Arkansas Times - October 23, 2014

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NEWS + POLITICS + ENTERTAINMENT + FOOD / OCTOBER 23, 2014 / ARKTIMES.COM

K.I.A.

Afghan war vet and peace activist Jacob George killed himself in September. In some ways, he never really came home from the battlefield.

by David Koon

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OCTOBER 23, 2014

3

COMMENT

Cotton’s muddy record

ARKANSAS TIMES

TOWN MEETING

to introduce the opening of a new charter school in Little Rock

Tuesday, November 11th 6:30-8pm at St. John Baptist Church’s Fellowship Hall 2501 S. Main • Little Rock REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED Rockbridge Montessori School is currently applying to become a free and public open enrollment charter school. Montessori education is an established, hands-on curriculum that has over 4,500 schools in the United States and 20,000 schools internationally.

Free and public Montessori education will be offered in central Arkansas only through Rockbridge Montessori School, scheduled to open its doors in Fall 2015.

Rockbridge Montessori School is currently applying to become a free and public open enrollment charter school. Montessori education is an established, hands-on curriculum that has over 4,500 schools in the United States and 20,000 schools internationally. Free and public Montessori education will be

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OCTOBER 23, 2014

a FREE Public CHARTER School announces its

opposing government of, by and for the people but favoring corporate rule is not a principle that I admire.

I find deplorable his sociopathic principle of doing everything he can to help his corporate benefactors while sacrificing the rest of us. Nor can I find any redeeming value in his dog-eat-dog, every-man-for-himself principle. Cotton’s muddy voting record stands on its own.

David Offutt El Dorado

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of in any replacement program.

They would be the Democratic contributions in the ACA that benefit the people rather than the companies. Do you really want to say goodbye to these: 1. You can’t be kicked off your policy if you get sick. 2. You can’t be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition; 3. Women can’t be charged more than men. 4. If unable to get a job with health coverage, your son or daughter can stay on your policy until age 26. 5. The elderly can’t be charged more than three times what is charged to younger policy holders.

6. The donut hole (the time when there is a gap before being covered again) in seniors’ Medicare drug programs is being closed. 7. No more than 20 percent of your premiums can go to overhead, profits and CEO salaries.

One of the most shameful votes

by Cotton was his opposition for relief aid to the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Here in Arkansas, we have our fair share of natural disasters: tornadoes, droughts and floods.

When we need federal aid, we need to have a representative in Washington with the credibility to ask his colleagues for support.

Tom Cotton doesn’t qualify. I don’t recall his ever claiming to be a “compassionate conservative,” which seems to be an oxymoron anyway, but we need a representative who is capable of showing empathy to those in need.

Cotton insists he votes according to his principles. I respect anyone with principles that make sense.

But his anarchistic principle of

E

The best thing we have to look forward to is the certainty that we will have someone other than Tom Cotton to represent us in the 4th Congressional District. His voting record has been an embarrassment to humanity. When his record was brought up as an issue after he announced his candidacy for the Senate, he accused his opposition of slinging mud. At least we know that Tom Cotton is honest: He acknowledged what his voting record looks like.

Cotton voted against the Farm Bill, which everyone knows is vital to Arkansas. Why? Because it still contained food stamp appropriations! Contrary to popular belief, more whites receive food stamps than blacks. Single mothers and children are the primary recipients. Proper nutrition is essential for the development of the mind and body. A well-nourished child is more likely to become a well-educated student and a productive adult. Since Cotton is Harvard-educated, we should not allow him to claim ignorance on any of this.

It would be admirable if Cotton were seeking ways to make food stamps less necessary. Does he support efforts to get Walmart, McDonalds, etc. to pay employees a living wage? Does he support the meager increase of the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour?

(Even though that’s much better than $7.25 an hour, ask yourself whether that’s enough to pay your bills.) Does he support putting millions of unemployed workers back to work by creating wellpaying jobs to improve America’s crumbling infrastructure of roads, bridges, dams, parks and electrical grid? (The construction of Interstate 69 across South Arkansas is still unfunded!) No. It seems that he just doesn’t care.

Cotton agrees with many Arkansans that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has to be repealed. It appears to be a vote-getter to have the callous belief that in the U.S. only those wealthy enough or lucky enough to have a job that provides health benefits should be able to get insurance. However, by the end of this year, millions of people will have signed up for policies they couldn’t afford before. Also, in states like

Arkansas that expanded Medicaid coverage, hundreds of thousands have coverage who otherwise would be without (like those unfortunate enough to live in the wrong states).

Are we really going to just take away their insurance?

Does Cotton want to replace the ACA with something better? Is he recommending universal health care: Medicare for everyone? Medicare is already fully operational, it works fine, and it’s less expensive. (Many of those who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 have never forgiven him for not fighting for universal Medicare. Instead, President Obama immediately opted for the Republican plan proposed by the right-wing think tank Heritage Foundation.) No. Cotton has actually voted to raise the Medicare eligibility age to 70, privatize it, and turn it into a voucher system! That’s a not-too-subtle method to destroy it altogether.

The Republican contribution to the ACA was the requirement mandate and the use of private (for-profit) insurance companies.

It’s doubtful Cotton and his FoxRepublican-Tea Party colleagues would really get rid of either of these. They both benefit the insurance companies. Remember, the Republicans asked Mr. Obama to delay the employer mandate for one more year; he agreed to their request; they’ve now filed suit against him for doing what they asked! So they obviously support the mandate. Don’t you just love them?

There are ACA provisions Cotton and company would likely get rid

OCTOBER 16, 2014 / ARKTIMES.COM / NEWS + POLITICS + ENTERTAINMENT + FOOD

HONKY TONK HERO The legend of Jimmy Doyle's Country Club and its namesake

By Will Stephenson

Toast of the Town results and Craft Beer Fest preview.

From the web In response to “The story of Jimmy Doyle’s Country Club” (Oct. 16): Really enjoyed reading this. I used to come out there and danced all night. I’m so ready to come back and see if this old body can still party.

Yvonne Ware I enjoyed reading the story. I have been a member of Jimmy Doyle’s Country Club for about 21 years now and even though the crowd has gotten smaller, it is still my home away from home.

Angela Sweatt I was one of the regular guys there always dancing, always had pretty women at my table. Guess maybe I was good two-stepper, don’t know, maybe I was just a goodlooking guy. Wish those days were back. Now I can hardly walk, but I would not do it any other way. Hope it never changes and stays open for a 100 more years.

John Franklin Studdard Boy, did I ever exercise some poor judgment at JD’s 30-something years ago.

Paul Covert

50 Breweries & Over 250 Beers The Arkansas Times along with the Argenta Arts District is excited to announce their third annual craft beer festival. We want to share the celebration of the fine art of craft brewing in America by showcasing over 250 beers.

One big night of fun, food, entertainment & tasting fine beer!

10 Restaurants

Local Live Music by The Cons of Formant

Arkansas Ale House (Diamond Bear Beer), Bravo! Cucina Italiana, Cafe Bossa Nova, Cregeen’s Irish Pub, Crush Wine Bar, The Fold Botanas & Bar, Old Chicago NLR, Butcher & Public, Whole Hog North Little Rock, and

(included in ticket price)

October 24 - 6 to 9 pm th

RAIN OR SHINE!

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TICKETS, BREWER DETAILS & MORE AT: Benefiting

arktimes.com/craftbeerfest Buy Tickets Early - Admission is Limited

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(Includes tastings and food.)

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Participating Breweries

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Abita, Anchor, Apple Blossom, Bayou Teche, Blue Canoe, Boulevard, Breckenridge, Caldera, Charleville, Choc, COOP, Core, Crazy Mountain, Crown Valley, Diamond Bear, Evil Twin, Finch ‘s, Flyway, Fossil Cove, Founders, Goose Island, Green Flash, Laughing Dog Brewery, Lazy Magnolia, Leap of Faith, Left Coast, Marshall, Moody Brews, Mother’s, New Belgium, North Coast, O’Fallon, Ommegang, Ozark Beer, Piney River, Prairie, Rebel Kettle, Saddlebock, Sam Adams, Shiner, Schlafly, Shock Top, Sierra Nevada, Southern Star, Stone’s Throw, facebook.com/arktimescraftbeerfestival Summit, Tallgrass, Tommyknocker, Unibroue, Vino’s

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OCTOBER 23, 2014

5

EYE ON ARKANSAS

WEEK THAT WAS would lose their health insurance if he got his way.

20-30 percent: The cuts, over the next 10 years, that Cotton voted to impose on Medicaid and ARKids funding used for the elderly in nursing homes, poor children and the disabled. That’s on top of kicking 250,000 Arkansans off their plans.

On the eighth day, He was a thin-skinned bully

The University of Arkansas Razorbacks fell to Georgia in Little Rock last Saturday, perhaps the last Hog game of significance at War Memorial Stadium (the one game next year will be against … Toledo). With the end likely near for UA games in Little Rock, we need new ideas for what to do at War Memorial Park on the crisp fall weekends of the future. How about this: The New York Times last weekend had a story about the rise of college fishing teams — outside the NCAA regulatory umbrella and competing in tourneys backed by the big fishing industry. The Razorback bass fishing team is pretty good, for one. So how about the city have a catfish tourney in the pond at War Memorial Park? Use the stadium for a weigh-station, with a stage for appropriate live music. Catfish frying stations, too. A hush puppy contest.

Mountain Dew and other beverages at football-game prices.

This could be big.

Health care cuttin’ Cotton, by the numbers 211,611: Number of Arkansans who have gained health insurance coverage via the private option, coverage they would lose if Tom Cotton wins his Senate race and enacts his policy platform.

38,210: Number of Arkansans who have purchased plans on the Arkansas Marketplace. Cotton would kick them off, too.

90: Percentage of those 38,210 who are getting subsidies to help them with the cost of insurance, subsidies Cotton would eliminate.

154: Number of times Cotton said “Obama” during the two debates.

0: Number of times Cotton offered a plan to cover 250,000 Arkansans who 6

OCTOBER 23, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

And speaking of Rapert the bully…

Over the weekend, Conway city employee Wes Craiglow, a supporter of Rapert’s opponent Tyler Pearson, took to Facebook to state that Rapert had tried to pressure him by threatening not to support Craiglow-backed city projects.

Rapert responded haughtily on Facebook but made no denial of the quid pro quo, telling Craiglow that he likely wouldn’t support Craiglow’s “ideas if you are working against me politically.”

Quote of the week “These smartphones that children have these days are the devil.”

—Attorney general candidate Leslie Rutledge, during a debate, on battling crimes in cyberspace

Tweet of the week “On the road today.

In my experience, the worse the bathroom signs are spelled, the better the chicken strips are.”

— John Burris, political director for Tom Cotton campaign

BRIAN CHILSON

Catfish tailgate

At a debate last week in Greenbrier, incumbent state Sen. Jason Rapert (R-Conway) called his opponent, 28-year-old Tyler Pearson, a “boy.” When Pearson had the microphone, Rapert audibly said, “Act like a man.” Pearson held his ground and took the high road.

Bro. Rapert, in fiery form, also asked Pearson if he was wearing a hearing aid and paraphrased Proverbs 9:8, telling Pearson, “When you rebuke a scoffer, he’ll hate you.

When you rebuke a wise man, he’ll love you. You’re making a choice right in front of these people here tonight.” We will leave it to the Biblical scholars and Rapertologists among you to divine who the wise man is, and who the scoffer is, in Rapert’s parable.

A HEAD-SCRATCHER: After two close losses, Arkansas Razorback head football coach Bret Bielema was left trying to figure out what happened in a 45-32 loss to Georgia on Oct. 18 at War Memorial Stadium.

Mark Martin, dunce Secretary of State Mark Martin couldn’t be bothered to show up to the debate with his Democratic challenger: Susan Inman, a former election commissioner who happens to be competent and qualified, for whatever that’s worth. Martin blamed a busy schedule, but can’t be bothered to show up to work, either (some snooping by the Blue Hog Report blog revealed that Martin posted to Facebook either at home in Prairie Grove or in other places not on state business for a whopping 42 out of 95 regular business days between March 31 and Aug. 12).

One thing he might have spent time on: some lessons on the law.

When the Supreme Court struck down the legislature’s voter ID law as unconstitutional, Martin followed up his dereliction of duty in failure to educate the public about the

law by initially announcing that he would still enforce the law to the fullest extent possible. Huh? It was overturned as unconstitutional!

After rumors of a frivolous 11th-hour federal court filing, Martin finally bowed to the inevitable, but not before screwing up again, initially telling clerks and commissioners that all first-time voters had to show ID (not so). And, of course, he still hasn’t removed the voter ID page with now outdated information from his website.

There’s only so much space to list his grossly incompetent buffoonery, but also this week: Martin’s office revealed that it botched the ballot initiative process, too; and Martin sicced a Capitol cop on Inman with a frivolous cease-and-desist letter regarding voter information on her campaign website, proving that even his dirty tricks are ham-fisted.

OPINION

A vote for the future

I

f the Democratic Party of Arkansas has a future, it is in people like Clarke Tucker, the Democratic nominee to succeed term-limited John Edwards in representing House District 35 — the Heights and northwestern Little Rock.

Tucker is a corporate lawyer with brains and personality. He’s been chosen a leader every place he schooled: Central High School, Harvard, the University of Arkansas Law School. He’s also stuck to the high road against a malicious campaign by Republican opponent Stacy Hurst.

Sunday in North Little Rock, appearing with Bill Clinton, Tucker said: “We can send a message in Arkansas this year that politics can still be noble, that we embrace hope over fear, and that we believe not only in the greatness of our people, but also in their inherent goodness.”

These are mature words. A measure of his strength is the inability of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, amid its usual parade of Republican editorial rubberstamps,

to come up with anything against Tucker except patronizing comments about his youth. (He’s 33, MAX not exactly a kid.)

BRANTLEY Stacy Hurst has maxbrantley@arktimes.com been a city director for 12 years, but known more for putting her finger to the wind than leadership. She did vote for her campaign contributors against multiple neighborhoods fighting a damaging gas station. Often she vacillates, such as when she backed away from a commitment on something as small as window replacements for the Woman’s City Club.

She rarely does press interviews, a tacit admission of her limited skills. Her flawed judgment showed early when she bragged about using the discredited Republican senator Gilbert Baker as a financial bagman. His work for her included a dole from the smelly PACs Baker orchestrated

GOP sees only the bad in job, economic growth

G

ood news was once a valued commodity, even in an election year — especially in an election year.

But now the sky has to be falling every day.

Barack Obama needs to be seen leading the country to ruin (elections in the South and Midwest depend upon it) so every news cycle somehow lends credence.

Take plunging oil and gasoline prices.

High pump prices before the 2012 election were cause for gloom and glee — glee on the part of Republicans because it would cinch Obama’s defeat. Gas prices tailed off by Election Day, although at an average of $3.46 a gallon they were the highest on record for an election day. Obama won anyway.

When gas prices spiked this spring, Republican pundits and politicians blamed Obama and his energy policies, especially offshore drilling bans and his refusal to sanction the pipeline to pump Canadian crude to Gulf of Mexico ports. Arkansas Republican congressmen said Obama was responsible for high gasoline prices because he would not expand drilling on federal lands or federally protected waters.

Now that the oil glut has sent prices below $3 a gallon in a spiral that is likely to continue, you might think that someone, perhaps a random Democrat, would give the president some credit, even if he’s no more deserving than he was of blame when prices rose.

But while the news mentions that gas savings are pumping billions into the rest of the consumer economy every month, it also has carried ERNEST specters of gloom.

DUMAS See, it’s bad for the petroleum business, it reduces incentives for the development of renewable energy, and it destabilizes a Middle East dependent upon oil income, which increases perils for the United States. Gadzooks, it also steepens the economic decline in oil-exporting Russia, where Obama’s sanctions already have driven inflation to 8 percent, sank the ruble to a 15-year low against the dollar and caused investors to yank $100 billion from Russian ventures. Now the oil depression may provoke Vladimir Putin into new mischief in Eastern Europe. What will Obama do to us next?

A bit overstated perhaps, but the goodnews/bad-news ratio has seldom seemed better before a national election or politics and the voters more indifferent to it. There is no stomach for good news, although realistically no surfeit of good news would reduce Obama’s unpopularity in the South.

A typical Arkansas ad this fall is a Republican billboard in remote Sharp County that blames the local Democrat running for

to stuff with Michael Morton nursing home money.

Hurst insists she’s a moderate. Who knows? She didn’t know her political party until a Republican tycoon instructed her in the path to his money. Her cautious city board record doesn’t promise a fighter against the regressive Arkansas GOP. She’s more likely to be regressive herself.

Has anybody done anything lower than Hurst did in trying to make a campaign issue out of where Clarke Tucker’s 4-yearold enrolled in nursery school? Clarke Tucker’s son didn’t make the cut for the Little Rock pre-K his parents sought.

Thanks to Freedom of Information Act requests and reporting by Blue Hog Report, we learned how the Hurst campaign tried to make something out of this nothing. A Hurst supporter, School Board member Leslie Fisken, was communicating with school district officials. School employees lied or bungled. The Tucker child was treated unfairly. And Stacy Hurst and her pals schemed to turn it to her advantage.

Then came an anonymous mailer that Hurst disavowed connection with, though it concerned an issue her campaign had

promised to raise weeks before and she’d soon by working the issue herself. Tucker once did his mother a favor. He provided pro bono legal assistance to the brother of a woman Tucker’s mother had been helping. With agreement of the prosecutor and judge, the man got probation.

Providing legal counsel makes Tucker soft on crime in the eyes of Stacy Hurst.

The Republican Party put out a Willie Horton-style mailer that misrepresented the facts of the case (the young man was acquitted on a subsequent charge filed after the plea bargain) and parroted Hurst’s new tough-on-crime posture.

(Where had the crime fighter been for 12 years on the City Board?)

It is reprehensible to fault a lawyer for providing constitutionally guaranteed legal counsel. Tucker says calmly that he’s confident voters “are smart enough to understand that good lawyers at times take pro bono criminal cases in their careers, and that does not make the lawyers responsible for the sins of their clients.”

Such smart voters surely will prefer the hope Clarke Tucker offers over what Stacy Hurst is selling.

a state legislative seat for the Barack Obama agenda of economic ruin. (For the record, the Obama agenda has manifested itself in Arkansas in two ways: (1) The big stimulus program of 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, improved highways and bridges in every community of the state, put thousands to work and saved the state budget by pumping $825 million into public health accounts, which allowed the state to save its own taxes and run surpluses for three years while other states were slashing budgets and running double-digit unemployment rates.

The other impact was Obamacare, which has extended health insurance to 250,000 Arkansans for the first time, sharply reduced emergency-room and hospital admissions, saved $125 million in drug costs for Arkansas seniors, and put $17.7 million in the pockets of Arkansas consumers whose health insurers had spent more than 15 percent of their premiums on profits and advertising than Obamacare allows.)

Is it the economy, stupid? Consider the pre-election economic trends. Another good job surge in September meant that more net jobs have been created under Obama in six and a half years than in the combined 12 years of the Bush presidents (5.1 million to 3.9 million) and more than Japan, Europe and the world’s other advanced economies combined. Those nations, which followed the Republican strategy of cutting public services to fight recession, are slipping into recession again.

Unemployment, 10 percent when Bush left, is now 5.9 percent. The Dow Jones closed

under 8,000 on Bush’s last day on its freefall to 6,479 six weeks later, but it now ranges between 16,000 and 17,000. The S&P index has nearly tripled since then. Rich Americans, bleeding from Obama’s “class warfare,” have never enjoyed so much prosperity in spite of the president’s attempts to push more of the national wealth downward through the minimum wage, higher taxes on investors and subsidized health insurance for the poor and the middle class.

Health care spending has been the driver of forecasts of fiscal doom, but no one takes notice that health care inflation has leveled off since 2009. Medicare was on its way to bankrupting the country, according to the forecasts every year, but after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act took effect in 2010, the Congressional Budget Office and the Medicare trustees each year have reduced their projections of future spending. Owing to reforms in Obamacare and the Budget Control Act of 2011, the CBO’s forecast this summer of Medicare spending in 2019 was reduced by another $95 billion.

Remember those warnings — actually they’re still issuing them in Arkansas political races — that Obamacare would cost millions of jobs, send the country into recession and send budget deficits soaring?

In fact, job growth picked up smartly when the big features of the law went into effect 10 months ago. And the federal deficit fell to $483 billion in the fiscal year that just ended, less than a third of its $1.5 trillion peak in George W. Bush’s last budget year.

Good news? Who needs it? www.arktimes.com

OCTOBER 23, 2014

7

HELP

COLD WEATHER IS APPROACHING IN ARKANSAS! We need to get stocked for the severe weather season.

We are in need of the following items: • Food Donations • Portable Cots • Mats • Mattresses • Blankets • Sheets, etc.

Winter Clothing for all sizes & ages • Coats • Socks • Hats • Gloves DONATE & DROP OFF AT ANY LOCATION • The One, Inc., 8016 Faulkner Lake Road N. Little Rock • Brian Thompson Shelter Insurance 9903 Brockington Rd, Ste 103 Sherwood • Sweet Love 8210 Cantrell Rd. • Little Rock • The Russ Bus Headquarters 53 Parham Lane • Russellville

8

OCTOBER 23, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

501-955-3444 theoneinc.org

It’s Witt up the backstretch

W

hen the 2014 election season began, Arkansas Democrats felt particularly bullish about the chances of former FEMA Director James Lee Witt to recapture the 4th Congressional District after two years in the hands of Rep. Tom Cotton. However, for months, Witt gained no traction in the race. While Democratic insiders who were so enthusiastic about Witt’s candidacy knew all the details of his impressive problem-solving biography, rank and file voters in the district — many of them new to the electorate since Witt left the state to work in Bill Clinton’s administration — had no clue who he was.

The initial weakness of Witt’s candidacy was shown in a July Talk Business and Politics/Hendrix College survey where Witt trailed GOP nominee and state House Majority Leader Bruce Westerman 48 percent to 34 percent.

Even more problematic for Witt, he had yet to fully lock up the support of the district’s shrinking number of Democratic voters and showed particular challenges with African-American voters in the district. One in five of the district’s AfricanAmerican voters expressed support for Westerman and, just as problematically, fully one in four African-American voters were undecided.

Witt showed a good deal of fundraising success, relying upon the Clinton network inside and outside the state, but when week upon week went by without Witt making a television buy to begin to introduce himself to voters, observers began to believe he had waited too long to get the advertising phase of his campaign underway. However, a new public poll provides evidence that Witt has indeed made a significant move in the race. This week’s new Talk Business and Politics/Hendrix College survey shows Witt having closed the race to 2 points, within the poll’s margin of error.

While his media may lack the cleverness of the ads that introduced Patrick Henry Hays in the 2nd Congressional District, it shares with Hays’ early ads a focus on pragmatic, nonpartisan problem solving. It’s just the message for the independent voters in the 4th District that will determine the race’s outcome. In addition, as was shown by Republican Tommy Moll, who very nearly pulled off a GOP primary upset against Westerman, the geographical vastness of the district means that a candidate who has the means to advertise in the district’s five media markets can make up ground swiftly.

According to the poll, Witt has coalesced the support of core Democratic

voters who had no idea who he was in July and now is running solidly with African Americans. Last JAY weekend’s visits BARTH to several major towns in the district by Bill Clinton, who touted Witt’s candidacy, can only help to link Witt to the popular former president’s administration and further shore up these numbers with Democratic voters in the district. The fact that Witt has closed the gap with Westerman is particularly impressive because statewide Democrats Ross and Pryor both trail in the district (Pryor trails by 6 percentage points in the same survey).

Witt’s campaign may indeed have started just a bit too late to catch Westerman in an increasingly GOP-favorable district, but he is roaring up the backstretch as the campaign comes to an end and remains advantaged financially against Westerman. Moreover, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has reserved a good deal of time on Little Rock stations for the closing days of the campaign. To date, that airtime has been used to support the candidacy of Pat Hays with a series of effective, yet controversial, attacks on French Hill’s record as a banker. Seeing an opportunity for a second pickup of a seat in Arkansas, the DCCC could shift some of those resources to Witt’s candidacy. Regardless, this one shows all the signs of being a photo finish.

Meanwhile, there is no item on the Nov. 4 ballot that’s received less attention than Issue 1, placed before the Arkansas electorate by the General Assembly. I try to maximize the analysis and minimize the editorializing in this space, but because Issue 1 is so thoroughly problematic I’d be frustrated with myself if it passes and I hadn’t put forward my concerns. The proposal would amend the state constitution to allow the legislature to approve executive branch agencies’ administrative rules and regulations before they go into effect. Right now, the Legislative Council “reviews” such rules following an extensive public comment process but has no power to overturn the rules until the next legislative session.

As Schoolhouse Rock!’s “Three Ring Government” taught us, the legislative branch is designed to pass the laws and the executive branch to execute them.

Issue 1 would, in essence, make the General Assembly both creator and executor of the law.

Eugene Ellison: Little Rock’s Michael Brown

A

couple of weeks ago I accompanied 10 students to St. Louis for a mass rally in support of indicting the police officer responsible for killing Michael Brown in mid-August.

My students were pleasantly surprised to find how multiracial, multigenerational and ecumenical the thousands of protestors were. The purpose of the rally was to ensure justice was served on Brown’s behalf by calling for the grand jury to indict the officer who killed him. On our way back to Little Rock I explained to the group that Brown is only one of dozens of black men who have been killed by the hands of the police in America.

In the past 30 years there have been ample examples of police brutality in almost every major city in the United States. In the same month Barack Obama was inaugurated as president of United States, Oscar Grant was killed by a police officer in a Metro station in Oakland, Calif. Two years prior in 2006, Sean Bell was killed by a fury of 50 gunshots in New York City. Amadou Diallo was shot 41 times in New York when reaching for his wallet in 1999. There are countless others: Malice Green in Detroit, Mich.; Flint Farmer in Chicago; and Kathryn Johnston in Atlanta, Ga. — all killed at the hands of the police.

In 1966, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale started the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in a response to police brutality. The group began to “police the police” by arming themselves and then observing police matters in order to curb violence, repression and terrorism in their community. This program was quickly abated as the state of California and eventually the federal government systematically destroyed it.

Nowadays surveillance and oversight of police activities are carried out through organizations like Cop Watch and Cop Block, which encourage citizens who have been victims of police brutality to record and report alleged abuses in order to create a broader narrative of police misconduct around the nation.

Unfortunately, in most cases individuals who report abuses against police officers do not see justice served on their behalf.

A prime example of this is the story of Eugene Ellison of Little Rock.

On Dec. 9, 2010, Ellison, a 67-yearold black man, was killed in his home

by Donna Lesher, an off-duty police officer. Ellison began struggling with Lesher and Officer Tabitha McCril-

lis after the two came upon Ellison’s open door while working off-duty security at the Big JOSEPH Country Chateau JONES Apartments near University Avenue and went inside to investigate. The two officers called for backup. According to an on-duty officer who arrived on the scene, Lesher stepped outside the apartment. When Ellison picked up his cane, she shot him without issuing any warning.

An internal investigation into Ellison’s killing by the LRPD homicide division cleared Lesher of all wrongdoing. Lesher’s husband, Sgt. James Lesher, heads the division.

Ellison’s sons — both veterans of the Little Rock Police Department — filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in 2011 alleging that their father’s civil rights were violated. The case is still moving toward trial.

Just a few weeks ago, Attorney General Eric Holder and former President Bill Clinton held a forum, “Race Relations and Community Policing,” in Little Rock. Attorneys representing the family of Ellison made a public request to the attorney general to investigate the LRPD “pattern and practice” of shootings similar to what happened in Ferguson, Mo. According to Ellison’s attorneys, Michael J. Laux and Ben H. Elson, from 2001 to 2014 there have been 107 police officer-involved shootings in Little Rock. Over half of the shootings were deadly force victims, 72 percent of whom were black. Also during these years there have been 192 complaints filed by Little Rock citizens against the LRPD, only seven of which were sustained. The attorneys argue that there exists a “code of silence” where Little Rock police officers are not being held accountable for misconduct allegations.

Eugene Ellison is the Michael Brown of Little Rock, and if nothing is done to bring justice for the Ellison family and address the police misconduct in the Little Rock Police Department, Little Rock could become Ferguson.

Dr. Joseph Jones is executive director of Philander Smith College’s Social Justice Initiative.

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10

OCTOBER 23, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

ou can hang up if you want, caller, but I suggest you listen good.

Arkansas did two positive things it had not done all year in an otherwise disgusting loss against Georgia inside Quigley Nouveau Stadium.

One, it showed second-half gumption and urgency. A team not built for comebacks got reasonably close to authoring one, a score at a time. The Hogs had to pass and Georgia had to soften the zone to protect the lead, but it almost got too close for comfort for the ’Dawgs by midway through the fourth quarter. (And speaking of “too close for comfort,” why is Jim J. Bullock not getting more work these days?)

The second thing Arkansas did well might shock you. When Georgia built that 38-6 first-half lead and all appeared hopeless, the Hogs shielded out the boos and ignored the obscene and unhappy throng that started filing toward War Memorial Stadium’s 15-inch-wide, foul-smelling exits.

They adhered to their game plan in the second half in a rather stirring way, with Jonathan Williams and Alex Collins still getting ample running opportunities after the break and Brandon Allen taking some play-action shots and escaping pressure.

In other words, even with the necessity to throw and throw often that grew out of a 32-point deficit, Arkansas didn’t look substantially different out there, just a bit more urgent, efficient and oddly quite a bit more confident.

Make no bones about this: The first half was an abject and mystifying descent into Yakety Sax-themed football follies right up there with the 35-point first quarter that Tennessee smacked down on the Hogs in Knoxville back in 2000, or unforgettably awful first halves against two different USC teams (Southern Cal in 2005, South Carolina just last fall). Just a bungling, holy mess. These are the games you regret taking young children to, because the midday hostility starts materializing in the form of a YouTube-worthy tailgating documentary where the cast members begin with swagger and end in a stagger.

And this was the game we should’ve honestly feared, because none of these players have any meaningful connection to War Memorial, much less any desire to pitch a weekend tent there. Far too much was made of a worthless statistic about the SEC West being undefeated against the East; here you had the West’s brave but luckless last-place team taking on the other division’s very obvious power team, so why was there so much favor extended Arkansas’s way?

Georgia exposed Arkansas’s utter lack of depth by deploying a balanced offense

and a defense that made Allen’s already-limited checkdown ability nil. He rarely had time to spot guys BEAU running unimagiWILCOX native crossing patterns, and got decked plenty to no great surprise. And by no means did he even play well, his career-best yardage output notwithstanding.

So quick to pounce on Allen after a remarkably consistent and steady run, Hog fans routinely fail to observe that a steady passing game isn’t just predicated on the arms and legs of the maligned junior.

Pass protection from this massive, onceunimpeachable offensive line has been sporadic, the wideouts can’t seem to distinguish themselves enough to give Allen confidence throwing to one target over another, and the running backs aren’t getting any shots to flaunt their hyped openfield skills with well-constructed screens.

The only time the so-called flat came into play Saturday was when Allen was getting driven into the turf in that region by a blitz off the edge.

Arkansas suffered complete systems failure Saturday, period. Nothing worked right for a very lengthy and painful stretch.

The defense looked completely uneasy after Georgia quarterback Hutson Mason surprised the Hogs with two early deep strikes. Punter Sam Irwin-Hill’s most recent boots have been largely hideous since he scooted for that touchdown against Texas A&M — dead legs much?

We won’t even utter another word about the placekicking situation until it appears to be correcting itself (so, in other words, hold nary a breath over this).

It was probably all just waiting to happen. There were cracks in the mortar the past two weeks and Saturday the foundation crumbled. But it goes without saying that Georgia did much to create that deficiency — this is a very capable Bulldog team that isn’t getting nearly the respect it warrants after a 6-1 start and back-toback big-time conference road wins with Todd Gurley being on ice. Nick Chubb is just another grinding Bulldog back who is content to push a pile or curl up over the pigskin after the defense closes in, so long as he gets the chance to escape through a hole and show his speed later. Because the Bulldogs also showed some field-stretching acumen for a change, things were much easier for Georgia than even Mark Richt probably imagined.

At least Arkansas is through the first gauntlet that the schedule offered now.

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NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

Roommates

T

he Observer is a few months from 30 and still has a roommate. Just to be clear, this is a share-the-rent deal, not a share-the-bed deal. I’m not gay, and therein lies the problem.

Having a roommate is a situation that popular culture would have us all believe is a badge of mild to moderate shame.

To have a platonic roommate beyond one’s mid-20s, the sitcoms propagandize, designates either a childish refusal to grow up or desperate financial straits. Either way, it’s always shorthand for Loser. In big cities, having a roommate can be forgiven as a sheer grudging necessity for struggling urbanites facing the cost phantasmagoria of apartment rental in NYC or San Francisco.

In Little Rock, however, you can lease a Burger King franchise for the same price as a studio apartment in Manhattan, so why not live unfettered and alone? Or so the thinking goes.

Because it’s lonely, that’s why. The last time The Observer lived entirely by himself was in 2006, the year immediately after college, when a post-graduation job offer freakishly presented itself in a shrinking town in the Arkansas Delta. It was a weird way to enter the working world. At age 21, The Observer found himself leasing a hulking, red brick behemoth of an ancient Southern home that was easily 3,000 square feet for the price of — believe it or not — $325 a month. With two stories plus basement and attic, a great winding staircase, and a massive colonnaded porch, it was the only house on the block that wasn’t boarded up. The nonresident landlord really just wanted an occupant to keep the place from sitting vacant. That’s what can happen in a town with an imploded property market and sufficient population migration, the citizenry Hoovered up by distant cities with functional economies.

After a melancholy fall and a miserable winter frigidly slouching around the great Gormenghast of a house, wrapped in a comforter and talking to myself with increasing frequency, regretting taking the job and resenting the town, friendless and alone save for the comforts of the Internet and beer, The Observer moved that spring (“fled” is the better word) into another place with less grandeur, more insulation,

less potential for a spectacularly Southern Gothic mental breakdown, and, most importantly, some other human beings.

That was some eight years ago, and The Observer hasn’t particularly wanted to live alone ever since. But it was an extreme situation, and the opinions of others have their way of eating at one’s mind. For the past two years, I’ve lived with a good friend in a nice apartment, yet I’ve started to wonder if, as a self-sufficient, marginally capable adult person, it isn’t maybe time to ditch the roommate situation. And then recently, an experiment presented itself. Events in the world compelled said roommate to leave his stagnant if comfortable job and spend about a month and a half traveling out West. I had the place to myself for six weeks — to be as clean or as messy as desired, as loud or as quiet. To make my living quarters mine and mine alone. It was awfully nice, it must be admitted.

Yet all in all, The Observer calls bullshit on the idea that functional adults must live either in romantic pairs or alone.

Living alone is overrated. Last Friday, the roommate returned from his trip with all his bags and items and personal tics, bumbling around and taking up space, moving my things and cluttering up my counters with my preferred boxes of cereal, occupying the bathroom and breathing all over everything. I’m glad he’s home.

It’s nice to be able to turn up the volume all the way on any awful song at any time of the day. It’s nice to be able to stroll around the house mostly naked and eating a sandwich. But I still say those assets are outweighed by the pleasure of having a trusted friend around. People are animals with half-formed, pitifully contradictory needs for privacy and companionship, and it’s too easy to indulge the former impulse and let the latter shrivel away. Screw expectations about independence! Living with another person is healthy. If he’s (or she’s) a good roommate, he’ll forgive your musical taste and your moments of injudicious nakedness. If he’s a great roommate — and mine is — he’ll even let you use his sandwich fixin’s from time to time.

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OCTOBER 23, 2014

11

Arkansas Reporter

THE

IN S IDE R

Last month, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the conservative political nonprofit funded by the Koch brothers and their donor network, sent out thousands of mailers in North Carolina that gave voters in that state faulty information concerning their voter registration. Forms were addressed to dead people, children and, in at least one case, a cat.

AFP said the mass mailing was a mistake and has apologized, but the North Carolina Democratic Party has filed a complaint alleging attempted voter suppression.

Now, there’s an Arkansas connection. Sue Sturgis, a blogger for the Durham-based Institute for Southern Studies, has made available two letters sent by AFP attorneys to the North Carolina State Board of Elections, which is currently investigating the N.C. Dems’ complaint about AFP. The letters say the bad information “utilized a template from a previous mailer sent out to potential new voters in Arkansas”: “The genesis of our errors in North Carolina was entirely inadvertent and resulted from the size and scope of our ambitious voter registration effort which involves multiple states. More specifically, our North Carolina mail was drawn from a similar document previously sent to Arkansas residents. ...

Our mistake was in taking our Arkansas form and applying it to North Carolina without re-vetting every detail to ensure it reflected North Carolina’s latest voter registration procedures prior to its release.”

Hmmm. “A previous mailer sent out to potential new voters in Arkansas”?

Has anyone out there received one of these? If so, please snap a picture and send it our way; we’re very curious.

AFP is a political organization, let there be no mistake. It exists for the express purpose of influencing elections and policy decisions, not for nonpartisan voter registration and education.

As a piece recently published in the New York Times Magazine points out, Americans for Prosperity, along with other powerful emergent outside players in the American political landscape on both the right and the left, now essentially functions as a privatized political party.

So it’s a fair question to ask: Why exactly is AFP choosing to spend a chunk of its war chest, in the midst of one of the most crucial Arkansas elections in decades,

BRIAN CHILSON

AFP at work

SEEING IT DIFFERENTLY : Mike Ross (left) and Asa Hutchinson.

Doing the math Pre-K and taxes define race for governor.

BY BENJAMIN HARDY

A

fter four debates, endless ads and an avalanche of press releases, we now know at least this much about the gubernatorial candidates’ positions on education: Democrat Mike Ross has a plan to offer pre-K to more Arkansas families; Republican Asa Hutchinson thinks it’s fiscally irresponsible.

As far as the other big education issues of the day go, read the two candidates’ websites side by side and you’ll be hardpressed to find major differences. Where there’s daylight between their stated positions, pre-K aside, it’s more a matter of tone and emphasis than of substance. Ross provides more prescriptive details than his opponent and is willing to take somewhat more decisive stands, but given the degree to which Hutchinson has sidestepped tough policy issues in this race — on the private option, on the minimum wage — that may be faint praise.

Both are big fans of improving workforce education, a worthy goal with little political risk. In their final televised debate, both said they’d like to see legislation to scale back the Huckabee-era school consolidation law that requires districts with fewer than 350 students to merge with a neighbor. And both are agnostic on the politically treacherous issue of Common Core, the new set of math and literacy standards that have become a lightning

rod for Tea Party conservatives and some teachers alike.

Similarly, neither Ross nor Hutchinson is in any hurry to talk specifics on fixing the teacher insurance plan, which is probably the most immediately dysfunctional component in the vast machinery of Arkansas’s K-12 school system. Public school employee premiums have become exorbitantly high, and there’s no clear fix outside of a massive new commitment of state revenue. Both candidates have said the problem needs to be addressed, while avoiding any details.

Yet despite such nonproposals, there are still two education issues that starkly separate the Democrat from the Republican in this race: pre-K and tax policy.

ON PRE-K “Pre-K is one of the best things we’ve ever done,” Gov. Mike Beebe told the Arkansas Times in a conversation about the education issues facing his successor. Pre-K is most important to children from lower-income households, said the outgoing governor, since they’re disproportionately more likely to enter school underprepared.

“Sometimes they come from one-parent homes and one parent’s working their tail off, doesn’t have the time or ability to spend a lot of time [with the child]. Some-

times they’re coming from homes where nobody can do that, either because they don’t want to or they’re not prepared. So that group of students, they’re starting way, way behind. … And it’s all cumulative — if you finish first grade at a lower end spot, you end up in a lower starting spot in second grade.”

Despite that convincing argument, the state’s pre-K program, Arkansas Better Chance (ABC), has been chronically underfunded throughout most of Beebe’s tenure in office. The last time it received an increase in funds to keep pace with inflation was back in 2007, during his first year as governor. In Beebe’s defense, the recession constrained every part of the state budget in the years that followed, and other states with worse budget holes had to cut pre-K spending; Arkansas did not. Nonetheless, flat funding has prevented ABC from serving all the children eligible for assistance: 3- and 4-year-olds from households below 200 percent of the poverty line. (That’s around $48,000 for a family of four.)

ABC and the federal pre-K program, Head Start, currently have slots for only about 80 percent of eligible 4-year-olds and 47 percent of the state’s eligible 3-year-olds, creating waiting lists in many towns across Arkansas. The shortfall in funds has reached the point where ABC providers are now up against a wall. If a cost-of-living increase isn’t provided, they’ll have to either cut back ABC enrollment numbers or reduce the quality of the existing program.

Ross, who has said he wants to be “the education governor,” has made ABC the cornerstone of his vision for improving CONTINUED ON PAGE 46

12

OCTOBER 23, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

THE

Wilbur Mills and Fanne Fox

BIG A

t 2 a.m. Oct. 9, 1974, police stopped a car in Washington, D.C., carrying Wilbur Mills, the powerful Arkansas congressman from Kensett and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. He was drunk and his face was injured.

Another passenger, Annabel Battistella, an Argentine stripper who performed under the name Fanne Fox (“The Argentine Firecracker”), got out of the car and jumped into the nearby Tidal Basin. He was 65; she was 38. Despite the scandal that followed, Mills survived a re-election challenge in 1974. But a second public appearance with Battistella at a Boston burlesque house later in November signaled the beginning of the end of his political career. Soon after, he resigned his chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee, acknowledged his alcoholism and sought treatment. Battistella reportedly eventually returned to Argentina. Forty years after the Tidal Basin scandal, if she’s still alive, Battistella would be 78.

Mills died in 1992.

Pinnacle Books published “Fanne Fox,” Battistella’s biography and account of her time with Mills, in 1975. Here are a few of the juicy bits:

PICTURE

Battistella meets Mills at the club where she dances, The Silver Slipper.

“After my performance, Mr. Mills told me it was the loveliest dancing he had ever seen in his life.”

Battistella and a friend go to dinner with Mills and back to his apartment for a nightcap. “ ‘These two young ladies,’ Wilbur said waggishly, pointing to Claudia and me, who were both dressed in glamorous evening clothes, ‘are my nurses.’ ” At Mills’ apartment.

“As I walked out of the bathroom I bumped into Mr. Mills and couldn’t help but look him up and down because of what he was wearing. He had changed into a robe beneath which I could see his long knee socks and his highly polished shoes.”

Battistella and Mills begin an affair.

“The nice advantages about our older manyounger woman romance were his wisdom and the variety of information exchanged between us because of the generation difference. He knew things I could not possibly know, not from book learning but from being there, and I was able to contribute to his life with the cultural and emotional products of my generation.”

After a night of drinking, Battistella writes that she and Mills get into a lover’s spat, hitting and clawing at each other’s faces, before they’re stopped by police.

“Wilbur ordered me to stay in the car, but I was very defiant and I would not. … Then Wilbur started to get out and I told him to stay in the car.

But he would not, and the yelling started all over again. … There were lights glaring on us from the uniformed police flashlights and headlights, and the television cameramen. … Uppermost in my mind when I saw all this activity was that I had gone too far this time, I had lost him, and I just had to get away. So I dashed over to the stone parapet near the bridge over the Tidal Basin, and I dove in head-first.”

“Down in the dark, deserted water I dived very deep, not knowing or caring where I would come up.

My long, expensive evening dress lapped around my

legs, but I felt nothing.”

The scandal lands Battistella job offers.

“At first he protested that he did not want me back in the business, but when I explained I needed the income, and should exploit this chance, he capitulated, ‘as long as you don’t remove all your clothes.’ ” Mills makes an appearance at a burlesque club in Boston. “ ‘Oh Anna,’ Wilbur said with the face of a child caught stealing cookies, ‘I love you. I wanted to see you and I want everybody to know.’ … After fifteen minutes of dancing I finished my act upstage, where I could see behind the curtain line. To my horror, he was on the stage, right behind the halfopen curtain. In an instant, to preserve some dignity, I announced to the audience, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I have a visitor for you, and he wants to say hello.’ And I called out, ‘Mr. Mills where are you?’

“He was grinning like the proverbial cat that ate the canary when I took him by the hand and led him before a cheering, whistling, foot-stomping crowd. “Here I am,” he said.

It was supposed to be only a brief token appearance, but he reveled in the acclaim, and insisted on having his say. ‘Yeah,’ he said into the microphone, ‘she’s beautiful, but who do you think made her?’ With that enigmatic remark, he was led back offstage by me.”

“Offers and requests, along with fan and hate mail, poured in from everywhere. I politely declined an inappropriate invitation by the Republican Club of Wilbur’s home state, Arkansas, to perform for a substantial fee at a benefit.”

“I don’t know how the final chapter of Wilbur and Fanne will read. Wilbur is trying to draw his brilliant political career to a stable and dignified conclusion, I am embarking on a career that was interrupted long ago in Miami, and although we haven’t consummated a marriage, we have consummated a love that no amount of scandal or press can destroy. … Even though the labels stripper and congressman are completely incongruous, there was never anything but harmony in our hearts. Que sera, sera.”

LISTEN UP

Tune in to the Times’ “Week In Review” podcast each Friday.

Available on iTunes & arktimes.com

INSIDER, CONT. on the noble goal of voter education? Was it merely to boost turnout in general?

Is it only coincidence that the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette carried an article last week about complaints from voters in Hot Springs about receiving false notifications by mail that they weren’t registered to vote? Is a caging operation underway in Arkansas? The state Board of Election Commissioners should be seeking answers. The secretary of state should be seeking answers.

The Justice Department and FBI’s voter integrity units should be getting to the bottom of this now.

Back in North Carolina, the State Board of Elections is requesting demographic information from AFP about whom its mailers were sent to, said Sue Sturgis. The board is attempting to determine whether AFP sent the bad information to any particular group of voters; after all, whether boosting turnout is good or bad for AFP’s political goals depends on who exactly does the turning out.

Sturgis also says that election officials in three other states — Wisconsin, Virginia and West Virginia — have received complaints against AFP about distributing misleading information in the past. In Wisconsin in particular, there have been allegations of voter caging, Sturgis writes: “The strategy involved the Wisconsin Republican Party using its statewide voter file to compile a list of minority and student voters in targeted communities. It would then give that to AFP, which would send a mailer marked “do not forward” telling recipients — wrongly — that they must call and confirm their registration information, and that if they did not they would be removed from voter lists.”

However, the real purpose of the mailers was to see if any were returned as undeliverable. If they were, those voters would then face challenges by Tea Party recruits at the polls for not legally residing at their registered addresses.

Are you a newly registered voter?

Have you received a mailer from AFP? If so, let us know.

Corrections: In last week’s cover story, “The Last of the Real Honky Tonks,” we mistakenly reported that Cheryl Brewer was convicted of second-degree murder for shooting her husband, Charley Brewer. She was convicted of manslaughter. www.arktimes.com

OCTOBER 23, 2014

13

THE MARTYR OF DANVILLE MOUNTAIN

Jacob George, ‘moral injury’ and one soldier’s losing struggle against the encroaching darkness of war.

BY DAVID KOON

“We just need to support the troops,” is what they tell me.

Well, this is coming from a troop. So listen carefully …

— Jacob George, “Support the Troops”

G

iven how tragically common veteran suicides are in this country, you have to know the whole story of Afghan war vet, peace activist and Danville native Jacob George to understand why the news that he’d taken his own life in Fayetteville on Sept.

17 hit the anti-war community like a punch to the ribs. Over the last month, the grief over his death has steadily seeped out via the Internet — dozens of eloquent testimonies about his kindness and caring, even as his own grasp on life silently deteriorated until it was gone.

Having emerged as a beloved figure in the anti-war movement in recent years through his protest music and near constant travel and activism — including riding his bicycle over 7,000 miles across America to speak to anybody who’d listen about peace and what the war was doing to soldiers — George seemed to be coming through his darkness. He was the one who talked other people off the ledge, doling out free bear hugs and helping vets through troubles only another vet can understand. He was the 14

OCTOBER 23, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

one who was supposed to make it.

Though some rushed in following the news of his death to try to reframe George’s suicide as a statement on America’s decision to re-entangle ourselves in Iraq and the Middle East, the portrait that emerges from the people who loved him is less that of an easy, two-dimensional martyr and more that of a flawed and vulnerable man who did his best to beat the ghosts that haunted him for as long as he could. If there’s a silver lining to his death, it’s that in the process of losing his own battle, he surely helped countless others get closer to winning theirs.

Backflip

See him there: Jacob George, 12 years old, standing on a wooden picnic table, toes on the bare edge of the wood, back to the world, hands out, knees bent.

See him: shirtless and tan, legs coiled springs under the hem of his denim shorts, a small boy who’ll never break 5-foot, 3-inches even as a man, tip of his tongue peeking out as he silently thinks: “Don’t die.”

Hot summertime in Danville, Arkansas. Behind him, his friends are standing around, pretending to be uninterested. Years later, his childhood friend Aaron Reddin will say Jay was the daredevil, impervious to even the idea that he could be harmed. He would

do a backflip off anything, Reddin said.

The other boys pretend they’ve grown tired of that trick. But in reality they never do. Fearlessness is a rare skill, even among boys whose bodies heal damn near quick as the immortals.

This was, of course, before the war broke some irreplaceable part of him, like snapping a dry twig over the knee.

For now, there’s only gravity, and pushing out the thought of hitting the summer-dry dirt face first or — God forbid — ass first, a wound to dignity being much more terrible than a plain old wound for a boy that age. And so he swallows his fear and does it. Liftoff.

Kick. Backflip. The woozy spinning. And then his feet thud back to Arkansas and momentary glory. And he doesn’t die.

The grandson of the once-powerful state Rep. Lloyd George of Danville, who served 28 years in the legislature and died in 2012, Jacob George spent his summer days as a child roaming the family’s property on Danville Mountain, where he lived as a boy, or visiting his grandfather’s picturesque farm. His younger sister, Jasmin George McBride, remembers him as wild and energetic; a free spirit who recharged in nature.

“He wasn’t afraid to climb the tallest tree,” she said. “He would go and run the mountain to find peace — to find some relaxation and to calm himself.”

George’s mother, Robin Mulac,

WARD REILLY

said that though her son was always musical, athletic and smart, his energetic temperament kept him from concentrating in the classroom. When his grades suffered to the point that he started seriously thinking about dropping out of school at 16, he and his parents made the decision to send him to the David Carrasco Job Corps Center in El Paso, Texas, a residential job training hub. George lived there for two years, graduating from the program with his high school diploma.

After Job Corps, George moved back to Greenwood, where his mother was living with Jacob’s stepfather. He got a job, but soon tired of it. He was hungry to make a difference in the world, and to get money for college. “He just started getting really frustrated, wanting to do something more,” Mulac said. “One day, he told me and his stepfather that he was tired of putting up with civilians.

He was going to join the military.”

“He saw that as a way to do something,” McBride said. “To kind of get out and have some kind of a life.”

After considering the Navy, George settled on the U.S. Army, hoping to join the Special Forces. He signed up, and graduated from boot camp in early 2001. He was eventually assigned to the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, N.C., as a

paratrooper and combat engineer. Then 9/11. Within weeks, George was on his way to Afghanistan. He’d eventually serve three tours there, rising to the rank of sergeant, spending most of his time in the provinces on the Afghanistan/ Pakistan border, walking mountains that might have reminded him of home had Yell County been somehow denuded down to the dust.

Given how much impact the war had on him, it’s strange that this is where most of what’s known about Jacob George’s war ends. Other than a few stories he told in his music or to the protest groups he visited, the years he spent in Afghanistan are mostly a black hole in his timeline, never shared even with his sister or mother. He just didn’t like to talk about it. When he’d call home while he was in the service, Mulac and McBride said, he was always more interested in hearing about home than he was in talking about what he was doing. Later, during his bike rides across the country, when interviewers would ask him for war stories, he’d sometimes dodge the issue by telling them it was all classified.

One of the only stories he did share — which he shared habitually in interviews and in his songs — was about him running, camo clad, rifle in

hand, out of the full belly of a dual-rotor Chinook helicopter onto a dusty farm in the Afghan mountains, seeing the terrified eyes of the people who lived there, and suddenly being clouted in the midst of the swirling grit and noise by a single thought: How frightened he would have been as a boy had soldiers swooped in and invaded his grandfather’s farm.

The other is a strange little bit of coincidence that happened to George in 2002, as related in his song “Jimmy Freeman.” This is the future, where everyone lives forever online, so it’s actually possible to read George’s own version of the story if you look for it: “In the summer of 2002,” George wrote in the description of a YouTube clip of him singing the song, “I ran off a helicopter near a hill on the Afghanistan-Pakistan (Af-Pak) border.

As I approached the top of the hill, I saw a guy that looked really familiar.

I had body armor on, so he couldn’t see my nameplate. He had his blouse off, so I couldn’t see his name. We stared at each other for a while trying to figure it out, then we went back to our dailies. Later on I saw him again, with his top on and it said ‘Freeman’. I yelled out, ‘Jimmy!’ Jimmy Freeman was a childhood friend who ran around

LETTING GO: George throwing back his medals in Chicago.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16 www.arktimes.com

OCTOBER 23, 2014

15

with me all over Danville Mountain in Arkansas. After not seeing one another for several years, he turned around and recognized me immediately. ... He was getting ready to return to the U.S. and I had just arrived. Both of us had been bouncing around different bases on the Af-Pak border. He was only going to be up there for three or four more days and my stay was about a week, so it felt very special to briefly cross paths at such an unlikely place.”

One of the bright spots McBride

‘Moral injury’

Unless you’re a vet or involved in veteran’s health, you’ve probably never heard the term “moral injury” until now.

An article published by the journal of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs’ National Center for PTSD in 2012 defines moral injury as recurring guilt or shame caused by “perpetrating, failing to prevent, bearing witness to or learning about acts that transgress deeply held moral beliefs and expectations.” It’s still a very new concept: the idea that a

OVER THERE: George in Afghanistan.

remembers was visiting him at Fort Bragg with her husband in 2003.

Always musically inclined, George had recently taken up the banjo.

“He thought it would be funny,” McBride said. “He was playing a lot of punk rock music, and he thought it would be funny to add a banjo.

He ended up becoming an amazing banjo player.”

16

OCTOBER 23, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

soldier can be mentally harmed not just by killing the enemy or seeing horrible things, but simply by being a cog in the machinery of war.

That sense of being morally wounded undoubtedly adds to the sky-high number of veteran suicides in this country every year. To call the suicide rate among U.S. veterans anything less than an epidemic would be to downplay

the problem. According to figures released in 2013 by the Department of Veterans Affairs, in 2010 around 22 U.S. veterans a day took their own lives. There was an increase in the suicide rate of young male vets, many of whom served in Iraq or Afghanistan, of 44 percent between 2009 and 2011.

On average, according to a VA study released earlier this year, two veterans age 30 or below kill themselves every day somewhere in this country. That’s today, tomorrow, next Thursday, Thanksgiving and your birthday. That’s seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Jacob George would come to use the term “moral injury” often about his own condition once he returned home from Afghanistan in 2004. When he got back, his mother said, there was a definite change. “It’s hard to describe it,” she said. “Maybe a little bit darker. He didn’t like to talk about things that happened over there a lot. We didn’t push it. We didn’t ask.”

George eventually moved to Fayetteville and took classes — including classes he loved in poetry and anthropology — at the University of Arkansas. His childhood friend Stephen Coger remembers that when George came back home, he very much supported the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Coger, a peace activist who started an anti-war group on campus, found that the philosophical split constrained what they could talk about.

“He had muscles from his earlobes to his elbows. He was just all muscle and trauma and just kind of made you nervous to be around,” Coger said. “We were buddies, but we didn’t talk about stuff that was really important to us because we wanted to stay friends, so we just played music together.”

George eventually got a job with parking enforcement on the UA campus.

His job, Coger said, was to go out and lock a heavy steel boot on cars with too many unpaid tickets, something George — who preferred bicycles over cars even then — did with a certain glee. George eventually built a custom trailer for his bicycle to carry the boot in, chugging it up and down the hills around campus.

After a few years of going to school and writing tickets, Coger said, George had an epiphany. “He was getting yelled at one day by his boss,” Coger said. “I hope you’ll excuse the language, but he thought to himself, ‘I’m gonna punch this guy in the fucking throat.’ But then he said that his next thought was, ‘What if I don’t?’ ” It was, George told Coger, the first time he’d considered a nonviolent response to a tense situation

The road to Afghanistan

What Jacob George proposed to Stephen Coger and Gladys Tiffany of the Omni Center at that meeting might have sounded like pie-in-the-sky dreaming, if not for the fact that Coger knew how dedicated George could be when he set his mind to a goal. George told them he wanted to get on his bike and ride all over America, playing music and working for peace, until the U.S. occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan ended. A Ride Till the End, he came to call it.

“Honestly I was afraid,” Coger said, “because I knew that he would do it, and I knew that I wouldn’t see him much if he did. I didn’t understand, and I don’t think I could understand, the depth of Jacob’s suffering and trauma. He needed that to heal it. All I could see was a long ass bike ride.”

Once it became clear that he was serious, a group of Fayetteville artists, poets and musicians got together and cut an album called “Peace from the Hills,” that could be sold on the road to help George pay expenses. The album features songs and spoken word poetry, including two poems by George, “Terror,” and “I Know You Don’t Mean It.” In the poems, Jacob’s voice is hesitant and subdued, the Arkansas shitkicker twang that would later creep into his songs mostly absent.

In May 2010, George, his younger brother, Jordan (who was then AWOL from the Arkansas National Guard, at Jacob’s urging), and a friend set out from Fayetteville on their bicycles. Over the next three years, Jacob George would travel thousands of miles, coming back home to Greenwood or Fayetteville to sit out the winter before hitting the road again. Either alone or with others, he zigzagged all over, crashing on couches, talking to any media outlet that would listen (he called himself a “hillbilly” and “a farmer from Arkansas” in interviews, though friends say he’d never planted more than a row of beans in his life). He made his way to the Gulf Coast during the BP oil spill, to the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library, and was one of the few civilians let into the courtroom for the tail end of Bradley

Manning’s court-martial for aiding the enemy by giving classified information to Wikileaks.

After George and Air Force vet Brock McIntosh founded the Afghanistan Veterans Against the War Committee of the protest group Iraq Veterans Against the War, they were invited to travel back to Afghanistan as civilians, a trip which took them to Kabul and the Panjshir Valley in the winter of 2010. During the trip, McIntosh said, they discussed the first time you fly into Kabul as a soldier, the plane diving straight down to Bagram Airfield to avoid enemy fire, the mountains dark and terrifying obstacles in the distance, everything about the experience telling you “be afraid.”

“Flying back as civilians was completely different,” McIntosh said.

“The first thing we noticed were how beautiful the mountains were the second time around.”

George was in Afghanistan for a month. They visited museums and refugee camps while in the country, McIntosh said, and both were struck by the kindness of the Afghan people. He could see that the experience brought George peace.

“I know that it was a very moving experience for him,” McIntosh said. “He constantly referred to it as a healing experience. I think it did make a big difference for him.”

accepting that is really one of the things that liberated my soul.”

In another video, speaking to a Unitarian Church group in Dallas in April 2013, George said that he’d tried everything from traditional psychotherapy to sweat lodges to try and fix himself after coming home from Afghanistan, but throwing back his medals had been the only thing that worked.

“The act of throwing released something inside of me,” he told the group. “I don’t know what it is. I’m still trying to figure it out. But it played a role in healing my soul. It was a very transformative event. ... I started to see that my anti-war work, in a way, was me

A soldier’s heart

Jacob George is still alive online, video after video, shot on cell phones and Flip cams and big news cameras.

If you had the time, you could track his travels point by point, and his grief, and his healing.

In one video, George sat down for a short-subject documentary before marching with thousands of other vets to the gates of the NATO summit held in Chicago in May 2012, where he hurled the medals he’d received from the U.S. Army over the gate. Sitting on the shores of Lake Michigan, looking road sore in a gray sleeveless T-shirt and a yellow bandana, he told the filmmakers he’d had to re-evaluate his experiences from Afghanistan.

“When I looked in the mirror, I started to see a terrorist,” he said, “because the things I’d participated in over there surely brought the farmers terror when we landed in their fields, crushing their crops. I remember running off a helicopter and looking into a man’s eyes and terror was what was looking back at me. It was as if a devil had just stumbled into his life. ... Judging my actions and

STEPHEN IRONSIDE

since he’d come home from Afghanistan.

Soon after, George asked Coger to introduce him to the president of the Omni Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology in Fayetteville. It was during that meeting, Coger said, that George brought up what would eventually become the focal point of the next three years of his life.

FREE: Singing with his banjo.

trying to heal my soul. Anti-war work, in particular, is a symptom of moral injury.”

Given how it all turned out, it’s hard to know what to think when watching all those videos. Everything except the music, of course. Music doesn’t rely on how it all turned out.

At every stop, George talked to vets about their pain, played his banjo, and sang songs that would eventually become “Soldier’s Heart,” an album of nine bluegrass-infused protest songs he wrote and cut with Fayetteville producer Kelly Mulhollan in 2012.

Given how constrained George had been on “Peace from the Hills,” Mulhollan said he didn’t expect much when George called him during one of CONTINUED ON PAGE 18 www.arktimes.com

OCTOBER 23, 2014

17

But to me, I’m neither.

his breaks from the road, asking him to record a few songs he’d written. By the time he was done that day, however, Mulhollan was convinced he’d witnessed the creation of an important work.

“I didn’t have any plans to produce it,” Mulhollan said. “But I watched him knock out the most profound piece of art I’ve ever been in the presence of.

That became ‘Soldier’s Heart.’ He had gone through some sort of epiphany.

He found his voice. He found a way to express his anguish. It’s an album of crying out, in real time. It’s intense.”

Mulhollan said that he believes the

They call me precious And worship my sacrifice They gave me medals To validate their lies Their colorful clanging on my chest.

Calms ’em like a lullaby.

They call me son, they call me hero But to me, I’m neither They call me son, they call me hero.

But to me, I’m neither.

The celebration of violent deeds puts my heart at unease Parades and flags can’t change what I done There’s no honor in what I’ve become.

They call me son, they call me hero.

But to me, I’m neither.

They call me son, they call me hero.

But to me, I’m neither.

I’m neither.

I’m neither.

I’m neither.

I’m neither.

WARD REILLY

‘Accelerated darkness’

PERFORMING: At a rally for Bradley Manning.

album could help everyone, not just vets. “Right from the start, I saw that Jacob had a profound understanding of how everything is connected — the environment to peace and justice, how it all ties together. The big picture,” Mulhollan said. You could hear all that in his songs, he said. But you could also hear that he was haunted by demons.

“They Call Me Hero”

by Jacob George They call me son, they call me hero.

But to me, I’m neither.

I’m not what you think.

I’m scared of me.

I’m not that boy that left.

I’ve danced with death.

They call me son, they call me hero 18

OCTOBER 23, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

By the autumn of 2013, George’s friends and family say, he was tired and ready for a break from the road, activism, and bearing the country’s grief from the war.

“When he went on that ‘Soldier’s Heart’ tour,” Stephen Coger said, “everybody would come up to him after the shows and just unload all of their trauma onto him. When he came back from that, we had a visit at Nightbird Books in Fayetteville last December. He was like, ‘I’m through playing that music for a while. I’m through listening to other peoples’ problems unless they’re family.’ ” “Over this past year,” said Jasmin McBride, “it’s almost like he felt like he’d done what he needed to do as far as the political and the anti-war stuff.

He still had the same beliefs, and the same feelings, but he was kind of ready to settle down and maybe have a family — to move past his protesting days. He was into his music, and he had a girlfriend.

He just kind of wanted to be back into normal things.”

Brock McIntosh, who’d kept in touch fairly regularly with George since their trip to Afghanistan, said George told him he’d decided to take a step back from activism and concentrate on himself.

“He disabled his Facebook, and it was kind of hard to get in touch with him after that,” McIntosh said. The last time McIntosh heard from him was when George called, distraught, to talk

to him about how badly the media was depicting Bowe Bergdahl, the American POW who was released by Afghan insurgents in May 2014.

George came to Greenwood to stay with his mother for the summer.

Robin Mulac and others said that his symptoms had noticeably advanced by then, making him frequently anxious, and nervous around crowds.

“I could tell he was really struggling,” she said. “I encouraged him to go for his counseling, and he was going up to the VA in Fayetteville once a week. But sometimes that’s not enough.” On the night of Greenwood’s Fourth of July celebration, George’s niece encouraged him to come, Mulac said, but the crowds were too much for him. “He was only able to stay about 15 minutes and then he had to go back home,” she said. “Too many people, too much noise. He just couldn’t do it. It was too overwhelming for him. ... Several times this summer, he tried to get out and do things and he just couldn’t.” It eventually got so bad that even when it was a family gathering, he’d have to retreat.

“I saw the accelerated darkness,” Mulac said. “I saw that he just couldn’t be around people at all.”

Still, none of the people we talked with said they had any inkling that it had gotten so bad for Jacob George that he was considering taking his own life.

Every time they talked with him, he was speaking of a more hopeful future.

He was living on 80 percent disability from the VA by then for his PTSD and other problems, and planned to try to be declared 100 percent disabled.

In late summer, he’d gotten a small apartment in Fayetteville, surrounded by trees. A few days before he died, he’d sent an email to his girlfriend, Mulac said, telling her he loved her, and was looking forward to trying for a buck in the upcoming deer season, promising to make her a set of moccasins from the hide. The Sunday before he died, he’d called Mulac, chatting amiably about how he’d gone on a bike ride and had breakfast with friends.

“He was so excited, talking about the things he was going to do in the future,” Mulac said. “The timing was a shock, because nobody saw it. Nobody.”

Songs left unsung

Jacob George was found dead in his apartment in Fayetteville late on the evening of Sept. 17. He was 32 years old. His girlfriend became concerned when she hadn’t heard from him in a few days, Robin Mulac said. After going CONTINUED ON PAGE 21

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to his apartment and peering through the window, Jacob’s girlfriend called his brother, Jordan, who went in and found the body. The family declined to say how he took his life, though his mother said they believe he’d been dead for a few days by the time his body was discovered.

The outpouring of grief from the anti-war community on social media as the word spread was immediate.

Though his family said George didn’t leave a note, a few websites and blogs tried to connect his suicide to President Obama’s Sept. 10 announcement that the U.S. would expand the military campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Jasmin McBride said the family reached out to a few of those websites. Headlines were cut, ledes rolled back to the truth: That while there are plenty of theories, from the 9/11 anniversary to the strain of reportedly talking another vet out of suicide a few days before his own death, nobody really knows what pushed Jacob over. Though there have been dozens of online tributes to her brother by the people who were touched by him, McBride said stories like that — which she called an attempt at using her brother — made her angry.

She said she doesn’t want Jacob to be turned into a martyr for someone else’s gain.

“That’s exactly what we don’t want his death to be,” she said. “If it does help other veterans see that maybe they need to get some help, then that’s a good thing. But to us, he was our family. He was somebody we loved. He wasn’t just an anti-war activist to be exploited for that. ... It’s been hard to read all those articles. The articles focus on just the veteran and the peace activist. He was so much more than that.”

Small memorial gatherings have been held in major cities all over America, and a memorial service arranged in Fayetteville on Oct. 5 drew more than 200 people, with others — including some of the Afghan peace activists George had talked with during his civilian return to the country with Brock McIntosh — Skyping in to talk about his good works. Jimmy Freeman was even there, McIntosh said, telling his side of the famous story: a small group of soldiers filling a wire and canvas blast barrier on a windy mountaintop, shoveling in rocks with their bare hands.

Then the sound of a big bird coming, and a Chinook appearing over the horizon with a beautiful Bobcat tractor slung underneath, like a gift from Valhalla.

And when the helicopter landed, here

comes good ol’ Jay George out of the back, impossibly, on a mountaintop a million miles from the green bosom of Danville. It’s the stuff of a stirring song.

Robin Mulac is not stopping. After Jacob’s death, she learned from the VA that all the family would be given is $300 to help pay for his cremation. “That’s unacceptable in this country,” she said.

“One of my goals is to pick up where he left off and see if I can get that changed.”

The VA now says she may be able to get full death benefits.

Walking among the people at the memorial, Mulac said she was struck

by how much good he’d done, but also puzzled by why it wasn’t enough to overcome the darkness inside him. Why couldn’t he see what he was worth to all those people?

“Part of the eulogy I gave at the memorial was, ‘My heart breaks not only for the loss of my son, but for the songs left unsung, and the lives left untouched, and the stories left untold,’ ” she said. “How many more people could he have helped? Why couldn’t he feel his worth in the lives of those he’d already helped and changed?”

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he career climate for women 50 years ago in this country was far different from what it is today. Women could choose to pursue teaching, nursing or secretarial roles as careers, and the glass ceiling was installed at a much lower height.

In the 1960s, Joyce Holt chose one of these roles, but it was when she decided to take on her own business that she shattered that glass ceiling — by decorating it.

The owner of Window Works in Little Rock, Holt had no idea that when she learned to sew as a little girl in Tennessee she would have a thriving business designing draperies for homes, hotels and commercial properties throughout the United States and France.

“I didn’t want to be a secretary and I sure didn’t want to be a nurse, so I decided to become a teacher,” Holt said. “At that time, it didn’t even enter my head I could be anything but a wife, mother and teacher, and I sure never thought I’d have my own business one day. But here I am.”

Holt learned to sew as a girl, noting she made all of her own clothes and home decor. In fact, it wasn’t until she was

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in her 40s that she purchased her first off-the-rack outfit.

“Back then, you sewed because you had to,”Holt said.

“I enjoyed it, but sewing wasn’t something I considered doing for a living until after I was married and had to.”

Holt worked as a teacher when she was first married, but it was when she moved with her husband and young children to a reservation for Native Americans in South Dakota that she switched her career path. Holt’s husband worked for the government, and when they moved to the reservation, Holt met and started working with a woman who made draperies for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Through this contract they made and installed draperies for 150 houses. Soon, her husband was transferred to Nashville, Tenn., and she decided to continue designing and sewing draperies.

“I had children then, and I didn’t want to go back to teaching,” Holt said. “I found ladies who wanted to work at home, and I taught them how to make draperies. When I left Nashville, I was working with eight ladies who sewed draperies from their homes.”

It wasn’t until she and her husband moved to Arkansas that Holt made her drapery business an official business. “I remember driving over the bridge across the Mississippi River,” she said. “There was a sign that said, ‘Welcome to Arkansas — Land of Opportunity,’ and I took that seriously.”

As Holt became familiar with her new home, she happened upon a new neighborhood development on Pebble Beach off Hinson Road. Many homes had moving boxes in the driveway and sheets in the windows, and Holt knew this was the place to start.

“I made myself go back the next day and knock on three doors,” she said. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. At the first house, no one was home, but someone was

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all kinds of holiday goodies for the furry set.

And for people who want to celebrate their dog babies’big milestones — or their mere existence — there are birthday cakes and party snacks.

“We just wanted a more personal touch with high-end luxury items for dogs,” she says. “They’re just like regular cakes. I’ve got a peanut butter recipe and banana recipe and they’re just soft like the cakes we eat. We use honey instead of sugar, for example, so it’s safe for the dogs. And then we ice it with either yogurt, peanut butter yogurt or carob, which looks like chocolate but is not chocolate.”

Just Dogs! also stocks the latest fashions in collars, leashes, harnesses, bandanas, pajamas, carriers and sportswear and has toys for every kind of dog.

Running a business has its challenges, Dunnavant said.

“We opened at a time when the country was kind of in a recession, so we had to be a little more innovative about what we did and the way we went about it,” she said.

She recommends that people considering opening their own companies prepare themselves for the long haul.

“Prepare to work many, many long hours — probably more than you think you will,” she says. “And everything costs probably almost twice as much as you think it’s going to, so you really need to have emergency money, and things break and you have to be prepared for that.”

The hard work she’s invested is offset by the joy she gets from being in her store.

“We enjoy getting to know our customers and people bringing in their dogs,” says Dunnavant, who sometimes brings her own dogs, a Jack Russell terrier, Maggie, and a miniature schnauzer, Mya — both rescues — to work with her. “It’s a really happy place. People bring their dogs in or they start talking about their dogs and they are instantly in a better mood. We feel like we’re just a happy, positive place.”

“Women need to be able to stand on their own two feet and know they can care for their family by themselves if it comes to that.” — Joyce Holt

at the next house and she was happy to listen to what I had to say, and I left with an order.”

That was 1978, and since that time, Holt has designed, delivered and installed custom draperies, pillows and fabric accessories for some of the most stylish homes in Arkansas, California and the world.

“Our main strength is windows,” Holt said. “We know what will suit a room, how draperies can be used to control light and heat, what options are available to serve what someone needs.”

Holt is passionate that women should prepare to care for their families and themselves without the assistance of a spouse or other family members.

“You never know what can happen,” Holt said. “Women need to be able to stand on their own two feet and know they can care for their family by themselves if it comes to that. I started my business by myself, and I had no idea I’d still be doing it today. It has been a great source of satisfaction and pride for me as well as a way for me to sustain my children. I’m grateful for that.”

WOMEN Entrepreneurs

CYNTHIAEast I

CYNTHIA EAST FABRICS WEAVES UNIQUENESS, CREATIVITY AND SUPPORT INTO SUCCESS

to the market.” f you’re in a ho-hum mood when you walk “And, as we’ve grown, we’ve expanded the into Cynthia East Fabrics, you won’t be store and added products,” Dilday said. when you leave. Lush colors, unique patterns Today, Cynthia East Fabrics offers decorative and accommodating staff make browsing a trim, home accessories, headboards, pillows treat rather than a chore, and this atmosphere and draperies in addition to in-stock decorator is by design. Founded by Cynthia East in 1977, fabrics, wallpaper and a variety of gift items – Cynthia East Fabrics has transformed from one all in the same location as when it opened its of the few custom fabric suppliers in Arkansas to doors in 1977. Despite the many challenges a design, decor and gift store serving dedicated of retail over the past 37 years, Cynthia East clients for almost four decades.

“I’d always loved fabrics,” East said.

“Before I opened, you couldn’t get decorative fabrics anywhere in Arkansas; you had to drive to Memphis or Dallas.

East had pondered leaving her job at an advertising agency and opening her own retail fabric store, but she was hesitant to make the leap. It was her husband, Bob, who encouraged her to try.

“He was very supportive of the idea,” East said. “My banker was as well, so I didn’t have any reason not to open then!”

Cynthia East Fabrics opened at 1523 Rebsamen Park Road in the Riverdale area of Little Rock where it is still located today. As the store grew, East brought on staff to help meet with clients and manage the office. She hired Terry Dilday, a college student, to work part time in 1981.

“I was just looking for a job to help Partners: Cynthia East and Terry Dilday me pay for the things college kids spend Fabrics remains sought-after and on-trend. money on,”Dilday said.“What I didn’t expect was East and Dilday attribute their success primarily to fall in love with the fabrics and the business. to their exemplary staff and customer service I went full time, and then I tried to make myself they provide. indispensable to Cynthia.”

“There’s a strong culture of family that exists “And she did,”East said.“She started out as my within the staff at the store,” Dilday says. “Many employee, then she became my ‘daughter.’ After have been with us 10, 20, even 30 years. We’ve a few more years, she became my best friend.” grown up together, been through a lot together In 2003, Dilday became a partner with East and rallied around each other through the wide in the business. Throughout their 30 years range of life issues.” together, East and Dilday have encountered East and Dilday acknowledge that this sense many changes in the market, the industry and of support and community carries over to their the economy. clients. “We have a rare glimpse into our clients’ “We didn’t really have a vision for what the lives,”Dilday says.“Some of them have been with business would be in the beginning,” East said. us since the very beginning, and we’ve seen them “What we did was listen to our customers. We get married, have babies and see their babies moved from lightweight fabrics to much sturhave babies. It’s an industry like no other, and dier, more opulent fabrics, and we kept them in we are glad to be a part of it.” stock in the store. That was something unique ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT www.arktimes.com

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WOMEN Entrepreneurs

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TANARAHHaynie BIG CITY MEETS DOWN HOME AT TANARAH LUXE FLORAL

Y

ou know those chic, sophisticated boutiques where everything from the decor to the merchandise looks effortless and modern? Tanarah Luxe Floral has this approach perfected, but Tanarah Haynie is as down-to-earth and accessible as they come.

Haynie is the owner and creative director of Tanarah Luxe Floral, a floral design firm that specializes in weddings, parties and events. In addition to fresh flowers, Haynie and her team also use permanent botanicals, lighting and props to create unique and nontraditional environments. In 2012, Haynie opened a boutique in addition to the design firm, and in it she offers jewelry, candles, books and other decor and gift items, many of them sourced from Arkansas artisans. While she maintains a significant space in Riverdale where her design firm and boutique are housed, she began

her career at home.

“I had what I call a ‘shower epiphany’ one day,” Haynie said. “I knew that if I wanted to create what I envisioned, I had to do it on my own. My husband, Rob, and I were living in Leawood at the time, and I started with 12 weddings a year, then doubled it to 24 a year, and then doubled it again the year after that. I worked 10- to 12-hour days and every weekend, and I did it all out of my house.”

That was 1999, and Haynie said she was naive when she opened that first business, Distinctive Designs by Tanarah.

“If you knew everything that was involved in starting your own business, you wouldn’t do it,” she said. “That may be the saving grace, too. I saw a hole in the market — an approach to floral that was with an artist’s eye — so I went about the business in my own way.”

As her business grew, so did Haynie’s need for room for her business. When she and her husband moved to a new home in Mayflower, Haynie took over a shop on the property, thinking she’d never outgrow it. She was there for a year.

“When we outgrew that, I bought a warehouse in Maumelle, and we were there three years,” Haynie said. “Our clients kept saying they wished we were closer, and I had

GARBOHearne HEARNE HANDLES THE ART OF PRIORITY

I

n success, the shortest route from point A to point B is curved, looped, jagged and steep. For Garbo Hearne, her route started in nursing and continues past art gallery curator, framer, bookseller and community advocate to certified appraiser of fine art.

Embracing a niche market is key to her success. She says, “The meat and potatoes of being in business is being versatile and knowing there is a need for what I do.

Underrepresented talented artists need galleries, new and emerging authors need independent booksellers to connect with their core audience, and the beauty of a custom picture frame cannot be replicated by a machine.”

As an intensive care nurse, Hearne was used to deadlines, precision and pressure, but it wasn’t until she had her first child that she began thinking of a different career path that would allow her more time to nurture and educate.

Garbo and her husband, Archie, wanted their children to be exposed to their culture and heritage. She said it was

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Archie, who collected and appreciated African-American art, who had the idea to open Pyramid Art Gallery at 12th Street and Fair Park Boulevard in 1988.

She built her business with popular prints and with local artists such as Aj Smith. Through participation in fine art fairs, she met regional artists such as Brenda Joysmith and Frank Frazier and created a market for original art. She added the service of custom picture framing and eventually African-American books and gifts.

Moving to the River Market allowed Hearne to combine all three businesses into one, establishing Pyramid Art, Books and Custom Framing and Hearne Fine Art. The business moved once more to its latest location on Wright Avenue in 2009.

“Archie and I were driving by the area one day, and I said, ‘We ought to purchase property here.’ I was thinking out loud. The next thing I know, we are working on a business plan to combine our respective businesses in one location,

fast forward and here we are.”

At first, Hearne worried how the move would affect traffic and subsequent sales. But she soon realized relocating to the historic Dunbar neighborhood was a direct reflection of her personal and professional mission: to serve the community by sharing culture and building generational knowledge and wealth.

Today, Hearne’s business hosts exhibitions of original African-American art by local, regional and nationally-

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an idea to open a boutique where we could do flowers for all occasions — get well, sympathy, bereavement, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. I thought since we had grown so much, we should rebrand to really set ourselves apart. That’s when we opened Tanarah Luxe Floral.”

Haynie and her team have designed events for clients on a national scale, including the 46th Annual Country Music Awards, Blake Mycoskie of Toms Shoes, Paula Deen, the Rolling Stones, the Washington Post, LULAC, the Little Rock Nine, the National Black Caucus of State Legislatures, the Clinton Foundation and Heifer International, among others. This year she will be traveling to Italy to style a villa for an American client. Her design will be the prototype for additional villas the client will offer as lodging.

“That business came to me from a relationship with a photographer who we work with all the time,” Haynie said. “That’s really the foundation of a solid business: customer service and great working relationships with our clients, vendors and partners. Excellent customer service will win every time.”

Haynie notes that what she and her team do is sell art; the flowers are their medium.

“People want unique arrangements for their friends and families,” she said. “They want something that reflects their style. We accommodate that, and we understand that need. We aren’t the regular florist or event stylist. We have a cat and a bird in the boutique, and we maintain an upbeat, positive atmosphere that is conducive to our creativity and our clients.”

known artists, and serves as a place for the community to gather, exchange ideas and learn about the African-American experience.

Hearne advocates building cultural pride and self-esteem through the promotion of excellence and character. She said, “Knowing our ancestors and how they remained steadfast through the hardships they endured ... how do we not go back to this essence of fortitude to move forward?”

Hearne attributes her success to a pursuit of excellence through education and to evolving with the times. Currently, she is seeking certification as a fine art appraiser with a specialty in African-American art.

“My clients come to me and ask me to help them with valuing art they have had in their families or found on their travels,” Hearne said. “It’s a precise vocation, so I want to make sure that I am qualified to do this job right.”

This if-not-me-then-who approach to business has led Hearne and her family in the adventure of their lifetimes — one she never thought she would travel.

“If you identify your priorities — be it family, travel, a particular passion — find a way to make that your life,” she said. “I came upon challenges that turned into opportunities — children led to pursuing a way to make them aware of their roots, and that led to opening a gallery and bookstore. Now, my children are adults and I am nurturing my clients who want to know the origins and value of their artwork, which is leading me to become an appraiser. I never imagined being an entrepreneur, but what I’ve learned is, no matter how old you are you never stop learning and evolving.”

WOMEN Entrepreneurs

MELISSA

Tanner

TANNER’S LUXURIOUS DESIRES REALIZED WITH VESTA’S

W

hen her children were young, Melissa Tanner imagined owning a store in Little Rock, and even pictured what might be on the shelves.

“Once my children were off to college I began to execute my ideas,”she says. “My mission was to offer Little Rockians a cool, unique spot to find luxurious linens and fine home accessories.

Fortunately, I had means of financial backing, and shortly my ideas came to fruition and I opened Vesta’s.”

Vesta’s opened in 1998, initially offering luxurious bed linens and unique home accessories. Tanner later expanded her offerings to include gifts. Then, to create an upscale one-stop shop, she added women’s clothing.

Located at 11525 Cantrell Road in Little Rock, the store specializes in “Desired objects for a domestic goddess.”

Tanner is diligent about bringing the most luxurious linens to Vesta’s clientele, and makes careful recommendations about mixing textiles, textures and colors of high-thread count bedding. The store’s premier bedding lines are Bella Notte, Peacock Alley, SDH and Traditions by Pamela Kline. And while there is always a large selection available at Vesta’s, they take special orders as well.

Vesta’s is also host to a lotions and potions bar, featuring L’Occitane soaps, bath gels, shea body butter and perfume, as well as clothing and shoes for every occasion, whether it’s in new lines or timeless pieces. Old Gringo Cowboy Boots, handcrafted and always in stock, are just one example of a Vesta’s selection that will not go out of style. And there is artisan jewelry — much of it one-of-a-kind — that can add a special touch to any outfit available at the store.

While there are myriad beautiful things in her store, opening a business required plenty of old-fashioned hard work.

“Opening your own business has plenty of hurdles to jump,”Tanner said.“Buying merchandise, advertising and marketing your goods, yourself.

Keeping up with trends of the market. I continue to learn every day in my business. The flip side is that I have gained the opportunity to become friends with many of my clients. After 16 years in business, I can attest that the opportunities

are boundless.”

Some of the possibilities that have come along with Vesta’s were anticipated, while others have been utterly unexpected.

“I’m not really one to look back and say‘shoulda,

coulda, woulda.’ Owning a business doesn’t come with a blueprint. Much is trial and error,” Tanner said. “I have found surrounding myself with folks that know the retail business has been beneficial in our growth. A business owner won’t always make the right decision, but after years in the business, those times are much less frequent.

Owning your own business is hard, long work.

Be prepared.”

After all these years, Tanner says she is happier than ever that she moved forward to make her vision a reality. It’s all she dreamed of and then some.

“I want folks — particularly women — to know that owning your own business can be very empowering,” she said. “I have a huge sense of accomplishment and [feel] so fulfilled with the lives I’ve crossed in the process.”

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WOMEN Entrepreneurs

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MERIDITH HAMILTONRanouil RANOUIL POSSESSES THE VISION FOR THE BUSINESS OF BEAUTY

“W

hen you get a call or a text from a client on a Friday at 6 p.m., you think, ‘this can’t be good,’” said Meridith Hamilton Ranouil, a certified kitchen designer and an allied member of the American Society of Interior Designers.

Ranouil, who owns MLH Designs, a full-service interior design firm specializing in custom residential interiors and select corporate projects, was not prepared for the message she was about to read. After putting the finishing touches on a home, she read that 6 p.m. message from the owner: “Meridith, it is better than we could have imagined.”

“That makes all the hard work worth it,” she said. “When I watch clients go through their home or office, and I can see on their faces they are pleased, or they tell me it is better

than they expected, it makes me want to do even more.”

Ranouil pursued entrepreneurship from the time she graduated from college in 2001. With a degree in interior design from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Ranouil opened MLH Designs in 2003. She craved the artistic freedom that comes with owning a design business.

“When you work for someone else, you have to pursue their vision,” she said. “To do what I wanted, which was to work directly with the clients and help them bring their idea to fruition, it meant I had to open my own business.”

Among the assets Ranouil had when she opened MLH Designs was the support of her family, friends and peers as well as a clear vision of what she wanted to accomplish.

The challenge she faced, however, was balancing her time

between work and home.

“When I first opened, I thought I needed to be in the office during traditional working hours, as well as offer clients the flexibility of meeting at other times. I knew I needed to meet clients when they could accommodate me, not the other way around,” Ranouil said. This made for extremely long workdays. “As MLH Designs became more established, I realized that traditional office hours are not necessary. Now, I make my own hours. That’s not to say they aren’t still long hours, but I can be available for my clients

JEANCazort CAZORT FINDS WORDS ARE WORTH WEIGHT IN GOLD

W

“We try to keep a genial ambiance

ordsWorth Books & Co. is an Arkansas institution.

The largest independent bookstore in Little Rock, WordsWorth has helped bibliophiles feed their craving for prose and poetry for more than 20 years. But for Jean Cazort, devoting all her energies to this venture was never something she considered.

“The bookstore was my then-husband’s dream,” Cazort said. “He had worked his way through college managing a bookstore and had always wanted one, but neither of us knew much about running a business.”

When the couple purchased WordsWorth, they were its third owners. While David Cockcroft, Cazort’s husband (they are now divorced but still work together), worked at the store, Cazort was working at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in the English as Second Language department. The more she visited the store, the more she became drawn to it.

“I’d visit during the day,” Cazort said. “Then I would stop by after work, and I noticed I was spending more and more time there. I started enjoying it and all the people who would come by. David got everything into place, and once that was complete, I left UALR and joined WordsWorth full time.”

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Cazortnotesthatmaking Cazort, who has an underhere. We want people to come in and her own hours has been a graduate degree in English, real benefit of owning her always loved books. In fact, own business, and she and as every devoted Southern Cockcroft still work together reader does, she read the — Jean Cazort every day with their son, Faulkner oeuvre as well as Jacob, who serves as the Flannery O’Conner, Harper Lee, store’s manager, and Delilah DeVary, who, according to Mark Twain and other writers from the American South.

Cazort, does everything.

The store’s original owner sold used books, but Cazort “If you enjoy the people you work with and you love and Cockcroft changed their business model to offer new what you do, it’s easy to go to work every day,” Cazort said. paperback and hardcover editions of fiction, nonfiction, “Finding the right people to work with is a challenge for history, art, cooking and children’s books. Cazort notes any business, but we have an excellent team here now, that choosing the right books for WordsWorth’s clientele and it makes the store a pleasure to be in each day.” is a challenge.

That same atmosphere behind the counter carries over “We listen to what our customers want and try to carry into the store itself. “We try to keep a genial ambiance here,” what they are interested in rather than being swayed by Cazort said. “We want people to come in and browse, talk, bestsellers,” Cazort said. “That’s always a balancing act — exchange ideas. In the 20 years we’ve been here, we haven’t carrying the right books and the right number for our had many of the problems big-box stores have — bounced clientele. Our customers are great at letting us know about checks, shoplifting, that kind of thing. Our customers are new books or new authors, and we get a lot of ideas from generally kind and generous. In fact, for several years, an National Public Radio as well.”

browse, talk, exchange ideas.”

at their convenience and still have lunch with my daughter at her school if I want.”

Ranouil’s approach to interior design is, as she says, “holistic,” and she specializes in designing kitchens and bathrooms. Her spaces and interiors are classic, but also modern and livable.

“My projects range from urban apartments,familyhomesandgourmet kitchens to a shoe boutique,”Ranouil said. “In fact, I recently finished a hair salon, and that was something I had never designed before. It really gave me an opportunity to think outside of what people expect. I always design for the particular client to make the room or area work for them, both aesthetically and functionally.”

Ranouil notes that a design business is about more than the artistic vision. There is pricing, budgeting, contract negotiation, invoicing and collecting, and, most importantly, quality control.

In Ranouil’s firm, she alone is responsible for the outcome of the project. She advises anyone interested in pursuing interior design to keep this in mind when working

with subcontractors and vendors.

“As the interior designer, I’m responsible for all the steps in making the space complete and functional,” she said. “That means if the subcontractor I use to complete an installation makes a mistake, it’s still on me to make right.

When you’re the project manager and direct client contact, you either get all the blame or all the credit.”

Today, Ranouil takes care of all aspects of her business except accounting. She notes that hiring professionals to handle

what you are not skilled at doing is a sound investment in your business and your sanity. Her main piece of advice to aspiring entrepreneurs, though, isn’t about the business so much as the passion for it.

“Be sure you love what you do before you decide to open your own business,” Ranouil said. “When you start your own firm, it becomes your life. If you start with a big idea and come up with something no one else can offer, you will set yourself apart, and with good service and a lot of hard work, the business will come to you.”

CORRECTION In last week’s section of

WOMEN Entrepreneurs, we inadvertently misspelled

JENNIFER HERRON as Jennifer Horton, and

ROBIN CONNELL as Robin Connelly

We apologize for the error

anonymous donor regularly bought books for other customers and their children.”

WhileWordsWorth offers national and international bestsellers, the store’s focus is on Arkansas books and authors. Published Arkansas writers such as Kat Robinson and Kevin Brockmeier have had booksignings at WordsWorth, and the store handles most of the booksignings for the Clinton School of Public Service, an invaluable partnership, according to Cazort.

“President Clinton came in to shop one day,” Cazort said. “We weren’t expecting that.”

Rubbing elbows with celebrities may be a rarity at WordsWorth, but Cazort notes that it takes a good amount of elbow grease to keep the store’s cogs in the wheel turning.

“It takes a lot of communication and the right combination of personalities to make a business successful,” she said. “But it’s our customers who make WordsWorth a community place, which is what we’ve always wanted, and that kind of endorsement is worth its weight in gold to me.”

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Arts Entertainment AND

ALL STIRRED UP

The Cheese Dip Championship returns.

BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK

B

reathes there an Arkansan with Rotel on hand, who never to himself hath said, let’s make cheese dip? No, Sir Walter, there’s not: All Arkansans eat cheese dip, by the bucketsful, and we’re all experts on how it should be made.

We even claim that it was invented in Arkansas. So when the fourth World Cheese Dip Championship comes to the Bernice Garden on Saturday, Oct. 25, the competition will be fierce.

It will be widespread, too, with a team from San Francisco trying to persuade us mavens of cheese dip (and cheese drip) that the West Coast can do queso.

The championship benefits the Harmony Health Clinic, 201 E. Roosevelt Road, which offers free medi30

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ARKANSAS TIMES

cal and dental care to lower income folks. That means, for possibly the first time, you, festivalgoer, will be eating Velveeta — or maybe Kraft American — to improve health. The last competition, in 2012, brought in more than $12,000 to the clinic.

A panel of judges, including Facebook contest winner Kenneth Freeman of Bryant, Capi Peck, Mary Thweatt, Brian Deloney, Scott McGehee, Brooke Talley and the Times’ Max Brantley, will award $1,000 prizes and trophies to the Big Dipper winners in the professional and amateur categories. Festivalgoers will choose the People’s Choice Award winner using something new: Instead of paper ballots, they’ll get wooden vote chips (two chips with

each admission, extra chips available for sale for $1) to put in their choice’s box. The People’s Choice winners in both pro and amateur categories each will get $500 and a trophy. There will also be a trophy awarded to the best booth theme and design.

Dizzy’s has won the professional Big Dipper in the last two competitions. The ConcheeZtadoars, including the Times’ own Jo Garcia, won the 2012 amateur category. They are both returning. At press time, other contestants included Tacolicious from San Francisco, U.S. Pizza, Scallions, On the Border, Twin Peaks, Homers, the Main Cheese, Chef’s Little Hut, One Cheesy Couple, Purple Cow, The Afterthought, Whole

Foods Market, Mitchell Williams Law Firm, Colson Oil Roadrunner stores, EJ’s Eats and City Year.

The festival, sponsored by the Southern Cheese Dip Academy, runs 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Bernice Garden, at the southeast corner of 14th and South Main streets. Admission is $8 in advance, $10 at the gate. Chips for dipping will be provided. There will be water for $1, sodas for $2, beers for $3 and premium beers for $4.

Coincidentally, this festival celebrating one of the best hangover cures known to man comes the day after the Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival (6-9 p.m. Oct. 24 at the Argenta Farmers Market Grounds, $35 advance, $40 day at the door).

INTERIOR DESIGN & CONSULTING

ROCK CANDY Check out the Times’ A&E blog arktimes.com

A&E NEWS

COMING UP IN NOVEMBER: Underground rap group Atmosphere (Nov. 6), MC Chris (Nov. 8), Foxy Shazam (Nov. 15) and Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach (Nov. 30) come to Juanita’s; Oxford, Miss., indie rock group Water Liars (Nov. 4), blues guitarist Lightnin’ Malcolm (Nov. 14) and experimental pianist Thollem McDonas (Nov. 20) come to White Water Tavern; Warren Wolf and Wolfpack (Nov. 6), John Kilzer (Nov. 20) and Bonnie Montgomery (Nov. 26) come to South on Main; The Pains of Being Pure At Heart (Nov. 1), jam band Particle (Nov. 3) and Tyrannosaurus Chicken (Nov. 28) come to Stickyz; Joe Ely (Nov. 7), doom metal band Uzala (Nov. 9) and the North Mississippi Allstars (Nov. 29) come to Revolution; and Joe Bonamassa comes to Verizon Arena (Nov. 11).

FIRST SECURITY AMPHITHEATER IS hosting “Holidays in the Park” this year, with a light show displayed nightly from 5 p.m. to10 p.m. beginning Nov. 29 (through Jan. 3) and a meet-and-greet with Santa Claus from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Nov. 29.

brittanynixoncreative@gmail.com 501-247-7828

SHOW TIMES: FRI, OCT 24-THUR, OCT 30 GLEN CAMPBELL: I’LL BE ME (DIGITAL) PG | 1:45 4:15 6:45 9:15 ST. VINCENT (DIGITAL) PG13 | 2:00 4:20 7:00 9:30 PRIDE (DIGITAL) R | 1:45 4:15 6:45 9:15 THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (DIGITAL) R | 7:00 9:20 FURY (DIGITAL) R | 1:30 4:15 7:00 9:40 MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN (DIGITAL) R | 1:45 4:10 THE SKELETON TWINS (DIGITAL) R | 2:15 4:30 7:15 9:30

BOOK OF LIFE (DIGITAL) PG | 2:15 4:30 7:15 9:00 GONE GIRL (DIGITAL) R | 1:30 4:15 7:00 9:40 THE JUDGE (DIGITAL) R | 1:30 4:15 7:00 9:40 THE EQUALIZER (DIGITAL) R | 6:45 9:15 MY OLD LADY (DIGITAL) PG13 | 2:00 4:20 ANNABELLE (DIGITAL) R | 9:30 THE BEST OF ME (DIGITAL) PG13 | 1:30 4:00 6:45 9:00 ROCKY HORROR COSTUME CONTEST!

Frederick Knott’s

Amy Hutchins. Photo by John David Pittman.

THE ARKANSAS TIMES IS HOSTING its first-ever Fiction Contest this year. Spread the word: We’re looking for short stories that in some way engage the question of what it means to live in Arkansas in 2014.

Yes, that’s an intentionally vague prompt — we want you to surprise us. The first place winner will receive $250 and second place will receive $150. Winners will also be published as the centerpiece of our Fiction Issue this December. Trenton Lee Stewart, Arkansas native and bestselling author of the “Mysterious Benedict Society” series and the Arkansas-set “Flood Summer,” will serve as judge.

Submissions must be previously unpublished (this is important) and should be no longer than 3,000 words. Writers must currently live in Arkansas (and should have lived in Arkansas for at least one year) to submit. In the interest of fairness, stories will be passed on to Stewart anonymously. The deadline for all submissions will be 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 10. Send your short story (one per applicant, please) to will@ arktimes.com, with the subject line “Fiction Contest.”

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OCTOBER 23, 2014

31

A&E FEATURE

‘DARK’ PLAYERS: Suzy as Amy Hutchins and (from left ) Harry Roat as Michael Stewart Allen, Mike Talman as Craig Maravich and Sgt. Carlino (Robert Ierardi).

Lights out

Thriller ‘Wait Until Dark’ opens Oct. 24 at The Rep.

BY JAMES SZENHER

I

magine being alone in your apartment, stalked by criminals who are likely to kill you if they catch you.

It’s 1966, so there’s no cell phone to bail you out. What would you do? What if you were blind?

“Wait Until Dark” aims to put Arkansas Repertory Theatre-goers in the shoes of Susy Hendrix, a blind woman whose husband gets unwit32

OCTOBER 23, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

tingly involved in a heroin smuggling operation and who ends up having to fend for herself in a fight for her life using only her remaining senses and her knowledge of the layout of the apartment.

She manages to level the playing field by cutting off the lights, leaving the audience to experience the climax of the play in near total darkness.

The play promises to be a classic edge-of-your-seat suspense thriller that will have audiences remembering why we all share that same primal fear of the dark. But, at its core, it’s ultimately about the incredible strength of a woman who goes through extreme circumstances and uses her wits and what’s perceived as a disability to give her an advantage.

“She’s only been blind for a year at this point, so she’s still trying to navigate the world without sight,” Amy Hutchins, who plays Susy, said of her character. “She never thinks of herself as a victim; she goes through an intensely frightening experience and discovers her strength in the process.”

The play was written by Frederick Knott, who also wrote the original version of “Dial M for Murder,” which

would later be made for the screen by Alfred Hitchcock. “Wait Until Dark” has much the same feel as a classic Hitchcock film. If you’re not a horror fan, don’t worry, there’s no gore and very little explicit violence going on here. The play’s scares come from the suspense and tension created by atmospheric effects (namely, lighting, or lack thereof).

The Rep has gone to great lengths to get those effects right. “We’re looking at all the possibilities for how we can control the light coming from various sources,” said director Robert Hupp, The Rep’s producing artistic director. “We’ve spent a lot of time experimenting with different types of matches trying to find the right quality of light, seeing how we can manipulate it to the best of our abilities.” Still, he

notes, “you can’t direct the light from a match.”

“We just recently had a rehearsal with all the lights off, and it’s an interesting challenge,” said Michael Allen, who plays Roat, the play’s main antagonist. “With a match, the light changes as you hold it and move around, so we have to get familiar with how to make sure we can still be seen.”

In addition to being packed with suspense, the play is a bit of a period piece, touching on themes of social change in the ’60s and drug trade in New York, bringing the audience back to a time when heroin was a huge problem.

Cast members have all appeared in previous plays at The Rep; Hupp said this is the first time he’s seen a full cast of Rep veterans putting on a show together here.

“Trust is a huge factor with this play, given the darkness, and some of the physical confrontations, so that helps out a lot that we’ve got people who have worked together here before and already have some of that trust developed.”

Allen and Hutchins, playing the villain and heroine, also happen to be married. “It’s great because we automatically know and trust each other,” Hutchins said. “We don’t have to spend as much time figuring out boundaries,” Allen added. “It’s fun; it’s the first time we’ve played enemies.”

“It’s good therapy,” Hutchins joked.

Yellow Fever, Malaria, Tuberculosis, Cholera, Flu and Hookworm A Fascinating History of Arkansas’s 200 Year Battle Against Disease and Pestilence

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“Wait Until Dark” runs from Oct. 24 through Nov. 9. Performances are at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Single-ticket prices range from $20 to $40. The Rep’s producing artistic director Bob Hupp will lead a panel discussion with “Wait Until Dark” cast members at noon on Thursday, Oct. 23. at the Clinton School of Public Service. The performance on Wednesday, Nov. 5, will be interpreted for the hearing impaired.

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This is a great Arkansas history showing that tells how public attitudes toward medicine, politics and race have shaped the public health battle against deadly and debilitating disease in the state.

From the illnesses that plagued the states earliest residents to the creation of what became the Arkansas Department of Health, Sam Taggart’s “The Public’s Health: A Narrative History of Health and Disease in Arkansas” tells the fascinating medical history of Arkansas. Published by the Arkansas Times.

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NOBODY HAS MORE HALLOWEEN FOR LESS OCTOBER 23, 2014

33

THE TO-DO

LIST

BY WILL STEPHENSON

ON ‘ARKENSAW’ MINI-TOUR: Young Gods of America will perform in Little Rock, Fayetteville, Conway and Memphis this weekend.

THURSDAY 10/23-SUNDAY 10/26

YOUNG GODS OF AMERICA

Various venues: Little Rock, Fayetteville, Conway and Memphis.

“I don’t think people know that, like, it’s actually happening for us,” the local rapper Goon des Garcons told me in July. “The city is getting better, the ball is in motion. It’s a renaissance.” By

“us” he meant himself and the rest of the members of the rap collective Young Gods of America: Fresco Grey, Reggie Gold, Taylor Moon, Mach Soul and Cool Chris. They’ve spent the year releasing a series of consistently strong mixtapes, videos and singles, many of which — like Taylor Moon’s “Final Fantasy MMXIV,”

THURSDAY 10/23

‘BEVERLY HILLS COP’

6 p.m. Ron Robinson Theater. $7.

The Times is collaborating with the Little Rock Film Festival to present a new monthly film series at the Ron Robinson Theater. We’re kicking it off on Thursday with a special screening of “Beverly Hills Cop,” featuring Little Rock’s own Judge Reinhold, a.k.a. Detective Billy Rosewood, who will do a Q&A to answer all of your burning questions about the making of the film. “My handle on the guy was — somebody who wanted his life to resemble the movies that he’d watched,” Reinhold told USA Today about his character, his best known 34

OCTOBER 23, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

Fresco Grey’s “Twin Turbo” or Goon’s “Dirty Boyz 2K14” — are among the best local releases of the year. Like Odd Future before them, they’re trying to shape their own self-enclosed world, which we are invited to join in or ignore at our own peril. This weekend they’re leading a micro-tour of the state called ARKENSAW along

with fellow Little Rock rappers Lo Thraxx and Vile Pack, performing at Vino’s Thursday night, Fayetteville’s Syc House Friday night, Greenwood Studios in Conway Saturday night and Memphis’ Carcosa House on Sunday. “We’re ready to show people what we’ve been working so hard on,” Goon said of the tour in an email.

FRIDAY 10/24 in a career that also included roles in “Ruthless People,” “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “Stripes,” “Gremlins” and more. “I remember that Martin, Kingsley and I all had dinner, and then we went to see ‘Beverly Hills Cop,’ ” the late Christopher Hitchens once told the New York Times for an article about the great British novelists Kingsley and Martin Amis.

“All through the movie Kingsley was laughing with what we assumed was pretend mirth, and afterward he announced, ‘Yes, an absolutely flawless masterpiece.’ Suddenly it became clear he wasn’t joking.” Tickets are $7 and are available now online at arktimes.com/filmseries.

ARKANSAS TIMES CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL 6 p.m. Argenta Farmers Market. $35 adv., $40 day of.

One of the more annoying and inevitable byproducts of the American craft beer boom was the instantaneous rise of beer elitism, a kind of posturing that seems to imply craft beer has always been around and the masses are only now figuring it all out. The truth is, it’s an incredibly recent phenomena: There were fewer than 90 breweries in the U.S. in 1980, compared with the thousands in operation today. Especially in the South, most of these

beers would have been illegal to produce only a few years ago, given the recently overturned restrictions on alcohol by volume. So, of course, Arkansas has a lot to learn and plenty of catching up to do.

And this weekend is your chance: There will be over 250 beers on offer at the 3rd annual Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival, beers from all over the country plus local upstarts like Blue Canoe, Moody Brews and Stone’s Throw. There will also be food courtesy of Butcher & Public, Whole Hog, The Fold, Cregeen’s, Cafe Bossa Nova and other restaurants, and live music by local folkrock group The Cons of Formant.

IN BRIEF

THURSDAY 10/23

SATURDAY 10/25

‘ROSEMARY’S BABY’

8 p.m. South on Main. $3.

“Rosemary’s Baby” exists on film due primarily to the efforts of William Castle, the great noveltyhorror filmmaker who pioneered a set of brilliant theater gimmicks to help market his low-budget horror films in the ’50s and ’60s: life insurance policies for audience members, vibrating buzzers installed

under seats, cellophane ghostvision glasses, etc. It’s a strange historical footnote, because the film that resulted is such a departure from Castle’s era, a supernatural thriller steeped in domestic and emotional realism rather than studio artifice — starring John Cassavetes rather than Vincent Price.

Castle had read the book in galleys and sold his house to buy the film option before it was even published,

but the studio that finally financed the film insisted on a younger director, Roman Polanski, a Polish filmmaker who was just then trying to transition to working in Hollywood. Though not as existentially terrifying as other Polanski films like “Repulsion” or “The Tenant,” “Rosemary’s Baby” is frightening in a different way, playing on fears about marriage and ambition and social uncertainty.

ABOUT THE MONEY: Young Thug will be at Clear Channel Metroplex 9 p.m. Saturday, $30-$60.

SATURDAY 10/25

YOUNG THUG

9 p.m. Clear Channel Metroplex. $30-$60.

“I like moments of staleness and mildew, simply because it creates the lane for change,” Lyor Cohen, former president of Def Jam and Warner Music Group, has said. “That’s my favorite moment — when I sit on a porch in the summertime and the air gets really thick ... And then all of a sudden a violent storm comes through — raindrops as big

as cups; lightning and thunder. I know when things get stale there’s someone making an opportunity.” Cohen was talking about DMX, but he may as well have been talking about Atlanta native Young Thug, who went from being a local hero to a national figure this year, working with T.I. and Lil Wayne, appearing on “The Tonight Show” and now headlining a national tour. If he didn’t quite come from nowhere — the influences of Wayne, his former mentor

Gucci Mane and his peers in Atlanta’s swag rap generation are significant — he sounded new from the beginning, twisting his voice into strange registers, sliding in and out of coherence and embracing the dissonant, outer limits of trap-rap production. He has different modes — from the wildly exuberant (“I Know”) and catchy (“Keep in Touch”) to the starkly avant-garde (“Haiti Slang”) and left-field pop art (“Picacho”) — and I like all of them.

a slot on a reality TV show hosted

by Missy Elliott, and two years later he was signed to Columbia Records.

He is white. Much of the early hype around him focused on his postTwista fast-rap wordplay — he’s genuinely talented — and especially the way he packaged it Kid Rockstyle, with classic rock samples and countrified slide guitar over 808s and

that sort of thing. The idea is that he can appeal to both demographics — rap fans and the backwoods white working class — and if all else fails, as it did with Kid Rock, he’ll always have the latter. “There’s something so pure and raw and hardcore about the working class man,” he once told Spin. “The hunter — that shit is just hard.”

SUNDAY 10/26

YELAWOLF

8 p.m. Juanita’s. $20-$75.

Yelawolf was born Michael Wayne Athea, and grew up in small rural towns in Alabama and Tennessee.

He heard Souls of Mischief on skate videos, Three 6 Mafia from his neighbors, Johnny Cash and Bon Jovi from his parents. He was painting murals in Rainbow City, Ala., when he scored

The creative team behind The Rep’s new production of “Wait Until Dark” hosts a panel discussion on the play at the Clinton School’s Sturgis Hall at noon. Portland folk-pop group Nahko and Medicine for the People are at Revolution at 8:30 p.m., $17. KABF’s Shoog Radio hosts John Willis and Late Romantics and Amyjo Savannah at its concert series at the Afterthought, 9 p.m., $5. Cleveland pop group SomeKindaWonderful is at Juanita’s at 9 p.m., $5. Local legends Adam Faucett, Iron Tongue and Them Witches play at White Water Tavern at 9:30 p.m.

FRIDAY 10/24 The 23rd annual Boo at the Zoo kicks off at the Little Rock Zoo, with a haunted train ride, trick-or-treating, bounce houses, a Frankenstein-themed dance party and, on the last night, a Day of the Dead celebration, 6 p.m. nightly through Nov. 1, $10. Pulaski Technical College hosts the Alash Ensemble, a group of throat singers from the Republic of Tuva (below Siberia), for a free concert at 7 p.m. Arkansas Sounds presents the Lyon College Pipe Band, featuring bagpipes, Scottish and Irish dancers and a full Celtic band, at the Ron Robinson Theater at 7 p.m. Randall Shreve and The Sideshow play at Stickyz at 9 p.m., $8 adv., $10 day of. Reckless Kelly is at Revolution with Erik Dylan, 9 p.m., $15 adv., $18 day of. Arkansas’s own Jim Mize, whose third album was released this summer (and remains on rotation at the Times office), will play his record release show at White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m.

SATURDAY 10/25 The 4th annual World Cheese Dip Championship is at Bernice Garden at 14th and Main streets starting at 11 a.m., $8 adv., $10 day of. The Ron Robinson Theater hosts the “Stand Up to Bullying Arts and Film Festival” at 11 a.m.

MacArthur Park is holding a pumpkin carving event and contest, Mac-OLanterns, starting at 3 p.m. Revolution hosts Origin, Crankbait, Abandon the Artifice and The Awareness Affliction, 8 p.m., $10 adv., $13 day of. Songwriter Tim Easton is at White Water Tavern at 9:30 p.m. The Dangerous Idiots return to Midtown Billiards at midnight, $5.

TUESDAY 10/28 The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History hosts a “Ghost Hunting Class” at 6 p.m., $25. Amasa Hines plays at White Water Tavern with Fresno’s Strange Vine, 9 p.m.

Alt-country legends Drive-By Truckers are at George’s Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville at 9 p.m., $25. www.arktimes.com

OCTOBER 23, 2014

35

AFTER DARK All events are in the Greater Little Rock area unless otherwise noted. To place an event in the Arkansas Times calendar, please email the listing and all pertinent information, including date, time, location, price and contact information, to calendar@arktimes.com.

THURSDAY, OCT. 23

MUSIC

Adam Faucett, Iron Tongue, Them Witches.

White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com.

Cypress Creek Park Fall Bluegrass Jam. Cypress Creek Park, through Oct. 25. Cypress Creek Avenue, Adona. 501-662-4918. www.cypresscreekpark.com/.

“Inferno.” DJs play pop, electro, house and more, plus drink specials and $1 cover before 11 p.m.

Sway, 9 p.m. 412 Louisiana. 501-907-2582.

Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com.

John Willis and Late Romantics, Amyjo Savannah.

Shoog Radio Presents. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 9 p.m., $5. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbistroandbar.com/.

Krush Thursdays with DJ Kavaleer. Club Climax, free before 11 p.m. 824 W. Capitol. 501-554-3437.

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

Mayday By Midnight (headliner), Shari Bales (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 and 9 p.m.

2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf.com.

Nahko and Medicine for the People. Revolution, 8:30 p.m., $15 adv., $17 day of. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com.

Open Jam. Thirst n’ Howl, 8 p.m. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl.com.

Open jam with The Port Arthur Band. Parrot Beach Cafe, 9 p.m. 9611 MacArthur Drive, NLR. 771-2994.

RockUsaurus. Senor Tequila, 7-9 p.m. 10300 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-224-5505. www.senortequila.com.

Somekindawonderful. Juanita’s, 9 p.m., $5. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com.

Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 7:30 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-370-7013. www.capitalbarandgrill.com/.

Young Gods of America. Vino’s, 8:30 p.m., $5. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com.

COMEDY

Tim Kidd. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m., $7. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. www.loonybincomedy.com.

EVENTS

Fall Festival for Ati’Day Yisroel. Temple B’nai Israel, 6 p.m., $5. 3700 N Rodney Parham Road.

FILM

“Beverly Hills Cop” with Judge Reinhold.

Arkansas Times Presents. Ron Robinson Theater, 6 p.m., $7. 1 Pulaski Way. 501-320-5703. www.cals. lib.ar.us/ron-robinson-theater.aspx.

LECTURES

Making Beckman. Tom Butler discusses the drawings of William Beckman. Arkansas Arts Center, 6 p.m., $15. 501 E. 9th St. 501-372-4000. www.

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OCTOBER 23, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

DISAPPEAR IN AMERICA: Jim Mize will play an album release show at White Water Tavern 9:30 p.m. Friday. arkarts.com.

“Wait Until Dark” panel. Sturgis Hall, noon. 1200 President Clinton Ave. 501-683-5200. clintonschool.uasys.edu.

FRIDAY, OCT. 24

MUSIC

Alash Ensemble. Pulaski Technical College, 7 p.m., free. 3000 W. Scenic Drive, NLR. All In Fridays. Club Elevations. 7200 Colonel Glenn Road. 501-562-3317.

Brown Soul Shoes. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 9 p.m. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www. afterthoughtbistroandbar.com/.

Club Nights at 1620 Savoy. Dance night, with DJs, drink specials and bar menu, until 2 a.m.

1620 Savoy, 10 p.m. 1620 Market St. 501-221-1620. www.1620savoy.com.

Cypress Creek Park Fall Bluegrass Jam. Cypress Creek Park, through Oct. 25. Cypress Creek Avenue, Adona. 501-662-4918. www.cypresscreekpark.com/.

Jim Mize Record Release. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. www. whitewatertavern.com.

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

Lyon College Pipe Band. Ron Robinson Theater, 7 p.m., free. 1 Pulaski Way. 501-320-5703. www. cals.lib.ar.us/ron-robinson-theater.aspx.

Protean Shift, Space Camp, Chimp Chimp Chimp. Vino’s, 9 p.m., $6. 923 W. 7th St. 501375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com.

Randall Shreve and The Sideshow. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $8 adv., $10 day of. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz.com.

RCO (headliner), Brian Ramsey (happy hour).

Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 and 9 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road.

501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf.com.

Reckless Kelly, Erik Dylan. Revolution, 9 p.m., $15 adv., $18 day of. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com.

Route 66. Agora Conference and Special Event Center, 6:30 p.m., $5. 705 E. Siebenmorgan, Conway.

Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-370-7013. www.capitalbarandgrill.com.

COMEDY

The Main Thing’s “Whatshisname?” The Joint, through Oct. 25: 8 p.m., $20. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

Tim Kidd. The Loony Bin, 7:30 and 10 p.m., $7-$10.

10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. www.loonybincomedy.com.

DANCE

Ballroom Dancing. Free lessons begin at 7 p.m.

Bess Chisum Stephens Community Center, 8-11 p.m., $7-$13. 12th & Cleveland streets. 501-2217568. www.blsdance.org.

Contra Dance. Park Hill Presbyterian Church, first and third Friday of every month, 7:30 p.m.; Fourth Friday of every month, 7:30 p.m., $5. 3520 JFK Blvd., NLR. arkansascountrydance.org.

“Salsa Night.” Begins with a one-hour salsa lesson.

Juanita’s, 9 p.m., $8. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.littlerocksalsa.com.

EVENTS

23rd Annual Boo at the Zoo. With a haunted train ride, trick-or-treating, bounce houses and special events. Little Rock Zoo, through Nov. 1, 6 p.m., $10. 1 Jonesboro Drive. 501-666-2406. www.littlerockzoo.com.

Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival. Argenta Farmers Market, 6 p.m., $35 adv., $40 day of. 6th and Main St., NLR. 501-831-7881. www.argentaartsdistrict.org/argenta-farmers-market.

Hot Air Balloon Glow. MacArthur Park, 6:30 p.m., free. 503 E. Ninth St. IABC Arkansas Luncheon. An event honoring Judge Chris Piazza and journalist Ernest Dumas.

The Little Rock Club, noon, $40. 400 W. Capitol, 30th Floor.

LGBTQ/SGL weekly meeting. Diverse Youth for Social Change is a group for LGBTQ/SGL and straight ally youth and young adults age 14 -23.

For more information, call 244-9690 or search “DYSC” on Facebook. LGBTQ/SGL Youth and Young Adult Group, 6:30 p.m. 800 Scott St.

LECTURES

Henry Cisneros. A lecture by the former secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Sturgis Hall, noon. 1200 President Clinton Ave. 501-683-5200. clintonschool.uasys.edu.

SATURDAY, OCT. 25

MUSIC

Club Nights at 1620 Savoy. See Oct. 24.

Cypress Creek Park Fall Bluegrass Jam. Cypress Creek Park. Cypress Creek Avenue, Adona. 501662-4918. www.cypresscreekpark.com.

The Dangerous Idiots. Midtown Billiards, midnight, $5. 1316 Main St. 501-372-9990. midtownar.com.

K.I.S.S. Saturdays. Featuring DJ Silky Slim. Dress code enforced. Sway, 10 p.m. 412 Louisiana. 501492-9802.

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

Lucious Spiller. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 9 p.m., $7. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www. afterthoughtbistroandbar.com.

Origin, Crankbait, Abandon the Artifice, The Awareness Affliction. Revolution, 8 p.m., $10 adv, $13 day of. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501823-0090. revroom.com.

Pickin’ Porch. Bring your instrument. All ages welcome. Faulkner County Library, 9:30 a.m. 1900 Tyler St., Conway. 501-327-7482. www.fcl.org.

Scare Don’t Fear. Juanita’s, 9 p.m., $10. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com.

Solution (headliner), Richie Johnson (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 and 9 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf. com.

Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free.

111 Markham St. 501-370-7013. www.capitalbarandgrill.com/.

Tim Easton. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com.

Young Thug. Clear Channel Metroplex, 9 p.m., $30-$60. 10800 Col. Glenn Road. 501-217-5113.

COMEDY

The Main Thing’s “Whatshisname?” The Joint, 8 p.m., $20. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-3720205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

Tim Kidd. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., $7-$10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-2285555. www.loonybincomedy.com.

DANCE

Little Rock West Coast Dance Club. Dance les-

PARTY AT OUR PLACE!

sons. Singles welcome. Ernie Biggs, 7 p.m., $2. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-247-5240. www.arstreetswing. com.

EVENTS

2014 Stand Up to Bullying Arts and Film Festival.

Ron Robinson Theater, 11 a.m. 1 Pulaski Way. 501-320-5703. www.cals.lib.ar.us/ron-robinsontheater.aspx.

23rd Annual Boo at the Zoo. See Oct. 24.

Little Rock Farmers’ Market. River Market Pavilions, 7 a.m. 400 President Clinton Ave. 3752552. www.rivermarket.info.

4th annual Battle for the Cure. Central High School, 5 p.m., $7. 2120 West Daisy L Gatson Bates Drive.

4th annual World Cheese Dip Championship.

Bernice Garden, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., $8 adv., $10 day of. 1401 S. Main St. www.thebernicegarden.org.

Argenta Farmers Market. Argenta Farmers Market, 7 a.m. 6th and Main St., NLR. 501-8317881. www.argentaartsdistrict.org/argenta-farmers-market.

Build Communities Not Bullies. With food, games and live music. Clinton Presidential Center, 11 a.m., free. 1200 President Clinton Ave. 370-8000. www.clintonpresidentialcenter.org.

Falun Gong meditation. Allsopp Park, 9 a.m., free.

Cantrell & Cedar Hill Roads.

Family and Friends Day. With games, food and all-ages entertainment. ITT Technical Institute, noon. 12200 Westhaven Drive. 501-221-4466.

Hillcrest Farmers Market. Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. 2200 Kavanaugh Blvd.

Historic Neighborhoods Tour. Bike tour of historic neighborhoods includes bike, guide, helmets and maps. Bobby’s Bike Hike, 9 a.m., $8-$28. 400 President Clinton Ave. 501-613-7001.

Mac-O-Lanterns. A pumpkin carving event and contest. MacArthur Park, 3 p.m. 503 E. Ninth St. Pork & Bourbon Tour. Bike tour includes bicycle, guide, helmets and maps. Bobby’s Bike Hike, 11:30 a.m., $35-$45. 400 President Clinton Ave. 501-613-7001.

Veteran Career Fair. MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, 10 a.m., free. 503 E. 9th St. 376-4602. www.arkmilitaryheritage.com.

amod.org.

BENEFITS

25th annual Silent Sunday. A tasting buffet and benefit for Arkansas School for the Deaf.

Statehouse Convention Center, noon, $25 adv., $30 day of. 7 Statehouse Plaza.

MONDAY, OCT. 27

MUSIC

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

Macabre, Ringworm, Panzerfaust, Snakedriver.

Vino’s, 8 p.m., $10. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com.

Monday Night Jazz. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 8 p.m., $5. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbistroandbar.com/.

Richie Johnson. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf. com.

Otonana Trio, 100 Ounces, jackofallshades.

Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $5. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz.com.

EVENTS

23rd Annual Boo at the Zoo. See Oct. 24.

LECTURES

Community Conversation Health Care. Sturgis Hall, 6 p.m. 1200 President Clinton Ave. 501-6835200. clintonschool.uasys.edu.

EVENTS

COMEDY

SPORTS

Mud Run. Two Rivers Park, 9 a.m. Rivercrest Drive.

501-371-4639. www.littlerock.org/ParksRecreation.

SUNDAY, OCT. 26

MUSIC

23rd Annual Boo at the Zoo. See Oct. 24.

Bernice Garden Farmer’s Market. Bernice Garden, 10 a.m. 1401 S. Main St. www.thebernicegarden.org.

The Mobile Observatory Project. Also featuring Ben Davidson, creator of the YouTube channel Suspicious0bservers. Museum of Discovery. 500 Clinton Ave. 396-7050, 1-800-880-6475. www.

Rockin’ Mondays! $2 Off all Rock Town products after 6pm

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MUSIC

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

Yelawolf. Juanita’s, 8 p.m., $20-$75. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com.

“Rosemary’s Baby.” KABF Movies in the Garden.

South on Main, 8 p.m., $3. 1304 Main St. 501-2449660. southonmain.com.

All American Food & Great Place to Watch Your Favorite Event

TUESDAY, OCT. 28 Amasa Hines, Strange Vine. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com.

Brian and Nick. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf. com.

Drive-By Truckers. George’s Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $25. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville.

479-442-4226.

Irish Traditional Music Sessions. Hibernia Irish Tavern, second and fourth Tuesday of every month, 7-9 p.m. 9700 N. Rodney Parham Road.

501-246-4340. www.hiberniairishtavern.com.

Jeff Ling. Khalil’s Pub, 6 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www.khalilspub.com.

Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com.

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

Mansions on the Moon. Juanita’s, 8 p.m., $12.

614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www. juanitas.com.

Music Jam. Hosted by Elliott Griffen and Joseph Fuller. The Joint, 8-11 p.m., free. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

FILM

Book Our Party Room Today!

Stand-Up Tuesday. Hosted by Adam Hogg. The Joint, 8 p.m., $5. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

DANCE

“Latin Night.” Revolution, 7:30 p.m., $5 regular, $7 under 21. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501823-0090. www.littlerocksalsa.com.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 39

ERNIE BIGGS

HEAVEN

HELL

COSTUME PARTY Friday October 31st @ 8 PM

DJ Paul Grass Upstairs

E. C. Haynes

Opens Downstairs @ 6:30 PM Dueling Pianos @ 8:30 PM

incredible drink specials all night Costume Contest on both levels!

0ver $1,000 in prizes!

Special appearance by: The Captain Morgan Morganettes!

307 President Clinton Avenue Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 (501) 372-4782

SHOP LOCAL www.arktimes.com

OCTOBER 23, 2014

37

RIDE THE ARKANSAS TIMES BUS TO TIM HURSLEY

GEORGE DOMBEK GALLERY

SATURDAY, NOV. 8, 2014

109

$

PER PERSON

A FULL DAY OF ART WITH THE ARKANSAS TIMES

PRICE INCLUDES: ROUND TRIP TOUR BUS TRANSPORTATION BOX LUNCH AT THE DOMBEK STUDIO AMID SCULPTURE BY LITTLE ROCK WOODWORKER ROBYN HORN STATE-OF-THE-ART EXHIBIT AT CRYSTAL BRIDGES DINNER Charge By Phone: (all major credit cards)

501-375-2985

Or mail check or money-order to: Arkansas Times Crystal Bridges Bus 201 East Markham, Suite 200, Little Rock, AR, 72201 ADMISSION TO CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM IS FREE 38

OCTOBER 23, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

THE TIMES ART BUS WILL MAKE TWO STOPS THIS FALL: FIRST WE’LL GO TO FAYETTEVILLE TO THE BEAUTIFUL STUDIO/GALLERY OF GEORGE DOMBEK, A PAINTER OF NATIONAL RENOWN WHOSE LARGE, DETAILED WATERCOLORS ARE SOME OF THE FINEST WORK DONE IN ARKANSAS. THEN WE’RE OFF TO CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART TO SEE THE MUCH-ANTICIPATED “STATE OF THE ART: DISCOVERING AMERICAN ART NOW.” “STATE OF THE ART” INCLUDES MORE THAN 200 WORKS BY 102 ARTISTS, INCLUDING PAINTINGS, SCULPTURE, VIDEO, INSTALLATION AND PERFORMANCE PIECES. THE SHOW, WHICH HAS GOTTEN NATIONAL ATTENTION, WAS ASSEMBLED DURING A NEARLY YEARLONG NATIONWIDE SEARCH FOR LESSERKNOWN ARTISTS BY MUSEUM PRESIDENT DON BACIGALUPI AND CURATOR CHAD ALLIGOOD AND INCLUDES WORK BY FOUR ARKANSANS. THIS SUBSTANTIAL EXHIBITION OCCUPIES SEVERAL GALLERIES, THE GROUNDS AND EVEN THE SQUARE IN BENTONVILLE.

ARKANSAS TIMES arktimes.com

TIM HURSLEY

EVENTS

23rd Annual Boo at the Zoo. See Oct. 24.

Ghost Hunting Class and Investigation.

MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, 6 p.m., $25. 503 E. 9th St. 376-4602. www.arkmilitaryheritage.com.

Parisian Macarons Class. Pulaski Technical College-South Campus, 5:30 p.m., $60. Exit 128, I-30.

Trivia Bowl. Flying Saucer, 8:30 p.m. 323 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-8032. www.beerknurd. com/stores/littlerock.

LECTURES

Nassir Al-Nasser. A presentation by the former ambassador from Qatar. Sturgis Hall, noon. 1200 President Clinton Ave. 501-683-5200. clintonschool.uasys.edu.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 29

MUSIC

7 Seconds. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m., $15. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com.

Acoustic Open Mic. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbistroandbar.com/.

Flameing Daeth Fearies, Sea of Echoes, The Federalis. Revolution, 8:30 p.m., $10. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com.

From Indian Lakes, Whale Fire, Motion in Color.

Vino’s, 7 p.m., $8. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www. vinosbrewpub.com.

Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m.

500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www. sonnywilliamssteakroom.com.

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

Open Mic Nite with Deuce. Thirst n’ Howl, 7:30 p.m., free. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl.com.

Tango with the Alejandro Ziegler quartet. Park Hill Presbyterian Church, 7 p.m., $25. 3520 JFK Blvd., NLR. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 7:30 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-370-7013. www.capitalbarandgrill.com/.

COMEDY

The Joint Venture. Improv comedy group. The Joint, 8 p.m., $7. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

DANCE

Little Rock Bop Club. Beginning dance lessons for ages 10 and older. Singles welcome. Bess Chisum Stephens Community Center, 7 p.m., $4 for members, $7 for guests. 12th & Cleveland streets. 501350-4712. www.littlerockbopclub.

EVENTS

23rd Annual Boo at the Zoo. See Oct. 24.

ARVets Gala. A dinner and program honoring Arkansas veterans. Clinton Presidential Center, 6:30 p.m., $150. 1200 President Clinton Ave. 370-8000. www.clintonpresidentialcenter.org.

LECTURES

“Barriers in Education for Women and Girls in Arkansas.” Sturgis Hall, noon. 1200 President Clinton Ave. 501-683-5200. clintonschool.uasys. edu.

POETRY

Wednesday Night Poetry. 21-and-older show.

Maxine’s, 7 p.m., free. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs.

501-321-0909. maxineslive.com/shows.html.

BOOKS

Nathan Englander. Temple B’nai Israel, 7:30 p.m., free. 3700 N Rodney Parham Road. www.jewisharkansas.org.

NEW ART EXHIBITS, EVENTS

NEW GALLERY EXHIBITS, EVENTS

ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, MacArthur Park: “William Beckman: Drawings 1967-2013,” Oct. 24-Feb. 1, lecture “Making Beckman”

by Tom Butler, director of the Columbus Museum and curator, 6 p.m. Oct. 23, free to members, $15 to nonmembers; “Feed Your Mind Friday with artist William Beckman,” noon-1 p.m. Oct. 24; “A Sense of Balance: The Sculpture of Stoney Lamar,” Oct. 24-Jan. 18, “Color, an Artist’s Tale: Paintings by Virmarie DePoyster,” Oct. 28-Feb. 15, Museum School Gallery; “Family Fest,” artmaking festival, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Oct. 25, free to members, $5 to nonmembers, Friends of Contemporary Craft Conversation Series with Stoney Lamar, 5-6 p.m. Oct. 26, $5 FOCC members, $10 nonmembers, free to students; “Poet in Copper: Engravings by Evan Lindquist,” through Oct. 26; “Inspiration to Illumination: Recent Work by Museum School Photography Instructors,” through Oct. 26, Museum School Gallery. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. 372-4000.

CANTRELL GALLERY, 8206 Cantrell Road: “Painting,” work by Megan A. Lewis, opens with reception 6-8 p.m. Oct. 24, show through the end of the year. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 224-1335.

M2 GALLERY, 11526 Cantrell Road: New work

by Taylor Shepherd, Steve Adair and John Sadowski, reception 6-9 p.m. Oct. 24. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat. 2256257.

WILDWOOD PARK, 20919 Denny Road: “Art in the Park,” work by Vicki Kovaleski, Emily Moll Wood, Tom Tull, Robin Tucker, Gary Wayne Golden, Tim Jacob, W. Michael Spain and Mark Johnson, through Nov. 16.

821-7275.

SIXTH STREET LIBRARY GALLERY, Christ Church, 509 Scott St.: Photographs by Tim Hursley, including time-lapse photos of Christ Church, his broken silo series and polygamist community series, through December. sixthstreetlibrary.tumblr.com.

BENTONVILLE CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, One Museum Way: “State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now,” work by more than 100 contemporary artists, through Jan. 5; talk by SOTA artist Angela Drakeford 1 p.m. Oct. 24; talk by SOTA artist Delita Martin of Little Rock, 2 p.m. Oct. 25; gelatin print workshop with Martin 1-4 p.m. Oct. 26 ($12 members, $15 nonmembers, reserve at 479-657-2335); permanent collection of American masterworks spanning four centuries. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon., Thu.; 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

Wed., Fri.; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat.-Sun., closed Tue. 479-418-5700.

ROGERS ROGERS HISTORICAL MUSEUM, 322 S. Second St.: “A House in Mourning,” Hawkins House, candlelight tour 7-9:15 p.m. Oct. 24 (reserve tickets at 479-621-1154); “IMAGINE: A NEW Rogers Historical Museum,” conceptual designs of new exhibition areas to be built.

10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 479-6210-1154.

UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE® STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND CIRCULATION 1. Publication Title: Arkansas Times. 2. Publication Number: 454-190. 3. Filing Date: 9/26/2014. 4. Issue Frequency: Weekly. 5. Number of Issues Published Annually: 52. 6. Annual Subscription Price: $42.00. 7.

Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication: 201 East Markham, Suite 200, Little Rock, Pulaski County, AR 72201. Contact Robert Curfman (501) 416-0749. 8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business Office of Publisher (not printer): See Line 7. 9. Publisher: Alan Leveritt, 201 East Markham, Suite 200, Little Rock, AR 72201. Editor: Lindsey Millar, 201 East Markham, Suite 200, Little Rock, AR 72201.

Managing Editor: Leslie Newell Peacock. 201 East Markham, Suite 200, Little Rock, AR 72201. 10. Owner: Arkansas Times Limited Partnership, 201 East Markham, Suite 200, Little Rock, AR 72201. 11. Known Beholders, Mortgagees, and Other Securities: None. 12a. Tax Status Has Not Changed During Preceding 12 Months.

13. Publication Title: Arkansas Times Newspaper. 14. Issue Date for Circulation Data: 9/05/2014. 15. Extent and Nature of Circulation: Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months; No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date. 15a, Total Number of Copies (Net press run): 25,000; 25,000. 15b.

Legitimate Paid and/or Requested Distribution (By Mail and Outside the Mail): (1) Outside County/Requested Mail Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 (Include direct written request from recipient, telemarketing and internet requests from recipient, paid subscriptions including nominal rate subscriptions, employer requests, advertiser’s proof copies, and exchange copies): 717; 683. (2) In-County Paid/Requested Mail Subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541 (Include direct written request from recipient, telemarketing and internet requests from recipient, paid subscriptions including nominal rate subscriptions, employer requests, advertiser’s proof copies, and exchange copies): 207; 198. (3) Sales Through Dealers and Carriers Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Paid or Requested Distribution Outside USPS®; 13,079; 13,414. (4) Counter Sales, and Other Paid or Requested Distribution Outside USPS (e.g. First-Class Mail®): 0;0. 15c. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation: (Sum of 15b (1), (2), (3), and (4)): 14,003; 14,295. 15d. Nonrequested Distribution (By Mail and outside the Mail): (1) Outside County Nonrequested Copies Stated on PS Form 3541 (Include Sample copies, Requests Over 3 years old, Requests Induced by a Premium, Bulk Sales and Requests including Association Requests, Names obtained from Business Directories, Lists, and other sources): 0;0. (2) In-County Nonrequested Copies Stated on PS Form 3541(Include Sample copies, Requests Over 3 years old, Requests, Names obtained from Business Directories, Lists, and other sources): 0;0. (3) Nonrequested Copies Distributed Through the USPS by Other Classes of Mail (e.g. First-Class Mail, Nonrequestor Copies mailed in excess of 10% Limit mailed at Standard Mail® or Package Service Rates): 0;0. (4) Nonrequested Copies Distributed Outside the Mail (Include Pickup Stands, Trade Shows, Showrooms and Other Sources): 8,289; 8,625. 15e. Total Nonrequested Distribution (Sum of 15d (1), (2), 3 and (4)): 8,289; 8,625. 15f. Total Distribution (Sum of 15c and e): 22,292; 22,920. 15g. Copies not Distributed: 2,708; 2,080. 15h. Total (Sum of 15f and g): 25,000; 25,000. 15i. Percent Paid and/or Requested Circulation (15c divided by f times 100): 62.82%; 62.37%. 16. 0;0. 17. Publication of Statement of Ownership for a Requester Publication is required and will be printed in the 10/23/14 issue of publication. 18. Signature and Title of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager, or Owner: Robert Curfman, Circulation Consultant. Date: 9/26/2014. I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties).

www.arktimes.com

OCTOBER 23, 2014

39

Sat. Oct. 25, 2014 11-3pm bernice garden south main

cheesedip.net Benefiting Harmony Health Clinic

Regional Recycling & Waste Reduction District.

40

OCTOBER 23, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

MOVIE REVIEW

SUPPORT OUR COMMUNITY.

EAT LOCAL ‘SAINT’ AND HIS FOIL: Bill Murray and newcomer Jaeden Lieberher star.

Funny because it’s true

T H E H OUSE CONCERT SE R I E S WI TH AME R I C AN GU I TAR MASTE R S

Peter Janson Steve Davison

‘St. Vincent’ captures life on the edge.

BY SAM EIFLING

B

C E LT I C, A M E R I C A N A, ROOTS and BLUES

7 PM, Friday, October 24 SU

15

$ 20919 Denny Rd, Little Rock 501.821.7275 wildwoodpark.org

O

LEGAL OPTIONS FOR IMMIGRANTS

GGES

N

T ED

on his face. (Even after his indie turn, it’s still strange to get through an entire movie without seeing Bill Murray smile more than a time or two.) Wide-release comedies tend to forget how much comedic gold there is in pain, and when Melfi introduces, say, alcoholism or prostitution or dementia or maladies or assault or poverty or despair or death, he’s drawing laughs out of the hurt, but he’s also telling a believable story about living in America today, specifically what it’s like for old people without families or means of support. Frankly, it sucks. Vincent’s warped life wouldn’t seem as funny if it weren’t heartbreaking — if, for instance, it were a life he seemed to want to live.

It’s a shame that “St. Vincent” doesn’t stick to its guns. By the third act the excellent juggling of sympathy and pathos caramelizes into something sugary-sweet, as if Melfi went to the bar for a round of Irish car bombs and came back instead with mimosas. The saint angle gets ratcheted up a bit too tight, for one, even if it is charming ol’ Chris O’Dowd playing the Catholic school teacher who assigns Oliver and his classmates to examine the world around them for people doing saintly works. (Guess who he picks?)

To the credit of Murray and of Melfi, at least Vincent doesn’t really seem to care when the generally surly people around him begin noticing his hidden heart of precious metal. Six years after the economy cratered, there are a lot of Vincents scattered around America, unemployed, unemployable, doing their ever-smaller part to stay relevant to the world. To pull comedy out of this tragedy means appreciating the small victories. They are small, but then, they are victories.

D

ill Murray plays Vincent, the titular lout in the new comedy “St. Vincent,” as a throwback, sortof-aging American white male. Vincent is approaching what ought to be retirement age — and yet he seems to work less than he does fritter his few greenbacks at the race track, guzzle handles of bourbon and whittle away sad afternoons at the strip club watching his girlfriend-for-pay (Naomi Watts plus a distracting Russian accent) waggle her baby bump against a chrome pole. The why-bother beard grizzle, the cigarette held in the lips even during conversations, the snow-camo cargo shorts: All point to a man who has no reason to be anything other than what he is in the moment, for while the future has yet to be written, “Wheel of Fortune” is probably on somewhere right now, and what better to lull you into a sweet recliner nap?

A character such as this needs a foil, and it arrives as Oliver (charming newbie Jaeden Lieberher), a brighteyed stringbean who moves in next door.

Oliver’s parents are splitting up, and his mother, Maggie (a subdued Melissa McCarthy), works constantly to keep orange juice on the table and Oliver in private school. So Vincent steps up and charges her $11 an hour to tolerate the kid after school, not least because he needs the cash. Oliver’s a genuinely sweet boy with trouble shadowing him, now being babysat by a curmudgeon who’s not above stealing and reselling prescription pills. It’s like a south Brooklyn “Dennis the Menace,” through a cracked whiskey bottle.

Screenwriter and first-time director Theodore Melfi hits a lot of notes correctly to make “St. Vincent” a genuinely funny movie. Murray’s fantastic, quiet, believable. He wears his years (64) hard

AT I O N

Michel Leidermann Moderator

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30 AT 10:30 PM In Spanish with English subtitles

aetn.org www.arktimes.com

OCTOBER 23, 2014

41

Dining

Information in our restaurant capsules reflects the opinions of the newspaper staff and its reviewers. The newspaper accepts no advertising or other considerations in exchange for reviews, which are conducted anonymously. We invite the opinions of readers who think we are in error.

B Breakfast L Lunch D Dinner $ Inexpensive (under $8/person) $$ Moderate ($8-$20/person) $$$ Expensive (over $20/person) CC Accepts credit cards

WHAT’S COOKIN’ THREE FOLD NOODLES AND DUMPLING CO., a new restaurant specializing in traditional Chinese food, is planning to open in downtown Little Rock in mid-December at 215 Center St., the former home of Your Mama’s Good Food, according to assistant manager and business development manager Rebecca Yan. The menu will include handmade dumplings, steamed buns and handstretched noodles. Service will be cafeteria style. Nearly everything, from dumpling dough to sauces, will be made in-house with as many local vegetables and meats as possible, Yan said.

Hours, at least initially, will be 10:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. weekdays. The restaurant won’t serve alcohol initially, either.

Yan’s mother, Lisa Chang, is the restaurant’s chef and, along with other family and friends, owner. The menu will include a number of regional styles.

Chang grew up in northern China and lived in southeastern China with her husband, Jian Yan. Before the family immigrated in 1999, Chang said she guessed she’d probably traveled throughout two-thirds of the country.

“That’s why I really have the experience to explore ... regional cuisine” from all over China,” she said.

Chang said she’s been preparing to open the restaurant for five years since she graduated with a degree from the culinary school of The Art Institute of Dallas. (It’s her second degree; she graduated with a chemistry degree from college in China and spent years in management in manufacturing.)

The kitchen will be open so diners will be able to watch Chang cooking from the dining room, or they can sit at a small table in the kitchen to watch dumplings being made at the pastry station.

DINING CAPSULES

LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK

AMERICAN

4 SQUARE CAFE AND GIFTS Vegetarian salads, soups, wraps and paninis and a broad selection of smoothies in an Arkansas products gift shop.

405 President Clinton Ave. No alcohol, all CC. $-$$. 501-244-2622. BLD Mon.-Sat., L Sun. APPLE SPICE JUNCTION A chain sandwich and salad spot with sit-down lunch space and a vibrant box lunch catering business. With a wide range of options and quick service. Order online via applespice.com. 2000 S. University Ave. No alcohol, all CC. $$. 501-663-7008. L Mon.-Fri. (10 a.m.-3 p.m.).

42

OCTOBER 23, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

DELICIOUS: Pad See Euw, with flat noodles, broccoli, red peppers, scrambled eggs and holy Thai basil.

Oishi means delicious, and it is

Japanese hibachi restaurant fires it up in the Heights.

H

ere’s a novel idea that’s taken decades to finally be realized: hibachi in the Heights.

For about as long as anyone can remember, the only places serving Japanese hibachi-style cooking — where your family and a few more folks you don’t know all gather around a 575 F.-degree scorcher of a grill with just enough safe distance between your hands and the searing metal, while a bandana-wearing chef puts on a cooking and balancing act to wow kids of all ages — were either in the Riverdale area on Cantrell Road, or out in West Little Rock or across the river. We remember waiting an hour or more back in the good ol’ hibachi days at the famed Shogun just to be seated on a weekend night.

We never imagined someone might actually open such a place in the Heights, not in the neighborhood of intimate fancy cuisine.

But we didn’t foresee Sushi Cafe coming and taking the Heights by storm, either.

Young entrepreneurs Robert Tju, who opened Sushi Cafe, and Jacob Chi of the well-known Chi family of restaurants and

Oishi Hibachi and Thai Cuisine

5501 Kavanaugh Blvd., Suite G Little Rock 603-0080 QUICK BITE As the nice fall weather has kicked in, a night in the open-air section of the restaurant would be a good call. Oishi offers Asian-style tapas (small plates) that work nicely with its large selection of wines to go along with some Kavanaugh peoplewatching.

HOURS 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily; 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Sunday through Thursday, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

OTHER INFO Full bar. Credit cards accepted.

hotels in this market — even tried opening a Asian haute cuisine restaurant on Kavanaugh Boulevard a couple of years ago that they called RJ Tao. Everyone would probably admit it was an overreach.

RJ Tao has morphed into Oishi, which we’re told translates from Japanese to English as “delicious,” but Oishi is not simply a scaled-down version of the previous restaurant. Rather, it’s a complete rework-

ing of the menu to more affordable, tasty Thai dishes, a sushi bar, an open-air patio where diners can order Asian-influenced tapas, an inviting drink bar inside the main entrance, and the aforementioned hibachi tables: four in fact, plus another hibachi station to serve up an assortment of meat and seafood and deliver to the nearby regular dining tables, if one doesn’t want the community feel around the hot hibachi grill with fire and smoking onion volcano.

Oishi still has most of the ornamentation of RJ Tao still in place — a giant Buddha statue sits in a dining room that also includes three hideaway dining tables and even smaller Buddhas that line the entranceway. It has only been open a few weeks, and we’re not sure many folks know hibachi is available. On a recent weeknight, we dined alone at one hibachi table, a family of four wrapped up dinner at another, and two hibachi grills sat idle.

Dining alone at a hibachi grill has its plusses — mainly the full attention of the chef, and ours was determined to make the meal an experience.

Among a variety of steak choices cooked on the hibachi, including Arkansas-raised rib-eye and American Kobe, we chose the Oishi special ($30), which was a small filet cut accompanied by saltwater lobster. There are more than a dozen combos in which you can pair steak and other seafood (shrimp, scallops, salmon) or just go all out on seafood or steak alone. Lunchtime hibachi offers cheaper prices, but even the dinner-time prices were good.

Our California-native chef, who told us he’d worked the hibachi circuit in 41 states, was a rock star with all the entertaining tricks, but he also came up with a wasabi-based concoction that bettered by a mile the ubiquitous ginger, yumyum and teriyaki sauces traditionally laid out for the hibachi diner. He also refused to let me leave with just a tiny offering of lobster for the $30, insisting the kitchen send another tail for grilling.

The filet needed no additional “dipping” sauces and was delightfully tender and well-seasoned. The fried rice and vegetables were just as they should be, full of flavor. The spicy wasabi sauce complemented the lobster nicely. A large can of Sapporo beer poured into a chilled glass completed a fantastic meal, even if there was no one but the chef and nearby TVs displaying sports or

BELLY UP

*

Check out the Times’ food blog, Eat Arkansas arktimes.com

DINING CAPSULES, CONT. “Big Bang Theory” to provide company.

On another dinner visit to Oishi, two of us went the Thai route — as much as we’ve desired having hibachi available near Midtown, we’ve also had a hankering for good Thai. Only so many trips to Pei Wei will do for us. We want a kitchen that steps out.

Oishi does just that with such dishes as the Panang Curry ($15), the best we’ve had in Little Rock, with the right amount of coconut milk offsetting the powerful hot kick in the curry. We also took note of this version with shrimp (several LARGE crustaceans, in fact) being about $6 cheaper than a version we’d had from another new Asian-influenced spot. It also came with exactly the right amount of rice to balance all the other flavors and absorb some of the liquid.

The Pad Thai was tempting to order, but our helpful waitress convinced us that many diners had been raving about the Pad See Euw ($13). We see why.

While not as hot as the curry, the sauce brought a nice amount of sweet chili pepper heat to perfectly cooked, wide rice noodles, tender chicken and scrambled egg. It was a fabulous dish.

As for our starter, there was more than enough of one refreshing, crisp, spicy green papaya salad for two to share.

There are plenty of other appetizers, soups, desserts and sides, too many to list here, plus intriguing entrees such as lamb chops and pineapple fried rice.

Nothing struck us as priced exorbitantly. Also, we ran into some diners who had tried RJ Tao and noted how much more relaxed and louder and fun Oishi seemed to be.

The Chi family has been a dependable purveyor of Asian-styled food in this market for many years. Occasionally, the Chis may have overestimated the market for some daring endeavors, but they always fall back to something that’s terrifically tasty while easy on the pocket book. While the exotic kangaroo, cheese fondue, bacon-wrapped Sabel fish, bison osso bucco and the like at RJ Tao were items not found anywhere else around here, the repurposing of the restaurant as Oishi, with good Thai and hibachi, is more suited to local palates sure to make regular visits. And yes, they have Chi’s famed crab Rangoon on the appetizer list as well as other longtime favorites.

ARKANSAS BURGER CO. Good burgers, fries and shakes, plus salads and other entrees. Try the cheese dip. 7410 Cantrell Road. Beer and wine, CC. $-$$. 501-663-0600. LD Tue.-Sat. BELLWOOD DINER Traditional breakfasts and plate lunch specials are the norm at this lost-intime hole in the wall. 3815 MacArthur Drive. NLR. No alcohol, No CC. $. 501-753-1012. BL Mon.-Fri. THE BLIND PIG Tasty bar food, including Zweigle’s brand hot dogs. 6015 Chenonceau Blvd. Full bar, CC. $-$$. 501-868-8194. D Wed-Fri., LD Sat. BONEFISH GRILL A half-dozen or more types of fresh fish filets are offered daily at this upscale chain. 11525 Cantrell Road. Full bar, all CC. $$$.

501-228-0356. D Mon.-Fri., LD Sat-Sun. BRAVE NEW RESTAURANT Chef/owner Peter Brave was doing “farm to table” before most of us knew the term. His focus is on fresh, high-quality ingredients prepared elegantly but simply. Ordering the fish special is never a bad choice. His chocolate crème brulee sets the pace. 2300 Cottondale Lane. Full bar, all CC. $$-$$$. 501-663-2677. LD Mon.-Sat. BRAY GOURMET DELI AND CATERING Turkey spreads in four flavors — original, jalapeno, Cajun and dill — and the homemade pimiento cheese are the signature items at Chris Bray’s delicatessen, which serves sandwiches, wraps, soups, stuffed potatoes and salads and sells the turkey spreads to go. 323 Center St. Suite 150. No alcohol, all CC. $-$$.

501-353-1045. BL Mon.-Fri. BUFFALO WILD WINGS A sports bar on steroids with numerous humongous TVs and a menu full of thirst-inducing items. The wings, which can be slathered with one of 14 sauces, are the starring attraction and will undoubtedly have fans. 14800 Cantrell Road. Full bar, all CC. $$. 501-868-5279. LD daily.

BY THE GLASS A broad but not ridiculously large wine list is studded with interesting, diverse selections, and prices are uniformly reasonable. The food focus is on high-end items that pair well with wine — olives, hummus, cheese, bread, and some meats and sausages. Happy hour daily from 4-6 p.m.

5713 Kavanaugh Blvd. Beer and wineall CC. $$.

501-663-9463. D Mon.-Sat. CAFE BRUNELLE Coffee shop and cafe serving sweets, tasty sandwiches and Loblolly ice cream. 17819 Chenal Parkway. No alcohol, all CC. $-$$. 501-448-2687. BLD daily.

CAFE@HEIFER Serving fresh pastries, omelets, soups, salads, sandwiches and pizzas. Located inside Heifer Village. 1 World Ave. No alcohol, all CC. $. 501-907-8801. BL Mon.-Fri. CAPITAL BAR AND GRILL Big hearty sandwiches, daily lunch specials and fine evening dining all rolled up into one at this landing spot downtown. Surprisingly inexpensive with a great bar staff and a good selection of unique desserts. 111 Markham St. Full bar, all CC. $$-$$$. 501-370-7013. LD daily.

CAPITOL BISTRO Serving breakfast and lunch items, including quiche, sandwiches, coffees and the like. 1401 W. Capitol Ave. No alcohol, all CC. $-$$. 501-371-9575. BL Mon.-Fri. CATERING TO YOU Painstakingly prepared entrees and great appetizers in this gourmetto-go location, attached to a gift shop. Caters everything from family dinners to weddings CONTINUED ON PAGE 45

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DINING CAPSULES, CONT. and large corporate events. 8121 Cantrell Road.

No alcohol, all CC. $-$$. 501-614-9030. Serving meals to go: LD Mon.-Sat. CATFISH HOLE Downhome place for well-cooked catfish and tasty hushpuppies. 603 E. Spriggs. NLR. Beerall CC. $-$$. 501-758-3516. D Tue.-Sat. CELLAR 220 Ecclectic menu and strong wine list.

220 W. 6th St. Full bar, CC. $$$. 501-374-5100.

LD Mon.-Fri., D Sat. CIAO BACI The focus is on fine dining in this casually elegant Hillcrest bungalow, though excellent tapas are out of this world. The treeshaded, light-strung deck is a popular destination. 605 N. Beechwood St. Full bar, all CC. $$$.

501-603-0238. D Mon.-Sat. CRAZEE’S COOL CAFE Good burgers, daily plate specials and bar food amid pool tables and TVs. 7626 Cantrell Road. Full bar, all CC. $-$$. 501-221-9696. LD Mon.-Sat. CUPCAKES ON KAVANAUGH Gourmet cupcakes and coffee, indoor seating. 5625 Kavanaugh Blvd. No alcohol, all CC. $-$$.

501-664-2253. LD Mon.-Sat. DEMPSEY BAKERY Bakery with sit-down area, serving coffee and specializing in gluten-, nutand soy-free baked goods. 323 Cross St. No alcohol, all CC. $-$$. 501-375-2257. Serving BL Tue.-Sat. DIXON ROAD BLUES CAFE Sandwiches, burgers and salads. 1505 W. Dixon Road. Full bar, all CC. $-$$. 501-888-2233. D Fri.-Sat. DOE’S EAT PLACE A skid-row dive turned power brokers’ watering hole with huge steaks, great tamales and broiled shrimp, and killer burgers at lunch. 1023 W. Markham St. Full bar, all CC. $$-$$$. 501-376-1195. LD Mon.-Fri., D Sat. DOUBLETREE PLAZA BAR & GRILL The lobby restaurant in the Doubletree is elegantly comfortable, but you’ll find no airs put on at heaping breakfast and lunch buffets. 424 W.Markham St. Full bar, all CC. $$. 501-372-4371. BLD daily.

EJ’S EATS AND DRINKS The friendly neighborhood hoagie shop downtown serves at a handful of tables and by delivery. The sandwiches are generous, the soup homemade and the salads cold. Vegetarians can craft any number of acceptable meals from the flexible menu. The housemade potato chips are da bomb. 523 Center St. Full bar, all CC. $-$$.

501-666-3700. LD Mon.-Fri. FILIBUSTER’S BISTRO & LOUNGE Sandwiches, salads in the Legacy Hotel. 625 W. Capitol Ave. Full bar, all CC. $$. 501-374-0100. D Mon.-Fri. FIVE GUYS BURGERS & FRIES Nationwide burger chain with emphasis on freshly made fries and patties. 2923 Lakewood Village Drive.

NLR. No alcohol, all CC. $-$$. 501-246-5295. LD daily. 13000 Chenal Parkway. No alcohol, all CC. $-$$. 501-225-1100. LD daily.

FLYING FISH The fried seafood is fresh and crunchy and there are plenty of raw, boiled and grilled offerings, too. The hamburgers are a hit, too. It’s counter service; wander on through the screen door and you’ll find a slick team of cooks and servers doing a creditable job of serving big crowds. 511 President Clinton Ave. Beer and wineall CC. $$. 501-375-3474. LD daily.

GINO’S PIZZA AND PHILLY STEAK 8000 Geyer Springs Road. 501-562-0152. LD daily.

THE GRAND CAFE Typical hotel restaurant fare from this La Quinta cafe. 925 S. University Ave. Full bar, all CC. $$-$$$. 501-664-5020. BLD daily.

GRUMPY’S TOO Music venue and sports bar with lots of TVs, pub grub and regular drink specials. 1801 Green Mountain Drive. Full bar, all CC. $-$$. 501-225-3768. LD Mon.-Sat. GUS’S WORLD FAMOUS FRIED CHICKEN The best fried chicken in town. Go for chicken and waffles on Sundays. 300 President Clinton Ave. Beer, CC. $-$$. 501-372-2211. LD daily.; 400

N. Bowman. Beer. LD daily.

HOMER’S Great vegetables, huge yeast rolls and killer cobblers. Follow the mobs. 2001 E. Roosevelt Road. No alcohol, all CC. $-$$. 501-3741400. BL Mon.-Fri. 9700 N.Rodney Parham. Full bar, all CC. $$. 501-224-6637. LD Mon.-Sat. IRONHORSE SALOON Bar and grill offering juicy hamburgers and cheeseburgers. 9125 Mann Road. Full bar, all CC. $. 501-562-4464. LD daily.

J. GUMBO’S Fast-casual Cajun fare served, primarily, in a bowl. Better than expected. 12911 Cantrell Road. Beerall CC. $-$$. 501-916-9635. LD daily.

JIMMY’S SERIOUS SANDWICHES Consistently fine sandwiches, side orders and desserts for 30 years. Chicken salad’s among the best in town, and there are fun specialty sandwiches such as Thai One On and The Garden. Get there early for lunch. 5116 W. Markham St. No alcohol, CC.

$-$$. 501-666-3354. L Mon.-Sat., D Mon.-Sat. (drive-through only).

K. HALL AND SONS Neighborhood grocery store with excellent lunch counter. The cheeseburger is hard to beat. 1900 Wright Ave. No alcohol, CC. $. 501-372-1513. BLD Mon.-Sat. (closes at 6 p.m.), BL Sun. KRAZY MIKE’S Po’boys, catfish and shrimp and other fishes, fried chicken wings and all the expected sides served up fresh and hot to order on demand. 200 N. Bowman Road. Beer, all CC. $$. 501-907-6453. LD Mon.-Sat. LOCA LUNA Grilled meats, seafood and pasta dishes that never stray far from country roots, whether Italian, Spanish or Arkie. “Gourmet plate lunches” are good, as is Sunday brunch.

3519 Old Cantrell Road. Full bar, all CC. $$-$$$.

501-663-4666. BR Sun., LD Mon.-Fri., D Sat.

THE MAIN CHEESE A restaurant devoted to grilled cheese. 14524 Cantrell Road. Beer and wine. $-$$. 501-367-8082. LD Mon.-Sat. MILFORD TRACK Healthy and tasty are the key words at this deli/grill that serves breakfast and lunch. Hot entrees change daily and there are soups, sandwiches, salads and killer desserts. Bread is baked in-house, and there are several veggie options. 10809 Executive Center Drive, Searcy Building. No alcohol, all CC. $-$$. 501-223-2257. BL Mon.-Fri., L Sat. NATCHEZ RESTAURANT Smart, elegant takes on Southern classics. 323 Center St. Beer and wine, CC. $$-$$$. 501-372-1167. L Tue.-Fri., D Wed.-Sat. THE OYSTER BAR Gumbo, red beans and rice (all you can eat on Mondays), peel-and-eat shrimp, oysters on the half shell, addictive po’ boys. Killer jukebox. 3003 W. Markham St. Beer and wine, all CONTINUED ON PAGE 46

www.arktimes.com

OCTOBER 23, 2014

45

DINING CAPSULES, CONT.

hearsay ➥ In store opening news, WHITE GOAT’S Conway location at 1008 Oak St., is ready for your business. The grand opening for the HOMEGOODS store at the Promenade at Chenal is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Oct. 26.

Be sure to get there early: The first 1,000 customers will receive a free reusable HomeGoods shopping bag. Gotta love free. ➥ The Junior League of Little Rock’s 24th annual HOLIDAY HOUSE is scheduled for Oct. 27 to Nov. 1. The four-day shopping extravaganza will offer more than 180 specialty merchants from across the United States. A general three-day shopping pass is $20 and a general one-day pass is $10. There are also a variety of special events planned around Holiday House, including private shopping opportunities, preview parties, a ladies’ night out, a tween fashion show, and cookies and milk with Santa. For more information about special events, Holiday House hours and to purchase tickets, visit www.jllr.org. ➥ The 25th annual SILENT SUNDAY will be from noon to 3 p.m. Oct. 26 at the Statehouse Convention Center.

Central Arkansas’s best independent restaurants will bring their signature dishes to form the biggest tasting buffet in Arkansas. Sponsored by the Central Arkansas Independent Restaurant Operators, all proceeds from Silent Sunday go directly to technology programs at the Arkansas School for the Deaf. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door for adults; admission for children ages 6-12 is $12. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www. silentsunday.org. ➥ BARBARA/JEAN will host a Tom and Linda Platt trunk show Nov. 13-14. The clothing line’s philosophy is “Life is short — clothes should be simple”. According to the line’s website, “[t]heir elegant uncomplicated clothes combine both classic and avant-garde couture finishes with a purity of line and form rendered from extravagant and unusual fabric combinations in lush and daring color.”

Advertising Supplement 46

OCTOBER 23, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

CC. $-$$. 501-666-7100. LD Mon.-Sat. OZARK COUNTRY RESTAURANT A longstanding favorite with many Little Rock residents, the eatery specializes in big country breakfasts and pancakes plus sandwiches and several meat-and-two options for lunch and dinner. Try the pancakes and don’t leave without some sort of smoked meat.

202 Keightley Drive. No alcohol, all CC. $-$$.

501-663-7319. BL daily.

PANERA BREAD This bakery/cafe serves freshly-baked breads, bagels and pastries every morning as well as a full line of espresso beverages. Panera also offers a full menu of sandwiches, hand-tossed salads and hearty soups. 314 S. University. 501-6646878. BLD. PANERA BREAD This bakery/cafe serves

freshly baked breads, bagels and pastries every morning as well as a full line of espresso beverages. Panera also offers a full menu of sandwiches, hand-tossed salads and hearty soups. 11525 Cantrell Road. No alcohol, all CC. $-$$. 501-227-0222. BLD daily.; 314 S. University.

501-664-6878. BLD. PLAYTIME PIZZA Tons of fun isn’t rained out by lackluster eats at Playtime Pizza, the $11 million, 65,000-square-foot kidtopia near the Col. Glenn 18 theater. While the buffet is only so-so, features like indoor minigolf, laser tag, go karts, arcade games and bumper cars make it a winner for both kids and adults. 600 Colonel Glenn Plaza Loop. all CC. $-$$. 501-227-7529. D Mon.-Wed., LD Thu.-Sun. PURPLE COW DINER 1950s fare — cheese-

burgers, chili dogs, thick milk shakes — in a ‘50s setting at today’s prices. 8026 Cantrell Road.

Full bar, all CC. $$. 501-221-3555. LD daily, BR Sat.-Sun. 11602 Chenal Parkway. Full bar, all CC. $$. 501-224-4433. LD daily, BR Sat.-Sun. 1419 Higden Ferry Road. Hot Springs. Beer, all CC. $$. 501-625-7999. LD daily, B Sun. THE RELAY STATION This grill offers a short menu, which includes chicken strips, french fries, hamburgers, jalapeno poppers and cheese sticks. 12225 Stagecoach Road. Full bar, all CC. $-$$. 501-455-9919. LD daily.

THE ROOT CAFE Homey, local foods-focused cafe. With tasty burgers, homemade bratwurst, banh mi and a number of vegan and veggie options. Breakfast and Sunday brunch, too. 1500 S. Main St. No alcohol, all CC. $-$$. 501-4140423. BL Tue.-Sat., BR Sun.

ALL ABOUT PRE-K AND TAXES, CONT. Arkansas schools. He wants to add $3.8 million to ABC to partially make up for the damage done by years of flat funding, but he also insists on broadening eligibility to eventually cover all 4-year-olds in the state.

“I propose doing it as we can afford it. As we have revenue growth, and we always do, we would begin to implement my plan,” Ross said. “Step 1 is to fully fund the existing program. Step 2 is to increase access from those who live at 200 percent of poverty to 300 percent of poverty. And step 3 is that those from 300 to 400 percent would pay half price.” Families above 400 percent would pay the full cost of the program, but Ross said they’d benefit as well. “It would be comparable to what they’re paying for day care now, but they’d be getting their child enrolled in a quality pre-K program.”

Hutchinson agreed that pre-K needs more funding, but balks at including families further up the income ladder, an expansion that he says the state can’t afford.

“We need to fully fund our current program before we expand eligibility for additional students,” Hutchinson said. “Pre-K is a valuable tool for preparing students for school and I support providing assistance for those who need it the most.” Hutchinson’s website calls the Ross plan “a classic example of over promising in an election year” and adds “we should not be promising to create a bigger government program when we haven’t met our current needs.”

Indeed, at first glance, the thought of subsidizing pre-K for those at 300 percent of the poverty line (about $72,000 for a family of four) might seem questionable — until one remembers that public schools, using taxpayer dollars, provide an education to every child regardless of family income.

“We can do the whole thing for $35, $38 million, and we always have more than that in revenue growth,” Ross countered, “[and] for every dollar that we put into preK, we get about 10 dollars back. If you go to pre-K you’re more likely to finish high

school, to go to college, to be employed as an adult. You’re less likely to be on government assistance and 80 percent less likely to end up in prison.”

ON TAXES But pre-K, like every other public education program, is paid for by taxes — which is why the most important education issue of the race for governor is ultimately the candidates’ competing income tax plans. Hutchinson wants to reduce Arkansas’s income tax rates for those earning over $20,000, a plan that he says will cost the state $50 million in its first year and $100 million thereafter.

Ross wants to phase in a gradual adjustment to the state’s tax brackets, which would eventually result in a net reduction of income tax for all but the top 15 percent of earners. Because he wants tax cuts to be performed only in proportion to natural revenue growth, Ross doesn’t provide a timeline for implementation.

Hutchinson has criticized Ross’ tax proposal as being too vague; Ross says Hutchinson’s dramatic cuts to revenue are fiscally irresponsible. It’s the mirror image of their positions on pre-K, and it illustrates the fact that — for all the cautious hedging of these campaigns — there really is a difference between the two candidates.

At the core, the decision between Ross and Hutchinson comes down to whether cutting taxes should take priority over providing better public education.

The tax cut question is compounded by the fact that state revenue has already been diminished recently. In 2013, as part of a compromise over the private option Medicaid expansion, Gov. Beebe agreed to a package of tax cuts proposed by the Republican-controlled legislature. Those cuts, which are still being phased in, will reduce state revenue by about $150 million by fiscal year 2016 (FY 2016 begins next summer).

As the legislature holds budget hearings this fall in preparation for the 2015

session, state lawmakers are now facing the constraints imposed by the 2013 cuts.

Plans to build a new prison are being called into question. Beebe, who knows the Arkansas budget better than almost anyone thanks to long years spent in the state Senate, was quoted in early October in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette as saying, “If they don’t delay [the cuts], they’ve got a huge hole in the budget and serious, serious problems.”

Meanwhile, the state’s public education costs are expected to grow between $35 million and $65 million this year, largely a product of the natural growth of schools. Because of the state’s constitutional requirement to fund its full K-12 budget before anything else, Beebe told the Times, other spending is even further constrained. In the Lake View school decision a decade ago, the Arkansas Supreme Court mandated the legislature to set aside the money necessary to provide an “adequate” K-12 education for all children before funding any other state agency.

“What it does is it creates budgetary concerns on everything else, because everything else comes after the allocation of funds for adequacy,” he said.

“Colleges. Nursing homes. Prisons.

Health Department, cities and counties, state police, National Guard — you just go up and down the line. … K-12 takes roughly half the budget, so that means if there’s cuts, 100 percent of the cuts come from the other half of the budget.”

Higher education is not included in adequacy, however, nor is pre-K, nor (oddly) teacher insurance. If the 2013 tax cuts proceed as planned, and if a Hutchinson administration proceeds with another round, will pre-K really get its long-promised cost-of-living increase? Or will it — along with other education funding not mandated by adequacy — have to pay for the cost of more tax cuts?

Funding for education reporting provided by the Arkansas Public Policy Panel.

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ARKANSAS TIMES MARKETPLACE SCHWARTZ 3-11-2009 to 7-18-2014 Born in our storage room, you were so tender, sweet, and loving.

Love always, Marie and Sarah.

❤ ADOPTION ❤

Nurturing Family Awaits First Baby.

Fashion Designer, Unconditional LOVE, Financial Security. Expenses paid. Claudine

1-800-989-8921

❤❤❤❤❤❤

HEALTHY ADULTS NEEDED FOR RESEARCH STUDY

HEIFER INTERNATIONAL AP/PROCUREMENT TECHNICIAN LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS

Termed 12-18 mo. position; AP duties include: process invoices, wire transfers, general ledger, purchasing, and procurement; HS/GED + 3yrs exp. req. Nonprofit AP & Bookkeeping exp. preferred. Excel and Database exp. a must.

Apply online www.heifer.org/careers.

Heifer Int’l is AA/EOE.

Pet Obits Your Pet Passages

Issue Dates: Thursdays We are currently seeking Material Deadline: VOLUNTEERS 18-50 years.

Mondays, same week of If you are healthy and not taking publication. certain medications Feature your pet with a photo. you may be eligible to participate in a study to test the behavioral Ad Size Dimensions Rate effects of common medications.

1/16 2.12 W x 2.62 H $70 Participation involves completing a 1/8 4.5 W x 2.62 H $150 medical evaluation and attending 6 1/4 4.5 W x 5.5 H $300 Use of bicycles or animals sessions at the Psychiatric Research Every person riding a bicycle or an animal, Institute at UAMS. Monetary or driving any animal drawing a vehicle upon Feature your pet without photo compensation and taxi service to a highway, shall have all the rights and all of youhave have problem with cocaine cocaine youprovided. may Dimensions Rate If Ifyou aaproblem with maybebeeligible eligibletoto Ad Size the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle, and from sessions will beyou

drivers Please be aWare, it’s arkansas state laW: If you have a problem with cocaine you may be eligible to participate in a 15-week UAMS research study looking at the effects of Carvedilol on cocaine use. This study includes a 2-week except those provisions of this act which byparticipate in a 15-week UAMS research study looking at the 1/32 2.12 W x 1.18 H participate in a 15-week UAMS research study looking at the their nature can have no applicability. inpatient stay and there is no cost for participation. effects of Carvedilol on cocaine use.

This study includes a 2-week If you are interested, 1/16 2.12 W x 2.62 H effects of Carvedilol on cocaine use. This study includes a 2-week overtaking a bicycle

The driver of a motor vehicle overtaking a bicycle proceeding in the same direction on a roadway shall exercise due care and pass to the left at a safe distance of not less than three feet (3’) and shall not again drive to the right side of the roadway until safely clear of the overtaken bicycle.

$35 $70

please call Keith at

inpatientstay stayand andthere there isis no inpatient no cost costfor forparticipation. participation.

501-526-8468

Call:Call:501-526-7969.

501-526-7969.

Call: 501-526-7969.

STRICT CONFIDENTIALITY STRICT CONFIDENTIALITY IS ASSURED STRICTSTRICT CONFIDENTIALITY IS ASSURED IS ASSURED IS ASSURED CONFIDENTIALITY

yoUr cycling friends thank yoU! http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/ Go to “Arkansas Code,” search “bicycle”

Contact luis@arktimes.com 501-492-3974

BEAUTIFUL, PLAYFUL three or four month old puppy that has wandered up. He is endless entertainment for the kids and is very sweet.

He appears to already be housebroken.

This is a great dog and very healthy.

Call Kaytee at C U S T O M F U R N I T U R E tommy@tommyfarrell.com ■ 501.375.7225

501.607.3100 www.arktimes.com

OCTOBER 23, 2014

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OCTOBER 23, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES