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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011
The
Daily Citizen Serving Searcy and White County, Ark., since 1854
TheDailyCitizen.com
‘THINK PINK’ IS INSIDE TODAY’S EDITION
WEEK 8 OF PREP FOOTBALL IN THE BOOKS
Turn to Section C for local stories about breast cancer survival, treatment and awareness. — PAGE 1C
Turn to the sports section to see how local high school football teams fared Friday night. — PAGE 1B
County chooses insurance plan Committee discusses addressing issue, lack of safety plan BY MOLLY M. FLEMING mfleming@thedailycitizen.com
When it comes to insuring the White County employees and elected officials, insurance companies were not enthused to offer their services, said Cindy Dixon, with Gallagher Benefit Services.
The company is hired by the county to find the best insurance rates, and the only company that offered a competitive rate was QualChoice, who has insured the county for the last two years. But this year, the company increased its fee 12.9 percent because of the number
of claims filed in the county last year. “In the last plan year, QualChoice made less than $1,000 due to the amount of claims they had to pay,” Dixon said during the Thursday night meet-
Concert Who: Bradford Schools band director Matthew Watson and ASUJonesboro tuba and euphonium quartet What: Performed concert Where: Newly constructed Bradford Schools Auditorium When: Thursday evening
Please see INSURANCE | 2A
Concert White County farmers plant strawberries held at Bradford Schools Local Farm
Who: Kenneth and Debbie Horton What: Raise commercial crops on their farm and sell at fruit and vegetable stand Where: Bald Knob Additional info: The Hortons just planted strawberries. Pumpkins and turnips, among other crops, are being harvested.
Quartet, new director perform in new auditorium
Horton farm in Bald Knob grows variety of commercial crops
BY MARISA LYTLE mlytle@thedailycitizen.com
training force. The U.S. also had been interested in keeping a small force to help the Iraqis deal with possible Iranian meddling. The task now is to speed the pullout of the remaining U.S. forces, nearly 40,000 in number. Staying behind in Iraq, where bombings and other violence still occur, will be some 150-200 U.S. military troops as part of embassy security, the defense attaché’s office and the office of security cooperation. That’s common practice but still a danger to American forces. Obama, an opponent of the war since before he took office, nevertheless praised the efforts of U.S.
BRADFORD — The school district hosted a concert in their new auditorium Thursday evening. Also new to the school is band director Matthew Watson, who performed during the concert. Watson is a May 2011 graduate of ASU in Jonesboro and first-year teacher. He teaches grades fourth through twelfth, with beginning band starting in fifth grade. “My goals for the band are to continues to build off of the encouragement from the administration,” Watson said, “and to show students that music is an enjoyable and worthwhile endeavor.” Performing in the Thursday concert was a quartet from Watson’s alma mater. Dr. Ed Owen, a euphonium player and former professor of Watson’s, performed with a graduate level euphonium player, a graduate level tuba player and a junior music education tuba player. Their names are Jeremy Drymon, Jason Tacker and Eric Barnett. The ensemble played pieces by Anton Bruckner, Antonio Vivaldi and John Stevens. Owens performed a solo rendition of The Beatles’ “Blackbird” arranged by a Norwegian tuba player. In addition, Watson and Owens, both on euphonium, played the four-movement duet “Suite for Two” by John Stevens. Watson commented on the importance of the new auditorium to Bradford Schools. “Having a new auditorium is a terrific asset to have,” Watson said. “It shows the administration’s commitment to the arts at Bradford Schools and also allows the school a place to hold pageants, talent shows and graduation. It has improved the school by helping the community and showing that the arts are an important, fundamental staple in public schools.” According to Watson, from what he has been told, the band has generated more interest than in previous years, as is evidenced by the number of beginning students who rented instruments this year being triple the number from the past three years combined. While euphonium is his primary instrument, Watson also plays all of the band instruments, as well as piano and guitar. He said he has really enjoyed being the new band director at Bradford
Please see IRAQ | 2A
Please see CONCERT | 3A
BY MARISA LYTLE mlytle@thedailycitizen.com
Approximately 60,000 newly planted strawberry plants could yield 60,000 quarts of the delicious red fruit come April and May at one Bald Knob farm. Kenneth Horton planted his strawberries Oct. 12 and will wait until late April to begin harvesting them. In the meantime, he must ensure the fruit is protected from winter weather. “For these berries to grow properly, the temperature needs to stay in the upper 40s at night and in the 60s and 70s during the day for the next three to four weeks,” Horton said. “In the next month, we will put on row covers — they’ll look like white bed sheets covering the field — to protect the plants form the cold.” Horton said new leaves are just starting to appear on the plants. “I hope they’ll be more developed before the real winter sets in,” he said. “Having a healthy plant now is what determines the yield in the spring.” The harvesting will span five to six Marisa Lytle/mlytle@thedailycitizen.com weeks, beginning in late April and con- Kenneth Horton picks a few mustard greens at his farm in Bald Knob on Tuesday. tinuing throughout May. In addition to mustard greens, the Horton family grows strawberries, pumpkins, spinach, kale, purple hull peas, collard greens and more. They have just planted Please see STRAWBERRIES | 2A the strawberries, but some crops, such as pumpkins, are being harvested.
Iraq war over, US troops coming home BY BEN FELLER AP White House Correspondent
AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File
Members of 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, based at Fort Stewart, Ga., walk toward a C-17 aircraft last November at Sather Air Base in Baghdad as they begin their journey home after a year in Baghdad. President Barack Obama on Friday declared an end to the Iraq war, announcing that all American troops would be withdrawn from the country by year's end.
WEATHER Today: Mostly clear. Lows in the upper 30s. Winds becoming south 5 mph. Tonight: Sunny. Highs in the mid 70s. South winds 5 to 10 mph. Vol. 157, No. 254 ©2011 The Daily Citizen
WASHINGTON — America’s long and deeply unpopular war in Iraq will be over by year’s end and all U.S. troops “‘‘will definitely be home for the holidays,” President Barack Obama declared Friday. Stretching more than eight years, the war cost the United States heavily: More than 4,400 members of the military have been killed, and more than 32,000 have been wounded. The final exit date was sealed after months of intensive talks between Washington and Baghdad failed to reach agreement on conditions for leaving several thousand U.S. troops in Iraq as a
INDEX NATION & STATE, 2A OPINIONS, 4A LIFESTYLES, 5A CALENDAR/OBITUARIES, 6A SPORTS, 1B CLASSIFIEDS, 4B
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