Our No. 1 News Story of 2013
Fresh Eats New venues delight restaurant goers in Eureka throughout the year
SWEPCO’s proposed power lines – and their opponents Page 13
Page 26
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VOLUME 15 NUMBER 2
JANUARY 2, 2014
top of 2013 Part 2
n Weather woes Snow, storms, flooding cause headaches yearround Page 9
n Saluting our
n Saving the Play
A list of all of our 2013 Citizens of the Week
A group comes together to reinvigorate The Great Passion Play
great neighbors
Page 14
Page 12
Page 2 – Lovely County Citizen – January 2, 2014
Dispatch Desk The Citizen is published weekly on Thursdays in Eureka Springs, Arkansas by Rust Publishing MOAR L.L.C. Copyright 2013 This paper is printed with soy ink on recycled paper. Subscription rate: $57.50/year EDITOR: Kristal Kuykendall EDITORIAL STAFF: Jennifer Jackson, Kathryn Lucariello, Landon Reeves, Catherine Krummey DESIGN DIRECTOR: Melody Rust PHOTOGRAPHERS: Charles Henry Ford II, David Bell ACCOUNT REPRESENTATIVES: Karen ‘Ma Dank’ Horst, Jim Sexton, Diane Newcomb, Margo Elliott CLASSIFIEDS/RECEPTIONIST: Margo Elliott CONTRIBUTORS: Beth Bartlett, Jim Fain, Mary Flood, Alison Taylor-Brown CIRCULATION: Dwayne Richards Office Hours: Monday–Tuesday 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Wednesday 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Thursday–Friday 9 a.m.–Noon Closed Saturday & Sunday
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Dec. 22 12:38 a.m. - Caller from local tavern reported two fighting females to police, but then hung up. Officer called back to discover a female had assaulted the bartender. Officer took report, but did not make contact with the assailant. 11:49 p.m. - Anonymous caller reported domestic disturbance on Washington Street. Officer responded, discovered
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dispute was only verbal and advised parties to keep it down. Dec. 23 1:39 a.m. - Officer assisted motorist who had ran out of fuel. 6:41 a.m. - Caller from Harvey Road reported someone driving past their house, shutting off their lights and being afraid they may come inside. Officer responded and there were no extra cars on the property, caller saw someone else’s lights. Paranoid much? 9:34 a.m. - Caller reported that the safe at First Christian Church was broken into and stolen from. Officer responded and took report. That’s not a very Christian thing to do, now is it? 10:59 a.m. - Caller from Carroll House Apartments reported a theft. Officer responded and took report. 11:52 a.m. - Officer found unsecured door at St. Elizabeth’s Parish and filed report for possible break in. 10:17 p.m. - Complainant advised officer of barking dog on Kansas Street. Officer responded and spoke with owner. Dec. 24 6:09 p.m. - Canine was impounded after caller from Dogwood Ridge reported it. 8:49 p.m.- Caller from Van Buren Street reported a stray dog. Office responded and returned dog to owner with citation. 9 p.m. - Officer received reports of erratic driving from a sled pulled by reindeer. Officer responded with “Yeah, See Dispatch, page 26
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January 2, 2014 – Lovely County Citizen – Page
Sears pleads guilty in arson, theft ring plot By Landon Reeves
CCNnews@cox-internet.com
BERRYVILLE – One of the two men charged with the theft and arson of a Eureka Springs hotel in 2011 pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson and theft of property at his pretrial hearing on July 8. Jason Lindley Sears, 36, a transient who police say lived in Jason Sears Eureka Springs, was previously extradited from Missouri to Boone County to face charges there. Once in the neighboring county, he was then transferred to Carroll County on a bench warrant. Sears was given two sentences of 120 months in the Arkansas Department of Correction that will be served concurrently with each other and the Missouri felony cases. He was also fined $2,170, according to official documents. On Jan. 4, he appeared in court in Carroll County and was charged with two counts of theft of property, Class B felonies; three counts theft of property, Class D felonies; arson, a Class Y felony; and commercial burglary, a Class C felony. At his pretrial hearing, the state “nolle prossed” four counts of theft of property, a count of commercial burglary and one of arson. The theft of property and commercial burglary were consolidated into one count of theft of property, which is common, said Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Phillips, who assisted with Sears’ case. The one count of arson was nolle prossed to match terms with Sears’ plea agreement after his cooperation through
testimony, court preparation and the criminal investigation, Phillips said. Nolle pross is the commonly accepted abbreviation for nolle prosequi, a latin term meaning “do not prosecute.” Charges that are nolle prossed are basically dismissed, but unlike a normal dismissal, the charges can be reintroduced to the court in a year’s time if the need arises. If the charges are not brought back within a year, they are handled as if they were dismissed, Phillips said. The investigation launched by the Eureka Springs Police Department in late 2011 reportedly turned up three stolen trailers filled with heisted property, all found behind the 1876 Inn. The discovery unearthed what police say was a huge theft ring that required the involvement of law enforcement agencies across Northwest Arkansas, southwest Missouri and Oklahoma. Approximately $100,000 worth of items were recovered following the arrests of Sears and Richard Basnett, 61, of Tahlequah, Okla., police said at the time. At Basnett’s home and at other Oklahoma properties, police said they recovered two zero-turn Kabota mowers that were stolen from Berryville Equipment. A month prior to Sears’ arrest, in November 2011, an officer made contact with Sears as he was leaving the Victorian Inn, which was repeatedly burglarized, according to a probable cause statement issued by the Eureka Springs Police Department. At the time, Sears identified himself as “Jason Smith” and stated that he worked for Basnett at the 1876 Inn, and the copper and torches he possessed belonged to Basnett. In December 2011, Sears allegedly burglarized and set fire to the Pine Top
NEWS Story
See Sears, page 25
3
Page 4 – Lovely County Citizen – January 2, 2014
Major drug sweep nets arrests By Don Lee The Eureka Springs Police Department carried out a massive methamphetamine sting in the first quarter of 2013, culminating in the arrests of 16 Carroll County residents. The operation, in cooperation with Berryville and Missouri authorities, started in October 2012 when Det. Thomas Achord arrested a person who agreed to turn informant in exchange for leniency on a burglary charge. During the next five months, Achord and E.S.P.D. Det. Brad Handley bought drugs from suspects, who were arrested. As the investigation progressed, more suspects were identified and became informants, a press release from the Eureka Springs Police Department stated. Methamphetamine dealers known to deliver in the Eureka area were identified in
Berryville, Holiday Island and rural western Carroll county, and in Barry and Taney counties in Missouri. The information was shared with the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department, the Taney County Drug Task Force and the Barry County Sheriff, resulting in 25 arrests in western Carroll County, Holiday Island and Missouri for selling, manufacturing, and possessing with intent to manufacture dangerous drugs, mainly methamphetamine. Det. Robert Bartos of the Berryville Police Department worked with Achord and Handley, purchasing methamphetamine from four people who were arrested. On March 26, Officer Brian Young, along with Achord and Handley, raided
the 1876 Motel with a warrant and arrested Jason Nation. The officers observed what was determined to be a package of K2 and a K2 lab, the first seized in the State of Arkansas. K2 incense is a form of synthetic marijuana. The chemicals and other materials were submitted to the Arkansas State Crime Lab for analysis. Street value for the recovered methamphetamine was $58,000. Street value of the K2 recovered was more than $5,800. Also seized were two vehicles, a 2004 Toyota MTX and a 2003 Volkswagen, both belonging to alleged methamphetamine supplier Pedro Munoz-Casillo of Harrison. Cash in the amount of $3,718 was seized from Melia McEnaney of Harrison, and an
NEWS Story
additional $198 was seized from Casillo. On April 9, Western District Judge Tim Parker set bond on Casillo at $1,000,000 and Dorothy Keys of Green Forest at $500,000. Arrested in the sting were Cody Middleton, Phillip Thornton, Anthony Lillig, Jordan Anderson, Jason Edmonson, Britney Collette, Jason Still, Jackie Aday, Christian Lynn Strickland, Suzie Scarrow and Spencer Martin, all of Eureka Springs; Jason Helm of Berryville, Melia McEnaney and Pedro Munoz-Casillo, both of Harrison; Dorothy Keys of Green Forest and Richard Decker of Eagle Rock. The Eureka Springs Police Department is in the process of preparing an update on the status of the cases, Det. Handley said. Lovely County Citizen reporter Jennifer Jackson contributed to this report.
ES man facing rape, child pornography charges By Landon Reeves CCNnews@cox-internet.com
Jason L. Sprenger, 44, of Eureka Springs was arrested on June 26 by the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office and charged with five counts of rape, a Class Y felony, and 10 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing of child pornography, a Class C felony. S p r e n g e r ’s Sprenger jury trial is set for March 24, 2014. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and he has a suppression hearing on Jan. 14. Sheriff’s Office Investigator Mark Bailey conducted the investigation, during which it was alleged that Sprenger engaged in sexual conduct with a person known to Sprenger to be a minor. On or about March 14, the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, the Eureka Springs Police Department and the Benton County Sheriff’s Department executed search warrants on Sprenger’s home and business and allegedly
found digitally-stored child pornography. The evidence was given to Benton County Sheriff’s Office Cyber Crime Unit on June 25. Detective Craig Renfroe shared his findings in a report, according to police records. “I have located eight media storage devices that contain child pornography,” stated Renfroe in his report. “Two hard drives and six compact discs at this time have been found to contain two nude images, five sexual content images and three videos for a total of 10 images of child pornography.” According to a report filed by Belinda Reynolds, the victim was 15. The victim reported being inappropriately photographed and sexually assaulted by Sprenger several times starting when she was approximately 11 years old, authorities said. She also said she feared for her nine-year-old sister, according to police records. Sprenger, who lives on County Road 105, runs a home-based computer repair business. He is also the former fire chief of the Inspiration Point Rural Fire Protection District and was the assistant fire chief at the time of his arrest. He also worked as a part-time relief
firefighter and EMT for the Eureka Springs Fire Department and was a volunteer firefighter for the city as well. Inspiration Point Fire Chief Ed Thompson said after Sprenger’s arrest, “This was obviously a very sad and unfortunate situation for everyone. However, I am a firm believer in the legal system and the tradition of the presumption of innocence. I will let the system work and have no further comment. Pending the outcome, he is no longer a member of our department.” Eureka Springs Fire Department staff confirmed Sprenger was no longer on their department either. He is being held at the Carroll County Detention Center. His initial bond was $750,000, but his bond was lowered to $150,000 at a pretrial hearing on Nov. 12. The judge however did keep the no-contact order in place, which required Sprenger to stay away from computers and smart phones if he was able to bond out, according to the Sheriff’s Office release. Also, if he is able to bond out of the Carroll County jail, he will be placed under house arrest with an ankle monitor, and he
NEWS Story
will have to check in with the Sheriff’s Office three times a week. He would also not be allowed to contact the victim of his alleged crimes. If Sprenger is convicted, he could face a minimum of 10 to 40 years or life for the Class Y felony and six to 10 years for the Class C felony. The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has requested a special prosecutor for the case; Jason Barrett has been assigned. “[Sprenger] has done work for the office before,” explained Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Devon Goodman as to why the office requested a special prosecutor. “We don’t want it to appear that there is any special treatment. We made sure that it is all by the book and that everything is done correctly to avoid any appearance of impropriety.” During the pretrial hearing when Sprenger’s bail was lowered his defense attorney, Chris Flanagin, pinned Sprenger’s freedom to two factors in this case: the amount of child pornography confiscated by police and the likelihood of any computer technician possessing child pornography or a machine that has accessed it. “I consulted with experts in the field,” See Sprenger, page 25
January 2, 2014 – Lovely County Citizen – Page
CAPC sees ups and downs in 2013 By Jennifer Jackson
JJackson.Citizen@gmail.com
The City Advertising and Promotions Commission started 2013 by resolving to tighten its belt and ended the year by resolving to tighten its belt. At a December 2012 workshop, commissioner Bobbie Foster led a workshop detailing the areas where the CAPC was over budget, including the Ozark Folk Festival, which was budgeted at $10,000, but cost $22,000. CAPC chairman Charles Ragsdell suggested the problem wasn’t that they spent too much, but budgeted too little, but questioned spending $15,000 to book the talent. Print advertising and CAPC travel expenses were also over budget. In March, Finance Director Rick Bright reported that the CAPC had roughly $2,000 in its bank account as of March 6. Expected tax income was $63,500, he said. Current debt owed by the CAPC was $38,000, with the total rising to $41,000 in 30 days, and credit card debt was $25,000. Commissioner Foster, noting that spending was out of control, suggested having a monthly budget so commissioners could correct as the year goes on. In April, the CAPC voted to raise the director’s salary by $12,000 a year, as commissioners learned advertising spending this year is down 40 percent from last year – in part because there is zero money left in reserves. Commissioners Terry McClung and Foster voted “no” on the raise. In July, Foster resigned from the Commission, saying in a letter that her voice was no longer being heard through her vote, and she felt she could no longer make a difference. At its July meeting, commissioners learned that in June, the CAPC spent $4,047.82 more than it earned, ending the month in the red. In August, tickets ranging from $35 to $75 went on sale for the 66th Ozark Folk
Festival’s stage show, a live taping of the internationally known “WoodSongs OldTime Radio Hour.” In October, the CAPC voted to eliminate the position of Auditorium manager, terminating the employment of longtime manager Ray Dilfield. The manager’s responsibilities were delegated to a new Auditorium Committee, volunteers and current Auditorium staff, including Technical Director Ron Sumner and House Manager Sarai Aleshire. Management salaries constituted almost a tenth of the CAPC budget, Ragsdell said. Ragsdell explained that the CAPC, which is under contract with the city to run the Auditorium, is not meant to put resources into it. The longstanding goal has been to turn the building’s operations over to a Auditorium Commission, he said, a course that was recommended several year ago as the best way to operate and increase business. At the end of November, commissioners discussed ways to get a handle on spending. Suggestions included instituting a purchase order system in which all bills would be pre-approved and paid in house instead of submitted by business owners after the fact. They also discussed clarifying the policy on funding guidelines to limit it to advertising and promotion, not operational or start-up costs for festivals.
NEWS Story
Transition
Aubrey, the scrappy one-eyed black and tan terrier of unknown origin, cut a wide swath through the hearts of volunteers and customers alike at the Eureka Springs Doggie Thrift Shop from the first day she invited herself in five years ago until she quietly crossed the Rainbow Bridge on November 27th after losing her final battle with kidney failure. Her quest was not for love or attention, but for treats. Though obviously well-fed at the nearby Matterhorn Towers where she made her home with Chris McCoy, she seemed never to be able to get enough food. A picky little beggar, she would frequently turn up her finicky button nose at conventional dog treats, opting for high end morsels like the turkey, cheeseburgers and chicken McNuggets some volunteers were only too happy to provide, especially when she’d sit politely or stand on her hind legs for some
5
Aubrey
Passed Nov. 27, 2013 impromptu begging. Her single-minded focus on food no doubt came from her days as a wild pack dog roaming the vast Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Glacier, Montana. Apparently thrown out of the pack in 2005, she showed up on Chris McCoy’s porch and never left, even though adapting to humans and expected behaviors proved quite the hurdle. Aubrey’s muzzle was graying even then, and Chris figured she must have been ousted from the pack because she was slowing down. Her travels with Chris took them through four national parks before settling in Eureka Springs in 2008. Aubrey rests now in a small garden space at the Matterhorn, facing the Doggie Shop. Since her passing, many of her two-legged friends have come by to place candles at her scruffy feet. She leaves a large void in the hearts of those who knew her.
Page 6 – Lovely County Citizen – January 2, 2014
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January 2, 2014 – Lovely County Citizen – Page
7
A big year for Eureka Springs schools Students welcome new high school, superintendent
By Kate Lucariello
CCNhi@cox-internet.com
2013 was a year of big changes for the Eureka Springs School District, and the repercussions are still being felt. The year started right off in January with high school students entering their brand new school. The new Curtis Turner facility, located at 2 Lake Lucerne Rd., down the hill from the current elementary and middle schools, was built as a high-tech modern education
center that upgraded nearly every aspect of student education. The new building is three stories and more than 80,000 square feet. The building features include natural light design, a “Main Street” corridor with classrooms branching off it, a new gymnasium that seats 1,200 people and David Kellogg a “cafetorium” that serves both as eatery and performance venue. The building’s systems were also designed to be remotely controlled in the
event that bad weather closed the schools. Meanwhile, committees met to try to decide the fate of the old high school campus, which was put up for sale, with no takers. By the end of the year, the old campus remained unsold, and the Chamber of Commerce was involved with trying to look at options. In terms of personnel, the school district saw a major change when Superintendent Curtis Turner announced his resignation in May for personal reasons, and in June, the board hired David Kellogg to replace him. It was not a good year for school attendance, due to circumstances out of everyone’s control. In January, the district had to
close down the elementary school for several days due to a flu outbreak of the H3N2 virus. A third of the students were out sick. “As of this morning we had 67 students out of 225 or so sick, plus 10 staff out,” Turner said on Jan. 23. “Normally when you hit about 20 percent of students and staff sick, the best thing to do is close down and disinfect everything and give it a chance to work itself out.” Winter Storm Cleon, in December, closed the schools for seven days, causing the board to realign the quarter dates to meet state requirements for the number of days per quarter.
NEWS Story
Attempt by Beebe to keep ‘surplus’ tax revenue thwarted at Special Session Eureka schools could’ve lost up to $1.3 million per year
By Kristal Kuykendall
Citizen.Editor.Eureka@gmail.com
Gov. Mike Beebe’s attempt to permanently confiscate “surplus” school tax revenue at eight Arkansas school districts including Eureka Springs failed during the Legislature’s Special Session in October. Eureka Springs School District stood to lose as much as $1.3 million per year under the proposed legislation, which failed to muster enough support for passage during the Special Session. State Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, and state Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Hindsville, were on the front lines of the fight against the measure, which died in committee in both chambers. “Luckily we were able to join forces with some Democrats and others who opposed this and get it stopped,” King told the Lovely County Citizen. “This is purely ego-driven on Beebe’s part. And
we are going to remain vigilant even during the next Legislative session that he doesn’t try this again.” State lawmakers were asked to consider whether the state should permanently confiscate all school tax revenue that is above the minimum required to fund public education for each district’s students. That school tax revenue is paid in as part of the Uniform Rate of Taxation by local taxpayers. Amendment 74, approved by the state’s voters in 1996, requires that every school district levy at least 25 mils in property tax for the maintenance and operation of the local schools; local taxpayers may elect to pay more than 25 mils toward the school district as well. A mill produces $1 for every $1,000 worth of assessed property.
State law requires that each district spend just over $6,000 per student on their education. Under the law, local residents’ property tax dollars go back to the local school district to meet that minimum per-student expenditure, and the law – and courts’ interpretations of the law – at least somewhat addresses what should happen when a district’s taxpayers don’t pay in enough to cover all the students in that district. But some state officials – including Gov. Mike Beebe and state Education Department leaders – have argued that the law is not clear on what should happen when a district’s taxpayers pay in more than is needed to meet the minimum spending requirement on the education of all its students. That’s what occurs annually in Eu-
NEWS Story
reka Springs, thanks in part to the district’s inclusion of the retirement community of Holiday Island. Fewer students than the average neighborhood but higher property values there mean that Holiday Island boosts the district’s revenue without adding demands on its resources. The school surplus has equaled about $1.3 million a year lately, and after the state two years ago attempted to keep the extra funds and “redistribute” them to financially struggling school districts across the state, Eureka Springs joined a lawsuit with Fountain Lake School District, which also enjoys the same “problem” as Eureka. Late last year, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled in favor of the school districts, stating that under the current law – which they acknowledged was someSee Revenue, page 11
Page 8 – Lovely County Citizen – January 2, 2014
Acuna-Sanchez arrested on murder charge Currently awaiting mental evaluation
By T.S. Strickland and Landon Reeves CCNnews@cox-internet.com
The mental status hearing scheduled for Victor Acuna-Sanchez was not conducted before his most recent pretrial hearing on Dec. 17. The evaluation is scheduled for some time next February, according to reports from pretrial hearings. His defense Acuna-Sanchez attorney is William James, who was not present on Nov. 4 at the hearing where the motion was filed. The motion requested another mental evaluation at a state hospital. Public Defender Robert “Beau” Allen, who is assisting James, would not comment on the reason for scheduling more mental evaluations and status hearings. James is acting as lead counsel for the defense because Allen is not certified to handle capital murder cases, and federal law requires both a lead and assistant counsel in cases involving the death penalty. The next pretrial hearing is scheduled for March 6, 2014 at 9 a.m. in Eureka Springs. The defense previously filled several other motions, the most notable of which is an issue with evidence suppression. “We moved to suppress his arrest and everything that was found with him at the time,” said James at another pretrial hearing. “What suppression means is it is not allowed in the trial. Basically the long and short of it is there are constitutional rights you have and if things are taken against the those rights you can suppress against those issues.” Acuna-Sanchez, of Berryville, is accused of the New Year’s Eve 2012 slaying of 21-year-old Laura Acevez and was deemed competent to cooperate with his defense attorney and proceed with trial
hearings by the state’s psychological expert at a hearing on Aug. 1. Before that hearing, Rogers had filed a motion to see James’ witnesses and expert testimonies. The defense said they had Sanchez evaluated and found him competent to proceed as well, but Rogers said he would not be satisfied until he saw a report from James. Judge David Clinger was appointed to the case after Judge Kent Crow recused himself in January because Acevez and Acuna-Sanchez were former tenants of his. Acuna-Sanchez has been charged with capital murder in the death of his former girlfriend. If convicted, he would face death or life imprisonment without parole. In addition to the murder charge, Acuna-Sanchez is accused of aggravated robbery and violation of a no-contact order. He pleaded not guilty to all counts. His defense attorneys maintain he is innocent, but refused to share any facts of the case. “Our position is he didn’t do it,” James said at a previous hearing. “We are staying with not guilty... Plea negotiations will be ongoing.” Acuna-Sanchez has been in custody since Dec. 31, 2012, when paramedics found Acevez lying unconscious in her Eureka Springs apartment with a gunshot wound to the head and the couple’s 4-month-old son near his mother’s body. Deputies said they found Acuna-Sanchez hiding in a shower with a .22-caliber handgun after they kicked in the door to a cabin on Bluebird Mountain. The medical examiner has ruled the death a homicide. A bullet found lodged in Acevez’s skull was too damaged to match with Acuna-Sanchez’s gun. However, investigators did determine another, unfired bullet found at the crime scene had been “cycled through the rounds” of Acuna-Sanchez’s weapon.
Court records document a string of purported attacks against Acevez, stretching back more than a year – two of which resulted in charges. Beyond that, records are not available because Acuna-Sanchez was a juvenile. But family members said the abuse spanned Acevez’s entire two-year relationship with him. Acuna-Sanchez allegedly beat her with his fists and feet (while she was seven months pregnant with his child), brutalized her with a baseball bat, dragged her behind a car, strangled her, vandalized her vehicle and apartments numerous times, robbed her and her family and told Acevez – in minute detail – how he planned to kill each of her children if she should leave him for good. Acevez’s mother, Laura Ponce, said police had been informed of each instance of abuse, and Acuna-Sanchez was arrested three times in the year leading up to Acevez’s murder. However, each time, he bailed out, and while awaiting trial, he allegedly struck again. With each attack, she said, the violence escalated. The last time Acuna-Sanchez was arrested was on Dec. 9, 2012 – only three weeks before Acevez’s death. The next day, Berryville District Judge Scott Jackson allowed him to be released on his own recognizance – without having to post bail. He had just bailed out on Nov. 15, 2012, after being charged with assaulting Acevez on Sept. 6, only two days after being released from jail for an earlier battery charge against her. Both of those earlier charges resulted in no-contact orders – imposed by a judge as a term of release. When Acuna-Sanchez violated those orders on Dec. 9, prosecutors could have asked the judge to fling him back into jail, but they did not. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Devon Closser said this was because they were not aware of the Dec. 9 arrest. She said
NEWS Story
Photo Submitted
Laura Acevez and her baby.
there was no procedure in place to inform prosecutors when the orders had been violated – and that the system could use “fine-tuning.” Ponce said she knew people would judge her daughter, even in death, and try to blame her for her fate. “Only women who have been abused understand why you have to stay in a relationship,” she said. “She will say, ‘If I stay with him, he won’t beat me up as bad as if I leave him. He will not hurt my kids.’ Men don’t understand this.” “I would have done the same thing for my kids,” she said. “... I don’t care what people say. I know she was trying to start a new life. I know she was trying to run away, but she didn’t have time.” Since Laura’s death, the Ponces have struggled. They always struggled, but now Acevez can no longer help bear the burden. Her oldest son lives with his father – the ex-couple had been pooling their resources to afford divorce proceedings. However, the care of her daughter and infant boy have now fallen to the Ponces. “She had no insurance,” her mother said. “The only insurance she had was in my granddaughter’s name. She’s 7 years old, and she can’t touch the money until See Murder, page 25
January 2, 2014 – Lovely County Citizen – Page
9
Bad weather stretches from February through December By Kathryn Lucariello
CCNhi@cox-internet.com
If anything could be said of 2013, it was a year of bad weather with resulting infrastructure damage and economic impacts, mostly in the western part of Carroll County. The year of bad weather began in February when tornadoes touched down Feb. 7 in parts of the county, including rural Eureka Springs and Green Forest. Two barns were destroyed, houses damaged and cattle killed, said Carroll County Office of Emergency Management Director Nick Samac. The county was again hit with bad weather in February, when two snowstorms came in back-to-back. On Feb. 20, the first storm brought sleet, strong winds and half an inch of freezing rain. School was cancelled for two days. The following week, another storm came through, bringing up to 2 inches of snow in Eureka Springs and Holiday Island. Two power outages were reported from snow accumulating on the lines, said Carroll Electric. Snow again hit in early May, canceling a spring festival at Holiday Island set for May 3 and postponing the May Festival of the Arts parade, scheduled for May 4 in Eureka Springs, by a week. Again in May, on the 20th, a severe thunderstorm and straight line winds hit the area, causing damage in parts of the county, mostly on the western side of the Kings River. Hard hit were a couple in the Busch area, who lost the roof to a workshop and the front porch to their home. The area had a relatively quiet couple months after that, but in August, nature unleashed a torrent of up to 8 inches of rain in the western end of the county, which caused severe flooding and up-
wards of $180,000 in damages to roads, bridges and businesses. Near the Town of Beaver, Butler Creek raged down Butler Hollow from 9 inches of rain that fell in Seligman, Mo., on Aug. 8 and 9, washing large portions of County Road 232 away. Floodwaters topped the bridge on Arkansas Highway 187 at that location and also on the smaller County Road 233 bridge, damaging both bridges and washing onto Hwy. 187, which had to be closed. A local woman nearly lost her life when she attempted to drive through flood waters on her way to Rogers. Other significant damages and impacts occurred to the Haddock Creek Bridge in Holiday Island, the loss of the Railway Winery business and the closure of the Beaver RV campground for the rest of the season. On Aug. 16, Gov. Beebe declared Carroll and five other counties disaster areas. On Aug. 21, FEMA and state representatives visited the county to assess the damage. The following week, Gov. Beebe requested federal disaster assistance for six counties, estimated to be $5.6 million. Of that total, $179,756 was the estimate for Carroll County. Before year’s end, another weather disaster hit: On Dec. 5 and 6, Winter Storm Cleon came with freezing rain and between 4 and 10 inches of snow that were dumped on the county, with the western side of the county again receiving the lion’s share. The icy rain and snow made for slick and treacherous roadways, with numerous cars in ditches, 18-wheelers stuck on Hwy. 62 near Lake Leatherwood and even county road graders getting stuck or going off the road. Schools and businesses across the county were closed for several days, and
Neighbors help pick up after a February tornado left barns and out buildings flattened at the Clark Dairy Farm on Rockhouse Road.
NEWS Story
Photos by David Bell
The first day of May it snowed. On the last day of the month there were thunderstorms. On the evening of May 30 and into May 31, thunderstorms put on beautiful pyrotechnic-like lightning displays in the skies above Carroll County.
events scheduled in Eureka Springs and elsewhere, such as Christmas parades, were postponed or canceled. “I have been at this job for nine years, and there has not been another storm we’ve worked through that has been as tough,” Steve Lawrence of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department said, adding the difficulty was in the com-
bination of ice, snow and low temperatures. “We try to keep our roads safe for our Carroll County residents and anyone else that drives on them,” Carroll County Judge Sam Barr told the newspaper. “The safety of the people is our main objective. The roads are very hazardous – if you don’t have to get out, you shouldn’t.”
Page 10 – Lovely County Citizen – January 2, 2014
Editorial Opposition En Masse: Simply inspiring Area residents band together as hundreds sweep SWEPCO hearing
I
n what is surely the most unifying cause to affect Carroll County in decades — if not ever — the Arkansas Public Service Commission hearings on SWEPCO’s power-line plan drew at least 500 area residents in July. It was an awesome sight to behold — that many Carroll County and Eureka Springs residents from so many different walks of life coming together for a common cause. Judging from the widespread camaraderie at the Inn of the Ozarks Convention Center, it was clear that the residents who attended had left all their often-colorful differences of opinions — something our county and especially Eureka Springs is somewhat well-known for — at the door. It also became clear as testimony got under way and continued that Carroll Countians will not be “divided and conquered” by the proposal that includes not just a few but six different proposed routes. Perhaps SWEPCO hoped differently. State Sen. Bryan King told the Citizen as much after the hearing, and he said he particularly did not like the way SWEPCO was operating nor how it presented its proposal to the APSC. King, who previously filed his official opposition to the SWEPCO transmission line in paperwork with the APSC, did not speak at the hearing because, he said, he didn’t want to take time away from regular residents who perhaps had not already filed their comments online nor gotten their chance to voice their concerns yet. Often, when a large corporation is trying to push through approval on a project that is likely to be opposed, that corporation will present several different options for its project in hopes of distracting residents from the big, area-wide issue — whether
to approve the transmission line at all — as they become more focused on their own back yards — and on which specific route is worst and/or would hurt them the most. But the trick did not work this time. With surprising consistency, Carroll Countians who spoke at the public hearings this week were overwhelmingly opposed to the project in its entirety, and they said so — over and over and over. Not one person who spoke at the hearings asked for one route to be approved over another. Only a handful even mentioned the differences in routes or distinguished between any of them. Instead, repeatedly, Carroll Countians stood up for not only themselves but for their neighbors as well: “I oppose the SWEPCO project in its entirety,” they said, again and again. Democracy in action on a local level is always something to behold — especially here in Eureka Springs, where emotions tend to run high where differing opinions lie. And that’s pretty much anywhere and everywhere there are important public decisions being made. But we all know that democracy in action, sadly, no longer draws crowds like it used to — most anywhere in the United States. It’s a problem the entire country has faced as fewer people vote every election year and fewer people are engaged with their own governmental system. But in July, Carroll County proved itself engaged, educated, energized — and en masse. Unified. One body. Fighting the same fight and the same enemy. While we recognize that in a town as diverse as Eureka Springs, passionate disagreements and even at-times-ugly confrontations are probably not gone for good, See Editorial, page 11
Citizen of the Week
W
orking long hours with no overtime, sometimes covered in puppy poop or doing back-breaking physical labor, is not exactly what one would expect after a career as a lawyer and a critical care nurse. Yet Janice Durbin, manager of the Good Shepherd Humane Society Shelter here in Eureka Springs, feels this is her most important and meaningful career. Her dedication to the cats and dogs is rewarded by every adoption, by every animal rescued from neglect and abuse, by the grateful tears of owners too ill or even dying to care for a beloved pet who must be surrendered. She spends extra hours evenings and weekends on grant research and writing, setting up adoption events and getting good deals or donations to cover the mountains of pet food, kitty litter, medications and other items needed to keep the ani-
mals healthy. Along with the hard-working staff, Janice has made a huge difference in extending kindness and easing the suffering of so many dogs and cats, and in finding them loving homes. Her reward is not monetary, but in the happy faces of each man, woman or child who finds their “forever friend” at Good Shepherd.
January 2, 2014 – Lovely County Citizen – Page
Revenue
Continued from page 7
what ambiguous – tax dollars paid in for school funding belong to the local districts in which the taxes were paid, and do not belong to the state for redistribution. The Supreme Court denied Beebe’s request for a re-hearing earlier this year. Some language in the court’s ruling, however, suggests that the Legislature could potentially alter the current law and allow the state to keep the excess funds. And that’s exactly what Beebe had asked the Legislature to do. “The courts didn’t agree with Beebe when he tried to take the money in the first place,” King said, “and then we beat a similar proposal back in the Legislature this past session. Now he’s using a crisis to get what he wants. And if there’s one thing I believe on this, it is that the people deserve a fair hearing on this issue – and they can’t get that if we are forced to rush it through as part of the alleged fix for the health insurance shortfall.” The issue arose in October, in an emergency Special Session, because Beebe made it a part of his proposal for “fixing” the public school employee insurance budget shortfall. Insurance rates are increasing by 50 percent for next year, and state lawmakers have been scrambling to find extra funding so that teachers and other public school
workers will only have to cover about 10 percent of the increase. Both Ballinger and King said last week they were surprised that Beebe had tried to make the school funding issue part of the “emergency” regarding the health insurance shortfall. “I’m disappointed that the governor is deciding to muddy the waters with an issue that has nothing to do with teacher insurance,” Ballinger said. “Everybody is in agreement on the other bills related to the insurance, but not on this tax issue. It is frustrating to me, and it’s clearly an attempt to override what I thought was a solid Supreme Court decision.” School tax dollars should absolutely stay local, he added. “We are in a better position to administer those school funds than trying to do it at a state level,” Ballinger said. “Funds that are now going toward paying Eureka teachers and providing AP classes and things like that would, under this proposal, [have been] sent to the state and spent in other districts elsewhere. That money is supposed to benefit the district where the taxes were collected.” The Legislature ended up approving an additional $43 million in funding for the public school employee insurance fund, meaning that school workers will see just a 10 percent increase in their insurance premiums next year.
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Send your opinions to Citizen, P.O., Box 679, Eureka Springs, AR 72632, fax to (479) 253-0080 or e-mail to: citizen.editor@yahoo.com
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The sun finally shines on 47th Silver Tea The third time was the charm! On Thursday, Dec. 18, over 200 guests thronged the Crescent Hotel for the twice-weather-delayed Silver Tea. Hosted by the women of St. James’ Episcopal Church, the event generated $2,352 from donations to help Clear Spring School purchase safe, age-appropriate playground equipment. Clear Spring students, dressed in period costume, greeted attendees and periodically performed musical numbers. Tea sandwiches, cookies and beverages were served from heirloom silver pieces. A nutcracker theme highlighted the festive holiday decorations. Local musician John Wiley provided seasonal music. “Success may be been long in coming, but it was right there throughout the day,” said Tea chairman Lucilla Garrett. Others involved in presenting the tea were assistant chairman Peggy Pot and volunteers from St. James’ Church and Clear Spring School. For 47 years of hosting the Silver Tea, the women of St. James’ Church have raised thousands of dollars for area non-profits, including Eureka Springs School of the Arts, St. John’s HospiceCare, the Eureka Springs Carnegie Public Library, the Good Shepherd Humane Society, ECHO (Eureka Christian Health Outreach) and the Salvation Army. The annual event is made possible through the generous support of Elise Roenigk and the staff of the Crescent Hotel. Jane Helmer 47th Silver Tea Publicity Committee
Editorial
Continued from page 10
it sure is nice to see so many local folks get on the same team for a change. Now, let’s all pray that it’ll do some good. Ed. note: We had many editorials on the SWEPCO transmission line proposal this year, but this one, perhaps more than any other, highlights the overwhelming response of our united community to a major threat to our way of life, our scenic beauty, our livelihood and our environmental health. The
Cell phone tower needed We have very poor cell phone service here in Busch. Most times, if I stand in a certain place and hold the phone just right, it may take a minute or so to get one signal bar on my cell phone. A cell phone tower here, while being a convenience to many of us, would be a tremendous asset for the traveling public along U.S. Highway 62 west of Eureka Springs for making emergency calls. Some of my neighbors are protesting this cell phone tower, but I happen to disagree with them. One of their claims, that I feel qualified to comment on, is Sky Ranch Airfield being an active airport. I’m a licensed airplane pilot and while I hoped there was an airfield here before I bought my house, I could not find any FAA documentation of one. I subsequently learned there was a registered airport in Busch many years ago and my next door neighbor lives in what was the old pilot’s lounge. While the grass airstrip still exists, mowed religiously by my neighbor, it is not an active airstrip by any definition, I wish it was. If Sky Ranch was a registered airfield, the cell phone tower would not be allowed by FAA regulations, not even at the Busch Hardware location. In the last year or so, the only air operations conducted here have been some EMS helicopter flights by Inspiration Point Fire. In my opinion, the new tower will be a wonderful addition to our community. I say thanks, AT&T, what took you so long? Jim Simmons Busch, Arkansas SWEPCO hearings were only one way in which hundreds, and, in other response avenues, thousands – from the comments posted to the Public Service Commission website to the massive support in donations and at benefits for Save the Ozarks – have banded together to fight this atrocity. And are still fighting it, as we said in this editorial: “Unified. One body. Fighting the same fight and the same enemy.... Now, let’s all pray that it’ll do some good.” Let’s pray indeed, as we wait with some trepidation but with also big hope in the coming days in the humanity of Judge Connie Griffin and the APSC, that we have been heard and will be validated.
Page 12 – Lovely County Citizen – January 2, 2014
Making a play to save the Play By Jennifer Jackson JJackson.Citizen@gmail.com
The announcement that the Great Passion Play was closing after 45 seasons due was the No. 2 news story of 2012. Its last-minute reprieve and resurrection is the No. 2 story of 2013, second only to “We Said No to SWEPCO.” With foreclosure scheduled for the end of 2012, the Rev. Randall Christy of the Gospel Station Network of Ada, Okla., made a last-ditch appeal to listeners on the network’s 25 FM, AM and online stations in seven states. They responded, raising the $75,000 in 10 days needed to pay past-due interest on the mortgage, part of Passion Play’s $2.8 debt owned to Cornerstone Bank. As of Dec. 3, 2012, the play also owed more than $35,500 in back taxes and penalties on its property, which includes nine parcels of land. At a press conference in early January, Christy said his group was given a one-year exclusive opportunity to buy the facility outright, and that is “likely given that the initial hurdle has been cleared.” The group’s ultimate goal: to raise $6 million in the next year and pay off the complete debt to the bank. “We have one year and one shot at this, so we have to do it right,” Christy said at the beginning of 2013. To do that, Christy said his group was enacting a 20-point plan to put the play on a firm financial footing, he said. One point, selling Save a Seat season passes for $250, could easily raise $1 million, he said. The Passion Play also planned to work with concert and event promoters, allowing them to use the facility for a percentage of ticket sales. According to tax documents obtained by Carroll County News, the Passion Play lost more than $1.8 million in the past four years. Almost $400,000 of that total was in 2011, the more recent year tax records are available. The 2011 tax return listed 293 employees who were paid $894,152. Management and directors received $140,439. At the press conference, Christy said that
in 2013, the organization will rely much more on volunteers in the hopes of saving half a million in salary expenses. He added that fewer staff will be hired in 2013, though he did not have specific numbers. In mid-January, a three-person board of directors was appointed to replace the eight-member board, who resigned at the first of the year. Christy took the helm as executive director of the Passion Play. Tom Bush, described as Christy’s longtime business and ministry partner, was named the board’s vice-president, and Keith Butler, a Berryville minister and the only former board member to retain a seat, was named chairman. In late January, the new leadership/management team was introduced. Dick Kelsey, a Kansas state senator, was named chief operating officer and executive director of the play. Danny Hester was named director of volunteers. Kent Butler was named public relations director, and Arch Bonemma director of special giving and underwriting. “As of today, Sen. Dick Kelsey of Kansas will be the main contact for day-to-day affairs here at the Play,” Christy said. “We are blessed to have Sen. Kelsey coming on board. He had an illustrious career in the Kansas Legislature and is now a business owner out at Beaver Lake.” Kelsey was a Republican member of the Kansas Senate and the Kansas State House of Representatives, and is a former executive director of the Wichita Alliance of Evangelical Churches. Keith Butler, Christy and Bush remained on the Passion Play board. Everyone was working without pay, Kent Butler said. Kelsey promised that everything about the management of the play – including the play’s finances – would be more open. “We’re going to tell you where we’re at, how much money we’re bringing in and where we stand,” he said. Along with the leadership announcements, preparations for opening day were well under way, Christy said. “We’ve raised an additional $20,000 since we raised the initial $75,000 for the bank,”
NEWS Story
Photo by David Bell
James Cooper, a volunteer from Coalgate, Okla., raked leaves down the hillside from the backstage area adjacent to the tomb.
he said. “All our daily bills are caught up.” According to Keith Butler, the next financial hurdle was raising $200,000 to cover operating costs so the play could begin its next season in May. The number of performances per week was reduced from to 110 to 80 save on operating costs. The gift shop, Bible Museum and grounds were reopened, making the Christ of the Ozarks statue accessible to visitors, and the statue lighted at night. Through donations, the back taxes were cleared and leaky roofs repaired. Meetings were held to keep former employees and local business owners and staff in the loop. A new ticket-selling system that automatically credits the seller’s commission was announced. Ticket prices were reduced by several dollars, and advance tickets by more than $5. Hundreds of volunteers started arriving in March to help clean up the grounds and make repairs to the amphitheater and the Holy Land tour. More volunteers worked during the season as ticket-takers, ushers and extras. For the play, 170 cast members were hired, Kelsey said, with 50 to 60 volunteer extras. It was scheduled to open on May 3, with more than 1,000 tickets sold for the opening night, which was postponed a day because of weather.
According to a year-end report by Kent Butler, more than 50,000 people saw the play in 2013. The numbers represented a 30 percent increase in average attendance per performance, which were decreased by 30. The play set a five-year single-night attendance record, and welcomed its 7.7 millionth visitor. Overall, attendance was up from the previous year by 7.51 percent, Kent Butler said. Christy is now serving as chief executive officer. Keith Butler is chief financial officer. All bills have been paid, bank payments have been made, and the Passion Play is on track for the 2014 season, Christy said. Christy acknowledged the work that Kelsey, former chief operating officer and executive director of the play, has done as an ambassador for the Passion Play and Eureka Springs. “He and his wife, Doris, have worked hard to help re-start the Great Passion Play, and we greatly appreciate their sacrificial efforts,” Christy said. Kent Butler and Danny Hester remain part of the current administrative team. Debra Mercer was hired to serve as Christy’s administrative assistant. The dates of the 2014 season have been announced and discount tickets offered for sale through January.
January 2, 2014 – Lovely County Citizen – Page
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SWEPCO plans, resulting public outcry top story of the year By Kristal Kuykendall
Citizen.Editor.Eureka@gmail.com
The No. 1 news story of 2013 has not only filled many pages in local and state newspapers since it first became public knowledge in early April; it also has united Carroll County residents in an overwhelming show of solidarity – in opposition to the project – unlike anything this area has ever seen. On April 3, Southwestern Electric Power Co. filed paperwork with the Arkansas Public Service Commission seeking the state’s permission to build a 48-mile-long, 345,000 Volt transmission line from its new Shipe Road station west of Centerton in Benton County to a proposed new station on the Kings River near Berryville. The preferred Route 33, one of six possible routes originally proposed by SWEPCO, will take the line through the northern portion of Benton and Carroll counties, going through Garfield and Gateway in Benton County, continuing east of U.S. Highway 62, crossing the White River south of the Town of Beaver, passing 3,000 feet north of Lake Leatherwood in Eureka Springs, crossing Highways 187 and 23 North just below Holiday Island, continuing through wooded areas until it runs near Silver Wings Field in Eureka Springs, crossing County Road 279 in rural Berryville, continuing parallel to the Kings River, crossing it and then making a right angle south to the new station site on County Road 143, approximately one-half mile north of Hwy. 62. The right-of-way for the transmission line, or the area to be clear-cut and then kept clear using herbicides, will be 150 feet wide; each tower will be between 130 and 160 feet tall. Project cost is estimated between $90 million and $117 million, depending on which route is approved. If SWEPCO’s
preferred route is approved, the project will cost $116,718,121, including $96,274,138 for the transmission line and right-of-way easements, and $20,443,983 to construct the Kings River station. The project will be funded by loans and internal cash, SWEPCO has said. Costs may also be shared by other electric companies who make use of the lines, spokesman Peter Main said. He said SWEPCO residential customers may expect to see a rate increase of 51 cents per 1,000 kWh once the line is operational, which on average will equal no more than a few dollars per month. SWEPCO hopes to begin line construction in March 2015 and begin using it by June 2016. But first, the project must receive the approval of the Arkansas Public Service Commission, which in July held four days of public hearings in Eureka Springs and Rogers to give area residents opportunity to voice their opposition directly to APSC officials and its administrative law judge Connie Griffin. Griffin, who has overseen all proceedings in the case, is due to issue a recommended decision in the case by mid-January; then, the panel of three APSC Commissioners will ultimately decide whether the project may move ahead and, if so, which route the line should follow. SWEPCO’s plans – once they became public knowledge – inspired a swift and colossal response from concerned Carroll County residents, particularly those from the western half the county, where the line would be located. But as more details have emerged about the power-line proposal – and particularly what could come next, after this project is completed – residents from all over the county and beyond have joined the fight against the mega-transmission line. Within a week of SWEPCO’s application filing with the APSC, a grassroots group
NEWS Story
Photo submitted by Richard Quick
Pat Costner, far left, looks up some information she is prepared to testify on as Save The Ozarks lead attorney Mick Harrison, second from left, and SWEPCO lead attorney David Matthews discuss one of the finer points of the regulations overseeing Arkansas Public Service Commission hearings, during the SWEPCO hearing in Little Rock on Friday.
of residents who oppose the utility’s plans formed, called Save The Ozarks. STO immediately retained legal counsel and soon after was granted “intervenor” status in the case, meaning it was recognized by the APSC as an official party in the proceedings and allowed to testify at the Commission’s evidentiary hearings held in Little Rock in August. STO and another local group of opponents, Friends of the White River, have been instrumental in raising area residents’ awareness about SWEPCO’s plans and why they’re bad for Carroll County. In addition to noting the inevitable aesthetic destruction of the county’s mountainous and forested landscapes, as well as the unknown effects of electromagnetic fields that surround high-voltage power lines, opponents have argued that the region’s fragile karst terrain – a type of landscape that has sinkholes, sinking streams, caves, and springs and that is extremely porous – is not stable enough to support 150-foot-tall towers (it’s never been tried on karst terrain, SWEPCO has acknowledged, so no one knows for certain). Opponents also argue that the Ozark Mountains’ karst landscape is the worst possible terrain for using herbicides on a regular basis. That’s because the herbicides will, without a doubt, filter downward through
the thin, porous soils and the many disjointed layers of limestone, winding up in the region’s groundwater – and contaminating See SWEPCO, page 19
Congratulations to Pat Costner for being named the 2013 Citizen of the Year in our online contest! A full profile of Costner will appear in the Jan. 9 issue of the Lovely County Citizen, recognizing the work she’s done with Save The Ozarks to help fight SWEPCO’s proposal to erect super-high-voltage transmission lines through the Eureka Springs area. Thanks to everyone who voted!
Page 14 – Lovely County Citizen – October 24, 2013
Embarassing the 2013 Citizens of the Week
01-03-13 Pastor Randall Christy
01-10-13 Rachal Hyatt
01-17-13 Jacqueline Wolven
01-24-13 Quinn Withy and all the other participants in Sunday’s Martin Luther King festivities
02-07-13 Jack Miller
02-14-13 Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi
02-21-13 Rachel Brix
02-28-13 Tracellen Kelly
03-07-13 Jeff and Christina Danos
03-21-13 Cne Breaux
03-28-13 Terry McClung
04-04-13 Daniel Jackson
04-25-13 Save The Ozarks
05-03-13 Joyce Zeigler (saved a duck)
05-09-13 Randy Wolfinbarger
03-14-13 Our own police force
04-11-13 Denys Flaherty
04-18-13 Survivors of the Boston Marathon bombings
01-31-13 Virginia Benefiel
January 2, 2014 – Lovely County Citizen – Page
05-16-13 Sue Hopkins
05-23-13 DonE Allen
06-20-13 Jack Murphy
06-27-13 Danny Cameron
07-18-13 Darcy Huffman
07-25-13 Residents who have been in any way active in the fight against the proposed SWEPCO power lines
08-22-13 Joe McClung
08-29-13 Pat Costner
05-30-13 Stuart and Barbara Drizner
06-06-13 Vincent Reynolds
07-04-13 Jennifer and John Lopardo
08-01-13 Carroll County Special Operations Rescue Team, or SORT, and Mennonite Disaster Services’ Search and Rescue
06-13-13 Charles Ragsdell
07-11-13 John Maes and Travis Ridenhour
08-08-13 Gina Gallina
09-05-13 Manny Ortiz and Larry Martin
08-15-13 Sara Armellini
09-12-13 Anne Stricherz
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Page 16 – Lovely County Citizen – January 2, 2014
09-19-13 KJ Zumwalt
09-26-13 Librarians at the Eureka Springs Carnegie Library
10-10-13 Chief Rhys Williams and the Eureka Springs Fire Department staff, firefighters, volunteers and EMTs
10-24-13 Blayne Thiebaud
10-31-13 Charles Ragsdell
11-07-13 All our veterans
11-28-13 Hillary Fogerty
10-17-13 Sen. Bryan King and state Rep. Bob Ballinger
11-14-13 Residents of Eureka Springs’ White Street
12-5-13 Michelle McDonald and Angelique
11-21-13 Jack Moyer and Dee Bright
12-12-13 Fatima and Latigo Treuer
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January 2, 2014 – Lovely County Citizen – Page
SWEPCO
Continued from page 3
thousands of residents’ private wells in the process. Though SWEPCO has downplayed this possibility – which is almost impossible to predict with any statistical accuracy – the U.S. Geological Survey states that “karst features (sinkholes, springs, caves, solution channels, losing streams, etc.) at the surface can lead to rapid transport of surface-derived contaminants with little to no attenuation” and warns against using surface chemicals that are not meant for human consumption, particularly in populated areas and areas where groundwater is heavily relied upon for drinking water. Such is the case in western Carroll County; more than 5,000 households within a few miles’ radius of Eureka Springs rely on well water, officials have said. As details of the project emerged throughout the summer, and as STO and other vocal opposition leaders drew attention to the potential dangers of the project to local residents, the environment and the county’s tourism industry, the public outcry of opposition swelled to a deafening roar – so much so that the APSC in July opted to hold public hearings for resident feedback here instead of in Little Rock, which is where such proceedings are normally held. Within just a couple of months after SWEPCO’s application, 5,000 public com-
Transition
ments had been filed on the APSC’s website – nearly all of which opposed the project in its entirety. Following is a timeline of developments in the case: APRIL 3, 2013 – SWEPCO files its application for the project with the APSC. APRIL 4 – Certified letters notifying potentially affected landowners are sent by SWEPCO. The letters give landowners and other affected parties 30 days to raise objections before the APSC; that time period is extended weeks later when it becomes apparent that SWEPCO failed to include dozens of landowners whose property would be traversed by one or more of the proposed six routes. APRIL 11 – Newly formed opposition group Save The Ozarks holds its first meeting for local residents to learn more about the project. The meeting is held in Eureka Springs, which lies on at least one of the proposed routes. APRIL 18 – STO holds its second public informational meeting; at least 100 residents attend, and public opposition is solidified. The panel of speakers includes STO co-founder and former Greenpeace scientist Pat Costner, whose land could be traversed by the power line. She and other speakers question the local need for the line, which SWEPCO says is required to serve the county’s growing population. That reasoning is later debunked by a closer look at cen-
Barbara Sue (Akers) Charleville Nov. 18, 1932 – Dec. 20, 2013
Barbara Sue (Akers) Charleville, 81, of Festus, MO, passed away December 20, 2013 at her home. Born November 18, 1932 in Desoto, MO, she was the daughter of the late Susan (Miller) and James Akers. Barbara was preceded in death last year by her husband of 60 years, Norman Douglas Charleville Sr. Barbara is survived by two sons; Norman “Doug” (Maribel) Charleville Jr, Panama and Festus; Jeffrey “Jeff” Charleville, Festus; two daughters; Cheri (Dena Hibbard) Charleville, Festus; and Elizabeth “Beth” (Richard) Gantner, Desoto. Also, two sisters-in-law Ann (the late Harvey) Becker; and Marion (the late Lanny) Charleville, 14 Grandchildren, 24 Great Grandchildren, and 2 Great Great
Grandchildren. Barbara was preceded in death by 4 brothers: Ed Akers, Frank Akers, Everett “Skeet” Akers, and George Akers Sr; 4 sisters: Alta Vance, Grace Lortz, Mary (the late Everett “Buck”) Bye, and Helen (the late John) Brown. Visitation is scheduled from 4-8 PM, December 26th at Vinyard’s Funeral Home in Festus, MO. Funeral Services are scheduled for 10 AM, December 27th, also at Vinyard’s. Burial will follow immediately after the service in the Presbyterian/Methodist Cemetery in Festus. The family requests memorials to the USO or the Wounded Warrior Project in lieu of flowers.
sus figures more recent than those cited by SWEPCO. In addition, the opponents decry the project’s Environmental Impact Study, which makes no mention of the area’s karst terrain or the dangers of using herbicides on it – nor does the EIS take into account any potential negative effects on tourism, the staple industry of western Carroll County. Days after the April 18 meeting, STO and its attorney request and receive an extension of the deadline for public comments and the deadline for STO to intervene in the case as an approved interested party. APRIL 26 – The Lovely County Citizen reveals that both Eureka Springs Mayor Morris Pate and County Judge Sam Barr had been notified of the forthcoming project last fall, but neither told anyone nor alerted local residents of the coming encroachment on their land and, ultimately, their tourism-based economy and their safety. By this time, several public officials and major businesses have voiced their concerns about the project, including the Beaver mayor and City Council, Garfield’s mayor, Eureka Springs Parks & Rec Department, the Great Passion Play and even the Arkansas Department of Health, which warned against chemical runoff from the power lines and their construction making its way into the area’s source of drinking water, Beaver Lake. APRIL 30 – The Eureka Springs City Council voted unanimously to approve Resolution No. 618, opposing the transmission line. The resolution states that tourism tax revenue generates around $130 million per year and the council opposes any of the proposed transmission lines that threaten the city and its environs that attract tourism dollars. MAY 17 – The Quorum Court votes to officially oppose the project. The resolution that JP Lamont Richie authored cites the potential impact of the project on such landmarks as the Pea Ridge National Military Park, Thorncrown Chapel, the Inspiration Point observation area, the historic Beaver Bridge, the City of Eureka Springs, and the Silver Wings Air Field – all of which are in close proximity to one or more of the proposed routes. MAY 20 – The Holiday Island Board of Commissioners weights in, voting unanimously to oppose the project. One of SWEPCO’s six proposed routes comes near Holiday Island, but not through it. It crosses near the intersection of Arkansas Highway
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23 and 187. One speaker at the meeting questioned why SWEPCO had bought land for the Kings River substation before the project was approved by the Public Service Commission. JUNE 7 – The APSC announces dates for public comment hearings to be held in Eureka Springs and Rogers. By this time, more than 4,700 public comments had been filed on the APSC’s website voicing residents’ concerns and opposition, and 45 parties had been granted intervenor status. JULY 15-16 – More than 500 local residents and businesspeople show up at APSC’s public comment hearings in Eureka Springs, and all but a single speaker oppose the project. Judging from the widespread camaraderie at the Inn of the Ozarks Convention Center those two days, it was clear that the residents who attended had left all their often-colorful differences of opinions – something Carroll County and especially Eureka Springs is somewhat well-known for – at the door. It also became clear as testimony continued that Carroll Countians will not be “divided and conquered” by the proposal that includes not just a few but six different proposed routes. State Sen. Bryan King tells the Citizen that often, when a large corporation is trying to push through approval on a project that is likely to be opposed, that corporation will present several different options for its project in hopes of distracting residents from the big, area-wide issue – whether to approve the transmission line at all -- as they become more focused on their own back yards – and on which specific route is worst and/or would hurt them the most. But with surprising consistency, Carroll Countians who spoke at the public hearings July 15-16 were overwhelmingly opposed to the project in its entirety, and they said so, over and over and over. July 19 – SWEPCO withdraws three of the proposed routes – the three closest to Eureka Springs – from consideration in its application with the APSC. Though a spokesman said it had placed three of the six that were closest to town at the bottom of their list of routes in their application for approval, the filing itself says that SWEPCO “recommends Routes 62, 86 and 91 be removed from consideration” – unless the APSC denies the remaining three routes, in which case the three withdrawn will be again conSee SWEPCO, page 21
Page 18 – Lovely County Citizen – January 2, 2014
Village View
Alison By Sandra TaylorSynar Brown
• Holiday Story #9 •
Bloody Christmas Eve
A
Aileen Brown
as told to Alison Taylor-Brown
ileen thought this would be the best Christmas ever. After two years in Little Rock with the Arkansas State Police, her husband Dwain had transferred to the tiny town of Ozark, only fifty miles from their parents, who still lived up in the mountains. Aileen and Dwain had bought a little three-bedroom home in Ozark with a gas floor furnace and three bedrooms, so now five-year-old Alison had her own room. Aileen had shopped for Alison’s presents in the real department stores in Fort Smith, where she bought a two-story metal doll house and a doll named Linda Lee. Dwain seemed to enjoy his job, which came with not a little prestige. He was dashing in his uniform. The two troopers alternated working two weeks on the day shift and two weeks on the night. But even when Dwain worked nights, he came home for supper and a brief checker game with Alison. He had laughed a few days earlier. “She never wins, but she always comes back.” So on Christmas Eve, 1959, Aileen sat waiting. Dwain was working nights this week, but he had promised to stop by after Alison’s bedtime to put out the presents and eat the cookies and drink the milk that Alison dutifully left under the Christmas tree. She had decorated the cookies that afternoon, Christmas trees and stars and a reindeer. Aileen could imagine her daughter’s amazed expression as she studied the magical crumbs left on the saucer, proof that Santa had actually been there. But Dwain was late. Just after ten, Aileen received a call from the Franklin County Sherriff. Dwain had been shot while chasing a fugitive in the town of Altus, on the Johnson-Franklin county line. “How bad is it?” She heard the sheriff hesitate. “I don’t know. Not. . .bad. The ambulance is on its way.” Aileen called a friend to stay with Alison. Then she drove herself to the hospital, wondering if Dwain’s condition was such that he should be transferred to the larger, bet-
ter-equipped Fort Smith hospital, 60 miles away. At the hospital, the ambulance was arriving. Dwain was conscious, but in shock. He had been shot in the stomach and needed immediate surgery to repair the multiple perforations in his intestines. Aileen saw herself as the caretaker of all her family. But looking at her husband, cold and sweating and obviously in great pain, she murmured hesitantly, “Maybe we should transfer you to Fort Smith?” “No,” Dwain said. “Let’s just get it over with.” But Ozark’s one surgeon was unavailable. As Dwain was being brought into the hospital, Dr. Clifton C. Long was flying his tiny personal plane through the dark night. Scotty Dodgen had received a new go-cart for Christmas and promptly run it under a truck, scalping himself. Dr. Long had loaded Scotty into his plane to transport him to the Medical Center in Little Rock. Aileen called her parents and Dwain’s brother. Aileen’s father, a Clarksville police officer, was soon on the posse seeking Dwain’s shooter. Her mother went to the house to relieve the babysitter, and Dwain’s brother stayed at the hospital. But still, no doctor. Anxious and helpless, Aileen called a woman she knew from church, Floy Fields. Floy was an experienced nurse, but her passionate opinions of hospital procedures had put her at odds with Jean, the hospital administrator. So Floy now drove the twenty miles east to work at the larger Clarksville hospital. Floy came immediately. Older than Aileen, her brisk, professional presence was a comfort. Aileen gestured toward the operating room, where Dwain waited on the table for the doctor to arrive. “I wish you were going to be in there.” “We’d have to have Jean’s permission,” Floy said. “But maybe Dr. Long can persuade her.” Apparently, the hospital had radioed to the physician to alert him of what awaited him when he landed. And apparently, the hospital administrator was notified, for she walked in
and frowned when she saw Floy Fields. ing, so familiar to her as an Ozark mountain The women began to argue heatedly, as child. Had she made a mistake by not rushAileen stood helplessly in the green insti- ing Dwain to a bigger hospital? She could tutional hallway that smelled of disinfec- only see Dr. Long and Floy Fields, though tant. Finally, Floy said, “ Jean, I would be there must have been an anesthesiologist. ashamed to let our personal differences inter- Piles of bloody gauze two feet high lay on fere in a situation like this.” the floor around the table. They had pulled Dr. Long at last arrived to face the classic Dwain’s intestines up so that Floy could go “gut shot” so often fatal on the battlefield. over every inch with her fingers. How many times had the bullet torn through Three and a half hours later, that surgery the more than twenty feet of curving intes- was over. The bullet had passed through tines? To fail to repair even one perforation Dwain’s stomach and lodged in his hip. Surwould lead to a dangerous, even fatal, infec- gery on the hip would come later. tion. Floy Fields, a World War II nurse, had With Dwain’s brother there, Aileen decidtreated hundreds of these wounds. So Dr. ed to leave the hospital briefly. She wanted Long, too, requested an exception to hospital to be at home when Alison woke up. And before that, she needed to eat that cookie. procedures to allow Floy Fields to scrub. Thanks to the skill and dedication of a At last, at last, Dr. Long and Floy entered few small-town medical professionals, Elton the surgery, where Dwain waited. The operating room’s door had a tiny rect- Dwain Brown survived his gunshot wound. angular window. At one point in the long op- He retired after 30 years on the Arkansas eration, Aileen looked through the window State Police and served multiple terms as and a feeling of utter horror swept over her. sheriff of Johnson County. At 85, he can still All she could think of was the hog butcher- beat his daughter at checkers. ••• Alison Taylor-Brown has an MFA in Fiction and a lifetime of teaching experience from preschool to university levels. She directs The Village Writing School, whose mission is to foster the development of area writers through workshops, writers’ circles, and coaching. Her column, Village View, appears weekly. To talk to Alison about your writing goals and dreams, contact her at alisontaylorbrown@me.com or 479 292-3665.
January 2, 2014 – Lovely County Citizen – Page
The Village Writing School This week, we wrap up the Holiday Stories for 2013. Holiday Story #8 appears in the Mid-Week Carroll County News. For the stories on these two pages, the theme can only be: Christmas Gone Wrong. • Holiday Story #10 •
C
Gone Missing
Ethel Meyers as told to Linda Maiella hristmas 1946. . .The country was breathing a sigh of relief. The war in Europe had been on everyone’s mind and heart for so long, but now it was coming to an end. The troops were coming home; at least those who were fortunate enough to have survived the Battle of the Bulge and the storming of the beach at Normandy. They would be coming back to their families and the life they had left behind. The house was readied for the relatives from out of state who would come to celebrate the holidays and the end of the war. She opened the front door to their laughter and smiles. “Ethel, how lovely you look, Dear,” was whispered in her ear. “Merry Christmas, Sweetie.” The parade of guests bearing gifts made its way past her and into the kitchen. She followed them, taking their coats, as mother had asked. She stood there watching her Dad welcome all the relatives into his home. It had been a very long time since they had all been together. But the one person Ethel wanted to see was still not there. Three years earlier—1943—tall, dark and handsome Walter Meyers from Wisconsin had walked into Ethel’s life and swept her off her feet. They were inseparable after that first blind date on August 9th. He even asked if he could see her again the next day. “Wally, you can come to church, and meet my folks if you’d like.” And he did. He looked so dapper in his Army uniform when he came to church that day and they invited him to lunch. He started courting the pretty young girl from Springfield Missouri, while he finished his pilot training at Drury College. It didn’t take Walter and Ethel very long to figure out that they wanted to spend their lives together. Mr. & Mrs. Walter Meyers tied the knot exactly one year to the day after that blind date. They honeymooned in her parent’s home for the next two months. And
then Wally shipped out. Ethel continued to work at Woolworth’s while her soldier boy was away. Every single day she wrote him a letter. And every single day she would check the mailbox on the front of the house to see if there was a letter from him. It was those letters that kept their love strong. It was those letters that gave them hope for their future together. In the fall of 1946, the tone of Wally’s letters changed. Now they were all about the ending of the war. He had survived, and he was sure he would be back home by Christmas. Ethel began to count the days till Wally would be home, and they could start their married life where they had left off. Light streamed in the front window of the living room, engulfing her face in its glow. There she sat, alone on the sofa. She could hear the rest of the family gathered in the kitchen. The sound of their voices mixing with the clatter of dishes and clanking of glasses, as they readied the Christmas table. No one seemed to notice that she wasn’t there. She thought Wally would appear suddenly at the door. He said he would be there, and she had believed him. The letters had all said the same thing, “Don’t worry darling, I’ll be home for Christmas. I know I will.” She had read them over and over, believing and hoping. But here it was Christmas day, and she was still alone. She didn’t want to see anyone. She didn’t want to sing carols with the family in the kitchen. She didn’t want to celebrate or open presents. The only thing that Ethel wanted was to see her husband standing in that doorway. But it wasn’t to be. Only tears came to visit her on that long anticipated Christmas day in 1946. . .Despite an unavoidable delay, Wally made it home in January. He and Ethel were married for over fifty years. Her soldier boy did come home to stay.
19
To support our local writers, the Lovely County Citizen is providing space each week to showcase a student of The Village Writing School. For more information, email alisontaylorbrown@me.com or call (479) 292-3665
This Week’s Writers: Linda Maiella and Alison Taylor-Brown
Everything You Need to Write a Beautiful Book 2014 Writing Craft Core Curriculum January 18 – The First Page How to Begin To Outline or Not? Narrative Arc Research Asking the Right Questions Writing Rules to Live By February 15 – Nuts and Bolts The Sentence Diction Phrases Sound Devices Style Narrative Urgency March 15 – People & Place Setting
More than a Place Friend or Foe? Characters 13 Ways to Make them Memorable Dialogue—do it right April 19 – Subtext, High Events, Closing Below the Surface of Story, Plot, Context Implicit Narrative Weaving the Dramatic & the Subtle Two Mistakes with High Events Endings can Culminate or Imply Continuation Ending Literal or From Afar? May or June TBA – Self-Editing
All workshops will be held at the Village Writing School at 177 Huntsville Road. Cost is $45 per all-day workshop or $200 for the complete series of five. For more information or to register, contact Alison Taylor-Brown at alisontaylorbrown@ me.com or 479 292-3665.
All Creative Writing Workshops at the Village Writing School will be
FREE
to High School Students in 2014.
Fantasy Stories Welcome!!
Page 20 – Lovely County Citizen – January 2, 2014
Lively Entertainment By Kristal Kuykendall
J
By Kristal Kuykendall
Ozark Mountain Music Festival set for Jan. 24-26
anuary might be a little chilly outside, but it is not too cold for the First Annual Ozark Mountain Music Festival, to be held indoors at the Basin Park Hotel on the last weekend of January. Touted as Eureka Springs’ next great festival, the Ozark Mountain Music Festival will focus around bluegrass and indie folk with a festival lineup that includes multiple stages and lively music all day long, just indoors. Jack Moyer, manager of the Basin Park since 1996, said, “The Basin Park Hotel has always been at the edge of all great music start-ups, from the Eureka Springs Blues Festival, New Years Eve with Jimmy Thackery, Eureka Springs Mardi Gras, The Cate Brothers, Chris Duarte or when ‘the Band’ reunited
to play a 10-year reunion show in the Barefoot Ballroom. “We are excited to host this ‘next great thing’ with the start of the Ozark Mountain Music Festival to which we expect will be an annual event for many years to come.” Moyer went on to say a key to establishing the event will be both in providing great music on multiple stages, using regional talent whose genre is indie folk and inventing a path where the festival style atmosphere makes the Basin Park Hotel abuzz with activity while attendees enjoy all access passes, overnight stays at the hotel and have an atmosphere that encourages eating, drinking and dancing in one central location, an indoor festival grounds per se.
LARGEST SELECTION OF
VINTAGE WINES
Tickle Me Tuesdays!
Come Party & Dance Underground
OPEN Wed – Fri 5 pm – Close Sat & Sun 11 am – Close
Imported & Domestic Beers
10% OFF
Our friendly, all wine! knowledgeable staff says, “We’re all here ‘cause (Including Sale Items) we’re not all there.” Monday - Thursday 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday & Saturday 8 a.m. - Midnight Sunday Noon - 6 p.m.
LIQUOR
The Ozark Mountain Music Festival will begin Friday, Jan. 25 at 6 p.m. and will continue with at least 11 acts until Sunday’s Bloody Mary Morning Show. Passes will be affordable and will feature regional favorites HonkySuckle, 3Penny Acre, National Park Radio and SxRex as well as other acts contacted and to be announced soon. Room bundles for two attendees include two nights’ lodging and two all access passes, and begin at $275. Festival All Access Passes are $45. For further information or online room sales guests are encouraged to visit www. EurekaSpringsOnline.com. The line-up includes: Friday, Jan. 24 6 p.m. – Ballroom – HonkySuckle (Springfield) 8 p.m. – Ozark Room – Wink (Tulsa) 10 p.m. – Ballroom – 3 Penny Acre Friday, Jan. 25 Noon – Balcony – Hogscalders 2 p.m. – Ozark Room – Pearl Brick (Fayetteville) 4 p.m. – Ozark Room – Tyrannosau-
138 E. Van Buren (Hwy. 62) Eureka Springs, AR
479-253-7102
THANKS Eureka Springs for a GREAT 2013 “CHEERS” to a GREAT 2014!
“Walk of Shame” Bloody Mary Bar Best In Town!!! Largest Dance Floor Downtown
rus Chicken (Fort Smith) 6 p.m. – Ballroom – SX Rex (Eureka Springs) 8 p.m. – Ozark Room – Ben Miller Band (Joplin) 10 p.m. – Ballroom – National Park Radio (Harrison) Midnight Jam – Ron Landis and Chuck Friday, Jan. 26 Noon – Ozark Room – Handmade Moments (Conway/Fayetteville) ••• THURSDAY, JAN. 2 • Blarney Stone, 85 S. Main St., 479363-6633: Open Mic, 8 p.m. to midnight • Chaser’s: Game Challenge night • Chelsea’s, 10 Mountain St., 479-2536723: SmarT Jones and DJ Havoc, 9 p.m. • Squid & Whale, 37 Spring St., 479253-7147: Open Mic, 8 p.m. FRIDAY, JAN. 3 • Blarney Stone: TBD, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. • Cathouse / Pied Piper, 82 Armstrong St., 479-363-9976: DJ Havok, 8 p.m. to midnight • Chaser’s, 169 E. Van Buren, 479-2535522: DJ Kev, 9 p.m. • Chelsea’s: Mountain Sprout, 9 p.m. • Eureka Live!, 35 N. Main St., 479253-7020: DJ & Dancing, 9 p.m. to close • Eureka Paradise, 75 S. Main St., 479363-6574: DJ & Dance music, 8 p.m. • Henri’s Just One More, 19 1/2 Spring St., 479-253-5795: Juke Box, 9 p.m. • Jack’s Place, 37 Spring St., 479-2532219: Karaoke with DJ Goose & Maverick, 8 p.m. to midnight • Legends Saloon (Lumberyard), 105 E. Van Buren, 479-253-2500: DJ Karaoke, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. • New Delhi Cafe, 2 N. Main St., 479253-2525: Live Music, 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. • Rowdy Beaver Den, 45 Spring St., 479-363-6444: 70’s Jukebox Party, 7 p.m. • Rowdy Beaver Tavern, 417 W. Van Buren, 479-253-8544: 70’s Jukebox Party, 7 p.m. • Squid & Whale: Live Music, 9 p.m. • Voulez-Vous Lounge, 63 Spring St.,
January 2, 2014 – Lovely County Citizen – Page
• • • • • • • • • • • • •
479-363-6595: closed until Jan. 18. SATURDAY, JAN. 4 Blarney Stone: Austin Cobb, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Cathouse / Pied Piper: DJ Havok, 8 p.m. to midnight Chaser’s: Pro Football Playoffs Day; Muddy River, 9 p.m. Chelsea’s: Don’t Stop Please, 9 p.m. Eureka Live!: DJ & Dancing 9 p.m. to close Eureka Paradise: DJ & Dance music, 8 p.m. Henri’s Just One More: Juke Box, 9 p.m. Jack’s Place: Karaoke with DJ Goose & Maverick, 8 p.m. to midnight Legends Saloon (Lumberyard): DJ Karaoke, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. New Delhi Cafe: Johnny and Friends, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Rowdy Beaver Den: 80’s Jukebox Party, 7 p.m. Rowdy Beaver Tavern: 80’s Jukebox Party, 7 p.m. Squid & Whale: Live Music, 9 p.m.
SWEPCO
Continued from page 19
sidered, the filing says. AUG. 1 – An exclusive report in the Citizen reveals that SWEPCO’s plans will likely, if approved, lead to two new additional mega-lines beginning at the proposed Kings River substation and running eastward across the most populated area of Carroll County – and slicing all the way across the northern third of Arkansas. In planning documents used by Southwest Power Pool, the regional reliability organization that oversees utility interconnectivity in much of the South and which has instructed SWEPCO to build the currently proposed line in Western Carroll County, maps for future planning obtained by CCN and the Lovely County Citizen show not one but two new lines. One of the new mega-lines not yet mentioned by any utility entity is proposed to be 345kV, the other one 500kV, which is the largest being used today, and both will begin at the proposed new substation on the Kings River and go eastward. One line proposed by SPP runs for 130 miles from the new Kings River substation
21
• Voulez-Vous Lounge: closed until Jan. 18. SUNDAY, JAN. 5 • Blarney Stone: Pro Football Playoffs Day • Chaser’s: Pro Football Playoffs Day • Eureka Paradise: Local night • Jack’s Place: Pro Football with Dylan • Rowdy Beaver Den: Open Mic with Jesse Dean, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. • Rowdy Beaver Tavern: Pro Football Playoffs Day with free pool • Squid & Whale: Pro Football Playoffs Day MONDAY, JAN. 6 • Chaser’s: Pool tournament • Chelsea’s: Springbilly, 9 p.m. TUESDAY, JAN. 7 • Chelsea’s: Open Mic, 9 p.m. WEDNESDAY, JAN. 8 • Chaser’s: Ladies night • Chelsea’s: Molly Jean “Whoa-Man” Band and AJ Gaither, 9 p.m. • Squid & Whale: Sweetwater Gypsies — Ladies Night & Pie Social, 7:30 p.m.
3 Penny Acre will play Friday, Jan. 24 at the First Annual Ozark Mountain Music Festival held in the Basin Park Hotel.
and heads southeast through Berryville, Green Forest, Harrison and Mountain View on its way to an existing station in Newark, Ark. A second project studied by SPP and proposed in a 2009 presentation begins at the Kings River substation and heads east-northeast for 110 miles, cutting north of Berryville, through Omaha, over Bull Shoals Lake and Lake Norfork north of Mountain Home before hitting the Missouri state line at Cox Creek and eventually joining a line already in place at Gobbler Knob, Mo. In a 2011 planning document, SPP confirmed these plans, dubbed the “Ozark Plan,” and estimated the total cost at $915 million. AUG. 26-30 – The APSC holds its hearing, sort of like a trial, on the SWEPCO project, wherein approved intervening parties are allowed to testify and present their evidence either opposing or supporting the project. The hearing was originally scheduled for two days but ends up lasting all week. During the final two days of the hearing, the expert witnesses for opponent group Save The Ozarks are barely allowed to speak – in some cases not at all – as their tes-
timony was admitted in written form only. Administrative Law Judge Griffin, who was overseeing the hearing, calls an indefinite recess in the proceedings just before 5 p.m. on Friday, noting that because of the magnitude and depth of the case, she may need to call the attorneys and even some witnesses back for additional questions in the near future. Griffin explains that she needs “more time and information” on both sides’ arguments, and the following week, she issuea an order this week requesting legal briefs from all the parties’ attorneys, highlighting the primary points of their arguments. Just before the start of the hearing, U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor – who previously remained mum and was presumed to be straddling the fence in his opinion of the project – comes out in opposition to the project. SEPT. 15 – An STO fundraiser and auction raises more than $35,000 to help with the group’s legal fees in the fight against SWEPCO, as the groundswell of public opposition continues. OCT. 1 – SWEPCO asks the APSC for the chance to re-submit documents vital to its application, long after the deadline for such documents. With this motion, SWEPCO requests a post hoc amendment of the
application they submitted for APSC approval – a “do-over” of the statement of the public need and reasons for their proposed project. “In effect, this is SWEPCO’s admission that STO’s expert witness, Dr. Hyde Merrill, was correct in his assessment: The public need identified in SWEPCO’s application does not exist and, even if such a need did exist, the proposed project would not be required to meet it,” STO said. “SWEPCO is asking APSC to replace their now disproven statement of need with their witnesses’ testimonies, which include a new needs study that allegedly establishes previously unidentified public needs that require the construction the transmission line.” NOV. 18 – Judge Griffin declares testimony – both oral and written – in the case closed. Under state law, Griffin now has 60 days to render a decision as to whether the SWEPCO mega-line is needed, whether the utility may proceed, and, if so, which route it should take. Griffin’s recommended decision will be taken under advisement by the three-person Commission, which ultimately has the last word and must announce its final decision with a month of Griffin’s.
Page 22 – Lovely County Citizen – January 2, 2014
Calendar of Events Jan. 2: Busch cell tower response deadline
The deadline to respond to the FCC on the AT&T Mobility proposed cell tower at Busch is Thursday, Jan. 2. To read the pleadings on the project and AT&T’s reply as well as post a response, visit www. fcc.gov/asr/applications and enter File No. A0863982. To read a letter from Luis “Doc” Contreras to AT&T’s handling of the issue, visit our Opinion page at www. lovelycitizen.com and also visit “Stop AT&T Mobility 260-foot cell towers in the Ozarks” on Facebook.
Jan. 5: Two Who Dared at EUUF
On Sunday, Jan. 5, at Eureka Unitarian
Universalist Fellowship, 17 Elk St., there will be a screening of “Two Who Dared” (30 minute DVD). In Feb. 1939, Waitstill and Martha Sharp went to Czechoslovakia on a dangerous mission to save imperiled human lives, putting themselves in peril. They became the seed that sprouted the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC). The program is at 11 a.m., followed by refreshments (no soup Sunday). Childcare is provided.
Jan. 6: American Legion Post 9
The Eureka Springs American Legion Post 9 will meet Monday, Jan. 6 at 6 p.m. The post home is located on Arkansas Highway 23 at the junction of Highway
The spirit of Mardi Gras will resonate at the Krewe of Krazo Kings Day Kick-off Rally at the Rowdy Beaver Tavern in Eure-
ka Springs on Saturday, Jan. 11 beginning at 5 p.m. With each passing year, events have grown, and at the Kick-off Rally, details on five masquerade balls, the night parade, the day parade, and Mardi Gras Day will be announced. Members of the Royal Court and the King and Queen for 2014 will be announced, followed by a gala party. The public is invited to attend and celebrate with us. Entertainment, free munchies and king cakes will be provided along with a cash bar. This year’s Royal Court duchesses are: Anna Marie Lee, Vonda Miller, KellyJo Carroll, and Kimberly Owens; dukes are Steve Roberson, Bud Barter, Landry Weston and Ken Ames. For more information visit www.Krazo.Ureeka.Org or email Dan@ Ureeka.Org.
187 north of Eureka Springs. All veterans are welcome.
Jan. 8: Bischoff settlement Q&A for HI residents
Attorney Timothy Hutchinson, who represented David Bischoff in Bischoff v. HISID, will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 8 at 6 p.m. at the Clubhouse to answer questions about the lawsuit settlement. The public is invited.
Jan. 11: Mardi Gras Kings Day Kick-off Rally
2013 Transitions Lucille Scroggins Jan. 4, 1923 – Dec. 24, 2012
Jeannie Mitchell Sept. 29, 1951 – April 16, 2013
Steve Gsellmann Oct. 12, 1931 – July 21, 2013
Ina Jane Jordan Nov. 24, 1939 – Sept. 29, 2013
Hubert Burnette Aug. 7, 1944 – Dec. 28, 2012
John Russell Ratliff March 1, 1929 – April 18, 2013
Floyd E. “Happy” Jones July 7, 1932 – Aug. 2, 2013
William Wesley Goodson III Dec. 4, 1943 – Sept. 30, 2013
Clarence William Osterhout Passed Jan. 20, 2013
Terry Allen Thornton May 27, 1958 – April 22, 2013
Bonnie Jean Farwell Passed Aug. 5, 2013
Anna Marie Daugherty Aug. 7, 1941 - Oct. 1, 2013
Marcella McCarthy Nee Krysinski Sept. 14, 1915 - Jan. 11, 2013
Jason Lee Polan April 5, 1941 – May 4, 2013
John Neilson Christensen Dec. 4, 1920 – Aug. 9, 2013
James F. Wright Feb. 6, 1927 – Oct. 8, 2013
Terry Engholm 1945 - Jan. 20, 2013
Bryan Lawrence Stoppel Jan. 14, 1961 – May 8, 2013
James Dewey Hill April 27, 1928 – Aug. 11, 2013
Linda Russene Clay Passed Friday, Oct. 11
Carole “Polly” Hamblin Oct. 29, 1995 – Jan. 23, 2013
Robert Marcus (Mark) Payne, Jr. Mar. 30, 1962 - May 15, 2013
Bobbie L. Turner June 28, 1922 – Aug. 2013
Gerald Meeks June 17, 1964 – Oct. 11, 2013
Michael King Petteway June 23, 1944 - Jan. 25, 2013
Betty Sue (Hall) Hinson Feb. 9, 1937 – May 18, 2013
Patrick Curtis Blevins July 18, 1957 – Aug. 18, 2013
Susan C. Vanselow July 30, 1942 – Oct. 21, 2013
Miriam Stephenson Feb. 22, 1959 - Jan. 25, 2013
John W. “Jim” Herndon Jr. 1928 – 2013
Kathy Brookbank March 16, 1937 – Aug. 18, 2013
Mildred Ellen Tromburg Aug. 1, 1921 – Nov. 5, 2013
Martha Ann Maloney Jan. 10, 1935 - Feb. 5, 2013
Mary Jane Jackson Jan. 11, 1942 – May 27, 2013
Larry DeWayne Martin Aug. 22, 1939 – 2013
Brandon James Snodgrass Feb. 20, 1995 – Nov. 12, 2013
Walter A. Butler, Jr. Jan. 7, 1931 - Feb. 7, 2013
Wesley Michael Worley April 12, 1977 – June 20, 2013
James “Jim” Reginald Wilson, Jr. March 26, 1948 - Aug. 24, 2013
Juanita Reynolds Oct. 3, 1924 – Nov. 21, 2013
James Roger “Jim” Duffy, Oct. 7, 1948 - March 5, 2013
Elizabeth Joanne “Jo Jo” Long Jan. 2, 1944 – July 1, 2013
John Burris Sept. 4, 1923 – Sept. 4, 2013
Richard G. Kelley July 14, 1937 – Nov. 23, 2013
Charlene Mae Maxwell July 10, 1946 - March 26, 2013
Paula Sims Passed July 11, 2013
Norbert George Bialka April 8, 1939 – Sept. 4, 2013
Keith Kingsley Smith April 10, 1946 – Nov. 25, 2013
Ruth Katherine Haydon Jan. 27, 1920 - April 11, 2013
Malia Markel Rutherford Jan. 2, 1956 – July 12, 2013
Barbara Louise “Dusty” Walton June 29, 1932 - Sept. 15, 2013
Robert J. Dole Feb. 25, 1925 - Dec. 21, 2013
John Richard Riddler II June 30, 1944 - April 14, 2013
Jerry Dean Tumbleson Feb.18, 1967 – July 14, 2013
Gloria Bohannan Jan. 23, 1949 – Sep. 23, 2013
Paul Willson Dec. 26, 1931 – Dec. 21, 2013
January 2, 2014 – Lovely County Citizen – Page
The Natural Way DMSO good for pain reduction
A
very long term local asked me to write about a very useful product. People have by Jim Fain accident found this to help them in many ways. Though, I’ve written about this odd situation and product before I thought I’d update the info. With cold weather here perhaps this is something to think about for arthritis and pain. This is a strange and very American situation. A natural by-product of the wood industry is exceptionally well studied by a number of pharmaceutical companies. This produces a wealth of solid scientific medical information for a wide range of ailments. Yet it remains in the hardware store or on a veterinarian’s shelf. Those of you who know of DMSO, no introduction is needed. Dimethylsulfoxide has been around for a long time. The history of DMSO as a pharmaceutical began in 1961 when a Dr. Jacob was head of the organ transplant program at Oregon Health Sciences University. He found it useful with skin transplants and has spent his life investigating DMSO. According to Dr. Jacob one of the troubles with the official approval is that it does too many things and isn’t limited to one pill/one ailment. Veterinarians have used DMSO as a horse liniment for reducing inflammation in sprains, strains, stiff joints and arthritis. Folk uses in humans are similar. Many people have followed Grandma’s lead and used this turpentine-like liquid or gel for a wide range of conditions such as soft tissue damage (spider bites, ticks, chiggers) skin ulcers and burns. And most Grannies certainly had their version of “horse liniment” for rheumatism (fibromyalgia) and painful arthritis. In some 11,000 medical/ clinical articles from all over the world, many doctors internationally seem very comfortable with DMSO for a variety of ailments such as pain reduction (herpes zoster and shingles), inflammation, scleroderma, interstitial cystitis (approved in the U.S.), arthritis and for the reduction of elevated intercranial pressure. In doing a simple internet search a couple of interesting uses such as sciatica, low back pain and any type of auto-immune processes including silicon immune toxicity syndromes showed up. The only real drawback and it is really very minor is that DMSO is absorbed through the skin very fast and for a short while you might taste it in your mouth and your breath may be a little awkward. To me no worse than having a little too much garlic. Newer formulations don’t do this at all, just the older ones. I’m certainly going to have it on hand this year for spider, tick and chigger bites.
Wisecrack Zodiac Aries: You’ll receive a fright when you kick your new year off with a bang. After you change your underwear, you’ll discover it was just a leftover New Year’s popper someone dropped in your boot. Taurus: Most people resolve to lose weight or quit smoking. If you can just show up somewhere wearing matching socks and shoes, consider it a win. Gemini: This week you’ll learn it’s not always about you, which is weird. Usually it is all about you, so you’re right to be paranoid when no one’s looking your way. Cancer: Things become clearer in January, mainly because you’re finally sobering up from the holidays. Stay away from the last of Aunt Ruth’s Breathalyzer-busting Rum Cake, because you haven’t walked a straight line in weeks. Leo: On Friday you’ll achieve your New Year’s resolution with ease when that troublesome five pounds falls away. You don’t have to tell anyone you did it by shedding nine layers of sweaters and Christmas cookie crumbs. Virgo: There’s a fine line between insanity and inspiration, and you’re twanging it like a hyperactive banjo player. This creative stuff is new to you, so take it one note at a time, and it won’t sound like you’re goosing a bear with a weed-eater. Libra: You don’t have to know all the answers, but it would help if you could solve the easy stuff without looking it up on the Internet. Work those brain cells and quit falling for those ‘weird old tips’ ads. Scorpio: On Thursday, you’ll finally drop that sour face. Life is sweet, it just never occurred to you to lick it before now. Don’t do it outside, though, or your tongue will freeze to it. Sagittarius: A germ of an idea will grow into a full-blown virus this week. Keep your hankie handy, because you’ll be sneez-
© Beth Bartlett, 2013 Want more? Visit Beth at www.wisecrackzodiac.com
ing out innovation and hacking up prosperity. Bless you. Capricorn: You have a fresh new year, all pristine and clean. Enjoy it before the universe attacks it with finger paint and broken crayons. Or you could just keep it encased in plastic, so you can hose it off and have a sparkling July. Aquarius: Quit wasting money on some guru with their own bottled water brand. The secrets of life are easy: love, laughter and
Crossword Puzzle
23
Beth Bartlett
dry socks. If you’re missing one of these, substitute wine until you find it again. Pisces: Organization has never been your strong suit. It’s more like an old windbreaker rolled up and stuffed in the corner of the couch. Yank it out, wipe off the Cheetos stains and show off your new attitude in all its rumpled glory. Answers on page 25
Page 24 – Lovely County Citizen – January 2, 2014
Roommate Wanted
Lost / Found
Classifieds work! Call the Lovely County Citizen today and place your ad. (479) 253-0070.
Classifieds work! Call the Lovely County Citizen today and place your ad. (479) 253-0070.
Classifieds work! Call the Lovely County Citizen today and place your ad. (479) 253-0070.
January 2, 2014 – Lovely County Citizen – Page
Murder
Continued from page 8
she’s 21.” “We have nothing,” she said, “nothing; we didn’t even have money to bury her.” The state provided assistance to cover the funeral costs. “I’m going to sit in my house and wait
HELP WANTED
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Review our questions below; if your answers match ours ... let’s talk
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I have high energy and feel my best when productively crossing things off my “to do” list. I consider myself a planner and I take pride in my ability to multi-task, prioritize and work smart. I like to work with people. I am creative. I keep my commitments by going the extra mile. I can’t help but think of different ways to solve problems and make processes more efficient.
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for Victor to come,” Ponce said. “I’m going to buy myself a gun, and I’m going to get a permit. And I’m going to send the kids away to be protected, and I’m going to wait for Victor to come and [try to] kill me. “I don’t know if I’ll have the heart to kill anyone. I don’t think I do. I don’t want Victor to die. At first... I wanted to, but now, I don’t because I don’t want to have that in my mind the rest of my life. ... I don’t want that for him. I just want him locked up for the rest of his life where he doesn’t damage anyone or hurt more people.” At one of the status hearings, eight
members of Acuna-Sanchez’s family were present. They gathered in support of their relative and greeted each other with hugs as they tried to hide the tears in their eyes. Acuna-Sanchez sat in the courtroom trembling as attorneys in pinstriped suits discussed the young man’s future – or possible lack thereof. The dreadful and worried look on his face was shared with his mother until their eyes met. Then a small smile crept onto both faces that was as brief as it seemed fearful. Eric Acuna-Sanchez, Victor’s brother, was one of the family members in at-
tendance. He said the events have made him question his own life and decide to give himself to his Lord. “We are all here for support,” Eric said. “When everybody is pointing fingers that is when you see who matters. That is when you see who is family. I just want the best for my brother and for everyone. I just don’t know what that is yet.” Editor’s Note: While Acuna-Sanchez was arrested on Dec. 31, 2012, the story was not reported in Carroll County News until January 2013, so we have included it in our 2013 stories of the year.
Sprenger
classified as child pornography or evidence that a machine has accessed sites that have child pornography.” He continued to explain that experts in the field of computer forensics also told him that in most cases involving less than 10 images of child pornography are not usually investigated by forensic computer experts. “Just because someone works with a lot
of computers that does not mean that they are going to have child porn on them,” said George Holmes, systems administrator for computer science and administration department of the University of Arkansas. “I work on computers personally and for my department and for family members and I am know how to see the signs if there is something that is problematic or distasteful or even illegal on a computer.”
Sears
was and returned it.” Sears reportedly admitted to the theft and arson at Pine Top Lodge, claiming Basnett offered him $10,000 and a pickup truck for burning the motel and gave him the fuel to start the fire. “After consultation with the victims in the cases, Basnett was sentenced to 30 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction plus an additional 20 years suspended,” according to a press release from Prosecuting Attorney Tony Rogers’ office. The Pine Top case was not Basnett’s first run-in with the law. In 2007, police allege that they caught Basnett in an attempted arson at the Land O Nod Inn in Eureka Springs. The case against Basnett was later dismissed because Tim Weaver, the city attorney, didn’t provide the defense with information they had requested. Hyatt said they found lighter fluid, rags and a lighter when Basnett was arrested. Earlier in 2012, Basnett was federally charged in Oklahoma for unlawful possession of a stolen firearm. He is a convicted felon, and felons are not allowed to possess firearms.
Continued from page 4
Flanagin said. “It is not unusual at all for a person who is a computer technician to have hard drives and storage devices that may contain downloaded material that can be
CROSSWORD ANSWERS
I prefer to work independently and I push myself to achieve pretty lofty goals.
Continued from page 3
I want to work in a laid-back, relaxing environment with typical 9 to 5 hours.
We are always looking for great people to become successful advertising sales representatives. If this sounds like the right job for you, we need to talk. Bob Moore, Publisher (870) 423-6636 • b.moore@cox-internet.com
Pet of the Week Rorke, also known lovingly as “Bones,” is a young, playful lab mix. He gets along with everyone he meets, walks well on a leash, and is seeking his forever home. Rorke walks well on a leash, is neutered and has had all his shots. For more information, call the Good Shepherd Humane Society Animal Shelter at 479-253-9188 or stop by the shelter on Highway 62 East in Eureka Springs. Shelter hours are noon to 5 p.m. daily except Wednesdays.
Lodge, police said. During that investigation, Detective Brad Handley was able to identify “Jason Smith” as Sears. Basnett pleaded guilty to soliciting arson and theft of property for the Pine Top Lodge case in Eureka Springs in 2011, authorities said. In January 2012, the two suspects were arrested, shortly after authorities’ investigation led them to additional crimes and resulting charges, they said. As the investigation into the incident at the Pine Top Lodge continued, additional stolen goods and contraband began to surface after police interviewed Sears, who was captured in Missouri following a multi-agency pursuit. “We were able to recover a lot of property and return it to its owners,” said Eureka Springs Police Chief Earl Hyatt. “A large amount of property was discovered during the investigation, and the suspects led us to a rural area near Carrollton, where more stolen property was recovered. We have since identified whose it
Page 26 – Lovely County Citizen – January 2, 2014
Dining Guide YOUR GUIDE TO THE EATING OUT IN EUREKA SPRINGS AND THE REST OF LOVELY COUNTY
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Citizen Restaurant Guide Call us at (479) 253-0070
Hwy. 62 W. • Eureka Springs (479) 253-9768 • www.myrtiemaes.com
Dispatch
Continued from page 2
right.” 9:30p.m. - Officer found considerable amounts of coal at his residence. Dec. 25 7 a.m. - Police received multiple reports of break-ins across the city. Suspect was heavy set caucasian with white hair and a beard, wearing a red suit. All callers reported cookies and milk stolen and a surplus of gifts that were not there before. 10:30 a.m. - Caller from Emporia Street reported neighbors speeding. Officer responded and spoke with the neighbor. 2:37 p.m. - Officer responded to alarm at Twice Born and found the building to be all secure. 5:15 p.m. - Arkansas State Police responded to traffic accident in city limits and then turned it over to the city police. Dec. 26 10:07 a.m - Caller filed report on theft by employee for Eureka Springs Hospital. Officer responded and discovered there was no theft. Officer then asked caller if they lived on Harvey Road. 11 a.m. - Complainant reported harassment from subject. Officer responded and advised subject not to contact complainant. 11:38 a.m. - Caller from Mountain Street reported the landlord locked him out of his apartment. Officer responded and the two worked it out. It’s amazing how people get along better when the police are around. 8:31 p.m. - An employee from Dollar General reported possible theft. Office responded and took report. Dec. 27 1:36 a.m. - Caller reported burglary alarm at Rockin’ Pig Saloon. Officer responded and building was secure. 6:42 a.m. - Officer was dispatched to Main Street to check out suspicious male messing with a vehicle. Officer responded and did not locate subject. 11:15 a.m. - Officer was dispatched to White Street area to look for erratic driver, but was unable to locate subject. Dec. 28 1:24 p.m. - Caller reported a deer lay-
ing down behind the Crescent Hotel. Officer responded and no report was taken. Public Works picked it up. Dec. 29 2:32 a.m. - Caller from Garden Bistro reported two males walking down the street about to get into a fight. Officer responded but did not locate males. How did the caller know they were about to fight? Very suspicious caller. 3:18 a.m. - Caller from Blarney Stone requested welfare check on stumbling female across the street. Officer responded but did not locate subject. Oh well, good looking out Blarney Stone. 11:38 a.m. - Officer brought possible evidence of a break in to police from the First Christian Church. 2:02 p.m. - Caller reported two dogs on Mountain Street. Officer responded and took animals to the police department. 6:28 p.m. - Caller reported domestic violence with a weapon. Officer found male and weapon who allegedly caused violence, but no other evidence to support claims. Officer moved male to motel for the night and secured weapon. Great example of police work and showing concern, better safe than sorry. Dec. 30 7:20 a.m. - Caller from Kettle Campgrounds advised woman was unresponsive. Emergency medical services and coroner responded; officer filed report.
Keep up with the latest & watch for what’s coming up in the Citizen!
@LovelyCoCitizen
January 2, 2014 – Lovely County Citizen – Page
27
Restaurants revive with tourism
Dillon Sims, left and Gail Sims remodeled the old Wagon reedom Willis, Ramona Willis and Larry Willis reopened Wheel on South Main, and with partner Jessica Legens, Port Orleans restaurant in June. right, opened in May as the Blarney Stone.
By Jennifer Jackson
JJackson.Citizen@gmail.com
If the economy, like an army, marches on its stomach, Eureka is experiencing a major upturn. Here are some of the new restaurants that opened, or reopened, in town and nearby. Port Orleans: Encouraged by the reviving economy, Larry and Ramona Willis opened their popular Cajun seafood and steak restaurant in June, which had been closed for three years. Larry is the chef, creating entrees like shrimp and crawfish etoufee and Portabella Beef Wellington. Ramona makes blackberry cobbler, key lime pie and other desserts. Son Freedom Willis is the bartender. Long-time fans of the Port Orleans flocked to the restaurant, which started out in the Willis’ home in Seligman in 1980. Now located just off Highway 62 at the Beaver Lake dam site access turn, Port Orleans served dinner on Friday and Saturday evenings through the summer. Now closed for the winter; reopening in the spring (479-253-5258). Fresh Farm to Table: Entrepreneur Ken Ketelsen completed remodeled the former San Carlos restaurant on North Main, turning the upper floors into upscale shopping and opening a restaurant featuring local food on the main floor in July. Called Fresh, it is open Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays for lunch and dinner, Sundays for brunch, lunch and dinner. Takeout includes deli meats and cheeses, breads, pastries and gourmet desserts. Large parking lot, outdoor seating and deck, 179 N. Main (479-253-9300).
Horizon Lakeview Restaurant: Chef Nate Seymour, in partnership with his father, John Seymour, reopened this popular restaurant on Mundell Road right before Labor Day. The Horizon has indoor and outdoor seating -- the multi-level decks have panoramic views of Beaver Lake. Now closed for winter, but reopens in March. Dinner Thursday through Sunday evenings starting at 5 p.m. Located half a mile off Highway 187 at 304 Mundell Rd. (479-253-5525). Nibbles Eatery: Chef Garnet Blanchette teamed up with Nick Roberts to open this Spring Street cafe that caters to tourists and locals with an affordable menu and hours that start at 8 a.m. and go to 8 p.m. during the season. Daily soup, sandwich and quiche specials plus entrees, fruit smoothies, espresso, pastries and desserts. Located at 79 Spring St. (479-253-7722). Panda Box: Another new restaurant that has become a local favorite is ND’s Panda Box. Chef/owner Andy Yang serves up fresh, healthy Asian food, cooked to order, at affordable prices. Located at 139 Van Buren. Closed for December and January. Reopens in February, with possible addition of sushi and a new name (479253-7577). Blarney Stone: We include this Irish bar, which opened on South Main in May, because it offers pub food plus a variety of draft and bottled beer. The two-story building with front deck and back patio was the longtime home of the Wagon Wheel Bar. It was extensively remodeled by Dillon and Gail Sims, who removed the wall paneling that hid the limestone walls and the spring.
Photos by Jennifer Jackson
Garnet Blanchette, left, and Nick Roberts opened Nibbles Eatery in September.
Photo by David Bell
The superb food offered at The Horizon includes a filet.
Instead of kissing the Blarney Stone, customers can lie down and drink a shot off a stone ledge. Jessica Legens is the third partner in the pub, located at 85 S. Main (479363-6633) Oscar’s: In May, Hannah Maufe and Sal Wilson opened Oscar’s, a cafe at 17 White St., serving local food with a Mediterranean accent, along with pastries, desserts (including gluten free), soups, sandwiches and fizzes. Now closed for the season. Go to the oscarsonwhitestreet facebook page for reopening.
THE FIRST & LAST AL HOOKS – NAME IN REAL ESTATE! CALL ME IF YOU WANT IT SOLD!!! – 479-363-6419
HOOKED ON EUREKA – Al, Cheryl and Paul COMMERCIAL & This prime retail building located right on historic RESIDENTAIL Spring St. is waiting for
REDUCED AWE INSPIRING LAKE VIEWS from every room of this 4 bedroom 3.5 bath custom built home, open floor plan, 2 living areas, workshop & more. Boat slip included. $469,900.
CHERYL COLBERT 479.981.6249 eurekaspringsrealtor.com – cjceureka@yahoo.com
Lovely brick home meticulously maintained. Oversize windows affords great views of the golf course. Spacious master suite. Split floor plan. Open living/formal dining area is warmed by gas log fireplace. Tons of cabinets/counter space in the kitchen. Covered brick patio area for outdoor dining. $207,000. $199,999.
8 Main Street Lots !!! Beautiful commercial lots located between Planner Hill and downtown Eureka shopping. The heavy foot & road traffic make this an ideal location for a commercial business. $349,000.
Paul Faulk 479-981-0668
eurekasprings-realty.com - pbfaulk@cox.net
alhookseureka.com – alhooks@me.com
AL HOOKS 479.363.6419 alhookseureka.com – alhooks@me.com
Fabulously restored 8,528 sq ft historic 2 story landmark building w/basement. Presently home of unique shop on main floor and balconied living quarters upstairs both hosting approximately 3000 sq. feet each. Located in historic downtown on Main St. flanked by parking on 3 sides. This rare totally restored piece of history has amenities galore $859,000.
NEw
AL HOOKS 479.363.6419 alhookseureka.com – alhooks@me.com
LIKE NEW Custom built 3bed/2bath home on the “Island”, granite counters, hardwood floors, fenced yard, sunroom w/lakeview. Meticulously maintained, MOVE IN READY $234,000.
CHERYL COLBERT 479.981.6249 eurekaspringsrealtor.com – cjceureka@yahoo.com
Cedar home w/guest house on 8.29 (+/-) acres, pond, beautiful mtn. views & land. The home features large open rooms, geothermal heat, generator, large windows, 2-car garage, 1-car carport, detached 3-car carport w/storage, guest house w/kitchenette, bath. POSSIBLE OWNER FINANCING. $399,900.
The perfect marriage of home & lake. This geo Dome Home & fab guest house are nestled on pristinely landscaped grounds & gardens with million dollar views. Multi leveled decks surround this home, and invite the Ozarks into your living areas. The home has been immaculately maintained with attention to detail and quality. Amenities too numerous to list. $369,000. $299,000. REDUCED $70K.
alhookseureka.com – alhooks@me.com
alhookseureka.com – alhooks@me.com
NE PRIC w E!!!
Lovingly maintained 3 Bed / 2 bath Victorian home boasts natural sunlight glistens off the original 1 1/2” oak flooring of the main level, high ceilings, stained glass accents, beautiful woodwork, large windows, off street parking. $210,000.
AL HOOKS 479.363.6419 alhookseureka.com – alhooks@me.com
Fabulous 3 story 5,000 sq ft home on mountain top ridge near Blue Springs Resort. Stunning river & mountain views abound. Great privacy factor on 1.72 (+,-) acres. Minutes to historic downtown Eureka Springs. This 3+bed/ 4 bath, 3 car garage home has too many amenities to list. $439,000.
NEw
Single family 2,250 sq ft home with finished downstairs boasts 4 Bedroom , 2 & 1/2 baths, 2 kitchens, 2 covered decks, 2 living areas - one with gas log fireplace and Jacuzzi tub. $139,900.
AL HOOKS 479.363.6419 alhookseureka.com • alhooks@me.com
NEw
REDUCED
AL HOOKS 479.363.6419
you! This building boasts a prime retail location PLUS a nightly unit (with separate entrance) on 2nd floor. Off-street parking, balcony in front & back with views. A great opportunity to have a home & business. $490,500.
AL HOOKS 479.363.6419 alhookseureka.com – alhooks@me.com
Great home on one of Eureka’s unique streets. Views of downtown from deck & backyard. Approx. 1,724 sq. ft. 2 bed/2 bath, 2 car garage with additional parking pad. PLUS additional 1 bed/1 bath & workshop, both with separate entrances. Fireplace, Jacuzzi bath, eat in kitchen and lots of storage. This is a MUST SEE! $153,000.
AL HOOKS 479.363.6419 alhookseureka.com – alhooks@me.com
AL HOOKS 479.363.6419
An opportunity to own your own RETAIL, COMMERCIAL or OFFICE space. This space offers a blank palette for your venture that offers ample parking, great location & handicap access. Lease option available at $1,500 per month (1 yr minimum). $179,000.
AL HOOKS 479.363.6419
AL HOOKS 479.363.6419 This 2008 2 bed/2 bath home on 1.82 acres NEw boasts a solid concrete foundation & 8” concrete walls. Reinforcements, 12” insulation throughout walls & ceiling adds to it’s fuel efficiency. Open floor plan, stainless appliances, 2 ply door & windows w/built in blinds, newer carpet, tile & laminate floors. 2 addtl rooms. Separate laundry room. Sky/solar lights. Walk in closets. Low maintain exterior, buried cable & lines, picnic area. $179,000.
PAUL FAULK 479.981.0668
alhookseureka.com – alhooks@me.com
eurekasprings-realty.com – pbfaulk@cox.net
1,240 sq ft 1800’s shotgun-style farmhouse on 1 acre offers end of road privacy. Double parlor, covered porches and old barn. Open garden area. Minutes to downtown. $124,000.
This cleared 3.96 acre property comes NEw with a beautifully maintained 3 bed / 2 bath home, separate garage w/ electric, gas, water, a well house & bonus building. 4th room in home used as office but can be bedroom. Nearby school bus stop, stores, amenities. Minutes to downtown Eureka. Don’t miss this one! $121,000.
AL HOOKS 479.363.6419 alhookseureka.com – alhooks@me.com
AL HOOKS 479.363.6419 alhookseureka.com • alhooks@me.com
HOOKSREALTY.COM • 877-279-0001 43 ProsPect Ave. • eurekA sPrings • 479.363.6290 All information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.