The Arkansas Reporter
THE WEEK THAT WAS JUNE 22-29 IT WAS A GOOD WEEK FOR…
Phone: 501-375-2985 Fax: 501-375-3623 Arkansas Times Online home page: http://www.arktimes.com E-mail: arktimes@arktimes.com ■
THE PULASKI COUNTY SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT Though many nettlesome questions remain in the state’s takeover of the district — particularly on what the state’s position will be in district lawsuits — it gained some degree of stability on Tuesday when Education Director Tom Kimbrell named Dr. Jerry Guess, previously a 15-year veteran of the Camden Fairview School District, to lead the district. RAIN Much of Central Arkansas got a much-needed soak on Tuesday. IT WAS A BAD WEEK FOR…
FILLING THE VACANT FEDERAL JUDGESHIP IN LITTLE ROCK The White House has asked U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor for a new list of candidates to fill the seat, vacant since October 2008. With selection, background checking, nominating and confirming still to come, the likelihood of the position being filled during the president’s first term is looking uncertain. FAYETTEVILLE SHALE An article in the New York Times found that natural gas companies, including some with holdings in Arkansas, have grossly overstated the productivity of their wells and provided unreasonable forecasts for future prospects. MARK MARTIN Maybe we should just go ahead and make a permanent spot for the bumbling secretary of state herein. This week comes word that his office has added a disclaimer of gibberish meant to undermine FOI requests of email. A sample passage: “Opinions, statements, and assertions in this e-mail are not intended for public release. In the event of public release, the public is advised to treat this e-mail with caution, as any and all e-mail is subject to later revision (including revision that may not be transmitted by e-mail); matters set forth herein are effective only as of the date and time on the e-mail itself.” 8 JUNE 29, 2011 • ARKANSAS TIMES
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GLENWOOD HERALD
PULASKI COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICTS Federal District Judge Brian Miller, who made the unexpected and since-stayed ruling to halt state desegregation payments to Pulaski County school districts, disqualified himself from hearing the case. The case will fall to federal Judge Price Marshall of Jonesboro.
MYSTERIOUS CLOSURE: Forest Service won’t talk.
Still waters Little Missouri swimming area closed, local business suffers. BY DAVID KOON
n In the middle of the night on June 11, 2010, the Little Missouri River surged over its banks and swallowed the sleeping campers at Camp Albert Pike Recreation Area in Montgomery County. The water rose over 15 feet in less than an hour, the current snatching husbands away from
wives, and children away from mothers and fathers. Twenty people died in the tragedy, eight of them under the age of 10. While nobody likes to talk about dollars and cents in the face of such a horror, residents and business owners near the Recreation Area say they have to
The Times has a new editor Millar replaces Brantley. n Lindsey Millar, formerly the lifestyle editor of the Arkansas Times, has been promoted to editor, taking the place of Max Brantley. Brantley, who has been editor for nearly 20 years, will take senior status; he’ll continue to write a column and be the editor of the Arkansas Blog, the Times’ daily online source for news and commentary. Millar, 31, joined the Times staff in 2007. He previously worked at the Localist, Little Rock Monthly, the Oxford American and the Arkansas DemocratGazette. He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University in Virginia and is a native of Searcy.
Brantley became editor of the Times in December 1991, after the closure of the Arkansas Gazette, where he’d worked for 19 years. He oversaw the Times’ change from THE BOSS: monthly magazine New editor to weekly newspa- Lindsey Millar. per in April 1992. “There’s no one in Arkansas journalism with the institutional wisdom of Max Brantley,” Millar said. “I don’t think anyone could hope to truly replace him.
speak up about the U.S. Forest Service’s decision to barricade a popular swimming area there — closed without explanation on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend this year and closed since then. One business owner says the closure of the swimming area has hurt what remaining business he has left. Almost as frustrating, he says, is that the government isn’t answering questions as to why. The swimming area, situated in a bend of the Little Missouri and described in the writings of Albert Pike, features slate and granite rocks, a beach, and deep, clear water. The beauty of the spot has made it popular with tourists from South Arkansas, North Louisiana and Southeast Texas. It lies about a mile from Loop D, where the majority of the deaths occurred in the 2010 flood. Albert Pike Recreation Area has been closed to overnight use since the flood, with officials debating whether it will ever open again to campers. Mike Graves is the publisher of the Glenwood Herald, The Nashville News, and the Montgomery County News. Even the reporters at his papers can’t get through to the U.S. Forest Service for an explanation. The Arkansas Times’ repeated attempts at contacting someone with the Forest Service to discuss the closure of the swimming area went unreturned as well. “I was going to jump in [the swimming hole] and our editor was going to take a picture of them leading me off in cuffs Continued on page 15
Luckily, I won’t have to. I’m counting on reporting on the Arkansas Blog and daily counsel from him for years to come.” Millar said that despite the challenges that media now face, he’s confident the Times will continue to grow because of its “creative and tenacious staff,” the publisher’s “spirit of innovation” and because the Times is committed to covering important stories that are often ignored elsewhere. Brantley, 61, said he decided last year that “it would be good for the paper if I stepped aside.” He pointed to Millar’s development of the Times’ new website and other technological advances, including podcasts and online databases, and his design changes. Millar is also “a contributor of sharp writing and smart and collegial editing, and he’s also brought a number of new free-lance voices to our pages.” “The Arkansas Times has been an important voice in this community for almost 37 years. I couldn’t feel better about the future,” Brantley said.