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HES celebrates “Read Across America.” (Page 6)

Volume 117 Number 13 - USPS 225-680

Community Events Calendar Thursday March 8 GFWC Elsie McCain Club Meeting 6:00pm Murry’s Restaurant Hazen Hazen Lodge Meeting 7:30pm Lodge Hall De Valls Bluff City Council Meeting 6:00pm City Hall Sunday March 11 Daylight Savings Time Begins Monday March 12 Hazen Chapter # 5 OES Meeting 6:15pm BanCorpSouth Hazen Tuesday March 13 Quorum Court Meeting 6:00pm Annex Building Des Arc Monday March 19-23 Hazen School District Closed for Spring Break Tuesday March 20 PC Master Gardeners Meeting 6:00p.m. BancorpSouth Hazen Wednesday March 21 Friendship Luncheon 11:30a.m.-2:00 p.m. DeValls Bluff Methodist Church Community events brought to you by Hazen Chamber of Commerce and the

Please call F&M Bank (255-3042) or The Grand Prairie Herald (255-4538) to list events.

Prairie County, Arkansas

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Primary election filings announced The following candidates have filed to run for various Prairie County offices in 2018. County Judge **Mike Skarda- D County/Circuit Clerk **Gaylon Hale -D County Sheriff **Rick Hickman - D Jerrell Smith - R Assessor **Jeannie Lott - D Treasurer **Tamara Dabney -D County Coroner **Byrum Kelly - D Justices of the Peace **JP 1 - Ronnie Eans - D JP 1 - Lynn Hatcher - R **JP 2 - Lawrence Holloway -D JP 2 - Judy Burnett -D JP 3 - Judy Hinson - D JP 3 - DeWayne Mayher - R **JP 4 - Dennis Tipton - D JP 5 - Louis G. King - R

JP 6 - Buddy Sims - D JP 6 - Ricky Stallings - R JP 7 - Charles Atkins - D JP 7 - Levi Childress - R **JP 8 - Bobby Willeford - D ** JP 9 - Doyle Sullins - D Constables **Des Arc TownshipMichael McIntosh - R Hazen Township- Lamar Coyle - R Hickory Plains Township - Amber Newman -R Lower Hill TownshipBilly Mason- Independent Belcher/Tyler- Jeffery Uhiren - Independent **White River Township - Ronald D. Eans ** - INCUMBENT D- DEMOCRAT R- REPUBLICAN Those filing independent petitions signatures have not been confirmed at this time, and the list could change for independent filings.

HHS band students compete at Solo/Ensemble Contest... Members of the Hazen High School Band brought home 7 Superiors and 3 Excellents after competing at the Solo and Ensemble Contest held at Cabot Junior High East on Thursday, March 1. Superior ratings went to Grace Addison, 7th Grade; Angela Hoover, 10th Grade; Chloe Jackson, 8th Grade; Brittany McLernon, 8th Grade; Ivan Rodriguez, 7th Grade; Delila Smith, 9th Grade; and Cayden Stallings, 8th Grade. Excellent ratings were awarded to Bailey Brown, 8th Grade; Mattie-Lee Owens, 12th Grade; and Jesseka Suggett, 12th Grade.

Hazen School Board discusses district security plans during February meeting The main concern on the minds of the Hazen School Board members at their regular meeting held Monday, February 26, was the safety of the school district in light of the recent Parkland, FL school shooting. Present at the meeting were President David Strohl, Davey Williams, Vickie Skarda, Richie Ingle, Freddie Rogers, Sandra Penn, Superintendent William Crowder, and Principals Tiffany Glover and Clint Williams. Dean of Students Joe Besancon was also at the meeting. Elementary Principal Tiffany Glover told the board that she had spent the last two days trying to find ways to enhance the safety of her buildings. She had enlisted the aid of a security adviser who had given her some advice about problems that needed to be addressed. Glover showed them a door barricade mechanism that is presently being used by the

Clarendon School District to block entrance into classrooms. The barricade is composed of a metal plate that would be drilled into the concrete floors, a metal slot that would be attached to the classroom side of the door, and a metal bar that would connect the metal door slot to the metal slot drilled into the floor. The metal bar would be stored where students could not get it to lock teachers out of the rooms. The school doors open outward into the hallway which makes some other types of door lock mechanisms impractical. The locks would cost the district approximately $60 per door, and Glover recommended that if the test of the mechanism on one of the doors in the elementary school is successful that the board purchase 70 of them. Strohl said that he had talked to Sheriff Rick Hickman about a program to deputize teachers at the school, allowing

them to carry guns. “Is this something that we want to look into?” Strohl asked. According to Glover, some of her middle school teachers had already expressed interest in the 120 hour training. Besancon and Clint Williams said that they would also be trained. Strohl asked Glover to get a list of teachers who would be interested in the training. “I think we need to be really careful who we choose to get trained,” Crowder said. Board member Williams agreed, expressing some hesitation about rushing into arming teachers. “A handgun is a defensive weapon,” he said. “It’s used to buy time until the good guys can get there.” “I still like the idea of a Resource Officer,” he said. The district had a Resource Officer at one time, but the program was disbanded. “I don’t see these teachers going out into the hallway searching. I see

UofA Division of Ag offering water management classes STUTTGART, Ark. Producers getting ready for 2018 row crop growing season have plenty of opportunities to sharpen their water management skills through schools being offered by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. The Division of Agriculture is offering three schools: one for using Multiple Inlet Rice Irrigation, one for soil moisture sensors and the third which is both Surge and Soil Moisture Sensor School that covers surge valve use and layout as well as the basics of soil moisture sensors and how to use them to schedule irrigation. The number of participants for each school is limited to 12-15 people. The rice irrigation schools cover how to use a mobile app and electronic levee files to design for poly pipe in rice fields and how to get the data from the tractor to the app. There is no cost for the rice irrigation school. The $400 cost of the Surge and Soil Moisture school includes eight sensors, a slide hammer installation tool and a manual reader for those that do not have the tools needed to use sensors. Participants construct

sensors and install them as part of the school. Chris Henry, associate professor-Irrigation with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said industry has provided a deep discount on the supplies need to get started with sensors, so that participants can get the tools they need to use sensors effectively for irrigation Surge Valve and Soil Moisture Sensor Schools *March 9, 9 a.m. .- 3 p.m., MARIANNA -- Lon Mann Cotton Research Station, 8 Lee County Road 214. To register contact Stan Baker, 870-2957720, *March 21, 9 a.m. .- 3 p.m., RECTOR -- Rector Community Center, 740 East 9th Street. To register contact Stewart Runsick, 870-857-6875, surge and soil moisture sensor school Multiple Inlet Rice Irrigation App School *March 7, 9 a.m. .- 3 p.m., STUTTGART -Rice Research and Extension Center, 2900 Hwy. 130 East, Stuttgart, Arkansas, to register contact Phil Horton 870-9463231. *March 9, 4:30 p.m. - 8 p.m., WYNNE -- East Arkansas Community

College, 1790 Falls Boulevard, North. To register contact Rick Wimberley, 870-238-5745. *March 20, 5 p.m. - 8 p.m., RECTOR Rector Community Center, 740 East 9th Street. To register contact Stewart Runsick, 870-857-6875. For more information on irrigation, contact your county extension office or v i s i t https://www.uaex.edu/env i r o n m e n t nature/water/irrigation.as px.

them protecting the kids in their rooms,” Ingle said. “Whatever gun you don’t have on you would have to be locked up,” he said. Principal Williams said that safes that only a teacher’s hand could open are available in which to put the guns. Glover told the board that three state troopers, Hazen police officers, and certain staff members all get text messages when anyone from the school calls 911. She also said that Southern EMS has agreed to train all of the district staff in first aid and the use of tourniquets to stop bleeding in the event of a serious injury. Glover also told the board that an active shooter drill was being prepared by both principals. They are working on modifying the Carlisle School District Active Shooter plan to meet Hazen needs. “We have several things in motion,” she said. In other business, the board approved the purchase of fourteen sets of 10 Texas Instruments 84 Plus calculators (8 sets for the elementary and 6 sets for the high school) for $13,532.40, 33 Casio Advanced XJ projectors for the elementary and high school for $26,873.99 (12 elementary classrooms, 1 for the cafeteria, and 20 for the high school classrooms), and 30 laptop computers for the high school teaqchers and 2 laptops for the Pre-K teachers for $29,670.86 out of National School Lunch (NSL) funding. They also approved the superintendent’s recommendation to purchase two display solution with

TeachSmart 3.0 Software packages for the Pre-K classrooms in the amount of $20,351.40 from NSLABC funds. They also approved the purchase of two iStartSmart Pre-K Tablet Classpack wfor $8,070.90 with NSL-ABC funds. The board also voted to pay the Arkansas School Board Association Worker’s Compensation Trust $9,725 to renew the school’s premium for the 2018 coverage period and $2,850.00 for Model Policy Service Contract renewal. Crowder recommended that the board enter into an agreement with Blue Sky Technologies, LLC to provide the fiber optic and CAT6 cabling for the upgrading of the district’s internet system. The total cost of the program will be $76,753.00. Eighty percent of the cost ($61,402.40) will be paid with E-Rate funds, with the district paying for 20 percent ($15,350.60) of the expense. The superintendent also recommended and the board approved a resolution to amend the Municipal Advisor Agreement with Stephens, Inc. to allow the company to give the district a free service that for which it is now paying. The meeting ended with Clint Williams telling the board that Grant Shelman was named to the “All-Arkansas Preps Team” and that one of the Hazen Star Events teams, made up of Kynnedi Mothershed, Reighan McAdoo, and Kolby Fox, will be competing at the National Star Events competition this summer.

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