Vol. 2, No. 39
Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020
Trick or treat drive thru event to Burer, Bayless to perform be hosted by Chamber on Sat. recitals at OBU this week Kelly Stiles Contributing Reporter
COVID-19 has taken away many of the activities people often take for granted. The Arkadelphia Chamber of Commerce is determined not to let the pandemic steal Halloween. “Everyone is just trying to get back to normal,” director of administration and events Ashlee Vaughan said. “I feel like [the kids] still being able to dress up and get some candy will lift everyone up.” On Oct. 31 from 5:30 to 8:00 pm on Main Street in downtown Arkadelphia, the Arkadelphia Regional Economic Development Alliance & Area Chamber of Commerce is hosting their first ever Trick-orTreat Drive Thru Event. To replace the annual trick-ortreat event typically held at the Arkadelphia Recreation Center, this drive thru event
Photo courtesy of Kelly Stiles.
Arkadelphia Chamber of Commerce Director of Administration and Events Ashlee Vaughan enjoys giving back to her community by helping bring people together.
Photo courtesy of Kelly Stiles.
Main Street of downtown Arkadelphia will be home to a COVID-safe Halloween event hosted by Arkadelphia Regional Economic Development Alliance & Area Chamber of Commerce.
will provide a safer way for children to show off their costumes and receive candy. “We decided that the drive thru event would be safer for our children,” Vaughan said. Arkadelphia community members will represent local businesses and organizations by lining the sides of Main Street to give candy and other goodies to children riding in cars. Each participant will be required to wear masks and gloves. 22 local organizations have signed up to participate thus far, including Simply You Boutique downtown and churches Trinity Tem-
ple Assembly of God, Third Street Baptist Church, and Park Hill baptist Church. A multitude of organizations from Henderson State University and Ouachita Baptist University have signed up as well. The Arkadelphia Police Department traditionally passes out glow sticks to children each Halloween and will be doing so while helping maintain the traffic that evening. Another traditional participant is the Kiwanis Club of Clark County that gives children reading books. “I’m excited to see the kids’ smiling faces,”
Vaughan said. Vaughan has worked for the Arkadelphia Regional Economic Development Alliance & Area Chamber of Commerce for eight years. Born and raised in Arkadelphia, the city is dear to Vaughan, and she enjoys being a part of its development, from partnering with local businesses to throwing events to bring Arkadelphia citizens together. “I want to see this community thrive and grow,” Vaughan said. If your organization would like to participate in the event, please contact Ashlee Vaughan at ashlee@ arkadelphiaalliance.com before Oct. 29.
ARKADELPHIA, Ark.— Ouachita Baptist University’s Division of Music will host Michael Burer in his senior trombone recital on Friday, Oct. 30, at 11 a.m. in McBeth Recital Hall. Seating in the hall is limited to current students, faculty and staff due to COVID-19; the recital also will be available via www.livestream. com/obu. Burer is a senior instrumental music education major from Forney, Texas. He is a student of Dr. Geoffrey Durbin, visiting assistant professor of music. Burer will open his recital with Robert Schumann’s “Adagio” from Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70 and “Manipulations” by Allen Molineux. Next, he will perform “Trombone Institute of Technology” by Michael Davis. His recital will conclude with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Allegro,” “Andante” and “Allegretto” from Trombone Concerto. “In these past four years at Ouachita, I have learned so much and grown in so many ways,” Burer said. “Not just as a person but also as a musician. The Division of Music at Ouachita has helped me in so many ways, and I am glad for their support during my time here. Without their help I would not be where I am as a performer. “I hope that not only my personal progress is evident in my senior recital but the faculty’s work in helping me get there is evident, as well,” he added. “Thank you to all who have helped me come this far.” Burer will be accompanied on piano by Susan Monroe, Ouachita staff accompanist, and assisted on trombone by Andrew Coop, a senior worship arts major from Gladewater, Texas,
for “Trombone Institute of Technology.” ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Ouachita Baptist University’s Division of Music will host Katelyn Bayless in her senior voice recital on Friday, Oct. 30, at 11 a.m. in McBeth Recital Hall. Seating in the hall is limited to current students, faculty and staff due to COVID-19; the recital also will be available via www.livestream. com/obu. Bayless, a senior choral music education major from Monticello, Ark., is a member of Kappa Delta Pi honor society for education. Bayless is a student of Catherine Durbin, instructor of music. “The significance of the pieces I have chosen are the stories that each one tells,” Bayless said. “Each song is unique in its own way and shows off different things that I have learned since being at Ouachita.” Bayless will begin her recital with “Seven Elizabethan Lyrics: I. Weep You No More” and “III. My Life’s Delight” by Roger Quilter, followed by “Die Forelle” and “Du bist die Ruh” by Franz Schubert. Next, she will perform “Extase” and “Le manoir de Rosemonde” by Henri Duparc and W.A. Mozart’s “Vedrai, Carino” from Don Giovanni. To conclude, Bayless will perform Richard Rodgers’ “I Have Confidence” from The Sound of Music. “Ouachita has given me lots of experience singing in front of people, and that has given me the chance to express myself during my performance, especially with my recital,” said Bayless. “I am most proud of just being able to get to this point in my degree and getting to share all that I’ve learned with everyone.”
Arkansas State Police Public Affairs Office
land address to an area hospital where she is being treated for a stab wound sustained while she was in a vehicle with two men traveling in the area. One of the men fled the crime scene and was later taken into custody by state police special agents. The 24 year-old man is considered a suspect in the attack on Compton and the deaths of Gruger and a third woman. Late yesterday Sharp County deputies and state police special agents located the body of Linda Janny, 72, in her home at 1 Lakeshore Drive, Cherokee Village. The bodies of Gruger and Janny have been transported to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory where autopsy examinations have begun to determine when the deaths occurred and each victim’s manner and cause of death. Information related to any criminal charges that may be filed against the lone suspect will be released by the Sharp County Sheriff’s Department.
Special prosecution for assault Continuing investigation of case and date for burglary case Sharp County homicides Ayanna Williams Crimes Reporter
As of Oct. 22, Judge Batson has ordered for a special prosecuting attorney for the sexual assault case against Adam F. Post. Originally from Wake Village, TX, Post is facing charges for sexual assault in both Arkansas and Texas.
Adam F. Post
The assaults took place in June of this year when Post, the victim, and a group of friends made a trip to Caddo Valley River Rats to float on the Caddo River. The victim, a twenty year old woman, was intoxicated to the point of unconsciousness near the end of the group’s time in Caddo Valley. It was witnessed by three people that Post had performed deviant sexual acts on the victim, and caused a disturbance that the Clark County Sheriff’s Office responded to. At the end of the trip, when Post, the victim, and a friend of the victim were back in Texas, the second assault occurred. The victim’s friend witnessed Post assault the victim in the back of the vehicle, and subsequently stopped the assault from continuing. Post was then arrested, and is now being held in the Bowie County Jail with the bail set at $100,000.
The arrest warrant for the sexual assault occurring in Clark County has been issued as of Oct. 15. Due to complications in the case and a conflict in representation, there has been an order to appoint a special prosecuting attorney for this case. The arrest warrant for Post has yet to be served. As of Oct. 23, a court date has been set for the burglary case against Colt Rucker of Arkadelphia. He first appeared in court for the burglary case on Oct. 8 but will now be answering to the charges of residential burglary, harassment, and the possession of marijuana. The burglary and the other violations occurred on Oct. 7, when Rucker went to the residence of his previous relationship partner, Hannah McDaniel, who had ended the relationship earlier that day. While McDaniel was not at the residence, her roommate Krystal Lander was at the
present. At the moment, Lander’s two children were also in the residence. Rucker demanded entry, and proceeded to aggressively seek entrance at locations of the residence. Lander and her children retreated into a bathroom and locked the door while making contact with the police department. Rucker ended up gaining entry by forcing the garage door open, and proceeded to aggressively bang on the bathroom door, demanding to know where McDaniel was. As the police arrived, Rucker was exiting through the front entrance of the house, and was detained. Officers also discovered that Rucker had marijuana in his possession. A restraining order has been served to Rucker for the protection of McDaniel and Lander. Rucker will appear in the Clark County Circuit Courthouse on Nov. 3 at 9:00 a.m.
Special Agents of the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division are continuing their work today assisting Sharp County sheriff’s deputies in developing leads and collecting evidence connected to the apparent murders of two women and the assault on a third. Officers of the Cherokee Village and Highland Police Departments have also joined the investigations. Agents were called to 28 Warpath Drive in Cherokee Village before noon Monday, Oct. 19 where the body of Hayleigh Gruger 23, was discovered by local authorities inside the victim’s home. During the course of processing the Warpath Street crime scene, state police CID special agents were sent to a second crime scene at 101 FM Road in Highland, southeast of Cherokee Village. Debra Compton, 41, was transported from the High-
The electoral college and you: how it works Julie Young University Correspondent
Does your vote matter? Yes, but it’s harder for some of us to make our voices heard. The electoral college plays a major role in all of this, but what is it exactly? In 2016, the last presidential election, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, with nearly 2.9 million more votes than Republican nominee Donald Trump. She didn’t win the election, though. Why is that? Donald Trump became the 45th President because despite losing the popular vote in the United States, he won 304 electoral votes — 77 more than his opponent. The electoral college of the United States is a “body of people representing the states of the US, who for-
mally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president,” as defined by Oxford Language. Essentially, a group of individuals from each state in the US who formally elect the President. 435 representatives, 100 senators, and 3 electors from the District of Columbia, totaling 538 people. The number of electors each state is allowed is dependent upon the population of the state updated after the decade’s census. For instance, Florida has 29 electoral votes, but Arkansas only has 6. Because it’s much more work to campaign in states with smaller electoral votes for a lesser end result, presidential nominees are more likely to campaign in “swing states.” Swing states are important to the election for two reasons: One, they hold
many electoral votes, and two, they’re not exclusively red or blue. California has 55 votes, but historically the state votes blue for the Democratic nominee, so current nominees don’t feel they need to campaign there. On the other hand, Arkansas is a historically red state, voting blue only a handful of times — notably for state governor Bill Clinton in 1996. Because it is unlikely, but not impossible, for Arkansas to go blue, and because we only hold 6 votes, nominees don’t campaign here, either. That leaves swing states like Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. In 2000, the presidential race between George Bush and Al Gore was so close
that they had to recount Florida’s votes by hand, changing the way we vote forever. The issue was eventually taken to the Florida Supreme Court, who settled a recount dispute involving confusing butterfly ballots and “hanging chads,” as some voters either didn’t punch the hole in the butterfly ballots well enough or confused which nominee they were casting their vote for. Al Gore won the popular vote by 537 votes, but he still lost the race. The final result was decided three weeks after election day when Florida declared republican nominee George Bush their winner, earning him the state’s 25 electoral votes and the presidency. However, this left a lasting impression to voters that sometimes an election really can be that close. At the
same time, what does it say about our voting system that a nominee can secure the majority vote and still not win the presidency? Although this system of voting can make it seem impossible to have your voice heard if you’re a republican in a blue state or a democrat in a red state, that isn’t necessarily the case. Back in 2018, congressman Beto O’Rourke ran against senator Ted Cruz’s re-election campaign for U.S. Senate. The democratic nominee fell just 220,000 votes short of unseating Cruz. The Texas election was closer than the state had seen in a very long time. Despite his loss, that Texas midterm election saw nominations of two U.S. House seats, two state Senate seats, and 12 state House seats. Texas typically votes red in presidential elections,
but the midterm was proof that the state can flip, and even though that particular race didn’t have the electoral college to contend with, it’s proof that Texas could be considered a swing state in the current election. In 2016, 44,107 voters ages 18-29 voted early in Florida. A week out from this year’s election, over 257,720 have voted so far. So does your vote matter, really? It can, if you choose to vote. The current outdated system makes it tricky and unfair, but possible — and even more motivation to vote in candidates you trust to implement change to the voting system. The past is proof that change is possible on any front, but not unless we show up.