Between Editions

This 2003 picture of “Sweet Connie” is courtesy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s archives.

If you don’t know who “Sweet Connie” is, I can’t possible tell you in terms that would be suitable for a G-rated audience. I can say that she is perhaps the most famous rock groupie of all time and has made that fact well known in publications like Rolling Stone.

An article in today’s Arkansas Democrat Gazette says that Connie Hamzy, aka Sweet Connie, has been receiving harassing phone calls from youths who allegedly ring her from El Dorado-based phone numbers.

Hamzy, of Little Rock, has turned information over to the Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, which has sent cease and desist letters to the little troublemakers.

By the way, Sweet Connie is 53, so one has to wonder why these kids are harassing her.

You may or may not remember the Grand Funk Railroad song “American Band,” in which Sweet Connie gets her most famous acknowledgment. I’ve posted the video below for your entertainment.

The song begins:

“On the road for forty days,
Last night in Little Rock put me in a haze.
Sweet, sweet connie — doin her act,
She had the whole show and thats a natural fact.”

The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for most of the area today, including Union County. You know the drill, or at least you should: Drink plenty of fluids, limit outdoor activity, check on the elderly, and be sure to provide plenty of water for outdoor pets.

Pass the iced tea, please.

Phone service was knocked out to customers in El Dorado this morning, resulting in a brief disruption of the city’s 911 system. A spokesman for the El Dorado Police Department said that AT&T rerouted emergency calls through the EPD’s regular phone system “for a short time.”

The 911 system is functioning normally at this time, the spokesman said.

A minor fire that erupted this morning at Lion Oil has since been extinguished, according to company spokesman Wallace Moody.

“The all-clear has been sounded,” he said.

The fire occurred at approximately 7:15, Moody said, and is still under investigation.

No injuries were reported.

The smoke coming from the plant right now is from flaring, a safety feature that burns excess gases to prevent an explosion.

Moody said that under normal circumstances, steam would be injected into the flare stacks to prevent smoke. The plant’s boilers are currently down after a power failure caused an emergency plant-wide shutdown.

It was during this shutdown that a small fire erupted inside one of the plant’s crude pumping stations.

The power failure affected an unknown number of Entergy customers in El Dorado.

Moody did not say if the power loss, which occurred before the fire, had anything to do with the incident.

Look for more in Tuesday’s News-Times.