Stories from Friday, March 22, 2002

The annual Marked Tree Chamber of Commerce banquet, held Thursday, March 14 at 6:30 p.m. at the ASU Technical Center was a resounding success. Statistics alone do not tell the story, although they were outstanding as well. Some 83 people attended the event with representation from several out of town services and companies...

Tribune Editor Sheriff Larry Mills, guest speaker at the Marked Tree Rotary meeting on Wednesday, March 13, had a lot to say about the drug problems plaguing the country today. "All addicts are not criminals," Sheriff Mills said. The methamphetamine sale, use and manufacture has reached epidemic proportions throughout the world, and Poinsett County is no exception, he said. Sheriff Mills that jail is not always the only answer to the problem...

Peers rewarded in delivering excellence Matt Woods Lone ranger By AMMI LUNG Tribune Staff Every week, the Tribune staff, consisting of eight people, puts out a news publication. Marked Tree high school also has a newspaper called The Smoke Signal, but their immediate staff is only one student. He collects information, types stories, lays out pages, and edits submissions from junior high students. It is a very heavy load for one person, but he does it with ease...

Michael Hood has authorized the Tri-City Tribune to announce that he will be a candidate for re-election for District 11 of the Poinsett County Quorum Court. The Tyronza native and resident, currently serving his fifth term on the board that oversees county affairs, is a member of the 911 Committee, Building Committee, Personnel Committee, and Road Committee for the Poinsett County Quorum Court. ...

A special delivery at the Lepanto Post Office on March 15 netted an arrest by the Arkansas State Police and the Poinsett County Sheriff's Department. Willie Mae "Marsha" Leija, 37 of 814 Thomas St. Lepanto was charged with intent to deliver a controlled substance, marijuana after receiving two packages weighing approximately 28 pounds of the packaged drug through the mail, from different locations...

James Rodgers "Red" Featherston, 93, of Memphis, formerly of Marked Tree, passed away Tuesday, March 19, 2002 at the Cordova Rehabilitation Center in Cordova, Tenn. Friends and family will visit Friday, March 22 at 1:00 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in Marked Tree. Services will be at the church at 2:00 p.m., following visitation. Burial will follow at Marked Tree Cemetery...

Lorien Mitchell, 90, of Marked Tree died March 17, 2002 at the Three Rivers Nursing Center. She was a member of the Marked Tree Assembly of God Church. Mitchell is preceded in death by her husband, Houston Mitchell. Survivors include three daughters, Ruby Mae Tanner of Michigan City, Ind., Mary Blevins of Tyronza, and Carolyn Bolick of Keiser; four sons, Ruben Mitchell of Flint, Mich., Lowell Mitchell of Bassett, Doyal Mitchell of Michigan City, Ind., and Freddie Mitchell of Marion; 15 grandchildren, and 25 great-grandchildren.. ...

Horace J. Lovell, 80 of Blytheville, died Sunday, March 17, 2002 at Baptist Nursing Center in Blytheville. Born the son of Henry and Ora Richardson Lovell in Oil Trough, he had been a resident in this area for the past 6 years. A veteran of WWII, he served his country in the US Army. He retired from The Rowton Company in West Memphis, was a member of the 10th Street Baptist Church and a member of the VFW. His parents and three sons preceded him in death...

Olen "O. C." Griggs, 83 of Three Rivers Nursing Center in Marked Tree, formerly of Lepanto, died Saturday, March 16, 2002 at Baptist Memorial Hospital, Osceola. He was born July 29, 1918 in Tupelo, Miss. and was married to Bertha Griggs, also of Three Rivers Nursing Center...

Earnest Engene Davis, Sr., 82 of Bay died at his home on March 15, 2002. He was a truck driver and a Baptist. He is survived by his wife, Martha of Bay; three sons, Earnest Jr., James and Dennis all of Bay, one daughter, Debbie Davis of Eldorado; one sister Effie Needham of Monette, VA.; two brothers Grady of Walnut Ridge and Raymond of Lepanto and 15 grandchildren...

Aretta Beard, 91 of Lepanto, formerly of Leachville, died Monday, March 18, 2002 at Powhatten, Ark. She was the daughter of the late James and Eliza Cunningham Horsley and had been a Leachville resident since 1967. She was the widow of William Anderson Williams and Fred Beard and a member of the Ridgeview Baptist Church...

Mattie Pearl Smith, 94, died Tuesday, March 19, 2002 at Crittenden Memorial Hospital in West Memphis. Born in Stantonville, Tenn. on February 18, 1908, she was a homemaker, member of Central Baptist Church of Marked Tree and preceded in death by her husband, John Wesley Smith, Sr. and one son, John Wesley Smith, Jr...