By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Everything is set for the State Class 5A Basketball Tournament, which tips off Tuesday in Mustang Arena, with basketball action continuing through Saturday.
The tournament tips off at 1 p.m. Tuesday with a girl's game pitting Mount St. Mary against Jacksonville.
The Forrest City boys will play Thursday against Camden-Fairview.
So far the only thing to go wrong in the planning was the fate of the banner stretched across Washington Street (Ark. Highway 1), which quickly fell victim to storm winds.
"The banner wasn't built to withstand 50 or 60 mile an hour winds or whatever they were," laughed Forrest City School District Athletic Director Bill Baxter. "We were proud of that banner for about a day and a half. We liked it while we had it."
He said it is hoped a replacement banner will arrive in time.
Other than that Baxter said the tournament can't be anything but positive for Forrest City.
"You've got to realize, we've got literally hundreds of people coming in there who have never been to Forrest City," he said. "They have never seen anything of our town, and Mustang Arena is, I think, a showplace of Eastern Arkansas. And we're just tickled to death to show folks what we've got here. We're really proud of it and we know it will impress them."
He said the tournament will give the town an opportunity to put its best foot forward.
"With the volunteers and people at restaurants and convenience stores wearing their buttons and promoting this tournament, I think it's going to give us all a good feeling," he said.
He said he would like to see more tournaments here.
"There is a lot of work, and there are a ton of people putting forth a lot of effort," said Baxter. "It's a big undertaking and if it works well, we'll go after some more in the future."
Even though the local team won't play until Thursday, Baxter added that some of the teams will boast superb athletes, worth coming to see.
"Fans will get an opportunity to see some athletes that they ordinarily wouldn't," he said. "For instance, Matt Jones, from Fort Smith Northside, recently signed a football scholarship as a quarterback at Arkansas. But he is also a great basketball player. We're just going to have some great athletes in here, and we hope the town supports them."
First-round games will take place Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Girls' games will alternated with boys' games.
On Tuesday, after the tip-off game between the Mt. St. Mary and Jacksonville girls, the Little Rock Central and Jonesboro boys will play at 2:30 p.m. Sheridan and Springdale girls will play at 4, followed by the Pine Bluff and Russellville boys at 5:30. The Jonesboro and El Dorado girls will play at 7 p.m., followed by the Little Rock Mills and Lake Hamilton boys at 8:30.
First round action will continue Wednesday. The Fort Smith Northside and Little Rock Parkview girls will play at 1 p.m., followed by the Fort Smith Northside and Conway boys at 2:30. At 4, the Fort Smith Southside girls will play the Bryant Girls. The Fayetteville and El Dorado boys will tip off at 5:30. Girls' action will resume at 7 p.m. with West Memphis vs. North Little Rock, and Wednesday tournament action will wrap up with the Blytheville and Little Rock Parkview boys at 8:30.
First round action will continue Thursday, with Mountain Home and Fayetteville in girls' action at 1 p.m., followed by boys' action with Little Rock Hall against Van Buren at 2:30. The final girls' first round game will put Pine Bluff against Blytheville at 4. The final boys' first round game will be Forrest City agaisnt Camden-Fairview at 5:30.
Further games will be announced on the sports pages of the Times-Herald.
Tournament play will continue through Friday, with semi-final games Saturday. The finals will be played in the Pine Bluf Convention Center in March.
Tickets are $5 for adults and $4 for students. For Tuesday through Friday, one ticket will be good for all that day's games. On Saturday, there will be two separate sessions, requiring separate tickets, Baxter said.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
An outbreak of a bacterial disease, which can cause mild to severe diarrhea in children, has been identified at Forrest City Head Start.
According to Elisia White, R.N., with the Arkansas Department of Health, as of this morning there were 12 confirmed cases of shigellosis, a disease caused by the Shegella bacteria.
According to information from the Department of Health, the shigellosis infection affects the intestinal tract. Anyone can get shigellosis, but it is recognized more often in young children.
Infected persons may experience mild or severe diarrhea, often with fever and traces of blood or mucous in the stool. This may be accompanied by abdominal cramps and vomiting. Some infected people may show no symptoms at all.
The source of infection is the feces of infected humans. The germ is spread by eating or drinking contaminated food or water, or by direct contact with an infected person. Symptoms usually appear within two to four days after exposure, or may appear one to seven days after exposure.
A person who is infected may be able to pass on the infection for 1-2 weeks, according to the Department of Health press release. However, antibiotics can be used against the disease.
"This can be fought with antibiotics," said White. "If a person is symptomatic with diarrhea, they need to see a physician for a prescription antibiotic."
According to the Department of Health most people with shigellosis will recover on their own, although antibiotics are recommended in severe cases and fluids may also be required to prevent dehydration.
Children with diarrhea should be kept home until their diarrhea ceases -- provided they carefully wash their hands after toilet visits, according to the press release.
"Everybody needs to really stress hand washing," said White. "That's the main thing to stress."
A letter from the Health Department outlining the problem is dated Feb. 21. One parent of a 5-year-old at Forrest City Head Start,said she didn't find out about it until this morning.
According to Kimberly Scott, "It was shocking to me, I had never heard of this...We just got it today, this morning."
She said all the children at the Head Start should be tested. She said she was having her 5-year-old tested today.
"Me and my husband (Billy Scott) are very upset...The bad part is, I have a 1-year old at home, and you know how kids are. They share food and stuff, so I'm going to have my baby tested, too."
By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
The chancellor of an area community college says the merger of two of the state's community colleges with two vocational-technical institutes would reduce the costs and improve the quality of education for students in the affected communities.
Phillips Community College Chancellor Dr. Steven Jones, who served on the Governor's Task Force which recommended the legislation for merging institutions in both St. Francis and Garland counties, said he strongly supports the approval of the mergers.
On Wednesday, the Senate Education Committee will meet in Little Rock to discuss Senate Bill 401, which provides for the merger of Crowley's Ridge Technical Institute with East Arkansas Community College, and Senate Bill 400, which provides for the merger of Quapaw Tech Institute with Garland County Community College.
Jones was asked to testify Wednesday, but will be out of state and therefore unable to attend the hearings. However, Jones has outlined his support for the merger in a letter to committee members.
In 1991, Jones helped write the legislation that moved most of the state's vo-techs into higher education, making them technical colleges. Since that time, several vo-techs have voluntarily merged with community colleges," Jones said, (Continued from Page 1)
adding that he was involved in one of those mergers.
In the letter, Jones basically offers his testimony on the issue at hand recalling his service on the Task Force, and also shares his experience with mergers of this type, having successfully supervised the voluntary merger of PCC and Rice Belt Vo-Tech in 1996. He negotiated that transfer with the State Board of Education-Workforce Development. Jones is also a consultant-evaluator with the North Central Association and has 26 years experience with community college and technical education in Arkansas.
"It is with strong conviction that I urge your committee, the full Senate and the General Assembly to follow the recommendation of the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce and the Non-Baccalaureate Task Force to legislate these mergers. It was by a near unanimous vote of this Task Force that these mergers take place. The only dissenting votes came from vo-tech representatives," Jones said in his letter to the committee.
"You are probably being lobbied hard by Workforce officials and employees of Crowley's Ridge and Quapaw who are fearful of change, but change has already occurred," Jones said. "And as the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce will tell you, these changes have left the remnants of vo-tech far behind. That is the very reason to vote for SB 401 and SB 400."
Also in the letter, Jones dismisses the rumors that the technical institutes would lose their 'technical mission' and that 'working class people in Arkansas would have no place to go for post-secondary training.'
"That is simply not true and the evidence proves it. Since 1991, when 14 vo-techs became technical colleges, their technical missions have been expanded and strengthened. The number of technical education programs has dramatically increased as have the number of students enrolled in technical education programs at two-year colleges," Jones said. " According to business and industry leaders in Arkansas, the quality of these programs has improved as well."
Jones said the student enrollment figures have been distorted in some arguments because vo-techs are not required to count student enrollment the same as community colleges.
"Eight separate, independent studies have all called for these mergers in the vo-tech system," Jones writes. "Clearly, this is the time to address this costly approach to technical education in Arkansas, time to reduce the costs and improve the quality of workforce education in our state. The new technical colleges have proven that the decision the General Assembly made in 1991 was the appropriate decision," Jones said.
The Times-Herald Advertising Department took third place overall in its division of the Arkansas Press Association's 2001 Better Newspaper Advertising Contest.
Winners were announced Saturday at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.
Overall, the Times-Herald advertising team racked up 13 awards, including three first places, four second places, four third places and two fourth places.
"We're very proud to win these awards," said Jim Wirski, advertising manager. "It shows that we are a good team. And it shows that although this is a small town, we do as good a job, or better, than anyone in the state for our advertisers."
The first place awards included the One Spot Color division for a Subway-TCBY grand opening ad, the Two or More Spot Color division for a McDonald's 23rd anniversary ad and the Use of Clip Art division for a Machen 40th anniversary ad.
Second place awards included a Multiple Advertiser division ad for Future Farmers, the Original Illustration division for a Flippo "Always a Classic" ad, the Classified Display division for Tittle Peaches and the Most Original Idea division for a McDonald's Congratulations ad.
Third place awards included the Multiple Advertiser division for the Miss America Pageant, the One Spot Color division for a Multiple Grand Opening, the Two or More Spot Color divsion for a Flippo ad, "Avalanche of Savings," and the Sweepstakes Award.
Fourth place awards were won in the divisions of Two or More Spot Colors and Process Color.
A Forrest City man is charged with theft from a West Memphis restaurant that was destroyed by fire.
Lewis Dale, 34, 2459 Fernwood, Forrest City, was arrested last week and released to West Memphis authorities. He is charged in connection with the theft of more than $3,000 from his employer in September.
Dale was a night manager at the Wendy's on Missouri Street in West Memphis.
According to West Memphis police, he was on duty the night the restaurant was destroyed by fire in September.
Captain Mike Allen of the West Memphis Police Department said the investigation is continuing. "We have charged him with theft and we are still investigating the incident."
The fire at the restaurant has been ruled suspicious in nature.