Stories from Thursday, June 13, 2002

Doyle Hillis, of Payneway, won the Poinsett County judge run-off by pulling in 1713 votes, which is 57 percent of the votes cast. Incumbent Bill Craft, of Marked Tree, received 1283 votes. Hillis'margin of victory was 430 votes. Hillis carried 13 of the 17 polling areas in Poinsett County, with his biggest margin coming from Harrisburg where he received 358 votes to Craft's 143. In the Trumann area, Hillis defeated Craft by a tight margin of 227 to 173...

T-Ball Cates Agri Giants 10-0 First Delta Bank Royals 8-2 Ritter Telephone Yankees 5-6 MT Equipment Co. A's 2-9 Nyal Drug Cardinals 1-9 Minor League John and Frank Mariners 9-3 Bray Gas Yankees 6-6 Tacker Farms D'Backs 5-6-1 MT Bank Cardinals 3-8-1...

On April 27, an official Little League Tournament was held in Marked Tree. There were four teams and they were coached by Shawn Carter, Josh Brown, Marshall Grant and Luke Lovins. The reward for the winner would be a trip to Newport to compete with All Star teams from around the state in another one-pitch tournament...

Robert Earl "Buck" Eldridge, 54, of Clarkdale died June 9, 2002 at Crittenden Memorial Hospital in West Memphis. He was a farmer and a member of Assembly of God in Bay. The funeral was June 11 at Wilson Funeral Home in Tyronza. Brother James Moore officiated the ceremony. Place of interment was at Tyronza Cemetery. Visitation was June 10 at Wilson Funeral Home in Tyronza. Active pallbearers were family and friends...

Mary Bingham, 101, of Turrell died June 7, 2002 at Three Rivers Nursing Home Center in Marked Tree. She was a farmer. She was a member of Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church in Osceola and was a member of the Mother Board at the church. She was also a member of the Eastern Star 151 since Dec. 15, 1947...

Carolyn Kay Farley, 50, of Lepanto died June 11, 2002 at the U.T. Bowld of Memphis. She was a member of Calvary Baptist Church and a retired kindergarten teacher. The funeral will be Friday, June 14 at 2 p.m. at Murphy Funeral Home Chapel. Bill Taylor and Rick Kimery will officiate the ceremony. Place of interment will be at Potter Memorial Cemetery...

The Marked Tree Elementary School will have a preschool class for the 2002-03 school year. The child must be four years old on or before Sept. 15, 2002. Registration will be held June 24 through 26 from 8 to 11 a.m. in the elementary office. To register the child, proof of birth, shot records and a Social Security card is needed at the time of registration...

During its monthly meeting Monday night, the East Poinsett County Board of Education heard from a Little Rock mapping expert who has worked with the district in drawing boundaries for school board seats. In the presentation, given by Jack Nagel, board members and the public heard about two plans currently under consideration. ...

In a short meeting Tuesday night, the Tyronza City Council heard from the town's fire chief about the possible purchase of warning sirens for the community. In the meeting, held in the Tyronza District Courtroom, Fire Chief Tommy Baine told the council about the need of sirens, in lieu of the two tornadoes that passed through the Tyronza area last Wednesday. ...

The Board of Directors of First Delta Bank is pleased to announce the addition of Gary Williams, Vice President/Loan Officer to the Board of Directors of First Delta Bank. "We are very proud of Gary's achievement," said George Beley, Chairman. "Gary has shown much improvement in banking over the past couple of years," added Beley...

The city of Marked Tree received a grant for curbside collection recycling. "We got a grant last year to do curbside recycling," Marked Tree Mayor Lawrence Ashlock said. "We started September of last year. In July we are going to start collecting on the north side of town. We accept aluminum cans, plastic milk jugs, anything with a recycling symbol on it. We'll also take newspapers."...

Josh Harvison of the Wildcats signed to play baseball with the Williams Baptist College Eagles. Harvison, a right-handed pitcher signed a letter of intent to play baseball with the Eagles June 5. Harvison was 17-1 for his entire career at Trumann High School and 14-0 for the past two seasons. ...

Mrs. Sarah Evelyn (Couch) McWayne passed away Saturday morning at St. Bernard's Medical Center in Jonesboro, Ark., of natural causes. She was 75 years old. Mrs. McWayne was born on December 25, 1926, in Hickory Ridge, Ark., and had lived in Trumann for 44 years after moving here from Wynne, Ark. ...

Vicky Diane Waters, 42, of Trumann died Thursday May 30 at the family residence in Trumann. She was born in Jonesboro and had lived most of her life in Trumann. She was a housewife and a Jehovah Witness. She was preceded in death by her parents, Shelby Junior and Elsie Coursey Davis...

Ruth Elleen, 84, of Harrisburg died June 1 at St. Bernard's Medical Center in Jonesboro of natural causes. She was born in Jonesboro and was a lifetime resident of the Harrisburg area. She was a housewife and a member of the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church...

Peggy Lucille Travis, 63, of Trumann died June 5 at St. Bernard's Medical Center in Jonesboro of natural causes. She was born in Jonesboro and had lived in Trumann for the past 30 years. She was a housewife and a member of Caldwell Chapel Church of Christ...

The Bay Planning Commission will hold a public hearing to invite comment on several proposed plans being prepared by the commission. Those plans include: Revising the zoning map, rezoning 100 Lunsford and hearing conditional use permit 200 central. The hearing will be Tuesday, June 25 at 7 p.m. at Bay City Hall...

The Bay School Board held a special meeting on June 10. The meeting was held to vote on accepting the resignation of Elementary School Principal, Arthur Jackson. Jackson has accepted a job at the Crowley's Ridge Co-Op as K-6 Math Specialist. Jackson stated to the school board that he, "thanked them for all of their support and help in the past." He also stated that he plans to still be involved with Bay Elementary through his work with the Co-Op...

A new group is taking over the Bay Harvest Festival. The new committee met for a preliminary hearing June 9. The committee consists of Tami Hamilton, Vickie Davis, Nancy Robbins, Patsy Davidson and Sondra Onstead. Several ideas were shared at this meeting...

The Trumann Area Fine Arts Council held their second annual talent contest on June 8 at the High School Auditorium. The contest was emceed by Emmett Dale Pankey with a special guest performance by Shellee Morris of the country music group 'Twister Alley.'...

The Trumann Sports Complex hosted a senior softball tournament June 4. Teams from Little Rock, Memphis, Cherokee Village, Jonesboro and Trumann participated in the event. The oldest man on the Trumann team is Fletcher Curtis at 81 years old. During the tournament, Trumann played three games. ...