Stories from Friday, May 6, 2016

The Carver Elite AAU team took bronze this past weekend in the Future 150's Main Event in Birmingham, AL. Team members are bottom row (l-r): Antjuan Anderson (Marked Tree), Julian Booker (Marked Tree), Laquentin Miles (Marked Tree), Jaquarius Stafford (Jonesboro), Colby Malone (Marked Tree), and Dee Buchanan (Lepanto). ...

D'Angelo Griffin of Marked Tree made a dream come true last Wednesday when he signed his scholarship offer to play basketball at Williams Baptist College (WBC) in front of family, friends and coaches at Marked Tree High School. Griffin was a multi-sport star at Marked Tree as he played football, basketball and ran track for the Indians. ...

Marked Tree fell behind early and could never catch up as the Indians fell 12-4 to Rector in the opening round of the 2A-3 district tournament last Wednesday in Marked Tree. The loss ended Marked Tree's season at 3-18. Blake Daniels walked to start the game off for Marked Tree as Gavin Lowry followed with a walk. ...

Marked Tree could only muster four hits as they lost 12-0 to Marmaduke in the 2A-3 district tournament championship game last Thursday in Marked Tree. Ally Byers led off for Marked Tree with a triple but got greedy trying to score and was tagged out in a rundown. ...

EPC (14-9) let a late lead get away from them as Rector took a 5-3 in the championship game of the 2A-3 district tournament last Friday in Marked Tree. Bam Westbrook singled to lead off the game for Rector. Brian Hufty singled before Garrett Buck singled to load the bases for the Cougars. ...

Montrell James and Keyon Dorsey will continue as teammates at Crowley's Ridge College (CRC) as they signed scholarship papers to play basketball for the Pioneers this past Friday at EPC High School. James played his entire high school career at EPC and helped guide the Warriors to finals of the Class 2A state tournament this year. ...

Harrisburg and Trumann (17-13) split a 4A-3 conference doubleheader last Thursday in Harrisburg. Trumann took a 6-4 win the opener as Anna Waleszonia got the win on the mound. She pitched all seven innings allowing four runs on 12 hits with no walks and six strikeouts. ...

Bay's offense managed only two hits in the 1A-3 East district championship game against Armorel as the Lady 'Jackets fell 9-0 to the Lady Tigers this past Tuesday in Bay. Bay went down in order in the top of the first inning as Baylee Bowers and Katie Ferguson went down swinging as Mallory Hartley looked at strike three. ...

Mr. Kenny Lee Whitaker, 61, of Jonesboro departed this life Friday, April 29, 2016 at St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro. He was born June 21, 1954, in Marked Tree, had lived in Jonesboro for the past five years, and was formerly of Tyronza. He was a self-employed counter-top maker and of the Baptist faith. He was preceded in death by his father, Isaac "Garvin" Whitaker; step-mother Ellen Lucille Whitaker and step-father, Joe Grodi...

Tyronza's first ever First Friday will be this week on Friday, May 6. According to Jeanne Glover, Mayor Charles Glover's wife, the idea for First Fridays came following the city's successful Upscale Yard Sale. During the Upscale Yard Sale, vendors could rent booths to sell items, and people in town could register their yard sales to be on a map given to those shopping for deals that day. Glover said around 30 people registered to be on the map during the citywide yard sale...

For the last few years, erosion between Ditches 60 and 61 has made it difficult for the St. Francis River Basin to hold water. During the St. Francis Lake Association's annual meeting last November, they heard from representatives with the U.S. Corps of Engineers who said the only thing holding up the repair of the washout was funding, which would cost several million dollars. ...

The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) recently school grades for the 2014-2015 year. This is the second year ADE has published a performance report report on the state's schools which evaluate school performance on an A-F grading scale based on student performance on state assessment tests...