SOUTH ARKaNsas SUN www.southarkansassun.com
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Vol 20 No 13
8 pages
75¢
Celebrating the People of Calhoun County
Pharmacy One of Four Burglarized Last Week
Hydrocodone Only Pills Taken in Arkansas, Louisiana burglaries
Hampton 3rd Grade Students Tour KATV Channel 7
When he was in second grade, Mrs. Sabina Pickett recognized the passion in Reece Bailey’s interest in the weather and his desire to grow up to be a weather man. Mrs. Pickett decided to share that information with KATV Channel 7’s Meteorologist Todd Yakoubian. In turn, Reece was invited this year, as a third-grader, to tour the television station’s studio. He could bring 20 friends with him, so he and Mrs. Monica’s other third graders made the trip to Little Rock on Friday, October 3. The students appeared on camera and Reece, pictured at right and below with Yakoubian, got to end the program sitting right beside the weatherman. Principal Tom Sawyer and Mrs. Pickett and Reece’s parents also attended. Mr. Sawyer said it was a great thing for the
students to experience and they really enjoyed the tour. “It was real good for the school and the kids enjoyed it. KATV was real nice, and let Reece go back there. It was really nice.”
Notices ATTENTION Parents & Students: The Hampton Yearbook Staff needs pictures from the prom taken in 2014. We also need baseball and softball pictures. If we aren’t able to locate copies, we will not have these pages in the yearbook. If you have them and will share, please email them to : yearbookhampton01@gmail.com. The Calhoun County Election Commission will be preparing the voting machines for the upcoming November general election,Friday, October 10th at 10:30 a.m. in the Admin building, downstairs. The public is invited to observe. Any questions may be directed to: Commission Chairman, Roger Mills at 870-574-0818 between 9:30 a.m. and noon & 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. HHS Junior Class members are sponsoring their first Monster Dash 5K Run/Walk as a fund raiser in support of the Senior Prom. The event is set for Saturday, October 18, 2014. Early registration deadline is October 10th with the $25 entry fee to include a tee-shirt. Contact Ashley at 870-798-2229 or Krystal at 870-798-2742
UCRC Receives Certificate for Town Hall Meetings United Community Resource Council (UCRC) received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for UCRC’s sponsorship of a Town Hall meeting in Calhoun County to prevent underage drinking. Shirley Strickland, UCRC Chair, is pictured at left with the certificate. The Town Hall Meetings are the fifth round of National Town Hall meetings to prevent underage drinking in America. The initiative this year engaged more than 1,300 community-based organizations. UCRC would like to thank all those who participated in this year’s Town Hall Meeting.
Hampton Medical Pharmacy was one of four known drug store break-ins in south Arkansas and North Louisiana last Thursday, October 2, according to Hampton Chief of Police Eric Greer. Around 1:17 am, Dolores’ Family Pharmacy in Warren before the Hampton store at around 2:50 am followed by Newsome’s Health Mart in Strong early Friday morning. Marion, Louisiana’s drug store was also hit on Friday. In all four incidents, hydrocodone was the only thing believed to have been taken. The way in which the drug store was burglarized suggests this was someone that has done this before, Greer said. “We believe it is an experienced person and probably has a history of this type of crime, even bringing a plastic bag,” Hampton Medical security cameras caught the intrusion on video and showed the glass being broken and the burglar lifting the glass up and entering the store, Greer said. Keeping low to the floor, the intruder was able to circumvent the motion sensors, Greer said, explaining that once inside the intruder attempted to disable the alarm but was unable to do so. However, because the sensors were not tripped it did not go off nor notify law enforcement at all. The police department was contacted about 7:50 am that morning when staff reported for work. The pharmacy contacted the alarm company immediately and the system was upgraded with new motion sensors. Greer said he has been working with the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department, the Warren PD, the 13th Judicial Drug Task Force and the Union County Sheriff’s Office and they were able to piece the time line together using the video from the Hampton and Warren break-ins. He said that hydrocodone was the only drug taken, but that a significant amount was taken in each burglary. The suspect did match in the two videos. Strong did not have video, but the door was broken into the same way and the same drug was taken. Greer said that the Hampton PD has modified its schedule to have someone out in “the wee hours of the morning.” This is the third time this pharmacy has
been targeted in fourteen months. The first time was August 7, 2013 and 3,667 hydrocodone pills were recovered but this time the total stolen was about 11,000 pills. The Strong drug store had about 10,000 pills taken, but Greer said he was unable to obtain how many pills were taken in the Warren break-in yet. Greer also said that about two weeks ago, four people broke into the pharmacy and stole 12 - four ounce bottles of Guaifenesin/ codeine and 3 pints of promethazine-codeine syrup and 3 pints of acetaminophen-codeine elixir. This is cough medicine that is being used as a recreational drug, Greer said. If anyone has any information that might help officers locate perpetrators in either break-in, Greer asks that you contact him at 870-798-4610 or the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office at 870-798-2323.
Although Unlikely in Arkansas, ADH Working With Schools to Locate Any With Ebola Risk The Arkansas Department of Health has requested Arkansas public schools to help in fighting the spread of Ebola. Hampton Public School Nurse Pamela Davis, RN, BSN said the school is aware of the risk of Ebola internationally, but said that according to the ADH, “Ebola is extremely unlikely in our school and Arkansas has no active or suspected cases of Ebola at this time.” However, in working with the ADH, she does want parents and other care givers to feel free to contact her at the school if “you or someone you know has traveled to Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia or Nigeria with in the last 21 days. We are working with the ADH to identify students and staff who may have traveled to the affected countries, and we have plans to screen individuals as needed in collaboration with ADH.”
Hampton Public Schools will hold its Annual Report to the Public at 5:30 pm on Oct. 21 in the High School Conference Hall. Everyone is encouraged to attend.
Calhoun County’s Pretty Little Ladies Three Calhoun County lovelies took home crowns from the America’s Cover Miss Pageant held in Warren. Pictured is Beauty Supreme Winner Autumn Neal (front). She was also named Most Beautiful and Prettiest Smile in the 4 to 6 year old division. Brooke Ricker (back left) was named Queen in the 10-12 year old division as well as prettiest eyes. Taylor Warthan was first runner-up in the 7 to 9 year old division She also received the Best Outfit of Choice. Congratulations! Photo by Kimberly Gorman