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’.
Michael Orrell
Saying Good By
A retirement reception was held for South Arkansas Regional Airport Manager Gary Harrell on Tuesday at the SARA-Goodwin Field. Harrell, who will officially retire this Friday, has been apart of SARA for 25 years and became the Manager of SARA in 1990. Top left photo, Harrell reflects on the 25 years of memories from the control tower at SARA. Bottom left photo, Harrell shares stories with friends. Photo above right, Harrell shows the crowd the gold watch that was presented to him by the Mayor of El Dorado, Mike Dumas, for his service at SARA.
Pink Cats — El Dorado High School’s girls varsity basketball team show their support for Breast Cancer by wearing pink ‘LCB’ support t-shirts during warm-up practice before Friday’s game.
Little Rock urban planner Jim von Tungeln spoke highly of El Dorado during a recent interview with a state public radio station in Northwest Arkansas. Von Tungeln, who has advised El Dorado in the past, is currently offiering advice to Springdale leaders, who are taking steps to make their own downtown area more pleasing.
Said von Tungeln:
“There are very vibrant cities, downtowns, in Arkansas where the city has not spent a penny. I’m thinking particularly of El Dorado, probably the nicest downtown in the state by most agreement, and it was all done with private money.”
As you well know, El Dorado’s power couple, Richard and Vertis Mason, spearheaded the effort to revitalize our downtown in the 1980s.
Click here to visit the radio station’s site and listen to the interview. There are more glowing remarks about El Dorado.
Congratulations to the South Arkansas Community College Foundation for winning the float contest in this year’s parade. Their float is shown in the second photo below. All photos were taken by News-Times photographer Chris Vinn.
The world famous Budweiser Clydesdale horses clomp through downtown.
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Riders on the “Camp SouthArk” float sing Christmas songs next to a campfire as they roll through downtown.
Mahony, pictured above in this contributed photo, and his infamous box. Cardboard boxes were as much a part of his legislative career as the ever-loosened tie and point-on work ethic. The box pictured above, as noted on the side, is the “new box” for the 1981 session.
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Mike Ross honored Jodie Mahony Monday on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Following are his comments:
“Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Joseph “Jodie” Mahony II of El Dorado, Arkansas, who passed away on Saturday, December 5, 2009, at the age of 70. Having served 36 years in the Arkansas state legislature, Jodie was a legend in Arkansas government and politics and his presence will be deeply missed.
“Jodie committed his life to making Arkansas a better place to get an education, to live and to work. He was first elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1970 and served 24 years before winning a Senate seat in 1994.
“In 2002, after two four-year terms, when newly-adopted term limits kept him from seeking re-election as senator, he ran for the House again, where he was still eligible to serve two more two-year terms.
Following are two reports that we didn’t publish in the police log on the print side because no felonies were committed; however, they are so out of the ordinary that I just had to share them with you here.
According to an El Dorado police report, the man’s cousin had brought him the platter, and the woman wanted to take it with her when she left. After several minutes of arguing, the man left his home to call police but decided to return and give in to the woman’s demands for the shrimp.
When he arrived at his house on Louisiana Street, the woman was gone, along with a spare key that he keeps inside a nightstand beside his bed. He secured his front door with a chair and kitchen knife, according to the report, and went to bed.
A few minutes later, he smelled smoke and noticed that the sweat pants, which he stuffs under his front door to keep out the draft, were ablaze.
The fire was quickly extinguished, and no injuries were reported. The woman was not arrested.
A Smackover man was arrested on Wednesday after dialing the 911 operator in El Dorado and asking her “what type of rock is needed to break a window,” according to an EPD report.
Police responded to the pay phone location — near Brookshires at 2202 North West Ave. — and found the man holding a 2×4 in his hand. Police surrounded the man and threatened to tase him if he did not surrender the board.
He was taken into custody without incident, telling police that he had attempted to break out windows at the grocery store but “they would not break.”
Blog manager’s note:
Here’s a hint: If you want advice about how to commit crimes, don’t dial 911.
My daughter, Susan, is a nurse in Dr. Dietzen’s office. He wrote a letter to the editor that we published today. I found it interesting.
| Published: 11/18/2009 |
The following is a copy of my letter to our Congressman Mike Ross after reviewing his website documenting his reasons for voting against the 2,000-page 2009 House Health Care Reform Bill passed the first week of November 2009.
A bill of this complexity is impossible to fully grasp, given the nature of media coverage. Perhaps his vote is correct, but as the President and anyone who studies the problem will attest, the status quo is not an option for the future. The future expenses of the current system will exceed 25% of GNP by 2030 or sooner. This would amount to an impossible tax on the rest of the economy.
Dear Congressman Mike Ross,
I have read your stated reasons for voting “No” on the health reform house bill in November.
People ask me my opinion as their M.D. about the health reform bill. Perhaps it is too complex at 2,000 pages, however an honest appraisal of the bill does have to state what it would cost relative to expenditures if the system is not changed. It is not clear to me if your objection to the cost of the bill takes this into account. The objection based on number of pages seems ludicrous, as a bill without specifics is a playground for bureaucrats and special interests. Is it beyond the capacity of legislative analysts to summarize the points in a bill being voted on?
To me the only way to create a playing field may be to give the people a government option, which you oppose. It should resemble nothing like the VA and should be a lot like a smarter, i.e., self-funded, guideline driven, drug price negotiated, rate negotiated, version of Medicare which gets the insurance middlemen out of the picture in at least some of the market. The insurers would compete with this government plan or fail to attract subscribers.
Decisions already aren’t always made entirely between the patient and their physician. Ultimately someone has to allow for decisions to be made at a national level in the form of some guidelines or standards of care based on scientific analysis, et c. This means that delegated bodies of professionals will have to justify their disease specific health care policy decisions on a national stage. The market reforms to date which have been based on managed care, managed pharmacy benefits, et c., have been slightly helpful to the overall system and clearly some control must be exerted over the process of health care delivery with out placing the interest of the provider in opposition to the patient, which occurred during the HMO income withholds and capitation schemes of the ’80s and ’90s. Perhaps this was what you meant by the government or insurance bureaucrat coming between doctor and patient, but the doctor cannot be allowed unrestricted access to the government pockets without evidence based guidelines and some peer review. Insurance companies likewise cannot be allowed to pocket or waste 20-50% of the premium on administrative expense, executive bonuses of 1 to 100 million dollars per year and profit percentages which may exceed the entire government Medicare administrative cost percentage on expenditures.
It still appears to me that congress cannot do anything without the interests of lobbyists being foremost, which I believe may not be true in your case, however, in your justification for a “No” vote, you seem to have fallen in with the line of the medical insurance companies that reform is simply too scary to enact. Please do something to prove me wrong!
We, the USA, could go broke in a way that will result in a taxpayer vs. socialist revolution that will have patriots and grizzled veterans weeping. We cannot afford bad government now.
I suggest that Congress immediately and for twenty years remove itself from donor-financed campaigns, eliminate large PACs, continue restriction of large corporate contributions and set strict limits on overall campaign costs. Get back to the people by talking to them (!), and by using free media and franking privileges. The assistance of the Supreme Court will be needed to give the peoples vote a voice again, through campaign reform. Otherwise, reasoned discourse is disappearing from the electoral process in favor of sound bites and distortion to an uninformed electorate. Your response to health care reform must rise above the capitulation to these anti-reform sound bites as seen on your Nov. 7, 2009, health website.
Richard Dietzen, M.D.
El Dorado
The aroma of fresh coffee mixed freely with the acoustic offerings of Jeremy Langston and Chris Loggins Saturday night at ArtBeats Coffee House during a fund raiser for Southern Christian Home (SCH), a Morrilton, AR-based organization that provides housing and support for children in need. The fund raiser, organized by Langston’s son, Avery, raised over $500 for SCH and provided a venue for patrons to escape the cool, damp weather. Langston said that donations are still welcome and anyone interested can contact Volunteer Coordinator Lana Murphey at 501.354.2428.
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More photos after the jump
Tonight I had the pleasure of shooting the Union County Fair Pageant. Admittedly, it was my first pageant. Ever. And, it was not at all what I expected. Here are a few outtakes (more on the jump).
The fair is in town, complete with noisy rides, fried food and ‘interesting’ people. A visit should be on everyone’s to-do list. Seriously, it’s a blast!
Just go, already!
Habitat for Humanity workers and volunteers from Murphy USA wait patiently for other workers to lay out the home’s floor plan, which is read from the soaked blueprint in the foreground, before they start framing the interior walls. Work was slow to start on Saturday after a week of rain prevented volunteers from prepping the house for Saturday’s work.
I was invited on a tour of the recently renovated Rialto theater last Thursday. This was my first Rialto experience and, let me say, I am very impressed. The building is full of history and is truly a gem in our community. Marilyn’s also had a nice feel. I am really looking forward to seeing these two venues put to good use. More photos on the jump.
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