NEWPORT — A 41-year-old Judsonia woman died in a one-vehicle accident on Donnie Stevens Road in White County early Wednesday, according to an Arkansas State Police preliminary report.
April Billings was southbound in a 1998 Ford Explorer about 3:12 a.m. when she lost control, said White County sheriff’s Cpl. Justin Williams, the investigating officer.
The vehicle left the roadway and overturned, ejecting the driver, who was not wearing a seat belt. Weather conditions were clear and the roadway was dry, Williams said.

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Chandler Lowell was busted when he told police a fib.
A court affidavit filed by Sheriff’s Lt. Jimmy Smith says that on Aug. 8 Lowell, 18, of Batesville gave a written statement to police that Timothy Reams had taken his vehicle without his knowledge or permission.
Smith said later that Lowell told police that wasn’t the whole truth, that he knew that Reams had taken his keys and that he had planned to take it, but yet made no attempt to stop him. “I expected that he would return it at some point soon in the future,” Lowell reportedly said.

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First reported as a suspect in a vandalism incident around 9 Tuesday night, an Ash Flat man was later arrested a few block away for public intoxication. 
The suspect in the vandalism was reported to be a white man wearing a white T-shirt, and a white cap with a big (Christmas) bow on it. The witness said they saw the man, later identified as Christopher James Reed, 28, pick up two pieces of wood and bust office windows at the North Arkansas Development Council on Neeley Street.

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Bond has been set at $400,000 for a man shot multiple times after he allegedly tried to kill police officers following a high-speed chase near Newark on Nov. 22.
Just five weeks after the incident, James C. Perkins, 46, of Newark, was transported to the Independence County jail around 9:30 Wednesday night after being released from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Hospital in Little Rock, where he had been listed in critical condition for several days.

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Building, expanding and breaking ground seemed to be a common theme in education news for area schools and colleges in 2011.
In the spring the Batesville School District announced plans to expand its high school due to a growing student population. The project will add 27,563 square feet to the already 145,505-square-foot high school building on Pioneer Drive.

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Just minutes before getting the 911 call of a pedestrian being struck by two vehicles Wednesday afternoon, Batesville police dispatch radio traffic indicated that several calls had been received about a man jumping into traffic on Highway 167 South.
Trooper David Jones, with the Arkansas State Police, said Greg McDougal, 57, of Batesville, was hit by two pickup trucks traveling north in front of the PepsiAmericas plant around 2:30 p.m.

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The 2012 elections are almost here, and the Arkansas Secretary of State has listed several upcoming dates:
Jan. 8-22 — non-partisan judicial candidates may file petitions for ballot access
Feb. 2-March 1 — party filing period
April 22 — deadline to apply to register to vote in the May 22 primary election
May 22 — preferential primary and non-partisan judicial general election
June 12 — primary runoff
Aug. 19 — deadline to register to vote in the annual school election
Sept. 18 — school election

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The Democratic Party of Independence County Central Committee met Dec. 6 and approved fees for filing in the 2012 Preferential Primary.
The fees are actually a reduction from the prior election, said Tony Thompson, chairman of the Democratic Party. The fees are 2.5 percent, compared to 3 percent in the previous election.
Fees are as follows:
• County judge — $1,453.81;
• County clerk, circuit clerk, tax collector, tax assessor and treasurer — $1,129.89;
• County sheriff — $1,306.24;
• County coroner — $386.25;

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Batesville’s Lock and Dam No. 1 is a place many go for recreation, but more than 100 years ago it began as a government operation for commercial travel when steamboats were the common mode of transportation for people and goods.
Lock 1 by Riverside Park was to be the beginning of a major government plan throughout Arkansas to install 10 locks and dams to control water levels. At times, the water level in the river was so low that steamboats couldn’t get through, according to John Stacy, project manager for the White River Hydroelectric Project.

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