Of the people, Letters to Santa, Page 1B
By the people, For the people
TUESDAY, December 22, 2015 / Vol. 1 Issue 11 / 75 cents
Merry Christmas
Owner shares history of beautiful Baker House The most famous Victorian house in Van Buren County is dressed in its annual Christmas finery awaiting its well-deserved line of admirers. And the lady of the house has offered to share some memories. Mary Helen Baker says the Bee Branch landmark was built in 1907 by Milton Collums for his wife. Collums died, and his widow and daughter continued to live in the house for about another year. In 1925, Baker's father, Ervin Baker, bought the house for his new bride, Lizzie Hoffman. Four years later, in 1929, their daughter, Mary Helen, was born in the very room
where she now hosts visitors. Mary Helen has lived in the house most of her life, leaving for five years when she began her teaching career to live in England, Arkansas. She returned to Bee Branch and spent 20 years teaching shorthand and bookkeeping at South Side. It was, in fact, some of her former students who started decorating the home about 12 years ago. The decoration became more elaborate over the years, including the addition of a horse and carriage and the couple who appear to be ready for tea on the front porch. The house has been on the Nation-
The horse and carriage, along with Dan and Peggy (on porch), were added to the Christmas collection about four or five years ago, says owner Mary Helen Baker. The carriage and couple were ordered from Texas. al Historical Register since the early 1990s, a distinction that spares its yard from the current high-
way widening project. Baker retired from teaching in 1976, and cared for her mother until her death in
1984. Her father died in 1959. She has spent the years since her mother's death taking care of anoth-
er lady - that beautiful yellow Victorian in Bee Branch. Job well done.
JPs approve 2016 budget Dogs massacred From the Voice staff The Van Buren County Quorum Court approved the operating budget for 2016 at its meeting last week. Figures included $6.525 million for the County General Fund; $4.3 million for the county road fund; $1.8 million for the sheriff's office; and $1.04 million for the detention center. (For a complete look at the 2016 Van Buren County budget, see the Jan. 5 edition of The Voice.) Also at the meeting: * County Judge Roger Hooper said the county has had 13.2 inches of rain since Nov. 17. "I guess
we're living in a rain forest," he said. He said the cost of repairs from the last heavy rains will be reimbursed by the state only, no federal funds, and will bring back about 35 percent of expenditures. * From the sheriff's office, Randy Gurley said the new cars have been ordered and should be delivered the second week of February. There currently are 13 federal inmates at the detention center, and the sheriff would like to have a couple more. Gurley also said kitchen renovations should begin soon.
Fifty-five dogs were found shot to death in Chimes last week. The dogs were found Thursday on a logging road just over the county line in Searcy County by people looking at timber tracts for sale. A few dogs were still alive and are being treated for their injuries; a couple of dogs were not captured. Searcy County deputies said they believe the dogs were taken to the area and possibly poisoned before they were shot. The sheriff's office and the Searcy County Human Society are investigating. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the sheriff's office at (870) 4482340.
3 end up in jail after high-speed chase A high-speed chase through Van Buren County on Thursday, Dec. 17, ended when the driver of the fleeing car turned onto a road that leads only to the county jail. The chase began when Damascus Police tried to stop a white Toyota Camry heading south on U.S. Highway 65 around 12:30 p.m. The officer reported that the car would not stop and was traveling at a high rate of speed. The officer then reported that the vehicle made a U-turn in the middle of the highway and was heading north toward Clinton. During the pursuit, the Camry struck several other vehicles in its attempt to evade police, according to a report from the Van Buren County sheriff's office. A short time later deputies, Arkansas Highway Patrol, and the Arkansas State Po-
lice joined Damascus in the pursuit. As the vehicle was entering the city limits of Clinton it was traveling at speeds in excess of 100 mph, according to the report. Trying to evade the law enforcement, the vehicle turn east onto Williamson Drive just past Sonic DriveIn in Clinton, the report states. Williamson Drive is a deadend that leads to the sheriff’s office and detention center. As the vehicle got to the end of the road it turned around and headed back toward the highway, but deputies and police by this time had the roadway blocked. The Camry driver tried to go through a yard, but hit a driveway culvert and lost control, hitting an oak tree head on, according to the report. Officers arrested three black males from Florida -- Kareem Jermaine
Brown, 23, of Fort Lauderdale, Christopher O’Neil Pierre, 26, of Lauderhill, and Darion Sequan Matthews, 18. Matthews was transported to Ozark Medical to be treated for minor injuries. A search of the vehicle found a pillow case with jewelry inside, and illegal drugs, according to the report. Also found in the vehicle were window punches, used by emergency personnel for breaking out windows in case of emergencies. Criminal history checks found that Brown was wanted in Ohio and Kentucky for felony burglary, and Pierre was on probation from Florida. Ohio detectives told deputies Brown was a member of the Snap Money Gang out of Florida that travels across Interstate 70 in the eastern part of the United States, breaking into cars and burglar-
izing homes, according to the news release. The detectives said Brown has been on the run and two of his associates have already been charged in burglaries in Kentucky and Ohio. Cleburne County detectives said they have reports of house break-ins with stolen jewelry that occurred a few hours earlier Thursday, the news release states. The three suspects are being charged with two counts of felony fleeing by a vehicle, felony theft by receiving, misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance, reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident, Improper passing, driving left of center, and failure to maintain control of a vehicle. They are being held at the Van Buren County Detention Center. The investigation is continuing.
Skeeter pretends to be a gift under the Christmas tree at the Voice's office on Griggs Street in downtown Clinton. Dear Readers, It's been three months since The Voice of Van Buren County began publication. We've had a lot of good moments but also some bad. We've tripped ourselves, and we've been pushed around and bloodied. But each time we've had folks step up to help us to our feet and support us in ways big and small: A gift for Skeeter, a basket of fruit, paintings for the office, a beautiful plant, a phone call with some encouraging words. We already knew it, but that doesn't stop us from saying it again and again: You are the most wonderful, caring, amazing people in the world. As 2015 draws to a close, we would like to take this opportunity to thank our sub-
scribers, readers, advertisers, and those of you we haven't heard from yet. Let us know what you think, what we're doing wrong and right, what you would like to read or see more of or less of. We're listening to you. We also want to thank our contributors who volunteer their time to help make the Voice a true community newspaper, and we thank you for your stories, ideas and suggestions. You constantly amaze and surprise us. And you make it easy to remember the reason we are here: The people of Van Buren County deserve their own Voice. This is the final issue of the Voice for 2015; we're taking off a week for the holidays and the office will be closed from Dec. 22-Dec. 28.
Merry Christmas, everyone.