately modernize the diner.” The“sisters”Kamiya, 27 of Barrie, Ontario, and Helen Grace, 28, and Leila, 32, both of Pine Bluff, began their endeavor two and a half years ago years ago. “As our first start-up, we have to continuously learn so many ins and outs of the business/restaurant world, how to be good bosses and leaders to our team, and to be honest, how to expect the unexpected,” Helen Grace says. The hard work of running a restaurant is offset by @ The Corner’s family feel – and its family support system. “The beauty of @ The Corner is that we are a family-owned business, so during the hard times we have each other to lean on wholeheartedly,” Leila points out. ”And to be candid, with family you love hard, but fight harder.” That can be a blessing in disguise. “This is truly what keeps us on our toes because we are constantly pushing each other to be the best versions of ourselves

as sisters in business, leaders to our diverse team, restauranteurs, and young female business owners,” says Kamiya. “As ‘minorities’ in this industry we see the importance of offering everyone the same opportunity to work @ The Corner and become a part of our @ family. It does not matter what their sexuality, race, etc. may be, we offer the opportunity to work in an environment that pushes you to be who you are and let your personal uniqueness speak within the restaurant and to the customer.” As young female business owners in the restaurant industry, they face several challenges. However, these entrepreneurs only seek positivity. “But being a positive influence in our community is our ultimate and constant goal and driving force,” says Helen Grace. “We love it even more when parents point out to their daughters – ‘See if you have a goal and work hard and stay determined, you can do something like this one day,’ ” says Leila. Since its inception, these young women’s modern diner, in the heart of downtown Little Rock, has become one of Little Rock’s premier breakfast, lunch and weekend brunch spots, appealing to locals, families and people from all around the world.

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Sydney is a toddler whose Mom has struggled with depression since before she was born. Mom finds it hard to get out of bed in the morning and sometimes feels overwhelmed by the demands of taking care of a busy toddler. Sydney is often clingy and has tantrums that seem to be getting more frequent and severe.

the key ingredient for healthy social and emotional development. Early experiences provided by caregivers lay the foundation for life-long physical and emotional health. Children’s wellbeing is at risk when they experience Adverse Childhood Experiences

with emotions or behavior. Mental health problems can be temporary for some children; other times they will persist and grow more severe. In fact, without intervention, about 50% of children with early problems will continue to have serious difficulties

I

nfant mental health is the social and emotional wellbeing that results when infants and toddlers are supported by nurturing relationships. Social development involves learning skills like communicating needs, getting along with others and making friends. Emotional development involves skills like recognizing feelings and expressing them appropriately, and beginning to understand that others have feelings too. When children experience healthy social and emotional development, they are able to form satisfying relationships with others, play, communicate, learn and face challenges successfully. These are the skills children need to succeed in school and life. A dependable relationship with a nurturing, responsive caregiver is

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SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

(ACEs), for example, when their relationships are disrupted, their caregiver is overwhelmed by mental health or substance abuse problems or they experience other difficult events such as abuse, neglect, chronic poverty, witnessing domestic violence or other adverse events. Mental health concerns in young children are not rare. In fact, one in every five to ten young children experience significant difficulties

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in later childhood and adolescence. The good news is that best practices have been identified to promote healthy outcomes and support children and their families in overcoming early challenges. Research says that early interventions are much more cost effective and efficient than waiting until later in the child’s life. Most effective interventions focus on enhancing children’s relationships with their caregivers (including

parents, foster parents, teachers or other caregivers). Examples include home visitation programs, parenting education a nd menta l hea lth interventions for the parent and child. Participation in high-quality early care and education (ECE) programs also supports infant mental health. In fact, studies of children enrolled in high quality ECE settings reveal they are more likely to graduate from high school, become employed and earn more money, and less likely to have become incarcerated or receive welfare services. Syndey and her mom are enrolled in a home visiting program. Mom shares her concerns with her home visitor, who helps her make a plan to talk to her doctor about how she is feeling. The home visitor also works with Mom to help her think about ways to support Sydney with a consistent schedule and nurturing routines. Gradually Mom starts to feel more confident that she knows how to meet Sydney’s needs. Join and/or visit us at AAIMH.org and facebook.com/AAIMH


NURSING 2 0 17

THE CARE E R FOR A LIFETIME

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Be a Champion for Children! NOW HIRING SURGICAL NURSES Surgical nurses at Arkansas Children’s Hospital experience: A focus on safety ĨŽƌ ĞŵƉůŽLJĞĞƐ͕ ƉĂƟĞŶƚƐ ĂŶĚ ĨĂŵŝůŝĞƐ ŽŽƌĚŝŶĂƚĞĚ ĂŶĚ ĐŽůůĂďŽƌĂƟǀĞ teamwork ƚŚĂƚ ƉƌŽǀŝĚĞƐ ƚŚĞ ŚŝŐŚĞƐƚ ůĞǀĞů ŽĨ ƐƵƌŐŝĐĂů ĐĂƌĞ • Compassionate ĐĂƌĞ ĨŽƌ ƉĂƟĞŶƚƐ ŽĨ Ăůů ĂŐĞƐ ĂŶĚ ĂĐƵŝƚLJ ůĞǀĞůƐ ƵŶĚĞƌŐŽŝŶŐ ĂŶ ŝŶƚĞƌǀĞŶƟŽŶ • ƚĞĂŵ ƚŚĂƚ ƐƚƌŝǀĞƐ ĨŽƌ excellence in the ƉĞƌŝŽƉĞƌĂƟǀĞ ĞŶǀŝƌŽŶŵĞŶƚ

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Come work with a team recognized internationally for excellence in patient care. To view current job openings, visit archildrens.org/careers.

We champion children by making them better today and healthier tomorrow. 2• 26

NURSES GUIDE 2017

OCTOBER 05, 2017

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NURSING 2017

MEET THE SCHOOL AND HOSPITAL RECRUITERS MICHELLE S. ODOM, RN, MSN (pictured, third from left) Director of Recruitment and Retention Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Little Rock Children are at the center of everything we do. Arkansas Children’s is the only hospital system in the state solely dedicated to caring for children, which allows our organization to uniquely shape the landscape of pediatric care in Arkansas. As Champions for Children, Arkansas Children’s Hospital has joined the elite 6 percent of hospitals in the world that have Magnet Status. Arkansas Children’s offers a wide range of opportunities for nurses, from direct patient care to staff education, research, administration, nursing informatics and much more! To learn more about a rewarding career serving as a Champion for Children, visit www.archildrens.org or call us at (501) 364-1398.

KELLI HOPKINS, Recruiter, Regional Hospitals KEN DUNCAN, Recruiter, Conway Hospital JONI STEPHENSON, Manager APRIL ROBINSON, Recruiter, Little Rock Hospitals WHITNEY BREWER, Recruiter, North Little Rock Hospital Baptist Health Medical Center

SARAH SMITH Health Sciences Coordinator Arkansas State University – Mountain Home ASUMH offers both full-semester and fourweek CNA classes; Practical Nursing classes with two start dates per year; and an LPN/ Paramedic to RN bridge program. Whether you are starting from the very beginning of your nursing career, changing your career path, or wanting to build on your nursing skills, ASUMH can help! Choosing nursing as a career can change the direction of an individual’s life, as well as their family’s lives. Whether it’s starting out as a CNA or changing a field of study from Paramedic bridging over to an RN, ASUMH has great options to change your life. For more information about any of our health care programs, contact Sarah Smith at 870-508-6266, by email at sarahs@asumh. edu, or visit our website at www.asumh.edu.

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Our belief at Baptist Health is that we are a healing ministry. We provide quality patient care services to all Arkansans with a caring and comforting heart. That is why we are Arkansans’ choice for their health care needs. We have a variety of nursing opportunities, from a Level III NICU to a 90-bed Critical Care area. Baptist Health offers top quality benefits for employees. We look for nurses who think critically and are compassionate and service-oriented. We want to offer a “World Class” environment for everyone. Please apply online at baptist-health.com.

JENNIFER MCDANNOLD Enrollment Coordinator Baptist Health Schools, Little Rock Health care professionals in today’s world must be well-rounded individuals with a commitment to personal and professional excellence. The ideal health care professional has strong critical thinking skills and enjoys continued learning and growth. The individual has a personal belief in citizenship and makes healthy responsible decisions about their lifestyle. Ultimately, being a health care professional is about caring for people, sometimes on their worst day. The ideal health care professional finds self-worth and joy in caring for others and making a positive impact in a patient’s life.

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DEIDRA DILLARD, KASSIDY SIMPSON, DAUSEN DUNCAN; FRONT ROW: GABBY GARRISON AND SAMANTHA HUGGINS Recruiters Arkansas Tech University, Russellville Nurse Journal has listed Arkansas Tech University among the top 1 percent of nursing schools in the Eastern United States. Consistently one of the top five majors among incoming freshmen at ATU, nursing is one of more than 140 academic programs available to students on campuses in Russellville and Ozark. A culture of stackable degrees provides students with access to credentials ranging from Nursing Assistant to Practical Nursing to Registered Nursing through ATU-Ozark. The opportunities continue on the ATU campus in Russellville, where students pursue the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree and the Master of Science in Nursing Administration degree. There is also an online learning option for Registered Nurses seeking a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. Begin your journey at explore.atu.edu.


NURSING 2017

SHELLEY SHEETS, Human Resources Specialist Conway Regional Health System, Conway At Conway Regional Health System, we are accountable to the community to provide high quality, compassionate health care services. We are very proud to have received numerous awards and quality rankings for the care and compassion provided to our patients. In 2017 we recognized 154 employees as exceptional performers based upon their achievements in the field. We have also been recognized by Arkansas Business as one of the Best Places to Work in Arkansas. We are always looking for exceptional performers who are dedicated to providing excellent care. We offer a smaller nurse-to-patient ratio than can be found in most metro hospitals along with a family atmosphere that is second to none. Positions are available in a variety of areas including Critical Care, Surgery, Oncology, Medical/ Surgical and Women’s Services. If you would like to join the Conway Regional Family, please visit our website at www.conwayregional.org.

JENNIFER YARBERRY

JANICE IVERS

GIGI FLORY

Director of Nursing Pinnacle Pointe Behavioral Health care System, Little Rock

Dean of Nursing National Park College, Hot Springs

Nursing Recruiter Jefferson Regional Medical Center, Pine Bluff

When we accept a nursing student in the LPN, RN or LPN to RN programs at NPC we are looking for students who have a proven track record of academic success. We want someone who is nurturing, caring and compassionate along with a desire to “be a nurse.” National Park College Nursing Programs want every student to be successful and we take every admission seriously and want our students to do the same! We need students who can handle the pressure that a career in nursing requires. If you are looking for a nursing program that cares about your success, come to National Park College. For more information on our nursing programs go to www.np.edu, contact Janice at 501-760-4290 or email at jivers@np.edu.

Jefferson Regional Medical Center made a commitment more than 50 years ago to care for the people of Southeast Arkansas. The way in which we provide that care has changed enormously over the years, but the commitment to a healthy community has only become stronger, along with the need for compassionate, qualified nurses. Our service area includes 10 counties and our medical staff represents more than 25 specialties, providing opportunities in many specialized areas of nursing care. Cardiac care, orthopedic surgery, women’s health care, neurosurgery and in-patient rehabilitation are just a few of the areas where nurses have the opportunity to shine at JRMC. We also have a busy Emergency Department and we have been designated as a Level 3 Trauma Center. We offer competitive salaries and benefits, and generous sign-on bonuses. For complete details about nursing opportunities at JRMC call Nurse Recruiter Gigi Flory at 870-541-7774.

Pinnacle Pointe Behavioral Health care System is committed to consistently delivering a system of quality behavioral health care with integrity to children and adolescents in concert with parents, caregivers, guardians and community professionals. The team at Pinnacle Pointe Hospital is both passionate and highly experienced. Our dedication to the highest standard of quality helped us attain the prestigious Governor’s Quality Achievement Award. This award recognizes Pinnacle Pointe Hospital’s commitment and practice of quality principles through a thorough process of excellence. Visit our website to apply: pinnaclepointehospital. com/career-opportunities/

ROSE SCHLOSSER, M.ED., Articulation Programs, MSN & DNP Education Counselor SUSAN WOOD, M.S., BSN Education Counselor JESSICA BURKS, M.A., BSN Education Counselor University of Central Arkansas, Conway The University of Central Arkansas School of Nursing is committed to educating students at the undergraduate and graduate levels as leaders in the delivery of quality health care and the advancement of the nursing profession. We offer both online and on-campus programs to accommodate the needs of our diverse student populations: the on-campus BSN, online completion programs RN to BSN, the online MSN with Nurse Practitioner, Nurse Educator and Clinical Nurse Leader tracks as well as the DNP. Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) students must come to campus for a few preplanned events. Whether students are looking for the traditional college experience or to advance their current degree, UCA School of Nursing is an affordable, high-quality option with award-winning results. For more information, please visit uca.edu/nursing. ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO ARKANSAS TIMES

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NURSING 2017 SHELLEY AUSTIN, DNP, MNSc, RN Nursing Professor Henderson State University Department of Nursing, Arkadelphia Planning for a professional nursing career starts with a strong foundation in math, biology and chemistry. Whether you are a traditional high school student or a returning second-career student, we are here to help you. HSU’s nursing program provides small classes with generous clinical experiences to assure meeting prerequisite courses and application deadlines. We also offer an online one-year RN to BSN program. More information on our program can be found at hsu.edu/nursing or by contacting Reynolds@hsu.edu.

PATTY MILNER, PH.D. Director of Recruitment and Outreach for Online Programs University of Arkansas, Fayetteville The University of Arkansas offers three online nursing programs; the RN to BSN, the MSN with nurse educator and executive leader concentrations, and the DNP with concentrations in adult/ geriatric acute care nurse practitioner and family practice nurse practitioner. DNP course work is online, and on-campus sessions are required periodically during the program. All fully online students receive in-state tuition. Our programs were designed for the working professional. An online program adviser will work with you from start to finish, assisting you through the program. For more information about UA Online Nursing Programs, please visit online.uark.edu or email me at milner@uark.edu.

JON VICKERS, Academic Counselor ASHLEY BENNETT, Academic Counselor UA Little Rock For nearly 50 years, the UALR Department of Nursing has inspired and guided individuals toward the dynamic profession of nursing. Our faculty and staff are dedicated to improving the health care of all Arkansans by educating professional, thoughtful and compassionate nurses. We offer an Associate of Applied Science (AAS), BSN, LNP/ Paramedic to RN and BSN online completion program. Our advice for students is to take ownership and get as much information as possible about the nursing profession and degree options. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Do this early and often! For more information about one of the top nursing programs in the state, visit: ualr.edu/ nursing or email jmvickers@ualr.edu.

AVA COLEMAN, BS Recruitment Specialist for the College of Nursing University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Nursing, Little Rock UAMS is the only health science center in Arkansas and one of the region’s largest. It includes five colleges (Nursing, Medicine, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health) and a graduate school along with a hospital, statewide network of regional centers, affiliations with Arkansas Children’s hospital and Central Arkansas Veterans Health care System, and seven UAMS institutes where clinical, academic and research resources are focused on specific diseases or conditions. The UAMS College of Nursing provides bachelor’s, master’s (MNSc), Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) programs to more than 800 students. There are online programs to help existing RNs earn their BSN or MNsc. The college is engaged in activities and interprofessional partnerships across all UAMS colleges that promote scholarly excellence, research and service to the university nursing profession and society. For more information on our programs, contact us at 501-686-5224, by email at conadmissions@uams. edu. or visit our website at www.nursing.uams.edu.

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LIBBY STELL, RNP, BSN, OCN Nurse Recruiter University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock SUSAN ERICKSON, RN, MNSc, BC-NA, CHCR Senior Nurse Recruiter & Recruitment/Retention Officer Facilitator, PNO Nursing Image/Development Council and Retention Resource Nurses At the heart of patient and family-centered care at UAMS is the belief that nurses and families are partners, working together to best meet the needs of each patient. Excellence in health care happens when we work side by side and honor the expertise each individual brings to each health encounter. Partnerships are strengthened and knowledge shared to provide the highest quality of care. It is what we expect from those who choose a career at Arkansas’s only academic medical center. We also offer unique opportunities combined with salary and benefits, including our 10 percent retirement match and tuition discount for you/your children/spouse plus the personal satisfaction you receive while working at UAMS – it’s hard to beat. That is why more than 11,000 employees enjoy a career for life. To join our team, log onto: nurses.uams.edu or join our Facebook page @ UAMS Nurses.


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NURSING 2017

NURSING

THE CAREER FOR A LIFETIME BY DWAIN HEBDA

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ursing is a lot of things: demanding, rewarding, exhausting, fulfilling. It’s reassuring a frightened child, sharing a family’s joy and pain, a friendly smile during late-night rounds

practice partner L&D Triage with UAMS. “What other and heart-pounding adrenaline of emergency room care. profession will allow you to become a military officer and experience a double career, Nurses are the backbone of our health care system and travel to foreign countries, care for patients and meet so many a vocation that provides a multitude of professional options new friends and still have time for other things? and opportunities from traveling the globe to teaching the “I came back to nursing, retrained and am now serving in next generation, right here in Arkansas. a leadership role. My life has been full and fulfilling. If I had to “Nursing is the best career to choose if you like variety, do it again, I’d still choose nursing as my first career.” flexibility and a chance to do so many exciting things in life,” There’s room for everyone and then some, given the critisaid Cheryl J. Washington, EdD, MsED, BSN, RNC-OB, advanced cal shortage of nurses created by the expanding number of

UAMS nursing students practice surgical room techniques in state-of-the-art surroundings.

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seniors in American society. “The shortage of perioperative nurses is being driven by a variety of factors,” said Renee Lawrence, advanced practice partner with UAMS. “First, the average age of the working nurse is around 50, and surgical nurses are even older, probably around 55 or older. As Baby Boomers enter retirement, the shortage is expected to grow significantly.” “The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the shortage to grow to over 500,000 by 2022, just to replace retiring nursing and account for the increase in health care access across the nation,” said Ashley York, BSN, RN, a member of the RN faculty at National Park College in Hot Springs. York said the issue isn’t necessarily that nursing colleges aren’t recruiting enough students, in fact they are, but the ability to educate all of those candidates and direct them into areas of greatest need is often a challenge in itself. “Nursing programs struggle to accommodate larger enrollment numbers, and face barriers related to a shortage of qualified nurse educators,” she said. “Health care and educational organizations are responding to the shortages by implementing innovative technologies to assist in increasing faculty and nursing capacities.” Given this situation, it’s not surprising that nurse educators are among those specialties in high demand right now, along with some areas of need that seem to linger year in and year out. “Nurse educators are in highest demand at this time due to the nursing shortage. Nursing is one of the top five fastestgrowing occupations in the U.S., and qualified applicants for nursing programs are being turned away due to a shortage of qualified nurse educators,” said Kelly Quinn, MSN, RN, clinical instructor at the University of Central Arkansas School of Nursing. “Small rural health care facilities have the biggest need for nurses. The reason behind the need is not pay inequality, as some would presume, but due to nursing programs not being widely dispersed geographically, especially at the baccalaureate level.” Another high-demand specialty within nursing is the relatively new nursing informatics field. “Nursing informatics is an up-and-coming field that is in high demand,” York said. “The Association of Perioperative Nursing defines nursing informatics as ‘the use of informa-


NURSING 2017

NURSING NOTES

So, what does it take to build a nursing career that stretches for decades? We asked some longtime nurses the secret to longevity in one of the world’s most demanding professions. “Be aware that you don’t know very much when you start out and that as you work, the book learning will begin to link to the patient and his or her needs. Continue learning, ask questions and be gentle with yourself.” Lori Murray, DNP, RN-BC, assistant director undergraduate studies Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Years in Nursing: 10 “Rev. Cornell Maltbia, chairman of the Conway Regional Health System said, ‘Stay focused on the why, not the what. Why did I become a nurse? To carry out the commandment to ‘love others.’ ” Lori Reynolds, BSN RN OCN Cancer Program Outreach Coordinator Conway Regional Health System Years in Nursing: 23

Cutting edge instruction meets personal attention at University of Arkansas Little Rock’s Department of Nursing. tion and computer technology to support all aspects of nursing practice, including direct delivery of care, administration, education and research.’ With the sky as the limit in technological advances, every health care and educational institute is going to need a nurse or two adequately prepared in nursing technology.” Other strategies that the industry is leveraging to try and fill needs in the field is luring people from other careers to make the switch to nursing, providing incentives to existing nurses to stay in the field past retirement age, or both. There has also been a push for more minority students, to keep pace with the changing demographics within the state. And, as with all high-demand skills, compensation has become a critical element in attracting top talent, resulting in better pay and benefits. “The nursing shortage has helped to create fierce competition for nurses. If the hospital across town is offering more money or a large sign-on bonus, it will attract applicants,” Renee Lawrence said, noting many institutions will now provide tuition assistance or student loan payback. “However, once they have been recruited, retention is the real challenge. Nurses, especially younger ones, do not tend to stay in the same place like they used to.”

MEETING A NEW CHALLENGE: SECOND-CAREER NURSES

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o all outward appearances, Elvis Opris is not unlike any other first-year BSN student at UAMS College of Nursing. Look a little below the surface, however, and things look radically different. Not only did Opris grow up in Romania, but he was a successful general contractor, shepherd and beekeeper in central Arkansas before enrolling in nursing school. “I was influenced by a mentor to consider nursing as a career, something I had never considered,” he said. “I never really considered a career change that would include additional schooling, mainly because I had already finished my bachelor’s degree as an ESL student, and the prospect of more school with a family including three small children seemed unattainable.” Opris is one of a growing number of nursing students

who are entering the field after having experienced life in other professions. Opris’ classmate, first-year BSN student Patrick Dunlap, came to the program after 24 years of active duty service in the U.S. Air Force. “I wanted to continue to be able to help people and be productive after my time in the service,” he said. “Nursing has been a lifelong interest of mine and seems to be the perfect way to fulfill both of these. My mother was an LPN and would often comment on how helping others through nursing gave her a great deal of personal satisfaction and sense of purpose.” Dunlap’s motivation for getting into the field — a desire to serve others — is common among this class of student. So is the struggle to get back into the swing of classroom education. “The hardest adjustment for me, so far, is simply being back in school full time. Education is hard work, to say the least,” Dunlap said. “I did not have any college credit and had to start at the beginning just like anyone else coming out of high school. It wasn’t always easy being the 43-year-old freshman, but finishing that first year was a huge confidence boost.” The influx of second-career nursing students, many of them older and having not set foot in a classroom for decades, has led many nursing schools to introduce accelerated nurse education programs, which enable students to earn a baccalaureate degree in 12 to 18 months and a master’s degree in two to three years, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Even with these assists, many second-career students endure a substantial culture shock in the transition. J. Denham-Turner, BSN, RN and post BSN-DNP student at UAMS College of Nursing, came to nursing after 27 years as an attorney with a desire to create something lasting through his work. He found a challenge as substantial as any courtroom adversary. “I no longer fit into a category of people with similar experiences. So, essentially I walked alone,” he said. “Most of the people in my nursing studies were 30 years younger than me, usually. I could make friends, and I did however, the wealth of comaraderie that same-generational relation-

“The best advice I can offer a new nurse is to love what you do. Keep a positive attitude, be flexible and open-minded. Set a good example and be a leader. Don’t judge, and be of assistance to others whenever possible. Lots of hugs and chocolate help, too!” Gayle Haushahn, RN UAMS Years in Nursing: 25 “In my life I have learned to appreciate the differences in people I come into contact with. Different from myself and different from each other. I have found that embracing these differences brings joy to my life.” Michelle Newton MSN, RN, incoming director Jefferson Regional Medical Center School of Nursing Years in Nursing: 31 “Always remember why you wanted to be a nurse in the first place. When you are tired and worn out, the patient call light keeps going off, and you just can’t go another second, remind yourself about why you are a nurse. Being a nurse is a calling and a privilege.” Stephanie Thompson, MNSc, APRN, FNP-BC, student UAMS College of Nursing Years in Nursing: 18 “Find sources for enthusiasm and seek out self-care techniques that work for you. Construct 1-year, 5-year and 10-year plans!! Think of nursing as a career, not a job.” Sheila Stroman, Ph.D., RN, asistant professor University of Central Arkansas, School of Nursing Years in Nursing: 40 “Keep your work life and personal life balanced. Get enough rest, play and make sure you have good vacations. I am lucky because I have relatives all around different places in the world that I can go on vacation. I try to have at least one long vacation each year when I get away totally and relax and enjoy myself.” Helen McLennon, RN Arkansas Children’s Hospital Years in Nursing: 41

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NURSING 2017 ships have was lost forever to me.” she’s now the incoming director of “Being older also made me feel Jefferson Regional Medical Center incompetent more often when School of Nursing. I did not understand how to do “When I was younger, I was full something. I went from being at of energy and always in a hurry,”she the peak of my career intellectsaid. “I loved to work all the extra wise, to being at the bottom of a shifts I could. Now after 31 years, new career. If I did not have a very I love being productive at a much strong faith, I do not know if I could more measured pace. As I train for have endured.” a new role as the director of the Suzanne Harris, director of mediJRMC School of Nursing, I enjoy cal/surgical and specialty services the clinical days with the students at Conway Regional Medical Center, but am glad they are not 12-hour was also surprised by the personal shifts, three or four times a week.” impact of her new calling. She came Lori Reynolds, cancer program to nursing after nearly a decade outreach coordinator with Conway as a high school English teacher. Regional Health Center, said while “The hardest adjustment is also reduced hours have been helpful, one of the most rewarding parts of her workload hasn’t lessened any being a nurse: Being a nurse never over the 23 years she’s been in the stops,” she said. “Nursing isn’t a job profession. that one leaves when she walks out “I have a lot more responsibility of the building. A nurse carries the now and things are much more job with her everywhere she goes. regimented than when I was young,” She carries it when she sees others she said. “I worked four 10-hour that she has had the privilege of days and now I have decreased taking care of and celebrates their to four nine-hour days, and this recovery, she carries it when she helps. I have had wonderful opJefferson Regional Medical Center nurses train on the latest medical and information technology. mourns the loss of a patient who portunity to work in many areas has lost his or her battle.” of the medical center and I have either due to commitment to the craft or because they find “The hardest adjustment is accepting the blessing of had great opportunity to be a life-long learner in nursing.” it necessary to work. a career that will forever be a part of one’s life, long after Some nurses have found that a change in scenery has “There are so many learning opportunities in nursing; retirement. My previous life has served me by teaching me allowed them to stay in the profession longer. Stephanie so many wonderful experiences that can enrich your life patience, organization, people skills and perseverance. Both of Thompson, MNSc, APRN, FNP-BC, a nurse practitioner and while you are helping others,” said Michelle Newton MSN, my careers have been about helping and serving others, and student at UAMS College of Nursing, has worked in various RN, with Jefferson Regional Medical Center. “This profession there are pieces of teaching that I use every day as a nurse.” settings over the past 18 years, according to the demands can be tough sometimes, but at the end of the day I am so of home and family. THE VALUE OF EXPERIENCE: NURSING glad I am a nurse.” “When I was first working as an LPN, I was working 40VETS STAYING ON LONGER The American Nurses Association reported in 2014 that plus hours a week, had a baby and was beginning to take or all the physical, mental and emotional energy it takes 53 percent of the nurses in the workforce were age 50 or classes for RN school,” she said. “With each job role change, to be successful in nursing, it would seem that most older, so it’s not hard to see why hospitals, clinics and doctors the responsibilities and the stress changed. Life and work longtimers would welcome the opportunity to step out at offices have a vested interest in retaining those workers for experience have allowed me to grow into each job role. retirement age and take it easy. as long as possible. Depending on the employer, this may “Now I am working 40 hours a week in a busy family However, the nursing shortage experienced by most include providing shift flexibility, additional training and practice clinic where I see patients Monday through Friday. hospitals and health systems has created unparalleled need opportunities in different areas. As I have grown older, I am thankful that I am working in a for nurses. As a result, many are staying on the job longer Newton is a prime example; after 31 years in the profession, local clinic so that I am not commuting twice a day.”

F

NURSING NOTES

Second-career nurses are a growing presence in nursing schools and the classroom. Here’s some advice from some who are making that journey.

“It is always difficult to accept when, with all of your professional experience and previous degrees, you are thrown into a world in which you know essentially nothing. It took determination and the ability to push through a lot of discomfort early in the process. Somewhere in the middle of my second semester of nursing school, I began making connections, realizing that I was beginning to think like a nurse and think of myself as a nurse.” Tyler Wakefield, community RN consultant, University of Arkansas, Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Previous career: Qualified Developmental Disabilities Professional

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“I worked in this field for two years before I decided to go to nursing school. I loved educating patients and families in Arkansas, but I also wanted to provide hands-on care to these patients. “I love my [nursing] job and get the best of both worlds, patient care and education! I don’t regret my previous experience; I think of it as a stepping stone to get to where I am now.” Laura Mayfield MNSc, RN, APRN, FNP-BC, MNSc Clinical Instructor UAMS College of Nursing Previous career: Community Health Educator

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“I feel that having a ‘work family’ is crucial not only to a new nurse but to seasoned nurses as well. I honestly don’t know what I would do without my work family. I have been able to watch my first manager grow into a director and other staff nurses grow into managers. These are the people that you can decompress about work with, as they are the only people who possibly know what you are talking about.” Vickie Lauhon, BSN, RN II, Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit Arkansas Children’s Hospital Previous career: EMT, law enforcement

“It was hard to leave a job that pays decent, steady salary and provides benefits. I’m a single dad of two. Going from 50+k a year to whatever scholarships, grants, and loans I get was a hit. But my kids are seeing the value and possibilities of chasing your dreams. A life without passion is no life at all.” Chet Roberson, Clinical Care Assistant for UAMS UAMS College of Nursing- BSN Student Former career: Appraiser/cartographer for Pulaski County Assessor, bartender


NURSING 2017

UA Little Rock Nursing

Other longtimers report the same hours two continents beginning in her native Great and, if not more responsibilities, certainly Britain and follows a long line of nurses in more challenges with the encroachment her family. of technology into the modern health care “My work life might have changed only in workplace. Gayle Haushahn, RN, with UAMS that I do not do as many hours doing nursing is a prime example. She still works 12-hour as I did before when I worked more overtime.” shifts three days per week, but the substance she said. “I moved to Little Rock in 1990 and of her work has changed worked at Arkansas Children’s The most d r a m a t i c a l l y d u e to Hospital ever since. At first compelling reason technology. I worked on the Psychiatric many longtime “It has been a challenge Unit, then when that closed to keep up with technonurses stay on I moved to the Burn Unit.” logical changes,” she said. “I have enjoyed working the job is the “When I entered the nursing on the Burn Unit as I see commitment to profession everything was patients who move from their calling in life, documented on paper. being near death’s door to serve others and The younger generation to being able to walk out to play a role in the of nurses are much more of the unit. I have always healing process. computer-savvy, for sure. enjoyed being a nurse from Personally, I ask plenty of the day I started.” questions from those nurses who are comEven so, McLennon credits some sound puter experts and do not hesitate to ask for coping strategies as key to her longevity in assistance when I need it.” her profession. But by far the most compelling reason “During my working life I tried to stay fit many longtime nurses stay on the job is and emotionally healthy by trying to sepathe commitment to their calling in life, to rate my working life and family life,” she said. serve others and to play a role in the healing “When I leave work, I leave those problems process. Helen McLennon, RN, is in her 41st inside the door and when I get back to work year of nursing, a career that has spanned I leave my other life outside the door.” ■

UA Little Rock offers AAS, BSN, LPN/Paramedic to RN, and online BSN completion degrees. Whether your dream is to become a nurse or you are a veteran healthcare provider looking to advance your career, we have a program that meets your needs.

For more information visit ualr.edu/nursing • 501.569.8070

DEPARTMENT OF NURSING UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK

YOUR COMMUNITY. YOUR HEALTH. CREATING HEALTHY COMMUNITIES IN ARKANSAS

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FINDING WHERE YOU FIT HOW TO GET YOUR NURSING CAREER OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT BY DWAIN HEBDA

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he constant need for nurses in many parts of the

Students should also look for opportunities to network within the nursing field to put those country has created unparalleled opportunity professional behaviors and technical skills on display. The long-held axiom “It’s not what you for new and veteran nurses alike who virtuknow but who you know,” is as true in landing the first nursing job as it is in any other industry. ally have their pick of working environment. It’s also a prime opportunity to “test drive” certain nursing specialties and working environments. But it doesn’t just happen. Janice Ivers, MSN, RN, CNE, dean “I advise students to seek out per diem jobs and volunteer of nursing at National Park College, said nurses, like any other opportunities in areas they are interested in working in as a professional, need to learn the finer points of networking, nurse,” said Jenny Janisko, MSN, RN, NE-BC, nursing director of professionalism and competence to make the most of availPICU, IMU and sedation services at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. able job opportunities. “Reach out to areas that pique your interest to ask about “I tell students that clinical is like an ongoing job interview,” shadowing opportunities. Follow hospitals on social media to she said. “Students need to demonstrate respect and interest; be more aware of these opportunities as well as programs that always help others, don’t be afraid to ask questions. While in organizations offer. Attend every job fair you can and, while at school be available to step up and help out, volunteer, show those events, ask real questions. A large part of job satisfaction interest and be engaged.” Ivers said most instructors and supervisors are willing to accept that a student or new graduate doesn’t know everything about the role, but they are far less forgiving on matters of professionalism, teamwork and devotion to duty. “Many managers are Baby Boomers and Baby Boomers are notoriously known to be dedicated, loyal, hardworking and determined. Work ethic is a big deal,” she said. “They have no time for lazy nurses with a chip on their shoulder thinking, ‘That is not my job,’ From cleaning up a mess on the floor to feeding a patient and beyond, it is your job.” “Students must always be aware of how they are being perceived by others,”said Debra Cote, associate professor of nursing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. “Foul language and a sloppy physical appearance in a clinical setting or while involved in community activities makes a very poor impression. A potential employer Baptist Health College’s curriculum melds high tech with high touch will write them off the list.” to serve the whole patient. Laura Gillis, MSN, RN, clinical instructor at the University of Central Arkansas School of Nursing said such habits are the natural outgrowth of a mental revolves around making sure you find the right fit.” attitude to do one’s best at all times, an outlook that should be “During nursing school, I was able to tutor fellow students, present on day one of nursing school. shadow different roles including case management, director of “It is important for the new nurse to practice professional nursing, clinical manager and attend a career fair,” said Brittney behaviors learned from day one in nursing school,” she said. Jones, RN-BSN with Baptist Health. “I feel getting involved “Having a professional mindset determines professional behelped me better understand nursing roles and titles within havior. Others notice immature behavior very quickly and it health care. I also feel other nursing professionals interviewing can undermine others’ perception of the new nurse. me were pleased with my knowledge, accomplishments and “It takes a while to build respect from others, but it can be academic status while learning.” destroyed in just a few minutes. Attitude is quickly assessed by As nurses gain more knowledge about various roles and other nurses and it can make or break a new nurse.” organizations, they can start to narrow things down to their

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top choices for the first job. Timing is often crucial, said Paula Spells, RNI in the surgery department at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, so make the most of your final year in school. “I would recommend in your last semester to make sure to do your senior internship at the hospital where you hope to be employed,”she said.“This will give the employer an opportunity to get to know you and hopefully remember you once you go to apply at their facility or department. The best advice I would give to get noticed during your internship is to be super outgoing and really take in all the knowledge that they offer you.” Spells also said social media is a good way to network and stay on top of employment opportunities. Students should be aware, however, that social media is a two-way street between potential employees and employers. “Social media, as usual, does play a major part in this,” she said. “Most major employers are going to see how you present yourself outside of work, which is where social media comes into play.” Landing one’s first job is an important first step in a fulfilling career, but just because a nurse isn’t going to class every day doesn’t mean he or she isn’t being graded on their professionalism, even in the early stages of a career. “One make-or-break issue for a new nurse is the support he or she gets from colleagues and nurse managers,”Gillis said.“The new nurse must feel supported from the people he or she works with in order to be successful and content in their new role. One common mistake a new nurse may make is having a‘know-it-all’attitude with co-workers. It is important to approach the first job with an openness to learn and a willingness to work as a team member.” Janisko said a mentor can be invaluable in navigating the early days of a new job, and even if the institutions assigns you one (and especially if they don’t) seek to surround yourself with people who are both knowledgeable and will give it to you straight. “As a new nurse it is important to understand that there is so much that school cannot prepare you for,” she said. “Come with an open mind and a willingness to accept and grow from feedback. A common fear amongst new team members is being perceived as unknowledgeable when they ask questions. A good nurse is a safe nurse and we all learn by asking questions.” “Having both a formal and informal mentor can strengthen the relationships you build with your co-workers as well as your confidence in a new job. Don’t select a mentor because they are your friend. Choose a mentor that will be honest with you, and will push you to grow.” New nurses aren’t expected to know everything, but there


NURSING 2017 are a couple of basic things that they are expected to learn early and get right every time. Among these is punctuality, positive servant attitude and protecting patients’ confidential records. “It is so important to maintain patient confidentiality. I’ve heard so many horror stories of health care workers being sued or even losing their job or credentials due to privacy violations,” said Jones. “It is just not worth the pain and struggle to face this issue. I, like my fellow nurses, have worked too hard for my title and my career to compromise my future.” Jones said where many new nurses get tripped up by not being aware of their surroundings when accessing or viewing patient records and other sensitive data. “During my career, I have experienced family members, friends and others close to the patient attempt to watch me chart, look at telemetry monitoring systems and taking pictures of patient information,” she said. “In these situations you, as a nurse, should explain the reasoning behind achieving full patient privacy.” Violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HPPA) carry serious consequences, including fines, potential lawsuits and, for the person responsible, immediate termination of employment in most cases. The security breach does not have to be intentional and can occur through the most innocent means. “Comments on patient and family Facebook pages that are encouraging can unintentionally reveal HIPAA protected information,” said Janisko. “Taking a photo with a patient you have cared for and posting to your social media site can seem harmless, but again is a HIPAA breach. Make sure you familiarize yourself with your organization’s policies on social media.

My real advice is to just avoid those pitfalls altogether and do not interact with patients or families you care for in the social media world.” If all of this seems like a huge burden, keep in mind nursing is one of the most respected professions out there, a reputation that carries with it the high expectations of the general public for conduct and professionalism that one generation hands down to the next. “According to a Gallup poll, the American people have ranked nurses as the professionals with the highest honesty and ethical standards for the 15th straight year. Trust is the key ingredient to that,” Janice Ivers said. “I tell students that they have chosen a career that puts them in a fishbowl where others are always looking. Not only at work, but during their personal life as well. What you do and how you act matter.”

CREATING YOUR OWN SUCCESS

THREE WAYS TO CUSTOMIZE YOUR NURSING CAREER The many medical specialties that exist give nurses a lot of latitude for customizing their career path. The same is true for work environment and working hours. The following represent a few examples how, according to those who have lived them.

CHOOSING A SHIFT THAT WORKS

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ike other jobs that deal in the public safety and welfare, nursing has a set of scheduling rules that are different from routine professions. Health care, particularly in hospital settings, is a 24/7 industry and must be staffed accordingly. That said,

there’s room for even the newest team member to work out a schedule that helps them keep all parts of their lives in balance. “The nursing profession offers a multitude of flexibility,” said Leah Varner, RN, BSN with UAMS. “As a new nurse, one can expect to be matched with their ‘right fit.’ In my experience, we request the scheduling preference of the new nurse and match it with the best fit for the department.” Varner said UAMS helps new nurses in this process via its new grad RN residency program, whereby new RNs are oriented to both the Neuro/Medical ICU and the Trauma/ Surgical/CV ICU. After this orientation, the new team member is slotted into a permanent schedule based on their preferences and departmental needs, which can be amended to accommodate life changes. “For years I have been on a 7 a.m. day shift but when my husband chose a second career and started back to school, I switched to a PM shift in order to supplement the family income and still be involved with our son and his school during the week,” she said. ”When this phase is complete, I will then move back to day shift. Nursing allows me this flexibility to accommodate my personal life and still do the profession I love.” Brent Camplain, nurse manager ICU/Rapid Response Team at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, said such flexibility is relative. In his department, all nurses work three 12-hour shifts, but can achieve some flexibility on what days and what day parts those shifts are scheduled. All nurses rotate through a schedule of working a certain number of weekends, too. “I remember when I graduated there was such a thing as a ‘pecking order’ (for scheduling preference),” he said. “It seemed like everyone had to pay their dues on night shift until a day

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• Nurse Educator with Clinical Specialty (NECS)* • Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL)* • Nurse Practitioner tracks (Adult/Gero or Family)

Doctor of Nursing Practice *100% ONLINE programs. Enroll part time or full time. Clinicals are in your home community.

uca.edu/nursing

Speak with our Nursing Education Counselor (501) 450-3119 ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO ARKANSAS TIMES

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37


NURSING 2017 position came open. That is not the case in the present times.” The limitations, she said, included proximity to the nearest of more upward mobility which in larger health care systems He said while many people fear having to work night shift, hospital and ambulance, which was 30 miles away and provided may include jobs in system hospitals in other cities or states. just as many see it for its advantages. real challenges in emergencies. Nurses work with the latest medical technology and find more “Night shift is, in general, slower, patients are not coming and Rural hospitals all over the country face the same problem opportunities to become highly specialized in their field. They going to procedures, therapy is not working with the patients when it comes to providing health care, that being attracting are also often closer to institutions of higher education for and there are definitely not any doctors around. Definitely less nurses (and physicians for that matter) to communities which advancing their nursing degree. visitors, too,” he said. “This is great for new RN’s in critical care. often can’t afford to pay as much in salaries or invest in cutting “Disadvantages can include being only one among many It allows them time to think, ask questions of peers, hone their edge facilities and equipment. As a predominantly rural state, new nurses within a large system and less opportunity to get new skills and gain confidence in the care they are providing these factors are among Arkansas’ leading challenges as well. to know patients and their families compared to rural environfor their patients.” Keitha Griffith, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, assistant professor at ments,” Griffith said. “As well, there’s the housing and traffic Joan Tackett, MNSc, RN, APRN, FNP-BC, clinical issues associated with urban living.” instructor with UAMS College of Nursing, said there But what if you wanted to combine the best of are other advantages to working odd hours. both worlds, living in one environment and working “There are advantages to working nights and in another? Thousands of people commute every weekends that outweigh the sacrifices of doing single day, why not a nurse? so,” she said. “There is incentive pay for working the “Being mobile and willing to commute allows night shift and weekends. The night shift may be you more options for employment,” said Dr. Charles somewhat quieter as far as doctors and specialty P. Molsbee, associate professor and chairman of the teams not rounding, however, there still may be University of Arkansas at Little Rock Department of as many emergencies and it may not be quieter.” Nursing. “There are parts of the state that the salary This is not to say that working odd hours doesn’t may not be comparable to say, Central Arkansas.” take some adjustment, including getting used to difA nurse’s chosen field of specialty may also dictate ferent sleep patterns and ways to conduct personal whether he or she can practice that type of medicine business outside of work. in their community or if it requires them to make “You learn to schedule appointments early in the drive somewhere else to do what they love. the morning or late afternoon to allow yourself “A willingness to commute or be mobile in the time to sleep,” Tackett said. “Many grocery stores nursing field provides many advantages,”said Teresa are open 24 hours a day, making it convenient for Whited, DNP, APRN, CPNP-PC, director of MNSc and those working night shifts. There are urgent care specialty coordinator of pediatric nurse practitioner clinics open later that provide an opportunity to (PNP) program at UAMS College of Nursing. “The see a medical professional. Many shifts are 12 hours most notable advantages are unique working enlong, which allows days off during the week as well vironments not available in your home community. and that provides time to care for other needs that “Throughout my career, I have had multiple positake place in the daytime.” tions including being NICU Nurse, a PNP in general Joel Perry, RN with UAMS, said regardless of pediatrics, a PNP both inpatient and outpatient in what shift a nurse is assigned there are some rules pediatric cardiology and a faculty member at two of etiquette that everyone is expected to follow. major universities. Each of these positions has al“It is imperative to be on time, because other lowed me grow as a professional and develop my nurses that worked all day or night cannot just leave leadership skills.” like in other professions. We have to find coverage Such was precisely the case for Kristina Shelton, to take care of the patients,” he said. “Missing work BSN, RN, on faculty at National Park College’s BSN will bring some frustration from your colleagues program. She said she reaped the rewards of working because they will not know if you are reliable. Not at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the only pediatric being on time or missing a shift can delay care to hospital in Arkansas and the only Level 4 NICU in our patients as well and put a huge burden on the state. And, she noticed, many of her fellow colleagues increasing the nurse-to-patient ratio employees were doing the same thing. above our matrix.” On the flip side, driving 100 miles a day, three National Park College students train on advanced simulation mannequins days a week took a toll over time. WORKING IN THE RIGHT ENVIthat provide a variety of hands-on learning scenarios. “The advantages were a career with the type RONMENT of nursing you want to do that you can’t get at the hoosing to work in a small, rural hospital, remain in one of University of Central Arkansas School of Nursing, said small hospital close to home. I was going to a facility that supported Arkansas’ larger health systems in the city or something in towns aren’t without their merits, however. my educational growth,” she said. “Disadvantages would be the between is another important element of building a career “A significant advantage is the opportunity to quickly bedrive time, waking up earlier to get to work, effects on home that fits. come a member of the health care team in small rural hospitals life and being away from family for that extra two hours per Karan Cox, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC, CDE, clinical assistant who welcome new registered nurses to their community,” she day on top of the 12-hour shift you worked.” professor/FNP specialty coordinator with UAMS College of said. “Rather than only one specialty, nurses may have variety Pamela Ashcraft said such trade-offs are common, thus Nursing, has done both. of clinical experiences as they assist in different areas of the nurses have to carefully weigh the pros and cons of commuting. “I have worked as a family nurse practitioner in a rural hospital and because there are fewer new nurses, you gain “Know what you are getting into before you agree to take health clinic in a town in the Arkansas Delta,” she said. “It was clinical experiences quickly.” a job that will require you to commute a long distance,” she wonderful to build a relationship with the people in the small In addition, cost of living is generally lower in smaller comsaid. “Not only can a long commute be expensive with gas, community. Besides working in the clinic, I performed school munities and the quality of life may be higher as is the sense of wear and tear on your automobile, et cetera, a long commute physicals as well as presented health-related topics to a local personal satisfaction, particularly if a nurse is returning to his can also have an effect on your entire day by shaping your civic club. There were no other providers in this rural farming or her hometown made better by their expertise. attitude for the day.” area, so much of the health care was entrusted to you.” Urban health care options, meanwhile, offer the advantages “Was it a beautiful day? Where you were able to roll the

C

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NURSES GUIDE 2017

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ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO ARKANSAS TIMES

ARKANSAS TIMES


NURSING 2017 windows down, relax and enjoy the breeze? Or was there a traffic jam which raised your anxiety level and caused you to be late for work or late getting home? Think about how these encounters might impact your ability to perform your work duties or how they might impact your interactions with your patients.” Some health care systems have developed services for accommodating employees that commute particularly long distances. These benefits vary widely by employer, but are worth exploring. Lynn Storey, RN, has commuted 110 miles one way for almost 30 years and couldn’t have done it without the support of her family and her employer, UAMS. “My sister-in-law and I took jobs here at the same time and commuted together for 25 years,” she said. “I drive 110 miles to work on Monday morning and stay until Wednesday night using the housing UAMS offers. The housing has made it possible for me to continue to work here. I know several nurses who commute and utilize the housing.” Storey is the first to admit this kind of commute isn’t for everybody, but it has meant everything to her career to be able to do so. “One of the advantages of being mobile is working in a hospital where there are so many opportunities for nurses,”she said.“Being away from family for three days is a lot different than being gone only a few hours and not something everyone can do. I have great family support and it has worked for me.”

unfamiliarity with the The advantage of being a travel nurse is specific staff members to improve upon your nursing skills by you will be working experiencing different facilities, different with and there can regions and diverse populations. be some challenges in learning about the specific policies or processes that may affect more experienced as they are expected to your nursing practice at each facility.” come in and contribute right away. Therefore, Cheves said a common misconception they represent a variety of family situations. about travel nurses is that they are younger, “I learned that just as many, if not more, single and therefore able to travel at the drop travel nurses chose to travel with their husof a hat. The truth is, travels nurses are typically bands after their children had moved away

from home and even traveled with their entire families,” she said. She said an open mind, helpful nature and sense of adventure are much more important than age in making the most of the job. “I was fortunate to have the opportunity to live, work and travel to wonderful places and have amazing adventures that a vacation alone just can not provide,” she said. “Travel nursing provides an opportunity to meet amazing people that you would never likely crossed paths with otherwise.” ■

College of Education & Health Professions

TRAVEL NURSING: PASSPORT TO THE WORLD

I

ndividuals who are looking for adventure and a real change of pace might consider a role as a travel nurse. This professional contracts to work in a specific facility or in a specific unit or group of units and can be deployed across the country or around the world to work for a specified period of time. Travel nurses are often used in situations where a health system is experiencing a severe shortage of nursing and is bringing in an experienced professional as a stop-gap measure. Angie Cheves, MSN, RN, CCRN, pursued this career path before returning to Arkansas where she is now a clinical instructor with University of Central Arkansas School of Nursing. “The advantage of being a travel nurse is to improve upon your nursing skills by experiencing different facilities, different regions and diverse populations,” she said. “It also provides a wonderful opportunity for nurses to travel to different areas and regions to experience life and adventures without having a long-term commitment to a specific area or facility.” “The disadvantages can be that you are the new person on the unit and you may not know many people or be familiar with your surroundings when you first come to a new assignment,” she said. “There is an

nurse.uark.edu online.uark.edu/nurse The Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program, the Master of Science in Nursing degree program and the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree program are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education Washington, D.C., 202-887-6791. ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO ARKANSAS TIMES

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DEGREES OF NURSING: GUIDE TO NURSING C ARKANSAS COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY

YEARS/PUBLIC PRIVATE

DEGREE OFFERED

LENGTH OF PROGRAM

LIVING ARRANGEMENTS

AID DEADLINE

BACCALAUREATE Arkansas State University - Jonesboro • 870-972-3074 (nursing) • 870-972-3024 (admissions)

4 yr public

Traditional BSN, LPN-BSN, 2nd Degree Accelerated BSN, Online RN to BSN

varies

July 1st; Online students pay apply year around

Arkansas Tech University, Russellville • 479-968-0383 Harding University, Searcy • 1-800-477-4407, 501-279-4682 Henderson State University, Arkadelphia • 870-230-5015

4 yr public 4 yr private 4 yr public

BSN, LPN to BSN, RN to BSN, MSN, RN to MSN BSN, MSN FNP, Post Graduate BSN (traditional); RN to BSN online; RN to BSN online enrollment both fall and spring; LPN to BSN on campus

varies February 1st June

Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia • 870-235-4040

4 yr public

BSN, Online RN-BSN Completion

BSN-4yrs, RN to BSN-1yr, MSN-2yrs BSN 4 yrs; MSN FN - 2yrs, PG - 2yrs Only 2 semesters for the Online RN to BSN degree and 4 yrs for the Traditional BSN and LPN to BSN on Campus 4 yrs BSN, 1-4 yrs online RN-BSN Completion program

on campus housing for Jonesboro; off campus for online RN-BSN on campus housing on campus housing on campus housing on campus housing

July 1st

University of Arkanasas, Fayetteville • 479-575-3904

4 yr public

BSN, RN-BSN (online program), MSN (online program), DNP (online program)

on campus housing for BSN students

March 15th

Univeristy of Arkansas, Little Rock, Department of Nursing, Little Rock • 501-569-8081

4 yr public

on/off campus housing

April 1st

University of Central Arkansas, Conway • 501-450-3119

4 yr public

on campus housing available

July 1st

University of Arkansas - Fort Smith • 479-788-7841, 1-888-512-LION University of Arkansas at Monticello • 870-460-1069 University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Nursing, Little Rock • 501-686-5224

4 yr public 4 yr public 4 yr public

on campus housing on campus housing on campus housing

Priority Oct. 1st contact financial aid (870) 460-1050 varies, visit nursing.uams.edu. Click on scholarships

ASSOCIATE DEGREE Arkansas Northeastern College, Blytheville • 870-824-6253 • Paragould • 870-239-3200 • Burdette • 870-563-5110 Arkansas State University - Jonesboro • 870-972-3074 (nursing) • 870-972-3024 (admissions)

2 yr public

AAS Nursing

2 year

commuter campus

Priority April 15

4 yr public

varies

on campus housing for Jonesboro

July 1st

Arkansas State University - Mountain Home • 870-508-6266

2 yr public

D.N.P., M.S.N., B.S.N., AASN (LPN to AASN and (new) Online LPN to AASN offered at A-State Jonesboro, Traditional and LPN to AASN offered at ASU-Beebe, ASU Mid-South, and ASU-Mountain Home) AAS in RN- LPN/Paramedic to RN

commuter campus

Nov. 1

Arkansas Tech University - Ozark Campus, Ozark • 479-667-2117 College of the Ouachitas, Malvern • 800-337-0266 ext 1200

public 2 yr public

AAS Technical Certificate in Practical Nursing (PN), Associate of Applied Science in Nursing (RN), Certified Nursing Assistant, Medication Administration Program

30 hrs pre-req courses, plus 1 yr LPN/ Paramedic, Plus 1 yr RN varies 1-3 semesters

commuter campus commuter campus

Priority April 15 open

East Arkansas Community College, Forrest City • 870-633-4480 Mississippi County Community College, Blytheville • 870-762-1020 National Park College, Hot Springs • 501-760-4290 North Arkansas College, Harrison • 870-743-3000

2 yr public 2 yr public 2 yr public 2 yr public

AASN AAS in Nursing AS in Nursing AAS in Nursing-traditional. LPN, LPN-RN

2 yrs 2 yrs 2 yrs RN-2 yr; LPN-RN-1yr; PN-1yr

commuter campus commuter campus commuter campus commuter campus

April 15th Priority April 15 - Rolling open Pell Grant June 30

Northwest Arkansas Community College, Bentonville • 479-636-9222, 800-995-6922

2 yr public

AAS, RN

68 credit hours

commuter campus

June 1st and November 1st

Ozarka College, Melbourne • 870-368-7371 Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas, Helena, Dewitt, Stuttgart • Helena 870338-6474 x1254; DeWitt 1-870-946-3506 x1611; Stuttgart 1-870-673-4201 x1809 Southeast Arkansas College, Pine Bluff • 870-543-5917 University of Arkansas, Little Rock, Department of Nursing, Little Rock • 501-569-8081

2 yr public 2 yr public

AAS in RN AAS, technical certificate/PN

12 mos AAS 63 credit hrs, PN 42 credit hrs

commuter campus commuter campus

2 yr public 4 yr public

AAS: RN, Generic RN & LPN/Paramedic to RN. Technical Certificate: PN AAS/LPN to RN/BSN

PN-1 yr, Generic RN-5 Semesters 4 semesters

commuter campus on/off campus housing

none Federal and state dedadlines observed. open April 1st

University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville • 870-612-2000, 800-508-7878

2 yr public

AAS-Generic RN, AAS-LPN-to-RN Online or Traditional, TC-Practical Nursing

commuter campus

varies

University of Arkansas at Hope-Texarkana • 870-777-5722 Baptist Health College Little Rock • 501-202-6200, 800-345-3046

2 yr public private, faithbased

Associate/RN diploma/PN, Associate of Applied Science in Nursing/RN

commuter campus commuter campus

July 15th March 1st priority

Jefferson Reg. Med. Center School of Nursing, Pine Bluff • 870-541-7858 PRACTICAL NURSING Arkansas Northeastern College, Blytheville • 870-824-6253 • Paragould • 870-239-3200 • Burdette • 870-563-5110 Arkansas State University - Beebe • 501-882-8822 Arkansas State University - Mountain Home • 870-508-6266 Arkansas State University - Newport • 870-680-8710 Arkansas Tech University - Ozark Campus, Ozark • 479-667-2117 ASU Technical Center, Jonesboro • 870-932-2176 Baptist Health College Little Rock • 501-202-6200, 800-345-3046 Black River Technical College, Pocahontas • 870-248-4000 ext. 4150

private

Associate of Applied Science in Nursing

AAS-Generic RN 16mos, ASS-LPN-to-RN 12 mos, TC-Practical Nursing 11mos 12 months (excludes prerequisites) RN traditonal track 3 semesters + general education courses PN 1yr. RN Accelerated 1yr (LPNs or Paramedics). 79 weeks

off campus only

none

public

Technical Certificate of Practical Nursing

13 months

commuter campus

Priority April 15th

public public public public public private 2 yr public

Certificate LPN Technical certificate in PN Technical Certificate in Practical Nursing AAS in Allied Health-Practical Nursing LPN diploma/PN, Associate of Applied Science in Nursing/RN AAS/RN, Certificate/PN, Certificate of Proficiency/Nursing Assistant

11 mos 11 mos 11 mos 3 semesters 11 mos 2 semester PN AAS/RN 3 semesters, Certificate/PN 3semesters, Certificate of Proficiency/Nursing Assistant 5 weeks. 1-3 semesters

commuter campus commuter campus commuter campus commuter campus commuter campus commuter campus commuter campus

varies varies contact financial aid Priority April 15 none Priority March 1st contact financial aid office

commuter campus

Spring-November;Summer-April

De Queen 11 mos Day Program, Nashville 18 mos Evening Program LPN: 40 wks

commuter campus

varies

commuter campus

4 years for BSN, 3-5 semesters RN to BSN, 2 years part-time MSN, 3 years full-time / 4 years part-time post-BSN-DNP, 2 years part-time post-MSN-DNP BSN, RN-BSN Completion 7 semester BSN, 3 semester RN to BSN Completion BSN, RN to BSN, RN to BSN/MSN, MSN (Family Nurse Practitioner), MSN (Adult/ BSN 4 yrs, RN to BSN 12 mos 100% online, Gero Nurse Practitioner), MSN (Clinical Nurse Leader), MSN (Nurse Educator MSN varies, PMC varies, DNP 2yrs with Clinical Specialty), & DNP BSN 4 yrs for BSN/Varies for RN-BSN AASN (LPN-RN), BSN, RN-BSN, LPN-BSN 2 to 4 yrs BSN, MNSc, PhD, DNP. Post Masters options available. BSN generic: 2 full calendar years/ RN to BSN: 1 yr full time/ MNSC, DNP & PhD: students have up to 6 yrs to complete degree requirements.

College of the Ouachitas, Malvern • 800-337-0266 ext 1200

2 yr public

Cossatot Community College of the UA, De Queen, Nashville • 870-584-4471, 800-844-4471

2 yr public

Technical Certificate in Practical Nursing (PN), Associate of Applied Science in Nursing (RN), Certified Nursing Assistant, Medication Administration Program LPN

Crowley’s Ridge Technical Institute • Forrest City • 870-633-5411

public

LPN

National Park College, Hot Springs • 501-760-4160 Northwest Technical Institute, Springdale • 479-751-8824

Public public

Certificate in Practical Nursing diploma/PN

Ozarka College, Melbourne • 870-368-7371 University of Arkansas Pulaski Technical College, North Little Rock • 501-812-2200

2 yr public 2 yr public

Technical Certificate in LPN, LPN-RN track offered Technical Certificate in Practical Nursing/PN

University of Arkansas Rich Mountain, Mena • 479-394-7622

2 yr public

SAU Tech, Camden • 870-574-4500

11 mos FT 3 sem. & 1 Summer session (includes Pre-Reqs) 11 mos. track or 18 mos. Track 11-month traditional track/22-month non-traditional track

commuter campus commuter campus

Please call 870.633.5411 for more information none July 1/Fall, December 1/Spring

commuter campus commuter campus

none April 15 for upcoming fall semester

certificate/CAN, LPN, RN

11-12 mos

commuter campus

varies, contact financial aid office

2 yr public

Technical Certificate

11 mos

N/A

South Arkansas Community College, El Dorado • 870-864-7142, 870-864-7137 University of Arkansas at Monticello College of Technology, Crossett • 870-364-6414

2 yr public 2 yr public

ADN,LPN Technical Certificate in Practical Nursing

11 mos 11 mos

commuter campus and on-campus commuter campus commuter campus

June 1, November 1, April 1 varies

University of Arkansas Comm. College at Morrilton • 501-977-2000

2 yr public

prior to semester

2 yr public

PN is 12 months; RN is 12 months after prerequisites are met 10.5 or 12 months (excludes prerequisites)

commuter campus

University of Arkansas at Hope-Texarkana • 870-777-5722

Practical Nursing (PN) Technical Certificate; Registered Nursing (RN) Associate of Applied Science degree certificate/PN

commuter campus

July 15th

16 • 40

NURSES GUIDE 2017

OCTOBER 05, 2017

ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO ARKANSAS TIMES

ARKANSAS TIMES

To compile this, forms were sent to every qualified college and university with instructions to return by a specified deadline. Those schools not meeting the deadline were repeated from


COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS SCHOLARSHIP DEADLINE

REQUIRED EXAMS

APPLICATION DEADLINE

COMMENTS/HOME PAGE ADDRESS

February 15th

ACT, SAT, COMPASS, or ASSET; HESI A2 Nursing Admission Exam

varies

Nursing programs are accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Education in Nursing, Inc. www.astate.edu

varies Rolling varies

BSN-ACT or COMPASS, TEAS, RN to BSN-None, MSN-GRE or MAT ACT or SAT ACT, SAT, or COMPASS

March 1st and October 1st, other programs vary Rolling no deadline for the Online RN to BSN and Feb 1 for the Traditional BSN and LPN to BSN

RN to BSN can be completed in as little as 1 year. Excellent Faculty. www.atu.edu/nursing Quality nursing education with a focus on Christian service and professionalism. www.harding.edu The school with a heart. Small classes. CCNE Accredited. www.hsu.edu

Priority March 15, Final August

ACT, TEAS at least 60%

www.saumag.edu/nursing

November 15th

SAT, ACT, GRE for the MSN and BSN-DNP

BSN Spring: Jan. 15-Mar. 1 for Fall Admission, Sep. 10 - Oct. 31 for Spring Admission; RN-BSN Completion Program Aug. (prior to classes beginning for Fall Admission, Jan. (prior to classes beginning for Spring Admission) Varies

February 1st

ACT/SAT for students with less than 12 credits.

Rolling

February 15 - University Scholarships | March 9 - Foundation Scholarships

No entrance exam required for nursing major.

varies by program, see website for dates

June 1st March 1st varies, visit nursing.uams.edu click on scholarships

ACT/Accuplacer Entrance TOEFL for int’l students, PhD-GRE, ATI TEAS V for BSN applicants.

Oct 1st for Spring/ March 1st for Fall March 1st BSN generic: Mar. 1/ RN to BSN: Jan. 1, Mar. 1, Jun. 1, Sept. 1, Nov. 1/ MNSc: Sept. 1 & Feb. 1/ PhD: Mar.1, Jun. 15, Nov. 15/ DNP-Mar. 1/BSN to DNP: Feb 1

RN-BSN is an Online Completion Program. Http://health.uafs.edu/programs/rn-to-bsn; health.uafs.edu Achieve your nursing goals with us. http://www.uamont.edu/pages/school-of-nursing/degree-programs/ conadmissions@uams.edu • www.nursing.uams.edu

Priority April 15

ACT, SAT, COMPASS, or ACCUPLACER and PAX-RN

RN- March 31

ANC offers the RN, LPN, and LPN to RN programs of study. www.anc.edu

February 15th

ACT or SAT or COMPASS or ASSET; HESI A2 Nursing Admission Exam

varies

varies

ACT, ACCUPLACER plus HESI LPN-ADN or HESI EMS-ADN

Oct. 15

The mission of the School of Nursing is to educate, enhance and enrich students for evolving professoinal nursing practice. Nursing programs are accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Education in Nursing, Inc. www.astate. edu Application packet and program requirements online. www.asumh.edu

varies Fall-May1, Spring-Dec 1

Accuplacer, ACT COMPASS/ACCUPLACER for the PN Program & HESI for RN Program

varies Priority April 15 open June 15th

ACT, ACCUPLACER / Nursing Pre-entrance exams PAX-RN ACT, SAT or College Entry Exam, & TEAS ACT, COMPASS

March 15th, October 1st-PN; March 15-RN 2nd Friday in Sept. for Jan. addmittance; 2nd Friday in Feb. For May admittance into RN Program. 2nd Friday in Oct. for Jan. admittance & 2nd Friday in Mar. for PN Program varies March 31st First Monday in March varies with program

April 1st

HESI A2

Track I: May 1st, Track II: Dec. 1st, LPN to RN: Nov. 1st

April 1st none

NACE test Nelson Denny Reading Test 10th grade level for ADN; None for PN admission. ACT, COMPASS, PAX for PN,KAPLAN Admission Exam ACT/SAT/Compass for students with less than 12 credits.

Aug. 31/Spring entry (application window: Jan 1- Aug 31) RN June 1st, PN June 1st or Oct 1st

none February 1st

We offer generalist and advanced nursing degree programs to prepare nurses to meet the health needs of the public in an ever-changing health care environment. The DNP offers two options: family nurse practitioner and acutegeriatric nurse practitioner. nurs.uark.edu BSN completion for current RNs or recent graduates of an accredited nursing program. UA-Little Rock students can Ladder into the online BSN and graduate within 4 years. www.ualr.edu/nursing Student-centered, NCLEX-RN 1st time pass rates are consistently above state and national average. All programs are CCNE Accredited. www.uca.edu/nursing

Second Friday in March Priority Application Deadline Feb 28/ Applications accepted until class full.

www.atu.edu/ozark www.coto.edu for additional information. Allied health program offering RN-Nursing degree (basic students, LPN completion). www.eacc.edu www.mccc.cc.ar.us Options for LPN and new High School seniors. www.np.edu Northark’s students receive excellent healthcare education leading to rewarding careers in nursing. www.northark. edu/academics/areas-of-study/health-and-medical/index The college of the NWA community, member of Northwest Arkansas Nursing Education Consortium. www.nwacc. edu/academics/nursing. The NWACC Nursing program is ARSBN approved and ACEN accredited Providing life-changing experiences through education. www.ozarka.edu RN Program, ACEN accredited. www.pccua.edu Changing lives…one student at a time! www.seark.edu LPN/Paramedic to RN (1 year). Traditional AAS (2 years). Accelerated AAS (18 months). See above for BSN information. www.ualr.edu/nursing Prerequisite courses and KAPLAN entrance testing must be completed prior to entry into a nursing program. www. uaccb.edu www.arnec.org, www.uacch.edu www.bhclr.edu

March 1- High school Academic; July 15- Others; Nursing Scholarship- Dec. 1 April 15 and November 15 varies

ASSET, ACT, SAT or ACCUPLACER, and KAPLAN Nurse Entrance Test

TC-PN and AAS-Generic RN May 1; AAS-LPN-to-RN July 15

ACT or ACCUPLACER or LPN license ACT or SAT

August 31st RN traditional track/PN program: July 1st & December 1st , RN Accelerated: December 1st

none

ACT

Oct. 15 for Jan. class; Apr. 15 for June class. $35 application fee.

www.jrmc.org/schoolofnursing

Priority April 15th

ACT, SAT, COMPASS, or ACCUPLACER and PAX-PN

PN-March 31st

Variety of clinical experiences. www.anc.edu

June 15th varies varies varies none varies April 15th

ACCUPLACER and WONDERLIC ACT, ACCUPLACER plus HESI A2 Accuplacer, ATI TEAS TEAS ASSET, NET ACT or SAT ACT or Accuplacer for BRTC Admission and NA Applicants; TEAS for PN Applicants, NACE for RN Applicants.

Application packet and program requirements are online. www.asub.edu Application packet and program requirements online. www.asumh.edu Application packet and program requirements online. www.asun.edu Clinical experience in hospitals of varying size, physicians’ offices and geriatric facilities. www.atu.edu/ozark Combines classroom instruction with clinical experience. Graduates eligible to take NCLEX. www.bhclr.edu BRTC: A college of vision. BRTC has a 95% plus boards pass rate. www.blackrivertech.org

Spring-November;Summer-May

HESI Entrance Exam

Call for further information. May 15, Oct 15 August class (Newport/Jonesboro)-June 1, January class (Marked Tree)- Oct 15 March 15th, October 1st June 1 & November 1 Dec 1st & June 1st NA - Contact Nursing department, PN April 1 for following fall acceptance and October 31 for following spring acceptance, August 31 annually for following Spring RN acceptance. 2nd Friday in Sept. for Jan. addmittance; 2nd Friday in Feb. For May admittance

June 15th

Accuplacer, TEAS

Day Program-De Queen March 1st, Evening Program-Nashville August 31st

Prerequisites required prior to admission. www.cccua.edu

varies

ACCUPLACER

www.crti.ar.tec.us

none June 1/Fall, December 1/Spring

College Entry Exam, TEAS NET, COMPASS

CRTI is currently in the process of merging with East Arkansas Community College. Call for more information. First Monday in March November 1st

April 1st varies

PAX Test ACT or ACCUPLACER and Kaplan Admission Test

April 1/Fall entry, November 1/Spring entry April 15th

Nov. 1 - Priority; Apr.1 - Pending funds available; Foundation Scholarship Deadlines: FALL - Apr. 1 & Jul. 30; Spring -Dec. 1 March 1st

PSB, NCLEX, ACT, COMPASS

LPN-March, RN-August

Providing life-changing experiences through education. www.ozarka.edu Call the Allied Health Advisor to discuss eligibility requirements. www.uaptc.edu/programs_of_study/nursing/ practical_nursing.asp. Allied Health Advisor: 501-812-2745. Allied Health Administrative Specialist: 501-812-2834. INTERNET HOME PAGE ADDRESS - www.uaptc.edu www.uarichmountain.edu

ASSET. TEAS. Practical Nursing

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open April 15th

April 1st

TEAS, NACE

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April 15 and November 15

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m last year. Every attempt is made to gather and verify the information.

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NURSING 2017

DO YOUR HOMEWORK WHEN CHOOSING A NURSING PROGRAM BY DWAIN HEBDA

S

orting through the many choices for nursing education

experiences for students. “UAMS is the only BSN program in Arkansas is a time-consuming process, but it is an exin the state that takes students to the gross anatomy lab to ercise not to be taken lightly. The right program will set learn about health assessment with cadavers,” he said. “We have a nursing student up for early success in this demanding implemented learning communities that help put students into field and open the door to a long and fulfilling career. peer mentoring groups to help with the social aspects of school “Most students are interested in financial aid options, as well as retention. We also require iPads for all of our students tuition, schedule, pass rates and job placement. Those are all and have them use them in both clinical and the classroom to very important, but I would also ask about culture, class size, help them learn to embrace technology.” reputation, opportunities and teaching philosophy,” said Jon “Finally, we have started an exchange program with a nursVickers, academic counselor with University of Arkansas Little ing school in Taiwan and are looking to expand that program Rock Department of Nursing. in the next few years.” “It is very helpful to do some self-reflection. What kind of As with all higher education, financial aid is of paramount student are you? What do you need from your school to be importance to most students and their families. While all colsuccessful? What are some things that could possibly prevent leges and universities offer some form of general financial aid, you from graduating? This makes it easier to find a school that some schools have scholarship monies and other programs fits your individual needs.” earmarked specifically for nursing students. Don’t be afraid to A foundational element to look for in a nursing school is be blunt when inquiring how your school of choice is willing accreditation, said Janice Ivers, MSN, RN, CNE, Dean of Nursing to invest in your success through financial aid. with National Park College. “UA-Little Rock offers over $500,000 in scholarship and “Participating in an accreditation process gives a program sponsorship money to new nursing students every year,”Vickers the opportunity to validate that it is committed to providing said. “This year we announced a new Pathway Program, made a quality nursing program,” she said. “A nationally accredited possible by a partnership between UA-Little Rock and CHI St. school like National Park College requires that a nursing program continually assesses and makes improvements in the educational quality of the nursing program based on data. This is done by evaluating specific standards and criteria, which include mission, faculty, students, curriculum, resources and outcomes.” Another particularly important measurement of a school’s success is its pass rate on the NCLEX licensing exam as well as graduation and placement rates. Mark Tanner, BSN program director at UAMS College of Nursing, said it’s also a good idea to inquire about available academic help. “UAMS is excellent in all of these areas,” he said.“We have a 95 percent pass rate for NCLEX the last reported year and we have an academic coach who helps students who may be struggling to ensure that our attrition rates stay as low as possible.” Tanner also noted the school has invested heavily in resources to help Janice Ivers of National Park College leads nursing students through an exercise. provide the widest range of educational

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Vincent which pays the tuition and fees of nursing school for 40 new students each year. “Pathway students will work as registered nurses at CHI St. Vincent for two years after graduation. This unique program relieves a major financial burden on students, allowing UA-Little Rock to generate a larger number of qualified nurses to meet the demand in Central Arkansas.” “At National Park College there are lots of possibilities for financial aid including the awarding of over $65,000 in nursing scholarships annually,” Ivers said. “Recently, CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs and National Park College announced a partnership where CHI SVHS will provide financial support to selected students that commit to work for CHI SVHS upon completion of the nursing program.” Quality of the instruction is of paramount importance and students should ask about the percentage of instructors that hold Ph.D.s in their respective fields as well as what percentages of the teaching force are full time instructors at schools they are considering. “Faculty credentials and number of full time faculty in relationship to part-time faculty are critical,” said Rebecca Burris, Ph.D., RN, professor and department chair at Arkansas Tech University. “You are looking for a school where at least one-quarter of faculty are doctorally prepared. You also want a school where a majority of the faculty are full time, not part time or adjunct. Finally, look for a wide variety of clinical sites and practice laboratories that are up-to-date. “At Arkansas Tech we are committed to student success with over half of our full-time faculty holding either a Ph.D. or DNP and an additional four faculty members working on a doctoral degree. All of our classroom instruction and the majority of our clinical is done by full-time faculty. ATU also has a large skills lab, a state-of-the-art simulation lab and two health assessment labs.” It’s also important to select a school that can accommodate your individual educational needs both for your initial degree as well as advanced degrees in accordance with your career goals. UAMS College of Nursing, for instance, supports a range of degree programs from BSN through Ph.D., and offers a broad range of specialties throughout. “The master’s program has multiple specialties including Family Nurse Practitioner, Psychiatric-Mental


NURSING 2017 Health Nurse Practitioner, Adult-Gerontology UAMS, I have been able to develop a network of Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and Acute Care professionals and explore best practice options Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, among others,” said through attendance at external conferences Joan Tackett, MNSc, RN, APRN, FNP-BC, MSNc such as Magnet, Sigma Theta Tau International clinical instructor for UAMS College of Nursing. Honor Society of Nursing and Southern Nursing “The curriculum prepares the student for their Research Society. role as a nurse by staying up-to-date on research “As well, I’ve participated in on-campus opporand evidence-based medicine and correlating tunities sponsored by UAMS like Nurse Advisory that within the classroom.” Board presentations and the annual Arkansas In a growing number of colleges, online Nursing Research Conference. These types of learning has become an important component development opportunities have expanded my of the educational process. knowledge base and enabled me to bring new “Our program is 100 percent online and ideas and information back to UAMS.” offers in-state tuition, thereby saving students Finally, make sure to inquire about mentorboth time and money,” said Elizabeth McKinley, ing and job shadowing opportunities. These academic coordinator, RN-BSN program, University benefit the student and beginning nurse by of Arkansas Eleanor Mann School of Nursing. providing guidance and support during the “We use Quality Matters to design our online critical early years. courses. This ensures that course design is of Annette Gartman, MSN, RN, clinical InstrucTeamwork and peer-to-peer support are high priorities at UAMS in Little Rock. high quality and standard across our program. tor with University of Central Arkansas, School Online simulations and interactive activities are of Nursing, has taken advantage of both job used to promote active learning in courses. a chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, the international honor society shadowing and mentors since high school. “In addition, the university has a dedicated academic coorfor nursing,” said Burris. “The SNA is very actively involved in “Job shadowing gave me a real-life view of the role allowdinator to help each student make a plan that works for them, many community service projects which utilize skills they have ing me to see daily tasks involved,” she said. “Job shadowing balancing work, life and school demands.” learned in community health and other courses. Additionally, provided the opportunity to evaluate my fit for the role and Prospective students should also ask about various available instilled confidence in my career decisions and goals.” it looks good on the graduate’s resume.” organizations and honoraries. Not only do these provide social, “Mentoring is vital to success as a nurse. The challenges a Tammy Jones,Ph.D., RN, NE-BC, associate chief nursing officer educational and volunteer opportunities, but more importantly nurse faces daily can be difficult to navigate for a new nurse. Havwith UAMS Integrated Clinical Enterprise, said the benefits of they help develop leadership skills that are useful when it ing a mentor to guide and support your decision-making and professional groups don’t end at graduation. comes time to land that all-important first job after graduation. thought processes can make the transition to practice much “One of the great benefits of working in an academic “Arkansas Tech has a student nurses association (SNA) and smoother and more successful.” ■ institution is the support for lifelong learning,” she said. “At

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NURSING 2017

NURSING SPECIALTY SPOTLIGHT PROCEDURE AREA/SPECIALTY:

Periodically there are specialty classes offered by the Society for WHAT IT IS: Apheresis is the term used for Apheresis and machine manufacblood separation outside the body. Most turers for more specialized training. of our procedures involve collecting the The nurse must be able to perform patient’s blood into a centrifuge where it is the procedures independently separated into cell layers for either collection with confidence before they are or exchange purposes, such as stem cell colconsidered part of the staff. There lection for patients with multiple myeloma or is a special certification that can lymphoma, red blood cell exchange for sickle be obtained by exam from the cell disease, plasma exchange for patients American Society for Apheresis, and with circulating antibodies or proteins that we are all ACLS (Advanced Cardiac need to be removed. Life Support) trained. WHAT IT TAKES: To be a successful apheresis WHY I DO IT: Apheresis is very Cynthia Knox nurse you must be flexible. You must be able technical and challenging. The thing to use critical thinking to assess the patient’s I like most about it is the interaction lab and physical status to ensure a safe outcome for the with the patients. Some of our procedures, the patients patient. The apheresis RN must be able to troubleshoot the return every week for several months and you really get specialized machines and be able to handle any multitude to know them and their families. We do much more than of alarm situations and act quickly when they assess the just the procedure. We become their support system and patient has made a critical change in status. their cheerleaders when they become frustrated with their WHAT TRAINING IS REQUIRED: Typical orientation for long-term illnesses and treatments. an RN with critical care experience is at least eight weeks. Cynthia Knox, Rn, UAMS

APHERESIS

PROCEDURE AREA/SPECIALTY:

PSYCHIATRIC-MENTAL HEALTH NURSE PRACTITIONER (PMHNP)

WHAT IT IS: PMHNPs are advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) with knowledge, skills and abilities to provide comprehensive mental health care to assess, diagnose and treat individuals across the lifespan with psychiatric and substance use disorders. Unique to PMHNPs is that they are trained to provide the full scope of behavioral health services that includes both medication management and psychotherapy. WHAT IT TAKES: Along with a broad base of knowledge in the basic and behavioral sciences, PMHNPs need empathy, compassion and good communication and relationship skills. It’s also imperative to understand that “Whole health begins with mental health,” with the ability to leave judgment and bias at the door and know how to relate and communicate. WHAT TRAINING IS REQUIRED: PMHNPs are registered nurses (RNs) with advanced education at the master’s or doctoral level. PMHNP graduate programs vary, but typically take two to four years to complete, depending upon part versus fulltime and master’s versus doctoral

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NURSING 2017 degree. Individuals must pass a certification exam to be credentialed by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) as a PMHNP. Thereafter, they are licensed by and receive prescriptive authority from their corresponding State Board of Nursing. WHY I DO IT: I have always thought the mind was fascinating, and I enjoy trying to understand why people do what people do. I think it started when I read “Sybil” in the seventh grade; I knew then that I wanted to work in mental health. Individuals with mental illness are some of the most underserved in our nation, and if I can provide them an ear to listen, words of encouragement and some hope for recovery, I’ll continue to use my skillset and my voice to be an advocate for their wellness. Sara Jones, Ph.D., APRN, PMHNP-BC, assistant professor, specialty coordinator: PMHNP Program, UAMS School of Nursing

operating room you must be able to multitask. You need to be able to think ahead and be proactive in the needs of the operation. Excellent communication skills are very important when communicating with the surgeon, other staff members and also the patient’s family while the patient is still under anesthesia. To work in the operating room as a circulating nurse you must be a registered nurse. WHAT TRAINING IS REQUIRED: Baptist Health has an extensive orientation program for operating room nurses once they are employed. Depending on your years of OR experience, you may become nationally certified. Certification is recognized by employers and demonstrates a standard of knowledge and experience in perioperative nursing. After working as an operating nurse for two

PROCEDURE AREA/SPECIALTY:

ADULT/GERONTOLOGY ACUTE CARE NURSE PRACTITIONER (AGACNP)

PROCEDURE AREA/SPECIALTY:

OPERATING ROOM NURSE

WHAT IT IS: Circulating nurses ensure all patient paperwork is completed, such as consent forms, history and physical notes and site verification. During the procedure, nurses may also document what takes place, patient positioning and other important data. They replenish surgical supplies as needed during the procedure. After the procedure, they verify instrument count, sponge counts and complete all charting. WHAT IT TAKES: For someone to be successful in the

years and passing an examination, accruing 2,400 hours of experience as an OR nurse, RNs may become certified. WHY I DO IT: I was in a car accident and when I looked down at my arm it was obviously broken. I had just left work in the OR and this time was being taken back to the OR in an ambulance where I had to have surgery to fix the bones in my arm. Even though I already worked in orthopedic surgery, this accident made me realize the importance of being able to help people with all types of fractures and bone injuries. I’ve continued working in orthopedic surgery and enjoy it very much. Bob Stobaugh RN, CNOR, orthopedic operating room nurse, Baptist Health College of Nursing

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WHAT IT IS: We are trained to work in many settings, from internal medicine, emergency department, ICUs or specialty clinics. WHAT IT TAKES: The AGACNP must be able to use good clinical judgment and critical thinking skills, and be able to respond quickly and effectively in the event of decompensation in the patient. Skills learned during training include intubation, placement of central venous lines (CVLs), lumbar puncture, suturing, incision and drainage, chest tube insertion and joint injections.

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NURSING 2017 WHAT TRAINING IS REQUIRED: To complete the necessary components for the degree it usually takes three years. After completion of the degree and training requirements, you will be able to sit for board certification to become an Adult/ Gerontology Nurse Practitioner. WHY I DO IT: I chose this area of specialty to learn about complex issues in health care and to be able to address the needs of my patients. It gives me the flexibility to work in an inpatient, outpatient or blended setting. The greatest adjustment was a

change in thinking for me; I transitioned from taking orders as an RN to giving orders as an APRN. Maeghan Arnold , MNSc, RN, APRN, AGACNP-BC, MNSc Clinical Instructor, UAMS College of Nursing

PROCEDURE AREA/SPECIALTY:

CRITICAL CARE/INTENSIVE CARE

WHAT IT IS: We take care of a wide range of patients including cases of pneumonia, heart attacks, sepsis, seizures, overdose/

suicide, GI bleed, strokes, cardiac arrest and many others. WHAT IT TAKES: For someone to be successful in the CCU/ICU they need to have the ability to critically think and multitask. We are a fast-paced unit that is always on the go and we need nurses who can adjust to this. You also need to have a passion to want to work with critically ill patients and their families. WHAT TRAINING IS REQUIRED: To work here takes a registered nurse with current, active Arkansas license, BSN preferred.

RNs with less than one year of experience must obtain a BSN degree within four years of hire. For nurses we hire right out of nursing school, orientation is usually three months or longer; for nurses who already have CCU/ICU experience, orientation is usually four to six weeks. Before the end of orientation, nurses must be certified in BLS, ACLS, and complete the CRMC critical care class and cardiac dysrhythmia interpretation test. WHY I DO IT: After working here for six years, I can’t imagine myself working anywhere else. I enjoy the fast pace of the unit and that you never know what type of patient and diagnosis you will take care of. I enjoy my co workers because we work well as a team and help each other out without complaint. . Ashley Pierce, BSN, RN, CCRN, Conway Regional Medical Center CCU/ICU

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WHAT IT IS: Taking care of pre-term teenytiny, newborns that are too sick for the newborn nursery. WHAT IT TAKES: You need to have time management skills, critical thinking skills and the ability to pay attention to the details. These are tiny babies and they can’t tell you when something is wrong. WHAT TRAINING IS REQUIRED: You must be an RN to work in the unit and you will have a lengthy orientation period and a mentor. PALS and NALS is required, which is pediatric and neonatal life support certifications. WHY I DO IT: I have always loved pediatric nursing and, more specifically, babies. The NICU is the best of both worlds. I get to take care of babies and I get to learn so many things along the way. It is medicalsurgical nursing with tiny humans. Kristina Shelton, RN, BSN, RN program instructor, National Park College


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NURSING 2017

MINORITY STUDENT NURSES GROWING IN NUMBER IN ARKANSAS BY DWAIN HEBDA

A

rkansas’s nursing population is more diverse than at any other time, a fact revealed by a stroll through the nursing schools of the state. In any given classroom, the once lilywhite, English-speaking and exclusively female ranks have been enhanced by a growing number of men, people of color and bilingual individuals hailing from various points around the globe. The result is a rich, multilayered nursing population that better reflects the changing demographics of the Natural State. Dr. Sharon Stevenson DNP, APRN, PPCNP-BC said much of her success was predicated on institutions that were welcoming and committed to diversity. “My faculty role as clinical assistant professor is in the UAMS College of Nursing and my clinical practice as a pediatric nurse practitioner is in neurology at Arkansas Children’s,” she said. “Both organizations promote and embrace diversity. I feel most welcomed and it is a welcome symbol when I see a growing number of diverse faculty, staff, clinicians and administrators that look like the population and people in the community we serve.” Arkansas’s nursing schools have shown a willingness to develop adaptive programs that maintain the high standards for teaching while allowing for cultural and language differences. Anne Le Tran, who was born in Vietnam, earned her BSN from Eleanor Mann School of Nursing at the University of Arkansas this summer. “At the BSN level, I have been equipped with the ability to advance in critical thinking, clinical management and evaluation of nursing interventions for evidence-based practices,” she said. “Though it was an online program, my nursing professors spent a lot of time to communicate with us throughout the program via email, text, blackboard and discussion. I had the full support and dedicated teaching from all the professors, which helped me complete the program successfully.”

“Many of my friends also have taken the BSN program from different schools and, in comparison, the University of Arkansas has the most rigid BSN program. With the quality of the program and the teaching, it is worth the effort.” Stephanie Ingraham, nurse manager with Conway Regional Health System, said she was attracted to the nursing profession after seeing the caring treatment her father received in his battle with cancer. In the time since, she said she’s seen

much more gender diversity as well as nurses of different race and ethnicity. “We are absolutely seeing a growth in minorities in this field, especially with men,” she said. “Statistics show that one in 10 nurses are men, where in past times men in this position were nonexistent. In fact, the majority of the nurses on my unit are men and I absolutely love it.” Jacob Baker, BSN, RN, simulation center manager with University of Central Arkansas School of Nursing, said he first became interested in nursing through volunteering in a hospital when he was younger. “To this day, I remember the appreciation of patients for something as simple as giving them ice water. The satisfaction I experienced was something I enjoyed,” he said. “I chose UCA because of the exceptional pass rate on the NCLEX. The faculty were more than welcoming and went above and beyond in helping students succeed.” Like Ingraham, Baker said he’s seen a dramatic increase in the number of men in nursing roles. “When I began my career, I was one of five males employed on my unit,” he said. “Within the last two years, I have worked some shifts that were all male.” Even with such success stories, much work remains to bring more minority students into the fold. This includes better preparing such students for the rigors of nursing school and increasing affordability. Stevenson said every minority nurse shoulders some responsibility to assist such students in achieving their dream. “I am not a pioneer, because many others who may never be known or acknowledged forged the way before me,” she said. “There is no doubt that I have a responsibility to encourage and inspire others to keep moving forward. Paraphrasing from the book of Luke, ‘To whom much was given, much is required,’ and Maya Angelou, who said ‘When you learn, teach; when you get, give.’ Words to live by.” ■

CARING CLOSET EXTENDS THE ROLE OF NURSES INTO PATIENTS’ LIVES

W

hen a patient arrives at the 40-bed Psychiatric Research Institute at UAMS, sometimes for five or six days at a stretch, the last thing they are thinking about is bringing a change of clothes or packing an overnight bag, if such is to be had at all. Staffers at the unit noticed how many of the 30 adult inpatients had not so much as a toothbrush for the stay, let along anyone to bring them one. So, they decided to do something as an extension of the clinical nursing care they were providing. “It’s important that our patients be comfortable in their surroundings to better focus on their treatment,” said Judy Seidenschnur, director of nursing for the Psychiatric Research Institute. “Many of these patients arrive through the UAMS Emergency Department with little more than the clothes on their backs.” Out of this dire circumstance, the Caring Closet was born.

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The nurses and technical staff began collecting casual clothing — everything from jeans and sweatpants to T-shirts and shoes — and storing them in a closet on the building’s sixth floor. It wasn’t long before the scope of the need led the nursing staff to appeal to all of the institute’s employees for new or slightly used clothing. In the six years since it was launched, the Caring Closet has expanded to include toiletries, coats and reading materials, all donated by institute faculty and staff. The closet is organized by a group of hard-working volunteers who spend two to three days a week sorting through bags of clothing to find those that fit the needs of patients of all ages and sizes. “The Caring Closet is a great example of what can happen when volunteers and nursing staff work together to solve a problem,” said Seidenschnur. “The response by the patients has been immeasurable, and the staff take pride in knowing they made a difference in the lives of those they serve.” ■

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pplied to Raven Gray, a popular saying might read, “It takes a village to make a nurse.” Gray, a senior BSN student at UAMS College of Nursing, has overcome long odds to get to this point, a journey that probably wouldn’t have happened at all had it not been for the investment of her instructors and mentors. “UAMS College of Nursing was the best decision I ever made, and I would make it again in a heartbeat,” she said. Gray originally set out to become a doctor before discovering her true love was nursing. By the time she got started on that dream, however, life had become very complicated. She entered nursing school 18 weeks pregnant while working full-time night shifts and, with no family in Arkansas, was doing it alone. Alone, that is, except for the professors who rallied around her. “My instructors at UAMS worked with all my doctor appointments, ensuring I would not have clinicals the days I saw my OB,” she said. “During my first semester, my dean and my instructor created a clinical schedule that would have me finished with my required hours two weeks prior to my due date.” Even after Gray gave birth to her son, her school family worked together to help her stay on track. “There were days when the daycare would be closed and I didn’t have a backup for my son, so my instructors who were free kept him in their office so I could take my exam,” she said. “If I couldn’t make it to class because

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NURSING 2017

COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS C

ommunity health centers, also known as Federally Qualified Health Centers, were founded more than 50 years ago during President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty and initially came to Arkansas thanks to Gov. Dale Bumpers’ advocacy for preventive medical care in the Delta. Today, this model of care has evolved into the largest, and most successful, primary health care system in the nation. Consumerdriven and patient-centered, these organizations serve America’s most underserved communities by integrating critical medical and social services such as oral health, mental health, substance abuse, case management and translation under one roof. In 2015, Community Health Centers of Arkansas saved the state’s health care system about $235 million annually through effective patient management and a reduction in the need for costlier care such as hospitalizations and emergency room visits.

There are more than 235 full-time nurses employed in community health centers in Arkansas wherein they play a vital role delivering care to patients. “Community health centers rarely face difficulties with recruiting registered nurses compared to recruiting physicians,” CHCA chief executive officer LaShannon Spencer said. “Many community health centers have fostered great relationships with the numerous nursing schools around the state, which allows nursing students to do their clinical within a community health setting.” Nurses who make the decision to practice in a community health center tend to be very compassionate, offer selfless acts of kindness and have a greater understanding and empathy for patients who reside within rural communities. “Nurses are the connection between physicians and patients,”

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Spencer said. “Nurses often serve as patient advocates when communicating the needs of the patient to physicians. They play an important organizational role in the care of patients, which can help prevent complications.” Over the past few years, the nursing industry has expanded to include nursing research, practice and theory. Also, the nursing profession has developed numerous types of educational programs that have resulted in more nurses receiving a bachelor, master’s or even a doctoral degree. Community health centers employ nurses with different education and professional backgrounds to fit their staffing model as well as meet patient needs. “I was once told if you want to be great then solve great problems,” Spencer said. “Nurses walk into health care facilities every day and perform miracles.” ■


NURSING 2017

INES RAMIREZ’ PATH SERVES OTHERS, HONORS BROTHER

“He motivated me to achieve my dream of becoming a nurse. And not just an average nurse, but an outstanding nurse.”

I

nes Ramirez has wanted to be a nurse since high school. The student at National Park College in Hot Springs began her journey in the Medical Professions program of her high school in January 2015. In her application to nursing school, Ines wrote she chose nursing as a career because she “wants to contribute to saving lives.” It was a goal she had hoped to pursue alongside her brother, Jamie Ramirez Santiago. Sadly, it wasn’t to be. At around midnight May 9, 2015, her 22-year-old brother was killed when a vehicle he was riding in crossed the center line and struck an oncoming vehicle. Eight other people who were passengers in the vehicle were hurt, including Ines, who sustained life-threatening injuries. Ines not only recovered, she pushed through her injuries in time to start the semester with her classmates. Over the past two years, she hasn’t slowed down and is soon to bring the dream of becoming a nurse into reality. Along the way, Ines was inducted into Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Society and served as the Beta Lambda chapter president of Alpha Delta Nu Nursing Honor Society.

At around midnight May 9, 2015, her 22-year-old brother was killed when a vehicle he was riding in crossed the center line and struck an oncoming vehicle. Eight other people who were passengers in the vehicle were hurt, including Ines, who sustained lifethreatening injuries. Once she graduates from NPC and takes the National Licensure Exam for Registered Nursing, she will begin her first nursing job in the Intensive Care Unit at National Park Medical Center, the same unit where she was a patient two years ago. That would be enough for many people, but Ines isn’t one to become comfortable in her calling. She also plans to attend UAMS’ online RN to BSN program where she will complete her bachelor of science in nursing. Ines’ peers and instructors describe her as an inspiration. For her part, Ines sees her late brother in the same light. “He motivated me to achieve my dream of becoming a nurse,” Ines said. “And not just an average nurse, but an outstanding nurse.” ■

Enroll in the State’s Top Nursing Program Today Henderson State University’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program was recognized as the state’s top nursing program in 2017 by RegisteredNursing.org. We prepare our students to be caring, safe nurses in a supportive but challenging environment. Our students rise to the challenge. In the past two academic years, graduates have attained a 100 percent pass rate on the RN-NCLEX and 100 percent job placement upon graduation. Our bachelor’s degree programs prepare professional nurses to pursue higher education as well. We offer the following nursing degree options: r $CEJGNQT QH 5EKGPEG KP 0WTUKPI VTCFKVKQPCN CXCKNCDNG QP ECORWU KP #TMCFGNRJKC r 40 VQ $50 QPNKPG CXCKNCDNG HQT TGIKUVGTGF PWTUGU YKVJ ƃGZKDNG RTCEVKEWO RTQLGEVU r &WCN &GITGG 40 VQ $50 CXCKNCDNG CV 0CVKQPCN 2CTM %QNNGIG CPF KP *QV 5RTKPIU r .20 VQ $50 VTCFKVKQPCN CXCKNCDNG QP ECORWU KP #TMCFGNRJKC Our recent partnership with CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs offers students the opportunity to achieve their dreams with ƂPCPEKCN JGNR CPF IWCTCPVGGF RQUKVKQPU YKVJ VJG JQURKVCN

Visit hsu.edu/nursing to learn how Henderson State can help transform your dreams into a lifetime of achievement. Find us on Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram @HendersonStateU 800-228-7333 hsu.edu/nursing O

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NURSING 2017

PINNACLE POINTE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES P

innacle Pointe Hospital offers acute inpatient and residential treatment for children and adolescents ages 5 to 17. Acute inpatient treatment is advised after an assessment is completed and our psychiatrist concludes that the patient’s condition cannot be safely or effectively treated on an outpatient basis. The program is a comprehensive therapeutic,

intensive treatment led by a team of highly experienced mental health professionals, including psychiatrists, case managers, clinical therapists, certified teachers, registered nurses and recreational therapists. Residential inpatient treatment may be indicated in our facility for children and adolescents ages 5 to 17 with longstand-

ing emotional and behavioral health issues. Our physician-led residential treatment program addresses children’s entire well being, including medical, psychiatric, social and academic needs. The residential treatment program provides a variety of therapies and activities in a safe, comfortable environment. Pinnacle Pointe Behavioral Health care also includes statewide services provided by Pinnacle Pointe Outpatient Behavioral Health. The services provided include intensive outpatient, school-based, At Pinnacle, we strive to meet families no matter where outpatient and an Alternative Learning Center. they are or what they are facing with a promise to provide Outpatient services include individual, family a compassionate, hope-filled environment, and tools to and group therapy, medication management, equip them to handle the problems they are facing. case management and psychological testing. Outpatient and/or school-based services provided in the following communities:Batesville, Benton/Bryant, Cabot, Clinton, Conway, Fordyce, Forrest City, Harmony Grove, Greater Hot Springs, Little Rock, Pine Bluff, Searcy, Sheridan and Stuttgart. Families should talk openly about concerns or behavioral changes they observe. No one should be afraid to ask for help for their family when they feel uncertain how to handle an issue that arises. It takes strength and courage to reach out for help. At Pinnacle, we strive to meet families no matter where they are or what they are facing with a promise to provide a compassionate, hope-filled environment, and tools to equip them to handle the problems they are facing. Taking that first step and reaching out is the most vital step of all. We will help you with every one of the steps on your journey. ■

HSU’S LANDRUM BUILDS CAREER BY HELPING OTHERS PREPARE FOR THEIRS B

arbara Landrum believes variety is not only the spice of life, but the sum and substance of life itself. Landrum, associate professor of nursing at Henderson State University, had options early on — fighter pilot and international banker among them — but chose to pursue a career in nursing. Her first job was generalist nurse in a small rural hospital and she considers that experience an essential proving ground. “My early experience as a generalist nurse gave me the opportunity to obtain experiences in medical, surgical, emergency, ICU, obstetrics and emergency transport,” she said. “I spent my first three years in this type of work and moved up to charge nurse and infection control/ disaster coordinator.” After earning her certification in epidemiology, she split time working in an urban cardiovascular recovery unit and obtaining her master’s degree in executive nursing administration. She then took a job as evening house administrator at a 1,000-bed urban hospital.

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Her first teaching job, in a diploma program in the same hospital, was a natural fit. Teaching gigs followed in colleges and universities from Montana to Texas. Then in 2006, she joined Henderson State University, chairing the nursing department. “I enjoy teaching because I love helping students to think and see the world differently,” she said. “There is no such thing as a ‘hard’ subject. It is all in how it is taught.” Landrum believes so strongly in academics as an underpinning of excellent nursing that she recently stepped down as chair to focus on teaching Henderson’s high-quality nursing students. “I believe in teaching for mastery and believe that every nurse who graduates should have mastery of core concepts and skills,” she said, adding that the most satisfying thing about her job is “having students come back a year or more after taking my class and saying, ‘because of your class, I understand what is going on at work and feel very well-prepared.’” ■

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NURSING 2017

PRACTICE PLUS P

ractice Plus is a management service organization two. Through a wide array of services, Practice Plus helps founded in 1993 with a mission to become the most its partners better understand and successfully manage trusted business partner for health care providers. That the business of health care. mission was established with one sole purpose: to allow Practice Plus allows physicians to focus their time and physicians the ability to focus their time and energy on energy on patient care while keeping financial success for serving their patients with quality and compassionate care. Over the years, we have seen Practice Plus allows many changes in the health care physicians to focus industry. The words “paper charts,” “billing” and “collections” have been their time and replaced with “electronic health energy on patient records” and “revenue cycle mancare while keeping agement.” Information is shared financial success and communicated in dramatically for the practice an different ways and medical practices important goal. have evolved in numerous ways. Many of Practice Plus’ physician partners have expressed the struggles they had with business of health care, making sure all employment laws and regulations were being followed and ensuring their revenue cycle was performing in an efficient and successful manner, to name just

the practice an important goal. Some examples of how Practice Plus assists partner practices achieve financial success includes leveraging the purchasing power of 70-plus clinics, management of all managed care fee schedules and the ability to ensure the physician and the clinic are paid appropriately for the services provided. When providing assessments for clients, there are many areas that Practice Plus will examine, but a few of the areas we focus on include purchasing of goods and services, revenue cycle management, fee schedules,humanresourcesfunctions, coding, risk management, information services, medical malpractice insurance and accounting. There are many other areas that Practice Plus provides value and efficiency to our partner physicians, we have just listed a few. The saying that we like to use is, “If it has to do with helping run your medical business, Practice Plus can help provide it.” ■

Save One Life You’re A HERO Save 100 Lives You’re A NURSE. Arkansas hospitals employ everyday health care heroes, but our nurses are even more. Be more than a hero. Arkansas Hospitals. Important for Life.

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NURSING 2017

PULASKI TECH NOW UA-PTC, PART OF UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS SYSTEM O

ne of the state’s largest institutions of higher learning, North Little Rock’s Pulaski Technical College has joined the ranks of the University of Arkansas System, a collection of 12 four-year and two-year institutions of higher learning as well as seven other affiliates that focus on specific fields of study. The move, which became official in February, was accompanied by a rebranding strategy and new name, the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College (UA-PTC). As a result of this affiliation, UA-PTC students enjoy a number of new benefits, including easier transfer into other four-year schools within the UA System, new networking opportunities and an enhanced online learning infrastructure, eVersity, the UA System’s online college. The partnership is expected to benefit students in all academic areas, including UA-PTC’s nursing program. The school

supports two educational tracks in Practical Nursing; the traditional track is an 11-month certificate program beginning in August and ending in June of each year, and the nontraditional track is a 22-month certificate program beginning in August of each even year and ending in June of the second school year. Both tracks include summer courses. Entrance into either nursing program is highly competitive; only 30 positions are available each year in the traditional track and 10 positions every other year in the nontraditional track. Practical Nursing students are selected for enrollment by a point system, based on Kaplan Admission Test scores, advanced coursework and medical certifications. Classroom instruction is supplemented with clinical experiences in area hospitals. After graduation, students are eligible to apply for the state licensure examination. ■

ASU NURSING COLLEGE ENJOYS EXPLOSIVE GROWTH OVER 20-PLUS YEARS I

n just over two decades of existence, Arkansas State University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions has enjoyed leapfrog growth and industry recognition that places it on par with any nursing school in Arkansas. Since its founding in 1995, the college has nearly doubled its graduates from 331 to 602 in 2015 and grown its semesterly credit hours from 12,600 to nearly 60,000 over the same time period. “Our mission is to provide quality education to students, graduates and health care providers in a variety of health disciplines,” said Susan Hanrahan, dean. “Recognizing its unique position in the lower Mississippi Delta region, the college provides educational programs that are designed to promote lifelong learning based on the expressed needs of its varied constituencies.” Along with increased numbers have come a rapidly-increasing number of accredited degree programs, from just

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eight in 1995 to 22 undergraduate and graduate degrees today. More than 500 clinical sites contract with the college for experiences in a diverse array of settings. ASU’s innovative research and health programming has been equally robust. Among its more recent initiatives has been studying the potential clinical applications for visible and near infrared light as treatment for disinfection, wound healing and neuropathies, studying the long-term effects of antidepressants on the serotonin system and the relationship between foot sensation loss and balance in persons with diabetes. The college also supports a range of community service initiatives. Since 2000 alone, the college has launched three major educational programs, including the Billy Joe and Betty Ann Emerson Grief Seminars (2005), Regional Center for Disaster Preparedness Education (2006) and Beck Pride Center for America’s Wounded Veterans (2007). ■

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BEEN THERE, DONE THAT

Words of wisdom from those who have lived the nursing life The first six months are the hardest, but you fall into a routine and you will start to feel more confident, remembering that no two patients are the same. Stephanie Ingraham, RN, Conway Regional Health System A young nurse is set apart when she is willing to learn and help others. Young nurses are set apart for the worse when they think they already know everything and don’t want to ask questions. There are some things you can’t learn from a book, you only learn from experience. Meagan Moore, RN, BSN, Baptist Health The major make-or-break issues would be confidence, nerves and just learning to trust your gut. I was so scared I was going to mess up that I wouldn’t put myself out there as much as I wish I would have. You’ve got to realize that it’s OK to be nervous and you can mess up. It’s a learning process. Paula Spells, RN, Arkansas Children’s Hospital surgery department You should always have a healthy amount of fear coming into work every day. Anything can happen and you need to be prepared. Being scared means you’re being smart. Stephen Feero, BSN, RN, CCRN, Arkansas Tech University Protecting patient/hospital data is of utmost importance, especially if the nurse works in a “hometown” facility where everyone knows everyone. Privacy can be compromised by discussing patient situations in the elevator, at a restaurant or in a social setting. Laura Gillis, MSN, RN, clinical instructor, University of Central Arkansas School of Nursing The first time one of my patients died, I felt like I wasn’t cut out for nursing. You will never forget. Jennifer Cooper, RN, Conway Regional Health System Approaching the team with a positive attitude and work ethic serve as great first impressions. Always offer to help when you can, never be above turning a patient or bathing a patient. These are all things that help, and the nurse earns respect by demonstrating teamwork. Angela McJunkins, BSN, RN, PN program nursing faculty, National Park College Words to live by? One day at a time. Lori Pledger, Team Leader Baptist Home Health Take care of yourself. Eat, exercise and sleep. Meal plan so you have healthy food. Find the right exercise for you. Create your sleep environment to foster sleep. From blackout curtains, to the right temperature, to your sleepwear — only you know what you need for good sleep. Amanda Beaver, MSN, RN, clinical instructor, University of Central Arkansas School of Nursing Be kind and compassionate. There is something underneath the patient’s difficult facade that the health care team doesn’t know about. Being nice goes a long way. People can tell when you care. Dr. Sloan Davidson, associate professor, UA-Little Rock Nursing A new nurse goes through the grieving process during their first year of nursing. A new nurse is scared, nervous and excited all in one. During the first year, you’re on a roller coaster, so there are many nights of crying all the way home or staying late to finish charting. These emotions get better, and the roller coaster will finally slow down. It just takes time. Brittney Jones, RN, BSN Baptist Health Lets face it, not everyone is cut out to be a nurse, and as a new grad I thought I was one of those people. But as time has gone on, my opinion has shifted. When I walk into the hospital to start my shift at 0630 I transform. I transform into a friend, a trusted adviser, an empathetic shoulder to lean on, an advocate and a prayer warrior. Lauren Thomas, RN, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences People cope with stress and illness the best way they know how. As nurses, it is not only important to understand and help the physical aspect of illness, but the psychological aspects of illness and the stress it causes. Pam Branch, MSN RN, mental health nursing faculty, National Park College You won’t forget your first patient that dies. There is just an empty feeling that you get when you realize they aren’t in the hospital room you last saw them in. Don’t be afraid to cry, scream or be angry. You need to let those emotions out. Stephen Feero, BSN, RN, CCRN, Arkansas Tech University Show compassion even when you don’t want to; realize YOU GOT THIS and JUST DO IT. Johnna Askins, Conway Regional Health System


We care for the people who care for our patients. As a healthcare professional, you make decisions that affect our patients every day. So of course you deserve to be treated like the valuable team member you are. That’s why, if you choose a career with Conway Regional, you’ll enjoy: • Competitive salary & benefits • Low nurse-to-patient ratio • High employee satisfaction & retention • Positive team atmosphere Apply online at ConwayRegional.org/Jobs 501-513-5311

One Team. One Promise.

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Arts Entertainment AND

BRIAN CHILSON

comedy venue in Little Arkansas Rock. (There was also the short-lived Funnybone, Before 2010, there wasn’t a comedy on Ma rk ha m St reet scene to speak of in Northwest Arkansas, downtown.) “There were according to Fayetteville comic Stef no other open mics to do Bright. “There were a few open mics, stand-up comedy in town, but they were mixed open mics with at all, period,” Michael music and comedy,” Bright said. Into Brown, the reigning king this void, local comics like Troy Gittings, of comedy in Arkansas, Brett Robinson, Zac Slusher and Brian told me. Spence decided to create their own Until The Joint. When comedy scene — Comedians NWA. Steve and Vicki Farrell Since its inception, Comedians NWA, opened The Joint in which now includes Bright as a member, Argenta in the spring of as well as many other comedians, has 2012, they did so with grown to be a hot spot on the map. How comedy bona fides and hot? It’s a scene that really can no longer an idea to open a comedy be avoided for touring comics. Bright workshop. Having run a summarized this genesis: “[Comedians workshop in Houston — NWA] started with a weekly open mic one that had produced and were able to grow it. They brought QUARTER CENTURY OF LAUGHS: Andy Picarro performed last Friday night at The Loony Bin, a Little giants such as Bill Hicks, in some pretty big names early on like Rock comedy stronghold that opened its doors in 1993. Janeane Garofalo and Sam Rory Scovel, Ralphie May and Bobcat Kinison — their plan was Goldthwait.” Impressive stuff, and to take all that good juju and apply it perhaps even more impressive is that here. And juju was in no short supply. the troupe doesn’t have its own venue. The Farrells had a short film featured Recently, Bright said, Comedians NWA on “Saturday Night Live,” later listed as has partnered with comics in Joplin, “One of the Ten Best SNL Short Films.” Mo., and Pittsburgh, Kan., setting They had written for NPR’s “All Things up a “three-four night run of shows Considered.” where we can get national comedians Unlike The Loony Bin, which is a to come down. … Every time we have a professional stand-up comedy club, the national comedian come through, they Farrells intended The Joint as a sort of tell their friends in L.A. or New York, training ground, a place for all levels and then they reach out to us, and it of comics, from beginners on up, to keeps expanding. I mean, two years ago, practice their craft. In Steve Farrell’s hardly anybody would have thought words, “The reason The Comedy to stop in Fayetteville. We’re actually A look at the state of comedy in Arkansas. Workshop turned out Bill Hicks and on the radar now of all these touring BY AARON SARLO of comedy in Arkansas. 2) Tell me your Janeane Garofalo is because it remained comedians.” opinion of the scene. 3) What do you solely developmental. There were no his fall, I celebrate my 10th think the future holds for comedy here headliners that ever played there with The artist and the workhorse anniversary as a stand-up comic. in Arkansas? our own comics. So, it really became the Much of that time has been For some context, let’s look at some clubhouse, the place where the social So, that’s our history in a very teensy spent here in Central Arkansas, where history. Before the arrival of The Loony scene is.” The Joint’s mission is similar: nutshell, and it’s been fueled by a few some welcome changes to the comedy Bin, the comedy scene in Arkansas was to foster an inclusive scene for all forms kinds of comedians. First, you’ve got The scene are happening. Open mics are a sort of proto-scene, one of many dying of comedy, sketch, improv, stand-up and Artist. The Artist deals with the craft sprouting up all over the place. Smarts, embers across the country left over from musical comedy, one of the hardest to of the medium, largely eschewing the hard work and good web presence are the raging wildfire that was the ’80s pull off. (The Farrells, though, routinely prickly business side of entertainment turning comedy wastelands into must- comedy boom. According to The Loony excel at it with The Main Thing, a that, admittedly, can be very soulstops for national touring comedians. Bin’s co-owner, Jeffrey Jones, before his powerhouse of writing and performing.) draining. The Artist gets on stage and All of a sudden there is a ton of great business opened there wasn’t much of It’s only been five years, but The Joint pushes the boundaries of what comedy comics everywhere, and Arkansas is a scene at all. “When I moved [to Little has become a welcome and necessary can do, and is happy in this context. suddenly appearing on the national map Rock],” Jones said, the scene “was just adjunct to the Little Rock comedy scene, We have a few Artists in our state, and as a legit place for comedy. In a word, this weekend room at the Holiday Inn and its comedy workshop atmosphere they make the world go around – Ozzy shitslookinggood. To find out why (and on I-40. They lasted maybe four months dovetails beautifully with The Loony Jackson, Adam Hogg, Keith Terry and how) that came to be, I interviewed a after we got here.” This was 1993, and Bin’s professional grade stand-up shows. Zac Slusher. bunch of folks, asking each the same for nearly two decades afterward, The Then, you’ve got The Workhorse, three questions: 1) Tell me the history Loony Bin was more or less the only Meanwhile, in Northwest working comedians who are almost as

A guy walks into a scene T

CONTINUED ON PAGE 76

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ARKANSAS TIMES


Check out the Times’ A&E blog arktimes.com

A&E NEWS EIGHT MILES SOUTHEAST of Cotton Plant, a new sign was unveiled Friday afternoon honoring Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Arkansas native guitarist and singer who some credit with having invented rock ’n’ roll. Rep. Chris Richey (D-Helena-West Helena) and local musician Greg Spradlin shepherded a bill through the legislature in late March that sought allowance for the Arkansas Department of Transportation to designate stretches of highway to honor the legacies of Johnny Cash, Levon Helm, Louis Jordan and Tharpe. “I’m so proud to finally see Arkansas recognize its legacy of creating some of the icons and architects of a gift that changed the world,” Spradlin said. “I hope this is just the beginning … Sonny Boy Williamson? Charlie Rich? Glen Campbell? Albert King? Hopefully, more to come.” Cotton Plant Mayor Willard C. Ryland said he’d like to see a billboard on Interstate 40 pointing travelers to Cotton Plant, noting at Friday’s ceremony, “I think this is going to set the pace.” KATIE MCGOWAN AND Matt O’Baugh of Black Cobra Tattoos in Sherwood were barely edged out of the $200,000 prize awarded on Spike TV’s “Ink Master: Shop Wars” finale, by Old Town Ink of Scottsdale, Ariz. The good news: McGowan and O’Baugh are back at work at 6505 Warden Road, ready to put a mandala, moon or other intricate design onto your body. AFTER 36 YEARS in business, recording studio Soundscapes closed its doors Sunday, with now-retired owner Brent Walker saying, “The old business model of high-service multiroom studios is over. It’s time to move on.” Former Soundscapes producers John Crowley, David Greaves and Stephanie Nolte will continue to serve former clientele with new sound engineering projects, Small Pond Audio and Loudmouth Studio. CONWAY NATIVE ERIN ENDERLIN, the songwriter who penned Alan Jackson’s “Monday Morning Church” and Lee Ann Womack’s “Last Call,” has a new album out, available on most streaming and music library platforms. It’s called “Whiskeytown Crier,” and features cameos from the likes of Chris Stapleton, Randy Houser and Ricky Skaggs. THE SWAMPY CYPRESS trees of Lake Conway are among the stops on Complex Network’s wildlife series “Breaking Bass,” in which hiphop and fishing enthusiasts Carnell “Dimension” Lee and Oliver Ngy aim to “disrupt the fishing industry.” Check it out at go90.com.

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THE

TO-DO

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BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE, HEATHER STEADHAM, JORDAN LITTLE, LARISSA GUDINO AND LINDSEY MILLAR

THURSDAY 10/5

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RECOGNIZER, ADAM FAUCETT, NEW MOTTO

9 p.m. White Water Tavern. $5.

Recognizer’s debut album is killer clean, with a crisp Perry Farrell-meets-Trent Reznor delivery and diction that’s intelligible without being obnoxiously frontand-center, coupled with a ninetrack case study in all the different ways guitars can function — as crunchy staccato percussion, as

shimmering atmosphere or as riffpeeling diva. The band paired the frontrunner track, “License to Kill,” with a crushing animated short from Marsha Onderstijn that’ll leave you feeling like you did after you saw “Bambi,” and it’s bringing the new record to the White Water Tavern with the inimitable Adam Faucett and New Motto. SS

MAIN STREET FOOD TRUCK FESTIVAL

mandu Momo, Kona Ice, Le Pops, Shambala Mobile Vegan Kitchen, Southern Gourmasian, Taqueria 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Main Street and Capitol Avenue. Free. Jalisco San Juan, the WunderBus and Spanning six downtown Little several food trucks from Memphis: Rock blocks, the Main Street Food Delish Desserts, Memphis Mojo Cafe Truck Festival returns for a seventh and Memphis Soft Serve. The festival, year with around 70 food trucks, a collaboration between the Downdozens of craft vendors, a variety town Little Rock Partnership and its of entertainment buskers and more. Main Street Revitalization CommitAmong the trucks: Banana Leaf, Bry- tee, saw a record turnout last year of ant’s BBQ & Catering,Count Porkula, nearly 40,000 people, the partnerEat My Catfish, Excaliburger, Kat- ship says. HS

KING BISCUIT TIME: Larry McCray (left), JJ Grey & Mofro and Gov’t Mule (below) are among the performers at this year’s King Biscuit Blues Festival.

THURSDAY 10/5-SATURDAY 10/7

KING BISCUIT BLUES FESTIVAL

Noon Thu., 9 a.m. Fri.-Sat. $40-$80.

There’s a hole in the lineup at this year’s King Biscuit Blues Festival on Friday night at 8 p.m. That’s where CeDell Davis was slated to play. No doubt that time will be spent remembering the late slide guitarist and juke joint legend, who died last Wednesday at age 91. Davis’ longtime bandmate Greg Binns plays earlier that day, along with Morrilton up-andcomers The Akeem Kemp Band, North Carolina powerhouse Nikki Hill and a late but potent bloomer, Mississippi bluesman Leo “Bud” Welch.

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Tyrannosaurus Chicken brings its “psychedelta” to the mix, along with Tab Benoit, The Legendary Pacers (remembering another late bluesman, Newport’s Sonny Burgess), Larry McCray, The Ben Miller Band and headliners JJ Grey and Mofro and Gov’t Mule. There’s loads of craft beer and a Thursday night “Biscuit Bash” that pairs craft beer with biscuits and gravy and, if you need to counterbalance some of that consumption, the Flour Power 5K Run and the “Tour da’ Delta” Bike Ride. See kingbiscuitfestival.com for tickets and a full schedule, and grab a ticket to the Arkansas Times Blues Bus at centralarkansastickets.com. SS


IN BRIEF

THURSDAY 10/5

GERALD V. FORIS

FRIDAY 10/6-SATURDAY 10/7

JOLT HACKATHON

6 p.m. Fri., 7:30 a.m. Sat.-Sun. 417 Main St. $500.

MASTER CLASS: German filmmaker and opera director Werner Herzog gives a master class, Q&A sessions and a screening of his film “Grizzly Man” at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival.

FRIDAY 10/6-SUNDAY 10/15

HOT SPRINGS DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL

Various times. Central Avenue, downtown Hot Springs. $25-$300.

When the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival closes the books on 2017, it’ll have as many years of HSDFF behind it as there are letters in the alphabet, and the “Z” year boasts a rich lineup. For one thing, the names on the marquee are big ones: Kathleen Turner (“Romancing the Stone,” “Peggy Sue Got Married,” “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”) will be in attendance, as will Werner Herzog, the prolific German filmmaker and opera director responsible for wonders like “Fitzcarraldo” and “Grizzly Man,” the latter to be screened with a Q&A with Herzog. The opening night film is “LADDIE: The Man Behind the Movies,” a tribute to Alan Ladd Jr., the producer of classics like “Alien,” “Blade Runner,” “Star Wars,” “Braveheart,” “Young Frankenstein,” “Chariots of Fire” and “Police Academy.” Beneath those headlines, though, there are some 90-minute treasures: a film about a woman who quit her workaday life to pursue her dream of building a cat circus (“Samantha’s Amazing Acro-Cats”); an examination of food waste with chef Anthony Bourdain (“Wasted! The Story of Food Waste”); a biography of a blind magician (“Dealt”); a look at the backstories of the young men who box in the tournament that turned out Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson (“Cradle of Champions”); the tale of an Illinois city official who embezzled almost $53 million over 20 years (“All the Queen’s Horses”); the glittering pirouettes of a New Yorkbased all-male drag ballet company (“Rebels on Pointe”); a glimpse at people all over the world who shine shoes for a living (“Shiners”); and a portrait of the brilliant actor and scientist who invented “frequency hopping,” a technology that paved the way for WiFi and GPS (“Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story”). Single screenings start at $10 a ticket, $300 will buy an all-inclusive pass with priority admission. Visit hsdfi.org for more information. SS

The JOLT Hackathon will be “fun for hard core developers as well as novice tech nerds.” If the word hackathon is foreign to you, imagine teams of carpenters competing to see who can build a birdhouse in the least amount of time. Now, replace the hammers and saws with laptops and coffee. Participants will be put through a gauntlet of technical challenges, “some code heavy, while others focus on logic, strategy & problem solving,” according to details on the event website. After being given a task, teams made up of varying technical disciplines will have to “collaboratively code a unique solution from scratch.” The event is put on by The Venture Center in the Little Rock Technology Park; its goal is to “bring awareness and expose vulnerabilities of cyber security, as well as gamify the networking and training of Arkansas’s local tech community.” One of the most difficult parts about learning to code is finding projects on which to hone your skills. Hackathons are an excellent way to gain experience, network with other programmers and sponge up the strategic conversations of more senior developers. A $500 team fee includes six full meals, energy drinks, soda, access to mentors, parking and the chance to try out “new concepts, tools and skills.” Student and earlybird rates are available. JL

SATURDAY 10/7

ARKANSAS GOAT FESTIVAL

10 a.m.-7 p.m. Perryville City Park. Free.

Well, it’s come to this. We have a goat festival now. I guess we should have seen it coming, too; the mammal is practically an ambassador for our locally headquartered Heifer International and the upcoming State Fair has no less than four divisions devoted to showing off exemplary goat specimens. It’s not even that bizarre, as festivals go: Prairie Du Sac, Wis., holds an annual Cow Chip Throw and Coarsegold, Calif., has a festival to promote tarantula awareness. Our very own Arkansas Goat Festival features “a goat parade, costume contest for goats, goat races, ‘Nannies at Night’ Goats in Lingerie fashion show, live music, food for any palate, vendors, and goats, goats and more goats,” the festival’s website says. Door prizes are awarded to anyone who comes with a goat, dressed as a goat, or with goat-themed clothing, and organizers issued a reminder to keep all goats on a leash and to not bring breeding males, lest there be any barnyard re-enactments of scenes from “Eyes Wide Shut” right there in broad daylight. “This is mating season,” the website warns, and “it’s not that kind of festival.” They also remind visitors that Arkansas state law requires in-state goats to have a USDA tag or tattoo, and that any out-of-state goats are required to have a certificate of health. SS

The biopic “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” starring Idris Elba as Nelson Mandela, screens at the Clinton Presidential Center, 6 p.m., free, reserve at 748-0425. The Randy Rogers Band returns to Revolution with its San Marcos country swagger and openers Stephen Neeper & The Wild Hearts, 8:30 p.m., $22-$25. Faith-based bands Skillet, Britt Nicole, Colton Dixon and author Mark Lee bring a faith-based concert to Verizon Arena, 7 p.m., $20-$50. Janet Williams goes for laughs at The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat., 10 p.m. Fri.-Sat., $8-$12. Dr. Jason De Leon, director of the University of Michigan’s Undocumented Migration Project, gives a talk titled “Soldiers and Kings: Photoethnographic Practice in the Context of Human Smuggling Across Mexico,” 7 p.m., Mills Center for Social Sciences, Hendrix College, free. Brian Nahlen and Nick Devlin perform for happy hour at Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m., free, and later the Brian Ramsey Band takes the stage, 9 p.m., $5.

FRIDAY 10/6 Fret & Worry kick off the weekend with guitar and harmonica tunes at E.J.’s Eats & Drinks, 6 p.m. Katmandu takes the stage at Cajun’s, 9 p.m., $5. The brand new Mempho Music Festival features sets from Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Cold War Kids, Cage the Elephant, Booker T. Stax Revue and more, 5 p.m. Fri.Sat., Shelby Farms Par7k, Memphis, 6903 Great View Drive North, see memphofest.com for tickets, $79$113. The UA Little Rock Trojans women’s volleyball team takes on the Texas State Bobcats at Jack Stephens Center, 6:30 p.m. The Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas hosts a concert from The On Call Band as part of its First Friday Monthly Music Series, 5 p.m., 701 S. Main St., Pine Bluff, $5-$10. Trey Johnson entertains at Kings Live Music in Conway with an opening set from Jet Blu, 8:30 p.m., $5.

SATURDAY 10/7 Katt Williams, the seasoned and often-contentious star of Netflix’s 25th anniversary celebration, “Def Comedy Jam 25,” performs at Verizon Arena on his “Great America” tour, 8 p.m., $52-$78. Calling all photographers: Meet up at the Clinton Presidential Center to be part of the Worldwide Photowalk on its 10th anniversary, 10 a.m., free, see worldwidephotowalk.com for details. Boom Kinetic brings the high-energy pop its name promises to the Rev Room, 9 p.m., $10. CONTINUED ON PAGE 63

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61


THE

TO-DO

LIST

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE, HEATHER STEADHAM, JORDAN LITTLE, LARISSA GUDINO AND LINDSEY MILLAR

SATURDAY 10/7-SUNDAY 10/8

ARKANSAS PARANORMAL EXPO

9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. $10.

HOT WATER HILLS: Claire Morales (pictured) joins Itchy-O, Dazz & Brie, Walker Lukens and more on the lineup at Low Key Arts’ Hot Water Hills Music & Art Festival.

FRIDAY 10/6-SATURDAY 10/7

HOT WATER HILLS MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL

4 p.m. Fri., noon Sat. Hill Wheatley Plaza, 629 Central Ave., Hot Springs. Free-$15.

Itchy-O created a spectacle when the 32-plus member percussion group closed out a 2013 David Byrne and St. Vincent concert at the Botanical Gardens in the group’s native Colorado, as a band with no fewer than four cymbal players tends to do anywhere it performs. It will bring its on-

slaught of vocoders, Taiko drums, masks, sombreros, theremins and “lion dancers” to this year’s Hot Water Hills Festival, where you’ll also find food trucks, handmade crafts, workshops for kids and a ton of music — local and otherwise, including sets from Walker Lukens, Dazz & Brie, Vodi, Nervous Curtains, May the Peace of the Sea Be With You, Ryan Sauders, Claire Morales and Couch Jackets. SS

SATURDAY 10/7-SUNDAY 10/8

‘THE MAGICAL MUSIC OF HARRY POTTER’ Arkansas Symphony Orchestra 7:30 p.m. Sat., 3 p.m. Sun. Robinson Center Performance Hall. $15-$65.

When the dignitaries of Hogwarts laid an orphaned child on the steps of his guardians’ home, they didn’t have the privilege of hearing a crescendo of sound — the strings’ bustling line and the heavy-hitting horns — that announced to movie-

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ARKANSAS TIMES

goers the arrival of the one that would finally defeat Voldemort. For those of you still waiting for your letter, settle for hearing the ASO perform the music from all eight films and replay scenes of magic and mischief in your head. Audience members are encouraged to dress up as their favorite characters — no polyjuice potion allowed. Tickets are available at arkansassymphony.org/magic. LG

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With subjects like UFOs, cryptozoology, the supernatural, psychic phenomena, and ghost hunting, who wouldn’t want to attend the seventh annual Arkansas Paranormal Expo? Situated in and benefiting the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, the Paranormal Expo has grown to be the biggest and most popular event of its kind in all of Arkansas. Guest speakers such as author, folklorist and ghost hunter Alan Lowe (known for co-founding the Spirit Seekers Paranormal Investigation Research and Intervention Team, consulting on the Discovery Channel television series “A Haunting,” and guest-performing on the radio program “Tales From the South”); psychic Carol Pate (known for

her appearances on “The Geraldo Rivera Show,” MSNBC’s “Abrams Report” and “Larry King Live,” and for the “ESP and the Paranormal” course she taught through the University of Arkansas’s continuing education program for five years); and Bigfoot field researcher Robert Swain (known for co-founding Arkansas Primates Evidence Society and directing the Alliance of Independent Bigfoot Researchers) make the measly $10 pass for the whole weekend more than worthwhile. And kids under 12 are free! There also will be spooky movies showing in the “Haunted” Tower Theater; free health screenings provided by the UAMS College of Pharmacy; psychic/ medium readings among the vendors; and a raffle with a variety of prizes, like a ghost hunt at the museum and tickets for Haunted Tours of Little Rock. HS


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Oxford, Miss., songwriter Sean Kirkpatrick, brings his new project, Greater Pyrenees, to the White Water Tavern, 9 p.m. If you couldn’t get into the sold-out show from The Greasy Greens in July, catch them at the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Annual Shrimp Boil, benefiting the St. Francis House, 5 p.m., 1000 N. Mississippi St., $15-$30. North Carolina blues shouter Nikki Hill takes tunes from “Heavy Hearts, Hard Fists” to Stickyz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $10. Phillip Dixon and Sleepy Genius keep the tunes going in the discotech at Discovery Nightclub, 9 p.m. Downtown Conway fills up with vendors, live music and pop-up art performances for Conway Artsfest, 10 a.m., see artsinconway.org for a full schedule. Buh Jones brings a melodic mix to happy hour at Cajun’s, 5:30 p.m., free, and the late-night set comes from Just Sayin,’ 9 p.m., $5. AE:

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SUNDAY 10/8

Camp Aldersgate’s 34th Annual Fish Fry features a mobile aquarium, a pumpkin patch, hayrides and live music, noon-3 p.m., 2000 Aldersgate Road, $15. The Rev Room hosts a hip-hop showcase with Indie Music Night, 8 p.m., $10. PRINT

TUESDAY 10/10

NASHVILLE NIGHT: East Nashville folk outfit Humming House (left) shares a bill with Becca Mancari (above) at South on Main Tuesday evening.

TUESDAY 10/10

HUMMING HOUSE WITH BECCA MANCARI

8 p.m. South on Main. $10.

Go for the sweet ukelele strums and the two-step melodies of East Nashville’s folk outfit Humming House, but by all means, don’t be late for the opening act, Becca Mancari. The sometimescolleague of Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard (in a loose side project called Bermuda Triangle) has a solo album on the horizon, “Good Woman,” and the premiere tracks are captivating. Mancari’s toured with Margo Price, but she couldn’t be any more different in her approach to “country” music,

if “Arizona Fire” is any indication. It’s an impressionistic five minutes that mimics its title, reading as a desert mirage and built from sparse, shimmering guitar, timpani-like bass drums that sound as if they’re booming from deep under the earth: “Wide-eyed and so very sad/Scratch me anywhere and I’ll catch fire.” Check it out, and then pair it with the Instagram-ready “Summertime Mama,” Mancari’s twangy ode to sundresses, flyfishing and fleeting infatuation, complete with cameos from the singer’s girlfriend, dog and Howard sporting a safari hat and Hawaiian shirt. SS

Mount Holly Cemetery hosts its annual Tales of the Crypt, featuring tours led by drama students at Parkview Arts & Science Magnet High School, 6 p.m., donations accepted. Disney’s witchy cult classic “Hocus Pocus” gets a screening at the Ron Robinson Theater as part of Central Arkansas Library System’s Boos & Booze series, 6 p.m., $2. Atlanta rockers Gunpowder Gray share a bill with Cherry Red, a new project from Matt Floyd (formerly of Smoke Up Johnny), 9 p.m., White Water Tavern.

WEDNESDAY 10/11 Louisville’s White Reaper blends glam rock vocals, doubled guitar riffs and bravado-with-a-wink at Stickyz, 8:30 p.m., $10. Artist V.L. Cox is curating the month of “Sessions” at South on Main, and up first is “Out Loud Storytelling: Taking Pride, Taking the Stage,” featuring stories from LGBTQ and allied Arkansans, 7 p.m., $10-$15. Author Marjorie Spruill discusses her new book “Divided We Stand: The Battle Over Women’s Rights and Family Values That Polarized American Politics” at the Clinton School of Public Service’s Sturgis Hall, 6 p.m., free. The Eli Young Band returns to the Rev Room with Texas-made country and “Saltwater Gospel,” 8:30 p.m., $30.

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63


Dining WHAT’S COOKIN’

THE CHANDELIERS AT John Daly’s Steakhouse, now open at 912 Front St. in Conway, are made of Sputnik-like clusters of 7 irons (or maybe 5 irons — hard to tell). Time will tell whether Daly has beat par on the new steakhouse, open for lunch and dinner daily except Sunday. Chef Stephen Seals’ menu is American from start (like pork skins and chicken wings) to finish (i.e., whiskey caramel chocolate cake) with lots of beef in between, from burgers to sirloin steak sandwiches, chicken fried steak, 10-ounce sirloins and 12-ounce ribeyes. (Daly’s doesn’t omit the birdies, with chicken and club sandwiches, and there’s salmon, too.) That’s the lunch menu; the dinner menu is more upscale, with scallops, oysters Rockefeller, duck breasts, gulf shrimp and fancy steaks — like the 40-ounce porterhouse, filet mignon and a 50-ounce “Tomahawk Ribeye.” Hours are 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. JOSH DOERING, SKETCH comedy artist at Red Octopus Theater and prep cook at Lost 40 Brewing, will represent Arkansas at the inaugural Flavored Nation, which takes place Oct. 28-29 at St. Louis’ Dome of the America’s Center. In the spirit of the culinary and cultural exchanges that took place in St. Louis during the 1904 World’s Fair, Flavored Nation recruited a single chef from each state in the nation to prepare 2,400 mini-servings (2- to 3-ounce portions) of their home state’s most iconic dish — in our case, fried catfish. Doering plans to use a classic breaded base and “gussy it up a little bit” with additional spices and a condiment or two. See more at flavorednation.com. THE NEW OWNER of Grafitti’s — La Terraza Rum & Lounge — was to meet with its many regulars this week to get input on what, if any, changes they want to see in the 32-year-old institution. Sarah Bolanos, who with her husband, Armando, is a part-owner of the Venezuelan-rooted La Terraza, said Grafitti’s will “stay true to its Italian roots,” but will ask whether nostalgia for the candlelit New York feel or a new design should prevail. “The nostalgia that’s carried Grafitti’s for 32 years means a lot of things to people,” Bolanos said. “Grafitti’s customers are very loyal.” Will La Terraza’s rum drinks start appearing on the Grafitti’s menu? There will no doubt be some “infiltration,” Bolanos said, but she noted that Grafitti’s customers “love martinis.” Whatever happens, Bolanos said, any changes will be “slow and steady. Our only plan is to improve on it, bring it back to its former glory,” while making sure it appeals to the next generation. 64

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ARKANSAS TIMES

SENSATIONAL: The mix of warm tofu, chilled vegetables and salty peanuts make the Tofu Lemongrass a nice complexity.

Linh’s a winner Vietnamese dishes with herbs from the garden out back.

L

ocally owned restaurants in Rus- Vietnamese coffee ($3.99). Though slow sellville often shut down within brewed in this case means sometimes their first year: It’s a tough busi- the coffee will come with your entree, ness to get into. But Linh’s Vietnamese it’s got a kick we like. We’ve enjoyed all Cuisine is the exception. the food we’ve sampled, too. This family-run business, in an old On a recent visit, we went with one burger joint next to a gas station-turned- of the restaurant’s 13 pho options, a verpawn shop, is thriving. After five years in micelli dish and the classic Vietnamese business, it’s become a regular spot for sandwich, banh mi. locals and travelers that appreciate its The first to arrive at the table was the vicinity to Interstate 40. With minimal Pho Special ($8.45). The server had sugstaff, increasing popularity and a focus gested we order a small and gestured to on freshness, Linh’s might not always a neighboring table a bowl large enough get your food out to you quickly, but to baptize a puppy. She’d steered us in good things comes to those who wait. the right direction. This pho was a nooWe’re regulars. One of our go-tos is dle soup with eye of round steak brisket, the slow brewed and stout cups of iced tender meatballs and a few vegetables in

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a light broth. The broth is comfort food — it’s got a hint of salt and a delicious blend of flavors from the beef, onions, and herbs plucked from the garden behind the restaurant. It had a touch of sweetness, perhaps from a mix of citrus and basil. We thought the beef soaked up a lot of the flavors nicely, but the pieces were so large they were difficult to eat. (No one else at the table seemed to feel this way about the meat, though.) The next dish was the Tofu Lemongrass ($8.50), or T2 on the menu. A substantial portion of vermicelli was served with lettuce, cucumber, pickled carrots, fried onion, a dash of crushed peanuts and mint leaves with a small bowl of sweet and spicy sauce on the side. Vegetarian options are often an afterthought, but not at Linh’s. The tofu is cut into bite-size pieces that absorbed the favor of the lemongrass. It offered a mix of sensations: the soft vermicelli and the firm tofu were warm, the vegetables


BELLY UP

JENNIFER LIND

Check out the Times’ food blog, Eat Arkansas

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BANH MI: Makes a meal.

Linh’s Vietnamese Cuisine 624 S. Knoxville Ave. Russellville 479-498-6495 Quick bite

Linh’s has a small Asian market. Shelves against two walls in one corner of the restaurant hold sodas, cookies, snacks, noodles and other things that are tough to find in the Arkansas River Valley area.

Hours

Little Rock’s Most Award-Winning Restaurant 1619 REBSAMEN RD. 501.663.9734 thefadedrose.com

10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday through Tuesday. Closed Wednesday.

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No alcohol. Credit cards accepted.

serving better than bar food all night long OCTOBER

were crisp and chilled. The splay of peanuts added a hint of salt and crunch. One of our dining companions got the chicken banh mi ($4.50), a 6-inch sandwich that was listed under appetizers but stood alone as a meal. The original comes with “sliced steam pork roll,” Chinese BBQ pork and “pork ear ham.” Or you can make your own with chicken, grilled pork or beer. All options come in an oven-toasted hoagie with chicken liver paste (something that sounded questionable — but worked), pickled carrots, cilantro and jalapeno. Unlike a traditional deli sandwich where the fillings are cold or the entire sandwich is popped into the oven to toast, the banh mi mixed it up. Our friend described it as “angels against taste buds.” Linh’s Vietnamese is affordable, delicious and has a kind, personable staff. The biggest downside to this place is that it’s in Russellville, a town that you will willingly make up excuses to visit just to stop at Linh’s.

6 - The Funkanites 10pm 7 - Henry and the Invisibles 10pm 8 - Dance Monkey Dance w/ Doug Dicharry (free show) 9pm 13 - Jason Aldean after party w/ The Salty Dogs 11pm 14 - Good Footw/ Henna Rosa 10pm Open until 2am every night! 415 Main St North Little Rock • (501) 313-4704 • fourquarterbar.com arktimes.com OCTOBER 05, 2017

65


MOVIE REVIEW

SPECIAL DELIVERY: Tom Cruise stars as Barry Seal, the Mena-based drug and arms smuggler at the center of last week’s Arkansas Times cover story.

Reagan-era romp Doug Liman’s ‘American Made’ is as swift as Seal’s hustle. BY SAM EIFLING

E

arly in the crackling little cocaine-cowboy flick “American Made,” you can see the boredom settle over pilot Barry Seal during a pre-flight check. Played by Tom Cruise, Seal happens to have this moment of professional ennui in the cockpit of a TWA airliner circa 1980, not long after the CIA has approached him about a career change. You may have felt the same at some point. Maybe you should start that bakery, or write that novel, or tutor music. Seal — a real dude as regular readers of the Arkansas Times know, if liberally fictionalized in this film — decided he was ready to fly small-plane surveillance missions over Central American rebel groups, which soon led to his becoming a prolific smuggler of guns and cocaine between Nicaragua, Colombia and, of all flipping places, Mena (Polk County). Working from Gary Spinelli’s script, director Doug Liman (“The Bourne Identity” and another Cruise action vehicle, “Edge of Tomorrow”) spins Seal’s biopic as a light-footed Reagan-era romp, peppered with archival TV clips and cartoony animations. Cruise — 66

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ARKANSAS TIMES

who at 55 still can convince you he’s in his 30s — gives us a Barry Seal who’s part good ol’ boy, part Duke of Hazzard, part aw-shucks criminal. We never see him harm another person or fire a gun; at one point, having been robbed of his boots and sunglasses by the Sandinistas to whom he’s delivering guns, he returns with a stack of skin mags and a box of booze to make peace, brandishing a baseball bat for protection. He’s a likeable guy, this Barry! He’s also making so much filthy hard cash that he can’t even find space to store it around his house, in his barn, in Mena’s banks. And this is a guy whom the CIA gifted an airstrip and a hangar from which to run his operation. The location was so instrumental to the plot, an earlier version of the script was simply titled “Mena.” Now with a population of nearly 6,000, the town wasn’t quite half as big in the early ’80s of the film. Seal, his wife, Lucy (a charming Sarah Wright), and their kids pull into town with their earthly belongings stacked on their station wagon, and you can see their dread. Passing empty downtown storefronts and a sheriff’s

department in a house trailer, Seal chirps that the town has barbecue and lots of charm. The Medellín cartel rolls a bit bigger. On an otherwise normal run to Colombia, Seal is recruited (or maybe more accurately, abducted) by Pablo Escobar (Mauricio Mejía) and Jorge Ochoa (Alejandro Edda) and made an offer he couldn’t really refuse. Soon, he’s dropping bales of coke from the floor of his plane to swampy rednecks in Louisiana, making $2,000 a kilo for his troubles. (The real-life Seal apparently netted something like $500,000 for a good flight.) He expands his business and, with the help of a CIA contact named Shafer (Domnhall Gleeson, playing a composite character), knows all the DEA and FBI surveillance areas to avoid. Ferrying coke and guns between U.S. government agencies, Central American guerillas, a Colombian drug cartel and the country folk of the American South may be the greatest display of hubris in the history of hustle. And, as you’d expect, the ride could last only so long. But what Liman’s banking on — and where he succeeds, just as surely as a daredevil pilot — is a trueish-crime story that moves so quickly and with such infectious delirium that you get swept up in the telling just as surely as Seal does. “American Made” amounts to a surprisingly swift and transportative dark comedy, one in which you’re already up to your neck in drugs and money and adventure before you stop to realize what a wonderfully terrible idea it all was.


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M Y L A G O S M Y W AY

C AV I A R C O L L E C T I O N S

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The Oxford American is proud to present its 25th anniversary fundraising gala, Books, Bourbon & Boogie, featuring Lucinda Williams, Thurs., Nov. 2, at CHARTS Theatre on the campus of UA — Pulaski Tech. Tickets available at Metrotix.com or call 800-293-5949 beginning Aug. 3 at noon. Tickets include a pre-concert reception with appetizers and drinks at 6:00 PM in the CHARTS lobby. Doors opeb for seating at 7:30 P.M. The concert will begin at 8:00 P.M.

Food, Music, Entertainment and everything else that’s

OCT 19

THE 5TH ANNUAL FOUNTAIN FEST takes place at the Arkansas Arts Center at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 and include art, music, food and libations. Gather around the fountain and support the AAC Contemporaries. For a complete list of upcoming events at the Arts Center, visit www.arkarts.com.

OCT 21

The Arkansas Times Cash Bus takes you to the JOHNNY CASH HERITAGE FESTIVAL in Dyess. The bus departs from the old Ray Winder field parking lot at 9 a.m. and includes food, beverages, live music, admission ticket and transportation for $109 per person. Claim your seat at www.centralarkansastickets.com. ■ 2017 ARKANSAS CORNBREAD FESTIVAL, 11:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. South Main Street (SoMa), Little Rock. www. arkansascornbreadfestival.com

OCT 27

Animal expert Jack Hanna makes a stop on his INTO THE WILD LIVE! show at UCA as part of their Public Appearances series. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. For tickets and a complete list of upcoming shows, visit www.uca.edu/ publicappearances.

OCT 28

Ballet Arkansas presents MOTION ON MAIN, a Halloween Masquerade Ball, at 7 p.m. at The Space, 520 S. Main Street. Tickets are $50. For more information, visit balletarkansas.org.

OCT 21

Murry’s Dinner Playhouse presents THE SAVANNAH SIPPING SOCIETY, a story of four Southern women stuck in a rut. The ladies decide now’s the time to reclaim life. Follow their friendship in this heartwarming story. Visit www.murrydp.com for reservations and show times.

Johnny Cash

OCT 28

Lost Forty hosts the FESTIVAL OF DARKNESS 2017 with the Nighty Nighty Release Party, Zombie Lumberjack ride and other festivities from 4-8:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door and benefit Recycle Bikes for Kids.

The Weekend Theater presents THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. For tickets and show times, visit www. weekendtheater.org.

THROUGH OCT 21

OCT 21-31

The Little Rock Zoo transforms into BOO AT THE ZOO from 6-9 p.m. It’s Arkansas’s largest Halloween festival, so come out and enjoy the decorations, costumes, music, games, trick or treating, photo ops and more. Adult night is Friday, Oct. 20. Tickets are $25 for members or $30 for non-members. For more info, visit www.littlerockzoo.com.

SEPT 29-DEC 31

WORLD CHEESE DIP CHAMPIONSHIP – Clinton Parking Grounds. 7th annual fest with more cheese dip then you could ever eat! Bring your muffin tins. Tickets go to www. centralarkansastickets. com

THE ART OF SEATING: 200 YEARS OF AMERICAN DESIGN opens at the Arkansas Arts Center and contains more than 40 exceptional examples of American designed chairs. For more information, visit www.arkarts.com.

THE ARKANSAS STATE FAIR OCT. 12-22 It’s that time of year again! The ARKANSAS STATE FAIR is upon us. The biggest event of the season includes a parade, vendors, rides, pageants, livestock, rodeo, free live music including performances by Next on Oct. 12, VINCE NEIL on Oct. 13, TRACY LAWRENCE on Oct. 18 and COOLIO on Oct. 22. For a full round-up of events and info, visit arkansasstatefair.com.

Coolio

Vince Neil

ROCK(

FUN!

OCT 20-22, OCT 26-29, NOV 3-5

OCT 25

Progressive Arkansas Youth PAC hosts the Inaugural YOUNG GETS IT DONE! event at Trio’s Restaurant, with Special Guest: Stephanie RawlingsBlake, former Mayor of Baltimore. 5:30-8:30. Tickets: http://bit.ly/ YGID2017

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Hey, do this!

Look for details about Burger Week, Oct. 21-29, in the Arkansas Times issue on Oct. 19. OCT 27

ARKANSAS TIMES CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL takes place in Argenta Plaza in North Little Rock from 6-9 p.m. Enjoy a sampling of the best in local beer and food with live music by local talents.

AROUND TOWN

South on Main’s OCTOBER SESSIONS are curated by Arkansas artist V. L. Cox this month. Shows include Shannon Boshears Band (Oct. 4), Out Loud Storytelling: Taking Pride (Oct. 11) and A+B (Oct. 18). For a complete schedule of events, visit www.southonmain.com. Famous for the best burger in town, FOUR QUARTER BAR also serves some of the best live music. For a complete lineup of upcoming shows, visit www. fourquarterbar.com. Rebel Kettle hosts BEER YOGA on Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m. in the beer garden and serves new releases on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. For more events, visit www.rebelkettle.com. PULASKI COUNTY TREASURER reminds us personal property taxes become delinquent after Oct. 16. It’s easy to pay online at www. pulaskicountytreasurer.net. Argenta Acoustic series presents BEPPE GAMBETTA on Oct. 19 at 7:30 p.m. at The Joint. For tickets and more info, visit www.argentaartsacousticmusic.com. Do Oktoberfest Colonial style with a beer and food pairing event on Oct. 21 from 1-4 p.m. Enjoy pretzels, brats and beer cheese fondue paired with Sam Adams Oktoberfest, Sudwerk Marzen and Ayinger Oktoberfest. As the Germans would say, heben ein Glas! Colonial Wine & Spirits, 11200 W. Markham, Little Rock.

THREE DAYS ONLY! OCT 13-15

Celebrity Attractions presents BROADWAY’S KINKY BOOTS with songs by iconic pop star Cyndi Lauper. Tickets are on sale now. The show takes place at Robinson Center. Visit www.celebrityattractions. com for more info. arktimes.com OCTOBER 05, 2017

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2017

OCT. 27 2017

$35

ADVANCE

$40

AT THE DOOR

Presented by

B e n e f i t i n g t h e A r g e n ta A r t s D i s t r i c t Pa rti ci pati n g R e s tau r a n t s

Live music by

CREGEEN’S IRISH PUB DIAMOND BEAR ARKANSAS ALE HOUSE FLYWAY BREWING COMPANY OLD CHICAGO PIZZA -NLR & CONWAY SKINNY J’S - ARGENTA, DOE’S EAT PLACE SANTO COYOTE

< The Creek Rocks with Betse & Clarke

Pa r t i c i pat i n g b r e w e r i e s ABITA ANTHEM BALLAST POINT BELL’S BIKE RACK BLUE CANOE BOULEVARD BRECKENRIDGE BUFFALO CALDERA CARSON’S CASCADE

CLOWN SHOES COOP CORE DAMGOODE BREWS DESTIHL DIAMOND BEAR ELYSIAN FLYWAY FOUNDERS GHOST RIVER GOLDCREST GOOSE ISLAND

GREAT RAFT GREEN FLASH INDEPENDENCE KONA LAGUNITAS LAZY MAGNOLIA LEFT COAST LOST 40 MOTHER’S NEW BELGIUM NORTH COAST OSKAR BLUES

OZARK PINEY RIVER PRAIRIE REBEL KETTLE SAMUEL ADAMS SCHLAFLY SHINER SHOCK TOP SIERRA NEVADA SIXPOINT SQUATTERS STIEGL

M O R E TO B E A N N O U N C E D ! ! ! T I C K E T S ! A v a i l a b l e o n l y

a t

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STONE STONE’S THROW SUPERIOR BATHHOUSE SWEETWATER TALLGRASS TIN ROOF VICTORY VINO’S BREW PUB WASATCH WISEACRE


THANK YOU

FOR COMING TO THE WHOLE HOG ROAST ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 1 Beautiful day, beautiful people, beautiful teams and excellent pork butts and whole hogs! PRESENTING SPONSOR:

6TH ANNUAL

WHOLE HOG ROAST

BENEFITING ARGENTA ARTS DISTRICT

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SUNDAY OCT.1, 1P.M. TO 5 P.M. ARGENTA PLAZA | 520 MAIN STREET, NORTH LITTLE ROCK

THE WINNERS: PREPARED BY COMPETING PROFESSIONAL RESTAURANT TEAMS FROM ALL OVER ARKANSAS.

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Celebrate in

style at your holiday party with these fun napkins from Cynthia East Fabrics.

Shop these local retailers for great gifts of the spooky variety this October.

Spoooky

kitchen accessories from Rhea Drug Store, like these decorative towels and this vampire bottle opener, will get you into the Halloween spirit.

Fall into the sights

and scents of the season with goodies from Stifft Station Gifts!

For the Ultimate Caramel Apples, pick Have your haunted

cake and eat it, too!! The Nordic Ware Haunted Skull cakelet pan from Krebs Brothers Restaurant Supply is perfect for your creepy Halloween costume party!! Made out of cast aluminum, it comes with a lifetime warranty, weighs 1.7 lbs, and has a 5 cup capacity.

Get Boo-zy!

Colonial Wines & Spirits recommends this boozy Candy Corn Cocktail, made with 3/4 ounce of Absolut® Vanilla Vodka, 1/2 ounce of Creme de Cacao, 1/2 ounce of Butterscotch Schnapps, 2 ounces of orange juice, and 1 tablespoon of dark cocoa powder. Prepare the rim of a Martini glass by rimming it in orange juice. Dust the rimmed glass with dark cocoa powder. Add about a half cup ice into a shaker. Add all the spirits and remaining orange juice. Shake and pour into the glass. Be careful not to spoil the cocoa dusted rim. Garnish with an Orange Peel Twist and a few pieces of candy corn on a skewer.

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up ingredients at Edwards Food Giant and follow these steps: Line a baking sheet with waxed paper and grease the paper; set aside. Wash and thoroughly dry apples. Insert a Popsicle stick into each; place on prepared pan. Chill. In a large saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup and water; bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Stir in baking soda. Stir in butter until melted; gradually add cream, stirring constantly. Cook and stir until a candy thermometer reads 242°F. Remove from heat and cool to 200°F. Place 1/4 c. pistachios in a shallow dish. Dip apples into caramel mixture until completely coated, then dip the bottom of each in pistachios. Return to baking sheet; chill. In a small microwave-safe bowl, microwave white chocolate at 50% power for 1-2 min. or until melted; stir until smooth. Transfer to a small heavy-duty resealable plastic bag; cut a small hole in a corner of bag. Drizzle over apples. Repeat with semisweet chocolate. Sprinkle tops with remaining pistachios if desired. Chill until set.

So many fun gifts, it’s

SCARY! Rhea Drug Store

A Traditional Pharmacy

with eclectic Gifts. Since 1922

2801 Kavanaugh Little Rock 501.663.4131


Gourmet & Pro Sale Going on Now.

Nothing Scary Here: Designed and Manufactured by Vivian

Beer (b. 1977), Penland, NC, Current, 2004. Check out the Arkansas Arts Center’s The Art of Seating: 200 Years of American Design, opening September 29 and running through December 1. The exhibit features more than 40 examples of American chairs and demonstrates the rich and varied evolution of American design.

Stop in today for best selection! Spend $100 on Pro or Gourmet and get a 2 Stage Sharpener Free.

(501) 687-1331 • 4310 Landers Road, NLR • M-F 8-5 Sat. 9-5 www.krebsbrothers.com

BUY IT!

Find the featured items at the following locations: ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER MUSEUM STORE

9th & Commerce 372.4000 arkansasartscenter.org

COLONIAL WINES & SPIRITS

KREBS BROTHERS RESTAURANT SUPPLY

4310 Landers Rd. NLR 687.1331 krebsbrothers.com

RHEA DRUG STORE

11200 W Markham St. 223.3120 colonialwineshop.com

2801 Kavanaugh Blvd. 663.4131

CYNTHIA EAST FABRICS

3009 W Markham St. 725.0209 stifftstationgifts.com

1523 Rebsamen Park Rd. 663.0460 cynthiaeastfabrics.com

STIFFT STATION GIFTS

EDWARDS FOOD GIANT

7507 Cantrell Rd. 614.3477 other locations statewide edwardsfoodgiant.com

Breathe new life into your home. Other hot looks —always in stock. 1523 Rebsamen Park Rd | Riverdale Design District | Little Rock, AR 501-663-0460 | 10:00–5:30 Mon–Fri;10:00–4:00 Sat | cynthiaeastfabrics.com arktimes.com OCTOBER 05, 2017

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OCTOBER 21-29, 2017 (2 WEEKENDS!) WHO DOESN’T LOVE A GOOD BURGER? From beef or turkey to portabella or veggie—or with a gluten-free bun!—we really know how to ROCK burger week in central Arkansas. This nine day event gives readers a chance to taste all of the best burgers that the Rock has to offer. The best part? Optional burger pricing: $5 to $8.

WHAT ELSE DO READERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BURGER WEEK ROCK(S)? Restaurants WILL run out, so: get there early, have a backup plan and maybe try again the next day. There will be a wait, since we’ve been talking about delicious burgers for the entire month of October. You will tip as though the burger is regular price. This should go without saying, but step up to the plate with a 20% tip, and say “Thank you” for the sweet deal. Buy a beverage and maybe some other delectable food to enjoy with your burger. So, when appropriate, have a beer or cocktail. Stay updated with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and (of course) arktimes.com

PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS

610 Center Bar & Grill Big Orange Boulevard Bistro Dizzy’s Gypsy Bistro Doe’s Eat Place

Dugan’s Pub Gigi’s Grumpy’s Too Neighborhood Bar & Grill Homer’s West

Lazy Pete’s Fish and Shrimp Midtown Billiards Old Chicago Pizza and Taproom - North Little Rock & Conway Purple Cow

ADD YOUR RESTAURANT TO THE LIST Four page section in the October 19 issue. The event is limited to 30 participating restaurants. Posters and social media promotional materials will be provided.

DEADLINE IS OCTOBER 11.

Let’s show off that delicious burger. FAMILY OWNED AND OPERATED SINCE 1959!

www.arktimes.com • 201 E. MARKHAM, SUITE 200 • LITTLE ROCK, AR 72203 • (501) 375-2985 74

OCTOBER 05, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES


GROW grow LOCAL

OCTOBER 14, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

ALL DAY!

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A portion of our proceeds will go to FRANCIS ALLEN SCHOOL

MUSIC · FOOD · FAMILY · FRIENDS · FREE ADMISSION

CONGRATULATIONS

to Tracey Rancifer on being nominated by Arkansas Times readers for Women Entrepreneurs in the category of Community Business!

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A&E FEAT., CONT. dedicated to the craft and business of comedy as they are to breathing. I see them all over my news feeds, beating the streets, playing the game, never giving up, making comedy a worthwhile endeavor. Jay Jackson, Dee So Funny, Keith Terry, Andre Price, Michael Brown, The Kleitch Brothers, Jared Lowry, Ronel Williams, Michaela Janicki and countless others. You need not be a comedy diehard to understand that making people laugh for a living is honest work. It involves looking inside oneself and finding the saddest, most confusing parts of your own battered soul, then pulling them up out of you, showing them to a roomful of people and making them laugh at it with you. (Also, dick jokes.) The Workhorses are largely why our scene is so strong now. Take, for example, improv artist Brett Ihler, who hosts The Joint’s Tuesday night open-mic (“Punchline”) to great effect. “There’s a ton of talent here,” he said. LaVantor Butler, Michael Doc Davis and Angry Patrick, for example, or Josh the Devil’s “Spooky Talk Show,” recorded in front of a live audience in a little backyard cabin in North Little Rock. Or Paul Hodge, who hosts the

Thursday night open mic sessions at Hibernia Irish Tavern. Memphis’s trans queen of comedy, Lisa Michaels, said of our comics and our scene: “There is a lot of warmth. As a transgender person, that’s a pretty big deal. So, I plan on coming [back] to Arkansas a lot,” she said. “I guess that speaks volumes about what I think of the Arkansas comedy scene.” Sure, it’s not all sunshine and gravy. Comedy is often a stone’s throw away from self-loathing and depression, after all, and there are comedians who blackball or manipulate their peers to their own benefit. Or, perhaps they see the scene as a zero sum game that requires that they “see to it you don’t get ahead in life,” to quote Hannibal Lecter, arguably the greatest comedian of the ’90s. When you distill all the love of the Arkansas comedy scene down to its essence, though, what you will find is a group of hard-working comics who love and respect one another and who have a devotion to comedy that borders on holy reverence.

Scene on the up This fall, the venerated Loony Bin

Comedy Club is entering its 25th year in business in the exact same spot where it started (10301 Rodney Parham Road). The Joint is going into its sixth year (or 40th, if you count the Farrell family’s previous successes in comedy). Improv Little Rock has been a mainstay for 13 years. Red Octopus has been around for over two decades. These anniversaries add up to a whole lot of love for comedy and performing, and each institution’s persistence reveals a core desire. New venues keep opening around the state, too: The Grove in Rogers, for one, run by Arkansas comic Raj Suresh, who recently opened for indie superstar Kyle Kinane at a soldout show at Vino’s. Red Octopus alumnus Josh Doering said, “Little Rock, in general, I think has a huge potential for everything. It’s beautiful here, the rent’s cheap, and there are genuinely decent people running around. If it keeps going where it’s going, people will start saying, ‘Oh, yeah, Arkansas. I heard Little Rock is cool.’ ” So, that’s our scene in 2017 — a real, honest-to-gawd comedy mecca coming into focus here in Arkansas. If you are a burgeoning comic, there are now real, feasible paths for you to

develop your jokes. Or, if you’re a fan of live shows, you have a ridiculous number of opportunities each and every week so see great live comedy all across the state every night of the week. Take Little Rock, for example. On Mondays, there’s an open-mic at Cajun’s Wharf. On Tuesdays, you can see over 20 comics — and drink from a list of craft beer and espresso — at The Joint. Head back on Wednesday night for some world-class improv. Thursdays, head over to Hibernia, drink a Guinness and see the open mic started by local legend Billy Pirate, RIP. On weekends, catch a cream-of-the-crop, professionalgrade stand-up show with a national headliner at The Loony Bin. Also, The Lobby Bar (320 W. Seventh St.) has regular comedy showcases hosted by Jay Jackson, Paul Hodge and Michael Brown, among others, on weekends. Or, head to The Joint to see The Main Thing perform sketch and musical comedy at its finest. And that’s just Little Rock and North Little Rock. All of Arkansas is booming with comedy and venues and showcases and openmics, all born of a love for the fine art of making strangers laugh.

ALSO IN THE ARTS

THEATER

“The School For Lies.” The Arkansas Repertory Theater’s production of David Ives’ saucy play, adapted from Moliere’s “The Misanthrope.” 7 p.m. Wed.-Thu. and Sun., 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sat.-Sun. through Oct. 29. $30-$65. 601 Main St. 501-378-0405. “The Savannah Sipping Society.” Murry’s Dinner Playhouse presents the comedy from Jamie Wooten, Jessie Jones and Nicholas Hope. 7:30 p.m. Tue.-Sat., dinner at 6 p.m.; 12:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. Sun., dinner at 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., through Oct. 21. $15-$37. 6323 Colonel Glenn Road. 501-562-3131. “Dork Reunion.” The Main Thing’s fall musical comedy, a flashback to the Fertle Family’s high school days. 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., through Nov. 18. $24. The Joint Theater & Coffeehouse. 301 Main St., NLR. 501-3720205.

“The Champion.” TheatreSquared’s world premiere of a play by Amy Evans, featuring Joy Jones as Nina Simone. 7:30 p.m. Wed.Sat., 2 p.m. Sat.-Sun. through Nov. 5. $10$40. Walton Arts Center’s Studio Theater, 495 W. Dickson St. 479-443-5600. “Little Shop of Horrors.” Pocket Community Theater’s production of the musical inspired by Roger Corman’s 1960 film. 7:30 p.m. Fri.Sat., 2:30 p.m. Sun. through Oct. 15. $5-$15. 170 Ravine St., Hot Springs. 501-623-8585. ARTISTS WORKSHOP GALLERY, 610 Central Ave., Hot Springs: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., noon-5 p.m. Sun. 623-6401.

FINE ART, HISTORY EXHIBITS 76

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MAJOR VENUES ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, MacArthur Park: “The Art of Seating: 200 Years of American Design,” through December; “Fashion and the Myth of Mid-Century Modernism: 1947 to 1957,” talk by fashion historian Raissa Bretana, 6 p.m. Oct. 12, wine reception before at 5:30 p.m., free to members, $10 for nonmembers, tickets required; “Will Counts: The Central High Photographs,” marking the 60th anniversary of the desegregation of Central, through Oct. 22. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. 372-4000. ARTS & SCIENCE CENTER FOR SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS, 701 S. Main St., Pine Bluff: “2017 Irene Rosenzweig Biennial Juried Exhibition”; “Pine Bluff Art League Annual Juried Exhibition,” through Nov. 11. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 1-4 p.m. Sat. 870-536-3375. BUTLER CENTER GALLERIES, Arkansas Studies Institute, 401 President Clinton Ave.: “Modern Ink,” work by Carmen Alexandria, Robert Bean, Daniel Broening, Diane Harper, Neal Harrington and Steve Rockwell, through Oct. 28; “The Art of Injustice,” Paul Faris’ photographs of Japanese incarceration at Rohwer, through Dec. 30; “Jim Nelson: Abstraction and Color,” through Nov. 25. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 320-5790. CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL MUSEUM VISITOR CENTER, Bates and Park: Exhibits on the 1957 desegregation of Central and the civil rights movement. 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily. 374-1957.

CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CENTER, 1200 President Clinton Ave.: “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” film, screening 6 p.m. Oct. 5, reservations required, in conjunction with “Mandela: The Journey to Ubuntu,” photographs by Matthew Willman and recreation of Mandela’s cell, through Feb. 19, 2018; “Art of Africa: One Continent, Limitless Vision,” pieces from the Clinton Presidential Center’s archives as well as from President Clinton’s own personal collection, through Feb. 12, 2018; permanent exhibits on the Clinton administration. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun., $10 adults, $8 seniors, retired military and college students, $6 youth 6-17, free to active military and children under 6, President Clinton’s birthday. 3744242. CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, One Museum Way, Bentonville: “Stuart Davis: In Full Swing,” nearly 100 works by the modernist jazz-influenced painter, through Jan. 1; “Not to Scale: Highlights from the Fly’s Eye Dome Archive,” drawings and models of Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome, through March 2018; American masterworks spanning four centuries in the permanent collection. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon., Thu.; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Wed., Fri.; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat.-Sun., closed Tue. 479-4185700. ESSE PURSE MUSEUM & STORE, 1510 S. Main St.: “The Power of Plastics: Reshaping Midcentury Fashion,” plastic handbags from Anita Davis’ collection, through Jan. 7; “What’s Inside: A Century of Women and Handbags,” permanent exhibit. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sun. $10, $8 for students, seniors and

military. 916-9022. FORT SMITH REGIONAL ART MUSEUM, 1601 Rogers Ave.: “Momoyo Torimitsu: Somehow, I Don’t Feel Comfortable,” giant inflatable bunnies, opens with reception 5-7 p.m. Oct. 5, free for members, $5 nonmenbers, show through December; Arkansas Arts Center Artmobile: “A Feast for the Eyes,” food-themed art, Oct. 1014; “Searching for the Seventies: The DOCUMERICA Photography Project from the National Archives,” through Oct. 29. 18. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 479-784-2787. HISTORIC ARKANSAS MUSEUM, 200 E. 3rd St.: “Hidden Treasure: Selected Gala Fund Purchases,” including portraiture by Henry Byrd, work by Thomas Hart Benton, watercolors by Jacob Semiatin and more, through Jan. 8; “Danny Campbell and Winston Taylor,” an exhibition of Campbell’s found-object sculpture and Taylor’s ceramic vessels, through Nov. 5; “No-Type. Identity of Us,” photographs by members of the No-Type photography club at UALR, through Oct. 8; “Gordon and Wenonah Fay Holl: Collecting a Legacy,” through Feb. 4, 2018. Ticketed tours of renovated and replicated 19th century structures from original city, guided Monday and Tuesday on the hour, self-guided Wednesday through Sunday, $2.50 adults, $1 under 18, free to 65 and over. (Galleries free.) 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9351. MacARTHUR MUSEUM OF ARKANSAS MILITARY HISTORY, 503 E. 9th St. (MacArthur Park): “Waging Modern Warfare”; “Gen. Wesley Clark”; “Vietnam, America’s Conflict”; “Undaunted Courage,


Don’t Miss the Arkansas times Cash Bus!

7 P.M. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17

$8. 50

RIVERDALE 10 VIP CINEMA, 2600 CANTRELL RD

Johnny Cash Heritage Festival October 21st Featuring: Buddy Jewell Joanne Cash & Tommy Cash Roseanne Cash Kris Kristofferson

$109

Ticket includes: Round-trip transportation General admission ticket Adult beverages & Box Lunch provided by Boulevard Along for the ride.... Jason Lee Hale provides tunes & fun! Bus departs at 9 a.m. Meet at Old Ray Winder Field/UAMS Parking lot

501.296.9955 | RIVERDALE10.COM ELECTRIC RECLINER SEATS AND RESERVED SEATING

centralarkansastickets.com arktimes.com OCTOBER 05, 2017

77


ALSO IN THE ARTS, CONT.

UPCOMING EVENTS Arkansas Times Bus Trips

OCT

Arkansas Times Blues Bus to King Biscuit Blues Festival

7

Ticket sales end at 3:00 Friday the 6th

Wolfe Street Campus

OCT

Wolfe Street Foundation 35th Birthday Celebration

13

The Joint

OCT

AAMS presents Beppe Gambetta

19

Arkansas Times Bus Trips

Arkansas Times Cash Bus to the Johnny Cash Heritage Festival

OCT

21 OCT 20-22 26-29 NOV 3-5

The Weekend Theater

The Rocky Horror Show

MATT McLEOD FINE ART, 108 W. 6th St.: Work in all media by Arkansas and outof-state artists. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays, 725-8508. MOSAIC TEMPLARS CULTURAL CENTER, 9th and Broadway: “Hidden No More,” work by 11 artists for the 2017 Creativity Arkansas collection, reception 6-8 p.m. Oct. 5. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 683-3593. MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY, 500 President Clinton Ave.: Interactive science exhibits and activities for children and teenagers. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun., $10 ages 13 and older, $8 ages 1-12, free to members and children under 1. 396-7050. OLD STATE HOUSE MUSEUM, 300 W. Markham St.: “Cabinet of Curiosities: Treasures from the University of Arkansas Museum Collection”; “True Faith, True Light: The Devotional Art of Ed Stilley,” musical instruments, through 2017; “First Families: Mingling of Politics and Culture” permanent exhibit including first ladies’ gowns. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9685. SOUTH ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, 110 E. 5th St., El Dorado: Paintings by Bill and Gloria Garrison, Merkle and Price Galleries, and Gary Hall, Lobby Gallery, through Oct. 30. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. 870-862-5474.

Argenta Plaza

TOLTEC MOUNDS STATE PARK, U.S. Hwy. 165, England: Major prehistoric Indian site with visitors’ center and museum. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., noon-5 p.m. Sun., closed Mon. $4 for adults, $3 for ages 6-12, $14 for family. 961-9442.

OCT

Clinton Parking Grounds

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK, 2801 S. University Ave.: “Peri Schwartz: The Artist’s Studio,” Gallery I, through Oct. 17; “Creating Youth,” works by Michael Warrick, Gallery II, Oct. 11Nov 10, “Estamos Aqui (We Are Here),” serigraphs by Latino artists, including Jesus “Cimi” Alvarado, Alec Dempster, Delilah Montoya, Juan Miguel Ramos

NOV

Easter Seals Presents

OCT

Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival

27 $35

ADVANCE

$40

AT THE DOOR

World Cheese Dip Championship

28 2

Art & Soul

Go to CentralArkansasTickets.com to purchase these tickets and more! Arkansas Times new local ticketing site! If you’re a non-profit, freestanding venue or business selling tickets thru eventbrite or another national seller – call us 501.492.3994 – we’re local, independent and offer a marketing package!

LOCAL TICKETS, ONE PLACE 78

Proven Loyalty: Japanese American Soldiers in World War II. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-4 p.m. Sun. 376-4602.

OCTOBER 05, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

and Quintin Gonzalez, Gallery III, in conjunction with the NEH Big Read project, Oct. 11-Nov. 10; Fine Arts Building Gallery I. Artists’ reception 2-4 p.m. Oct. 14. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Sat., 2-5 p.m. Sun. 569-8977. UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS, Conway: “Vertebrates: An Installation by Ben Butler,” through Oct. 19; “Equivocal Exposures: Alternative Photographic Processes,” photographs by Kalee Appleton, Jesseca Ferguson, Clive Holden, Mo Munley and Juan Alberto Negroni, through Oct.19, Baum Gallery. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Wed., Fri., 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Thu. 501-450-5793. WALTON ARTS CENTER, Fayetteville: “Charting Terrain: A confluence of light and form,” work by Victoria Burge, Ben Butler, Theresa Chong, Sean Morrissey, James Siena and James Turrell, through Dec. 23. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays, noon-4 p.m. Sat. 479-443-5600. SMALLER VENUES ARGENTA GALLERY, 413 Main St., NLR: “Park’s Pants,” photographs by Nancy Nolan. 225-5600. BARRY THOMAS FINE ART & STUDIO, 711 Main St., NLR: Paintings by Thomas. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 349-2383. CANTRELL GALLERY, 8205 Cantrell Road: “A Tale of Two Worlds,” graphic art by Kirk Montgomery, through Oct. 28. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 224-1335. CORE BREWERY, 411 Main St., NLR: “A Collection of Skulls,” hosted by the Latino Art Project. COX CREATIVE CENTER, 120 River Market Ave.: ACANSA pop-up exhibition. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 918-3093. DRAWL GALLERY, 5208 Kavanaugh Blvd.: Work by regional and Arkansas artists. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. 240-7446.

Congrats to Tisha Gribble

on being nominated by Arkansas Times readers for Women Entrepreneurs!

@ARKANSASRICE

@RICEARKANSAS

@ARKANSASRICE


ARKANSAS TIMES MARKETPLACE

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cindy@movingtomac.com • 501-681-5855

TO ADVERTISE IN THIS SECTION, CALL LUIS AT 501.375.2985

RFP for Parris Towers 1800 S. Broadway Street, Little Rock, AR.

Shop shop LOCAL ARKANSAS TIMES

BIDS DUE: Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017, at 2:00pm PRE-BID MEETING will be held on site on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017. Times: Site: 1:30pm - 2:15pm, Mechanical Room: 2:15pm - 3:00pm, Unit: 3:00pm - 3:45pm. PLANS: Hard Copies of plans available upon request and at subcontractor’s expense from Southern Reprographics, phone: 501-372-4011, www.sriplanroom.com OR for a link contact Linda at lstache@ gormanusa.com. Contact Info: Linda Stache, Gorman & Company, Phone: 608-835-5177, Fax: 608-835-3667 CERTIFICATIONS: SBE, MBE, WBE, EBE, DBE, SECTION 3 Please note: This is a prevailing wage rate project.

RFP for Powell Towers 1010 Wolfe Street, Little Rock, AR. BIDS DUE: Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017, at 2:00pm PRE-BID MEETING will be held on site on Friday, Oct. 13, 2017. Times: Site: 9:00am - 9:45am, Roof (exhaust fan repl.): 9:45am - 10:30am, Mechanical Room: 10:30am - 11:15am, Unit: 11:15am - Noon. PLANS: Hard Copies of plans available upon request and at subcontractor’s expense from Southern Reprographics, phone: 501-372-4011, www.sriplanroom.com OR for a link contact Linda at lstache@ gormanusa.com. Contact Info: Linda Stache, Gorman & Company, Phone: 608-835-5177, Fax: 608-835-3667 CERTIFICATIONS: SBE, MBE, WBE, EBE, DBE, SECTION 3 Please note: This is a prevailing wage rate project.

ARKANSAS TIMES

explore

LOCAL MIZAR PAINTING

For all your interior - exterior painting needs Residential & Commercial Free Estimates · 30 years experiance Will provide References

Mike Morris 501-541-6662 Mizarpainting1@gmail.com

RFP for Cumberland Towers 311 E. Eighth Street, Little Rock, AR. BIDS DUE: Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017, at 2:00pm PRE-BID MEETING will be held on site on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017. Times: Site: 9:00am -9:45am, Roof: 9:45am - 10:30am, Mechanical Room: 10:30am 11:15am, Unit: 11:15am - Noon. PLANS: Hard Copies of plans available upon request and at subcontractor’s expense from Southern Reprographics, phone: 501-372-4011, www.sriplanroom.com OR for a link contact Linda at lstache@gormanusa.com. Contact Info: Linda Stache, Gorman & Company, Phone: 608-835-5177, Fax: 608-835-3667 CERTIFICATIONS: SBE, MBE, WBE, EBE, DBE, SECTION 3 Please note: This is a prevailing wage rate project.

FOR SALE IN SHERWOOD Embrace Loft Bed with Caster and Right Steps Color: Merlot Type: Loft Bed Size: Twin •Width: 42.75’’ •Depth: 95.25’’ •Height: 43.25’’

$400

Mattresses not included.

Text/call 501.259.1209 arktimes.com OCTOBER 05, 2017

79


TODAY, A WOMAN’S PLACE IS WHEREVER SHE WANTS TO GO. We’re proud to support these dynamic business leaders.

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OCTOBER 05, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES


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