Stories from Thursday, March 10, 2005

Ellis "Doll" Holloway, 73, of Paragould died Saturday, March 5, at St. Bernard's Medical Center. She was born at Marked Tree and lived there most of her life, having moved to Paragould in 2004. She was owner and operator of Doll's House of Beauty...

Tribune Sports Staff EPC's baseball team evened their record for the season at 1-1 as they defeated the Rector Cougars, 3-2, at Warrior field, Tuesday March, 1 "The first win is always tough," coach Brian Weathers said after the game. "But, I'm very proud of thee guys. It was a good win."...

Tribune Sports Staff The East Poinsett County Lady Warriors could not have picked a worse night to have one of their poorest shooting performances of the season. EPC went into the first round of the Class AA State Tournament at Sloan Hendrix High School in Imboden with high hopes of making a run for a state championship. ...

Tribune Sports Staff The East Poinsett County Warriors looked like they were well on their way to the semifinals of the Class AA State Tournament when they built up a 29-16 halftime lead over Hughes Friday night at Sloan-Hendrix High School. The Warriors used the strong play of juniors Ked Madden and Keun Joplin, who combined for 19 first half points, to grab a seemingly commanding 13-point advantage...

Lisa Camille Battles, 42, of Manila died Tuesday, March 1, at her residence. Survivors include a son, Philip Wade Oatsvall of Pascagoula, Miss.; two daughters, Megan Kylie McGinnis of Manila and Dana Lee Battles Ferguson of Etowah; her parents, Camilla Battles of Etowah and Carl Don Battles of West Memphis; two sisters, Patti Battles Wicklund of Gosnell and Donna Battles Besinger of Lepanto; a brother, Clay Brewer of Lepanto; and four grandchildren...

The Marked Tree Church of God will host a WOW youth service at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 16. Lisa Madison will be the guest speaker. There will be free food and prizes. The church is located at 114 Allyn Street in Marked Tree. Those needing a ride may call 358-2963...

The Pentecostal Temple Church of God in Christ will have a special service on Sunday, March 13. The women of the church will be in charge of the services beginning with the 10:45 morning serve. Missionary Ruby Butler is on the agenda as the speaker...

Living Waters Pentecostal Church of God in Tyronza will be hosting a bluegrass singing at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 1. DEW grass, a group composed of Stan Dailey, Steve "Rabbit" Easter and Mark Whitehead, will be performing at the singing. Admission is free and a love offering will be collected for the singing group...

For the first time ever, the American Wrestling Federation (AWF) will storm into Tyronza Elementary School Gymnasium. The event will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 12. Local wrestling fans will have the opportunity to not only to see some well known wrestling stars, they will be benefiting a group of young women, The NEA Lady All Starz...

It is not every day that you see the name "Marked Tree" on the front of a book. Tom Graves, a retired Methodist minister in Texas, recently published a book recounting stories along his journey of faith, a journey that has its roots in the quaint community of Marked Tree...

Both Marked Tree and EPC schools are once again taking part in statewide, mandated testing from Monday through Friday of this week. Included is the much discussed Arkansas Benchmark Exam. The Benchmark testing is part of the Arkansas Comprehensive Testing Assessment and Accountability Program or ACTAAP and grades the development of children in grades K-8...

Tribune Sports Staff The opening week of play for the Marked Tree Indians Baseball team was a rough one. In four games they score 8 runs to the opponent's 29. "To be honest," coach Matt Wright said. "We're not putting the bat on the ball. We're simply not doing the things we need to do to win."...

William H. "Bill" Bishop, 69, of Trumann passed away on March 7, 2005 at Regional Medical Center in Jonesboro of natural causes. He was born in Arbyrb, Mo. and had lived most of his life in Trumann. He was a retired supervisor for the Singer Co., farmer and of the Baptist faith...

Infant Faith Dale Bruner of Batesville, passed away on Sunday, March 6, 2005 at Batesville. She was preceded in death by her grandfather, Gary Dale Bruner, Sr. She is survived by her parents, Gary Dale Jr. and Andrea Camille (Evans) Bruner of Batesville; her grandparents, Rebecca Bruner of Jonesboro; Teddy and Debbie Evans of Batesville and Kay and Ron Hubbs of Florissant, Mo.; great-grandparents, Charles and Virgina Evand of Trumann, Beebe Greenwood of Trumann and CR "Doc" Nicols of Lepanto; aunts and uncles, Melinda Bruner of Jonesboro, Sara Bobbitt of Mountain Home and Wesley Evans of Batesville and cousins, Avery and Abbie Bobbitt of Mountain Home and Mason Evans of Batesville.. ...

Ray Mitchell Holmes, 91, of Trumann passed away on Friday, March 4, 2005 at St. Bernard's Regional Medical Center in Jonesboro of natural causes. He was born and raised in Harrisburg. He moved to Trumann in 1974 when he and his Martha were married. ...

Jon David Teague, 68, of Harrisburg, passed away on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 at the family residence of natural causes. He was born in Jonesboro and had lived in Harrisburg for the past 18 years. He was a 20 year veteran of the US Air Force and Vietnam War; a retired technical representative for Symbol Technology in Orlando, Fla. and a member of the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Harrisburg...

Kathleen Nichols Patrick, 59, of Lake City passed away on Sunday, Feb. 27, 2005 at NEA Medical Center in Jonesboro of natural causes. She was born in Osceola and had lived in Lake City since, 1965. She was a former employee of the Singer Co., Lincoln Mfg. and Colson Caster Corp. She was a member of the Mt. Olive free Pentecostal Church in Needham...

The first softball tournament of the 2005 season at the Truman Sports Complex was this past Saturday. The tourney was sponsored by ACE printing company. The men's bracket included 16 teams from Arkansas, Tennessee and Missouri. There are tournaments scheduled every weekend through May 13. For more information on any of the softball of baseball activities call Sharron Turman at 483-1098...

Trumann has been named a Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation to honor its community commitment to its community forest. It is the first year Trumann has received this national recognition. The Tree City USA program is sponsored by the National Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the National Association of Sate Foresters and the USDA Forest Service...

A half scale replica of the most visited monument in Washington, D.C. will be on display at the Arkansas State University campus in Jonesboro on March 17 -- 20. Opening ceremonies start at 10 a.m. on Thursday, March 17. The wall will be set up west of the ASU football stadium in the tailgate area. ...

The Trumann Police Department was granted a court order allowing them to dispose of all bikes that are in storage at the department. Any Trumann citizen who wished to receive a bike needs to speak with Sgt. Tony Rusher after March 16.

Summer men's league and church league registration is now underway. The fee is $300. Sign ups are from March 7 to April 7. League play begins on April 18. For more information contact Sharron Turman at 870-483-1098.

Staff Segeant Dwight A. Hammons, who is currently deployed in Afghanistan, has been awarded a Bronze Star with valor. Hammons earned this honor while on a mission in October 2004 for his selfless performance during an enemy ambush. As stated on his award, Hammons earned the medal for "exceptionally meritorious valor while serving as a member of the combined / joint task force -- 76 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom."...

The gas station at Price Chopper in Trumann was robbed last Thursday, March 3. At approximately 6:39 p.m. a Trumann Police Department dispatcher received the call that the gas station had just been robbed. There was one employee on duty at the time. The assailant made off with around $200 in cash. He was described as a black male, between 5'8" and 5'11", heavy set and wearing a gray jacket at the time of the robbery...

Trumann Police Chief Larry Blagg risked his own life and saved the life of another in an incident Thursday, March 3, on the east side of town. Blagg gave this description of how the incident happened: A woman came into the Trumann Police Department at about 6 p.m. to report that her husband had pointed a gun at her and instructed her to go to the police station and get Chief Blagg. The man said he only wanted to talk to Blagg...

The sound of a police siren will send kids on a hunt for egg this Saturday at the 10th annual COPS for Kids Easter Egg Hunt at the city park across from Cedar Park Elementary. Registration will begin at 10 a.m. and the hunt will start at noon. All children sixth grade and under are invited to attend...

Charity Grieco and James Hertzog, members of SVOSH -- a student organization at the Southeast Tennessee College of Ophthalmology, visited the Trumann Lions Club last week. The told the group about a recent visit to Belize. The group goes on several trips during the year to South America where they set up clinics for those who otherwise wouldn't get to see an eye doctor. They are sponsored by local Lions Club's in the countries they visit...

The Amateur Softball Association (ASA) umpires test that was originally scheduled for March 13 has been changed to 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 19 at the Trumann Recreational Complex Building on Pecan Grove Road. League umpires for Trumann, Weiner, Marked Tree and surrounding towns are urged to attend...