Stories from Wednesday, September 24, 2008

"Once living, they were once breathing. Now they're just names on a wall." From the song Names on a Wall There are 58,169 names, in fact. Names of boys and married men and sons and fathers and, yes, even women. These names grace the black stone monolith known officially as the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, the VVM or, The Wall that Heals, or more commonly, just The Wall...

Trumann recently held two local elections. One of them was for a multimillion dollar water, sewer and capital improvements bond. The other was for a seat on the school board. Voter turnout, to put it mildly, was disgraceful. ...

Elvis was in the building last week. At city hall, anyway. Elvis impersonator Terry Jenkins dropped by his hometown to iron out the final details of his performance at the Wild Duck Festival. He will be center stage at the Wild Duck Festival at 7 p.m. Saturday night for a two hour performance to close out the festival...

The Trumann City Council tackled the issue of yard sales at its Sept. 9 regular meeting and expects to hear reaction from local residents at its October meeting. The first reading of a proposed new yard sale ordinance limiting the number of yard sales residents can have each year was approved...

Cotton acreage in Poinsett County is down by about 30 percent this year, but local agricultural officials say despite a rainy start to the planting season, this year's crop looks to be a good one. "It looks pretty decent," said Poinsett County Extension Agent Craig Allen. "If it will turn hot and quit raining, I think we'll do pretty good."...

Robert Raines didn't come to Hot Springs looking for gangsters. They just sort of found him. "There are two things that most tourists ask on surveys about Hot Springs," Raines, director of the new Gangster Museum of America said. "'Where can we take a hot bath?' And, 'Is it true that gangsters used to stay here?'"...

Democrat News Staff OSCEOLA - In 1828, a tall, lanky 19 year-old boy from the back woods of Indiana set off on a pioneer flatboat from Rockport down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River bound for New Orleans...

School Board approves upgrades for new school water system By RUTH ANN ESTES, Democrat News Staff Work on the new Trumann High School gym is progressing rapidly, Superintendent Joe Waleszonia told the local school board when it met in regular session on Sept. ...

With photo CUTLINE: Recognized for their efforts in preparing students for Benchmark Exams at Central Elementary School last year were teachers (front row from left) Joe Johnson, Kim Johnson, Sarah Tyler, Katy Martin, Suzanne Benson and Principal Bobby Benson. ...

Friday, Sept. 26 3:00 p.m. -- Wild Duck Festival officially opens. 4:00 p.m. -- 10:00 p.m. Hayrides and carnival midway open 6:00 p.m. Bingo games. Prizes donated by local merchants Saturday, Sept. 27...

I don't have a lot of history watching the Trumann Wildcats play over the years. But when I took over as sports writer I heard a lot of talk about "Trumann Tough." As I talked to the coaches I figured out that "Trumann Tough" means a lot of things. ...

Something in head coach Greg White's gut told him that the Wildcats weren't ready to play Paragould. The team seemed a bit lethargic coming in to the game against the Rams. Lethargic could best describe the way the defense played in the first half allowing the Rams to rack up 35 points at halftime...

The Wildkittens learned a tough lesson about football this week……..inches count. The Kittens were stopped about eight inches short of the end zone in a 20-14 conference loss to Gosnell at home last Thursday...

Junior Lady finish runner-up in Blazer Blast tourney By MARK RANDALL, Democrat Sports Writer The junior Lady Wildcats volleyball squad won its first trophy under Coach Matt Mink this weekend with a second place finish in the Blazer Blast tournament at Valley View...

Helen Louise Ainsworth Helen Louise Ainsworth, daughter of the late A..G. and Gladys Smith Murphy. died Wednesday Sept. 17, 2008, at the family residence in Trumann at the age of 77 years 1 month and 30 days. ...

Brenda Faye (Adams) Wilson died July 14th, 2008 in St. Louis, Mo. at the age of 60. She was born in Jonesboro, Ark on Oct. 16, 1947 and moved to St. Louis at the age of 3. She lived in Denver, Colo. for 28 years and worked as a Regional Trainer at A.D.P. the entire time. She returned to St. Louis 5 years ago...

Nolan Coleman Raper Nolan Coleman Raper, 84, of Trumann died Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008 at Trumann Health and Rehabilitation Center. He was of the Baptist faith and a veteran of the U.S. Army. He was preceded in death by his wife, Wanda Raper; son Danny White; two brothers and two sisters...

Curtis Hamilton Clements Curtis Hamilton Clements, 43, of Hardy, died Sept. 16 at St. Bernard's Medical Center in Jonesboro. Clements was born in Caraway and had lived most of his lifetime in Trumann before moving to Hardy six years ago. He was a graduate of Trumann High School and of the Pentecostal faith. Clements was preceded in death by one brother, Tony Gene Clements in 1992...

Susie Fleming Duboise Susie Fleming Duboise, 68, of Trumann, died Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008 at the family residence. She was born in Marietta, Miss., and had lived in Trumann since 1948. She was a housewife and member of the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church. ...

Southern Tenant Farmers Museum a treasure trove of local history By MARK RANDALL, Democrat News Staff Whenever Linda Hinton talks to civic groups and asks whether people have heard about the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum in Tyronza, a lot of hands go up...

It started out as a simple transaction on eBay but ended up with a visit from across the ocean. Oliver Hinds sold John Boija of Taby, Sweden, an old Vaden Record album for about $50. The two began a corresponding by e-mail when Hinds found out that Boija was a big collector of Rockabilly albums...