JONESBORO UNCENSORED | COCKTAILS TO GO | LYNCHING, PAST AND PRESENT
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DECEMBER 2021
THE BEST & WORST OF ARKANSAS 2021
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BRIAN CHILSON
DECEMBER 2021
FEATURE
23 BEST AND WORST A 2021 retrospective — good, bad and all. (Mostly bad.)
HOLIDAY HANGOUT RETURNS: At the White Water Tavern, with sets from Nikki Hill (pictured), Cory Branan, Samantha Crain and more.
By Austin Bailey, Lindsey Millar and Stephanie Smittle
9 THE FRONT
Q&A: On the front lines of the Craighead County censorship showdown with David McAvoy. The Big Pic: A last-minute gift guide.
13 THE TO-DO LIST
Glowild! at the Little Rock Zoo, Crawford and Louise Mandumbwa at Hearne Fine Art and more.
18 NEWS & POLITICS
55 SAVVY KIDS
85 HISTORY
By Katherine Wyrick
By Guy Lancaster
63 CULTURE
89 CANNABIZ
By Stephanie Smittle
By Griffin Coop
80 FOOD
98 THE OBSERVER
Young entrepreneurs: The kids are doing it for themselves.
Toasting 21 Arkansas creators whose work got us through 2021.
An ode to the late Mike Trimble.
Surveying the cocktail to-go scene in Arkansas.
By Ernest Dumas
By Rhett Brinkley
Lynching is a part of our past. Are we doomed to make it a part of our future?
The fight for marijuana legalization continues.
Channeling summer camp anxiety over the punch bowl at Camp Taco. ON THE COVER: Illustration by Layet Johnson.
4 DECEMBER 2021
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FOR SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE CALL: (501) 375-2985 Subscription prices are $60 for one year. VOLUME 47 ISSUE 15 ARKANSAS TIMES (ISSN 0164-6273) is published each month 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 MRKHAM STREET, SUITE 200, Little Rock, AR, 72201. Subscription prices are $60 for one year. For subscriber service call (501) 375-2985. Current single-copy price is $5, free in Pulaski County. Single issues are available by mail at $5.00 each, postage paid. Payment must accompany all 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. ©2021 ARKANSAS TIMES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP
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ARKANSAS TIMES
THE FRONT Q&A
HOW TO NIP BOOK BANS IN THE BUD, JONESBORO-STYLE A Q&A WITH DAVID MCAVOY OF CITIZENS DEFENDING THE CRAIGHEAD COUNTY LIBRARY.
Bad news, everyone. Book banning is back. Free speech advocates report a hurdling spike in attempts to scrape schools and libraries of materials on LGBTQ themes, racial history and sex education. In Arkansas, Craighead County was the canary in the coal mine on this latest wave of censorship rolling across the country. First Amendment defenders in Jonesboro have been busy for months fending off calls to scrub books on puberty, sexuality and gender from the shelves. One of those 1A defenders is David McAvoy, a paralegal by day and a clear-thinking, dedicated organizer of the group Citizens Defending the Craighead County Library by night. The group notched a win by defeating a proposal to give library board members veto power over materials they deemed inappropriate. But they took a hit in November when library Director David Eckert quit to pursue a job in a different, presumptively more forward-thinking state. McAvoy shared what it takes to hold the gates to knowledge open when so many are trying to push them shut, and what he sees ahead in the fight against censorship.
ideas. It’s about people who are vulnerable, people these folks have picked out because they don’t like this trait or that trait about them. History shows that’s a very dangerous thing. That’s how the worst things in history got rolling. The people who have organized around this recognized it for the dangerous and awful thing it is, and we’re not going to let it happen in our community. How would you sum up the mission of Citizens Defending the Craighead County Library? We’re basically trying to prevent censorship in our public library and keep it an open, inclusive place with something on its shelves for everyone in our community.
What was your strategy to keep books from being banned? David McAvoy So some of us started talking on social media, we started texting, and a lot of us have banded togethAGE: 35 er to stop this. We pushed back hard and have been really successful with it. People who tried to censor PLACE OF BIRTH: Wynne the library have been significantly outnumbered. We were very well organized. We just listened at CURRENTLY READING: “We the first meeting, which was kind of a circus. We Were Eight Years in Power” by saw that to get on the agenda you had to put in a Ta-Nehisi Coates request so many days before the meeting, so we So what kicked off this fuss over what’s on library organized our requests and made sure we had shelves? speakers. The other side hadn’t put in any requests It first became apparent back in June, when the to speak. When they realized what was going on library got complaints over a Pride Month display. they had a total freakout. There was a children’s section display with things like a book about the two penguin dads. There was one about a bear who felt like a bunny This debate can feel pretty personal and mean-spirited, and you’ve rabbit, things like that. None of these books had anything particularly been in the trenches for months. How do you keep going? offensive to them. The one book that the opposition focused on was We’ve all had days when we’ve been upset and emotional about it. “The GayBCs.” They singled in on this page where it says “B is for There’ve been days when I’ve been as mad as a wet wasp, but we all bisexual,” where it explained that some boys like boys, some like girls, provide shoulders for each other when someone is upset. We calm some like both. People said that was inappropriate to teach a child each other down. If someone is exhausted and can’t do any more of about. the work, someone else will pick up the slack for a while. That’s really There were a lot of exaggerated things said about it that were just not what has been the backbone of it. grounded in reality. Then our state senator, Dan Sullivan, put a call out on Facebook to go complain to the Quorum Court in July to try to get Who in the community has stepped up? funding cut for the library. It turned out they couldn’t do it, because a So, these people who have been singling out people who are different bunch more people showed up in support of the library. started with LGBTQ people, but are now moving on to their other “undesirables,” and that’s really brought us all together, across the And what inspired you personally to take action? spectrum. We’ve got pastors in churches, allies, lots of people who are My spouse and I are a gay couple. We don’t have children, but we have looking at this and seeing how it started with LGBTQ and is creeping nieces and nephews. There were all these people coming in and saying into critical race theory, so they’re ready to get involved. [The book these books were inappropriate. Darrel Cook, a Craighead County JP, banners] helped unite our community by attacking us. That’s proven said they should put them in a private room with the pornography. to be a very powerful thing, that we’re all here for each other and supWhat library has he been going to? port each other. And we’ve won some battles, but the wolf is always at It’s the old saying, when books burn, in time, people will burn. This the door. We’re seeing this kind of thing across the country now. isn’t about just pages and what’s written on those pages. It’s about — Austin Bailey ARKANSASTIMES.COM
DECEMBER 2021 9
THE FRONT BIG PIC
ARKANSAS GIFT GUIDE 2021
LISA KRANNICHFELD ART If you’ve traveled south on Main Street in Argenta you’ve probably noticed the fantastic new mural of five bold, stylish women displayed on the pink wall on the south side of the Esthetic Excellence Academy building on the corner of 15th and Main streets. Little Rock-based figurative artist and muralist Lisa Krannichfeld’s work has been featured in exhibitions nationally and internationally, and in 2018 her work was chosen as the grand award winner in the 60th annual Delta Exhibition at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts. Check out her prints at lisakrannichfeld. com. They include this Ruth Bader Ginsburg print, which you can order already framed. Fifty percent of the proceeds will be donated in Ginsburg’s honor, split between nonprofit organizations The Equal Justice Initiative and The Innocence Project. Also check out Krannichfeld’s merch, which includes face masks and stickers based on her “Speak Up” protesting mouth paintings. — Rhett Brinkley
10 DECEMBER 2021
ARKANSAS TIMES
A CUSTOM (OR NOT) TEE FROM ELECTRIC GHOST/AR-T’S There are umpteen screenprinting companies on the internet that will gladly take your money in exchange for T-shirts you can’t ask the big questions about (Are these soft and fuzzy? Do they run big or small?). Fortunately for us in Central Arkansas, AR-T’s does custom jobs now that it’s acquired the equipment and facility on Main Street Little Rock from longtime screenprinters Electric Ghost. Order up a batch to fulfill that dream of matching family outfits or, if you’re feeling less couture, grab a vintage Natural State print, an AR-T’s “Country and Liberal AF” tee or an “Arkansas Gayzorbacks” shirt. — Stephanie Smittle
PICK OUT SOMETHING NICE FOR YOURSELF AT MOXY MODERN MERCANTILE Fergus the shop corgi invites you to come knock out any stragglers on your list. Moxy’s bins and shelves brim with a well-calibrated mix of bawdy, charming, clever and tasteful gifts. It’s a one-for-you, one-for-me situation, because your mom needs the butter-themed apron and oven mitt, and you need the “That’s the Spirit” flask. Go high-brow with the sparkling mid-century modern cocktail set, or get campy with bags, T-shirts and socks adorned with all the fun cuss words. — Austin Bailey
‘SICK SEA CREATURES’ 2022 CALENDAR These days, there’s a monthly calendar for just about anything — 12 months of cats in outer space! Mullets! Country gardens! Circus freaks! “Nature’s Butts,” even, with 12 photographs of natural phenomena that unwittingly resemble human haunches. But when we heard that local artist Greta Kresse was working on a calendar with Little Rock’s cleverest crafter of puns, Kara Bibb, the choice was clear. Pick up “Sick Sea Creatures,” the follow-up to Bibb and Kresse’s brilliant series “Sad Zoo Animals,” which delighted with “I’m Lion I’m Dyin’,” “My Koality of Life is Suffering” and other gems. Oceanic puns await you in 2022, possibly even making you feel less like the series’ ennui-stricken lemur, begging the universe to “Lemurder Me, Please.” Pick up your calendar by messaging @karabibb on Instagram. — Stephanie Smittle
MY PEOPLES, ARE YOU WITH ME? WHERE YOU AT? IN THE FRONT, IN THE BACK, RAZORBACKS ON ATTACK After so many years in the wasteland, the Razorbacks are finally pretty good in all the big-time sports (and the less heralded ones). If you’re ready to jump on the Muss Bus or turn up the damn jukebox, but want your Hog wear to have that little extra flex, Cave Cloth has you covered. The Fayetteville-based T-shirt shop sells several varieties of Wu-Tang Claninspired “Wu-Pig” shirts, cavecloth.com. — Lindsey Millar
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COFFEE+ICE CREAM Loblolly is adorable and delicious year-round, but they really do it up on holidays. Sneak in the Main Street shop for a scoop and some signature pastel merch while you’re out and about. Sweet talk someone on your gift list with a sack of Coffee Beans and Ice Cream Dreams, a joint endeavor from Loblolly and Fidel & Co. Coffee Roasters. These El Salvadoran beans taste of dark chocolate, caramel and stone fruit. Santa will want to stuff kids’ stockings with Loblolly’s handcrafted rainbow marshmallows and unicorn hot cocoa. If you’re lucky he will bring you a pint koozie to keep your ice cream from melting too fast as you spoon it directly from the tub. — Austin Bailey
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MONUMENTAL ARKANSAS BOOKS Someone in your life likely needs at least one of these towering works of scholarship published this year: “Arkansas Made: Volume 1 and 2” ($39.95 each, University of Arkansas Press) are exhaustive surveys of Arkansas arts and crafts, the culmination of years of research by the Historic Arkansas Museum team. Anyone interested in learning about Arkansas’s material culture will find the books’ essays enlightening, but Rett Peek’s gorgeous photography and the smart layout make these work just as well as coffee table books. “Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines” ($29.95, Ozark Society Foundation), by Johnnie Gentry, Jennifer Ogle and Theo Witsell, is similarly comprehensive and well designed. The hefty field guide has more than 1,500 pictures and all sorts of other visual aids to go with detailed descriptions of every tree you’ll find in Arkansas. — Lindsey Millar
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happy Holidays from all of us at SUPPORT INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM Maybe someone on your list doesn’t need or want anything. Give in their name. Through the end of the year, all donations to the Arkansas Nonprofit News Network will be matched Award one to one. Founded by Arkansas Times editor Lindsey Millar and edited by formerWinning Times Alesin staffer Benjamin Hardy, ANNN specializes complicated investigative and public service journalism, which few newsrooms in the state have the resources to explore. ANNN’s work gets distributed, for free, to news outlets across the state, including the Arkansas Times. Donate at arknews.org. — Lindsey Millar
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DECEMBER 2021 11
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DECEMBER
BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE Booster up, mask up and support your local creatives however you can. We’re not in the clear with the pandemic, and an increasing number of shows require proof of vaccination, so make sure you have that card ready to go. Gathering safely again is a work in progress; be on the lookout for policy changes or date changes, and handle them with all the grace you can summon.
HOLIDAY HANGOUT
FRIDAY 12/3-SUNDAY 12/5. WHITE WATER TAVERN. $100 WEEKEND PASS.
BIG LEGAL MESS
The annual music festival hosted by Last Chance Records, Tree Of Knowledge and the White Water Tavern is back in the flesh, and the lineup is stellar as ever: Adam Faucett, Isaac Alexander, Bonnie Montgomery, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Rev. Greg Spradlin, Brent Best, Slobberbone, Tim Easton, Isaac Hoskins, Joey Kneiser and Kelly Suzanne Smith, John Calvin Abney, Samantha Crain, Cory Branan, John Paul Keith, Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires, Sister Dynamite featuring Nikki Hill and more to come. Visit whitewatertavern.com for updates to the lineup and schedule.
POSTMODERN JUKEBOX
Could retro revivalists Postmodern Jukebox have imagined a more perfect roaring ’20s parallel for their return to live performance than the post-pandemic 2020s? Jazz pianist Scott Bradlee’s revolving collective has spent the last year and a half in front of their formidable YouTube following, doing that time warp jig they do so well — filtering the Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind?” through a ’60s-Roy Orbison string quartet lens, for example, or superimposing Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” onto a finger-snapping ’50s swing beat. Or, as in a video with ’90s duo The Rembrandts from February 2020, interpreting the “Friends” theme song across a century of musical styles in less than 5 minutes. Get tickets at uca.edu/publicappearances.
DANA LYNN PLEASANT
SUNDAY, 12/5. REYNOLDS PERFORMANCE HALL, CONWAY. 7:30 P.M. $30-$40.
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DECEMBER 2021 13
KEVIN KING KEVIN KING
TAB BENOIT’S SWAMPLAND JAM & THE SAMANTHA FISH BAND FRIDAY 12/10. THE HALL. 8 P.M. $30.
LOUISE MANDUMBWA’S “BLESSING,” 2021
If blues-rock guitar fireworks are your thing, this show is your thing, too. Kansas City genre bender Samantha Fish puts on a badass live performance, and her new record “Faster” is custom-built for the big stage. “I really thought that after 2020 I’d end up with a really dismal, bleak album,” Fish said, “but instead, we came up with something that’s fun and sexy and so empowering.” Fellow guitarist (and swampland preservation advocate) Tab Benoit is bringing his formidable band, bound to make the dance floor at The Hall feel like a party on the Louisiana bayou. Get tickets at littlerockhall.com.
CRAWFORD AND LOUISE MANDUMBWA: HOME, WHEREVER THE SOUL CONNECTS
THROUGH 12/18. HEARNE FINE ART, 1001 WRIGHT AVE., SUITE C. 10 A.M.-4 P.M. MON.-FRI. FREE. Depicting subjects local to Arkansas as well as Nigeria, Botswana and Zambia, this father-daughter exhibit examines the idea of home, suggesting that “rather than a singular place on a map, home can instead be found in both the familiar and unfamiliar, and can be found in the intangible, fleeting and sensory.” For both Louise and Crawford Mandumbwa, the studies in acrylic, pastel, charcoal, graphite and oil represent ideas of the familial and the far-flung. Louise Mandumbwa, a native of Francistown, Botswana, who’s based in Central Arkansas, attained her degree in painting from the University of Arkansas. Her father, Crawford Mandumbwa, was born in Chavuma, Zambia, and has been featured in publications in Zambia and Botswana. He was the subject of a 2015 documentary titled “Libertai,” screened in film festivals across Latin America that year. See the work in person at the Hearne gallery or online at hearnefineart.com.
14 DECEMBER 2021
ARKANSAS TIMES
‘IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: THE RADIO PLAY’
TUESDAY 11/23-TUESDAY 12/21. MURRY’S DINNER PLAYHOUSE. DINNER 6 P.M., CURTAIN 7:30 P.M. TUE.-SAT.; DINNER 11 A.M., CURTAIN 12:45 P.M. AND DINNER 5:30 P.M., CURTAIN 6:45 P.M. SUN.; SEE MURRYSDP.COM FOR DETAILS ON SPECIAL MATINEES. If the TV screen was your only dose of George Bailey in Yuletide 2020, consider a visit to this long-running dinner playhouse for a radio play twist on Frank Capra’s classic. Staged as a 1940s radio broadcast, playwright Joe Landry’s take tinkers as much with the art of foley as it does with nostalgia, coming ’round to the same core message as did the movie: Being a good neighbor matters, deeply. Get tickets at murrysdp.com.
MELISSA DOOLEY
LYZA RENEE
CHARLEY CROCKETT
FRIDAY 12/3. THE HALL, 721 W. NINTH ST. 8 P.M. $25-$34. When Charley Crockett opens his mouth, the sound of San Benito, Texas, spills out — “Gulf and Western,” it’s been called. Rocking a thick-as-brick bass timbre that drips with humidity and hard times, Crockett has come into a youth-obsessed country music industry as a relatively late bloomer, and with 10 records out over the course of the last six years, he’s making up for lost time; going under the knife for open-heart surgery tends to create a sense of urgency. Like many of his predecessors and contemporaries, he’s wont to raise a lyrical middle finger to the trappings of Nashville showbiz even as he’s hailed as its darling — “I’ll take the money but these fools don’t own me,” the lyrics to his tune “Tennessee Special” go. Crockett’s joined on this show by Fort Worth singer-songwriter Summer Dean, whose 2021 debut “Bad Romantic” is a Texas dancehall classic in the making. Get tickets at littlerockhall.com.
MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET CHRISTMAS
AARON LEE TASJAN, KEVN KINNEY
On Dec. 4, 1956, at the Sun Record Studios in Memphis, a country-rock-gospel collision of historic proportions took place, putting an impromptu jam session between Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley on tape. A jukebox musical sprung up in 2010 dramatizing the events of that day, and a holiday spin goes up at Robinson Center exactly 65 years after that recording was made, trading out “Blue Suede Shoes” for “Blue Christmas,” and “Ghost Riders” for “Run Run Rudolph.” Here, Alex Swindle is Elvis Presley, Jared Freiburg plays Jerry Lee Lewis, Zack Zaromatidis portrays Carl Perkins and Bill Scott Sheets plays Johnny Cash. Get tickets at ticketmaster.com.
Looking like Lennon, sounding like Petty, ruminating like Rumi, Nashville rocker Aaron Lee Tasjan tells you much of what you need to know about his outlook in the four minutes that make up the video for 2020’s “Computer of Love” — namely, that social media is a trap, outer space is awesome and time is a construct that you may as well spend playing drums and shooting lasers. God knows the pandemic likely left Tasjan with enough stage patter for a lifetime, but he’s joined on this acoustic bill by Kevn Kinney, the frontman for seminal Atlanta rock band Drivin N Cryin. Get tickets at stickyz.com.
SATURDAY 12/4. ROBINSON CENTER. SUNDAY 12/12. STICKYZ ROCK $29-$69. ’N’ ROLL CHICKEN SHACK. $20.
‘THE NUTCRACKER SPECTACULAR,’ ‘THE NUTTY NUTCRACKER’ THURSDAY 12/9-SUNDAY 12/12. ROBINSON CENTER.
With 14 professional dancers from Ballet Arkansas, a community cast of over 200 children and adults, live accompaniment from the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s beloved melodies, “The Nutcracker Spectacular” marks a return to full-fledged live performance for classical dance in Arkansas. In addition to the ballet company’s schedule of educational student matinees, there are four public performances: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10; 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 12. Audience members are encouraged to visit the company’s “Nutcracker Boutique,” which will be set up in the Robinson Center lobby. Proceeds earned through the sale of holiday merchandise at the boutique go toward the enhancement and upkeep of the production’s many sets, props and costumes. Meanwhile, a breezier all-ages comedic version of the ballet, sans live music, “The Nutty Nutcracker,” goes up at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 9, and again at 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 12. Get tickets at balletarkansas.org, by contacting the Celebrity Attractions Box Office at 501-2448800, or by visiting the Box Office inside the Robinson Center.
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DECEMBER 2021 15
CENTER FOR CULTURAL COMMUNITY: PARTY FOR PLACEMAKING FRIDAY 12/10. 5 P.M. FREE; RSVP REQUIRED.
GLOWILD!
The Center for Cultural Community was launched by arts administrator Sarah Stricklin in 2020 to help local working artists find health care, financial counsel, grants and other resources that might help them keep earning a living through their art (and keep bringing that art to your eyes and ears). Now, the organization is looking for its first physical home. For this fundraising party at ESSE Purse Museum, the group seeks to match the $5,000 grant it’s been given from ArtSpace and the Windgate Foundation, and to educate the local public on what the organization’s team has been up to — and what it’s got planned. The event is free, but an RSVP is required; head to centerforculturalcommunity.org/party-for-placemaking to do so.
THROUGH 1/15. LITTLE ROCK ZOO. $20. Handcrafted silk-covered lanterns illuminated by over 50,000 LED lights are blanketing the Little Rock Zoo’s 33 acres for “Glowild!” a nighttime light festival that depicts a kaleidoscope of peacocks, lions, marine animals, flora, stars that light up as you cross them on the path, and more. Visit littlerockzoo.com/events for an FAQ section on the festival and details on which select dates the festival runs, and bring along a mask if you plan to step indoors to the zoo’s Africa Cafe or gift shop. Parking is free during the light festival’s hours, and kids under the age of 3 are admitted free. While most of the real-life animals will be getting their beauty rest during the festival’s hours, the Zoo encourages visitors to “catch some of our late-night party animals,” like spider monkeys, duikers, alpaca and elephants. Get tickets at Eventbrite.
NICK SHOULDERS
ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS VS. HOFSTRA PRIDE, ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS VS. UCA SUGAR BEARS
ASHTRAY BABYHEAD, ADAM FAUCETT
SATURDAY 12/18. SIMMONS BANK ARENA. 1 P.M. AND 7 P.M. $10-$35. Come cheer on both the women’s and men’s Arkansas Razorback basketball teams (or University of Central Arkansas, if that’s where your loyalties lie), no trip to Bud Walton Arena required. The women’s basketball game, pitting the Razorbacks against the UCA Sugar Bears, starts at 1 p.m., and the men’s game against the Hofstra Pride of Hempstead, New York, begins at 7 p.m. Get tickets at simmonsbankarena.com. 16 DECEMBER 2021
ARKANSAS TIMES
SATURDAY 12/18. WHITE WATER TAVERN. $15. Nick Shoulders has a penchant for poking around in the American South’s dimly lit corners — and for sounding off a subsequent report with a mouthbow and a pristine yodel. Because his music was born in the dancehalls and dives of New Orleans — and perhaps because the word “entertainer” is etched across the strands of his DNA — Shoulder’s songs translate in the barroom as party anthems, though it’s the salty takes on culture and colonialism that leave tunes like “New Dying Soldier” and “Hank’s Checkout Line” lingering in the ear. Get tickets at whitewatertavern.com.
SUNDAY 12/26. WHITE WATER TAVERN. $12. Remember before the pandemic when the White Water used to spend the holidays reuniting seminal old Little Rock bands for Christmas-adjacent shows? Yeah, that’s happening again. 1997, 2021, alt rock, punk pop, six of one, half a dozen of the other. Revisiting Ashtray Babyhead’s playful and yet masterful “O-Rama” and the band’s 2000 record “Radio” are great preludes to this throwback reunion show; an opening set from resident rock pandit Adam Faucett will do you one better. Get tickets at whitewatertavern.com.
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NEWS & POLITICS
THE HUMBLEST JOURNALIST MIKE TRIMBLE, 1943-2021. BY ERNEST DUMAS
M
ike Trimble, an Arkansas-born writer who had a celebrated career as a reporter and editor for six journals in Arkansas and Texas, died on Nov. 20 at his home in Denton, Texas. He was 78. A relatively scarce breed, Trimble was Arkansas’s and perhaps the country’s greatest self-deprecating journalist. His career spanned 48 years, starting at the Texarkana Gazette and followed by jobs at the Arkansas Gazette, Arkansas Times, Pine Bluff Commercial, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Denton Record-Chronicle. His remarkable observational skills and downto-earth writing lent unusual humanity to his articles — whether they were news, features or columns — and he developed a large and fanatical following that he could never understand. It happened wherever he went, and the burden of high expectations and low self-confidence was always more than he could bear. He nearly always moved to something else and started over. In his last job, as an editorial writer for the Denton Record-Chronicle in 2006, Trimble received an award from the American Society of Newspaper Editors for writing the best editorials in the nation that year. Six years later, he got himself fired by the newspaper’s publisher when he refused to retract an editorial mildly criticizing the Denton Chamber of Commerce for some stand by the chamber, of which Trimble’s newspaper and its publisher were members. Three years earlier, ironically, Trimble had received an award from the chamber, which earned him a unanimous resolution of praise from the Texas House of Representatives, proclaiming that Trimble’s “ability to inform, entertain and engage his readers ... has gained the lasting respect and
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‘UNUSUAL HUMANITY’: Writer Mike Trimble, beloved for his remarkable observational skills, died Nov. 20 at age 78.
admiration of his readers and colleagues alike.” When the Dallas Observer newspaper in 2012 reported his firing by the Record-Chronicle publisher, it quoted Trimble as saying: “It was just a difference of opinion. And he’s in a better position than I am.” Travis Mac “Mike” Trimble was born Nov. 3, 1943, to Edgar Mac Trimble and Frances Trim Trimble, schoolteachers who had moved to Arkansas from Louisiana and settled at Bauxite. His mother taught English — both Mike and his sister, Pat, were her students — but his father got a better-paying job as the personnel and safety director at Alcoa, which had a big aluminumproduction plant at Bauxite. Mike was the center and linebacker for the Bauxite Miners football team. That experience and his teammates would become the subjects of legendary articles in the Arkansas Times magazine that Trimble aficionados clipped, saved and read aloud at parties. One piece, which was a deep account of the success of a Bauxite English teacher in turning Bud, the leading jock on the Miners team, into a Shakespeare fanatic, recounted in detail how the teacher assigned Bud to play Macbeth and infected him with the tragic psychological dilemmas of the mad king. At the end, readers could divine that the anonymous teacher was Trimble’s mama. Another long magazine piece was about the Bauxite Miner football team of 1960, the camaraderie and the enduring effect of the team’s loss to its chief rival, the Bryant Hornets. It began this way: “Most of us are doing pretty well, I guess. Salty Crowson is selling insurance and raising a short ton of kids over in Conway, and Jonesy is a college
professor with a highly praised book under his belt. Satchelbutt Wilmoth married his high school sweetheart; ditto Bud Richards, who, last I heard, was running a very used car lot out on the highway and serving on the Bauxite School Board. I earn three squares a day just sitting in a chair, typing. “I don’t hear much from the members of the 1960 Bauxite Miner football team — except for Salty, who handles my insurance, and always calls around my birthday to remind me that I am one year closer to dying. But every year around this time I start thinking about them — Salty and Satchel and Bud and Rolleigh and Harold Selby and Dan Reed and the rest — and I wonder if they are still as embarrassed as I am at getting beat by Bryant.” Trimble deprecated his own talents and role on the team. His article reported that on a critical play that cost the Miners the game he tried to tackle a Bryant running back along the sideline and instead wound up tackling Bauxite’s prettiest cheerleader, the girlfriend of his star — and infuriated — teammate. After two years at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Trimble went to work as a reporter for the Texarkana Gazette, where his friend Jimmy Jones from nearby Hope worked. Jones went to work for the Arkansas Gazette in Little Rock. At a party at Jones’s apartment in Little Rock, another Gazette reporter met Trimble, liked him and said he should come to work for the Little Rock paper. Trimble said he didn’t have the ability. The Gazette reporter sent a memo to the managing editor, Arla Nelson, saying that he feared that Gene Foreman — a former Gazette writer and editor who had become the managing editor at the Pine Bluff Commercial and, to Nelson’s chagrin, had hired
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ARKANSAS TIMES
away a Gazette copy editor — was going to hire a brilliant Texarkana reporter, Trimble. Nelson called Trimble and hired him. Trimble always said he felt woefully inadequate. His news stories and features usually picked up observations that other reporters would miss. Writing about a fancy event at the Country Club of Little Rock honoring an early civic and civil rights leader, Trimble’s article noted that the steaks were “as big as saddle blankets” and that the honoree was the only Black person in the big crowd who didn’t wear the white jacket of servants. The publisher of his paper, who helped arrange the event, was irked by Trimble’s observation but didn’t fire him. Finally, the editor assigned him to write one of the two famous daily columns in the Gazette — “Our Town” and “The Arkansas Traveler” — that had been or would be written by such legends as the novelist Charles Portis, Bob Lancaster, Ernie Deane, Charles Allbright or Richard Allin. Trimble felt inadequate but soon had a rabid following, especially in the newspaper corps. One especially memorable column, mournful but also funny, was about Trimble’s burial of Red, his dog and faithful friend. The expectation that every column had to achieve some majesty was more than Trimble could bear. He went back to reporting and soon quit. One of his last articles for the Gazette was a long Sunday feature about a famous catfish restaurant on the White River at DeValls Bluff run by Olden Murry, a Black man who had once worked on riverboats on the Mississippi River. Trimble proclaimed it the best restaurant in Arkansas (the best food he had proclaimed to be the barbecue sauce at Fisher’s, a joint that allowed white customers like Trimble in a shabby back room). The article recounted a typical day in the life of the aging Murry, scurrying around preparing for the big crowds that crammed the ramshackle cafe made partly of old railroad cars. The Monday after the article appeared, Trimble got a call from his old deskmate at the Gazette, Bill Shadle, who had gone to work for the Social Security disability office. He congratulated Trimble on a fascinating article about Murry’s hard work but then said the only trouble was that Murry had been drawing 100 percent total and permanent disability benefits for 20 years. The agency went after Murry for recovery of the benefits. Murry hired one of his regular customers, Bobby Fussell, a former U.S. prosecutor and later the Arkansas bankruptcy judge, to defend him. Fussell eventually told the government that Murry couldn’t repay so it needed to take ownership of the restaurant. The government relented and dropped the case. Fussell rented a bus and invited Trimble and his friends, who included the then-presiding U.S. attorney, to ride to DeValls Bluff for a free catfish dinner. Late in the feast, Murry brought out a platter of fried crappie, which someone noted that it was illegal to harvest commercially. It was
agreed, for the sake of the horrified prosecutor, that probably no crime had occurred because a friend of Murry had caught the crappie gratis and the meal was free. Trimble went to work for the Arkansas Times, then a monthly magazine and later a weekly paper, where he wrote such pieces as his Bauxite memories, but even there the expectations of grandeur every month or week were more than he could stand. Shortly before he departed, he wrote about the big new national headquarters building of Dillard’s department stores on Cantrell Road, in which he said the structure looked like a mausoleum with a clock. Dillard’s was, until then, an advertiser in the Times. Dillard’s didn’t return, and Trimble left. Trimble then applied for a vacancy at the Pine Bluff Commercial covering several outlying towns. He listed as a reference the Gazette writer who had gotten him his job at that paper. The Pine Bluff executive editor, Jane Ann Ramos, the former editor of the Fort Smith Southwest Times Record, telephoned the Gazette man, who told her about Trimble’s brilliance. Yes, she said, she had read some of his clippings but why in the world was he applying for the Commercial’s lowest reporting job? Because he needs a job, the Gazette man told her. “Hire him. You’ll love him.” The next year, the Gazette man went to the wedding reception of Jane Ramos and Trimble at Pine Bluff. She approached the Gazette man and said, “You were right!” After the wedding, she had to fire him because the Commercial’s corporate owners had a nepotism policy. He went to work for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette as a state-desk reporter and commuted to Little Rock. Soon, Jane Trimble was named publisher of the daily Weatherford Democrat west of Fort Worth, and she and her husband moved to Weatherford. Mike went to work as a copy editor and reporter for the Denton newspaper northeast of Weatherford and three years later Jane joined him there, first as a city-hall reporter and then as managing editor. She left the Denton paper to join the editorial staff of the Star-Telegram in nearby Fort Worth. Jane Trimble died in 2014, two years after her husband lost his editorial job at Denton, where they lived. The highlight of his last years was his love for his daughter and grandchildren. Trimble is survived by his sister, Pat Patterson, and her husband, Carrick, of Little Rock; his daughter, Erin Trimble Gray of Little Rock; his grandchildren Camryn and Turner; Pat and Carrick Patterson’s daughter, Julia Taylor of Little Rock, and her husband, Mallory, and their daughter, Mary Ruth; his nephew, John Patterson of Atlanta; his daughter, Josephine; and Meranda Barks of Denton, his friend and helper. Editor’s note: “The Gazette man” referenced here is Ernest Dumas. Dumas said he was proud to be included in one of Trimble’s Times pieces, a listing of the top ten dullest white men in Arkansas.
E V I L H WONAATRC KANSAS PBS
FRIDAY, DEC. 10 · CLASS 2A · 7 P.M. SATURDAY, DEC. 11 · CLASS 3A · NOON SATURDAY, DEC. 11 · CLASS 4A · 6:30 P.M.
FRIDAY, DEC. 3 · CLASS 5A · 7 P.M. SATURDAY, DEC. 4 · CLASS 6A · NOON SATURDAY, DEC. 4 · CLASS 7A · 6:30 P.M.
myarpbs.org/sports
Get in the holiday spirit with Arkansas PBS
Enjoy a month full of special programming, including:
“Rick Steves’ European Christmas” Sunday, Dec. 5, at 10 a.m.; Saturday, Dec. 11, at 9:30 a.m.; Sunday, Dec. 12, at 6 p.m. “20 Years of Christmas With the Tabernacle Choir” Monday, Dec. 13, at 7 p.m. “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” Tuesday, Dec. 14, at 8 p.m. “All is Bright! A Concordia Christmas” Tuesday, Dec. 14, at 9:30 p.m. “Nature: Santa’s Wild Home” Wednesday, Dec. 15, at 7 p.m. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” Sunday, Dec. 19, at 6:30 p.m. “Christmas at Belmont” Monday, Dec. 20, at 8 p.m. “A St. Thomas Christmas: Bloom Eternal” Monday, Dec. 20, at 9 p.m. Christmas Eve, Dec. 24:
A full day of PBS KIDS programming from 6 a.m.-2:30 p.m., including “Wild Kratts: A Creature Christmas,” “Arthur’s Perfect Christmas,” “Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas,” “Peg + Cat + Holidays,” “The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About Christmas,” “Alma’s Way” and “Nature Cat: A Nature Carol.” “Christmas at Belmont” at 8 p.m. “The St. Olaf Christmas Festival: A New Song of Grace and Truth” at 9 p.m. Christmas Day, Dec. 25:
“The Lawrence Welk Show: Christmas Reunion 1985” at 6 p.m. “Call the Midwife Holiday Special” at 8 p.m. See the complete schedule and all the ways to watch at myarpbs.org/watch. ARKANSASTIMES.COM
DECEMBER 2021 21
2022
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22 DECEMBER 2021
ARKANSAS TIMES
2021: SOMEHOW EVEN WORSE THAN 2020 IT’S THE BEST AND WORST OF ARKANSAS.
BY AUSTIN BAILEY, LINDSEY MILLAR AND STEPHANIE SMITTLE
LAYET JOHNSON
WORST CAMPAIGN KICKOFF
M
y sweet summer child, do you recall those waning days of 2020? A year of unfathomable death counts and selfimposed house arrest, online grocery orders and incessant Zoom calls, was finally, blessedly winding down. Admit it, you expected better of 2021. We all did. The end of our suffering was in sight, a box on a calendar we could check off, then start fresh. We were so innocent then! Having clawed and shrieked our way through 2021, we now know things can always get worse. At least in 2020 we were nestled snug in our houses. Scared shitless, sure, but with a shred of hope in our hearts.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a former flack for President Donald Trump and daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee, announced her candidacy for Arkansas governor with a clownish video in which she promised to fight socialism, cancel culture and the “radical left.” She’s stayed on message since then, firing shots in the national culture war while paying little to no attention to Arkansas.
Kicking off as it did with a bona fide coup attempt and spiraling from there into a culture war waged against defenseless transgender children, science believers and the jobless, 2021 wrung it out of us. We chronicle the low points here, not to depress you, but to bond through communal trauma. Sure, our pipes froze, our escape hatch bridge to all points east cracked, our elected leaders tried to kill us with conspiracy theories and cattle dewormer. If you’re reading this, congratulations. Your enemies have failed. In a rundown of best and worst, there must be some bests, and we were able to find a few. Heroes emerge in the darkest days. Dogtown’s
own ShadowVision stepped forward, armed with katanas and excellent arch support, carless but ready to walk however many miles it took to end the reign of the Little Rock slasher. And don’t forget that other hero of 2021, the possum who spent the quarantine era nestled in the rafters of the White Water Tavern but shook off his torpor and crashed down into the midst of the party when it was time for the world to open back up again. Here’s hoping we all burst into 2022 like the White Water party possum, rested, wide-eyed and ready for the next act.
ARKANSASTIMES.COM
DECEMBER 2021 23
WORST ATTACK ON DEMOCRACY
A shameful number of Arkansans made their way to D.C. on Jan. 6 to thwart the peaceful transition of power. Among them were teachers, state police officers and Peter Stager of Conway, who was caught on camera beating a fallen police officer with an American flag on a pole.
BEST CIVIL WAR COSPLAY
TYLER MERBLER
As rioters breached the Capitol doors on Jan. 6 and National Guard backups remained tied down in red tape, Rep. Bruce Westerman assumed the fetal position. After plucking a sword from a display of Civil War paraphernalia, Westerman made himself a hidey hole in the men’s room, reportedly crouching on a toilet seat to keep his feet hidden from the bloodthirsty mob.
WORST FOGHORN LEGHORN IMPRESSION
Just days after the Jan. 6 insurrection, Rep. Steve Womack, a Republican from Rogers, made a scene when Capitol Police asked him to pass through a metal detector to get to the floor of the House. Womack told Capitol Police not to touch him and yelled, “You are creating a problem you do not understand the ramifications of.”
WORST WAY TO GO ON THE LAM
After propping his feet on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk during the Jan. 6 insurrection, Richard “Bigo” Barnett of Gravette was swiftly identified by the FBI after memorializing the break-in with a photo on social media and multiple online video confessions. Barnett later showed reporters a piece of Pelosi’s mail he’d swiped, saying he’d left a quarter on her desk “because I’m not a thief.”
WORST LEGAL ARGUMENT
BEST MEME (AND BEST CATFISH)
When Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders attended the Biden inauguration in frumpy winter gear and with a surly posture suggesting he’d rather be anywhere else, the internet took note. Memes of Bernie in his signature brown mittens started popping up all over the country — in a New York subway, aboard the Millennium Falcon, at a bus stop next to Forrest Gump. The Sanders mitten meme tour even made it to Little Rock, where he stopped off at Lassis Inn.
24 DECEMBER 2021
ARKANSAS TIMES
Barnett also left a note on Pelosi’s desk that reportedly said “Hey Nancy Bigo was here bitch.” But Joseph McBride, Barnett’s lawyer, said that the word Barnett actually used was “biatd.” “Instead of writing the accusatory ‘You bitch’ as the government falsely states, it only says ‘biatd’ and without the word ‘you,’ “ McBride wrote in a legal filing in April. “On information and belief, the ‘d’ was meant to be two letters, ‘c’ and ‘h’ with the ‘c’ connected to an ‘h’ to spell the word ‘biatch,’ which is a slang and less offensive word for ‘bitch.’ ”
LAYET JOHNSON
WORST MONEY FOR NOTHING
Former Arkansas U.S. Sen. Tim Hutchinson, the governor’s brother, gambled that a $10,000 payment to a D.C. lobbyist might buy his son, disgraced former state Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, a presidential pardon in the final hours of the Trump presidency. No dice. Jeremy Hutchinson’s guilty pleas for bribery and tax evasion stand.
WORST LOST AND FOUND
West Memphis officials contacted the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the FBI, local law enforcement, the State Police and the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management after discovering an item that had been reported stolen. The 95-pound yellow plastic trunk contained a Troxler Electronic Laboratories Model 3411-B soil moisture and density gauge, infused with highly radioactive Cesium 137 and Americium 241. Attorney General Leslie Rutledge hired former Arkansas Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb to supervise her office’s redistricting efforts to the tune of a $150,000 salary. His relevant job experience? In 2020, Webb earned a $20,000 commission for helping to fight off a bid to make redistricting nonpartisan. A bumper sticker once seen around Benton, Webb’s hometown, said, “Where there’s a will, there’s a Webb,” a reference to his reputation as an ambulance-chasing estate lawyer. Max Brantley, on the Arkansas Blog, offered a new tagline: “Where there’s a dole, there’s Doyle.”
BEST ARCHITECTURAL REVEAL
As part of its $142 million rebranding and renovation, the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts — neé the Arkansas Arts Center — nodded to the building’s history by uncovering and spotlighting its original 1937 Art Deco facade.
MARKO MONROE
BEST PARTISAN PAYDAY
BEST DRAG QUEEN
Woe to the producers of RuPaul’s “Drag Race,” who, after witnessing Symone’s blinding brilliance, had to put on a poker face that’d make Lady Gaga proud and manufacture an element of suspense for the TV viewers at home — despite the Arkansas native’s early and steady status as a favorite for the crown. And win she did. Symone the Ebony Enchantress, born Reggie Gavin and raised in Conway, got her start hosting drag shows at Sway and Discovery here in Little Rock (christened #glitterrock), and as a member of the gay street gang/party collective House of Avalon, developed a drag persona that veered nimbly between comedy and conviction and pop culture and utter grace. Symone’s since been a face for Vogue and Savage Fenty X and Skyy Vodka, graced the covers of Interview and Paper and Out magazines, walked the red carpet at the Met Gala, moderated a panel for Madonna’s “Madame X” documentary series, and generally become the toast of the forward-thinking fashion world. Cheers!
ARKANSASTIMES.COM
DECEMBER 2021 25
STEPHANIE SMITTLE
BEST DUMP
Snowpocalypse brought 20 inches of snow to Central Arkansas in February, providing job security for plumbers and some prime sledding runs for the rest of us. But that weeklong white-out wasn’t as fun as it should have been. Snow days, it seems, are a thing of the past. Preparations that schools made for pandemic-related shutdowns weighed many students down with enough online assignments to keep them busy for the duration.
RHETT BRINKLEY
WORST DISCOVERY
WORST LOOKING A GIFT HORSE IN THE MOUTH
Following the mailout of economic stimulus payments from the U.S. Treasury, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office fielded several dozen calls from citizens concerned they might be victims of a scam. After looking into it, Rutledge’s office determined the payments were legit and advised Arkansans not to toss those $1,200 debit cards.
26 DECEMBER 2021
ARKANSAS TIMES
WORST CANCEL CULTURE
A pipe at the Museum of Discovery that froze and burst during the winter storm caused extensive flooding damage to galleries, theaters and offices and led to the death of a blue-tongued skink. The $7 million in damages shuttered the museum to visitors for six months.
Only women can be shamed for abortion, according to Arkansas Democrat-Gazette publisher Walter Hussman, the breakout villain of 2021. Columnist Debra Hale-Shelton was fired for pondering in prose whether there are other Trump progeny or aborted pregnancies out there that we don’t know about. “Vile and vulgar,” Hussman declared of Hale-Shelton’s musings on the pussy-grabber-inchief, whom his paper had endorsed in 2016.
BEST NEW WORD OF 2021
Stonks. More specifically, Gamestonks. Remember those? January was a confusing and exhilarating time for amateur finance bros to buy stocks of seemingly declining companies like GameStop, BlackBerry and AMC and drive up their value. Part of the appeal for the bros was to stick it to hedge funds and other institutional investors who had taken short positions in them, investing in a way that they would profit if the stocks’ value declined. Kevin Kelley, the celebrated former Pulaski Academy football coach, was among the stonkers. “If you just say, ‘Hey, let’s go buy this stock,’ nobody’s going to do it,” he told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “But if you say, ‘Hey, let’s go screw the hedge funds,’ a lot of people think that’s a fun idea.” But on Jan. 28, Robinhood, E-Trade and other online stock brokers halted trading on the stonks. That led Kelley and his son to file a class-action lawsuit against the companies. Kelley said he was teaching his son, newly graduated from college and about to be married, the ins and outs of stock trading.
LAYET JOHNSON
BEST ‘GET OUT OF JAIL FREE CARD’ FOR WHITE PEOPLE
Despite outcry from across the political spectrum, Arkansas lawmakers passed a “stand your ground” law that allows anyone to kill if he or she feels threatened, even if they could have simply walked away instead. Similar laws led to an increase in homicides in other states, and people of color are significantly more likely to be murdered by people using “stand your ground” laws as a defense.
BEST CAT LADY
Representatives for the estate of Neva Nell McCormick celebrated in February a $1 million donation to the Animal Care and Adoption Center of Texarkana. The wife of a local chiropractor, McCormick died in 2020 at age 91. She left her entire estate to animal-related charities, but only the gift to the Texarkana animal shelter was made public. During her life, McCormick cared for as many as 40 cats at a time and even bought them their own house, the Texarkana Gazette reported.
BEST LATE-IN-LIFE REBELLION
Jim Hendren, the governor’s nephew and member of Arkansas Republican royalty, disowned his birthright and announced he was becoming an independent. Sure, it might be the end of his political career, but it sure is fun to watch.
THE VENTURE CENTER
WORST COVERING HIS TRACKS
Police arrested Artez Wright, 31, after following his footprints in the snow away from a cellular repair store that had been broken into. Wright was charged with felony possession of ecstasy along with commercial burglary. He was treated for hypothermia at Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock before being transferred to Pulaski County Jail.
BEST RAPTOR REDUX
WORST SMOKE
In late February, pork fat that dripped on coals in a pit behind the Jones Bar-B-Q Diner in Mariana caused a fire that severely damaged the legendary Marianna restaurant. In business and owned by the same family since the 1910s, Jones is considered one of the oldest Black-owned restaurants in the country. The James Beard Foundation named it an American Classic in 2012.
A barred owl survived an early February morning collision with an 18-wheeler on Frazier Pike. Little Rock Police transported the owl to the Little Rock Zoo, which in turn shipped the bird to Raptor Rehab of Central Arkansas in El Paso. Rodney Paul, director of the rehab facility, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that 95% of the birds that come to his facility have been struck by vehicles. The owl was eventually released to the wild.
BEST RISING FROM THE ASHES
BEST THANKS FOR NOTHING
Following the fire, online fundraisers generated $87,000 for Jones, and Southern Restaurants for Racial Justice chipped in a $25,000 emergency grant. James Harold Jones, 76, owner and pitmaster, repaired the diner, installed a new metal building and reopened in May.
Sen. Tom Cotton, who supposedly represents Arkansas, sponsored legislation with Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) that would gradually increase the federal minimum wage to $10 per hour. Arkansas’s existing minimum wage is $11.
ARKANSASTIMES.COM
DECEMBER 2021 27
WORST DEBTORS’ PRISONS
Failure to pay rent in Arkansas remains a crime that can land you in jail, further ensuring your inability to pay rent. Lawmakers declined to support efforts by state Rep. Nicole Clowney (D-Fayetteville) to revoke an antiquated law that lets landlords file criminal charges and jail time for tenants who fall even one day behind on rent and don’t vacate within 10 days. The legislature’s failure to act means Arkansas remains the only state in the country where late rent payments can put you behind bars.
BEST HOGS
After a lot of lean years, University of Arkansas basketball coach Eric Musselman appears to have the Hogs pointed in the right direction. In his second year, he led the team to a 25-7 record and its first trip to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite 8 since 1995, where the Hogs lost to Baylor, the eventual champs.
WORST BANG FOR BUCK
The city of Little Rock paid some $13,600 to produce a virtual broadcast of Mayor Frank Scott Jr.’s State of the City address in March. The 46-minute video was an advertisement of sorts for Scott and his vision of Little Rock and the initial pitch for a sales tax increase that voters would soundly reject in September. The first half of the presentation was a political conventionstyle production, with schoolchildren reciting the pledge of allegiance and local musicians performing “The Star-Spangled Banner” on a rooftop somewhere in Little Rock. As of November, the event had been streamed on YouTube fewer than 900 times.
BEST ‘IT WASN’T ME’ DEFENSE
A hearing for a man charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm briefly went off the rails when investigators revealed that the defendant, Tommy Windell Wright, and his identical twin brother, Tony Windell Wright, both had criminal records and had for years used each other’s names. Tommy Wright’s lawyer claimed the arrest was a case of mistaken identity, but he was ultimately convicted.
WORST SHOOTING SCENE
Marlon Marbley, 21, was charged in the March 7 shooting death of a 32-year-old woman outside a North Little Rock Chuck E. Cheese where Marbley’s 2-year-old son was having his birthday party.
BRIAN CHILSON
WORST ASSAULT ON CIVIC PARTICIPATION
BEST PASTRY AS PROTEST
Mark April 8 as the day the donuts went up on Kavanaugh and the curvy girls had their say. The sweet little protest came in response to fat-shaming and anti-vax social media posts by Tulips dress shop owner Emily Hay Brown. “It was just a bash on body images and I think women bash themselves enough,” organizer Sharon Boehm-Hussman said. So she brought donuts and donut-themed accessories, situated herself across from Brown’s dress shop and threw a delicious party.
28 DECEMBER 2021
ARKANSAS TIMES
An Arkansas dad speaking up for the rights of transgender children got handcuffed and marched out of a legislative committee hearing after talking beyond his allotted 2 minutes. Countless others committed the same crime before him, had their mics cut and that was that. But Chris Attig’s heartfelt advocacy for vulnerable children cast legislators in quite a bad light, and committee Chair Rep. Jack Ladyman (R-Jonesboro) retaliated with force. Attig was booked at the county facility, charged with disorderly conduct.
WORST DAY IN THE PARK
An argument between two men in Little Rock’s Boyle Park in March led to gunfire and 10-yearold Ja’Aliyah Hughes was killed in the crossfire. “She will be missed with her infamous TikToks, sister dance-offs and laughter,” read part of her obituary. “Her joy knew no boundaries and she will forever be cherished.” Eric Hall, 17, of Little Rock and Ladarius Burnette, 18, of North Little Rock were arrested, each charged with capital murder in Ja’Aliyah’s death.
WORST PUBLIC SERVANT
A Bentonville fire captain attacked an Asian man outside Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs on March 13. Bentonville Fire Department Capt. Benjamin Snodgrass, 44, approached Liem Nguyen and reportedly asked if he knew he was in America and began pushing him. The two men ended up on the ground and when officers arrived on the scene they found Nguyen with a ripped shirt and a red mark under his left eye. Snodgrass had previously called 911 and told the dispatcher, “They’re probably fucking pumping gases like no one’s business.” His attorney later argued that he was drugged, but Snodgrass, who resigned from the fire department, was ultimately found guilty of battery and public intoxication and forced to spend two months in jail.
WORST ‘CHRISTIAN’
Pushing through unconstitutional laws to hurt children and help no one, all while pretending to be good church-going folk, was a favorite pastime of the Arkansas Legislature in 2021. Rep. Jim Wooten (R-Beebe) displayed satanic levels of hatred in his heart by shrugging off reports that lawmakers’ cruel attacks on transgender adolescents was driving some of them toward suicide. It’s their own sin that’s the problem, Wooten said of the suffering children. “Don’t make me feel guilty because you made a choice to follow a different path. …. Don’t put a guilt trip on me.”
BEST ONION CAMEOS
The hits kept coming for Arkansas in April, when The Onion turned its sights on us multiple times (we absolutely deserved it). Rep. French Hill’s voracious dependence on NRA blood money even as the bodies keep hitting the ground earned a headline. So did state senators’ bizarre and monstrous obsession with passing new laws aimed at ruining the lives of vulnerable transgender youths. Haha?
BEST GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE
Prepare to welcome our new furry overlords. Having driven transgender Arkansas youths to suicidal ideation, Rep. Mary Bentley (R-Perryville) turned her attention to her next target: students identifying as animals. “When we have students in school now that don’t identify as a boy or a girl but as a cat, as a furry, we have issues,” Bentley warned. Daniel Joseph Harvey, wanted on a battery charge for trying to stab a Madison County sheriff’s deputy and throwing a Molotov cocktail at him, took the same deputy on a chase through downtown Huntsville in April, throwing more Molotov cocktails at him and threatening him with knives, according to police. The chase included a deputy using a stun gun on Harvey to no effect, Harvey side-swiping a police vehicle and Harvey stopping outside Granny’s Kitchen in downtown Huntsville and attempting to light a Molotov cocktail. It ended with Harvey stopping outside his home and trying to stab his machete into the ground. He was arrested without force and charged with multiple crimes, including attempted murder.
LAYET JOHNSON
WORST COCKTAILS
WORST BONFIRE
Arkansas’s premature lifting of mask mandates in restaurants was cause for celebration at the Fort Smith Brewing Company, where owners invited patrons to come burn masks even as COVID-19 continued to rage.
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Elliot Stewart, 36, was arrested in a fatal stabbing in Forrest City. Police say Stewart fled from the crime scene and hid in the chimney of a nearby house. He was arrested there after the owner of the home called police to report a stranger stuck in the flue.
WORST INJUDICIOUS
Former House Speaker Davy Carter posted a video on Twitter of Circuit Judge Brad Karren of Bentonville throwing down his cane as if to advance on Carter in a heated discussion that ensued after Karren found Carter’s son’s truck parked in his parking space near the Benton County Courthouse. A sign on the entrance to the lot reads “Benton County employee parking only, 7 am to 5 pm,” but another sign in front of the spot where Carter’s son parked said “reserved parking 24/7.” “I walked out and saw a very angry man with a gun on his hip and a cane berating my son and wife because my son parked in ‘his’ parking spot,” Carter tweeted. “It was beyond berating, and, like any dad or husband, immediately caught my attention.”
BEST SUPERHERO
When a serial slasher terrorized midtown Little Rock, North Little Rock’s mysterious hero ShadowVision pledged his aid. A quiet presence in Dogtown for nearly a decade, ShadowVision vowed to bring his crime-stopping prowess over the river. It was a big commitment, considering he lacked the super spiderwebs, sporty cars and invisible jets his cohorts use for transportation, and had to schlepp on foot.
BEST 50 CENT SPECIAL
Rapper 50 Cent posted up at Little Rock’s Warehouse Liquor on a Thursday in May to promote his Branson cognac brand and meet the fans. He was in town for a show that night at the Empire club.
ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
WORST SANTA IMPERSONATION
BRIAN CHILSON
Passing laws to ensure rental properties won’t kill people proved too difficult in Arkansas where, conveniently enough, the legislature counts loads of landlords in its ranks. Despite pleas from public health experts, firemen and a mother whose son died because his rented apartment lacked a simple carbon monoxide detector, legislators resisted the push to change Arkansas’s status as the only state without a minimum habitability law. Rep. Robin Lundstrum (R-Elm Springs), a landlord herself (of course), blamed renters who found themselves besieged by vermin. “I hate roaches,” she said, but “they only come when they’re invited.” Lawmakers eventually settled on a compromise version that fails to even require smoke alarms.
STEPHANIE SMITTLE
WORST SLUMLORDS
WORST CROOKS IN THE BOOKS, WORST HACKS IN THE STACKS
In May, the Arkansas State Library sent out a bulletin to libraries across the state, advising them to be vigilant over their holdings of six Dr. Seuss books that were recently removed from publication by the author’s estate because of racist images, because now that the books are no longer being published they’re more valuable and may be targets of theft.
BEST ITINERARY CHANGE
California state government wants nothing to do with Arkansas, and has banned employees from coming here on official business. The ban came in response to the 2021 wave of cruel new state laws targeting transgender youth.
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ARKANSAS TIMES
WORST OOPS
A contractor discovered a crack in the Interstate 40 Hernando DeSoto Bridge between West Memphis and Memphis that officials determined could lead to the collapse of the 3.3-mile span. The bridge was closed for 81 days to allow for repairs. The Arkansas Department of Transportation initially pinned the blame for missing the crack on one bridge inspector, but a federal assessment released in November suggested broader departmental failings. The department also admitted that the crack had been visible at least since 2016. The Arkansas Nonprofit News Network published a photo that seemed to show the crack in 2014.
WORST CAVEAT EMPTOR
INSTAGRAM: LITTLEROCK_STREETCULT
If Tractor Supply is your pharmacy of choice, please rethink it. The ag store took to posting signs online and in the aisles asking customers to stop using the veterinary dewormer Ivermectin as a prophylactic for COVID-19. While Ivermectin formulated for human use is sometimes used to combat head lice, scabies and other parasites, taking the medicine as it’s formulated for livestock can cause severe injury or death, all while doing nothing to stave off coronavirus. The warnings didn’t take, and calls to poison control about Ivermectin overdoses surged in 2021.
WORST THANKS FOR NOTHING, ASA
Governor Hutchinson ended the state’s participation in the $300 weekly supplemental federal unemployment benefits for 70,000 Arkansans two months early. Hutchinson, like a number of other Republican governors, said the extra money was keeping people from seeking work.
BEST GRAFFITI
WORST TRAFFIC STOP
An anonymous group of artistic activists calling themselves INDECLINE commandeered a billboard at the Roosevelt Road exit along Interstate 30, altering a self-care suggestion from a Christian group and replacing it with their own. “Stressed Out? iblp.com,” was the original message, directing people to an evangelical website espousing conservative dress, homeschooling and large families. Stealth artists painted over the url with the word “MASTURBATE.”
Lonoke County Deputy Michael Davis shot and killed 17-year-old Hunter Brittain in June during a traffic stop. Brittain was walking toward Davis with something in his hand. It turned out to be a container of antifreeze to block a wheel so his vehicle wouldn’t roll. He and a friend were testdriving it after a transmission problem. Davis, who did not have his bodycam on as he shot Brittain in the arm and neck, lost his job and faces a charge of manslaughter.
BEST WAY TO ALIENATE YOUR CUSTOMERS
The River Market nightspot Cannibal & Craft posted a new dress code that banned as “unacceptable attire” such things as baggy jeans, gold chains, backward hats and gang/clubaffiliated colors. The new rules were so poorly received that other Cannibal & Craft locations distanced themselves on social media, and the Little Rock nightclub quickly backed down.
BRIAN CHILSON
LAYET JOHNSON
BEST RELEASE
BEST F.U.
Arkansas supervillain Walter Hussman reared his trademark pinhead again, using his status as a major donor to dissuade the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from hiring Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah Jones to a tenured professorship. After months of negotiations Jones finally walked, taking her superstardom to Howard University, where her fundraising cachet quickly matched the $25 million Hussman used to buy influence at UNC.
Six and a half years after the state took control of the Little Rock School District, the Arkansas State Board of Education voted to return full authority of the district to the locally elected Little Rock School District Board. Though the practical effects of the transfer were negligible, symbolically the move surely helped to garner support from voters for a millage extension in November.
WORST CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT
Inmates in the Washington County jail who fell ill with COVID-19 were offered only livestock dewormer for treatment. While it’s widely embraced by conspiracy theorists as a pandemic miracle cure, there is no scientific proof that Ivermectin is helpful at all in combating coronavirus infection.
BEST BANK STATEMENT SURPRISE
Parents got a welcome surprise when direct deposits for child tax credits started hitting their accounts. Biden’s historic tax relief for families is credited with keeping millions of American children out of poverty. ARKANSASTIMES.COM
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BRIAN CHILSON
BEST COURTHOUSE CELEBRATION
We still get chilly bumps thinking about the day the good guys won at the federal courthouse in Little Rock. Advocates successfully pushed back on a new state law prohibiting transgender youths from accessing gender-affirming medical care, and won a stay, meaning the law is stalled out, at least for now. A gleeful and glamorous pack of transgender youths, their loving families, supporters and their clever legal team gathered out front afterward for the most life-affirming group photo of the year.
WORST SPOILED PHISH
Arkansas got a rare sighting of Sarah Huckabee Sanders in July when she showed up, maskless of course, to a Phish concert at the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion in Rogers.
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WORST DEATH WISH
Sen. Trent Garner (R-El Dorado) told KNWA, Fox Channel 24, he would support a mask mandate only when 30% of Arkansans diagnosed with COVID-19 were dying. At the time, the in-state death count was 6,000, far fewer than the 120,000 deaths it would have taken to reach Garner’s threshold to do even the bare minimum.
BEST YOU HAD IT COMING
Fence straddler extraordinaire Governor Hutchinson could never seem to land his messaging about COVID-19. Telling constituents to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and get vaccinated, while at the same time paying lip service to the Republican talking point that government entities (like the CDC) are not to be trusted, left people across the political spectrum alienated and irritated. A crowd in Siloam Springs showed up for Hutchinson’s traveling town hall to heckle and call him a liar for claiming vaccines could reduce hospitalizations and save lives.
WORST JERK
LAYET JOHNSON
BEST BALL HOGS
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox pulled the plug on an audio feed of a hearing on the state law banning mask requirements in schools after someone who signed on to listen displayed an animated GIF of a man masturbating as his Zoom profile image. When court officials logged on to try to hide the offending GIF, the first thing one of them said was, “How do we get him off?”
A week after a new rule took effect allowing college athletes to accept sponsorships, Wright’s BBQ in Fayetteville started signing on UA student athletes on the football and women’s basketball teams. What exactly those sponsorships entail remains a mystery, but we suspect athletes lucky enough to sign on with Wright’s aren’t missing any meals.
WORST UNARMED BUT STILL DANGEROUS
Brian Dale Reams was arrested on charges of harassment following reports from multiple women in Conway that he’d followed them around stores and asked to touch their feet. The fact that Reams has no arms made the crimes even weirder, but it also narrowed down the suspect list.
WORST MOMENT WE KNEW WE WERE SCREWED
A Fort Smith-area nurse, undergoing cancer treatment, told the Wall Street Journal she would not get the coronavirus vaccine, even after her unvaccinated father and stepmother died of the disease.
STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER
BEST BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
BEST SELF OWN
East End School District leaders ripped out a yearbook spread that included accurate information about George Floyd’s death at the hands of police, the establishment of Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., and the police shootings of Jacob Blake, Daunte Wright and Breonna Taylor. The Bigelow High yearbook adviser quit her job over the censorship, and the national Student Press Law Center put the school on blast. “Arkansas news sites, NPR and the Associated Press all covered the censorship, often featuring a copy of the torn out pages,” the Student Press Law Center said on its website. “That means far more people have seen the yearbook spread than would have if school officials had never intervened.”
“I’m a hustler, I’m a legit entrepreneur, I sell things.” So said Little Rock businessman Richard Johnson on a PSA from the Arkansas Department of Health encouraging people to get COVID-19 vaccines. “If you live the type of lifestyle I live, you’re out here in the streets, you’re hustling, you’re an entrepreneur like me, why not do it safely?” Johnson asked. The internet erupted with Tyrone Biggums-themed jokes about what exactly it was that Johnson sells. But the joke was on them, because Johnson capitalized on his 5 minutes of fame to elevate his clothing line, Borgata, and launch a new endeavor with isellthings.com.
BEST KOOL-AID MAN IMPRESSION
A sweaty and disheveled Sen. Trent Garner (R-El Dorado) burst into the Old Supreme Court room to accuse lawmakers there of meeting in secret. Education Chair Sen. Missy Irvin (R-Mountain View) ended the official meeting after only a minute or two, and the video live feed was cut then. But a number of legislators stayed on to hear from constituents who had traveled to the Capitol to weigh in on masks in schools. It was a kindness Garner could not abide. ARKANSASTIMES.COM
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WORST REWARD FOR CANDOR
Joey King, president of Lyon College, resigned in August following a community furor over comments he made in a Chronicle of Higher Education article about white supremacists in Arkansas and a Donald Trump rally. King insisted he was misquoted about the rally. He said he imposed a lockdown for the small number of students still on campus last year because of Trump rallies promised in other places in Arkansas, rather than a rally in Batesville itself. But he didn’t disavow saying that the college’s home of Batesville, while a good community, was surrounded by an “angry, disenfranchised” population with “a large white-supremacist population.”
BEST POSSUM NAP
We all pretty much checked out from March 2020 until this summer, and so did a possum who made himself cozy in the rafters of the White Water Tavern during the popular music venue’s coronavirus-imposed hiatus. The possum made a memorable reentry on Aug. 27, when he dropped from the ceiling and onto a table just before a Dylan Earl/Willi Carlisle concert.
WORST PPE
STEPHANIE SMITTLE
During an August special legislative session, a number of lawmakers spoke against requiring children to wear masks in schools. Their concerns included the debunked claim that masks restrict oxygen to the brain while poisoning children with carbon dioxide, and the marginally accurate claim that said masks sometimes have poop on them. (Newsflash: Everything kids touch might/probably does have poop on it. Go wash your hands. Right now.)
WORST WASTE OF TIME
Calling Arkansas lawmakers back for an extraordinary session proved to be a total bust. Worried about spiking COVID-19 numbers just as the academic year was about to begin, the governor had hoped lawmakers would walk back a ban on mask mandates in schools. What a sucker! Instead, legislators treated doctors and other experts like dirt during the session, and doubled down on their debunked, QAnoninspired arguments that mask mandates in schools equal child abuse.
WORST WIG OUT
White men in Afro wigs aren’t funny. Just ask Nick Genty, a news director at KATV who lost his job after on-air personalities Chris May and Barry Brandt donned Black Afro wigs to celebrate a return to temperatures in the 70s.
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BEST LAST NIGHT ON THE TOWN
On the evening of June 25, Connie Hamzy — better known as “Sweet Sweet Connie” of Grand Funk Railroad lyric fame — paid a visit to the Old State House Museum for the opening of “Play It Loud: Concerts at Barton Coliseum.” She posed for photos next to a framed 45 of “We’re an American Band,” the song that cemented her nickname and groupie status for rock fans everywhere. She drank chardonnay on ice and sported a mint-condition Highwaymen T-shirt. The house band got word she was in attendance and launched into a rendition of the Grand Funk tune as she swayed appreciatively in her lawnchair. It would be one of her last shindigs; Hamzy died Aug. 21 at age 66 after a brief illness.
LAYET JOHNSON
BEST WELCOME
WORST WILD GOOSE CHASE
Nearly 20 years after birders from across the country descended on Cotton Plant and Brinkley to investigate reported sightings of the ivory-billed woodpecker, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service called off the search. These large and regal creatures, once common in hardwood bottomland until hunters and loggers decimated their habitat, hadn’t been spotted in the U.S. since 1944 until an ornithologist thought he spied one while kayaking in eastern Arkansas in 2004. Nobody was ever able to secure proof, though. Now, the scarlet-crested, prehistoric-looking creature so striking it was nicknamed the Lord God Bird is headed for the extinction list.
Governor Hutchinson offered a genuine welcome to refugees after the United States withdrew from Afghanistan. Nearly 100 Afghans whose connections to the American effort put them in danger are now safely living in Arkansas.
BEST CITY BOARD DISS TRACK
In the course of complaining about the majority of his colleagues on the Little Rock Board of Directors voting for an ordinance aimed at removing Mayor Frank Scott Jr. from the board’s redistricting process, At-Large Director Antwan Phillips referenced pugnacious ’90s-era NBA basketball player Anthony Mason and an famous internet clip of Allen Iverson talking about practice and paraphrased a Jay-Z lyric: “What I’m about to see may not be politically correct and it may offend my political connects.”
BEST SEEING DOUBLE
The North Little Rock School District’s Seventh Street Elementary School has nine sets of identical twins enrolled this year.
BEST DELAYED JUSTICE
Rolf Kaestel, 70, imprisoned for 40 years for robbing a Fort Smith taco stand for $264 with a toy gun, was finally released from prison. The Arkansas Parole Board had recommended clemency for Kaestel three times. Governor Hutchinson, who once refused it, commuted Kaestel’s sentence on the last try. Kaestel appeared in Arkansas filmmaker Kelly Duda’s 2005 documentary “Factor 8” about an Arkansas prison blood bank scandal. Soon after appearing on camera, state prison officials transferred Kaestel to Utah, where he was imprisoned since.
BEST STREAK ENDED
BEST LUNCH DATE
The rumors were true. With zero fanfare but mountains of goodwill, singer Lizzo did indeed send lunch to nurses and housekeeping staff at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to thank them for their work through the pandemic.
The University of Arkansas football team defeated the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff 45-3 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock on Oct. 23. It was the Razorbacks’ first instate matchup in 77 years. The ban on in-state competition was instituted in the mid-1940s under Athletic Director John Barnhill. The Razorbacks also announced a game against Arkansas State University at War Memorial in 2025. ARKANSASTIMES.COM
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WORST WIG OUT, PART 2
At-Large Little Rock City Director Joan Adcock was attacked outside the Wright Avenue Alert Center. A drunk woman tried to grab a food container from Adcock’s hand, then tried to grab Adcock’s hair, saying, “Give me that wig. I want it.”
BEST WINDFALL
An anonymous donor blew KUAR/KLRE’s $150,000 fall fundraising goal out of the water with a gift of $1.5 million. This boon to the public radio stations at the University of Arkansas Little Rock is the largest donation it’s ever received.
BEST DEFENSE OF LITTLE DEBBIE’S VIRTUE
BEST THIRD TIME’S A CHARM
Voters approved a Little Rock School District millage extension that will generate an estimated $300 million, which will go toward building a new K-8 school in the former site of McClellan High School, a new West Little Rock high school and other projects. Voters had previously turned down two other millage proposals, but those came while the district was still under state control.
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ARKANSAS TIMES
BRIAN CHILSON
Sheriff’s deputies in Johnson County took great offense during a traffic stop when they found 100 grams of methamphetamine stashed inside a Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies box. A man and woman from Oklahoma were arrested, and the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office took to social media to warn others against committing the same offense. “As cops, we can’t begin to tell you how much that upset us!” they said on Facebook. “Snack food is our life.”
BEST HALFTIME SHOW
The Razorbacks scored the most points but The Marching Musical Machine of the MidSouth owned the field. The game may have been historic, but all anyone will remember from that game between Arkansas and UAPB is having their faces blown off at halftime by the 240-piece marching band known as M4, which accompanies Pine Bluff’s Division 1 (Football Championship Subdivision) Golden Lions.
WORST KEYBOARD WARRIORS
On the afternoon of Sunday, Nov. 7, word circulated that Cody Jinks would take a detour from his big-venue tour to play a solo acoustic pop-up show at the White Water Tavern, donating all proceeds to the Ronald McDonald House. Not to be swayed by the fact that Jinks was fundraising for a good cause, hundreds of Jinks’ anti-vax fans responded to the surprise announcement on Facebook with vitriol over the venue’s vaccination card requirements for admission, urging Jinks to “Help us take freedom back” and “Don’t be Isbell for the love of God!” Also: “Travis Tritt isn’t allowing that BS and I agree. Welcome to communism.”
WORST ON THE NOSE
LAYET JOHNSON
Bradley Rowland, a former Henderson State University chemistry professor, who pleaded guilty in November to charges related to manufacturing methamphetamine in a school laboratory, praised the television show “Breaking Bad,” about a high school chemistry teacher turned meth cook, in a 2014 interview with the school newspaper. “I thought it was a great show,” Rowland said. “It was spot-on and accurate when it came to the science, and it has gotten a younger, newer generation interested in chemistry. I feel like it was a wonderful recruiting tool.”
BRIAN CHILSON
WORST MONEY FOR NOTHING II
BEST HONKY TONK SWAN SONG
Nov. 13 was the night the lights went out at Jimmy Doyle’s Country Club, ending a halfcentury of fiddle bravado, pedal steel and cigarette smoke. The hulking honky tonk that sat just off Interstate 40 in North Little Rock with the words “LIVE COUNTRY & WESTERN MUSIC” painted on its brick exterior, closed with a final hootenanny from the house musicians in the Arkansas River Bottom Band — Michael Heavner, Bruce Hearon, Joseph Logue, Ritchie Varnell and Freddie Martin. As for the prospects of Jimmy Doyle Brewer’s second act, don’t expect him to ride off into the sunset just yet. “This isn’t the end of something,” a post on the Club’s Facebook page said. “This is a new beginning for The Doyle’s, to continue their work in all things country music in Arkansas! Just watch and see.”
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge announced in November that the state was suing a Virginia-based medical supply company that UAMS and the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration in 2020 paid $10.9 million for gowns, face shields and ventilators they never received. While it’s not usual practice for UAMS to pay for goods before receiving them, normal practices went out the window during the early days of the pandemic, as hospitals and health care providers scrambled for scarce supplies and manufacturers and distributors held all the cards, and it became common to have to pay upfront. The money was supposed to be held in escrow, but the escrow agents didn’t return it when the good weren’t delivered. The state sued them, too.
WORST PLAGUE THAT NEVER ENDS
Remember this time last year when we were planning a coronavirus-free 2021? That hope appeared to be coming true in the early spring, with vaccines widely available and new case and hospitalization numbers dropping. But then the much more contagious delta variant came along and wreaked all kinds of havoc in the summer, at one point nearly filling all the ICU beds in the state. A fall drop in hospitalizations and vaccine authorization for young kids again provided hope, but at press time, the numbers were again headed in a worrisome direction.
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Arkansas Children’s Hospital
Physicians selected for inclusion in this magazine’s “Top Doctors” feature also appear online at castleconnolly.com, or in conjunction with other Castle Connolly Top Doctors databases online on other sites and/or in print. Castle Connolly was acquired by Everyday Health Group (EHG), one of the world’s most prominent digital healthcare companies, in late 2018. EHG, a
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Little Rock Allergy & Asthma Clinic
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Washington Regional Medical Center is proud to be named the #1 hospital in Arkansas by U.S. News and World Report, earning a high performing rating in seven areas of care – more than any other hospital in the state.
#1 Hospital in Arkansas Here for you wregional.com
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We’re committed to serving our patients with compassionate, high quality care while continuously growing to meet the changing needs of our community.
ALLERGY & IMMUNOLOGY Jenny M. Campbell, MD Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas Hedberg Allergy & Asthma Center 1585 East Rainforest Road Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-301-8887 ALLERGY & IMMUNOLOGY D. Melissa Graham, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Advanced Allergy & Asthma 500 South University Avenue Doctors Building, Suite 215 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-420-1085 Asthma, Allergy ALLERGY & IMMUNOLOGY Stacy S. Griffin, MD Little Rock Allergy & Asthma Clinic 18 Corporate Hill Drive, Suite 110 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-224-1156 Drug Allergy, Food Allergy, Asthma, Skin Allergies ALLERGY & IMMUNOLOGY Teresa R. Jeffers, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Four Seasons Allergy and Asthma Clinic 11614 Huron Lane, Suite A Little Rock, AR 72211 501-221-1956 Allergy, Asthma ALLERGY & IMMUNOLOGY Stacie M. Jones, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way Little Rock, AR 72202 501-364-4000 ALLERGY & IMMUNOLOGY Joshua L. Kennedy, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way Little Rock, AR 72202 501-364-1100 ALLERGY & IMMUNOLOGY Tina Merritt, MD Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas Allergy & Asthma Clinic of NW Arkansas 1900 South Walton Boulevard Bentonville, AR 72712 479-254-9777 ALLERGY & IMMUNOLOGY Tamara Perry, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way Little Rock, AR 72202 501-364-4000 ALLERGY & IMMUNOLOGY Robert D. Pesek, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way Little Rock, AR 72202 501-364-4000 Allergy & Asthma, Food Allergy, Eosinophil Disorders
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ARKANSAS TIMES
ALLERGY & IMMUNOLOGY Amy Scurlock, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way Little Rock, AR 72202 501-364-4000 ALLERGY & IMMUNOLOGY Karl V. Sitz, MD CHI St. Vincent Infirmary Little Rock Allergy & Asthma Clinic 18 Corporate Hill Drive, Suite 110 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-224-1156 Asthma, Allergy, Clinical Trials ALLERGY & IMMUNOLOGY Nancy W. Zuerlein, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Arkansas Allergy and Asthma Clinic 5 Executive Center Court Little Rock, AR 72211 501-227-5210 Asthma CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE Yuba R. Acharya, MD CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs CHI St. Vincent Heart Clinic Arkansas 200 Heartcenter Lane Hot Springs, AR 71913 501-625-8400 Interventional Cardiology, Nuclear Cardiology CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE A. Nasser Adjei, MD Baptist Health-Fort Smith Baptist Health Cardiology Center 1500 Dodson Avenue, Suite 60 Fort Smith, AR 72901 479-709-7325 CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE Zubair Ahmed, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Walker Heart Institute Cardiovascular Clinic 3211 North Northhills Boulevard Suite 110 Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-463-8740 Interventional Cardiology CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE Scott L. Beau, MD Arkansas Heart Hospital Arkansas Heart Hospital Encore Clinic 21514 I-30 Frontage Road Bryant, AR 72019 501-664-5860 CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE B. Scott Chism, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Walker Heart Institute Cardiovascular Clinic 3211 North Northhills Boulevard Suite 110 Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-571-4338
CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE David A. Churchill, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Walker Heart Institute Cardiovascular Clinic 3211 North Northhills Boulevard Suite 110 Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-571-4338 CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE Gary J. Collins, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Arkansas Cardiology 9501 Baptist Health Drive Medical Tower 2, 6th Floor Little Rock, AR 72205 501-227-7596 Interventional Cardiology CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE J. Lynn Davis, MD CHI St. Vincent North Heart Clinic Arkansas 415 North University Avenue Little Rock, AR 72205 501-664-6841 CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE Amr G. El-Shafei, MD Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas Mercy Clinic Cardiology 2708 South Rife Medical Lane, Suite 220 Rogers, AR 72758 479-338-4400 CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE Matthew Haustein, MD NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital NEA Baptist Clinic 4802 East Johnson Avenue Jonesboro, AR 72401 870-936-8000 CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE Carl Leding, MD Arkansas Heart Hospital Arkansas Heart Hospital Clinic in Little Rock 7 Shackleford West Boulevard Little Rock, AR 72211 501-326-6868 CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE Allison M. Shaw-Devine, MD UAMS Medical Center UAMS Outpatient Center Cardiology Clinic 4110 Outpatient Circle Little Rock, AR 72205 501-686-5311 CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE Donald E. Steely, MD Conway Regional Medical Center Conway Regional Cardiovascular Clinic 525 Western Avenue Suite 202 Conway, AR 72034 501-358-6905 Sports Medicine-Cardiology
CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE Robert J. Stuppy, MD Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas Mercy Clinic Cardiology 2708 South Rife Medical Lane, Suite 220 Rogers, AR 72758 479-338-4400 CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE Eumar T. Tagupa, MD NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital NEA Baptist Clinic 4802 East Johnson Avenue Jonesboro, AR 72401 870-936-8000 CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE Jeffrey G. Tauth, MD CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs Hot Springs Heart and Vascular 110 Crackerbox Lane Hot Springs, AR 71913 501-767-4278 CHILD NEUROLOGY Freedom F. Perkins Jr, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way Little Rock, AR 72202 501-364-1202 Epilepsy Autism, Spectrum Disorders CHILD NEUROLOGY Gregory B. Sharp, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way Slot 512-15 Little Rock, AR 72202 501-364-1850 Epilepsy COLON & RECTAL SURGERY Jonathan A. Laryea, MD UAMS Medical Center 4301 West Markham Street Slot 520 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-686-8211 Laparoscopic Surgery Robotic Surgery Colon & Rectal Cancer & Surgery COLON & RECTAL SURGERY Jason S. Mizell, MD UAMS Medical Center Rockefeller Cancer Institute 400 Jack Stephens Drive 7th Floor Little Rock, AR 72205 501-686-8211 Colon & Rectal Cancer COLON & RECTAL SURGERY W. Conan Mustain, MD UAMS Medical Center Surgical Oncology Clinic Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute 4018 West Capital Avenue Little Rock, AR 72205 501-296-1200 Colon & Rectal Cancer & Surgery, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Diverticulitis Incontinence/Pelvic Floor Disorders
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COLON & RECTAL SURGERY Lee C. Raley, MD CHI St. Vincent Infirmary Little Rock Surgery 701 North University Avenue Suite 203 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-664-2434 Colon & Rectal Cancer & Surgery, Inflammatory Bowel Disease DERMATOLOGY Randall L. Breau, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Arkansas Dermatology 9601 Baptist Health Drive, Suite 860 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-975-7455 Mohs Surgery DERMATOLOGY Robert D. Brown, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Ozark Dermatology 901 South 22nd Street Bentonville, AR 72712 479-273-7006 Medical Dermatology DERMATOLOGY John M. Carney, MD 11321 Interstate 30, Suite 201 Little Rock, AR 72209 501-455-4700 Mohs Surgery Skin Cancer DERMATOLOGY Mildred M. Clifton, MD Premiere Dermatology 901 South East Plaza Avenue Bentonville, AR 72712 479-273-3376 DERMATOLOGY Scott M. Dinehart, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Arkansas Dermatology 9601 Baptist Health Drive, Suite 860 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-975-7455 Skin Cancer DERMATOLOGY Gregory A. Dwyer, MD Baptist Health Medical CenterNorth Little Rock Little Rock Dermatology Clinic 500 South University Avenue, Suite 301 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-664-4161 Skin Cancer, Psoriasis, Acne DERMATOLOGY Patrick M. Hatfield, MD White River Medical Center 299 Eagle Mountain Boulevard Batesville, AR 72501 870-698-9100 Medical Dermatology, Dermatologic Surgery, Skin Cancer
DERMATOLOGY Lance B. Henry, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Advanced Dermatology & Skin Cancer Center 1444 East Stern Street, Suite 11 Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-718-7546 DERMATOLOGY Martin Lewis Johnson, MD CHI St. Vincent Infirmary The Dermatology Clinic 3633 Central Avenue, Suite North Hot Springs, AR 71913 501-623-6100 Autoimmune Disease, Skin Cancer, Mohs Surgery, Infectious Disease DERMATOLOGY Matthew K. Kagy, MD Little Rock Dermatology Clinic 500 South University Avenue, Suite 301 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-664-4161 Medical Dermatology, Skin Cancer, Mohs Surgery DERMATOLOGY Jay M. Kincannon, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way 2nd Floor Little Rock, AR 72202 501-364-4000 Pediatric Dermatology, Pigmented Lesions, Acne, Vascular Malformations/Birthmarks DERMATOLOGY Terri L. Martin, MD Pinnacle Dermatology 16115 St. Vincent Way, Suite 300 Little Rock, AR 72223 501-817-3923 Medical Dermatology, Dermatologic Surgery, Cosmetic Dermatology DERMATOLOGY Stephen H. Mason, MD CHI St. Vincent Infirmary The Dermatology Clinic 3633 Central Avenue, Suite North Hot Springs, AR 71913 501-623-6100 DERMATOLOGY Michael F .Osleber, MD Baptist Health Medical CenterLittle Rock Arkansas Dermatology 9601 Baptist Health Drive, Suite 860 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-975-7455 Skin Cancer, Mohs Surgery, Dermatologic Surgery DERMATOLOGY Ray Parker, MD Baptist Health Medical CenterLittle Rock Dermatology Group of Arkansas 9601 Baptist Health Drive, Suite 690 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-227-8422 Skin Cancer, Dermatologic Surgery
Because Our Children Deserve the Very Best Thank you for recognizing these champions for children as “Top Docs” in 2021.
As the only healthcare system in the state devoted solely to caring for children, Arkansas Children’s statewide network of care ensures children have access to pediatric healthcare close to home in all four corners of our state, and beyond. Dr. Michele Moss Dr. Amit Agarwal Dr. Stephen Canon Dr. Ariel Berlinski Dr. Amy Scurlock Dr. Tamara Perry Dr. Charles James
Dr. Gresham Richter Dr. Hannah Beene-Lowder Dr. Freedom Perkins Jr. Dr. Jill Fussell Dr. Richard Jackson Dr. Charles Glasier Dr. Sharon Napier
Dr. Charles Bower Dr. Stacie Jones Dr. Jay Kincannon Dr. Gregory Sharp Dr. Joshua Kennedy Dr. Robert Pesek Dr. M. Dassinger III
Dr. Thomas Best Dr. David Becton Dr. Abby Nolder Dr. Kimo Stine Dr. Robert Hopkins Jr. Dr. Theresa Wyrick Dr. John Dornhoffer
archildrens.org
DERMATOLOGY Shelley White Russell, MD Conway Regional Medical Center Russell Dermatology Of Conway 2425 Dave Ward Drive, Suite 202 Conway, AR 72034 501-328-5050 Medical Dermatology DERMATOLOGY Christopher P Schach, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Ozark Dermatology 4375 North Vantage Drive, Suite 305 Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-443-5100 DERMATOLOGY Daniel F. Smith, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Dermatology Group of Arkansas 9601 Baptist Health Drive, Suite 690 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-227-8422 Skin Cancer Acne DERMATOLOGY Kevin St. Clair, MD Ozark Dermatology 4375 North Vantage Drive, Suite 305 Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-443-5100
DEVELOPMENTAL-BEHAVIORAL PEDIATRICS Jill J. Fussell, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital James Hill Dennis Developmental Center 1301 Wolfe Street, 1st Floor Little Rock, AR 72202 501-364-1830 Developmental & Behavioral Disorders DIAGNOSTIC RADIOLOGY Charles M. Glasier, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way Little Rock, AR 72202 501-364-1175 Pediatric Radiology DIAGNOSTIC RADIOLOGY Danna F. Grear, MD Washington Regional Medical Center The Breast Center 55 West Sunbridge Drive Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-442-6266 DIAGNOSTIC RADIOLOGY Charles A. James, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way Little Rock, AR 72205 501-364-1175 Pediatric Radiology
DERMATOLOGY P. Craig Stites, MD Baptist Health-Fort Smith The Dermatology Center 7900 Dallas Street Fort Smith, AR 72903 479-242-6647
DIAGNOSTIC RADIOLOGY Kevin L. Pope, MD Washington Regional Medical Center The Breast Center 55 West Sunbridge Drive Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-442-6266
DERMATOLOGY Brian S. Wayne, MD CHI St. Vincent Infirmary Little Rock Dermatology Clinic 500 South University Avenue, Suite 301 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-664-4161 Medical Dermatology, Cosmetic Dermatology, Skin Cancer
ENDOCRINOLOGY, DIABETES & METABOLISM Donald Bodenner, MD/PhD UAMS Medical Center 4301 West Markham Street Little Rock, AR 72205 501-603-1550 Thyroid Disorders, Parathyroid Disorders
DERMATOLOGY Marl A. L Wirges, MD UAMS Medical Center Pinnacle Dermatology 16115 St. Vincent Way, Suite 300 Little Rock, AR 72223 501-817-3923 Medical Dermatology Dermatologic Surgery, Cosmetic Dermatology DERMATOLOGY Henry Keung Wong, MD/PhD UAMS Medical Center 4301 West Markham Street Slot 576 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-686-5960 Cutaneous Lymphoma, Medical Dermatology, Connective Tissue Disorders, Psoriasis/Eczema
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ENDOCRINOLOGY, DIABETES & METABOLISM Robert S. Weinstein, MD UAMS Medical Center 4301 West Markham Street Little Rock, AR 72205 501-526-1020 Osteoporosis, Paget’s Disease of Bone
FAMILY MEDICINE David L. King, MD Baptist Health-Fort Smith UAMS-Ahec Family Medical Center 1301 Southeast Street Fort Smith, AR 72901 479-785-2431 Preventive Medicine, Diabetes, Hypertension
FAMILY MEDICINE Bryan H. Clardy, MD Baptist Health-Fort Smith UAMS-Ahec Family Medical Center 1301 Southeast Street Fort Smith, AR 72901 479-785-2431 Preventive Medicine, Chronic Illness, Obstetrics
FAMILY MEDICINE Douglas Maglothin, MD NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital 1111 Windover Dr. Jonesboro, AR 72401 870-936-7130
FAMILY MEDICINE Hugh G. Donnell, MD Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas Mercy Clinic Family Medicine and Obstetrics 2708 South Rife Medical Lane, Suite 130 Rogers, AR 72758 479-338-5555 Obstetrics FAMILY MEDICINE Kevin C. Hiegel, MD Little Rock Family Practice 701 North University Avenue Suite 100 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-664-4810 FAMILY MEDICINE W. Scott Hoke, MD NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital NEA Baptist Woodsprings Clinic 2205 West Parker Road Jonesboro, AR 72404 870-933-9250 FAMILY MEDICINE Jamie D. Howard, MD UAMS Medical Center UAMS Family Medical Center 521 Jack Stephens Drive Little Rock, AR 72205 501-686-8000 Preventive Medicine
ENDOCRINOLOGY, DIABETES & METABOLISM Kevin D. Ganong, MD NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital NEA Baptist Clinic 4802 East Johnson Avenue Jonesboro, AR 72401 870-936-8000
FAMILY MEDICINE Tabasum Imran, MD Baptist Health-Fort Smith UAMS Family Medical Center 1301 Southeast Street Fort Smith, AR 72901 479-785-2431 Preventive Medicine
ENDOCRINOLOGY, DIABETES & METABOLISM Adam J. Maass, MD Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas 2708 Rife Med Ln. Rogers, AR 72758 479-338-3720
FAMILY MEDICINE Katherine A. Irish-Clardy, MD UAMS Medical Center UAMS-Ahec Family Medical Center 1301 Southeast Street Fort Smith, AR 72901 479-785-2431 Preventive Medicine, Women’s Health
ARKANSAS TIMES
FAMILY MEDICINE Russell E. Mayo, MD UAMS Medical Center UAMS Family Medical Center 3417 U of A. Way Texarkana, AR 71854 870-779-6000 Preventive Medicine, Diabetes FAMILY MEDICINE Craig McDaniel, MD Family Physicians of Jonesboro 3104 Apache Drive Jonesboro, AR 72401 870-932-2499 FAMILY MEDICINE Aaron Jay Mitchell, MD Mitchell Family Medicine 924 State Highway 77 Marion, AR 72364 870-739-8670 FAMILY MEDICINE Daniel K. Pace, MD Unity Health - Searcy Medical Center 2900 Hawkins Drive Searcy, AR 72143 501-278-2800 FAMILY MEDICINE David Barton Sills, MD Baptist Health-Fort Smith Sills Family Medicine 8101 McClure Drive, Suite 203 Fort Smith, AR 72916 479-242-2577 Concierge Medicine FAMILY MEDICINE Matthew G. Steed, MD Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas Mercy Clinic Family Medicine and Obstetrics 2708 South Rife Medical Lane, Suite 130 Rogers, AR 72758 479-338-5555 Preventive Medicine, Obstetrics FAMILY MEDICINE James B. Tilley, MD Conway Regional Medical Center Tilley Family Medicine 495 Hogan Lane, Suite 1 Conway, AR 72034 501-327-1150
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GASTROENTEROLOGY Terence L. Angtuaco, MD Premier Gastroenterology 10915 North Rodney Parham Road Little Rock, AR 72210 501-747-2828 GASTROENTEROLOGY Angelo G. Coppol A. Jr., MD Premier Gastroenterology 10915 North Rodney Parham Road Little Rock, AR 72212 501-747-2828 Weight Management, Colon Cancer Screening, Endoscopy & Colonoscopy, Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography GASTROENTEROLOGY J. Craig Davis, MD CHI St. Vincent North Gastro Arkansas 409 North University Avenue Little Rock, AR 72205 501-664-6980 GASTROENTEROLOGY Otis T. Gordon, MD CHI St. Vincent Infirmary CHI St. Vincent Gastroenterology Clinic 417 North University Avenue Little Rock, AR 72205 501-666-0249 Interventional Endoscopy GASTROENTEROLOGY M. Bruce Johnson, MD CHI St. Vincent North Gastro Arkansas 409 North University Avenue Little Rock, AR 72205 501-664-6980 GASTROENTEROLOGY Angela K Nutt, MD Baptist Health Medical CenterNorth Little Rock Gastro Arkansas 409 North University Avenue Little Rock, AR 72205 501-664-6980 Gastrointestinal Disorders, Endoscopy GASTROENTEROLOGY Chad E. Paschall, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Fayetteville Diagnostic Clinic 3344 North Futrall Drive Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-582-7230 GASTROENTEROLOGY Jaymie H. Pennington, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Gastro Arkansas 409 North University Avenue Little Rock, AR 72205 501-664-6980 Gastrointestinal Disorders
GASTROENTEROLOGY Hrair Simonian, MD Baptist Health-Fort Smith Baptist Health Gastroenterology Center 1001 Towson Avenue Fort Smith, AR 72901 479-709-7430 GASTROENTEROLOGY R. Paul Svoboda, MD Premier Gastroenterology 10915 North Rodney Parham Road Little Rock, AR 72212 501-747-2828 Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Capsule Endoscopy, Colon Cancer Screening, Endoscopy & Colonoscopy GASTROENTEROLOGY Robert T. Wells, MD Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas Mercy Clinic Gastroenterology 2708 South Rife Medical Lane, Suite 300 Rogers, AR 72758 479-338-3030 GYNECOLOGIC ONCOLOGY Alexander F. Burnett, MD UAMS Medical Center 4301 West Markham Street Slot 793 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-686-8522 Laparoscopic Surgery, Fertility, Preservation in Cancer, Gynecologic Cancers GYNECOLOGIC ONCOLOGY Randall D. Hightower, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Washington Regional Gynecologic Oncology Clinic 3 East Appleby Road Suite 201 Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-404-1070 Laparoscopic Surgery, Gynecologic Cancers GYNECOLOGIC ONCOLOGY Joseph J. Ivy, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Highlands Oncology 808 South 52nd Street Rogers, AR 72758 479-936-9900 Gynecologic Cancers, Ovarian Cancer, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Robotic Surgery HAND SURGERY G. Thomas Frazier, MD UAMS Medical Center UAMS Orthopaedic Clinic 600 Autumn Road Little Rock, AR 72211 501-526-1046 Microvascular Surgery Hand & Wrist Injuries, Arthroscopic Surgery, Elbow Injuries
Congratulations to the Top Doctors in Arkansas At UAMS, we are honored to work alongside these expert UAMS College of Medicine physicians who practice at the UAMS Medical Center, Arkansas Children’s Hospital and the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System. In addition to Castle Connolly Top Doctors recognition by their peers, our doctors are highly rated by the patients they serve. Using our online tool, you can see reviews and comments from UAMS patients. Providing information to help you choose the best doctor is one of the ways we are ensuring you have what you need to make informed decisions about your health care. From common injuries and illnesses to the most complex conditions, our specialists are highly trained and skilled to provide the best in medical care. Visit UAMS.Health/topdocs21 or call 501-686-8000
HAND SURGERY C. Noel Henley, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Ozark Orthopaedics 3317 North Wimberly Drive Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-521-2752 Hand & Wrist Surgery, Elbow Surgery, Arthritis, Reconstructive Surgery HAND SURGERY Brian Norton, MD OrthoArkansas 800 Fair Park Boulevard Little Rock, AR 72204 501-500-3500 Microsurgery, Arthroscopic, Surgery-Wrist
INTERNAL MEDICINE Ihab Herraka, MD Baptist Health-Fort Smith Liver Care Clinic 3416 Old Greenwood Road Fort Smith, AR 72903 479-242-2888 INTERNAL MEDICINE Robert Hopkins Jr, MD UAMS Medical Center UAMS Outpatient Center Internal Medicine Clinic 4110 Outpatient Circle, Suite 2508 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-526-1000 Preventive Medicine
HAND SURGERY Theresa Wyrick, MD UAMS Medical Center UAMS Orthopaedic Clinic 600 Autumn Road Little Rock, AR 72211 501-320-7776 HEMATOLOGY Peter D. Emanuel, MD CHI St. Vincent Infirmary 1 St. Vincent Circle, Suite 220 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-552-6100 Myeloproliferative Disorders, Myelodysplastic Syndromes, Leukemia-Chronic, Lymphocytic Leukemia & Lymphoma INFECTIOUS DISEASE Mary Burgess, MD Conway Regional Medical Center Conway Regional Infectious Disease Center 525 Western Avenue Suite 301 Conway, AR 72034 501-513-5295 Transplant Medicine INFECTIOUS DISEASE Mallory Smith, MD Conway Regional Medical Center Conway Regional Infectious Disease Center 525 Western Avenue Suite 301 Conway, AR 72034 501-513-5295 INTERNAL MEDICINE Mary N. Ford, MD Fayetteville Diagnostic Clinic 3344 North Futrall Drive Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-582-7350 Preventive Medicine, Diabetes, Hypertension INTERNAL MEDICINE William E. Golden, MD UAMS Medical Center UAMS Outpatient Center Internal Medicine Clinic 4110 Outpatient Circle, Suite 2508 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-526-1000
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INTERNAL MEDICINE Blair Greenwood, MD Conway Regional Medical Center Mayflower Medical Clinic 606 Highway 365 Mayflower, AR 72106 501-470-7413
ARKANSAS TIMES
INTERNAL MEDICINE Raymond B. Mahan, MD Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas Mercy Clinic Internal Medicine 1002 South 52nd Street Rogers, AR 72758 479-338-3750 INTERNAL MEDICINE Sara G. Tariq, MD UAMS Medical Center UAMS Outpatient Center Internal Medicine Clinic 4110 Outpatient Circle, Suite 2508 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-526-1000 INTERNAL MEDICINE Rachel R. White, MD CHI St. Vincent North CHI St. Vincent Family Clinic 1110 West Main Street Jacksonville, AR 72076 501-982-2108 Pediatrics MATERNAL & FETAL MEDICINE Nafis A. Dajani, MD UAMS Medical Center 4301 West Markham Street Little Rock, AR 72205 501-526-1000 Diabetes in Pregnancy, Prenatal Diagnosis MATERNAL & FETAL MEDICINE Paul Wendel, MD UAMS Medical Center UAMS Health Women’s Center 6119 Midtown Avenue Little Rock, AR 72205 501-296-1800 MEDICAL ONCOLOGY Isam Ali Abdel-Karim, MD St. Bernard’s Cancer Center 225 East Jackson Avenue Jonesboro, AR 72401 870-207-8178
MEDICAL ONCOLOGY Joseph M. Beck II, MD CHI St. Vincent Infirmary CHI St. Vincent Oncology Clinic 500 South University Avenue Suite 512 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-666-7007 MEDICAL ONCOLOGY Simeon Jaggernauth, DO Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas Landmark Cancer Center 2526 South Pinnacle Hills Parkway Rogers, AR 72758 479-271-8900 MEDICAL ONCOLOGY Issam Makhoul, MD UAMS Medical Center 4301 West Markham Street Little Rock, AR 72205 501-296-1200 Gastrointestinal Cancer Breast Cancer Colon Cancer NEPHROLOGY James Bruton, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Renal Care Associates 1500 Dodson Avenue, Suite 280 Fort Smith, AR 72901 479-709-7480 NEPHROLOGY James Henry, MD Baptist Health-Fort Smith Renal Care Associates 1500 Dodson Avenue, Suite 280 Fort Smith, AR 72901 479-709-7480 NEPHROLOGY Michael Moulton, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Renal Specialists of Northwest Arkansas 813 Founders Park Drive, Suite 203 Springdale, AR 72762 479-463-2440 NEPHROLOGY Avin D. Rekhi, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Renal Specialists of Northwest Arkansas 813 Founders Park Drive, Suite 203 Springdale, AR 72762 479-463-2440 NEUROLOGICAL SURGERY Ali F. Krisht, MD CHI St. Vincent Infirmary Arkansas Neuroscience Institute 6020 Warden Road Suite 100 Sherwood, AR 72120 501-552-6400 Skull Base Surgery, Meningioma, Vascular Neurosurgery
NEUROLOGICAL SURGERY T. Glenn Pait, MD UAMS Medical Center 4301 West Markham Street Slot 826 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-686-5270 Pain-Back, Spinal DisordersDegenerative, Spinal Cord, Tumors, Spinal Trauma NEUROLOGICAL SURGERY Gregory Ricca, MD NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital NEA Baptist Clinic 4802 East Johnson Avenue 4th Floor Jonesboro, AR 72401 870-936-8000 Endoscopic, Surgery, Spinal Surgery NEUROLOGICAL SURGERY Brad A. Thomas, MD Arkansas Surgical Hospital Little Rock Neurosurgery Clinic 5 St. Vincent Circle Suite 502 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-558-0200 Spinal Surgery, Degenerative Disc Disease, Pain-Low Back & Neck NEUROLOGY Rohit Dhall, MD UAMS Medical Center Movement Disorders Clinic Jackson T. Stephens Spine and Neuroscience Institute 501 Jack Stephens Drive Little Rock, AR 72205 501-686-5838 Parkinson’s Disease, Movement Disorders, Neurodegenerative Disorders, Deep Brain Stimulation NEUROLOGY Timothy E. Freyaldenhoven, MD/PhD Conway Regional Medical Center Conway Regional Neuroscience 2200 Ada Avenue, Suite 305 Conway, AR 72034 501-932-0352 NEUROLOGY Margaret Tremwel, MD, PhD Washington Regional Medical Center Washington Regional J.B. Hunt Neuroscience Institute 3 East Appleby Road Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-404-1250 NEURORADIOLOGY Adewumi D. Amole, MD UAMS Medical Center 4301 West Markham Street Little Rock, AR 72205 501-686-5745 Interventional Neuroradiology, Brain Aneurysm, Stroke
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OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY Scott A. Bailey, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Parkhill The Clinic for Women 3215 North Northhills Boulevard, Suite 3 Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-521-4433 OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY Brian Burton, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock The Woman’s Clinic 9601 Baptist Health Drive, Suite 1200 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-664-4131 Pregnancy Gynecologic Surgery Minimally Invasive Surgery OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY Kay Chandler, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Cornerstone Clinic for Women 9500 Baptist Health Drive, Suite 100 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-224-5500 Gynecologic Surgery, Endometriosis, Hormonal Disorders OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY Christie M. Cobb, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Little Rock Gynecology & Obstetrics 11415 Executive Center Drive Little Rock, AR 72205 501-224-5220 Gynecology Only
OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY Mary P. Hardman, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Washington Regional HerHealth Clinic 3215 North Hills Boulevard Suite B Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-463-5500 OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY Clinton T. Hutchinson, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Arkansas Women’s Center 9500 Kanis Road, Suite 200 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-224-6699 Pregnancy, Gynecologic Surgery, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Robotic Surgery OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY Jill K. Jennings, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock The Woman’s Clinic 9601 Baptist Health Drive, Suite 1200 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-664-4131 Pregnancy OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY Stephen R. Marks, MD Baptist Health Medical CenterNorth Little Rock Marks, Alston & Chang 3343 Springhill Drive, Suite 1005 North Little Rock, AR 72117 501-904-2904
OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY Andrew A. Cole, MD Conway Regional Medical Center Conway OBGYN 2180 Ada Avenue Suite 300 Conway, AR 72034 501-327-6547
OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY Michael E. Potts, MD Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas Mercy Clinic ObGyn 3333 Pinnacle Hills Parkway, Suite 600 Rogers, AR 72758 479-338-4000
OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY Ashley Deed, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Central Clinic for Women 9601 Baptist Health Drive, Suite 500 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-227-5885 Pregnancy
OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY Lawrence E. Schmitz, MD Northwest Medical CenterBentonville Lifespring Women’s Healthcare 1200 Southeast 28th Street, Suite 2 Bentonville, AR 72712 479-271-0005
OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY Charles Dunn, MD NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital NEA Baptist Clinic 4802 East Johnson Avenue Jonesboro, AR 72401 870-936-8000 OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY Jennifer S. Gregory, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Arkansas Women’s Center 9500 Kanis Road, Suite 200 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-224-6699
OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY Roger Scow, MD Magnolia Regional Medical Center Magnolia Women’s Center 707 North Washington Magnolia, AR 71753 870-235-3608 OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY Amy C. Wiedower, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Central Clinic for Women 9601 Baptist Health Drive, Suite 500 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-227-5885 Pregnancy
OPHTHALMOLOGY Serrhel G. Adams Jr, MD/PhD Northwest Medical CenterSpringdale Northwest Arkansas Retina Associates 5501 Willow Creek Drive, Suite 203B Springdale, AR 72762 479-419-9393 OPHTHALMOLOGY David L. Baker Jr, MD Conway Regional Medical Center Baker Eye Institute 810 Merriman Street Conway, AR 72032 501-329-3937 OPHTHALMOLOGY J. David Bradford, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Retina Specialists of Arkansas 5 St. Vincent Circle Suite 201 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-978-5500 Retina/Vitreous Surgery OPHTHALMOLOGY Wade Brock, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital Arkansas Oculoplastic Surgery 9800 Baptist Health Drive Suite 500 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-223-2244 OPHTHALMOLOGY Christian C. Hester, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Little Rock Eye Clinic 201 Executive Court, Suite A Little Rock, AR 72205 501-224-5658 Cataract Surgery, Laser Refractive Surgery OPHTHALMOLOGY Robert B. Knox, MD Mercy Hospital Fort Smith Eye Group MD 7901 Dallas Street Fort Smith, AR 72903 479-782-8892 OPHTHALMOLOGY Lydia F. Lane, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Little Rock Eye Clinic 201 Executive Court, Suite A Little Rock, AR 72205 501-224-5658 Glaucoma OPHTHALMOLOGY Matthew Margolis, DO St. Bernards Medical Center Southern Eye Associates 601 East Matthews Avenue Jonesboro, AR 72401 870-935-6396 LASIK-Refractive Surgery, Cataract Surgery, Oculoplastic Surgery
OPHTHALMOLOGY Sharon M. Napier, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital Vold Vision 2783 North Shiloh Drive Fayetteville, AR 72704 479-442-8653 Pediatric Ophthalmology, Strabismus-Adult & Pediatric Botox
Congratulations to Stacy S. Griffin, M.D. on being selected a 2021 Arkansas Top Doctor!
OPHTHALMOLOGY Edward M. Penick III, MD CHI St. Vincent Infirmary Central Arkansas Ophthalmology 5300 West Markham Street, Suite 101 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-664-5354 Cataract Surgery, LASIK-Refractive Surgery, Intraocular Lens Laser Surgery OPHTHALMOLOGY David R Rozas, MD CHI St. Vincent Infirmary Central Arkansas Ophthalmology 5300 West Markham Street, Suite 101 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-664-5354 Cataract Surgery, Glaucoma, Diabetic Eye Disease/Retinopathy
18 Corporate Hill Dr. Suite 110 (501) 224-1156 • 1-800-514-4343 www.littlerockallergy.com
OPHTHALMOLOGY Thomas M. Stank, MD St. Bernards Medical Center Southern Eye Associates 601 East Matthews Avenue Jonesboro, AR 72401 870-935-6396 LASIK-Refractive Surgery, Cataract Surgery, Oculoplastic Surgery, Glaucoma OPHTHALMOLOGY Phillip J. Suffridge, MD Saline Memorial Hospital Ophthalmology Associates of Benton 3 Medical Park Drive, Suite 300 Benton, AR 72015 501-778-1113 Cataract Surgery OPHTHALMOLOGY Steven D .Vold, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Vold Vision 2783 North Shiloh Drive Fayetteville, AR 72704 479-442-8653 ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY C. Lowry Barnes, MD UAMS Medical Center UAMS Orthopaedic Clinic 2 Shackleford West Boulevard Little Rock, AR 72211 501-614-2663 Hip & Knee Replacement, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Arthritis-Hip & Knee
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ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY Robert Bryan Benafield Jr, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Ozark Orthopaedics 3317 North Wimberly Drive Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-521-2752 Hand & Upper Extremity Surgery, Fractures ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY Grant W. Bennett, MD Conway Regional Medical Center Conway Orthopaedic & Sports Medicine Clinic 550 Club Lane Conway, AR 72034 501-329-1510 Sports Injuries, Sports Medicine ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY Jason C. Brandt, MD NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital NEA Baptist Clinic 4802 East Johnson Avenue Jonesboro, AR 72401 870-936-8000 Sports Medicine, Hip & Knee Replacement ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY Thomas Day, MD Unity Health - Searcy Medical Center 2900 Hawkins Drive Searcy, AR 72143 501-278-2868 ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY Christopher Dougherty, DO Northwest Medical CenterBentonville The Agility Center 1504 South East 28th Street Bentonville, AR 72712 479-273-1111 Arthroscopic Surgery
ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY Jerry Lorio, MD Saline Memorial Hospital Arkansas Bone & Joint 2010 Active Way Benton, AR 72019 501-315-0984 Knee Replacement ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY Kathryn J. McCarthy, MD CHI St. Vincent Infirmary OrthoArkansas 800 Fair Park Boulevard Little Rock, AR 72204 501-500-3500 Spinal Surgery, Spinal DisordersDegenerative, Spinal Trauma, Scoliosis ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY D. Gordon Newbern, MD CHI St. Vincent Infirmary Arkansas Specialty Orthopaedics 800 Fairpark Boulevard Little Rock, AR 72204 501-500-3500 Hip & Knee Replacement ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY Richard W. Nicholas Jr, MD UAMS Medical Center 4301 West Markham Street Little Rock, AR 72205 501-296-1200 Bone & Soft Tissue Tumors
ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY Paul K. Edwards, MD Bowen Hefley Orthopedics 5 St. Vincent Circle Little Rock, AR 72205 501-663-6455 Arthritis-Hip & Knee, Hip Replacement & Revision, Knee Replacement & Revision ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY Robert L. Garrison II, MD UAMS Medical Center UAMS Outpatient Center Orthopaedic Clinic 4110 Outpatient Circle Little Rock, AR 72205 501-686-8321 Trauma Fractures ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY Charles Kristian Hanby, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Ozark Orthopaedics 3317 North Wimberly Drive Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-521-2752 Hip & Knee Surgery, Sports Injuries 46 DECEMBER 2021
ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY Jeffrey W. Johnson, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Ozark Orthopaedics 3317 North Wimberly Drive Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-521-2752 Hand & Upper Extremity Surgery
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ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY Jason H. Pleimann, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Ozark Orthopaedics 3317 North Wimberly Drive Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-521-2752 Foot & Ankle Surgery, Sports Medicine, Trauma, Reconstructive Surgery ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY Jason A. Smith, MD Jefferson Regional Medical Center Jefferson Regional Orthopaedic & Spine Center 1609 West 40th Avenue Suite 501 Pine Bluff, AR 71603 870-534-3449 Spinal Reconstructive Surgery, Scoliosis
ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY Joel N. Smith, MD Arkansas Surgical Hospital Martin Orthopaedics 2504 McCain Boulevard, Suite 101 North Little Rock, AR 72116 501-406-7640 Sports Injuries, Arthroscopic Surgery, Shoulder Replacement, Hip & Knee Surgery ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY H. Scott Smith, MD Conway Regional Medical Center Conway Orthopaedic & Sports Medicine Clinic 550 Club Lane Conway, AR 72034 501-329-1510 Hip & Knee Replacement, Shoulder Replacement ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY John L. VanderShilden, MD UAMS Medical Center 4301 West Markham Street Little Rock, AR 72205 501-686-7823 Sports Medicine ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY Christopher M. Young, MD CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs CHI St. Vincent Orthopaedics 1662 Higdon Ferry Road, Suite 300 Hot Springs, AR 71913 501-321-2663 Sports Injuries Trauma Fractures OTOLARYNGOLOGY Stephen W. Cashman, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Center ENT & Allergy Center 2100 North Green Acres Road Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-521-0455 Sinus Disorders, Allergy OTOLARYNGOLOGY John L. Dornhoffer, MD UAMS Medical Center 4301 West Markham Street Little Rock, AR 72205 501-686-5878 Hearing & Balance Disorders, Neuro-Otology Hearing Disorders/ Tinnitus OTOLARYNGOLOGY Gary R. Highfill, MD Select Specialty Hospital-Fort Smith Baptist Health Ear, Nose & Throat Center 520 Towson Avenue, Suite A Fort Smith, AR 72901 479-573-7985 OTOLARYNGOLOGY John R. Lee, MD Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas Mercy Clinic ENT 5204 West Redbud Street Rogers, AR 72758 479-636-0110
OTOLARYNGOLOGY David M. Lewis, MD St. Bernard’s Medical Group 621 East Matthews Avenue Jonesboro, AR 72401 870-932-6799 OTOLARYNGOLOGY Barbara K. Morris, MD Baptist Health Medical CenterLittle Rock Arkansas Otolaryngology Center 10201 Kanis Road Little Rock, AR 72205 501-227-5050 OTOLARYNGOLOGY Gresham T. Richter, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way Little Rock, AR 72202 501-364-4000 Pediatric Otolaryngology OTOLARYNGOLOGY Jumin Sunde, MD UAMS Medical Center 4301 West Markham Street Little Rock, AR 72205 501-296-1200 Head & Neck Cancer & Surgery OTOLARYNGOLOGY Ozlem Tulunay, MD UAMS Medical Center UAMS Ear, Nose & Throat Clinic 501 Jack Stephens Drive, 3rd Floor Little Rock, AR 72205 501-686-8000 Head & Neck Surgery OTOLARYNGOLOGY/FACIAL PLASTIC SURGERY Bryan Lansford, MD NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital NEA Baptist Clinic 4802 East Johnson Avenue Jonesboro, AR 72401 870-936-8000 Nose Job/Rhinoplasty, Eyelid Surgery/Blepharoplasty OTOLARYNGOLOGY/FACIAL PLASTIC SURGERY Dorothy L. Mellon, MD Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas Northwest Medical Center 1502 South East 28th Street, Suite 6 Bentonville, AR 72712 479-464-9800 Facial Cosmetic Surgery, Head & Neck Surgery OTOLARYNGOLOGY/FACIAL PLASTIC SURGERY Gary M. Petrus, MD Baptist Health Medical CenterNorth Little Rock The Petrus Center for Aesthetic Surgery & Hair Transplantation 4137 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite A North Little Rock, AR 72116 501-614-3052 Cosmetic Surgery-Face & Neck, Hair Restoration/Transplant, Rhinoplasty, Botox
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OTOLARYNGOLOGY/FACIAL PLASTIC SURGERY Suzanne W. Yee, MD Baptist Health Medical CenterLittle Rock Cosmetic & Laser Surgery Center 12600 Cantrell Road, Suite 100 Little Rock, AR 72223 501-222-8758 Cosmetic Surgery, Laser Surgery, Botox & Collagen Therapy, Facial Rejuvenation PAIN MEDICINE Ahmed Ghaleb, MD Advanced Spine and Pain Center 11220 Executive Center Drive Little Rock, AR 72211 501-219-1114 PAIN MEDICINE Stephen A. Irwin, MD NWA Interventional Pain 5302 West Village Parkway Suite 1 Rogers, AR 72758 479-268-6090 Pain Management Interventional, Pain Management PEDIATRIC CARDIOLOGY Thomas H. Best, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way Little Rock, AR 72202 501-364-4000 Echocardiography Echocardiography-Transesophageal Fetal Echocardiography PEDIATRIC CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE Michele Moss, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way Slot 512-3 Little Rock, AR 72202 501-364-1479 PEDIATRIC HEMATOLOGYONCOLOGY David L Becton, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way Little Rock, AR 72202 501-236-4858 PEDIATRIC HEMATOLOGYONCOLOGY Kimo C. Stine, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way Little Rock, AR 72202 501-364-4000 PEDIATRIC OTOLARYNGOLOGY Charles Bower, MD Arkansas Children’s Northwest 2601 Gene George Boulevard Springdale, AR 72762 479-725-6880 Airway Disorders, Sleep Disorders/ Apnea, Sinus Disorders/Surgery
PEDIATRIC OTOLARYNGOLOGY Abby Nolder, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way Little Rock, AR 72202 501-364-4000 Airway Disorders, Ear Infections PEDIATRIC PULMONOLOGY Amit Agarwal, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way Slot 512-17 Little Rock, AR 72202 501-364-4000 PEDIATRIC PULMONOLOGY Ariel Berlinski, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way Slot 512-17 Little Rock, AR 72202 501-364-4000 PEDIATRIC SURGERY M. Sidney Dassinger III, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way Little Rock, AR 72202 501-364-4000 Neonatal Surgery, Chest Wall Deformities, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Cancer, Surgery PEDIATRIC SURGERY Richard J Jackson, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way Slot 837 Little Rock, AR 72202 501-364-1446 Pediatric Cancers, Neonatal Surgery, Robotic Surgery PEDIATRIC UROLOGY Stephen Canon, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital 1 Children’s Way Little Rock, AR 72202 501-364-4000 PEDIATRICS Hannah L Beene-Lowder, MD Arkansas Children’s Hospital Centers for Children North West 519 Latham Drive Lowell, AR 72745 479-756-4157 PEDIATRICS Lance A. Faddis, MD Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas Mercy Clinic Primary Care 1225 East Centerton Boulevard Centerton, AR 72719 479-795-1301 PEDIATRICS Eugene Lu, MD CHI St. Vincent Infirmary Arkansas Pediatric Clinic 500 South University Avenue Doctors Building, Suite 317 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-664-4117
Congratulations to DR. MELISSA GRAHAM on being selected a 2021 Arkansas Top Doctor!
Doctors Building, Suite 215 500 S. University Avenue, Little Rock 501-420-1085 | www.advancedallergyar.com
congratulations TO OUR 2021 ARKANSAS TOP DOCTORS!
Caleb Bozeman, MD
Keith Mooney, MD
All of our AU providers work day in and day out to improve the lives of Arkansans, and we are grateful to have them on our team. Thank you for all you do! Book and appointment online with one of our outstanding providers at www.arkansasurology.com
Jeffery Marotte, MD
Gail Reede Jones, MD
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PEDIATRICS R. Alan Lucas, MD Conway Regional Medical Center Arkansas Pediatrics of Conway 2710 College Avenue Conway, AR 72034 501-329-1800 PEDIATRICS Jana M. Martin, MD National Park Medical Center Hot Springs Pediatric Clinic 1920 Malvern Ave Hot Springs, AR 71901 501-321-1314 PEDIATRICS Misty D. Nolen, MD Saline Memorial Hospital Central Arkansas Pediatric Clinic 2301 Springhill Road, Suite 200 Benton, AR 72019 501-847-2500 PEDIATRICS Josephine H. Park, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Northwest Arkansas Pediatrics 3380 North Futrall Drive Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-442-7322 PEDIATRICS William Patton, MD Forrest City Medical Center East Arkansas Children’s Clinic 901 Holiday Drive Forrest City, AR 72335 870-633-0880 PEDIATRICS Christopher A. Schluterman, MD Mercy Hospital Fort Smith Pediatric Partners 7303 Rogers Avenue Suite 201 Little Rock, AR 72903 479-478-7200 PEDIATRICS Martha Sharkey, MD Rainbow Pediatrics Clinic 3159 East Mission Boulevard, Suite 1 Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-966-4664 PEDIATRICS Julie L. Tate, MD Northwest Medical CenterBentonville Living Tree Pediatrics 2900 Medical Center Parkway Suite 370 Bentonville, AR 72712 479-282-2966 PEDIATRICS David M .Weed, MD Saline Memorial Hospital Central Arkansas Pediatric Clinic 2301 Springhill Road, Suite 200 Benton, AR 72019 501-847-2500
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PHYSICAL MEDICINE & REHABILITATION Kevin J. Collins, MD CHI St. Vincent North Rehabilitation Medicine Consultants of Arkansas 6020 Warden Road Suite 200 Sherwood, AR 72120 501-945-1888 Spinal Rehabilitation, Electromyography (EMG), Musculoskeletal Disorders PHYSICAL MEDICINE & REHABILITATION Thomas Kiser, MD UAMS Medical Center Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinic Jackson T. Stephens Spine and Neuroscience Institute 501 Jack Stephens Drive Little Rock, AR 72205 501-221-1311 PHYSICAL MEDICINE & REHABILITATION Rani Haley Lindberg, MD UAMS Medical Center UAMS Orthopaedic Clinic 10815 Colonel Glenn Road Little Rock, AR 72204 501-686-8000 Brain Injury-Traumatic, Stroke Rehabilitation PHYSICAL MEDICINE & REHABILITATION Kevin Means, MD UAMS Medical Center Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinic Jackson T. Stephens Spine and Neuroscience Institute 501 Jack Stephens Drive Little Rock, AR 72205 501-221-1311 PLASTIC SURGERY David H. Bauer, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Arkansas Plastic Surgery 9500 Kanis Road, Suite 502 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-483-3806 Breast Augmentation, Breast Reconstruction, Liposuction & Body Contouring, Facial Rejuvenation PLASTIC SURGERY Adam G. Newman, MD Baxter Regional Medical Center Newman MD Plastic Surgery 130 East 9th Street Mountain Home, AR 72653 870-425-6398 Cosmetic Surgery Facial, Rejuvenation Reconstructive Plastic Surgery
PLASTIC SURGERY Melanie D Prince, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Prince Plastic Surgery 8201 Cantrell Road, Suite 150 Little Rock, AR 72227 501-225-3333 Breast Reconstruction & Augmentation, Liposuction & Body Contouring, Facial Cosmetic Surgery PLASTIC SURGERY Kristopher B. Shewmake, MD Shewmake Plastic Surgery 11220 Executive Center Drive Suite 201 Little Rock, AR 72211 501-492-8970 PSYCHIATRY Kathryn A. Panek, MD Methodist Counseling Clinic 74 West Sunbridge Drive Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-582-5565 PULMONARY DISEASE Kyle Hardy, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Fayetteville Diagnostic Clinic 3344 North Futrall Drive Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-582-7330 PULMONARY DISEASE Samer Homsi, MD CHI St. Vincent Infirmary CHI St. Vincent Little Rock Diagnostic Clinic 10001 Lile Drive Little Rock, AR 72205 501-552-0500 PULMONARY DISEASE Edward L. Jackson, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Fayetteville Diagnostic Clinic 3344 North Futrall Drive Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-582-7330 PULMONARY DISEASE Jason M. McKinney, MD Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas Mercy Clinic Pulmonology & Critical Care Medicine 2708 South Rife Medical Lane, Suite T20 Rogers, AR 72758 479-338-3080 PULMONARY DISEASE Arturo Meade, MD Baptist Health-Fort Smith Baptist Health Lung Center 1001 Towson Avenue Fort Smith, AR 72901 479-709-7433 Sleep Disorders
PULMONARY DISEASE Daniel S. Paul, MD Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas Mercy Clinic Pulmonology & Critical Care Medicine 2708 South Rife Medical Lane, Suite T20 Rogers, AR 72758 479-338-3080 Preventive Medicine, Lung Disease PULMONARY DISEASE Meredith M. Walker, MD NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital NEA Baptist Clinic 4802 East Johnson Avenue Jonesboro, AR 72401 870-936-8000 RADIATION ONCOLOGY Richard L. Crownover, MD/PhD UAMS Medical Center UAMS Radiation Oncology Center 4130 Shuffield Drive Little Rock, AR 72205 501-664-4568 Breast Cancer RADIATION ONCOLOGY Xiang Gao, MD/PhD CHI St. Vincent Infirmary CARTI Cancer Center 8901 CARTI Way 1st Floor Little Rock, AR 72205 501-906-3000 RADIATION ONCOLOGY Christopher C. Ross, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock CARTI Cancer Center 8901 CARTI Way Suite 201 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-906-3000 Lung Cancer, Gastrointestinal Cancer, Breast Cancer REPRODUCTIVE ENDOCRINOLOGY/INFERTILITY Michael M. Miller, MD Baptist Health Medical CenterNorth Little Rock Fertility & Gynecology Care Center 9500 Kanis Road, Suite 200 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-812-3458 Endometriosis, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, Infertility-IVF, Infertility REPRODUCTIVE ENDOCRINOLOGY/INFERTILITY Dean M. Moutos, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Arkansas Fertility & Gynecology 9101 Kanis Road, Suite 300 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-801-1200 RHEUMATOLOGY James Abraham III, MD Little Rock Diagnostic Clinic 10001 Lile Drive Little Rock, AR 72205 501-227-8000
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RHEUMATOLOGY Seth Berney, MD UAMS Medical Center UAMS Outpatient Center Rheumatology Clinic 4110 Outpatient Circle Little Rock, AR 72205 501-603-1919 RHEUMATOLOGY Leslie McCasland, MD Arthritis & Rheumatism Association 2231 Hill Park Cove Jonesboro, AR 72401 870-333-2721 RHEUMATOLOGY Charles Mills, MD Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas Mercy Specialties 1002 South 52th Street Rogers, AR 72758 479-338-3722 RHEUMATOLOGY Walton Toy, MD Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas Mercy Specialties 1002 South 52th Street Rogers, AR 72758 479-338-3722 SLEEP MEDICINE Caris Talburt Fitzgerald, MD UAMS Medical Center UAMS Sleep Clinic 11300 Financial Centre Parkway Little Rock, AR 72211 501-526-1020 Sleep Disorders SPORTS MEDICINE James C. Tucker, MD CHI St. Vincent Infirmary OrthoArkansas 800 Fair Park Boulevard Little Rock, AR 72204 501-500-3500 Sports Injuries, Shoulder Arthroscopic Surgery, Knee Surgery, Hip Surgery SURGERY Nabil Akkad, MD Baptist Health-Fort Smith Arkansas Surgical Group 1500 Dodson Avenue, Suite 250 Fort Smith, AR 72901 479-573-7940 SURGERY Chris M. Cate, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Baptist Health Surgical Clinic of Central Arkansas 9500 Kanis Road, Suite 501 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-227-9080 Laparoscopic Surgery, Endocrine Surgery, Vascular Surgery SURGERY Michael J. Cross, MD Highlands Oncology 3901 Parkway Circle Springdale, AR 72762 479-582-1000 Breast Cancer & Surgery
SURGERY Russell Degges, MD NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital NEA Baptist Clinic 4802 East Johnson Avenue Jonesboro, AR 72401 870-936-8000 SURGERY Ronda Henry-Tillman, MD UAMS Medical Center 4301 West Markham Street Little Rock, AR 72205 501-296-1200 SURGERY Jeffrey D. Kellar, MD Washington Regional Medical Center Ozark Surgical Associates 3017 Bob Younkin Drive, Suite 101 Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-521-1484 Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), Esophageal Disorders, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Hernia SURGERY Brock King, MD Conway Regional Medical Center Surgical Associates of Conway 525 Western Avenue Suite 203 Conway, AR 72034 501-327-4828 SURGERY Joshua E .Roller, MD Northwest Medical CenterSpringdale Roller Weight Loss & Advanced Surgery 1695 East Rainforest Road Fayetteville, AR 72703 479-445-6460 Bariatric/Obesity Surgery THORACIC & CARDIAC SURGERY F. Michael Bauer III, MD CHI St. Vincent Infirmary CHI St. Vincent Cardiovascular Surgery Clinic 5 St. Vincent Circle Suite 501 Little Rock, AR 72205 501-666-2894 Cardiac Surgery, Congenital Heart Disease, Coronary Artery Surgery THORACIC & CARDIAC SURGERY Frank E. Schmidt Jr, MD Northwest Medical CenterSpringdale Northwest Heart & Vascular Institute 601 West Maple Avenue, Suite 403 Springdale, AR 72764 479-757-4840 THORACIC & CARDIAC SURGERY Matthew Steliga, MD UAMS Medical Center 4301 West Markham Street Little Rock, AR 72205 501-5261000
THORACIC & CARDIAC SURGERY Daniel Richard Stevenson, MD St. Bernards Medical Center St. Bernards Heart & Vascular 201 East Oak Avenue Jonesboro, AR 72401 870-935-6729 UROLOGY Caleb B. BozeMan, MD Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Arkansas Urology 1300 Centerview Drive Little Rock, AR 72211 501-219-8900 Robotic Surgery UROLOGY Gail R. Jones, MD CHI St. Vincent North Arkansas Urology 1300 Centerview Drive Little Rock, AR 72211 501-219-8900
UROLOGY Nirmal K. Kilambi, MD Northwest Medical CenterSpringdale Northwest Arkansas Urology Associates 5401 Willow Creek Drive Springdale, AR 72762 479-521-8980 Minimally Invasive Surgery, Robotic Surgery UROLOGY Timothy D. Langford, MD UAMS Medical Center 4301 West Markham Street Little Rock, AR 72205 501-626-8000 Prostate Benign Disease (BPH), Prostate Cancer-Cryosurgery, Robotic Surgery
UROLOGY Jeffrey B. Marotte, MD Conway Regional Medical Center Arkansas Urology 1375 Superior Drive Conway, AR 72032 501-219-8900 UROLOGY D. Keith Mooney, MD CHI St. Vincent North Arkansas Urology 1300 Centerview Drive Little Rock, AR 72211 501-219-8900
VASCULAR SURGERY Mohammed M. Moursi, MD UAMS Medical Center Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System 4300 West 7th Street Little Rock, AR 72205 501-257-6917
VASCULAR & INTERVENTIONAL RADIOLOGY James C. Meek, DO UAMS Medical Center 4301 West Markham Street Little Rock, AR 72205 501-686-6124 Interventional Radiology
Congratulations to our physicians who have been selected as 2021 Top Doctors in Arkansas. Conway Regional has been the community’s hospital for 100 years, providing high-quality, compassionate care. When your family needs medical care, you can trust our award-winning team to provide the comprehensive care you deserve. Learn more at ConwayRegional.org.
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WASHINGTON REGIONAL MEDICAL SYSTEM Washington Regional Medical System, the only not-for-profit, community-owned and locally governed health care system in Northwest Arkansas, began as a county hospital in 1950 and is now one of the largest health care systems in the state. Nationally recognized for quality, the system employs over 3,300 team members, serving the Northwest Arkansas region with a 425-bed medical center, over 55 clinic locations and the area’s only Level II trauma center. Washington Regional offers Centers of Excellence in several specialties, including neurosciences, cardiovascular care, women and infants’ care, joint replacement, and senior care, so patients can receive world-class health care without leaving Northwest Arkansas. Named the No. 1 hospital in Arkansas for 2021-22 by U.S. News & World Report, Washington Regional Medical Center was rated as high performing for seven areas of care: stroke, abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart attack, heart failure, hip replacement and knee replacement. “Our mission is to improve the health of people in the communities we serve through compassionate, high-quality care, prevention and wellness education,” said Washington Regional President and CEO Larry Shackelford. “One of the ways we have fulfilled that commitment is by creating Centers of Excellence to provide community members with the specialized care they need here at home.” J.B. Hunt Transport Services Neuroscience Institute Providing the region’s most comprehensive care for disorders and injuries of the brain and spine, the Washington Regional J.B. Hunt Transport Services Neuroscience Institute includes the area’s only neurosurgical intensive care unit and six specialty clinics with experts in neurosurgery, neurology, stroke, interventional neuroradiology, conservative spine care and therapy, and interventional pain management. Washington Regional is the first health system in Northwest Arkansas and only the second hospital in Arkansas to earn Comprehensive Stroke Center certification by The Joint Commission. “Being designated as a Comprehensive Stroke Center means Washington Regional is equipped to care for the most complex stroke cases,” Shackelford said. “We are the only hospital in the Northwest Arkansas region 50 DECEMBER 2021
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that provides 24/7 in-person care with a stroke specialist.” Walker Heart Institute The Washington Regional Walker Heart Institute offers the region’s largest team of cardiovascular experts, including noninvasive cardiologists, interventional cardiologists, electrophysiologists and cardiovascular and thoracic surgeons. The institute also includes a 76-bed cardiology unit and a cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation program. “Our Walker Heart Institute is a leader in innovative procedures, including many minimally invasive treatment options” Shackelford said. These procedures include transcatheter aortic valve replacement, or TAVR, a minimally invasive surgical procedure in which a new heart valve replaces a diseased or failing valve, and WATCHMAN, an implant designed to be a permanent solution to taking blood thinners and reduce risk of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation. Women and Infants Center Designed to meet the needs of Northwest Arkansas’s growing families, the Washington Regional Women and Infants Center is home to the region’s largest neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU, and the only Ronald McDonald House in Northwest Arkansas. The Women and Infants Center includes a dedicated infant nutrition lab, which is equipped with specialized equipment for preparing milk and formula and also serves as a human milk depot in partnership with Oklahoma Mothers’ Milk Bank. Two leading women’s health Special Advertising Supplement of the Arkansas Times
clinics, HerHealth and Parkhill Clinic for Women, are also located within the Women and Infants Center. Total Joint Center Focused exclusively on the education, recovery and rehabilitation of individuals undergoing joint replacement. The Washington Regional Total Joint Center provides a dedicated 18-bed unit, and patients attend a special Joint Camp before their procedure to learn how to have the best results from their surgery. Washington Regional continues to invest in technology to better serve patients, including those undergoing joint replacement surgery, and became the first health system in Northwest Arkansas to offer the ROSA Knee System, a robotically assisted system that allows the surgeon to tailor each patient’s joint replacement to their unique anatomy, leading to better outcomes for patients. Pat Walker Center for Seniors Dedicated to the well-being of older adults, the Washington Regional Pat Walker Center for Seniors helps patients and their families navigate the changing physical and cognitive needs that can come with age. The Senior Health Clinic provides a multidisciplinary team approach and offers geriatric primary care, management of chronic conditions and evaluation of acute illnesses, while the Movement Disorders and Memory Disorders clinics offer state-of-the art treatment for conditions including Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Growing With Northwest Arkansas To keep pace with Northwest Arkansas’s growing health care needs, Washington Regional continues to make strategic investments in advanced technology and facilities. “We recently announced the acquisition of 15 acres of property adjoining our main campus in Fayetteville for future expansion,” Shackelford said. “Initial plans for the expansion include facilities for expanded inpatient hospital services, outpatient surgical services, to include overnight stay capabilities, ambulatory care services and a center for wellness focused on whole person care.” To learn more about Washington Regional, visit wregional.com.
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Marijuana is for use by qualified patients only. Keep out of reach of children. Marijuana use during pregnancy or breastfeeding poses potential harms. Marijuana is not approved by the FDA to treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of marijuana. ARKANSASTIMES.COM
DECEMBER 2021 51
CANNABIS AND HOLISTIC HEALING. By Sandy Yanez
In places like China and India, holistic medicine has been practiced for thousands of years, but holistic cannabis treatment is a newer term that’s gaining popularity as cannabis prohibition ends. Holistic medicine takes an all-encompassing approach to a person’s health, with the goal of balancing all aspects of the mind, body and spirit, and cannabis is being used to enhance the practice. To put it another way, cannabis allows the patient to think about how the whole plant can benefit the whole person. The first mention of holistic medicine dates to the 4th century B.C. when Socrates advised that treating one area of the body would not have the same positive effects as treating the whole body. Holistic treatment focuses on an integrated balance rather than individual ailments; therefore, it only makes sense to incorporate cannabis because a healthy endocannabinoid system signifies a body in homeostasis (balance). According to current medical trends, an “integrated, holistic approach” is the best way to care for patients. Doctors are in a better position to care for and treat their patients in body, mind and spirit by combining holistic or alternative medicine with a patient-focused and data-driven approach. In other words, doctors that practice integrated medicine will no longer simply treat your disease or symptoms but will instead provide treatment tailored to your specific health needs. The cannabis plant is one of the most holistic, natural healers in the world. It’s been revered for centuries before modern pharma criminalized the use and production of it. Functional and comprehensive medical methods make cannabis a natural ally to help patients. By investigating the root cause of the disease rather than focusing on individual symptoms, cannabis has the potential to provide many healing physical and mental benefits, especially when it is combined with other forms of alternative therapies, such as yoga, nutritional therapy and acupuncture. However, cannabis is also widely used as alternative medicine. The various applications of cannabis allow patients to better control their health and understand which parts of their bodies need healing the most. What is considered a mental condition, such as anxiety, may actually cause physical discomfort. When you feel stressed, your body releases cortisol, an acidic chemical, which causes your body to have an inflammatory response. When your body becomes inflamed, you will suffer from various other diseases, from minor aches to major and complicated issues. Therefore, a holistic approach that takes into account the relationship between mental and physical health (assisted by cannabis) may be the key to treating the causes and symptoms of diseases. One aspect that makes holistic cannabis medicine unique is that it provides health practitioners with a perspective to consider how past trauma and adversity affect a person’s long-term physical and mental health. Research has shown that people with a higher incidence of childhood trauma or stress have a higher chance of developing COPD and the frequency of hospitalizations is higher. Other data suggests that children’s high stress levels can lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular problems. Patients have more liberty with holistic cannabis medicine because they can customize their treatment to work specifically for them. Instead of dealing with pharmaceuticals that can have side effects (which can be worse than the actual symptoms) that are only handled with further prescriptions, a person can carefully experiment with cannabis applications and doses without fear of being judged or feeling pressure. A person must take time to discover what works for them based on their condition and the biological makeup of the cannabis product in terms of cannabinoid and terpene ratio. Cannabis differs from medicines in that it allows for more customization in terms of addressing various aspects of the body and mind. While a terpene (aromatic component) like myrcene can help with sleep and relaxation, high-THC percentages can be detrimental in some circumstances. However, by considering what a person requires to be well and balanced, such as better sleep, less anxiety, less chronic pain and more energy, they can achieve their goals. When used correctly, cannabis is an effective and safe treatment for a vast range of conditions. Suggestions for proper use require the help of a person who has professional education in both cannabis and health care to make informed, safe and educated recommendations to the public. This is where an educated cannabis consultant comes in. Visit Plant-Family.com for more education. You may also walk-in or make an appointment with our certified medical cannabis consultant, who can help guide you through your healing journey. Marijuana is for use by qualified patients only. Keep out of reach of children. Marijuana use during pregnancy or breastfeeding poses potential harms. Marijuana is not approved by the FDA to treat, cure or prevent any disease. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of marijuana. 52 DECEMBER 2021
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CARELINK With 10,000 people turning 65 every day in the United States, more people are finding themselves taking on the role of caregiver for an aging family member. CareLink knows the challenges that come with caregiving, especially for a family member, which is why it strives to alleviate the stress and worry many people experience. Whether it’s assisting with the needs of an older person through Meals on Wheels or allowing a caregiver to focus on their own health needs through respite care and fitness classes, CareLink is here for caregivers and their families. Headquartered in North Little Rock since 1979, Carelink, Central Arkansas’s Area Agency on Aging, helps older people and their families overcome the challenges of aging by connecting with the older community when and where they need it most. For more information about helping a family member, call 501-372-5300 or visit CareLink.org.
ARKANSAS DERMATOLOGY AND SKIN CANCER CENTER Arkansas Dermatology and Skin Cancer Center, with locations in Little Rock, Conway, North Little Rock, Heber Springs, Cabot, Stuttgart, Searcy and Russellville, provides the highest level of expertise in both general dermatology and the treatment of skin cancer. Whether we are addressing your skin cancer concerns or informing you of the latest skin care tips, our top priority is to ensure that your experience with our practice is second-to-none. Our talented team of physicians and physician assistants recognize that every patient has different needs, and we pride ourselves in the courteous service we deliver to each person who walks through our doors. With a wide range of medical and cosmetic dermatology procedures delivered by a team of skilled and experienced professionals, our patients can be confident they are receiving the highest standard of care available. We are committed to patient education and will take the time necessary to ensure you are thoroughly informed of your treatment/procedure details and the results that can be expected. We work together to provide quality care for our patients. Your skin deserves the best, and we thank you for choosing us to keep your skin healthy and beautiful for years to come! For more information, go to arkansasdermatology.com.
METHODIST FAMILY HEALTH Since 1899, when we began our legacy of care as the Arkansas Methodist Orphanage, Methodist Family Health has helped rebuild the lives of Arkansas children and families who have been abandoned, abused, neglected and struggle with psychiatric, behavioral, emotional and spiritual issues. Today, Methodist Family Health’s complete, statewide continuum of care includes the Methodist Behavioral Hospital in Maumelle; psychiatric residential treatment centers in Bono and Little Rock; qualified residential treatment program homes throughout the state; a therapeutic day treatment program in Little Rock; Arkansas Center for Addictions Research, Education and Services (Arkansas CARES) in Little Rock; community- and school-based counseling clinics throughout the state; and the Kaleidoscope Grief Center, which is focused on helping grieving children and their families. Our mission is to provide the best possible care to those who may need it. If you or someone you know needs help, call us at 866-813-3388 24 hours a day, seven days a week, email Info@MethodistFamily.org or visit MethodistFamily.org.
OZARK MMJ CARDS Ozark MMJ Cards offers the highest-quality, affordable certification service available for individuals seeking to fulfill their state’s requirements for obtaining a medical marijuana card. We offer reasonable pricing, convenient access and a top-notch customer service team ready to help you every step of the way. Whether opting for an in-person or virtual consultation online, marijuana card certification takes just three easy steps. Arkansas Services: MMJ card certification in-office visit (by appointment only), MMJ card renewal in-office visit (by appointment only), FREE PTSD self-assessment and ongoing support and educational resources. Call 479-342-4585 or visit ozarkmmjcards.com
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RHEA DRUG After you drop off your prescription, browse for great gifts you won’t find anywhere else: You never know what you’ll find! As a traditional pharmacy since 1922, we take care of all of your prescription needs, including curbside pick-up and delivery. We accept all major insurance coverage and Medicare Part D plans. As a neighborhood gift shop, we have something for everyone. We even throw in free gift wrapping! facebook.com/RheaDrug
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hope Is The Foundation. recovery Is The Journey. Quality Care Rooted in Arkansas
The pandemic has caused people to consume alcohol at unprecedented levels. The BridgeWay offers hope and recovery for adults struggling with alcohol or other substances. Led by Dr. Schay, a board-certified psychiatrist and addiction specialist, our continuum of care includes: • Medical detoxification • Partial hospitalization • Intensive outpatient program To learn more about our continuum of care for substance use disorders, call us at 1-800-245-0011. Physicians are on the medical staff of The BridgeWay Hospital but, with limited exceptions, are independent practitioners who are not employees or agents of The BridgeWay Hospital. The facility shall not be liable for actions or treatments provided by physicians. Source: Journal of the American Medical Association. Special Advertising Supplement of the Arkansas Times
Dr. Schay
Medical Director of Substance Use Disorders
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NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS THAT WORK. Happy New Year! Looking forward to the next 12 months may bring about hopes of new beginnings, the potential to do better, and perhaps the resolve to tackle both new and existing aspirations. According to Forbes magazine, whether you call them resolutions, goals or a to-do list, only 8% of people accomplish their annual goals. But whether you’ve decided to lose weight, stop smoking or earn more money, there are several steps to take to achieve success: Keep it simple: Start with small, attainable goals for the entire year. Instead of creating a bucket list, choose two or three goals to accomplish. Make it tangible: Set goals that are tangible. Instead of planning to lose weight, prepare to lose a certain amount of weight within a specific period. Make it obvious: Keep track of your goals and progress in a format that you can see daily. Also, enlist your family or friends to assist with holding you accountable. Believe you can do it: To achieve, you must believe. You have as much willpower as you think you have, essentially. Whatever you resolve to accomplish this year, you have accomplished much more in years past. Prepare to overcome obstacles: One of the lessons learned from 2020 is to prepare for the unexpected. You may encounter barriers, temporary or long-term, that throw you off track at some point in the year. Or you may abandon one or more resolutions for one reason or another. In these instances, it is essential to be aware of your thoughts and feelings. · Stay active and get enough rest. · Eat well and drink sensibly. · Keep in touch with supportive, caring people. · Find ways to relax at home or on a trip. · Help others by volunteering your talent, time or treasure. · Do something that maximizes your talents. · Accept who you are. · Talk about your feelings with friends or family or mental health professional. The truth is, creating a list of goals won’t bring you any closer to achieving them. But creating realistic goals, establishing a plan, and monitoring your progress may lead to success. No matter the time of year, remember to take it day by day and take care of yourself. Bruce Trimble, MA, APR, is the director of business development for The BridgeWay Hospital, a psychiatric facility for children, adolescents and adults in North Little Rock. An avid mental health advocate, Trimble was appointed to the Arkansas Suicide Prevention Council in 2015 and served as co-chair from 2015 to 2017. In 2018, he was instrumental in establishing a call center for the Arkansas Suicide Prevention Hotline.
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UAMS: PROVEN LEADER IN STROKE CARE. Expertise and specialized care is always on standby.
As the only Comprehensive Stroke Center in Central Arkansas, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences offers vital resources in the event of a potential stroke when time is of the essence. Grant Irwin of Cabot is among those who have come to appreciate UAMS’ around-the-clock access to stroke expertise and specialized care. Irwin had his first stroke in 2010. So he recognized the symptoms when, at about 8 p.m. July 13, he suddenly lost the ability to control his hand movements. A look in the mirror showed that his facial muscles also weren’t working properly. Within the hour, he had arrived at UAMS, where employees activated an acute stroke code. He quickly received clot-busting tPA treatment and was admitted to the neuro intensive care unit. When he was discharged a day and a half later with no lasting effects of the stroke, he described his treatment as “efficiency in the midst of amazing chaos,” adding, “I am very grateful for their speed — it made a big difference for me.” The American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association recognized that high level of care in September. For the seventh consecutive year, the UAMS stroke program received a Gold Plus Achievement Award for demonstrating its commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines. The UAMS stroke program also was named to the Honor Roll Elite for administering crucial medication to stroke patients within an hour of their arrival at least 85% of the time. More recently, UAMS was honored by Healthgrades, a leading resource that connects consumers, physicians and health systems, with the 2022 Cranial Neurosurgery Excellence Award™, which places UAMS in the top 10% nationally. UAMS was also named a Five-Star Recipient of its Specialty Excellence Awards for both treatment of stroke and cranial neurosurgery. Every year, Healthgrades evaluates hospital performance at nearly 4,500 hospitals nationwide for 31 of the most common inpatient procedures and conditions. In June, UAMS received its recertification as a Comprehensive Stroke Center by The Joint Commission, an independent, nonprofit organization that evaluates and accredits more than 20,000 health care organizations in the United States. The certification is the most demanding stroke certification and is designed for those hospitals that have specific abilities to receive and treat the most complex stroke cases. UAMS is fortunate to have Central Arkansas’s only board-certified vascular neurologists who specialize in stroke and cerebrovascular disorders of the brain and are experts in preventing and reducing complications and disability from stroke. It is UAMS’ multidisciplinary team approach and commitment to providing expert, cutting-edge care that has allowed for its proven stroke leadership in the region. Stroke is the fifth-leading cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. Early stroke detection and treatment are key to improving survival, minimizing disability and speeding recovery times. Learn the BE FAST warning signs — the sudden onset of difficulty with Balance, Eyes, Face Drooping, Arm Weakness and Speech Difficulty, which means it’s time to call 911.
Special Advertising Supplement of the Arkansas Times
BIZ KIDS BEYOND THE LEMONADE STAND
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DECEMBER 2021 55
EXCELLENCE IN STUDENT NUTRITION In April 2021, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the extension of the National School Lunch Program Summer Seamless Option through June 30, 2022. This program allows schools to serve free meals to all students as we continue through the COVID-19 pandemic. This announcement lifted the burden of paying
“Students need fuel in order to learn, providing them with meals assures students are not focusing on being hungry instead they can focus on learning to grow,” said Regena English, Director of Student Nutrition. “Some families are unable because of hard times to provide nutritious meals and this is available free to every student through the National School Lunch Program.”
for school lunches of many Pulaski County families. Pulaski County Special School District is still required to collect free and reduced lunch applications for the 2021-2022 school year, despite the announcement from the USDA. These applications not only request a free or reduced lunch cost, but may also reduce and/or waive school fees for other programs outside of the meal program. The application also impacts the state and federal funding the District receives for other projects.
New this school year is an exciting partnership with Chartwells K-12. This partnership is improving the manner in which PCSSD is able to provide a new variety of fresh food options to each of our schools. “We are so excited to partner with PCSSD in an effort to make the cafeteria the happiest place in schools,” said Tiffany Reed, Director of Student Nutrition. ”Student nutrition is so important and we are excited to bring kid-approved menus and innovative programs to the district PCSSD understands the importance of providing healthy breakfast and lunch options to our students. This is why we continue to evaluate and review student
to help support the cause. We’re dedicated to serving up ‘happy and healthy’ to every student, every day.” While all student meals are free for the 2021-2022
nutrition to ensure the best possible resources
school year. Adult or non-student breakfast is
are being provided to students of all ages.
$2.50, and adult or non-student lunch is $3.75.
ABOUT PCSSD Pulaski County Special School District spans more than 600 square miles in central Arkansas and requires highly skilled and passionate personnel to adapt educational policies and personalization to 25 schools. Every school is accredited by the Arkansas State Board of Education. PCSSD has served schools across Pulaski County since July 1927. PCSSD is committed to creating a nationally recognized school district that assures that all students achieve at their
501.234.2000 56 DECEMBER 2021
maximum potential through collaborative, supportive and continuous efforts of all stakeholders. ARKANSAS TIMES
DECEMBER
ACTIVITIES & FUN
Dec. 3-23
CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS AT THE REP The whole Peanuts gang comes to life, featuring a fantastic, jazz-infused score. For matinee performances, come early or stay after — the Rep building will be alive with kid-friendly holiday activities (Santa!!!!) and unique gift shopping. Between the nostalgia and the fun, you’re guaranteed to feel the holiday spirit. Visit for times and tickets www.therep.org
Dec. 9-12
BALLET ARKANSAS’S ‘NUTCRACKER SPECTACULAR’ Robinson Center A holiday tradition for families across Arkansas, “The Nutcracker Spectacular” is the largest and longest-running holiday production in the state. Performances include live accompaniment from the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and a community cast of more than 250 singers and dancers. Student matinee performances are available for reservation. Visit www.balletarkansas.org
Dec. 8-18
Through Dec. 27
‘A CHRISTMAS CAROL’
DINO LITES
Fridays & Saturdays, 5-7 p.m. The 4th Annual Dino-Lites at Mid-America Science Museum in Hot Springs is nothing short of dino-mite! Dinosaurs bedecked in lights, palling around with Santa? What more could any kid want? Visit www.midamericamuseum.org
Argenta Community Theater, North Little Rock A holiday favorite returns! This year’s production of the Charles Dickens classic “A Christmas Carol” has a familiar cast of characters played by many new faces. You won’t want to miss this family friendly production’s final spin on the ACT stage. Visit www.argentacommunitytheater.org
give the gift of a muse
um membership!
Family $85
Contributing $125
Discovery $500
Unlimited admission for one year for five people. $10 for each additional person.
Unlimited admission for one year for seven people. $10 for each additional person.
Unlimited admission for one year for eight people. $10 for each additional person.
• Free admission to over 350 science centers, including Scott Family Amazeum in Bentonville • 10% discount on Explore Store purchases • $25 off birthday party and select summer camp registrations • Enrollment in Birthday Club and Gift Concierge services • Invitations to members-only events
• All benefits listed in Family Membership • Half-price admission to over 200 children’s museums, including Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Bay Area Discovery Museum and Miami Children’s Museum • Two one-time guest passes for friends and family
• All benefits listed in Contributing Membership Enjoy an interactive eveni • Tax-deductible gifta to Museum of beverages, premier auction an Discovery • Digital donor wall recognition • Invitations to special events • Private animal meet-and-greet
More membership options available. Purchase at www.museumofdiscovery.org or call 501.396.7050 ARKANSASTIMES.COM
DECEMBER 2021 57
ASPIRING ENTREPRENEURS BROGAN FOUNTAIN (LEFT) AND MICHAEL DEVERE BRUSHED UP ON THEIR BUSINESS SKILLS DURING THE 2021 INNOVATION CHANGEMAKER CHALLENGE. ON THE COVER, SHARLOTTE DAVIS WEARS ONE OF HER PRESSED-FLOWER NECKLACES FROM ONE OF HER LATEST BUSINESS VENTURES.
BEYOND THE LEMONADE STAND KID ENTREPRENEURS LEVEL UP.
BY KATHERINE WYRICK
T
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN CHILSON
hough not all kids become entrepreneurs, almost all show a capacity for creative thinking that, if nurtured, could lead them down that path. One particularly enterprising classmate of mine from the early ’80s left a lasting impression. He had a pallid complexion, a shock of white-blonde hair and the faintest suggestion of a mustache, and he sold Charms blow pops out of a paper bag during recess. This guy made serious bank. He then added to his already ample savings by winning a tiller on a call-in radio giveaway (Magic 105), which he turned around and sold. Fast-forward 33 years, I was reminded of him when I found myself standing on the adjoining playground of the elementary school as a similar, albeit sweeter, scene unfolded. My first-grader and his friends showed a spark of entrepreneurial spirit when, playing after school one day, they set up shop “selling” objects they were sculpting from the packed clay of the soccer field. (Rocks served as currency.) As we were walking home afterward, my son sighed, “Whew, having a small business is really tough.” There’s an ongoing debate about whether entrepreneurs are born or made. The truth is it’s probably a bit of both. We’re fortunate to have a number of resources in our community that support youth entrepreneurship. Here we talk to a couple of them, as well as to budding “kidpreneurs” and local business leaders.
MIDDLE SCHOOL MOVERS & MAKERS
Sharlotte Davis, a sixth-grader at the Little Rock School District’s Pulaski Heights Middle School, showed an interest in business from an early age. During the pandemic, she discovered a passion for baking (rivaled only by her passion for the musical “Hamilton”). 58 DECEMBER 2021
ARKANSAS TIMES
Using her allowance money for supplies and ingredients, she started a business called Bumble Bee Brownies that she marketed and sold to friends and neighbors. Abbi of Abbi’s Teas in Hillcrest acted as a kind of mentor, inviting Sharlotte to sell her baked goods at her stand for a day. It was a learning experience. Sharlotte still enjoys experimenting in the kitchen, but for the moment her interests have shifted to bath and beauty products and jewelry making. She crafts delicate necklaces from resin and crushed flowers and is teaching herself to make eyeshadow, lip gloss and bath bombs. She and a friend are planning to make and sell handmade wreaths during the holidays. It’s no surprise that she
ROLE MODELS
Two successful, local businesswomen share advice and inspiration.
RESTAURATEUR HEATHER BABER-ROE Heather and her husband, Craig Roe, own Baja Grill, which has one location in Little Rock and another in Benton. They also recently acquired the popular Valhalla :: Kitchen + Bar. What advice would you give to a budding kidpreneur? Choose something you love. There will be days you want to give up, but don’t. It’s harder to let those days get to you when you’re doing something you truly care about. Do you think failures are as important as successes? I think “failures” aren’t always really failures. They’re an opportunity to learn what to do differently next time. I’ve always learned more from failures than from successes. The restaurant business is tough. What do your kids think of your accomplishments? What are their favorite menu items? Well, we have teenagers, and I’m pretty sure they’re not impressed by anything! Bristol loves our queso and fajita steak tacos. Maddox is the biggest pizza fan, so he’s enjoying our new venture, Valhalla :: Kitchen + Bar. Our oldest, Camber, loves the enchiladas.
jumped right into Future Business Leaders of America when she arrived at middle school. A natural born leader, Sharlotte didn’t just join the club; she became its vice president. Sharlotte has a self-assuredness, curiosity, drive and enthusiasm that will hold her in good stead in future endeavors (and there are sure to be many). As fifth-graders at Pulaski County Special School District’s Baker Elementary last school year, Brogan Fountain, 12, and Michael Devere, 11, along with three other team members, won second place in the 2021 Innovation Changemaker Challenge sponsored by The Innovation Hub. The Hub’s Education Lead, Hannah May, described the competition as “like Shark Tank for kids.” The challenge took about six weeks, during which the team kept a detailed log book to help organize and illustrate their multi stepped process, which included multiple brainstorming sessions, defining potential problems, doing background research, specifying requirements (asking “who’s your target user?”), coming up with solutions (making sketches, thinking about what skills and materials were needed) and finally testing and evaluating a prototype. The team generated several ideas, among them: a mask with a zipper, a remote control car that doesn’t break when hitting a wall, and a box that sanitizes masks. They ended up landing on “Squeezy’s,” an on-the-go toothbrush with built-in toothpaste.
JEWELRY DESIGNER BRANDY THOMASON MCNAIR Brandy Thomason McNair launched Bella Vita Jewelry in 2008. Today, her handmade jewelry can be found in more than 200 brickand-mortar stores across the U.S. and Canada, as well as in her retail shop in downtown Little Rock. Any wisdom you’d like to share with biz-minded kids? Keep an open mind and explore as many mediums and trades as you can. Take your time figuring out what you are the best at and make it your own. And it is OK if you don’t know what you want to be when you grow up; we are always changing and evolving and learning. Please share any businesses or creative ventures from your childhood. I was born into a family of entrepreneurs; my grandparents both had businesses, and Continued on page 60
ONE OF THE SQUEEZY’S PROTOTYPES, CREATED BY THE 5TH GRADE BAKER ELEMENTARY TEAM.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
We were delighted to discover “Little Launchers,” an entrepreneur kid series by Arkansas native Erica Swallow. These nonfiction picture books tell the stories of four real kid entrepreneurs with real businesses. There’s Gabby, who invents the perfect hair bow; Sebastian, who creates a sock company; Jason, who saves the environment through entrepreneurship; and Rachel, who turns her passion into a business. Swallow’s own success story is inspirational: A first-generation college student from
May explained that The Hub provides a curriculum for the teachers to follow week by week, plus instructional videos and consultations as needed. “The teachers move the kids through the project, but we lay out the criteria and offer support along the way.” She added that Brogan and Michael’s team had the most entertaining pitch in the whole competition. We met Brogan and Michael at the Pulaski County Special School District’s Joe T. Robinson Middle School, where they attend sixth grade. Brogan said she was both surprised and pleased by their win. “I was like, ‘How did we do that?’ ” Asked what she learned by taking part in the competition, Brogan said that it taught her to think about things differently. Soft-spoken and poised, she mused, “Now I look at stuff and think, ‘I wonder how that was created,’ or ‘What if you put this and this together? How would that work?’ ” Michael, though he has an easy confidence, said that he had to overcome fear when presenting the project. Brogan concurred. Not only did they have to go before a panel of judges, make their pitch and take part in a Q&A, but they were competing against a group that included 12th-graders. It was a nerve-wracking experience but one that left both students feeling empowered and eager to pursue other challenges.
Y.E.S. YOU CAN!
Like the Innovation Hub, Arkansas Capital Corp. is dedicated to nurturing our state’s future entrepreneurs. Its Youth Entrepreneurship Showcase (Y.E.S.) introduces elementary and middle school students (grades 5-8) to entrepreneurship through a hands-on, structured business planning competition. Y.E.S. brings together 25 teams of finalists from school districts across the state, offering them a chance to develop and show off their creative, innovative and teamwork skills. Prizes are awarded in a variety of categories, from best business plan to best retail booth. Paragould, she holds degrees from NYU, MIT and Simmons University. She is also the founder of Southern Swallow digital consultancy and has appeared in Entrepreneur, Forbes, Fortune and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications. She’s made it her mission to lift up and educate future generations.
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Continued from page 59
my dad was a stonemason and then a full-time farmer. I started working at a very young age (by my choice). I started selling my jewelry when I was in junior high, and sold my macrame designs at a local natural foods store. Then in high school, I had a couple art shows when I worked at Crescent Moon Beads in Eureka Springs in the late ’90s. I think experiencing all of this at such a young age boosted my confidence and made me comfortable putting my work out there and selling my work when I started my business. How have you supported aspiring young artists? We recently hosted a pop-up event that featured Sadie Cake Art. Sadie is 11 and has been making jewelry for about a year.
MOVES MEET BRANDON: FATHER, COMMUNITY LEADER, DYNAMIC PRACTITIONER “I think that everybody has two choices in life: either to go forward or to stop, and I just don’t like stopping.” read more about brandon whitfield and how his life changed after frank snell invited him to take a walk with him at snellarkansas.com
RESTORING MOBILITY AND INDEPENDENCE SINCE 1911
C. Sam Walls III, chief operating officer and president of Arkansas Capital, believes it’s important to introduce the principles of entrepreneurship to students at a young age, a cause he’s championed for two decades. “It began with Arkansas Governor’s Cup, a collegiate competition, over 20 years ago,” Walls explained. “The goal was to promote entrepreneurship in Arkansas and stress the state’s rich history of entrepreneurship among college students.” After the success of the Governor’s Cup, Walls said they started asking themselves, “How much further down the line can we go? There was a study that said you could teach entrepreneurial concepts and ideas as early as in kindergarten, in age-appropriate ways obviously, so we said, ‘Let’s carve out an appropriate niche for grades fifth through eighth.’ ” Thus Y.E.S. was born. Arkansas Capital attempted to implement a program at the high school level, but paused it a couple of years ago. To date, 11,974 students have participated and $2.71 million has been awarded through Y.E.S. and Arkansas Governor’s Cup. Walls was quick to give credit to other organizations making a difference. He said, “When we started this thing we were pretty much the only guys out there singing about entrepreneurship, but that’s certainly not the landscape today. Economics Arkansas is doing some great work as far as education within the classroom. EAST does interesting things. We’re a piece of the broader puzzle of promoting entrepreneurship in our state.” Echoing what we heard from educators, Walls opined, “This is not something that’s just for gifted and talented students. We’ve encouraged schools to take a broader perspective. Entrepreneurship and grades don’t always go hand in hand. We get teacher feedback all the time about shy students who light up when talking about business ideas. This is for all kinds of students.” For Walls, the essence of entrepreneurship boils down to this: “I maintain that it’s a discipline of looking at the world a little bit differently. Most people go down the road and see something just for what it is, but an entrepreneur will ask the question, ‘What could it be? Could I do it better and profitably?’ ” Walls shared his favorite illustration of entrepreneurship at work: As a boy he wore ballcaps, and he remembers using his bedside table lamp as a de facto hat rack. Early on in his work at Arkansas Capital, on an expo day, he saw that some kid had the bright idea of putting hooks on a lampshade. “Now, I’m not suggesting they could have made a billion dollars on it,” Walls said. “But if you can get kids who go through life thinking like that, someone’s going to stumble on the next really great thing. That one has always stuck with me because I related it to my own youth.”
RESOURCES Little Rock n Bryant n Conway n Fayetteville n Fort Smith n 800-342-5541 Hot Springs n Mountain Home n North Little Rock n Pine Bluff n Russellville
SAVVY kids PUBLISHER BROOKE WALLACE | brooke@arktimes.com EDITOR KATHERINE WYRICK | katherinewyrick@ arktimes.com SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE LESA THOMAS ART DIRECTOR KATIE HASSELL 60 DECEMBER 2021
ARKANSAS TIMES
FIND MORE AT SAVVYKIDSAR.COM
ACTON CHILDREN’S BUSINESS FAIR A nonprofit started in Austin, Texas, Acton hosts business fairs all over the country. Mark your calendars for the one in Little Rock on Sept. 10, 2022. childrensbusinessfair.org
ARKANSAS CAPITAL
arcapital.com/yesforarkansas
EAST INITIATIVE
eastinitiative.org
THE INNOVATION HUB Arhub.org
ECONOMICS ARKANSAS (for teachers) economicsarkansas.org
FUTURE BUSINESS LEADERS OF AMERICA (FBLA ) fbla-pbl.org
NATURAL STATE ENTREPRENEURS (for teachers) naturalstateentrepreneurs. weebly.com
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DECEMBER 2021 61
because every pet has a story HOME
PAT’S BOOK PICKS
ABOUT THE BOOK BOOK SIGNINGS
CONTACT PAT
Pat’s book picks at PatBeckerBooks.com
Holiday Gifts for Kids & Dog Lovers of All Ages These well-illustrated books are autographed by the authors and are now available in audiobook (audio version available where indicated ) — Pat Becker, author and hostess of DogTalkTV.com
FREE SHIPPING for books purchased by Dec. 15!
62 DECEMBER 2021
www.PatBeckerBooks.com
ARKANSAS TIMES
CULTURE
FROM AYANA TO YAMADA
21 ARKANSAS-CONNECTED CREATORS WHO MADE 2021 LESS OF A DUMPSTER FIRE. BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE
H
DAVID MCCLISTER
AYANA GRAY Author Ayana (eye-YAWN-uh) Gray catapulted herself into prestigious bestseller lists everywhere with “Beasts of Prey,” her debut novel of speculative fiction that blends magic, monsters and African folklore. The Little Rock resident and University of Arkansas at Fayetteville alum made some big moves toward expanding the “Beasts” universe, with Netflix optioning the book for development on the screen, and she heralded the genre in a Q&A with the Arkansas Times earlier this year, saying she’s drawn to fantasy because it “often offers fresh perspective, and allows us to suspend our beliefs temporarily and really lean into our inner child.”
HAYES CARLL Texas native Hayes Carll has been churning up stellar turns of phrase since the turn of the century, shortly after he graduated from Hendrix College, and it’s been thrilling to see tunes like “She’ll Come Back to Me” and “Nice Things” on satellite radio, the latter of which imagines God visiting Earth to check out the scene she created, only to find herself pulling up an oil barrel from the ocean during a fishing trip, getting arrested for smoking pot and being chastised for being unemployed. Carll’s wife, Allison Moorer, produced the record to great effect, and he’s back on the road affirming for new audiences what Arkansas fans have known for years.
BEN KRAIN
DEANA CARTER
ad a gifted prophet warned us two springtimes ago that not only would the art and music economies fall apart over the course of the calendar year, but that they’d stay broken well into the next one, we might well have waved the white flag of surrender. Luckily for us, these creators didn’t succumb to the fatigue, despite 2021 packing a wallop to the psyche as well as the pocketbook. They yodeled. They marched. They practiced their instruments. They translated hours of solitude into gorgeous photography. They held gallery exhibitions in person and then meticulously duplicated the experience online. They published books. They wrote plays. And from the looks of it, they got by, and lived to tell the tale. Cheers to this list of Arkansas-connected reinventors (and to the ones we didn’t have room to mention), and here’s to a 2022 roaring with ingenuity and verve.
KENSUKE YAMADA Ceramicist Kensuke Yamada’s painted stoneware figures are squat and whimsical and beguiling; “Diver,” a childlike figure whose swimsuit, cap and skin are studded with metallic rubber duckies, is the sort of object you can get lost in, and Yamada’s show at the Historic Arkansas Museum with photographer Ben Krain earlier this year, “Collectively Alone,” pondered the heft and loneliness of creating art during pandemic isolation. A native of Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan, Yamada joined the art faculty at UA Little Rock in 2018 and was awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship Award from the Arkansas Arts Council in 2021.
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NICK SHOULDERS “Home on the Rage,” recorded in Fayetteville and released in April, was likely our favorite record of 2021, laden with yodeling and whistling and Ozark folklore and metaphor and hot takes on colonialism. Shoulders — string player, mouthbow wielder, illustrator of his own album art, purveyor of self-described “grampa music” — is carrying a torch passed down by the likes of Almeda Riddle and Jimmie Driftwood and sacred gospel singers, all the while calling bullshit on the power structures that have made the South an unbearable place to live for so many, and for so long.
COURTESY OF THEATRESQUARED
LINDA BLOODWORTH THOMASON What would Julia Sugarbaker think of the Trump disinformation era? Now we sorta know, thanks to a collaboration between “Designing Women” creator Linda Bloodworth Thomason, her husband, producer and TV director Harry Thomason, and TheatreSquared in Northwest Arkansas. Revived as a stage play, the new iteration sees the women of the Sugarbaker firm tackling social media, political division, regional elitism and “Kardashian world dominance,” the release said. “Designing Women has a special magic,” said Bloodworth Thomason, “and a ubiquitous appeal. It would seem to be the perfect theatrical venue for sharing an evening of humor while sitting next to people you can’t stand.”
KAT WILSON
BRIAN CHILSON
GARBO HEARNE Art collector, dealer and co-owner of both Pyramid Art, Books and Custom Framing and Hearne Fine Art, Hearne has long been venturing outside the gallery paradigm to connect Arkansans with meaningful artwork. So it’s not entirely surprising that she found ways to do so assiduously all year long, despite most art galleries being on pause. From virtual conversation about Black dance with poet Ntozake Shange to an online exhibit including an Elizabeth Catlett “Madonna” lithograph to Rex Deloney’s meditations on social justice and resistance, Hearne transformed her gallery’s business model to reach people wherever they were in 2021, sending out her artists’ messages about beauty, defiance and family to art lovers and novices alike.
RACHEL AMMONS If indeed rock goddess Rachel Ammons is of this planet, she’s going to need to provide some more solid evidence. The classically trained violinist’s live shows are jaw-dropping, her Rapunzel mane whipping in the wind around the arsenal of self-crafted gear that forms her “no man band,” her howls and drones and stomps adding up to what seems like the work of several musicians, not one. When live music began its slow postpandemic bloom in 2021, Ammons’ solo shows were a signpost, filling the White Water Tavern to (limited) capacity and reassuring a legion of devout Tyrannosaurus Chicken fans that her longtime mentor and collaborator Smilin’ Bob’s legacy is alive and well.
CONNOR REEVER
BRIAN CHILSON
NIA RENEÉ The “American Idol” judges might have taken a pass this year, but something tells us Tania Kelley, stage name Nia Reneé, is going to be just fine. The Central High School graduate brought big Aretha energy to the reality TV show’s audition room, singing “Chain of Fools” for Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan. Meeting the celebrity panel, Nia told the Arkansas Times in February, “was the best. To be able to sit in front of them and sing was unbelievable.” Keep your eye out for this powerhouse alto — belting the national anthem at Dickey-Stephens Ballpark or slaying Whitney Houston covers on her YouTube channel.
RACHEL LYNETT Playwright and University of Arkansas at Fayetteville alum Rachel Lynett’s “Apologies to Lorraine Hansberry (You Too August Wilson)” won the 2021 Yale Drama Prize, selected this year by Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel, who hailed it for its “metatheatrical playfulness and direct inclusion of actors and audience alike.” The premise: a fictional world of “a postsecond Civil War” in which an all-Black utopian state called Bronx Bay is established in order to protect “Blackness,” and which introduces questions about whether the newly arrived Yael, who is Dominican, can stay. “Apologies,” as well as Lynett’s “In Transit,” “Black Mexican” and “Abortion Road Trip,” went up at festivals and playhouses across the country this year.
MARKO MONROE INSTAGRAM
MARKO MONROE If you admired Jennifer Coolidge as an axewielding Little Bo Peep type in Paper magazine, or Megan Thee Stallion’s backside-baring nurse getup for the “Thot Shit” single, or Lizzo at basically any moment this entire year, you’ve been admiring the work of stylist Marko Monroe. Fashion guru to the stars, Monroe is a child of the House of Avalon — the Arkansas-born collective that bestowed “RuPaul’s Drag Race” champion Symone upon the unsuspecting world. His work is informed by specific pop culture moments: Rihanna’s spring 2017 Fenty x Puma collection, the characters of Sesame Street, Tupac Shakur’s philosophy (and overalls), Care Bears.
ANNUAL HOLIDAY SHOW OPENING RECEPTION SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11TH, FROM 6-9PM
Anais Dassé Jeff Horton Dennis McCann Connie McCann Jason McCann Keith Runkle Cynthia Kresse Kathy Bay Andy Huss Michael Warrick Diana Ashley Delita Martin Kyle Boswell Melissa Cowper-Smith
Eleanor Dickinson Alice Andrews Matthew Lopas Ray Parker Louis Watts Kellie Lehr Yelena Petroukhina Laura Carenbauer Brad Cushman Donala Jordan Susan Chambers John Sykes Gayle Batson Nancy Wilson Robin Hazard
Hamid Ebrahimifar Marleen De Bock Linda Harding Mary Louise Porter Jon Etienne Mourot Ricky Sikes Win Bruhl Elizabeth Guignino Holy Laws Aluwatobi Adewumi Zina Al-Shukri Marley Boswell Harry Loucks Robin Loucks
Mask Required
1501 SOUTH MAIN STREET, SUITE H, LITTLE ROCK, AR 72202 BOSWELLMOUROT.COM
501-454-6969
NEW YEAR’S EVE EVENTS SPARKLE AT THE ARLINGTON! NEW YEAR’S EVE CELEBRATION DINNER RETT PEEK
Dec. 31, 5:30 pm - 9:30 pm Venetian Dining Room
BUZ BLURR buZ blurr — third-generation railroad brakeman, ’60s era Henderson State University art student, descendant of newspapermen — has been creating so-called “outsider art” for decades in Arkansas. “In the tradition of tagging rail cars during the heyday of hobo culture,” Tav Falco wrote for the Arkansas Times in 2019, “the artist created his moniker in the form of the iconic ‘Colossus of Roads’ — a heroic, minimal line rendering of a trainman’s profile wearing a 10-gallon hat while riding in the wind, trailing smoke from a pipe stuck in the corner of his mouth.” Blurr’s moniker turns 50 this year, and his otherworldly work graced the halls of UA Little Rock’s Windgate Center of Art and Design for an exhibit called “A Visionary Vernacular Road Trip.”
GALA DINNER DANCE 7:30 pm • Crystal Ballroom Stardust Big Band from 8:30 pm - 12:30 am Reservations required Limited Availability
FESTIVAL PARTY In the Conference Center 8:30 pm - 1:00 am
At 12 am, a Black Eyed Pea Reception will commence in the Magnolia Room for guests of both parties.
For more information call 501-623-7771 or email info@arlingtonhotel.com, or visit www.ArlingtonHotel.com Room Packages Available! ARKANSASTIMES.COM
DECEMBER 2021 65
AMOS COCHRAN If you’ve seen a photo of composer Amos Cochran, you might well have seen him sitting at a piano with its innards exposed, a row of hammers lined up like toy soldiers. And that’s an appropriate metaphor for what Cochran tends to do — deconstruct a melody or a single idea and slow it down so it floats in the air. Cochran has worked on just about every Arkansas-made film you can think of over the last several years, and scored a documentary this year for Google, “From the Ground Up.” Air Structures, Cochran’s duo project with Kevin Blagg, weaves together ethereal live compositions that drift toward and away from meter, coaxing sounds from the guitar and computer that toy delicately with delay and decay. 66 DECEMBER 2021
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AARON TURNER’S UNTITLED, FROM “BLACK ALCHEMY, VOL. 3”
AARON TURNER Looking at the photos in Arkansas-based photographer Aaron Turner’s “Black Alchemy” series, it’s hard to tell what’s what. They’re done in black and white, and tend to fold the subject into its surroundings rather than focus in on them sharply. Often there are mirrors, shadows, projections on a wall or fragmented bits of archival photos of historical figures — Booker T. Washington, for one. It’s an enchanting hybrid of identity and darkroom chemistry, one that leaves you wondering, “How did he do that?” Turner’s work, in 2021, won him the Houston Center for Photography Fellowship and made him a recipient of the inaugural Creators Lab Photo Fund from Google’s Creator Labs and the Aperture Foundation.
SALLY NIXON As ever, illustrator Sally Nixon fabricated whole worlds all year long — and daily! — from mere marker and pen, delighting her 157K Instagram followers with portraits of pop culture and domestic life. Archiving the mundane along with the chic, Nixon crafts figures who seem like whole entire people, surrounded by material clues to their personality and lifestyle. Connie, for instance, in Nixon’s Sept. 22 installation, stocking up on puff paint at the craft store after rekindling her sweatshirt business! And whole still-life scenes, too, like Oct. 22’s unattended pot of spaghetti sauce (chili?) sputtering away on a white countertop.
PHAROAH SANDERS Free jazz elder Pharoah Sanders is cooler than the rest of us, and it’s time we got used to that. In fact, dude has been cool since the 1940s when he was doing visual art and playing tenor sax at Scipio Jones High School in North Little Rock, and is getting incrementally cooler even now, at age 81. You’ll find proof in “Promises,” the spellbinding nine-movement piece Sanders created with British composer/producer/DJ Sam Shepherd and the strings of the London Symphony Orchestra. It’s his first album since 2003, it’s the meditation album of the year and further proof that Sanders’ saxophone has a button he can push to dial the cosmos into the horn directly.
ERIC-WELLES NYSTROM
COURTESY OF THE MOMENTARY
BRIAN CHILSON
THE UAPB MARCHING BAND The late October faceoff between University of Arkansas Pine Bluff’s Golden Lions and the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville’s Razorbacks wasn’t much of a contest, but the football game’s halftime show was a thrill. The Marching Musical Machine of the Mid-South, M4 for short, is UAPB’s 240-piece marching band, and they left it all on the field, managing not only to play the notes and move in pristine geometrical formations, but to wow the crowd with acrobatic choreography, energy and sheer decibels. “This is the only show band in the state of Arkansas,” assistant band director Harold Fooster told us from the bleachers during the second quarter. “The students love this.”
ANDREW CAMARILLO
KALYN FAY Kalyn Fay’s gorgeous album “Good Company” was recorded by Jason Weinheimer at Fellowship Hall Sound and features some of Oklahoma’s finest — John Fullbright, Jesse Aycock. A graphic design artist/singer-songwriter, Fay has been making waves in Northwest Arkansas, where she performed for the Momentary’s Indigenous filmmaker-focused film symposium “Living in Place, Living in Story.” Fay sees her lyrics, she said, “as a tool for personal self-location,” and in her songwriting explores “the relationship of my personal, contemporary Indigenous (Cherokee, Creek) experience with the physical space I inhabit.”
RICKY ALVAREZ
BRIAN CHILSON
YEBBA Hearing clips from her time in New York jazz clubs and seeing photos of her performing when she was young, it’s a crime we weren’t hip to West Memphis native Abbey Smith, stage name Yebba, sooner. Not that her 2017 hit “Evergreen” wasn’t an ample enough showcase and an epic bop, the singer’s otherworldly range and mindblowing vocal runs backed by a full band, a full row of background singers and full church choir. But it was her d’Angelo-informed, Mark Ronsonproduced debut album “Dawn,” released five years after Smith’s mother’s death by suicide, that cemented her place as one of the greatest vocalists from our fair state, period. Exhibit A: her 19-minute Tiny Desk concert for NPR.
KORTO MOMOLU Fashion designer Korto Momolu’s “Freedom Collection” premiered in a celebratory runway show in the SoMa district in November, marking the Little Rock-based creator’s jubilant and powerful reemergence into the art world after the fashion industry went radio silent for nearly two years. Blending structured sophisticates with elements of athleisure and cannabis culture, Momolu’s work emits messages about mental health, self-care and history itself. “It’s important that we say more than, ‘Oh, it’s gonna be pink ruffles this season, and glitter and glam,’ ” Momolu told us earlier this year. “That’s so superficial. I feel like if I’m gonna really say something, even if it’s through clothing, it needs to have a message.”
Our booksellers are ready to help you find the perfect book for everyone on your list!
Visit us in-store or online Open 10 AM - 6 PM Mon - Sat 12-5 PM Sun 5920 R St, Little Rock 501-663-9198 www.wordsworthbookstore.com
TREASURES
$299
CARY S. JENKINS
$3999
JEN FAWKES Fawkes’ strange and superhero-ish collection of short stories, “Mannequin and Wife,” is equal parts dark and delightful, immersing the reader in discrete little worlds inhabited by contortionists and detectives and anthropomorphous animals, all brought into sharp focus with the crispness and economy that the short-story medium demands of an author. Fawkes’ 2021 follow-up “Tales the Devil Told Me,” which imagines backstories and alternative storylines for a litany of classic literary villains, won Press 53’s Award for Short Fiction and cemented Fawkes as a winner of Arkansas’s 2021 Porter Fund Literary Prize. Dear Jen Fawkes: Please keep writing stuff this weird and woolly forever and ever.
$299 Starting at
KURT DELASHMET Whether or not you know his name, you may know Kurt DeLashmet’s work and impact through his cassette tape label, Tape Dad, and its newly christened sister record label, Gar Hole Records. If you ask us, DeLashmet is among the Arkansas creative community’s more forward-thinking figures, diligently and thoughtfully carving out a market that depends less on jumping the hurdles of the corporation-driven Spotify era, and more on drawing straight lines between excellent musicians and the audiences that will adore them with the fierce loyalty they deserve.
$499 $699 $799
6911 John F Kennedy Blvd, (501) 835-8659 wirtsjewelers.com ARKANSASTIMES.COM
DECEMBER 2021 67
Here are some of our amazing organizations that are in need of your help more than ever because of the pandemic that has affected so many fundraising opportunities this year.
ARKANSAS ADVOCATES FOR CHILDREN & FAMILIES Rich Huddleston, executive director
ARKANSAS GAME & FISH FOUNDATION
Deke Whitbeck, CEO and president
Established: 1977
Established: 1982
Mission: To ensure that all children and their families have the resources and opportunities to lead healthy and productive lives and to realize their full potential.
Mission: Founded in 1982, the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation is composed of men and women from across the state who are passionate about promoting hunting, fishing and conservation education among Arkansans. The foundation is committed to supporting the mission of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission with its important role of keeping The Natural State natural. During the last 100 years, the commission has overseen the protection, conservation and preservation of various species of fish and wildlife and their habitats across Arkansas. A continuing mission of the foundation is supporting the agency’s education initiatives aimed at getting young Arkansans unplugged and engaged in the outdoors.
Fundraisers: Little Rock Soup Sunday on Feb. 27, 2022; Northwest Arkansas Soup Sunday on April 24, 2022 Giving Opportunities: Donate through our website at aradvocates.org/donate, or text ADVOCATE to 243725. 1400 W. Markham St., Suite 306 Little Rock, AR 72201 501-371-9678 aradvocates.org
Fundraisers: Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame Banquet, NWA’s Into the Wild Banquet, Commissioners’ Cup High School Fishing, Duck Season Social and the Annual Youth Trap Tournament. Giving Opportunities: Annual membership program, capital gift campaigns, planned giving programs, Arkansas Duck Stamp Print program, memorials and honorariums, AGFC’s Regulation Guidebook advertising and The Arkansas Outdoor Society 2 Natural Resources Drive Little Rock, AR 72205 501-223-6468
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Special Advertising Supplement of the Arkansas Times
CARELINK
Luke Mattingly, CEO and president Established: June 12, 1979 Mission: To connect older people and their families with resources to meet the opportunities and challenges of aging. Fundraisers: 7th Annual Cupcakes for Goodness Sake returns Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022, from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at Heifer International Village Pavilion. Tickets are on sale now at CareLink.org/Cupcakes. Giving Opportunities: We are still accepting sponsorships for Cupcakes for Goodness Sake and our goal is $57,000. Our donor-funded programs like Meals on Wheels, Urgent Needs and Bone Appétit are wonderful programs that help seniors remain in their homes and fill in the gaps when there are no other programs available. Join CareLink’s monthly giving program Champions for Care. Charitable Donations & Payments P.O. Box 3140, Little Rock, AR 72203 501-372-5300
DOUBLE YOUR PHILANTHROPY Thanks to a generous offer from the Sandler Foundation, when we raise $100,000 in new or increased unrestricted funding by March 2022, they will match it with $100,000! Unrestricted funding allows us to advocate for better public policies to help each of Arkansas’s children and families thrive.
aradvocates.org
When You Share the Light YOU MethodistFamily.org
CENTERS FOR YOUTH AND FAMILIES
Melissa Dawson, president and CEO Established: 1884 Mission: The Centers is committed to meeting the unique and evolving needs of the people and communities it serves by providing comprehensive, integrated care that promotes physical, emotional and social wellness. Fundraisers: Spring Fling 5K Run/Walk both virtual and in-person at The Centers’ Southeast Arkansas Residential Center in Monticello, May 21, 2022; the Evolve Gala honoring Karen Flake, April 30, 2022, Statehouse Convention Center; Emerging Leaders BrunchFest, June 25, 2022; The Hall; 32nd Annual Centers Classic Golf Tournament, Oct. 10, 2022, Pleasant Valley Country Club. Giving Opportunities: • $250 for birthday parties for five children living at The Centers. Everyone deserves a happy birthday. The Centers’ staff celebrates each and every one of our kids throughout the year. • $100 will provide school supplies for two children living at The Centers. • $50 will provide a welcome bag given to kids to help provide comfort when they first live at The Centers. This includes games, stuffed animals and more. • Fulfill a Christmas wish list for a child at The Centers. Centers for Youth & Families Foundation 5800 W. 10th St, Suite 402 501-666-9436 TheCentersAR.com
Download the song "This Is The Time to Shine" by Jason Lee Hale and The Personal Space Invaders from iTunes or Amazon Music. Profits support Methodist Family Health's mission for Arkansas children and families.
LEND A HELPING HAND.
We are a charity/ non-profit/ foundation. Our regional events take place throughout the year in order to benefit the less fortunate in the community.
OUR CAUSE
Sustained community outreach to eradicate hunger. Our fingerprints on the lives we touch never fade Be The Change • Donate Today!
www.ruthhaze.com Special Advertising Supplement of the Arkansas Times
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THE LITTLE ROCK ZOO
Susan E. Altrui, executive director, president and CEO Established: 1926 Mission: To inspire people to value and conserve the natural world. Fundraisers: Wild Wines Wine Festival and Zoo Brew Giving opportunities: Become a Zoo member, join the Wild Club or giving to the animals from their holiday wish list. All can be done online at littlerockzoo.com. The Zoo 1 Zoo Drive Little Rock, AR 72205 501-371-4589 Littlerockzoo.com
METHODIST FAMILY HEALTH
SUPPORT INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
Andy Altom, MBA, CEO and president
Established: 1899 as the Arkansas Methodist Orphanage Mission: To provide the best possible care to those who may need our help. Fundraisers: Get Up & Give, Southern Silks Stakes, Share the Light, Compassion Fund. Giving Opportunities: Online at MethodistFamily.org; text GIVE to 501-881-2258; PayPal (Methodist Family Health); Venmo (Methodist Family Health); call 501-906-4201 to make a secure donation with debit or credit card; mail cash or check to Methodist Family Health Foundation, P.O. Box 56050, Little Rock, AR 72215-6050; make a contribution at any Arkansas United Methodist Church and note Methodist Family Health on check or offering envelope.
DONATIONS MATCHED THROUGH THE END OF THE YEAR
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About Us: Methodist Family Health is a complete, statewide continuum of care for Arkansas children and families who are abandoned, abused, neglected and struggling with psychiatric, behavioral, emotional and spiritual issues. In our continuum of care is Methodist Behavioral Hospital, psychiatric residential treatment centers, therapeutic group homes, a supervised independent living home, outpatient and school-based counseling clinics, therapeutic day treatment, the Kaleidoscope Grief Center for children and families, and Arkansas Centers for Addictions Research, Education and Services (Arkansas CARES). Special Advertising Supplement of the Arkansas Times
RUTH HAZE FOUNDATION
Darrien Robinson, CEO and president Established: 2018
Mission: At Ruth Haze Foundation, we believe that service starts with us. Our mission is to eradicate hunger within our communities by making it our mission to help others during their time of need. About Us: Our CEO, Darrien Robinson, experienced homelessness while living in San Antonio, Texas. To survive, he ate out of trash cans and slept in strangers’ backyards. Darrien prayed to God that if he could order his steps and show him the way out of his situation, that it would be his life’s mission to give back to those who are less fortunate. Since Ruth Haze first started in 2018 we have helped over 1,000 people through our monthly food and clothing campaigns. We service communities in Arkansas and Oklahoma with a focus on Texas next year. Giving Opportunities: We would love for people to partner with us to fulfill our mission of eradicating hunger within our communities through monetary donations and sponsorship opportunities as well as food and clothing donations. It is our goal to service more than 5,000 families in need within the next two years. To donate or learn more about our organization and projects, please visit us at ruthhaze.com.
Champions thanks to our
For sustaining and advancing the vital programs Central Arkansas’s Area Agency on Aging provides older people and their families like in-home care, Meals on Wheels, information assistance, transportation, and family caregiver support. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to isolate older people and stretch the
THE STUDIO THEATRE
Shelby-Allison Hibbs, executive director; Justin Pike, artistic director Established: 2014 Mission: The Studio Theatre exists to enrich the Central Arkansas community by providing quality theater experiences that utilize local talent to challenge and grow every person that sits in our audience. The Studio Theatre believes the heartbeat of artistic expression is providing transformative experiences that challenge your emotions, intellect and worldview. The Studio guarantees local artists and audiences a chance to participate in something truly unique. This occurs in our unique multiuse downtown space that is filled with laughter, music and creative energy, where all Arkansans can walk in and feel embraced and welcome.
resources of their caregivers, CareLink is working harder than ever to ensure they have the care and information needed to live safely & independently in their homes. Learn more about CareLink services and becoming a champion for seniors in Central Arkansas by calling 501-372-5300 or visiting CareLink.org/Champions-for-Care.
Fundraisers: Mx Studio is coming back! Jan. 21-22, 2022. Mx Studio is a two-day lip-sync-foryour-life battle where anyone can compete for lip sync glory! This fundraiser will also have an online silent auction and in-person raffle. Audience members can win experiences, goods and performing arts tickets in the silent auction and raffle while helping to raise funds for The Studio Theatre. Giving Opportunities: Individuals can donate through our website or become a member of The Studio Theatre. In-kind donations are accepted for needed production materials. Companies and individuals can purchase ads for our playbills, to support the theatre’s mission and gain visibility for their business. Shelby-Allison Hibbs 320 W. Seventh St. Little Rock, AR 72201 501-374-2615
Special Advertising Supplement of the Arkansas Times
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The
NEIGHBORHOOD DINING
CAROLE KATCHEN
Guide
Sometimes we choose where to eat based on location. Just mention any part of town and tons of restaurants come to mind. Here’s a tidy list of standouts in Central Arkansas and beyond, including favorites in the Heights/Hillcrest/Riverdale, Downtown/SoMa, West Little Rock, Argenta, Hot Springs and Pine Bluff. 72 DECEMBER 2021
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Special Advertising Supplement of the Arkansas Times
Readers Choice voting ends December 11. Vote for your favorite restaurants in Central Arkansas and around the state!
Eat Local. Eat Often.
1 Ben E. Keith Way North Little Rock, AR 72117 501-978-5000 www.benekeith.com ARKANSASTIMES.COM
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BRAVE NEW RESTAURANT
THE BUGLER AT OAKLAWN RACING CASINO RESORT SARACEN RESTAURANTS
KEMURI
THE OYSTER BAR
HEIGHTS/HILLCREST/RIVERDALE
BAJA GRILL Located in the heart of the Heights and downtown Benton and considered one of the state’s most popular eateries, Baja Grill’s neighborhood-friendly ambiance and chef creations make this a go-to hot spot in Central Arkansas. Each menu item is made from scratch — even the Baja seasoning of fresh herbs and spices. The award-winning menu, best described as “Mexi-Cali,” has just a touch of Southern fusion and flair. It also offers a full bar featuring sangrias, margaritas with fresh homemade mixes and other clever cocktails, including nonalcoholic choices. 5923 Kavanaugh Blvd., 501-722-8920 224 W. South St., Benton, 501-680-7109 BRAVE NEW RESTAURANT We provide a casual, warm environment, delicious food and excellent service at a reasonable cost. It is our goal to make every meal a celebration of food and to always keep an edge of new in our work. The first step toward delicious food is to use the freshest and highest-quality ingredients, and you can count on us in this regard. With a constant rotation of fresh, flavorful specials, and favorites Atlantic salmon, locally raised chicken and mixed grill with wild game sausage, Brave New will keep you coming back for more. Our patio overlooking the Arkansas River is heated! 2300 Cottondale Lane, 501-663-2677 74 DECEMBER 2021
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FADED ROSE
CHEERS IN THE HEIGHTS Cheers is the perfect friendly neighborhood eatery open for lunch and dinner. Its menu features burgers and sandwiches, vegetarian delights and unique entrees that cater to everyone who wants to relax and enjoy a quiet meal with friends. It’s been a quaint meeting place for many years. 2019 N. Van Buren St., 501-663-5937 CIAO BACI Tucked into the heart of Hillcrest and serving award-winning food, wine and cocktails for over 20 years (it’s our birthday this year!), Ciao Baci is a proven gem in our neighborhood and city, and it’s here to stay. The restaurant is carved from a turn-of-the-century bungalow with a columned patio, eclectic garden, and the addition of a spacious, wraparound deck. Rain or sun, diners eat well outside, as most of our seating is covered — and near heaters if need be. Our executive chef takes great pains to select the best ingredients from around our community and craft them into seasonally appropriate dishes. The culinary style that would best describe Baci is “New American” or perhaps “Global Fusion” but always with a clear Southern underpinning. Ciao Baci is very proud of its wine collection, boasting the largest half-bottle selection in town. The impeccable service makes every visit feel like a homecoming. 605 Beechwood St., 501-603-0238 Special Advertising Supplement of the Arkansas Times
FADED ROSE Ed David, a New Orleans native, his wife, Laurie, and their son, Zac, have been serving great New Orleans cuisine since 1982 in a casual and friendly atmosphere. They are widely known for their steaks and Creole and Cajun dishes. They blend their own spices, cut their own steaks and make their own sauces, right down to the house-made mayo. They have gladly served Arkansans and guests from around the world for almost 40 years and invite you to come try The Rose tonight. 1619 Rebsamen Park Road, 501-663-9734 LATERRAZA RUM & LOUNGE As seen on “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” on the Food Network, this laid-back pick has an amazing patio and offers Venezuelan staples such as arepas, empanadas, paella and, of course, amazing rum cocktails like their mojito! We opened La Terraza to share our culture with the community. Seeing the joy shared around a table between our customers brings us such satisfaction and reminds us to continually strive to grow our business so that we can extend that feeling of happiness. 3000 Kavanaugh Blvd., 501-251-8261 KEMURI Kemuri is the most creative restaurant to hit the Little Rock scene in decades. It’s not just a sushi lover’s paradise, but a full-scale restaurant serving exciting and delicious dishes of the sort you would
expect to find in New York, Tokyo and LA. Located in the Hillcrest business district, Kemuri specializes in providing guests the ultimate dining experience. The restaurant has a party room that seats 60, great patios and amazing brunch on Sunday. 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd., 501-660-4100 THE OYSTER BAR The Oyster Bar is a longstanding but newly renovated friendly and fun joint in Midtown on Markham. It serves fresh oysters from an oyster waterfall, along with seafood, gumbo and other Cajun-style favorites. There’s also a newly added bar area with live entertainment on weekends. 3003 W. Markham St., 501-666-7100
DOWNTOWN/SoMA
CACHE RESTAURANT This one-of-a-kind fine-dining venue set in the heart of the River Market district is the perfect place for corporate events, private romantic dinners or simply for people who love memorable meals. There’s an outdoor patio upstairs and dining with a view. 425 President Clinton Ave., 501-850-0265
Coming Soon!
Two food-adoring, freshness-obsessed, Margarita-loving little joints! 5923 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock 224 W. South Street, Benton
eatbajagrill.com
Craft sandwiches, hand-tossed salads, NY style crust, high-quality ingredients, with a welcoming full neighborhood bar. 226 W. South Street, Benton
valhallabenton.com
Featuring thoughtfully created cocktails, an open-view charcuterie bar, rotating chef dinners, and a tasting menu. 302 W. South Street, Benton
eatrober.com
NOW OFFERING DINE-IN AS WELL AS TAKE OUT!
DOE’S EAT PLACE What has become a Little Rock landmark of national renown, Doe’s Eat Place has its origins in the unlikeliest of models, a no-frills diner deep in the Delta. But then, nothing about Doe’s is quite what one would expect from a world-class steakhouse — except fabulous steaks, that is. 1023 W. Markham St., 501-376-1195 MIDTOWN BILLIARDS Celebrating 81 years! This late-night favorite has been operating since 1940, serving hamburgers, brats, turkey, spam and egg, grilled cheese and BLTs. Midtown’s hamburger has been voted “Best Hamburger in Arkansas.” The Burger Challenge is back by appointment on Sundays, because you need the Good Lord’s help to eat it! Happy Hour is 3-8 p.m. and Tuesday is live trivia. 1316 Main St., 501-372-9990 SAMANTHA’S TAP ROOM AND WOOD GRILL Samantha’s is an upscale restaurant and bar with downhome comfort. Located in downtown Little Rock, it features amazing chicken, beef and seafood entrees prepared fresh using locally grown products and cooked on a wood grill. There’s also a huge selection of wines and beers on tap. 322 Main St., 501-379-8019 VINO’S BREWPUB Little Rock’s original brewpub opened in 1990 and has been brewing up award-winning ales since 1993. Also of note are their hand-crafted pizzas and calzones, original sandwiches and salads. Its fabled back room hosts cutting-edge live music, theater and other weirdness. 923 W. Seventh St. 501-375-8466
LITTLE ROCK’S MOST AWARD-WINNING RESTAURANT 1619 Rebsamen Rd. 501.663.9734 • thefadedrose.com
2 AWARD-WINNING RESTAURANTS - COME SEE US!
As seen on Diners Drive-ins and Dives Arkansas Times awards for Best Ethinic and Best Patio
WINNER “BEST SAUCE” AT THE 2019 ITALIAN FOOD FESTIVAL
Laid-back pick with a patio offering Venezuelan staples such as such as arepas, paella, empanadas, plus award-winning Mojitos!
A bistro with a cozy atmosphere and friendly staff, serving up your favorite Italian dishes for over 35 years.
laterrazahillcrest.com
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2415 Broadway St • Little Rock 501- 372-6868 1307 John Barrow Rd • Little Rock 501-224-2057 • simsbbqar.com
Experience That Great Southern Flavor serving better than bar foodall night long
Vote for us!
Kitchen open until 1:30am
December
3 - Deep Sequence 9pm 4 - DeeOhGee 9pm 10 - Garry Burnside 9pm 11 -Angie Clements 10thannualToys forTots Christmas Party w/ Mayday by Midnight 8pm 17 -The Brian Nahlen Band 9pm 18 - Coyote Claw 9pm 23 - Chris DeClerk (free solo show) 8pm 31 - NewYears Eve Party w/ RachelAmmons!! 9pm Check out upcoming bands at Fourquarter.com
Open until 2am every night! 415 Main St North Little Rock (501) 313-4704 • fourquarterbar.com
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BIG WHISKEY’S Big Whiskey’s has been serving Little Rock for almost 12 years. Since day one in 2009, we have strived to offer great food, from burgers, salads and wraps to fresh salmon and hand-cut steaks. Our ever-changing bar menu always includes a great selection of drafts and wines, as well as one of the largest varieties of bourbons and whiskeys you’ll find. All of this keeps locals and tourists coming back for business lunches, events downtown and on Game Day, and we don’t see that stopping any time soon. 225 E. Markham St., 501-324-2449 SIMS BBQ If you’re looking for mouth-watering, savory BBQ, look no further than Sims. The secret is in the sauce! It is a perfect blend of sweet meat with a little bit of tang. A crowd favorite among locals are the pork ribs, served as a sandwich ($8.80) or by the slab ($29.05). The weekday lunch special includes a sandwich, chips and drinks for $10.55. When the smoke-pit smell meets you from the road, you won’t want to pass it up. Open for to-go orders only; walk-in or call ahead. 2415 Broadway St., 501-372-6868 1307 John Barrow Road, 501-224-2057
ARGENTA
Best Overall Around The State Best New Around The State, Taco Mama Side Town Best Chef Around The State, Diana Bratton Best Tacos Around The State Best Brunch Around The State Best Cheese Dip Around The State Best Desserts Around The State Best Mexican Around The State
tacomama.net
TACO MAMA SIDE TOWN 510 Ouachita Ave. Hot Springs 501- 781-3102
TACO MAMA MALVERN 1209 Malvern Ave. Hot Springs 501-624-6262
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FOUR QUARTER BAR This Argenta favorite doesn’t serve your average bar food. The menu features locally sourced pork, handmade sauces and famous hand-pattied burgers along with weekly specials that you won’t find anywhere else. Even better, the kitchen is open until 1:30 a.m. every night. Four Quarter also offers a great selection of rotating craft beer on draft. With great live music, a hidden patio, shuffleboard and dominoes, Four Quarter Bar has it all. 415 Main St., North Little Rock, 501-313-4704
WEST LITTLE ROCK
BUFFALO WILD WINGS It’s the Great American Sports Bar where fans meet up, let loose and bond over saucy wings, flavorful food, spirited drinks and celebrated moments. The neighborhood favorite boasts an awesome lunch lineup starting at $5.99, $3-$5 happy hours from 2-6 p.m. and 9 p.m.-midnight weekdays, BOGO Tuesdays, 65-cent Boneless Wings Thursdays and $5 game day specials Thu.-Mon. The rotating tap list and custom-crafted cocktails pair well with new menu additions, like beer-battered chicken sandwiches and tenders. Also new: free-to-play Picks and Props game on Buffalo Wild Wings’ app. Win huge prizes with just a few taps; all you have to do is check in to compete every week at Buffalo Wild Wings. So don’t spend your season on the couch. Clear your schedule and get to Buffalo Wild Wings. 14800 Cantrell Road, 501-868-5299 4600 Silver Creek Drive, Sherwood, 501-819-5299
GRAFFITI’S Graffiti’s Italian Restaurant has been serving the Little Rock community traditional Italian dishes for nearly 40 years. We are locally owned and operated with a central focus on family and community. Our mission is to provide delicious Italian favorites at the most affordable prices! Come in and treat yourself to one of our fine meals. Located in Little Rock, we are open Mon.-Thu. from 5 p.m.-9 p.m. and Fri.-Sat. from 5 p.m.-9:30 p.m.! We are closed on Sundays. Our private party room is available to rent seven days a week. Please inquire about our rehearsal dinner and catering packages. 7811 Cantrell Road, 501-224-9079 TRIO’S Traditional and innovative menu. Stalwart entrees dating from the 1940s Sam Peck Hotel. Ever evolving culinary expression from owners’ extensive travel. Daily lunch specials, bimonthly dinner specials. Creative cocktails. Grand slam wine list. Sourcing local, organic produce since 1986. Best dessert selection in the state. Pavilion in the Park, 8201 Cantrell Road, Suite 100, 501-221-3330
PINE BLUFF
SARACEN RESTAURANTS The Saracen Casino Resort puts as much emphasis on cuisine as it does gaming, as is evident in the property’s extensive offerings. At Red Oak Steakhouse, enjoy prime-grade beef and bison from the Quapaw herd alongside a carefully curated menu in the property’s flagship restaurant. Red Oak’s signature cuisine is presented in a class of its own, with Saracen’s focus on offering the best steaks in the South, carefully managed from pasture to plate. Legends Sports Bar includes an in-house brewery, a 25-foot video wall, a live entertainment stage and a must-try menu. The Post offers quick dining featuring everyone’s favorites: fried chicken, pizzas and even daily blue plate specials. Quapaw Kitchens is the same buffet experience you’d find in only the finest Las Vegas facilities, bringing you an all-you-can-eat setting featuring crab, lobster, frog legs, ribeye steaks to order and hundreds more options. Saracen Casino Resort, 1 Saracen Resort Drive, Pine Bluff, 870-686-9001
HOT SPRINGS
THE BUGLER AT OAKLAWN RACING CASINO RESORT Dine like a high roller at Central Arkansas’s newest upscale restaurant. Steaks, seafood, poultry and more! Don’t miss the upscaled Southern favorites-fried green tomatoes never had it so good. 2705 Central Avenue, Hot Springs, 501-363-4790 SQZBX An accordion-decorated restaurant located in historic downtown Hot Springs, SQZBX brews craft beer on site and creates some of the best pizza in town. The founders, two polka musicians, also
DOE’S KNOWS LUNCH & DINNER FULL BAR AND PRIVATE PARTY ROOM WE HAVE A DOG FRIENDLY PATIO Lunch: Tues - Fri 11am-2pm Dinner’s Cooking: Tues - Sat starting at 5pm Closed Monday & Sunday
BEST BUSINESS LUNCH BEST FRENCH FRIES
1023 West Markham Downtown Little Rock 501-376-1195 • www.doeseatplacelr.com
BUY ONE, GET ONE
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Participating locations: Ft. Smith, Conway, Little Rock, Sherwood, & Jonesboro.
Where Tradition & Innovation Come To Dine DINE-IN, TAKEOUT & DELIVERY Delivery offer only valid on BWW’s website and app and not valid on third party delivery sites. Buy one boneless wings order and get one of equal value free on Thursdays at participating locations. Not valid with any other coupon or offer. Size exclusions may apply and may vary by location. While supplies last. Limit one offer per customer per visit. Delivery and takeout available for a limited time only. Delivery is available at participating locations within BWW’s delivery areas subject to location delivery hours, customer’s location, and availability. Fees may apply.
Lunch Mon-Sat, 11am-2pm • Dinner Mon-Sat, 5-9pm • Closed Sunday Pavilion in The Park, 8201 Cantrell Road, Ste 100, Little Rock, AR 501-221-3330 • www.triosrestaurant.com Special Advertising Supplement of the Arkansas Times
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opened the solar-powered radio station next door and won a historic preservation award for the work restoring the buildings containing the radio station and restaurant. 236 Ouachita Ave., Hot Springs, 501-609-0609 TACO MAMA/TACO MAMA SIDE TOWN Hot Springs’ premiere Mexican restaurant offers a culinary experience for every taste, from green chile cheeseburgers with potato-wrapped, cream cheese-filled jalapenos to classic Mexican fare. The menu also includes an assortment of health-conscious and diet-friendly plates. Saturday brunch features favorites like Shane’s Special, two jalapeno corn cakes topped with carnitas and poached eggs. 1209 Malvern Ave., 501-624-6262 Taco Mama Side Town: 510 Ouachita Ave., Hot Springs, 501-781-3102 VENETIAN DINING ROOM Original to the 1924 structure, the Venetian Dining Room is the place to see and be seen at The Arlington in Hot Springs. Famous for its Friday Night Seafood Feast and award-winning Sunday brunch in the dining rooms, its old-world ambiance makes it a must-do on every guest’s list at The Arlington. At this time, our Venetian Dining Room is open for breakfast on weekends and other select days. Dinner is available Friday and Saturday nights in the dining room; light menu available most days through the lobby bar. Brunch is served every Sunday in the Venetian Dining Room. 239 Central Ave., Hot Springs, 501-623-7771
BENTON
VALHALLA Located in the Old Palace Theater in Historic Downtown Benton, Valhalla offers pizza with a New York-style crust and fresh toppings, madeto-order salads and sandwiches! Imbibe on our handmade cocktails and 12 rotating beers on tap. And have fun on our large patio and yard filled with games and live music! 224 W South St., Benton, 501-316-4082
LAKEVIEW
Open 4pm Monday - Thursday Open 12pm Friday -Sunday
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GASTON’S RESTAURANT (Gaston’s White River Resort in Lakeview) At Gaston’s we want to make sure you experience everything in Lakeview, Arkansas, including our award-winning restaurant. Our restaurant sits on the White River with amazing views and a quiet atmosphere you are sure to love. Our chef, Rick Gollinger, has weekly specials that start on Thursday nights and last the entire weekend. Also, there is a buffet on Sundays that you do not want to miss. Due to our limited seating for the purposes of social distancing, Gaston’s Restaurant is operating on a reservation only basis. Open daily from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. 1777 River Road, Lakeview, 870-431-5203
BOOK YOUR HOLIDAY PARTIES HERE! (501) 324-2449 • bigwhiskeyslittlerock.com 225 E Markham, Little Rock Special Advertising Supplement of the Arkansas Times
YOU ARE INVITED TO THE FAREWELL EXHIBIT AND PARTY FOR HOT SPRINGS ARTIST CAROLE KATCHEN!
Friday, December 3 | 5-9pm
Thanks For Voting For Us! We continue to enjoy offering a quality experience, with an emphasis on gathering local ingredients and interesting libations and wine to offer to our friends, neighbors, and travelers.
BEST PATIO OR DECK FOR DRINKING, BEST COCKTAIL LIST
LEGACY FINE ART GALLERY
605 N. Beechwood • Little Rock 501-603-0238 • ciaobacilr.com Follow us
804 Central Avenue, Hot Springs | 501-762-0840 Tanner - AR Times.pdf 1 11/2/21 2:20 PM
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FOOD & DRINK
COCKTAILS TO GO
SHAKEN, STIRRED, BATCHED AND BOTTLED FOR YOUR CONVENIENT PICK-UP ORDER (WITH A MEAL). BY RHETT BRINKLEY
BRIAN CHILSON
A TAKEOUT TOAST: Arkansas restaurants are bringing their bars to the curbside.
A
s 2021 draws to a close and we raise our glasses after another pandemic year, we’d be remiss not to acknowledge the innovative solutions our drink shakers have developed over the past 20 some-odd months. In March of 2020 restaurants started offering virgin cocktail kits delivered to the curb. In April of this year, Governor Asa Hutchinson signed SB 339 permitting certain permit holders to sell cocktails to be consumed off premises to keep the booze economy flowing. The kits and 80 DECEMBER 2021
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to-go cocktails haven’t merely given bars and restaurants a chance to stay relevant in times of social distancing and capacity restrictions, but have created lasting trends that are still in demand and likely here to stay. So grab a margarita kit from a local taco joint and impress your co-workers at the office Christmas party or get a delicious dryaged Negroni with your to-go order from The Pantry, put it over ice and say, “Honey, look, I made you a Negroni.” It goes without saying that you must be 21 or
older to purchase to-go cocktails in Arkansas. Please drink responsibly and have happy and safe holidays. PINK HOUSE ALCHEMY While studying biology, dietetics and food science at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Emily Lawson founded farm-to-bottle company Pink House Alchemy in 2013. Originally a farmers market vendor, Lawson started out making lavender lemonades and lattes out of a
113-year-old pink house in south Fayetteville. Now Pink House’s bitters, syrups and shrubs (acidic syrups) are sold in a retail shop in Fayetteville, throughout the state in grocery stores and specialty shops, and in restaurants, bars and coffee shops in nearly all 50 states. Most of Pink House’s revenue is wholesale, Lawson said, and when the pandemic hit in March of 2020, the company lost 90% of its business. “So we put our heads down and really started to think about how we could change what we could do to service the community and what we could do to shift the dynamic. We also had farms that rely on us to buy food, so it was just a whole system we had to keep flowing,” Lawson said. Pink House leaned into online sales after being closed for a month, “far exceeding our expectations,” Lawson said. “We started cocktail kits then as a way to communicate with the community and bring all of that to people’s homes.” Kits are something Pink House had previously done seasonally. One of the first kits was the Winter’s Bane Halloween Boo Kit, a Halloween surprise people would drop off for friends. Now Pink House offers nine dehydrated fruit and cocktail kits (alcohol not included), including the Cardamom Mulled Wine kit, a Ginger Mule kit and a Sarsaparilla Old Fashioned deconstructed kit. Lawson said that even as businesses have opened up and restaurants are getting busy again, the demand for the kits continues to grow. Pink House is also an ingredient source for several companies doing canned cocktail lines, and last year its tonic syrup won a national Good Food
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THE INS AND OUTS OF TO-GO COCKTAIL SERVICE: • •
Only applies to wet counties. Restaurants must have seating for at least 25 guests. • Bars and restaurants must have a full kitchen offering meal service and be open a minimum of five days a week. • No more than 32 ounces (or four drinks) can be served per customer. • To-go cocktails can only be served with a meal. • Not applicable on Sundays. • No deliveries through third parties; delivery person must be 21 years of age or older. Alcoholic Beverage Control spokesman Scott Hardin said ABC is amending the rules by making them more specific to the process and that he expects it to be finalized in the next two to three months. “It won’t further limit anything,” he said, but it will make the process more clear. For example, questions like “What constitutes a meal?” will likely be answered. Hardin said that so far the process has gone smoothly and ABC hasn’t run into any issues with the service.
MARKETPLACE To advertise in this section, call Luis at 501.492.3974 or send an email to Luis@arktimes.com
Special pricing for COVID-19 affected businesses, churches and nonprofits! Restored, new bulbs. Call Searchlight Dave Today! 501-765-5511
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DIY COCKTAIL KITS: Pink House Alchemy, The Fold, Baja Grill and The Pantry offer up libations to go.
Award. Pink House has also started offering drink pouches or “adult juice boxes” at events and partnering with other local vendors to handle the alcohol component. “Any way that we can to help promote the use of ingredients and the line to the farm, we do,” Lawson said. You can shop cocktail kits and more from Pink House’s website at pinkhousealchemy.com. THE FOLD BOTANAS & BAR One of the ways The Fold adapted to the dining room shutdown in March of 2020 was making the flavorful margaritas the restaurant is known for available in to-go kits, sans the alcohol. The Fold’s bar manager, Sarah Repp, said she was grateful for the community’s response in the early pandemic days when it wasn’t clear when restaurants would open to the public. “It was insane whenever we first started doing the kits. We were juicing the same amount of juice we would’ve had to do if we were actually open for business,” Repp said. “That’s such a great feeling.” The most challenging aspect about the kits in the beginning was finding something befitting The Fold’s aesthetic that was also functional, Repp said. The kits were originally packaged in plastic containers wrapped with pastel tissue paper and cellophane. They looked cute, Repp said, but they weren’t 82 DECEMBER 2021
ARKANSAS TIMES
very practical because the tissue paper would get wet and the wide-mouth containers weren’t ideal for a smooth pour. In January of this year The Fold started serving the kits in heat-sealed plastic pouches with resealable screw-cap spouts. “It’s very functional,” Repp said. “You just pour it out of the pouch and then shake up your margarita.” The Fold’s to-go beverages are no longer just limited to the virgin margarita mix; you can now order a margarita to go, booze included. The law passed in April allowed The Fold to incorporate its popular blood orange margarita, which couldn’t be included in the previous line of to-go drinks because it contains a blood orange liqueur. On Halloween weekend The Fold introduced its line of to-go margaritas, which includes its classic variety, jalapeno, blood orange and lemon rosemary, all sold in 16-ounce sealed, labeled plastic bottles, which are equivalent to about two and a half margaritas. The cocktails are made to order and are ready to drink. Repp said you can give them an additional shake if you want more dilution. Repp laughed when asked if the bartenders are having to juice more fruit than before, back when all cocktails were made for in-house customers. She said she has to order three to four more lime cases a week now and that due to the supply chain issues, at times it’s been challenging to fill
her lower-shelf tequila orders. On the plus side, she’s happy the restaurant is starting to feel like a restaurant again. “It’s been so nice to have people back in there, and it’s been really nice to have the ability to do the margaritas to go. I never actually thought that would be an option here in Arkansas.” RADUNO BRICK OVEN & BARROOM Raduno has been able to offer a form of to-go cocktails since the Little Rock board of directors voted to turn the 12th through 17th blocks of Main Street in SoMa into an entertainment district in July 2020. Those drinks have to be served in approved cups. As of late October, Raduno is offering three of its most popular cocktails in sealed, labeled 16-ounce bottles, roughly three servings. The Italian Galgo, which bar manager Marcus Fisher described as a grapefruit margarita; The Pinky Ring, a spicy jalapeno pineapple margarita; and white and red sangrias are all available for $20 each. Fisher said that if the to-go cocktails were made individually per order it would tie up the entire bar. “It’s bananas how much we sell,” he said. For that reason the cocktails are made in batches about every two days. “It’s the same recipe, it doesn’t change and it’s going to taste the same every time you get it,” he said. The bar staff adds the appropriate dilution that would normally be achieved from shaking or
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stirring the drink with ice. The cocktails are stored in bubbler machines that constantly circulate the mixture, keeping it chilled and agitated. That means the cocktails are ready to drink, but will benefit from a little shake to stir up the fruit sediment. Owner Bart Barlogie recommends serving all three on the rocks. The cocktails contain fresh fruit, so you have about a seven-day window to consume after purchasing, Fisher said. Fisher said the process was developed over several meetings dating back to 2020. “The owners didn’t want to just spring for anything, they wanted it to look right and be the right product.” They experimented with several different bottle types, he said. “The bottle that we chose just makes it the easiest process possible and it keeps the price down to where we’re not having to charge an arm and a leg for it,” he said. Team brainstorming on ways to make togo orders more efficient and inventive was an essential component to keep business flowing smoothly for the staff and customers, Fisher said, “while still being flexible and realizing what worked, what didn’t and what needed improvement.” MORE LOCAL TO-GO COCKTAIL OPTIONS: BAJA GRILL The option of to-go cocktails is something Baja Grill bartender Kathy Jordan said she has been
waiting for her whole life. “It definitely increases to-go sales,” Jordan said. Baja Grill offers to-go cocktails with food orders in single, double or quadruple containers of up to 32 ounces and it’s not just limited to the margaritas. “Any of our signature cocktails, anything on our drink menu, I can sell you,” Jordan said. You can pick up your burrito and skinny margarita in the restaurant or at its drive-thru.
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GLOWILD! A LARGER THAN LIGHT EXPERIENCE
MOCKINGBIRD BAR & TACOS Mockingbird offers a 32-ounce glass bottle of its house margarita with to-go orders. An initial deposit fee of $4 for the bottle can be refunded if you return it on your next visit. The restaurant’s website also notes that the mixed drink tax ($9.90 for the 32-ounce margarita) in Arkansas is the highest in the country. THE PANTRY AND PANTRY CREST The Pantry offers a glass bottle of its 6-ounce (a double) popular dry-aged batched negroni with to-go orders. It contains all spirits (gin, campari, sweet vermouth and a little bit of water for dilution) so it will need to be served on the rocks. You could also stir the drink with ice and strain it if you want it served up. Bar manager David Timberlake said The Pantry is offering one cocktail per order and you can also order any of its specialty cocktails, or any cocktail so long as it has a mixer and isn’t straight alcohol.
TO FIND OUT MORE VISIT
LITTLEROCKZOO.COM ARKANSASTIMES.COM
DECEMBER 2021 83
LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS AWARDS 55 SCHOLARSHIPS 2021-22 The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) entered its ninetieth year of service, it is the oldest and largest Hispanic organization in the United States with over one thousand chapters (councils) nationwide. Little Rock’s LULAC Council 750 is the oldest Latino organization in Arkansas and began in the late 1970’s. Since its early years, LULAC has advocated for civil rights, health, housing, along with economic and political participation of our community. This pioneering work coincided with the increasing growth of the Latino population of Arkansas and very early efforts to raise funds for scholarships. Council 750 has dedicated most of its efforts to the support of college-bound Latinos. Through a combination of donations, support from the national LULAC office, and cooperative agreements with thirteen universities and colleges, we have awarded scholarships totaling $1,5 million for over 600 Latinas/ os over the previous 28 years. This year Council 750 will award 55 scholarships with a total value of over $323,000. As in year’s past, we will honor the new scholarship recipients with a virtual gala celebration due to Covid-19 precautions, December 3, beginning at 6:00 p.m. and the public is cordially invited to join the occasion by visiting: mylulac750.org.
WILSON A. ESCOBAR GARCIA Arkansas Tech University
JENIFER CARMONA GARCIA UA-Little Rock
SELENA GARCIA University of Central Arkansas
RICARDO GOMEZ UA-Pulaski Tech
FRANCISCO LARA UA-Pulaski Technical College
AHTZIRI SALDANA UA-Little Rock
ISMAEL MEJIA Arkansas Tech University
LESLY REYES University of Central Arkansas
FAITH OCHOA Arkansas State University
JAVIER GONZALEZ UA-Little Rock
MARIA POSADAS Arkansas State University
LUIS VELÁZQUEZ UA-Little Rock
DIANA GONZALEZ Arkansas Tech University
MARIA AVALOS UA-Little Rock
MELISSA VELAZQUEZ University of Central Arkansas
LESLY MENDEZ Arkansas Tech University
BLANCA ARIAS UA-Little Rock
GRISELDA DELGADO TORRES UA-Little Rock
CARLOS RETA-OGLESBY Arkansas Tech University
MARIA ELKHATTABI UA-Little Rock
ALEXANDRA FLORES LEMUS Arkansas Tech University
LUIS TORRES UA-Little Rock
YOMAIRA SALGADO Arkansas Tech University
ELVIS TAPIA Arkansas Tech University
ISRAEL FLORES Arkansas Tech University
JOSE NAVARRETE Arkansas Tech University
NANCY MARTÍNEZ Arkansas Tech University
DANIELA GUADARRAMA Hendrix University
ALEXEY CHACON-PEREZ UA-Little Rock
MIRACLE WILLIS UA-Little Rock
GERARDO RAMÍREZ UA-Little Rock
LUIS LARA Hendrix College
JAQUELINE MONDRAGON University of Central Arkansas
MONICA MARTINEZ Hendrix College
JANETTE MUNOZ UA-Little Rock
LUIS GABRIEL UAMS
JUSTIN FUENTES Arkansas Tech University
JENNIFER REYES-GUERRERO UA-Pulaski Tech
JOSE SANTILLAN Arkansas Tech University
KIRSTEN ALBERT-STILLER University of Central Arkansas
JIMENA BALADA UA-Little Rock
CHRISTINE JONES UA-Little Rock
SAMANTHA ALEMAN-ESCOBAR Hendrix University
ABIGAIL TORRES UAMS
MAGALI CHAVEZ Shorter College
ALEXIA MUNOZ Shorter College
ESTRELLA CABALLERO Shorter College
LESLY MARTINEZ UA - Pulaski Tech
LUIS MARTINEZ UA-Little Rock
FRANCISCO VALENZUELA DIAZ Arkansas Tech University
JONATHAN AGUIRRE Arkansas Tech University
SUSANA TORRES-LUCERO Arkansas Tech University
MARGARITA LOPEZ Arkansas Tech University
ALYSSA VEGA
Arkansas Tech University
PHOTOS COURTESY OF LULAC
ANDREA VARGAS UA-Little Rock
HISTORY
GET READY FOR THE FUTURE IT IS MURDER.
BY GUY LANCASTER This piece is inspired by Guy Lancaster’s new book, “American Atrocity: The Types of Violence in Lynching,” available locally at Wordsworth Books, through the website of the University of Arkansas Press, or wherever else you might buy good books. COURTESY OF THE ARKANSAS STATE ARCHIVES
I
n June 1897, a white mob in Lonoke County kidnapped a Black teacher named D.T. Watson and gave him a thorough beating. Local African Americans were warned “that they had education enough” and were only needed for chopping cotton. A few months later, Watson went missing, only to be found hanging from a tree with a sign pinned to him: “A warning to ‘nigger’ schoolteachers. We want none of this kind of people in this country; others beware.” Watson was but one of 97 Black people lynched in Arkansas in the decade spanning 1891 to 1900 — 93 males and 4 females. By contrast, 16 white males were lynched during the same time. This was a real change from the previous decade. From 1881 to 1890, there were 36 Black males lynched in the state, compared to 27 white males. While every lynching was an evil, comparing the numbers raises the question of what exactly happened to foster this spike in anti-Black violence. The answer is rather simple: the perfection of a one-party state through the scapegoating of Black political and economic power. And African Americans in Arkansas had real power during the Reconstruction era and beyond. Textbooks of a previous generation loved to portray newly emancipated slaves as disastrously unready for the “burdens of freedom.” For example, the 1966 textbook “Historic Arkansas” by John L. Ferguson and J.H. Atkinson reads thus: “After the war, the Arkansas Negro became a ‘freedman’ who had to provide for his own needs and those of his family. Not only was he poorly prepared to look out for himself, but the poverty of his surroundings gave him little opportunity. The outlook for the freedman in Arkansas and other Southern states was made darker by the fact that his former owners had been killed in the war or were now too poor to help him.” But such assertions prove utterly laughable in the face of actual history. Before the year 1865 even came to a close, freed Black men in Little Rock organized the Convention of the Colored Citizens of the State of Arkansas, which met from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3, in large part to advocate for equality before the law in the government to come, as well as to implore the government for educational opportunities for freed people. And the eight Black men who participated in the 1868 Arkansas constitutional convention included some particularly well-educated and cosmopolitan figures. Among them was Helena businessman William Henry Grey, born a free man in Washington, D.C., who would later become the first Black man to address a national presidential nominating convention when he seconded the nomination of Ulysses S. Grant at the 1872 Republican convention. Alongside him was James W. Mason. Born a slave in Chicot County but acknowledged by his father (and owner), Mason was educated at Oberlin College in Ohio and later in France, and became the first African American appointed to serve
WILLIAM GREY: A prominent Black leader during Reconstruction.
as a postmaster in the United States. Grey and Mason were among the 35 Black men who served in the Arkansas Legislature between 1868 and 1874, the year “redeemer” Democrats were able to push through a new constitution and drive Republicans (the party to which most African Americans were loyal) from statewide office. Black men continued to be elected under the Republican (and occasionally Democratic) banner in the coming years, but in much smaller numbers, and increasingly limited to Delta counties where the Black population was highest. And when white Democrats could not successfully connive their way into office, they used violence. The 1898 coup d’état in Wilmington, North Carolina, has been popularly portrayed as the first such overthrow of a government to occur in the United States. But 10 years before the violence in Wilmington, white Democrats carried out a similar strategy in Marion, in Crittenden County. The population in Marion was 80% Black by the year 1880. Despite their overwhelming numerical advantage, Black Republicans engaged in “fusion” politics with local Democrats, which entailed the local parties meeting before the election and working out for which offices each would field a candidate. This allowed something of a balance, but it was not enough for white Democrats. Early in the summer of 1888, a group of prominent local Democrats (including the sheriff) met across the river in Memphis. They cooked up a scheme to indict the county judge, D.W. Lewis, and County Clerk David Ferguson, both Black men, on charges of public drunkenness. On the date of the trial, July 12, numerous prominent white residents announced they had received letters threatening their lives if they did not leave the ARKANSASTIMES.COM
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county. You might recognize this as all part of the reactionary playbook — accuse your opponents of what you yourself are planning. Using these allegations, Sheriff W.F. Werner and other wellarmed white men went to the courthouse and confronted Lewis and Ferguson, as well as J.L. Flemming, publisher of the Marion Headlight, a Black Republican newspaper. According to a federal investigation of what happened that day, one man in the crowd yelled at them: “God damn you, you’ve got to leave this county, this is a white man’s government and we are tired of negro dominance; we have been planning this for the past two years, and no more negroes or Republicans shall hold office in this county.” The expulsion didn’t stop there. These men rounded up other Black political leaders and forced them over the bridge to Memphis. They then set their sights on Black landowners and other prominent figures of the community and forced them over the bridge. The newly installed white power structure informed Gov. Simon P. Hughes that all the offices previously held by Black Republicans were now vacant, and he obligingly appointed white Democrats to fill those roles. What happened in Marion reverberated to other Arkansas counties. In St. Francis County’s November 1888 election, Black Republicans won the offices of county assessor, treasurer and coroner, while their white allies in the Union Labor Party won county judge, clerk and sheriff. As could be predicted, Democrats there began warning of “negro domination” if nothing was done, and by the time the May 1889 school board election rolled around, their fear of Democratic failure reached fever pitch. On May 18, the day of the election, school board president James Fussell knocked down Americus Neely, a Black Republican board member, near a polling place. An outbreak of violence between the factions resulted in the death of a Democratic city marshal and a Republican/Union Labor sheriff. In the midst of the violence, the Democratic school board candidates were elected. The following day, with the state militia in town to “restore order,” armed whites gunned down Neely in the office of the Advocate, a newspaper he managed. A group “of some 100 leading citizens” decided that Ambrose Gentry, a “leading negro,” and other Black Republican politicians and their white allies should depart town immediately. Vacancies created by this expulsion necessitated the holding of a special election in July, granting white Democrats the chance to seize yet another county for their own ends. Even in the face of growing violence, however, Black Arkansans remained politically active. The real blow came in 1891 with the passage of an election law aimed at cutting Black voters out. This law did a few things that might be familiar to those who have observed the deeds of Republican-dominated state legislatures this past year. For example, it gave state officials greater control over local elections, creating a state election board composed of the governor, auditor 86 DECEMBER 2021
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and secretary of state to appoint the judges for every voting precinct. The law also tried to make voting as uncomfortable as possible for certain people. Illiteracy remained high in Arkansas at the time, higher among Blacks than whites, but people who could not read had been able to vote for their desired candidates with the assistance of a friend or through the use of party symbols on
YOU MIGHT RECOGNIZE THIS AS ALL PART OF THE REACTIONARY PLAYBOOK — ACCUSE YOUR OPPONENTS OF WHAT YOU YOURSELF ARE PLANNING. the ballot. The new law took away those symbols and mandated that only election judges could assist an illiterate man; the voter would have to apply to two of the judges, who would then have to order the facility vacated while he voted. Such a system, one might well imagine, discouraged most illiterate voters and also created more opportunities for fraud. In the election of 1892, the estimated Black vote dropped by more than 30 percent. That same year, a poll tax was added to the requirements to vote.
In 1894, not one African American was elected to service in the state legislature. The Democratic Party had achieved complete and total control of the state and would pass more Jim Crow legislation in the coming years. Let us return to the beginning of this essay and ask: What does all of this have to do with the lynching of D.T. Watson in rural Lonoke County? The 1880s and 1890s constituted a period of fractured interests among the white population. Third-party and labor organizations such as the Union Labor Party, the Agricultural Week, the Brothers of Freedom, the Knights of Labor and the Greenbackers threatened to splinter the white vote along class lines, and some of these groups even included among their number African Americans, or allied themselves strategically with Republicans, both Black and white, in order to extend their influence. To combat this threat to their hegemony, Democratic elites raised the specter of “negro domination” again and again, as we have seen, in order to keep white voters in the Democratic fold. The reaction to this favorite nightmare of “negro domination” manifested not only in the forced takeover of local governments or the passage of bills disenfranchising African Americans, but also in the lynching of men like schoolteacher D.T. Watson. As the sociologist Mattias Smångs writes in his book, “Doing Violence, Making Race,” the “formal practices of racial group domination such as disenfranchisement and informal practices such as public lynchings complemented each other in promoting and enacting white group unity and power” in the emerging Jim Crow South. Lynchings were partly a product of political rhetoric aimed at disempowering African Americans. And the lack of political and economic power made African Americans all the more vulnerable to the whims of the mob. And what do we have today? Once again, elites, dreading their power might be waning, are drumming up white group unity and power. They are passing laws (including redistricting maps) to limit the electoral efficacy of people of color. We also see these elites openly entertaining proposals to overturn elections they don’t like. Granted, this party’s adherents don’t run around shrieking about “negro domination” at every turn. They have moved on to more sophisticated bluster about “critical race theory,” while many among both the leadership and the rank and file openly fantasize about butchering people like you and me in order to “take back our country.” Is it a pessimistic conclusion to draw? Sure. But consider the exonerations of George Zimmerman and countless white police officers who killed unarmed black people and suffered no legal consequences. The parallels to what happened in the past is impossible to ignore. As Mark Twain once said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” Or perhaps more appropriate at this juncture are the words of Leonard Cohen: “Get ready for the future: It is murder.”
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CANNABIZ
CAMPAIGN UNDERWAY FOR MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION LONGTIME ADVOCATE MELISSA FULTS LEADS CAMPAIGN.
BRIAN CHILSON
BY GRIFFIN COOP
BOUND FOR THE BALLOT?: Melissa Fults’ Arkansas Marijuana Amendment of 2022 seeks to legalize recreational use in Arkansas.
A
rkansas adults will be able to legally purchase marijuana for recreational use by February 2023 if a recently filed constitutional amendment proposal makes the ballot and is approved by voters next year. The Arkansas Marijuana Amendment of 2022, filed and later revised in November by longtime Arkansas marijuana advocate Melissa Fults, will allow Arkansans ages 21 and over to possess up to 5 ounces of marijuana. The amendment would allow adults to grow up to six plants of their own in “micro-cultivation” cooperatives, expunge the criminal records of certain criminal offenses related to marijuana, and expand the number of dispensaries and cultivation facilities. “It’s fair to the consumer, it’s fair to the industry and it’s fair to the state,” Fults said. “You can’t get any better than that.” The amendment would make Arkansas the first state among its neighbors and only the second state in the South, after Virginia, to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes. In total, 19 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for adult use. Thirteen of those states approved it at the ballot box, while the rest were enacted by state legislatures.
State law now limits the number of dispensaries to 40 and cultivation facilities to eight. Fults’ amendment would increase the dispensaries to 1 for every 15,000 population, which would allow for about 200 dispensaries based on the most recent census data. The amendment would expand cultivation facilities to 1 for every 300,000 population, which would allow for about 10 cultivation facilities. The state Alcoholic Beverage Control Division uses a similar system for allocating liquor licenses. The revised amendment would keep the existing medical marijuana program in place but would make a few changes to Amendment 98, which voters approved to legalize medical marijuana in 2016. The Arkansas Marijuana Amendment of 2022 would keep the current qualifying conditions for eligibility for a medical marijuana card but would allow physicians to use their own judgment as to what other conditions could be helped with medical marijuana. According to the amendment, “any condition that the physician using his/her medical judgment believes will be of therapeutic or palliative benefit to the patient” will qualify to make patients eligible for medical marijuana. Chronic and terminal patients would also be able to receive a lifetime marijuana card for a
maximum fee of $100. Patients currently must pay $50 to renew their card annually. The amendment would also change how marijuana is taxed. Medical marijuana would no longer be subject to an excise tax, currently at 4%, and would only be subject to the state retail sales tax of 6% and local sales taxes. Recreational marijuana purchases would be taxed at 15% under the amendment. Revenue from the tax would go to administer the marijuana program, with excess revenue going into four categories: pre-kindergarten and after-school programs (40%), a fund to provide free or reduced-cost medical marijuana to low-income patients (20%), the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences National Cancer Institute (20%) and general revenues (20%). The amendment also expunges nonviolent felony and misdemeanor convictions for the possession or sale of 16 ounces or less of marijuana, six or fewer marijuana plants and paraphernalia intended for use with marijuana. “There are far too many people, especially people of color, whose lives have been destroyed over a plant,” Fults said. Fults said she anticipates having sufficient financial backing from people who have expressed ARKANSASTIMES.COM
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support for her amendment. “If everybody comes through, I will definitely have sufficient money to gather signatures and get on the ballot,” she said. COUCH SUPPORTS David Couch, who authored the successful 2016 amendment in Arkansas, is working with Fults to get the 2022 amendment passed. Couch said he offered suggestions on how to revise Fults’ amendment to make it easier to pass, including automatic expungement of records rather than a requirement to petition a court. Couch, who supported a different amendment than Fults in 2016, said previously that he believes Arkansas will pass a recreational marijuana amendment with the right regulatory and tax structure. Couch said he expects opposition to the 2022 amendment, but he is confident in the positive aspects of the proposal and said the arguments against his 2016 amendment never came to pass. “The tax revenue is just going to be incredible,” Couch said. “The economic benefits are going to be incredible. Everything they said that was going to be bad about the medical marijuana program did not transpire. All of the economic benefits that we promoted on the medical marijuana program came to fruition even more than I anticipated.” OTHER AMENDMENTS The Arkansas Marijuana Amendment of 2022 isn’t the only recreational marijuana initiative that supporters are trying to get on the ballot. Arkansas True Grass, a group of advocates and volunteers, filed the Arkansas Recreational Marijuana Amendment of 2022. That amendment would allow adults to purchase up to 5 ounces of marijuana a day and grow up to 12 plants of their own. The amendment would also expunge criminal records related to marijuana. Additionally, former state legislator Eddie Armstrong filed a ballot committee called “Responsible Growth Arkansas” with the Arkansas Ethics Commission in October. The filing says the committee will “advocate for the passage of an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution to allow the regulated sale of adult-use cannabis in the state.” The filing lists Armstrong as the committee’s chair and T.J. Boyle as the treasurer. Responsible Growth Arkansas has not filed an amendment with the Arkansas secretary of state, which is necessary to begin collecting signatures to get on the ballot. Armstrong said via email that more details on the initiative will be coming in December. “Between our effort and the other two proposals being filed with the state, there is clearly growing consensus and support for an expansion of adult-use, recreational cannabis in Arkansas,” Armstrong said. “We are dedicated to bringing that about in a responsible and regulated way and we are taking the time to get this right. We are confident that as we build out our campaign 90 DECEMBER 2021
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efforts that we can bring on unified support behind commonsense proposals to move our state forward.” An amendment must have 89,151 verified signatures to get on the ballot. The deadline to submit petitions is July 8, 2022. CAN THEY PASS? Polls and election results show Americans have become more accepting of marijuana legalization in recent years. A spate of national polls show support for legalization, including a Gallup poll released in November that showed a record 68% of respondents favor legalization. That number has risen from just 12% when Gallup first polled the issue in 1969 and has doubled from 34% in 2001. A poll conducted in Arkansas last year found similar support. Conducted by Talk Business and Hendrix College June 9-10 last year, the poll found that 23.5% supported expansion of medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivators, 19% supported legalizing recreational marijuana and 46.5% supported doing both. The poll suggests that 65.5% of respondents supported legalizing recreational marijuana. “Look at pretty much any state or national poll, and the numbers just keep going up year after year,” said Jared Moffat, state campaigns manager for the Marijuana Policy Project. The Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit and lobbying organization, helps pass marijuana initiatives in states across the country, and provided some support to Arkansas’s successful medical marijuana amendment in 2016. After initially passing marijuana laws in more liberal states like Colorado and Washington, the organization has moved into states that are believed to be less friendly to marijuana initiatives, but the results have still been favorable, Moffat said. Even in the traditionally conservative states of Montana and South Dakota, marijuana initiatives passed at the ballot box last year with healthy margins. Montana passed an adult-use legalization initiative 57% to 43%, and South Dakota passed adult-use legalization by a vote of 54% to 46%. (Although the South Dakota measure passed, it was ruled unconstitutional earlier this year). “I think that when we can put it on the ballot, we feel very confident because we know [the majority of] voters in every state … agree with us,” Moffat said. Arkansas would be the first among its bordering states to legalize marijuana for recreational use. Oklahoma, Missouri and Louisiana, like Arkansas, have legalized medical marijuana, although some industry leaders say Oklahoma operates more like a recreational market than a medical one. Mississippi voters legalized medical marijuana last year before it was ruled unconstitutional. Virginia became the first state in the South to legalize recreational marijuana when the Virginia legislature voted to legalize it earlier this year. The new laws took effect in July.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! - from all of us at The Source
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HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
These Bernie Sanders, RBG, Willie Nelson and Rainbow ornaments are so cute you’ll want to display them all year. They’re a small sampling of the treasure trove of unique gifts at Bang-Up Betty’s new storefront that showcases their handmade jewelry, local art and fun gifts. Also available at bangupbetty.com. 429 Main St., North Little Rock, 501-291-0071.
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HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
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THE OBSERVER
ON RELIVING ADOLESCENT ANXIETY AT CAMP TACO
WHAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF NOSTALGIA? CAMPER, WE FOUND IT.
N
ow faded and admittedly unreliable, The Observer’s memory from three weeks at an all-girls summer camp in 1987 consists mainly of physical discomfort, social isolation and an intractable terror that I would be permanently disfigured by a horse. My dad, an insurance guy, had once mentioned his company having to pay out a sizable claim when a horse at another summer camp bit a girl’s boob off. That throw-away dinner table comment took up residence in my head, adding to the gardenvariety anxiety of being away from home and making for white knuckles at the reins during the required horseback riding lessons. While The Observer escaped unscathed by a horse’s bite, the summer camp experience failed to build the lifelong friendships and leadership skills the promotional pamphlet had promised. It turns out that communal living and a regimented schedule of crafts, tennis, water sports and camp songs doesn’t float everyone’s canoe. It was largely for this reason that the nostalgiainfused Camp Taco, a newly opened theme restaurant light on the tacos and heavy on the camp, wasn’t really calling The Observer’s name. They’d simply done too good of a job curating a
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vibe that dredged up unwelcome memories of my crush at the boys’ camp across the lake who showed initial interest, but soon ditched me for a girl with a bald spot at the crown of her head. A stack of decades passed since I last thought about the poor kid at our brother camp that summer who was too terrified to use the communal bathroom and ended up in the hospital after he started vomiting fecal matter. Did I want to be remembering him now? And so it was with some trepidation that The Observer attended a birthday party at Camp Taco on a recent Sunday night. We couldn’t help but admire such full commitment to a theme: the petite blonde hostess who was perfectly polite and not at all friendly, lidded plastic water pitchers on tables, walls covered in what’s likely the only wood paneling installed for aesthetic rather than budgetary reasons in this century. Whatever the opposite of nostalgia is, The Observer found it here. It’s possible a need for oblivion brought on by a wash of angsty adolescent memories is the inspiration behind the Buddy System, Camp Taco’s signature drink comprising a brass bowl filled with boozy punch and chilled by a fluted ice mold shaped in a Bundt pan. Perfectly curated
photos of this Buddy System on social media showed happy tablemates with heads together, slurping from straws all stabbed into the same broad bowl. And in 2019 that would have seemed a fine idea. But in COVID times, I was about as eager for communal slurping as I would have been back at camp with Patty, my plumpest cabin mate, whose pitiable fever blister-pocked lips signaled that others were suffering, too. We opted for a ladle and individual glasses instead. Campers, punch-induced oblivion proved out of reach. Our Bundt was simply too big. Embarrassingly and awkwardly so, making it impossible to dip the ladle deep enough to get much punch out at a time. Prying the enormous Bundt sideways to plunge the ladle deeper was a group activity (fitting, I suppose), but the hefty ice ring slipped and splashed precious punch over the side. Despite all that, the night was a memory maker. A pack of girls laughing and gossiping over communal fare at a formica table, snapping photos and making plans for next time. The Observer walked away feeling placidly ho-hum, honored to have been in such golden company but still ready, eager, to get home. Thanks, Camp Taco, for the memories.
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