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| Fired-up fans an integral part of Hogs' family Date: 10/2/98 Category: Sports Page: C1 Wally Hall Like it is It has been surprising to read some of Tim Couch's comments this week. After losing to Florida last Saturday, he said: "We think we are going to run the table and have a great season." Maybe he wasn't taking a shot at the Razorbacks. Maybe that was supposed to be a vote of confidence for his teammates. Or maybe it was a shot. No doubt, his next statement was aimed between the eyes. "Florida has the toughest defense in America," he said. Then he pulled the trigger on every Razorbacks fan. "And this is the loudest stadium in America," he said of The Swamp. The Swamp is loud, but apparently Couch has never tried to call a play in Death Valley, the second-loudest football stadium in the SEC. Not second to The Swamp, either. When it comes to crowd noise, no one can beat the Razorbackers. Talk about turning a program around. What Houston Nutt has done with the Razorbacks has also brought out the best in the fans. Obviously, this has nothing to do with rude, crude remarks that you get at Florida or LSU. Nothing to do with bottle-throwing, ice-chunking, infantile fans who love the Gators and Tigers. There are obviously some new fans pulling for the Hogs -- they are the ones booing the opponent when it comes on the field -- but they still are head and shoulders above what happened to Couch at Florida. Couch hurt his toe, and as he limped to the sidelines the Florida fans stood and cheered. Cheering an injury is beyond comprehension. It is a game, not a war. Arkansas fans are much more sophisticated than that. They are fans who know when to hold 'em and when to fold'em with noise. Actually, one would think Couch and the Kentucky players would have a clue, unless the football and basketball teams don't speak. No team in the SEC wants to play in Bud Walton, and those are only 40 percent of the fans who will be at the football game Saturday. Couch is said to be a Boy Scout when it comes to his personal life, but if he thinks The Swamp is as tough as it gets, there's no way he can be prepared for Razorbacks fans. That is, unless the wrong type of fans show up. If it is people who are going to be seen instead of heard, then the Hogs will have lost an edge they had the first three weeks. So far, every game has been light-years better than the recent past. A large dose of that, of course, comes from winning. Other parts come from guys such as Jennings Osborne, who donated all that food and the fireworks for Little Rock games. As well as the support groups. Some people are not enamored with the band's halftime show, but it is talented. And the night the lights went off, it was the band that fired up and kept the fans interested until the game resumed. Mostly, though, it is people pulling together. For instance, when the idea was broached about collecting money for Justin Brown's expenses, everyone jumped on board to help. Brown would have been a senior this season, but he died last weekend while awaiting a heart transplant in Houston. He left behind huge medical bills and other expenses, so this Saturday, all around War Memorial Stadium, there will be boxes decorated with balloons for those who would like to help. People from Newport, his hometown, will be there to help. If any money is left after the bills are paid, it will go to a scholarship in Brown's name at Arkansas. Perhaps that attitude best defines the atmosphere at Razorbacks games this season. It is the same way the Razorbacks describe their team. Family. A family that apparently Couch is unfamiliar with. The Kentucky media say the only thing better than Couch's ability to play quarterback is his down-home personality and value system. The junior might learn a little something about fans this weekend if the same fans show up for this one as did the first three. |
| Sunday's Best Where to be this week Celebrities to cook with good cause Date: 10/4/98 Category: Features Page: E4 TIM STANLEY ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT GAZETTE Contradicting the old platitude about the dangers of too many cooks, the National Dunbar Alumni Association of Little Rock has corralled several for its "Men Who Cook for a Cause" annual gala benefit. Thirty prominent local men, including Jennings Osborne, Bruce Moore, Dr. Les Carnine and John Lewellen, will don aprons as celebrity cooks for the event, which begins at 2:30 p.m. today at the River Market East Pavilion. The Lorenzo Smith Trio will perform. Benefiting the National Dunbar Alumni Association's Perpetuity Scholarship Fund, proceeds will help support and encourage area students to pursue higher education. Tickets are $40 per person, $75 for couples. Dunbar Alumni Association Benefit "Men Who Cook for a Cause, " 2. 30-5. 30 p. m. today, River Market East Pavilion, 400 E. Markham St. Tickets. $40, $75 couples. (501) 312-1190. SINGING SERGEANTS Despite appearances, there's much more to the military than uniforms and salutes. For instance, there are horns and flutes and an assortment of other finely tuned instruments. The U.S. Air Force Band and Singing Sergeants will perform at the Lily Peter Auditorium, Phillips Community College in Helena. The concert is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday and is free, but tickets are required, so call (870) 338-8327 to find out more. The Air Force Band and Singing Sergeants have conducted 12 international goodwill tours through 55 countries and remain one of the most traveled musical organizations in the world. Thursday's program will feature a variety of modern and classic selections. U.S. Air Force Band and Singing Sergeants, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Lily Peter Juditorium, Phillips Community College, Helena. Free. (870) 338-8327. CLUTTER CUTTER To the chronically disorganized, every day is often a topsy-turvy jumble of tasks -uncataloged and inefficiently tackled. If you've reached the limits of dismay over your state of disarray then make a date with Bonnie Jacobson at Barnes & Noble Booksellers this week. Jacobson, a professional organizer with Let's Get Organized, will present two free seminars this week at the bookstore. The first, Organize Your Priorities, is at 7 p.m. Wednesday and will focus on basic strategies for organizing life's challenges. The second, Organize Your Clutter, is at 2 p.m. Saturday and will concern more efficient utilization of space. Although organization is not an overnight process, both sessions will acquaint participants with the skills and techniques necessary to laying an adequate foundation on which to build. Organization Seminars, 7 p.m. Wednesday, 2 p.m. Saturday, Barnes & Noble Booksellers, 11500 Financial Centre Parkway. Free. 954-7646. GOING MEDIEVAL Having first captivated outdoor audiences nigh on a millennium ago, the morality play Everyman will be getting a new treatment with some of the original trappings intact. The play is set to open the new season for the Batesville Community Theatre. Performances are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Lyon College in Batesville. In keeping with medieval customs, the play will be performed outside on the Brown Chapel porch and steps. Admission is free, but also in keeping with medieval traditions, a hat will be passed for donations. A portrayal of the struggle between virtue and vice, Everyman was often performed during Lent in the Middle Ages. Batesville Community Theatre's production of Everyman, 7 p. m. Friday-Saturday, steps of Brown Chapel, Lyon College, Batesville. Free, donations requested. (501) 793-9494. Got an event that's a good bet for Sunday's Best? Send the typed information including date, time, street address and phone number and, if possible, a photo to Tim Stanley, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P. O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203. The material needs to arrive at least a week and a half before the event. E-mail: tim_stanley@adg.ardemgaz.com |
| Celebrity cooks Men cook for a cause just because they care Date: 10/11/98 Category: Features Page: D7 Friends of the National Dunbar Alumni Association showed off their culinary talents at a tasting party on a breezy Oct. 4 at the River Market pavilion. For the third annual "Celebrity Cooks: Men Who Cook for a Cause," dishes ranged from vegetarian chili to seafood bisque, from lemon-pepper flavored hot wings to shrimp New Orleans. Jennings Osborne offered barbecue ribs and chicken and all the fixin's, while Sidney Williams offered Sid's Mean baked beans. The 300 tickets purchased by hungry alumni raised money to provide financial support to Little Rock high school students seeking a college education. Mayor Jim Dailey was honorary chairman, and Alma Williams was chairman. Erma Glasco Davis of Hot Springs Village is alumni association president. While the Lorenzo Smith Trio entertained, a variety of dishes was served by Les Carnine, Dr. Roosevelt Brown, Sean and Eugene Porter, William Sparks, Clifton Lewis, Percy Walker, Marshall Watson, Henry Warren, Billy Mitchell, John Riggs, Albert Porter, Bruce Moore, Dr. Alonzo Williams, Sanford Tollette, Elijah Harris, John Lewellen, Billy Lofton, Tracy Steele, Michael Hutchinson, Adam Vital, Adrian Greene, Ovid Goode, Dwayne Stuart, Greg King, Robert Robinson, Ron Sheffield, Lionel Davis, Richard Davis, James McCarther, Les Hollingsworth, John Talley and James Warren. Clifton Lewis with Les and Linda Carmine Lorenzo Smith and Alma Williams |
| Profile on volunteering No bull, annual fund-raiser moves to River Market Volunteer knows full value of the March of Dimes Date: 10/18/98 Category: Features Page: D6 KYLE BRAZZEL ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE It's just your basic, everyday, baby-born-in-a-car-on-the-side-of-the-road story. Micki Meeks Sowell has told it before, and she'll tell it again, probably countless times. But this time she's telling it a little more passionately, because close calls like hers punctuate the need for organizations like the March of Dimes. The group, which will host its annual Bull Roast fund-raiser on Friday night at the River Market, is devoted to preventing birth defects and lowering the infant mortality rate through research and educating expectant mothers. "It was as easy a birth as you can have on the side of Interstate 630," says Sowell of baby Evan's arrival, which occurred, aptly, on April Fool's Day while she and her husband, Bill, were en route to the hospital. "If it hadn't been for the quality of prenatal care that I had received throughout my pregnancy," she shudders to think of what could have gone wrong during and after the unusual birth. "It's not like we could have done anything any faster, but it still shakes you up to think about it. BIG DIFFERENCE "I've walked through the prenatal intensive care unit at UAMS and seen babies no bigger than a hand, with all these tubes coming out of them," says the 31-year-old mother of two healthy children, now serving her third year as chairman of the March of Dimes board. "When you have the March of Dimes telling mothers to quit smoking and drinking and to take their vitamins, it can make a big difference." Still, in Sowell's mind, that difference won't be big enough until the March of Dimes can substantially shrink the number of low birth weight babies born in Arkansas each year. The current average is nearly 3,000. The March of Dimes works at the local and national level, in ways Sowell knows by heart and is proud to share. For example, the group is currently lobbying for a mandatory 48-hour hospital stay for new mothers and their babies following childbirth, and they'd like to see a requisite 96 hours of care following birth by Caesarean delivery. A portion of proceeds from local March of Dimes events such as Bull Roast, Citizen of the Year, the March of Dimes walk (from which the national organization derived its name) and Bikers for Babies is earmarked to advance research into the science of ensuring healthy babies. A current project is exploring genetic engineering's ability to produce medications that may prevent conditions such as multiple sclerosis or Down's syndrome before a baby's birth. "If we can find a way to take care of these problems on the front end, that will be one less child that will be afflicted later. Other nonprofit organizations do a great job of serving people with these types of problems, but if we can start with healthier babies, maybe that will help ease the caseloads of some other nonprofits." PRENATAL NEGLECT But many babies are afflicted not by disease but simply by prenatal neglect or, even worse, exposure to harmful drugs ingested by the mother. Anger creeps into Sowell's voice as she speaks of the deliberate recklessness of this type of parent. Even a baby born in a car can have a fighting chance, with parents who are sobered by their responsibility. "So many of the birth defects and low birth weight cases in babies come from substance abuse. It's a huge undertaking to bring a child into the world. It's so important to go and do the things that will make your child's life the best it possibly can be." Sowell first became aware of the plight of these cursed-from-the-start babies six years ago, when she was working for a local advertising agency that donated services to the March of Dimes. "Even though I left the agency, the March of Dimes followed me," she says. Sowell now co-owns and operates The Printing Department, a specialty printing company. With her husband, an investment specialist at Mendel South Investment Management, son Evan and 2year-old daughter Abby, she enjoys long weekends spent in the family house boat on Lake Ouachita or their time at home together in North Little Rock. For the past several months, Sowell has had little time for vacations as she turned her attention to another Bull Roast. Along with board members Pete Roth and Willie Oates, she has organized the live and silent auctions of items such as a gift basket from River Market merchants, two airline tickets to a destination of the buyer's choice, a duck hunting package and paintings from local artists. Music will be provided by The GroanUps, with the usual smorgasbord offered by local restaurants like Ashley's, Cozymel's, Green Mill Cafe, Juanita's, Shorty Small's, catering outfits Simply the Best and Arkansas' Excelsior Hotel and a yearly favorite, the barbecue tent provided by Jennings Osborne. The move to the River Market marks the event's second change of venue in as many years. Though Bull Roast had traditionally been held on a weekend night at the Ranch on Arkansas 10, last year the event relocated to a Monday night indoors at the Excelsior Hotel. Sowell believes Bull Roasters will be glad to settle into a return to the same night in a new location. "The March of Dimes wanted to move the event closer to town, but we liked having the event outdoors. The restaurants liked having the event on a weeknight last year, because it was during their slow time. But the public wants the event on the weekend. This year, we have the best two out of three. The restaurants understand, and the public is happy." |
| Energetic city director runs for county judge Date: 10/19/98 Category: News Page: B1 TRACIE DUNGAN ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Joan Adcock is facing a minor problem. A candidate for Pulaski County Judge, she's taken some time out of her campaign schedule on a damp, fall Saturday to volunteer at a mammoth Razorback tailgate party organized by philanthropist Jennings Osborne, who is known for his spectacular Christmas lights displays, and who is |JAdcock's campaign co-chairman. As the Osborne family toils on the serving line, Hog fans exit the line with big polystyrene trays piled with huge drumsticks, and in some cases, whole hens. Adcock's job is passing out baseball caps imprinted with the Osborne family logo and stuffed with chips, towelettes, bottled water and a fat peppermint stick. Problem is, the diners are already overloaded. "I don't have another hand," one female fan laments. "OK," Adcock says, grasping the woman's elbow and pulling it out buffalo-wing-style. She wedges the cap up the woman's armpit and pushes her elbow back in. The woman's startled expression melts into one of amusement, and of admiration. A trademark technique is born -- and used countless times that afternoon. Adcock, 58, manages an easy familiarity with people, an ability to disarm and charm in situations where others might easily offend. Folks seem to take an instant liking to the grandmotherly Little Rock city director, perhaps because of her quick-thinking, energetic manner. Or maybe it's her childlike lisp and frequent subject-verb disagreements. Ever since she burst on the Little Rock political scene six years ago, city government hasn't been the same. In part because of Adcock's grass-roots efforts to empower ordinary citizens, a neighborhood movement emerged to galvanize the city. In March, Adcock announced her intention to topple County Judge Buddy Villines and broaden her empowerment efforts. Her drive to help welfare mothers and others goes back to her childhood. Born in Iowa in 1940, Adcock and her family lived in Texas, in Danville, Ark., and in southwest Little Rock. She was mostly raised by a single mother. Her father, a wealthy Frenchman, came in and out of their lives. When he was around, he brought gifts and a new car, and the family lived in luxury. When he left, the house or car would be repossessed and he would leave no means of support for Adcock or her brother. As a baby, Adcock had a bout of whooping cough that left her with permanent speech problems. She and her brother had their own language, and she didn't begin talking in a way that people could understand until a seventh-grade teacher stopped accepting her blackboard messages. Now, Adcock, despite some trouble with consonants, talks almost constantly about politics and everything else. On that recent Saturday, Adcock starts the day talking at Jacksonville's Dupree Park at 8 a.m. Dressed in her bright campaign colors -- fuchsia blazer over a royal blue blouse -- she sets up a campaign booth at the city's Mumfest event. Then it's on to the Mumfest parade, where she rides in a 1932 Roadster with her grandchildren, Melody and Sterling. Afterward she returns to her booth, tromping through muck and hay, to solicit more votes. "We can do a tap dance," she says, spontaneously mimicking that dance form in a quick, vigorous burst of energy as she tries to dislodge the mud from her fuchsia flats. Next up is a stop at Maumelle's Dogs Day Out and then some door-to-door campaigning. But first, she announces, she must find a Wal-Mart because a helium pump has expired back at Mumfest, and workers can't inflate her trademark pink and blue balloons. "They need one over there bad," she tells campaign consultant Kaye Risser on her car phone. After she returns the phone to the dash, it clatters noisily to the floorboard, dangling haphazardly by the cord. "Oops," she says flatly as she tools into the Wal-Mart parking lot. Once inside, the candidate hunts the aisles with a single-minded focus. Alas, there's no hot air to be found. Back in the car, Adcock explains why she closed her 27-year-old business, Youngland Children's Shop in southwest Little Rock, 18 months ago after considerable soul-searching. The store was the main reason she waited so long to run for city board, a dream of hers since 1974. Her husband of 40 years, Jack, was busy with his own career. Adcock's son, Ty, is a doctor, and her daughter, Nancy Pruitt, has a passion for the ministry -- not running Youngland's. "I would never ask someone to do something they don't have a heart for," she says, as she drives toward Maumelle. When she initially decided to get out of the business and run for county judge, she tried for three months to sell the store. Then she had an epiphany. "I woke up one morning at 4 o'clock, and I knew exactly how I was going out of business," Adcock recalls. "It was going to be in two weeks, and I knew how I was going to close it, I knew how I was going to advertise it. "In two weeks, we was out of business," Adcock says. After courting the canine lovers' vote, Adcock drives to a Maumelle neighborhood. "Nancy Lopez Drive," she announces. "This street has got 19 votes on it." Walking between houses, she says: "See, I figure I'm going to have to ask 57,000 people for their votes. I figure 56,000 people will vote, so I want to give myself 1,000 leeway." Quite a few folks sitting outside recognize her and ask her, didn't she use to run a shop? Some know the store by name. En route to the tailgate, she stops at a convenience store to change. There she runs into two of her campaign workers in trademark blue and pink T-shirts. The trio, which includes her neighborhood canvassing chairman, compare notes on the day's door-knocking. Near War Memorial, Adcock hunts in vain for affordable parking. "The other team must be blue and white," observes Adcock, who doesn't track sports enough to know the Hogs are playing Kentucky. "I'm sure glad I didn't put on my blue Tshirt." Rolling her window down, she pulls beside an officer directing traffic. "I'm a Little Rock city director," she informs him. He points her to a lot near the festivities. She spends the next two hours serving 4,000 fans. Her last event is an evening cornbread social at the rural Runyan Acres home of Bobbie and Wayne Riffle. The Riffles' house sits smack-dab on one of four proposed routes for the planned North Belt Loop Freeway. In a pavilion out back, Adcock hammers Villines, declaring that he puts pet projects ahead of resident' dire road needs, that he is less responsive to ordinary residents than to the influential. "Time and time again, I've seen where our county is not responsive to lower-income women," Adcock says, referring to issues such as child support services and local welfare-towork efforts. Adcock knows she won't be able to please everybody all the time if elected county judge. But she says it would be her job to find out what people need, then do everything in her power to find creative solutions for seemingly impossible problems. It might even require a trademark technique or two. |
| Lawyers vie to replace exiting chancellor in LR Date: 10/20/98 Category: News Page: B3 LINDA SATTER ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Two veteran lawyers seek to replace 6th Judicial Circuit Chancellor W.H. "Sonny" Dillahunty in the Nov. 3 election. A former U.S. attorney, Dillahunty was appointed by Gov. Mike Huckabee in 1996 to fill the rest of Democrat Annabelle Clinton Imber's six-year 6th Divisionterm after she was elected to the Arkansas Supreme Court. The candidates are Democratic nominee Mackie M. Pierce, 43, of North Little Rock and Republican nominee Oscar Hirby, 57, of Little Rock. Each has experience in areas related to family law, which is a big part of any chancery court caseload. Pierce also has some experience in criminal law. Chancery court, the court of equity, also deals with property disputes and constitutional matters as diverse as property taxes, school funding and nuisance cases like the well-known lawsuit over millionaire Jennings Osborne's massive display of Christmas lights that caused traffic snarls in his Little Rock neighborhood. "I'm offering maturity, stability, character and experience," says Hirby, a lawyer for 25 years. "I'm a grandpa, and have been married to the same woman for 33 years," says Hirby. "We dated seven years before that." He's married to the former Carolyn Glover. They have two daughters, ages 28 and 30. Pierce's experience, though less than Hirby's, is extensive. "I've been doing this for 18, going on l 9, years. After a while, it's not practice anymore," Pierce said. Pierce, whose office is in Jacksonville, has two daughters, ages 18 and 22, and has been married for eight years to the former Renee Pettus of Little Rock. Hirby said that in Pulaski County in 1997 there were 3,900 marriage licenses issued and 3,175 divorces filed. He said that of every 107 babies born last year in Pulaski County, paternity became an issue in 27 cases, requiring a chancery court to order tests and then decide child support and visitation issues. "That's too often," Hirby said. Paternity questions included the mother not knowing or not saying who the father was, or the designated father denying paternity. Hirby said his law practice has dealt largely with domestic relationships, guardianships, adoptions and personal injury cases. "Kind of like the family doctor, I'm the family lawyer," he said, noting that he has "helped hold the hands of the children" whose parents are divorcing to "see that they get through the process" without too much confusion or emotional upheaval. "I always make sure I do not neglect the kids," Hirby said. "I just tell the kids, 'If you have a question and you can't talk to Mom or Dad,"' to call him. He said that although technically working for one parent, he knows there are legal questions that it is sometimes difficult for children to discuss with their parents -- such as if a parent has a boyfriend or girlfriend. Pierce said his experience as a special judge in five of the six chancery divisions "gives me a unique insight" into handling chancery matters. Pierce, who also handles some business clients and some personal injury cases, said that whatever the type of case, he knows that all parties involved appreciate quick decisions. He said the 6th Division court "has a very current docket" because both Imber and Dillahunty "have done a good job of rendering decisions" quickly, often on the same day of a hearing or trial. "That is going to be my goal," Pierce said, explaining that he hopes "to render decisions immediately after trial and not take the case under advisement," though in complex matters that may not always be possible. Hirby, whose legal experience includes serving as an administrative law judge for the Workers Compensation Commission, said that he worked his way through law school at night while working in the 1 970s as an assistant manager for the Arkansas Bankers Association and helping raise his young daughters. He said he decided to run for the open judgeship because "I don't know how to say it other than the have been times in the past where people who run for judgeships have never practiced law," though technically they are qualified because they have a law license. "I say it's time we have qualified people -- people with experience who have actually been there with clients in those courts." He said that in chancery courts, where the term lasts six years, qualifications are especially important, so he finally decided, "If nobody else is going to jump out there" to run for the position, "I will. I felt like this was a calling I had." With tongue in cheek, Hirby adds that "there's something I can offer that's unique to any other candidate: With your vote on Nov. 3, you will win an Oscar. I'm asking voters to help me make Nov. 3 an Oscar night." |
| Chew at the zoo Date: 10/22/98 Category: News Page: B10 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STEVE KEESEE Chew at the zoo Daisy, a chimpanzee at the Little Rock Zoo, extracts treats like raisins and seeds from a pumpkin Wednesday during preparations for the annual Boo at the Zoo, which begins today and continues through Halloween. The zoo will feature storytellers, a haunted train ride, a haunted lion house and lights donated by Jennings Osborne. |
| Boo at the Zoo runs through Halloween Date: 10/23/98 Category: News Page: B3 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS "Boo at the Zoo, the Little Rock Zoo s annual Halloween cel-ebration, opens tonight to the pub-lic and runs through Oct. 31. Hours will be 6-9 p.m. daily. "Boo at the Zoo" opens the zoo at night so children in costumes can walk through and receive can-dy at 11 sponsored treat stations. The zoo will be decorated for Hal-loween with pumpkins, Halloween characters and Halloween lights donated by local philanthropist Jennings Osborne. The "haunted lion house is this year s new attraction. The event drew 31,000 visitors last year. |
| Politicians outnumber crowd in Levy Date: 10/25/98 Category: News Page: B1 LARRY AULT ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Political rhetoric reignedD in Levy on Saturday, just as it has for years. This year the candidates may have outnumbered the observers. A small crowd attended the 44th annual Levy Day Old Time Political Rally in North Little Rock, one of the oldest in Arkansas, created by the late lumberman Doyle Venable. The event included an afternoon parade in downtown Levy, live entertainment by Tommy Henderson and his Dixieland Band, plus a lively endorsement of Gov. Mike Huckabee by former Pulaski County Sheriff and U.S. Rep. Tommy Robinson. Sponsored by the North Little Rock Sertoma Club, the rally attracted politicians including candidates for the state Supreme Court, U.S. Sen. Dale Bumper's soon-to-be vacant seat and the governor's office. Nora Harris, a Republican candidate for Pulaski County assessor, was one of the candidates. "I've been fighting the property tax," she said, explaining this was not the first time she has run for public office. Harris, who said she was at an earlier political rally at Sherwood, was not the only person to comment on the slight turnout at Saturday's Levy Day rally. "There are more candidates here than there are citizens," she said, noting that people in general seemed to be turned off politics right now. Some speculated the lack of voter interest could be a reaction to political scandals, both here and in Washington, D.C. "We had a good turnout there," she said of the rally earlier in the day in Sherwood. The larger turnout in Sherwood may have been because millionaire Jennings Osborne was providing free food, Harris said. This is her first countywide race and Harris said it is "tough to get around to all the neighborhoods." Robinson, appearing on behalf of Huckabee, walked up to Harris to talk and shake her hand. "I don't keep up with politics that much," said the former Pulaski County sheriff. Robinson said he attended to comment on the Democratic Party and Huckabee's Democratic opponent, Bill Bristow, a Jonesboro lawyer. Robinson paid a small tribute to former North Little Rock Mayor William F. "Casey" Laman, who talked about the Levy Day rally and its founder, Doyle Venable. Venable, known as the unofficial major of Levy, died in 1992. Levy Day was once held in either May or August, prior to primary elections. In recent years, Levy Day has been moved to September and October. Venable, a lumberman, began the rally tradition with his gospel-singing brother, Jerry Venable, in 1951, as a business promotion intended to sell paint. Political speeches were added later attracting office seekers such as Orval Faubus, Bumpers and Bill Clinton. "He felt you ought to be able look the candidate in the eye," Laman said of Doyle Venable. |
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