Warren Watkins portfolio by Jacob Brower

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TUESDAY, JULY 6, 2010

The

Daily Citizen www.thedailycitizen.com

Serving Searcy and White County, Ark., since 1854

SEARCY TEAMS WANT TO FINISH STRONG RESIDENTS LEAVING ALEXANDER CENTER

The Land O' Frost and Crain Automotive teams look for strong tournament finishes. — PAGE 1B

MISSION TRIP TO MOBILE, ALA. Date: July 22-23 Who: Harding Academy Wildcats Elementary school uniforms: $54 Middle school uniforms: $65

Mission to Mobile to provide uniforms

By Warren Watkins warren@thedailycitizen.com The Harding Academy Wildcat football team is looking for partners — not to block, tackle, run or pass but to help them on their mission trip to Mobile, Ala. July 22-23. The Wildcat football mission statement, taken from the Bible, speaks of serving “with the strength that God provides,” and while the squad does off-season strength training, what they need for the summer mission trip is the power of donations, according to Coach Roddy Mote. The team will work with the Mobile Inner City Church of Christ in an outreach effort within the RV Taylor community, an inner city community within Mobile that has a population of 198,000, Mote said. Members at the church have an average annual household income of $8,000 and the annual contribution at CONTINUED ON PAGE 2A

Methane power plant nearing completion

The Associated Press TONTITOWN — Officials say construction on a northwest Arkansas power plant that will be fueled by methane collected from a landfill will be complete by this fall. The $8 million, four-megawatt plant will be located at Waste Management's EcoVista landfill in Tontitown. Projections call for it to produce enough electricity to power about 4,000 homes. Jay Maruska, the project manager for Waste Management's renewable resources division, says the company has to destruct the methane anyway and using it to generate power is one way to make money off of that process. He says it makes more sense than burning off the gas. The power will be sold to utility companies to be sent into the region's electrical distribution grid. Maruska says when the Tontitown facility goes online, it will join about 60 similar generators on other Waste Management landfills.

Soldier tells of military life

Events, times overseas related

By Luke Jones ljones@thedailycitizen.com David Southerland, a Signal Corps. Communication Major in the U.S. Army, constantly hears the question, “What’s the military doing overseas?” During his leave, Southerland vis-

ited his parents’ hometown of Searcy and tried to answer that and other questions at last week’s Kiwanis meeting. Southerland is preparing to travel to Afghanistan, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates and more, and has already traveled all over the world. He loves his job in the military. He spent time going to college in Arizona, where he received an

ROTC scholarship. “I went to college because I thought that’s what I was supposed to do,” he said. Soonenough,Southerlandendedup in the army. His father had previously spent 30 years in the service doing the same job. But Southerland stressed that his choice was not planned. Once there, he felt he knew his CONTINUED ON PAGE 2A

DAVID SOUTHERLAND Designation: Signal Corps. Communication Major Theater: Afghanistan, others Previous job: Military recruiter

SOUTHERLAND

BEE-LIEVING IN THE SWEETNESS OF LIFE

A drop of pure honey hangs from a beekeeper’s tool held by Rick Brooks of Searcy. The raw honey contains pollen from local plants that some with allergies feel helps them develop resistance. Warren Watkins/warren@thedailycitizen.com

Pastor blessed in church and hive R

By Warren Watkins warren@thedailycitizen.com ick Brooks, 59, has thousands of friends who are constantly bringing him something sweet. An amateur beekeeper, Brooks has five beehives behind his home on Mitchell Road north of Searcy. Brooks was raised around bees — his father was a beekeeper, too — and about seven years ago decided he’s get back into the hobby himself. A hive and the minimum equipment, including a bee suit, headgear and smoker, costs about $500, Brooks said. “They don’t like stormy days and they don’t like you messing with them at night,” Brooks said Monday as he put smoke near the entrance of a hive, then opened it. “When they’ve got a good nectar flow with lots of honey they don’t pay much attention to me.” Smoke calms the hive, making the bees go deeper into the box and gorge on honey, a reaction Brooks attributes to a God-given instinct getting the bees ready to abandon the hive in the face of an intruder. With swollen abdomens, the bees find it harder to curl their tails and sting, making it easier for beekeepers to raid the hive for honey, something done once or twice a year in the summer or fall. Bees usually roam about two miles from their hive, Brooks said, making a bee’s normal range about 16 square miles, but under

WEATHER

Residents have started moving away from a facility in Little Rock after officials decided to close it. — PAGE 3A

These worker bees were too busy making honey Monday to worry about a photographer getting too close. The bees were in a beehive belonging to beekeeper Rick Brooks. Warren Watkins/warren@ thedailycitizen.com

stress they can go about four miles out. The females are the worker bees and become housekeepers after they are born, then baby-sitters, then either guards or nectargatherers. Worker bees have different jobs, Brooks said. “They’ve got guards at the front door. That’s their job,” Brooks said, explaining why he puts the smoke there first. “Worker bees only live about five

weeks during the honey season. They work themselves to death. Their wings wear out and they become tattered on the ends, so the worker bees drop into the grass to be eaten by birds or lizards.” The male bees are drones, and while their job of just eating and mating might sound good to some at first, that must be weighed against their eventual end, Brooks said. In preparation for winter, the

INDEX NATION & STATE, 3A OPINIONS, 4A CALENDAR/OBITUARIES, 5A LIFESTYLES, 6A SPORTS, 1B CLASSIFIEDS, 5B

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drones are literally shown the door in the fall and either made to leave or stung to death by the worker bees. Queens can be spotted because they are long and slim, Brooks said, and are surrounded by her “court,” an entourage of attendant bees facing her. Each spring, bees divide and swarm, and beekeepers can capCONTINUED ON PAGE 2A

That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees. MARCUS AURELIUS

Roman soldier, 121-180

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