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Police free man handcuffed to Capitol railing
LITTLE ROCK (AP) — A police officer had to cut a man out of a pair of handcuffs after he attached himself to the railing on the steps at the state Capitol.
Secretary of State chief spokesman Alex Reed said the incident happened about 10 a.m. Tuesday at the main entrance.
Reed says the man, whose name wasn’t released, handcuffed himself to the railing and told a state Capitol police officer he didn’t have a key. Reed says officers retrieved some bolt cutters and cut the cuffs.
The man and three others who were with him weren’t detained or arrested. -
Park-goers find large diamond
MURFREESBORO (AP) — A group of friends have found one the largest diamonds ever unearthed at Crater of Diamonds State Park near Murfreesboro in southwest Arkansas.
Park officials say Daniel J. Kinney III, Thayer Walker and two others discovered the deep yellow, 6.67-carat diamond on Monday. Officials it’s the ninth-largest diamond found at the park since its inception.
Park interpreter Waymon Cox says the diamond is the second-largest diamond registered this year. The largest was a white 8.66-carat diamond found in April. -
Small quake shakes Hardy
HARDY (AP) — A small earthquake has shaken part of northern Arkansas.
A 2.6 magnitude quake struck early Tuesday morning near Hardy. The 911 call center in Sharp County didn’t have any reports of injuries or damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake’s center was 6 miles northwest of Hardy.
Geologists say earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 to 3.0 are generally the smallest felt by humans. -
Crosbys to celebrate golden anniversary
MELBOURNE — Jerry and Barbara Crosby of Melbourne will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with a reception from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Izard County Fairgrounds Community Building, located on LaCrosse Road (County Road 9) in LaCrosse.
Barbara June Ramsey and Jerry Crosby were married Dec. 8, 1961, in Violet Hill. -
Ozarka to host holiday event
MELBOURNE — Ozarka College will host its second annual holiday event Friday at the John E. Miller Education Complex, located at 218 College Drive on the Melbourne campus.
The event is free to all Ozarka College students, their families and the community and is sponsored in part by a grant received from the Arkansas Collegiate Drug Education Committee and Ozarka College. -
Community plans dinner
HUTCHINSON MOUNTAIN — A fish and chicken dinner will be held at the Hutchinson Mountain Community Center from 3-7:30 p.m. Friday.
The all-you-can-eat buffet including drink and dessert is $10 for adults and $5 for children 11 and under. -
Lyon gears up for Christmas
The annual Christmas tree lighting in front of Brown Chapel at Lyon College will be at 6:45 p.m. Friday. The festivities will begin with hot apple cider served while the Lyon College Concert Band plays familiar tunes during the tree lighting.
The lighting will be followed by carols inside Brown Chapel, and the band will play Christmas favorites. The Batesville Choral Society and the Lyon College Concert Chorale will finish the evening with a performance of the Christmas portion of Handel’s Messiah. -
Skys to perform in Pocahontas
Former Batesville resident Bill Sky and his wife Vicki will perform at 7 p.m. Friday at the Randolph Music Theater in Pocahontas, according to a news release from Woodsedge Productions in Nashville, Tenn., where the Skys now live.
The Skys, who have been singing together for 23 years, travel about 90,000 miles a year to take their award-winning Southern-style gospel music to audiences across the U.S. and Canada. The Vine Street recording artists play about 200 dates a year. -
Four I’ll miss
Four top notch news guys died this fall. Their individual styles of journalism could not have been more different, and yet they were alike in their dedication to keeping audiences informed and entertained.
They touched us all, but for me each had a special connection. -
Congress can’t restrain itself
The failure of the congressional “supercommittee” to present a credible plan to reduce spending shows once again that Congress simply cannot restrain itself. Over the past 50 years, the federal budget has been balanced (or had a surplus) only five times.
In other words, Congress has shown that it can’t balance the federal budget 90 percent of the time. -
Thankful in November
November.
You can almost feel the year winding down. For me, this month is filled with numerous birthdays, family get-togethers and the knowledge that there are only so many paychecks and shopping days left until Christmas. All in all, November has been busy. Even so, my thankfulness continues. -
Pesticide training to be Thursday
The next Farm Pesticide Applicator training meeting will be held Thursday at the Independence County Extension Office, starting a 6:30 p.m. This is the class that qualifies farmers for a State Plant Board license to buy restricted pesticides.
There is a $10 fee at the door for the training. This is in addition to the fee charged by the State Plant Board for the actual license. Remember that normally you will only have to take the training once every five years.
This is a service that Extension is providing to help producers comply with the State Plant Board regulations.
