Under the watchful eye of head coach Scott Reed, #4 Wendall Thompson uses his velcro hands to make a great catch as the El Dorado Wildcats practiced for the first time on the new artificial turf at Memorial Stadium. The Wildcats will be in action on Friday, Sept. 3 at 7 p.m. for their season opener against Camden Fairview at Memorial Stadium. To see more photos, click on ‘read the rest of this story’.
Monticello is roughly 67 miles from El Dorado, yet a gallon of regular gasoline there is nearly 40 cents cheaper than in El Dorado.
According to Arkansas Gas Prices.com, gasoline is selling for $2.41 per gallon at the Valero station on Meadowview Drive. Here’s, it’s averaging $2.77 per gallon.
Curious, no?
According to a report on Fox News.com today:
“A top Department of Homeland Security official reportedly said his agency will not necessarily process illegal immigrants referred to them by Arizona authorities.
“John Morton, assistant secretary of homeland security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, made the comment during a meeting on Wednesday with the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune, the newspaper reports.
“‘I don’t think the Arizona law, or laws like it, are the solution,’ Morton told the newspaper.
“The best way to reduce illegal immigration is through a comprehensive federal approach, he said, and not a patchwork of state laws.”
Perhaps the best approach would be a federal solution IF the feds would get off their rumps and actually enforce border security. I can’t believe President Obama has taken such a laissez-faire view on immigration.
I’ve heard several comments from folks who claim that Arizona is treating immigrants like criminals. Well, those who enter illegally ARE criminals, and they should either try to be legalized or leave.
The choice is simple.
Click here for more.
Early voting will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday beginning June 1 at the county clerk’s office on the first floor of the Union County Courthouse.
There will be no weekend early voting. On June 7, early voting will resume at 8:30 a.m. and end at 5 p.m.
On June 8, voters must report to their respective polling sites between 7:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Remember, if you voted in the Republican Primary, you will not be able to vote in the runoff election, since both races are Democratic.
There will be a runoff in the El Dorado mayor’s race between Democrats Clara Jones and Luther Lewis, and in the Union County Sheriff’s race between Democrats Mike McGough and Clark Burton.
Mike Loftin won a majority of the votes and will be the next Union County judge.
Loftin secured 50.8 percent of the vote, edging out Mark Smith, who received 36.1 percent of the vote. Charles Connor placed a distant third with just 13 percent of the vote.
By the numbers, 4,380 voters cast their ballots for Loftin, while 3,109 voted for Smith and 1,121 went for Connor.
In the Union County Sheriff’s race, McGough received 48.73 percent of the vote, or 4,380 votes; Burton received 42.73 percent, or 3,720 votes; and Bryan Baker received 8.54 percent, or 743 votes.
The winner of the runoff race between McGough and Burton will face Republican Johnnie Mitchell this November.
In the El Dorado mayor’s race, Jones received 38.28 percent of the vote, or 1,290 votes; Lewis received 31.63 percent, or 1,066 votes; and Yancey Kyle received 30.09 percent, or 1,014 votes.
The winner of the runoff race between Jones and Lewis will face Independent Benito Glosson and Republican Frank Hash in November.
Click the jump for polling site information.
The video below is of a SWAT Team raid in Columbia, Mo., taken in February 2010.
Thanks to my friend and colleague over on the broadcast side of journalism — Rodney Wimberly — for the tip about this.
I will post his comments about the contents of the video, because I wholeheartedly echo them.
“These courageous drug warriors recovered a misdemeanor possession amount of marijuana and a glass pipe. These heavily armed and battle ready warriors were in such fear of their lives that they had to shoot and kill one family pet and wound the other in front of a seven year old child.
“Since they were the ones breaking into a home, in the middle of the night, for no reason and killed and wounded family pets, they deemed it only appropriate to charge the father of the child with child endangerment.”
• • •
According to sources who ate a spread of food recently from the soon-to-be-opened Chicken To Go at the corner of College and 19th streets in El Dorado, it’s very good.
The business catered the El Dorado Chamber of Commerce’s monthly meeting on Wednesday.
Chicken To Go is scheduled to open on June 1.
In other restaurant news, the Black Cat Café recently opened in downtown El Dorado in the former Corner Café building at the corner of Main and Jefferson streets. Anyone tried it?
From Arkansas Business:
“It’s starting to become clearer why Southern Bancorp of Arkadelphia took everything but the loan portfolio when it bought Timberland Bank of El Dorado last year.
“A federal lawsuit filed by Timberland in an attempt to enforce a $2 million bonding contract unveils some previously hidden problems allegedly caused by its former chief lending officer, Mark Turner, who was fired in the summer of 2008.
“Court filings also reveal that the FBI and federal prosecutors have been investigating Timberland’s lending practices.”
Click here for more.
If you haven’t yet, click here to participate in the El Dorado Branding Survey, designed to aid Roger Brooks of the Seattle-based Destination Development International in his efforts to “brand” El Dorado.
Brooks was in town this week to perform a community assessment — which includes researching and touring the city and conducting interviews and gathering information — in an effort to develop an action plan for El Dorado that will focus on branding, marketing, tourism and economic development.
Here’s your chance to see and hear candidates for Union County judge and sheriff and mayor of El Dorado.
The event begins at 5:30 p.m. at the South Arkansas Community College Library. Get there early; it will be packed. Look for full coverage of the event in Tuesday’s News-Times.
Between Editions/Michael Orrell
Former President George W. Bush spoke to 250 El Dorado High School seniors Thursday at the Fourth Annual Academic Signing Day — a ritual where students sign their college letters of intent.
The event began after the El Dorado Promise — a $50 million scholarship program funded by Murphy Oil Corporation — was announced in 2007.
The Promise is the only way many of these students can afford a college education, and a majority of the 250 EHS seniors have announced that they’ll use the money.
Bush, whose speech was at times rousing and mildly amusing, told students that education is a very valuable part of their lives, and that they should seize the opportunity to educate themselves. “And there are no excuses,” he said, noting that some people use a lack of finances as a reason for not furthering their education. “You can’t use that excuse.”
Twin sisters Ethany and Bethany Thomas will both attend Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia. Ethany said that she is “very appreciative” of the Promise dollars, and both she and her sister plan to put them to good use.
“I wouldn’t have been able to go to college without Murphy Oil,” said Ethany, who plans to major in accounting. “It’s wonderful. I have enjoyed this day so much. It means so much to me.”
Bethany, who plans study medicine, said that Bush’s speech “touched my heart. I wish he would come back one day.”
Click here for an account of the event from “Politics Daily,” a national online publication. And, as always, see the News-Times (April 23) for full event coverage.
I found out yesterday that Bush’s people will not allow interviews with the former president while he is in El Dorado Thursday for the Academic Signing Day at El Dorado High School.
They aren’t allowing video of the event, either. This puts a big hole in my plans to create a special blog for the event. But don’t worry, there will be pictures and a summation of Bush’s speech.
Did anyone hear the sonic boom created this morning by the Shuttle Discovery’s reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere? According to this, it was felt in Little Rock. I can’t really say if I heard anything or not. I slept later than normal.
• • •
An SUV barrelled through a steel retaining wall Thursday morning in front of Walgreens on North West Avenue, damaging several vehicles. No one was injured. Photo credit: News-Times City Editor Janice McIntyre.
Union County will purchase the former El Dorado Foundry for $220,000 in the name of economic development, Union County Judge Bobby Edmonds announced Thursday at the Union County Quorum Court meeting.
Though one isn’t required, Edmonds called on justices to vote on the purchase. Justices voted 5-3 in favor of Edmonds’ proposal.
Edmonds can purchase the building without the quorum court’s approval because money in the Capital Improvement funds are pre-approved by the quorum court at the beginning of each fiscal year. The money can be spent at the discretion of the county judge for economic development purposes, Edmonds said.
Look for more details in Friday’s News-Times.
Top news stories Local weather