Arkansas Money & Politics August 2021

Uncertain times.

Steady guidance.

We’ve been addressing the legal needs of the Arkansas healthcare industry for 120 years.

• Medicare/Medicaid Reimbursement • Stark I and II & Anti-Kickback Compliance • Contracts & Business Transactions • Government Regulations • Operations & Management • Medical Device & Pharmaceutical Products Defense • Licensure Matters & Board Hearings • Employment Issues • Privileging & Peer Review • HIPAA Compliance & Training • Medical Malpractice Defense • Drug Diversion Prevention

EST.

Rogers

1900

Little Rock

wlj.com

IT’S EASIER TO PLAN FOR THE FUTURE WHEN YOU HELP SHAPE IT. Arkansas works hard to stay ahead of trends and shape the future. It’s what makes our state one of the best places to do business, anywhere. And it’s why Stephens chooses to do business — across the country and around the globe — from Arkansas.

At Stephens, we enthusiastically support Arkansas businesses, communities, hospitals, schools and other non-profit institutions. Working side-by-side with our colleagues, we’re committed to making our state an even better place for everyone.

STEPHENS INC. • MEMBER NYSE, SIPC

@Stephens_Inc

STEPHENS.COM

Conway Regional has been the community’s hospital for 100 years, providing high-quality, compassionate care. As our community continues to grow, we are growing alongside you to ensure all of your healthcare needs are met right here in Conway. When your family needs medical care, you can trust our award-winning team to provide the award-winning comprehensive care you deserve.

Best Place to Have a Baby Best Hospital Best Overall Company

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AUG UST 2021

AUGUST CONTENTS

6 | Plugged In 8 | Editor/publisher letters 10 | Viewpoint 126 | Discovery Economics 128 | The Last Word 30 | They are the Champions

AMP once again proudly honors our Champions of Health Care, nominated by readers.

42 | Turnaround

Under Adam Head’s leadership, CARTI has gone from uncertain future to serious growth mode.

67 | Flying in formation

Municipal leaders in northeast Arkansas are banding together to build a regional airport.

16 | CAN DO A get-er-done attitude has helped Mountain Home’s Baxter Regional thrive in the Ozarks.

72 | Crisis

State wildlife officials are concerned about the state of Arkansas’ green tree reservoirs.

106 | Big donors

In this month’s Executive Extracurriculars, just what motivates college athletic supporters?

ON THE COV E R 60 | BULLETPROOF Family-owned R&E Supply has the right formula for surviving recessions and even pandemics.

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Saracen’s Carlton Saffa posed in the casino for this month’s cover shot by Jamison Mosley. Despite opening during the pandemic, the casino resort has proven to be a popular attraction.

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AUGUST CONTENTS PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER

Heather Baker | hbaker@armoneyandpolitics.com EDITOR Mark Carter | mcarter@armoneyandpolitics.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Katie Zakrzewski | katie@armoneyandpolitics.com ART DIRECTOR Jamison Mosley | jmosley@armoneyandpolitics.com PRODUCTION MANAGER Rebecca Robertson | rrobertson@armoneyandpolitics.com DIGITAL MEDIA DIRECTOR Kellie McAnulty | kmcanulty@armoneyandpolitics.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Lora Puls | lpuls@armoneyandpolitics.com COPY EDITOR Lisa Fischer | lfischer@armoneyandpolitics.com

82 | MOON(SHINE) OVER HOT SPRINGS The Digs of the Deal visits Hot Springs’ Crystal Ridge Distillery and the city’s rum-running past.

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Dustin Jayroe | djayroe@armoneyandpolitics.com STAFF WRITER Emily Beirne | ebeirne@armoneyandpolitics.com SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Greg Churan | gchuran@armoneyandpolitics.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Tonya Higginbotham | thigginbotham@armoneyandpolitics.com Mary Funderburg | mary@armoneyandpolitics.com Tonya Mead | tmead@armoneyandpolitics.com Shasta Ballard | sballard@armoneyandpolitics.com Amanda Moore | amoore@armoneyandpolitics.com ASSISTANT TO THE PUBLISHER Jessica Everson | jeverson@armoneyandpolitics.com ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Jacob Carpenter | ads@armoneyandpolitics.com ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Ginger Roell | groell@armoneyandpolitics.com ADMINISTRATION Casandra Moore | admin@armoneyandpolitics.com

CEO | Vicki Vowell TO ADVERTISE

call 501-244-9700 email hbaker@armoneyandpolitics.com TO SUBSCRIBE | 501-244-9700

102 | KICKOFF APPROACHES

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Joyce Elliott, Arkansas State Senator; Gretchen Hall, CEO, Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau; Stacy Hurst, Secretary, Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage & Tourism; Heather Larkin, CEO, Arkansas Community Foundation; Elizabeth Pulley, CEO, Children’s Advocacy Centers; Gina Radke, CEO, Galley Support Innovations; Steve Straessle, Principal, Little Rock Catholic High School; Kathy Webb, Representative, Little Rock City Board

The 2021 football season looms, and Hog fans are cautiously optimistic for more improvement.

EDITORIAL INTERN Kayla McCall

CONTRIBUTORS

Angela Forsyth, Alan Cochran, Kenneth Heard, Dwain Hebda, Joe Thompson, Beaux Wilcox

112 | THE BURLS WAY The Burlsworth Foundation continues to help kids and honor the legacy of an Arkansas icon.

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AMP magazine is published monthly, Volume IV, Issue 4 AMP magazine (ISSN 2162-7754) is published monthly by AY Media Group, 910 W. Second St., Suite 200, Little Rock, AR 72201. Periodicals postage paid at Little Rock, AR, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to AMP, 910 W. Second St., Suite 200, Little Rock, AR 72201. Subscription Inquiries: Subscription rate is $28 for one year (12 issues). Single issues are available upon request for $5. For subscriptions, inquiries or address changes, call 501-244-9700. The contents of AMP are copyrighted, and material contained herein may not be copied or reproduced in any manner without the written permission of the publisher. Articles in AMP should not be considered specific advice, as individual circumstances vary. Products and services advertised in the magazine are not necessarily endorsed by AMP. Please recycle this magazine.

AUG UST 2021

PLUGGED IN

Kristi Crum, the new CEO at Rock Dental Brands in Little Rock, was the subject of July’s cover. A veteran of executive leadership at Alltel and Verizon, Crum is a member of this year’s AMP Future 50 class, recognizing those leaders poised to shape the future of Arkansas business.

Wellknown Arkansas car dealer Steve Landers said that he’s considering running for Little Rock mayor in 2022.

INSTAGRAM

FEEDBACK STEVE LANDERS EYEING RUN FOR LR MAYOR: ‘I COULD OFFER A DIFFERENT TWIST’ “Be the best thing for Lr. Run brother.”

Joseph Patoka “ok the only reason he would run is for some kind of back room hand shake deal go from making millions to chump change to him come on why would he run.”

Keith Busby

Keith “Catfish” Sutton, a prolific wildlife journalist, will be inducted into the Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame.

THE LAST WORD: NARRATIVES AND PERSPECTIVES IN MOROCCO “Thank you for sharing great article. I could envision seeing what you saw.”

Jajuan Archer ‘CATFISH’ SUTTON INDUCTED INTO LEGENDS OF THE OUTDOORS HALL OF FAME You always were a legend to almost all your industry friends... it just took some longer to officially recognize and honor your skill sets Congrats from an old Yankee friend.

Patrick E. McHugh ARKANSAS HEART HOSPITAL ANNOUNCES EMPLOYEE VACCINATION MANDATE Now, according to OSHA, you are liable for any injury or damages caused by the vax. Good luck!!!

Tom Savary

TOP ONLINE ARTICLES 1. AMP’s Future 50 2021 2. Pour It and They Will Come: Mountain Home’s Trailblazing Entertainment District Drawing Crowds 3. Proving Grounds: Standard Lithium Seeks to Make Arkansas a Global Showcase for Sustainable Lithium Extraction 4. Fayetteville Rises to No. 4 in U.S. News Best Places to Live Rankings 5. Walmart Extends COVID-19 Emergency Leave Policy to July 6. Tim Langford leaving Arkansas Urology for UAMS 7. Evan Watts the Newest Cardiologist at Baptist Health 8. Steve Landers Eyeing Run for LR Mayor: ‘I Could Offer a Different Twist’ 9. Stay the Course: Alltel Alum, Verizon Vet Kristi Crum Plans to Keep Growing at Rock Dental 10. Bucking the Odds: Private School Popularity Surging in Arkansas July 3 – Aug. 3

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Arkansas’ Kayle Browning Wins Silver Medal at Olympics.

Endocrinologist Dr. Shrikant Tamhane has joined the staff at Baptist Health Specialty Clinic-North Little Rock.

@AMPPOB ARM ON E YA N D P OL ITIC S.COM

—Champions of Healthcare —

Steven Webb, President/CEO

Healthcare Administrator

Steven Webb, President/CEO

Gill Sills

Volunteer Champion Unity Health

Large Hospital

Gill Sills, Volunteer

As one of the leading healthcare organizations in an eight-county area, Unity

Health strives to improve

the health and well-being of the communities we serve and educate physicians with the second largest Graduate Medical Education program in the state. Unity Health is also honored to be the first hospital in Arkansas to become a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network, which provides valuable medical resources close to home.

Unity Health

Unity-Health.org

HOSPITALS • CLINICS • SPECIALISTS ARKANSAS

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AUG UST 2021

EDITOR’S LETTER

By Mark Carter

CHANGES AREN’T PERMANENT, BUT CHANGE IS…

G

eddy Lee is a noted pro baseball fan — Tigers as a kid, then the Blue Jays once Toronto landed a team — but likely doesn’t spend much time considering the landscape of American college sports, football in particular.

Or maybe he does. In the signature song from his band, Rush, released in 1981, he sang of the modern-day Tom Sawyer: “He knows changes aren’t permanent. But change is…”

Lee could easily have been singing (and lyricists Neil Peart and Pye Dubois writing — yes, I can google) about today’s Power 5 and this latest round of realignment dominoes. Only this time, it looks like some changes, if not permanent, will prove to be model altering at the very least.

Recognition that change is inevitable is what motivated Frank Broyles to deftly divert Arkansas away from the terminally ill Southwest Conference in 1991. The same goes for former SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer, who negotiated a then-novel expansion charge that brought the Hogs to the SEC (with what should’ve been Texas, Texas A&M and Florida State). Thirty years later, SEC brass recognized that permanent change is over college sports. Like most leaders do, it opted to stay ahead of the curve.

The news of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC — most expect it to happen as soon as next year — broke like a midday swell at Fort Morgan rolling over an unsuspecting

toddler. The toddler in this case, sent head-over-heels back onto the beach, is the Big 12, not to mention the Aggies, who were especially thrown for a loop by the news. Heads still spinning, conference commissioners, college presidents and ADs from Appalachia to the Palouse are working through the fallout of a 16-team SEC that will further separate itself from the rest.

But what exactly does this mean for us here in Arkansas, aside from the addition of UT and OU to what is already the toughest schedule in the land on an almost annual basis?

First of all, it verifies Broyles as a visionary. Quite simply, we joined the right club at the right time. (Anyone who thinks we would’ve been included in the eventual Big 8 absorption of UT and its top cronies from the SWC is kidding himself. Or herself. Theirself?) Texas and Oklahoma bring enough value to the league from a media/marketing perspective that slicing the SEC into 16 instead of 14 slices won’t take a bite out of member schools’ annual cut.

SEC schools now receive about $46 million a year from SEC media-rights distributions, compared to about $35 million for Big 12 schools. The SEC’s new $300 million deal with ESPN that starts in 2024 will bump the annual distribution up to around $68 million. And that was before the addition of the Big 12’s bell steers. (Of

RECOGNIZING CHAMPIONS OF HEALTH CARE IN 2021

e’re proud to recognize our “Champions of Health Care” once again in this month’s issue. All health care workers are champions in my book, but the professionals recognized inside were nominated by readers of Arkansas Money & Politics.

We’re honoring both people and institutions for the great work they do in keeping us all safe and helping us weather the pandemic.

From hospitals large and small to surgeons, nurse practitioners and even volunteers, we recognize “Champions” in 14 categories. Those who enter the health care field are choosing to serve, and over the past six months, they’ve served on the frontlines of

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See LETTER, page 34

By Heather Baker

PUBLISHER’S LETTER

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course, when the deal was signed last year, ESPN and Birmingham likely were already talking with OU and UT about the move.)

So, for Arkansas, it means more revenue and more exposure — and that‘s good news for the state. A 2012 economic impact study found that UA athletics had an annual economic impact on Arkansas of $154 million. From a competitive standpoint, expansion likely is a wash for the Hogs.

The league probably will settle on a system of four four-team pods for football with the Hogs in a pod with OU, UT and Missouri.

We’d trade Alabama and Auburn every year for Bevo and the schooner.

That is, of course, unless the dominoes dictate further expansion to 20 member schools. Such a scenario is possible if the floundering Pac 12 absorbs the Big 12’s jetsam in an attempt to build relevancy.

Otherwise, it’s probable demotion to the AAC for schools like TCU, Baylor, Texas Tech and Kansas State.

Meanwhile, SEC pod champions could meet in “semifinals” with the winners advancing to Atlanta. (A 16-team SEC also guarantees an expanded playoff system.)

As much as my generation hates everything burnt orange to its core, I confess to missing the chance to hate that cow on a personal level each fall (as Beaux Wilcox so masterfully points out inside this issue).

And Texas isn’t the mighty Texas of the ’60s

Heather Baker 8

the war against the pandemic.

In addition to recognizing our 2021 Champions of Health Care, in this month’s issue we also list the state’s largest hospitals by bed count, look in on the great job being done by health care professionals at Baxter Regional in Mountain Home, visit with Carlton Saffa at Saracen Casino resort in Pine Bluff and, it being August, we’ve got football inside. Plus, we visit northeast Arkansas, Bayou Meto and Hot Springs. And much more.

As always, thank you for reading. Please share any comments or story ideas with me at HBaker@ ARMoneyandPolitics.com.

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AUG UST 2021

VIEWPOINT

WE HAVE TOOLS TO DEFEAT COVID-19; LET’S USE THEM

BY DR. JOE THOMPSON

J

ust a few months ago, Arkansas seemed to have turned a corner in the COVID-19 pandemic. After a winter in which new daily case counts were routinely in the thousands, new cases in May typically numbered no more than a couple hundred a day.

The number of Arkansans hospitalized with COVID-19 dropped from more than 1,300 in early January to fewer than 200 on most days in May. It appeared that we were beginning to get the virus under control and seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

But things have changed. As I write at the close of July, Arkansas leads the nation in average new daily cases per capita, with new case counts once again routinely in the thousands. More than 1,000 Arkansans are hospitalized with COVID-19. Our hospitals are filling up, our health care workers and supplies are being stretched thin, and the threat of our health care system being utterly overwhelmed is again a reality.

On July 29, Gov. Asa Hutchinson responded to the worsening crisis by issuing a new public health emergency dec-

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laration. How did this happen? The two main culprits are the delta variant and Arkansas’ low vaccination rate.

When viruses enter our bodies, they attach to our cells and trigger a process known as viral replication, in which new copies of the virus are created. This is how viruses reproduce. Over time, small copying errors called mutations occur, resulting in new strains of the virus, or variants. Several variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 have emerged since the pandemic began, but one in particular, the delta variant, is so highly contagious that in early July it overtook the original virus to become the dominant strain in the United States.

Fortunately, the COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective against the delta variant. But in Arkansas and a few other states, vaccine hesitancy is a serious obstacle to getting protected. At this writing, barely more than a third of Arkansans are fully vaccinated, one of the worst vaccination rates in the country. This leaves most Arkansans unprotected against a version of the virus that is far more contagious than the version that drove the

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high numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths we experienced in 2020 and early 2021.

Adults can choose whether or not to get protected from the virus. But no vaccine is currently available for children under age 12, so they must depend on the adults around them to be protected.

Arkansas’ low vaccination rate is making our children unnecessarily vulnerable; hospital workers say the current COVID-19 surge is affecting more young people now than at any point previously in the pandemic. And sadly, at least two children in Arkansas have died from COVID-19, one in July and one late last year.

With school starting in a couple of weeks, it is imperative for parents to get their kids and themselves vaccinated as soon as possible if they have not already done so. It takes weeks to achieve full immunity after vaccination, so parents should not wait until the last minute.

The most persuasive arguments for getting protected may be the personal stories of Arkansans whose lives have been impacted by COVID-19. I’m thinking of people like Rachel Maginn Rosser,

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a Fayetteville nurse, who told reporters that her 63-year-old mother, Kim Maginn, declined to get vaccinated and then lost her life to COVID-19.

Or Arkansan Tate Ezzi, who said he and his wife chose not to get vaccinated because they believed misinformation about the vaccines, then lost their unborn child when they caught the virus. I’m thinking also of Angela Morris, who said she did not get her 13-year-old daughter, Caia Morris Cooper, vaccinated because she thought COVID-19 was not very dangerous, then was horrified when Caia became critically ill and had to be placed on a ventilator at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

If you have doubts about getting vaccinated, I urge you to talk to your doctor.

I don’t have the space here to address every concern about the vaccines that I’ve heard raised, but these seem to be among the most common: • Speedy development. The vaccines were developed within a year of the virus being first identified — a process that in the past has taken years — so some people mistakenly believe that corners must have been cut. The reality is that scientists had been working on the new mRNA vaccine science since the Ebola outbreak in 2014. In fact, an mRNA Ebola vaccine was approved by the FDA in December of 2019. This accumulated knowledge, combined with advances in the sequencing technologies used to profile viruses, enabled scientists to quickly profile the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and get vaccines into testing. The Janssen vaccine uses an older technology but the same sequencing profile.

• No full FDA approval. The vaccines have received emergency-use authorization, which is temporary, but have not yet been granted full FDA approval, which lasts indefinitely.

But for a vaccine to receive either designation, it must meet rigorous scientific standards for safety, effecARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

tiveness and manufacturing quality.

All vaccines available in the United States were required to go through Phase I (safety), Phase II (effectiveness) and Phase III (large-scale) studies. And continued monitoring of the COVID-19 vaccines in use have shown them to be safe. Serious side effects have been extremely rare, whereas more than 600,000 Americans have died from COVID-19.

• Distrust of mRNA vaccines. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are mRNA vaccines, which means that they use messenger RNA to teach our cells how to recognize the virus and trigger an immune response.

Contrary to popular misconceptions, the mRNA never enters the nucleus of the cell, where our DNA, or genetic material, is kept. This is a new virus that our bodies have never seen before; getting an mRNA vaccine is like showing your cells an FBI most-wanted poster of the virus and saying, “Watch out for this dangerous character!” Once the message has been delivered, the mRNA breaks down and is flushed out of your system.

• Fears about vaccines and pregnancy. Claims that the vaccines are dangerous for pregnant women have been circulating on the internet, but they are unsupported. Although no pregnant women were selected for the clinical trials conducted prior to authorization, monitoring of women who became pregnant during the trials and information collected since the vaccines went into use have found no safety concerns for pregnant women or their fetuses.

In addition to going on the offensive against the virus by getting vaccinated, we should redouble defensive efforts including social distancing, frequent handwashing and mask wearing in public. As the Centers for Disease Control Prevention stated in recent guidance, even fully vaccinated people should wear masks indoors in areas where transmission is 11

substantial or high, which includes all of Arkansas.

As a pediatrician, I urge schools to do all they can to protect our children — many of whom currently are not eligible for vaccines — when classes resume this month. We know that masks, handwashing, ventilation and social distancing are effective. Unfortunately, the Arkansas General Assembly chose to handcuff public schools by passing a law prohibiting government entities from requiring masks, but hopefully the governor and lawmakers will remove that restriction for schools, perhaps by the time you read this. If not, kids, parents, teachers and school leadership may be in for a worse fall than last year.

We have the tools to defeat COVID-19.

We have to use them. If we do not, we will see our health care system overrun, which will affect all who need care, COVID-related or otherwise. We will see more avoidable deaths of Arkansans, including children. And perhaps most disturbing of all, we will give the virus time to mutate into a new variant, possibly one that is more deadly — and possibly one that can evade the vaccines — leaving us all vulnerable.

Joe Thompson, M.D., M.P.H., is president and CEO of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement. He was Arkansas’ surgeon general under Govs. Mike Huckabee and Mike Beebe.

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VIEWPOINT

RISING TO THE CHALLENGE

BY ALAN COCHRAN

A

ugust is National Minority Donor Awareness Month. The goal of this annual observance is to increase organ, tissue and eye donor registrations among communities of color, which make up nearly 60 percent of the national waiting list for organ transplants.

As it stands, people of color make up a high percentage of those in need of a liferestoring transplant and a relatively low percentage of registered organ, tissue and eye donors. Organs are not matched with recipients based on race. So, the result is fewer organs and tissues available for waiting patients.

Organ and tissue transplant matches are not based on ethnicity. However, compatible blood types and tissue markers, critical qualities for donor-recipient matching, are more likely to be found within members of the same ethnic group.

That means the probability of finding a donor match for someone waiting for an organ or tissue transplant is greatly improved if there are more registered donors from the individual’s own ethnic background.

By the numbers, just 26 percent of Black Americans waiting to receive a transplant got one in 2019, whereas nearly half of white Americans on the waiting list were able to be matched with donors and received transplants. Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American and LatinX populations also have stark disparities between the need for transplantation and the number of registered donors.

Closing the gap between transplant needs and registered donors in communities of color in Arkansas would not only improve the health of those communities, but it also has the potential to expand transplantation overall. In addition to the potential positive impact on public health and communities, this expansion

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could also mean less national health care spending. For example, Medicare spends billions of dollars each year on dialysis for end-stage renal disease. It’s been estimated that each kidney transplant has the potential to generate $60,000 in federal savings per year.

As the nonprofit organ recovery agency for 64 of the state’s counties, ARORA exists to restore lives. In addition to working with hundreds of partners throughout the state to maximize each opportunity for organ and tissue donation, we also strive to raise awareness about the importance of registering to become an organ, tissue and eye donor and also to remove barriers to registration.

Through the miracles of modern medical science, thousands of people’s lives are changed each year in Arkansas — but it absolutely cannot happen without donors. To make it easier for Arkansans to become potential donors, ARORA has begun installing kiosks in public spaces throughout the state where individuals can register to become organ, tissue and eye donors. Registration takes seconds and can be accomplished with the scanning of your driver’s license.

Whenever we can, ARORA shares stories of the life-restoring power of organ, tissue and eye donation in order to encourage individuals to consider registering. If there’s one message that ARORA has enthusiastically shared in the state, it’s that all people should consider themselves potential donors. Your race, ethnicity, age, religion and in most cases your health doesn’t matter.

In our efforts to bolster registration in Arkansas, we often address prevailing myths around organ and tissue donation.

However, an additional barrier for people of color can be a lack of trust that sometimes exists between these communities

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and the health care system. There is also the issue of access to health care and affordability that disproportionately affects people of color in the United States, resulting in multicultural communities being at higher risk for health issues that lead to organ failure.

National Minority Donor Awareness Month provides an opportunity for us to educate on the disparities in health needs that affect communities of color. It is also an opportunity for us to honor the Black, LatinX, Asian and Pacific Islander individuals whose legacies live on through donation and whose lives were saved by the selfless decisions of others.

You can hear stories of Arkansans whose lives have been touched by organ and tissue donation on ARORA’s monthly RadiEight podcast, found on all major podcast platforms, or by following @ARORA/Donate Live Arkansas on Facebook, @ DonateLifeArkansas on Instagram and @ DonateLifeAR on Twitter.

Alan Cochran is president and executive director of ARORA, a nonprofit organ-recovery agency that serves 64 Arkansas counties.

His leadership in the realm of organ and tissue donation spans two decades. Prior to joining ARORA in 2014, Cochran was vice president of quality systems at One Legacy in Los Angeles for 12 years.

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A R K A N S A S S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y

ARKANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY CONTINUES TO GROW WITH OUR COMMUNITY. From our early years of meeting the regional needs of our agriculture community, to our national status as a Carnegie R2 University, education and research are always at the heart of what we do.

The support of alumni like Johnny Allison have led to great growth of our university. Our partnership with the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine on the A-State campus is sending doctors into the region, and the new on-campus Embassy Suites hotel is bringing people to our region at the adjacent Red Wolf Convention Center.

Through scholarships, study abroad, internships and mentors, we continue to develop opportunities to enrich the experiences of our students.

Expanding our ability to educate, enhance and enrich lives will always be our mission.

IT’S WHAT MAKES OUR STUDENTS...

Schedule a visit and see for yourself at Visit.AState.edu

THANK YOU, ARKANSAS,

Briarwood Nursing and Rehab is a 120-bed skilled facility located in an for recognizing us urban setting within the heart of Little Rock, in the neighborhood of Briarwood. as a champion of We are located just minutes from downtown Little Rock and are only one block off interstate 630. healthcare!

We provide long-term care and short-term rehab care. All residents are monitored throughout the day with assistance in providing daily care as is needed: bathing, dressing, feeding and providing medications. Briarwood staff also work at ensuring the best care for residents through individual care plans of residents' needs, as well as daily activities, which allow for a variety of interests and abilities.

Nearly all - 98 percent - of our rehab residents return to the community as a result of positive, caring therapists. Briarwood's approach has provided healing to many people in the community.

At Briarwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, we are committed to ensuring that the best possible care is given to you or your loved one in an atmosphere that is calm, quiet and focused on healing. We endeavor to ensure that all aspects of your well-being — mental, physical and spiritual — are cared for in a peaceful and safe environment. Our staff strive to promote dignity, respect, and independence as much as possible, in a beautiful, soothing environment that was designed with our residents' comfort in mind.

Briarwood's service-rich environment is made possible by its dedicated staff, from our nursing staff and therapists, to our operations and administrative employees. At Briarwood, our residents enjoy three generations of staff and families. That is over 30 years of service to the community!

501.224.9000 • 516 S. Rodney Parham Rd., Little Rock • briarwoodnursingandrehab.com

SPECIAL SECTION

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HEALTH CARE

arlier this year, Dr. Joe Thompson warned Arkansans not to get their hopes up for a quick conclusion to the COVID-19 saga.

Thompson, a former state surgeon general under Govs. Mike Huckabee and Mike Beebe, is the president and CEO of the independent health-policy organization, Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI).

In late January, before the virus spread started to slow and an end to the pandemic seemed on the horizon, ACHI began publishing local and regional COVID data for Arkansas. It represented an attempt to expand access to information about the spread of the virus.

Even then, Thompson said Arkansans should remain vigilant.

“While we are all eager to get back to some kind of normalcy, the reality is that COVID-19 will be with us for much of this year,” he said. “This new information will help give communities a line of sight into how things are trending regionally as well as locally and help decision-makers assess risks, develop strategies, and track their communities’ progress in fighting this threat.”

The medical industry in Arkansas and everywhere has been waging a defensive war against COVID for more than a year. And just when it seemed as though a light was visible at the end of the tunnel, the delta variant hits, sending numbers back up.

This month’s issue of Arkansas Money & Politics takes a look at health care in Arkansas and how health care professionals are coping. Inside, we recognize our 2021 Champions of Health Care, nominated by readers; list the largest hospitals by bed count in the state; feature Baxter Regional in Mountain Home; showcase the growth of CARTI’s statewide network of cancer treatment centers; and more.

Plus, in this issue, Thompson provides a guest commentary on what can be done to help end COVID-19’s wild ride.

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EXECUTIVE EXTRACARICULAR HEALTH CARE

Xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxx xxxxEmergency xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxat Baxter Regional.

Insidexxxxx the Cline Center xxx.

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By Dwain Hebda | Photos by James Moore

That Could

The Little Hospital

CLIPPED WINGS

By Dwain Hebda || Photography by Jamison Mosley

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HEALTH CARE

Emergency center RN Alison Eckert

BAXTER REGIONAL BRINGS BIG-CITY CARE TO SMALLTOWN ARKANSAS

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CEO, who arrived in Mountain Home 14 years ago.

“I wanted a hospital that provided urban medicine in a rural setting because I believe it can be done, and people in a rural environment deserve that.

“When I came here, I saw that Baxter Regional also had a heart; it cared about people. In addition to providing good clinical care, the staff here still cared about the individual and had good ways of showing that. That made me want to be a part of what we have here.”

On almost every measurement, Baxter Regional has achieved things that would be the envy of even much larger organizations. In Peterson’s tenure alone, the system has completed multiple construction and expansion projects, as well as building out a network of clinics in smaller surrounding communities. Just in the last 18 months, the system has christened a new surgical center and entered into a

t just over 12,000 souls, Mountain Home, Arkansas, shares a lot of the same characteristics of hamlets across the Natural State and elsewhere.

Except in self-image. While many small towns struggle with population loss, job stagnation and lack of opportunity, this community has kept population steady, rebuilt its downtown district and packs in retirees and tourists alike on the strength of area scenery, pace of life and fishing.

And one of the big drivers of the town’s health, literally — to say nothing of its regional reputation — is its homegrown hospital, attendant clinics and other elements of a first-class health care system.

Truly, if there’s one thing to encapsulate the town’s can-do attitude, it’s Baxter Regional Health System.

“When I came to Baxter, I was very specific in what I was looking for,” said Ron Peterson, president and

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satisfaction and level of care across multiple areas of operation.

Merely scratch the surface among these and you’ll find a Top 20 Rural and Community Hospitals in America ranking in 2018. And Baxter Regional achieved the ultimate endorsement of its nursing program, Magnet Recognition, in 2021.

That designation, held by fewer than 550 hospitals in the world, is one of only five currently awarded throughout Arkansas and southern Missouri. Not bad for a health system that in 1963 opened as Baxter General Hospital with just four physicians and 39 beds.

Lane Zimmerman, chairman of the board of directors, said such accomplishments infuse a sense of purpose and pride at every level of the organization.

“I think the main thing is the tradition and history of striving for excellence, really trying to make sure customer care comes first,” he said. “It comes from the top down. When Ron [Peterson] speaks publicly, you can see how much he cares about the hospital. The employees really buy into that, and they become members rather than employees.

They’re part of the hospital and see themselves as a team.

“I think there’s a huge amount of word-of-mouth recommendation that goes around to surrounding counties that there’s good people here; there’s great, clean, modern facilities here with the most modern equipment. You can come here and get the care you’d get in St. Louis, Houston or Little Rock. I think people trust the tradition here and are happy to have something that’s close to home.” *** Seeing such world-class innovation and expertise happening in a community this size flies in the face of industry trends. According to the 2019 Rural Report published by the American Hospital Association, rural and small-town hospitals have been under attack by market forces and increasing regulation for decades. Despite roughly one in five Americans living in a rural area, thus depending on local hospitals as their primary, or only, health care access point, many such institutions have struggled to keep from flatlining.

Between 2010 and 2018, nearly 100 rural hospitals closed nationally, per the AHA. Meanwhile, between 2005 and 2016, there were close to 400 mergers involving rural hospitals with some locations merging more than once in that time span. The report cited

Seeing such world-class innovation and expertise happening in a community this size flies in the face of industry trends. partnership with an oncology group that’s building a new 30,000-square-foot cancer center here.

These facilities line up next to a women’s health center, a center specializing in diabetes, an adult behavioral health unit and a Level III Trauma Center, to name just a few amenities, in addition to the 268bed (all private) hospital.

Baxter Regional, employing roughly 1,800 people, leverages these amenities to serve an 11-county market area. Among them are an impressive array of 180 primary care and specialist physicians covering a multitude of medical niches. An additional 500 volunteers provide daily services from parking lot shuttles to staffing the gift shop to manning the information desk.

But even more striking than square footage, the high-tech diagnostic and treatment equipment around every corner and fancy medical titles is the recognition the health system has received from the governing arbiters of hospital quality. Baxter Regional has been repeatedly recognized for patient

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HEALTH CARE

a number of factors for the decline, including lower patient volume and a payer and patient mix that trend toward sicker, poorer individuals whose care needs far outweigh federal reimbursement tables.

COVID-19 has done these organizations no favors, according to a study from the Chartis Center for Rural Health, the results of which were released in February. It found almost half of 2,100 rural hospitals polled were operating in the red due to loss of outpatient procedures canceled by the pandemic. The situation cost rural hospitals a reported $5 million to $15 million in revenue per month, and, the study found, has driven 450 such entities to the brink of closing their doors.

Asked point-blank how many times Baxter Regional entertained a serious merger offer on his watch, Peterson answered fast and firm.

“Never,” he said, emphatically. “Our board has always said our goal is to remain independent, and in the 14 years I’ve been here, in all honesty, we’ve really never been close [to merging].

“Now, we did realize the realities of remaining financially viable, and what we figured out was we needed to grow and continue to focus on growth.

Whether that was a new service for the community, expanding our footprint or deepening our footprint in the communities we were already in, we’ve remained focused on growth and financial stability.”

Asked how Baxter Regional has been able to resist the market riptides that have pulled so many peer hospitals under, Peterson said it starts with an unwavering mindset that permeates the entire organization.

“What really turned the corner for Baxter is, we identified our purpose, and that was to be independent, comprehensive and community-driven,” he said. “When we started believing that’s what we needed to do, that no limitation could be put on us, that’s when we started thinking big and strategically.”

Nowhere does this power of positive thinking shine brighter, both in-house and in the community at large, than through the Baxter Regional Hospital Foundation. Barney Larry, a former community banker who joined the foundation as its executive director, has seen this phenomenon up close for 21 years.

“I really believe the hospital sets the culture for our community, and for us, it’s the people we surround ourselves with that set that example every day,” Larry said. “We have over 500 volunteers who serve here, and they take ownership of this hospital.

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“I really believe the hospital sets the culture for our community, and for us, it’s the people we surround ourselves with that set that example every day.”

- Barney Larry They’ll tell you, it’s their hospital. They’re our advocates in the community; they see our needs, and as many of our volunteers who are very philanthropic, they help us lead that charge.”

During Larry’s tenure alone, the foundation has conducted eight capital campaigns, one of which sought to raise $2 million in 12 months, which it did with time to spare. This community support is something Larry never takes for granted, even as it rises up to meet one financial ask after another.

“We just have a great community,” he said. “We care about each other. I think it’s a community that really wants all of us to find better ways that we can serve each other, and we do that through the hospital many times over.”

As Baxter Regional added to its run of success, goals became bigger. Today, winning is considered a way of life. Chief Nursing Officer Shannon Nachtigal has seen the process in action repeatedly, resulting in national rankings and the crowning Magnet status, as well as being carried out in a thousand ordinary ways every day.

“We started really focusing on what motivates and drives behavior, and it really, basically, starts with leadership,” she said. “As we’d reach certain milestones, we started making those part of performance reviews, so that we could then drive that accountability. Once you’ve been educated, once you’ve been trained, once you say you understand it, once you agree it’s an expectation, then accountability comes naturally.”

Over time, Nachtigal and her fellow leaders also stoked a healthy competitive streak in their respective areas of operation, enough for employees to strive, but not so much that they couldn’t celebrate each other’s wins.

“I definitely believe that when the organization wins, all the employees feel the win,” she said. “So, if we’re the number one home health in the nation, all of our employees are proud about that, even

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Dr. Rebecca Martin, Baxter Regional Pulmonology Clinic

And for Peterson and board members like Zimmerman, it’s maintaining an audacious strategic vision, anticipating new ways to build value into the health system’s services, be it cutting-edge surgical robots or rolling out digital tools that help people tap into telemedicine.

Whatever that next big challenge may be, one thing is for certain: Baxter Regional leadership at every level has ample motivational ammo to inspire future success, both from the strides that have already been made and in the people who have taken those steps. And they aren’t afraid to use it.

“I always think of the little train who could; we are the little hospital who could,” Peterson said.

“There are several things you can do on a national basis to get good ideas and help from other places.

Once we started having small wins, pretty soon we found ourselves presenting as much as we were listening. That’s led to a mindset that, wow, we are blessed with really talented people here. If you let them lead a project or deliver the solution, you generally see great results.”

though they may not work in home health.

“But on a smaller scale, whatever department you work in, you always want to be the best department. You want to be the one department that really is the one that helps the hospital get to its goal. So, while there is some departmental competition, in the end, everybody is excited and happy when the organization succeeds.” *** Arguably the most impressive element of Baxter Regional’s success is, even with all it has achieved, hospital leadership continues to find things to shoot for and top itself. For Larry and the foundation, it’s the latest capital needs, such as the $1.7 million required to remodel the surgical area (and of which they’ve raised $1.2 million in about six months.)

For Nachtigal, it’s the challenge of attracting not only enough nurses, but the right nurses whose care for their patients and team members equals their medical expertise and then integrating them into the team culture. Those who do thrive long-term; those who don’t are quickly weeded out.

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50 LARGEST HOSPITALS IN ARKANSAS HOSPITAL

BEDS

TYPE

TRAUMA

CEO

1. BAPTIST HEALTH MEDICAL CENTER - LITTLE ROCK

843

Medical-surgical

Level II

Greg Crain, President

2. C ENTRAL ARKANSAS VETERANS HEALTHCARE SYSTEM, LITTLE ROCK

635

VA

3. CHI ST. VINCENT INFIRMARY, LITTLE ROCK

615

Medical-surgical

Level II

Chad Aduddell, CEO

4. B APTIST HEALTH MEDICAL CENTER - FORT SMITH (FORMERLY SPARKS)

492

Medical-surgical

Level III

Kim Miller, MBA, FACHE, President

5. J EFFERSON REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER, PINE BLUFF

471

Medical-surgical

Level III

Brian Thomas, President/CEO

6. UAMS MEDICAL CENTER, LITTLE ROCK

450

Medical-surgical

Level I

Steppe Mette, CEO

7. ST. BERNARDS MEDICAL CENTER, JONESBORO

438

Medical-surgical

Level III

Chris Barber, President & CEO

8. U NITY HEALTH WHITE COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER, SEARCY

438

Medical-surgical

Level III

Steven Webb, President/CEO

9. W ASHINGTON REGIONAL MEDICAL SYSTEM, FAYETTEVILLE

425

Medical-surgical

Level II

Larry Shackelford, President/CEO

10. MERCY HOSPITAL FORT SMITH

348

Medical-surgical

Level III

Ryan Gehrig, President

11. ARKANSAS CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, LITTLE ROCK

336

Medical-surgical (pediatrics)

Level I

Marcy Doderer, President/CEO

12. ARKANSAS STATE HOSPITAL, LITTLE ROCK

321

Psychiatric

13. CHI ST. VINCENT HOT SPRINGS

282

Medical-surgical

Level II

Douglas Ross, M.D., President

14. B AXTER REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER, MOUNTAIN HOME

268

Medical-surgical

Level III

Ron Peterson, President/CEO

15. NEA BAPTIST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, JONESBORO

228

Medical-surgical

Level IV

Jason Little, President/CEO

16. B APTIST HEALTH MEDICAL CENTER NORTH LITTLE ROCK

225

Medical-surgical

Level III

Mike Perkins, Vice President/ Administrator

17. NORTHWEST MEDICAL CENTER, SPRINGDALE

222

Medical-surgical

Level III

Hans Driessnack, CEO

18. WHITE RIVER HEALTH SYSTEM, BATESVILLE

210

Medical-surgical

Level III

Gary Paxson, President/CEO

19. M ERCY HOSPITAL NORTHWEST ARKANSAS, ROGERS

208

Medical-surgical

Level III

Eric Pianalto, President

20. SALINE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, BENTON

177

Medical-surgical

Level III

Michael Stewart, CEO

21. N ORTH ARKANSAS REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER, HARRISON

174

Medical-surgical

Level III

Vincent Leist, President/CEO

22. S T. MARY’S REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER, RUSSELLVILLE

170

Medical-surgical

Level III

Robert “Bob” Honeycutt, CEO

23. MEDICAL CENTER OF SOUTH ARKANSAS, EL DORADO

166

Medical-surgical

Level III

Scott Street, CEO

24. NATIONAL PARK MEDICAL CENTER, HOT SPRINGS

163

Medical-surgical

Scott Smith, CEO

25. HELENA REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

155

Medical-surgical

Amy Rice, CEO

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22

Margie A. Scott, M.D., Director

James Scoggins, CEO

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HOSPITAL

BEDS

TYPE

TRAUMA

CEO

26. CONWAY REGIONAL HEALTH SYSTEM

150

Medical-surgical

Level III

Matt Troup, President/CEO

27. U NITY HEALTH HARRIS MEDICAL CENTER, NEWPORT

133

Medical-surgical

Level IV

Ray Montgomery, President/CEO

28. A RKANSAS METHODIST MEDICAL CENTER, PARAGOULD

129

Medical-surgical

Level IV

Barry Davis, President/CEO

29. NORTHWEST MEDICAL CENTER, BENTONVILLE

128

Medical-surgical

Level III

Patrick Kerrwood, CEO

30. THE BRIDGEWAY, NORTH LITTLE ROCK

127

Psychiatric

Sherrie James, CEO

31. P INNACLE POINTE BEHAVIORAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM, LITTLE ROCK

124

Psychiatric

Shane Frazier, CEO

32. BAPTIST HEALTH REHABILITATION INSTITUTE, LITTLE ROCK

120

Rehabilitation

Julie Nix, President

33. FORREST CITY MEDICAL CENTER

118

Medical-surgical

34. V ANTAGE POINT OF NORTHWEST ARKANSAS, FAYETTEVILLE

114

Psychiatric

35. BAPTIST HEALTH - VAN BUREN

105

Medical-surgical

Level IV

Kim Miller, President

36. GREAT RIVER MEDICAL CENTER, BLYTHEVILLE

99

Medical-surgical

Level IV

Chris Raymer, CEO

37. OUACHITA COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER, CAMDEN

98

Medical-surgical

Level IV

David Cicero, President/CEO

38. J OHNSON REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER, CLARKSVILLE

90

Medical-surgical

Level IV

Larry Morse, CEO

39. DEWITT HOSPITAL AND NURSING HOME

85

Medical-surgical

Jason McKewen, CEO

40. C HI ST. VINCENT SHERWOOD REHABILITATION HOSPITAL

80

Rehabilitation

Lisa Watson, CEO

41. CONWAY BEHAVIORAL HEALTH HOSPITAL

80

Psychiatric

Megan Morris, CEO

42. E NCOMPASS HEALTH REHABILITATION HOSPITAL, FAYETTEVILLE

80

Rehabilitation

Janette Daniels, CEO

43. R IVENDELL BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES, BENTON

80

Psychiatric

Fred Knox, CEO

44. S PRINGWOODS BEHAVIORAL HEALTH HOSPITAL, FAYETTEVILLE

80

Psychiatric

Jordon Babcock, CEO

45. SILOAM SPRINGS REGIONAL HOSPITAL

73

Medical-surgical

Adam Bracks, CEO

46. V ETERANS HEALTHCARE SYSTEM OF THE OZARKS, FAYETTEVILLE

73

VA

Kelvin L. Parks, Director

47. BAPTIST HEALTH - HOT SPRING COUNTY, MALVERN

72

Medical-surgical

Level IV

Shelia Williams, CEO

48. CHI ST. VINCENT NORTH, SHERWOOD

69

Medical-surgical

Level IV

Chad Aduddell, CEO

49. MENA REGIONAL HEALTH SYSTEM

65

Medical-surgical

Level IV

Jay Quebedeaux, CEO

50. WILLOW CREEK WOMEN’S HOSPITAL, JOHNSON

64

Medical-surgical (OB-GYN)

Level IV

John Ballard, CEO Megan Wedgworth

Juli McWhorter, Chief Administrative Officer Source: Arkansas Hospital Association

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ADMINISTRATORS OF STATE’S LARGEST HOSPITALS Greg Crain, Baptist Health Medical Center - Little Rock Crain is president of Baptist Health Medical Center - Little Rock, Baptist Health’s flagship and Arkansas’ largest hospital. This year, Baptist Health celebrated its 100th anniversary.

Ryan Gehrig, Mercy Hospital Fort Smith Gehrig, FACHE, was named president of Mercy Hospital Fort Smith in 2012. His previous administrative positions include serving as CEO of Bristow Medical Center in Oklahoma.

Chad Aduddell, CHI St. Vincent Aduddell became chief executive officer at CHI St. Vincent in 2015, previously serving as COO of CHI St. Vincent and president of CHI St. Vincent Infirmary. He came to CHI St. Vincent from St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City in 2012.

Marcy Doderer, Arkansas Children’s Under Doderer’s leadership, Arkansas Children’s has transformed from one hospital into a health system with two hospitals, a research institute and regional clinics, alliances and programs.

Kim Miller, Baptist Health Medical Center - Fort Smith Miller, FACHE, MBA, RN, became president of Baptist Health’s western region in 2020. She oversees the system’s hospitals in Fort Smith and Van Buren.

Brian Thomas, Jefferson Regional Medical Center Thomas has more than 20 years of experience working in health care. He has held management roles throughout his career within different organizations including Jefferson Regional.

Stephen Mette, UAMS Medical Center Mette brings more than 25 years’ experience to his role at UAMS Medical Center. He started at UAMS as chief clinical officer in 2015, having previously served in executive roles in Maine. He was named CEO of UAMS Medical Center in 2019.

Chris Barber, St. Bernards Medical Center Barber has overseen the corporate operations of the nonprofit healthcare system for 11 years.

His overall tenure includes three decades with the organization, which serves 23 counties in northeast Arkansas and southeast Missouri.

Steven Webb, Unity Health After receiving his master’s degree in health services administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Webb served as a Fellow at Unity Health and later became a Fellow in the American College of Health Care Executives.

J. Larry Shackelford, Washington Regional Medical System Shackelford became CEO of Washington Regional in 2017.

Prior to joining WRMS in 2010, he was previously CEO at Medical Associates of Northwest Arkansas.

He currently serves as a member of the Governor’s Winter Covid Taskforce among other positions.

Douglas Ross, CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs Dr. Ross serves as president for CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs and chief medical officer for the CHI St. Vincent hospitals.

He previously was vice president of medical affairs for CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs. He joined the hospital in 2003 as an emergency medicine physician.

Eric Pianalto, Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas Pianalto has served as president of Mercy Northwest since 2013. The NWA native has been with Mercy since 1994 in a diverse variety of roles, including chief operating officer for regional operations in Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Michael Stewart, Saline Memorial Hospital Stewart brings nearly 15 years of health care experience in leadership roles in California, Florida, Texas and Arkansas. A veteran of the U.S. Air Force where he retired a captain, Stewart has held his role in Benton since 2018.

Vince Leist, North Arkansas Regional Medical Center Leist has more than 30 years of health care management experience. Under his leadership, NARMC expanded services through strategic partnerships with Arkansas Children’s and UAMS.

Ron Peterson, Baxter Regional Medical Center Peterson holds the role of CEO at Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home. He came to Baxter Regional in 2007 after serving as hospital president of Trover Health System in Kentucky.

Robert “Bob” Honeycutt, St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center Honeycutt brings more than 25 years of health care experience holding executive roles. He has worked for both urban and rural hospital communities, specializing in strategic growth and business development.

Jason Little, NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital Little is the fifth president in Baptist’s history. Since Little became CEO, the hospital system based in Memphis has grown from 14 hospitals into a 22 hospital, $3.1 billion integrated health care system.

Scott Street, Medical Center of South Arkansas Street has served in health care leadership roles for more than 30 years. He currently is leading Medical Center of South Arkansas through a multimillion-dollar renovation and expansion project.

Mike Perkins, Baptist Health Medical Center - North Little Rock Perkins is president of Baptist Health Medical Center - North Little Rock, which offers exposure to clinical settings for residents of the Baptist Health-UAMS Medical Education Program.

Hans Driessnack, Northwest Medical Center Driessnack was named CEO of Northwest Medical Center in Springdale in 2018. He has held executive leadership positions in the past and has always been heavily involved in the communities in which he has lived including work with the United Way. Gary Paxson, White River Health System Paxson has a long history of working in the health care industry and is a former registered nurse. He joined White River in 2012 from Kishwaukee Health Systems in Illinois and worked his way up the ladder, becoming CEO in 2019.

Scott Smith, National Park Medical Center In 2020, Smith was named CEO of National Park Medical Center in Hot Springs. He arrived in Arkansas, having previously worked in administrative roles at Western Plains Medical Complex in Dodge City, Kansas.

Amy Rice, Helena Regional Medical Center Rice leads a team of more than 75 health professionals serving the Delta and is responsible for strategy, growth and business development. The Marianna native joined HRMC in 1999 and was named CEO in 2018.

Matt Troup, Conway Regional Health System Troup has more than 20 years of executive leadership experience in the health care industry. He came to Arkansas in 2014 as vice president of ancillary and support services at CHI St. Vincent and was named president and CEO of Conway Regional within one year.

C O N S T R U C T I O N

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WE BUILD PLACES OF HEALING

When Baxter Regional Medical Center needed to upgrade their surgical department they called on Nabholz.

The 22,000 SF ambulatory surgery center includes six operating rooms and 27 prep/recovery beds. This facility allows surgeons to schedule procedures locally so Mountain Home residents can stay closer to home.

1 . 8 7 7. N A B H O L Z | w w w. n a b h o l z . c o m

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Congratulations Brian L. McGee, MD for being named among AMP’s Champions of Healthcare.

The Best Protection is Prevention

It only takes 15 minutes to protect yourself from colon cancer. Schedule your screening today.

501-227-7688

8908 Kanis Rd. • Little Rock, AR adcgca.com

For the past 100 years, Conway Regional has provided high-quality, compassionate health care to the communities we serve. We are proud of our team members who are being recognized as champions in health care. At Conway Regional, we are one team with one promise: to be bold, to be exceptional, and to answer the call. Thank you to our patients for continuing to trust Conway Regional for your health care needs.

HEALTH CARE ADMIN AND CEO

SURGEON

PHYSICIAN

PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT

Matt Troup President & CEO

Regan Gallaher, MD Neurospine Surgery

Athony Manning, MD General Surgery

Savannah Bradbury, PA Neurology

NURSE PRACTITIONER

REGISTERED NURSE

ALLIED HEALTH CARE PROVIDER

ALLIED HEALTH CARE PROVIDER

Angela Foster, APRN Mayflower Medical Group

Valerie Lambe, RN Labor and Delivery

Ashley Cornett, MS, RDN, LD, CDCES

Darla Cathcart, PT, DPT, WCS Core and Pelvic Physical Therapy

HEALTH CARE VOLUNTEER – Misty Foshee

LARGE HOSPITAL

Conway Regional Health System Conway Regional Health System has been recognized as a champion in health care. At Conway Regional, our world-class providers are here to take care of you and your health care needs. From primary care to specialty care, we offer a seamless referral process, ensuring you get the care you need. We are here for you, wherever you are, no matter the need.

www.ConwayRegional.org

MANAGE WELL WITH OUR HEALTH CARE ATTORNEYS. • Regulatory Compliance

• Risk Management

• Corporate & Real Estate Transactions

• Investigations & Reporting

• Information Security & Privacy

• Employment & Labor

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425 W. Capitol Ave., Ste. 1800 | Little Rock, AR 72201 | (501) 688-8800

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HEALTH & REHABILITATION, LLC

You only want the best for your loved ones.

Now Accepting Reservations for Short Term Rehabilitation and Long Term Care To To schedule schedule aa tour tour before before admission, admission, call call René René at at 479-831-6518.

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2021

CHAMPIONS OF HEALTH CARE A year and a half into a pandemic that changed the world, the word “hero” begs for redefinition. Because now the definition should include a reference to health care workers. We can think of no better way than “Champions” to describe them. We asked Arkansas Money & Politics readers to nominate their “Champions of Health Care” in 14 categories, and these are their top vote-getters in each category.

All health care workers are champions, but congrats to this particular group of Arkansas heroes recognized by our readers.

LLIED HEALTH CARE A PROVIDERS ASHLEY CORNETT, Conway Regional Health System DARLA CATHCART, Conway Regional Health System EMILY GRAY, UAMS BRITTANY HARGIS, Rise Counseling and Diagnostics DEREK LAGEMANN, Physical Therapy Institute

EALTH CARE H ADMINISTRATORS ADAM HEAD, CARTI CAM PATTERSON, UAMS CHARLOTTE RANKIN, Mercy Hospital Nothwest Arkansas MATT TROUP, Conway Regional Health System STEVEN WEBB, Unity Health White County Medical Center

HEALTH CARE CLINICS

LARGE HOSPITALS ARKANSAS CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, Little Rock CONWAY REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER UNITY HEALTH WHITE COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER, Searcy UAMS MEDICAL CENTER, Little Rock WASHINGTON REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER, Fayetteville

ONG-TERM CARE L FACILITIES BRIARWOOD NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER, Little Rock GOOD SHEPHERD, Little Rock LAKEWOOD NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER, North Little Rock PRESBYTERIAN VILLAGE, Little Rock SUPERIOR SENIOR CARE, Little Rock

ENTAL HEALTH M FACILITIES

AUTUMN ROAD FAMILY PRACTICE, Little Rock

THE BRIDGEWAY, North Little Rock

CARTI, Little Rock

CHENAL FAMILY THERAPY, Little Rock

ENHANCED HEALTHCARE OF THE OZARKS, Springdale LITTLE ROCK FAMILY PRACTICE CLINIC

LEVI HOSPITAL, Hot Springs PINNACLE POINTE, Little Rock SPRINGWOODS, Fayetteville

LITTLE ROCK DIAGNOSTIC CLINIC

EALTH CARE H VOLUNTEERS BRENDA ALDRIDGE, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System MISTY FOSHEE, Conway Regional Health System GILL SILLS, Unity Health

I NNOVATION IN HEALTH CARE CARTI — El Dorado and Pine Bluff Cancer Centers ELDER INDEPENDENCE HOME CARE, Bryant

NURSE PRACTITIONERS LEAH CARRINGTON, Enchanced Healthcare of the Ozarks JOLYNN O’ GUINN CHARLES, Travel Nurses Across America ANGELA FOSTER, Conway Regional Health System

BRIAN MCGEE, Arkansas Diagnostic Center SAYYADUL SIDDIQUI, CHI St. Vincent DIANE WILDER, CARTI

PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS SARAH ANDERSON, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System SAVANNAH BRADBURY, Conway Regional Neuroscience Center MEGAN REDAM, Little Rock Diagnostic Clinic MATT REYNOLDS, Arkansas Dermatology TRENT TAPPAN, OrthoArkansas

REGISTERED NURSES ALLY FERGUSON, Travel Nurses Across America VALERIE LAMBE, Conway Regional Health System MARY LOWE, Summit Health and Rehabilitation MAGGIE MOORE, CHI St. Vincent Neuroscience Institute SONYA WOODERSON, United Cerebral Palsy

SMALL HOSPITALS ARKANSAS HEART HOSPITAL, Little Rock ARKANSAS SURGICAL HOSPITAL, North Little Rock CABOT ER HOSPITAL NEA BAPTIST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, Jonesboro NORTHWEST MEDICAL CENTER, Bentonville

SURGEONS

LISA GRUMMER, Cornerstone Clinic for Women

LOWRY BARNES, UAMS

JULIA PONDER, Arkansas Heart Hospital

REGAN GALLAHER, Conway Regional Health System ALI KRISHT, CHI St. Vincent

PHYSICIANS

KITTELL CLINIC, Little Rock

BROOKSHIELD LAURENT, NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine

NYIT COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE, Jonesboro

TONY MANNING, Conway Regional Health System

SCOTT SCHLESINGER, Legacy Spine & Neurological Specialists SCOTT STERN, CARTI

STRYKER ORTHOPAEDICS, Little Rock ARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

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Legacy offers a comprehensive team approach to deliver outstanding neurological care.

Thank you to our patients!

Welcome Dr. Dominic Maggio, Legacy Spine & Neurological Specialists newest neurosurgeon!

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FEARLESS IS

TAKING OUR JOB SERIOUSLY. SERVING OUR CUSTOMERS ENTHUSIASTICALLY. PROTECTING YOUR HEALTH FERVENTLY. GIVING BACK GENEROUSLY. BEING GRATEFUL GENUINELY. THANK YOU! For trusting us for more than 70 years to bring you, your loved ones, your company, your community peace of mind.

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UAMS Proudly Celebrates our Champions of Health Care We congratulate the outstanding UAMS health care providers and those working in the hospital recognized as Champions of Health Care.

They are everyday heroes who are making a difference and keeping others safe throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our Champions of Health Care include: Large Hospital UAMS Health To find a doctor, visit UAMS.Health/Champs or call 501-686-8000.

Health Care Administrator Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA, UAMS Chancellor CEO, UAMS Health

Surgeon C. Lowry Barnes, M.D., Orthopaedic Surgeon Allied Health Care Provider Emily Anne Gray, MS, CCC-SLP, Speech-Language Pathologist

At UAMS Health, we’re here to ensure you have access to the best care, right here close to home. With a staff of the best and brightest, personalized medicine and convenient access to clinics, you can feel confident knowing the state of your health is in exceptional hands.

Congrats, Dr. Laurent!

Congratulations to Dr. Brookshield Laurent, NYITCOM’s Chair of Clinical Medicine and Executive Director of the Delta Population Health Institute, on being recognized as a Champion in Healthcare!

New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM) at Arkansas State University is committed to training talented physicians who aspire to become servant leaders that positively impact their communities.

Dr. Laurent’s leadership and dedication make her an invaluable part of our team.

We are grateful for all you do in our medical school, in our community and throughout our region!

Training Physicians In Arkansas, For Arkansas ARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

nyit.edu/arkansas | 870.680.8816 | ComjbAdmissions@nyit.edu 33

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LETTER

Continued from page 8 and ’70s. With Sam Pittman building the program back up to expectations, the series moving forward shouldn’t be so lopsided.

And seems like Arkansas-OU should happen more often than the generational Orange or Cotton Bowl. It’ll be interesting to see how the bully of the Big 12 handles the grind of the SEC. Remember — the late, great Orville Henry pointed out in ’91 that we’d be trading one Texas for six or seven of ’em. Same goes for the Sooners.

Regardless of how they fare, fall Friday nights in Fort Smith could get interesting.

Big picture, the coming realignment almost certainly means a necessary Power 5 breakaway from the NCAA, at least for football. (The NCAA doesn’t really do anything, anyway. The big conferences tend to their own knitting, and the CFB playoff system is in own entity. In the big picture, the NCAA exists to put on March Madness and protect its bluebloods. That’s about it.) And even with a possible Pac 12/ Big 12 Frankenstein, a superconference model utilizing pods could reintroduce a more regional footprint to the sport.

It’ll be interesting, if not fascinating, to see where the dominoes fall over the next few months. Indeed, changes aren’t permanent. But as Geddy belts, change most certainly is. *** Jetsam, a vastly underused word, and this month’s word of the month. I was introduced to it as a junior high student trying to tackle The Lord of the Rings.

Tolkien titled a chapter of The Two Towers, chronicling the Isengard aftermath, “Flotsam and Jetsam.” Both great words.

The difference, of course, being intent.

Flotsam is debris in the water that wasn’t intentionally thrown overboard. The wreckage from a shipwreck. Jetsam, on the other hand, is that debris found in the water, which was deliberately thrown overboard. Discarded cargo to lighten a ship’s load, for example. Or the schools left holding the Big 12 bag when Texas and Oklahoma bolt for greener pastures.

Flotsam (float) and jetsam (jettison). *** As always, thanks for reading. Please let me know how we’re doing, good or bad. I’m always open at MCarter@ ARMoneyandPolitics.com.

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HEALTH CARE/REAL ESTATE

MEDICAL PLAZA HELPING REVITALIZE LR’S WEST VILLAGE

By Emily Beirne

The medical plaza has brightened up the Rodney Parham corridor and encouraged more development.

nyone frequenting the West Village district along Rodney Parham Road in west Little Rock most likely remembers the old Kmart eyesore. A building unused but still serving as a focal point for the strip. Until something newer and better came along, passersby didn’t realize how much the appearance of a building affected an entire community.

Something newer and better came along. Seemingly overnight, the Kmart store took on a whole new look when it was transformed into the Premier Medical Plaza. From the parking lot to the external

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facade to the new office spaces inside, the building received more than a facelift, and in turn, the surrounding area has taken notes on the power of revitalization.

Plans for the $35 million, 100,000-squarefoot project were announced in 2018 by the newly formed Premier Gastroenterology, which had lofty goals for the property and the area. James Swann of WER Architects/ Planners, the project architect of the building, recalled thinking the project would be impossible to complete in the time they were given. “[Premier Gastro] contacted us and said they wanted this project completed start to

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finish in six months, and I remember thinking that wasn’t possible. We did it, though,” Swann said with a laugh. “They were splitting off from their previous group, and they were looking for a new place where they could make their own and become Premier Gastro. When the process started, it was kind of a panic mode of, ‘Where do we want to do this?’”

Premier teamed up with Newmark Moses Tucker Partners as the lead developer, property management firm and broker for the project.

“They found this building, the old Kmart store, and they thought it was just a great lo-

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helping raise neighborhood property valcation. The building would give the chance ues, the addition of Natural State Laborato show that they were committed to the tories, which provides COVID-19 testing at community and wanted to take this boardthe plaza site, has benefited the community. ed-up building and make it something Casey Honeycutt, Natural State’s execugreat,” Swann explained. He said the projtive director, said the company was looking ect is one of the most unique he’s worked for space to build a state-of-the-art molecuon and called its impact on the surrounding lar testing laboratory. area “something to admire.”

“As we evaluated choices in Central ArChris Moses, lead broker on the project, kansas, Premier Medical Plaza was the one said Premier liked the neighborhood bethat fit the bill for us,” he said. cause of the opportunity to have a specialNatural State Lab’s role in COVID testized medical presence in the area, which ing isn’t quite complete, however. While had been lacking.

“They also identified that the demographics warranted their presence, and there were linkages to the major highway systems, creating easy access for not just Little Rock residents, but Central Arkansas residents as a whole,” he said.

The renovations were completed in record time, and Premier Gastro was able to move in and start Premier provided a serving the commu- needed medical presence the area. (Photos nity. It didn’t take long in provided) to attract tenants.

“The owners had most Americans considered the pandemic quite a bit of vision to take a blighted shopas coming to a close, the last few weeks of ping center and transform it into the stateJuly told a different story. The Delta variant of-the-art, mixed-use medical center that it of COVID is rapidly spreading, and state ofis today,” Moses added. ficials are forced to reconsider plans to “reThe project created a snowball effect of turn to normal.” Health workers got a brief positive change. Other abandoned or outbreath of relief, but Natural State Labs’ testdated buildings in the area have started ing numbers show that the fight is far from their own revitalization projects. over.

“It has been a catalyst of transformation “At one point, we had more than 3,000 for the West Village district,” Moses said. tests per day,” Honeycutt said. “The num“Job growth has been created through the ber of tests we were doing a month ago construction and the expansion of the pracwas around 600 to 700 per day, and it’s tice has brought in additional employees. unfortunate that in such a short amount Any time there’s a new development of this of time, we’re north of 3,000 per day. So, nature and an abandoned building is given the volume is definitely picking up with a purpose, crime is reduced.” our drive-thru. Again, two months ago, we In addition to sprucing up the area and

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were looking at 25 or 30 cases per day coming through the drive-thru, and that’s just somebody that believes they’ve been exposed or they’re symptomatic. Our drivethru has tested, on average, around 180 positive cases per day.”

Natural State serves many long-term care facilities, as well as hospital systems and medical practices. It dropped from nine to three drive-thrus in the state but now plans to reopen two of them.

“We’re thankful for our long-standing partnership with [Premier Gastro] and them letting us set up a testing facility here,” Honeycutt said. “That was one of the other big pluses, because in the marketing and community outreach we had done, most people related this location with Natural State Laboratories, so it was really just a good fit for us to open lab operations at the plaza.”

Somewhere down the road, COVID will become a distant memory. When the number of cases is once again under control and health workers can once again breathe, what is to become of testing labs?

“We have built a laboratory that is a stateof-the-art molecular testing laboratory that allows us to use the same equipment to test for many pathogens that we use for COVID,” Honeycutt said. “This application is widely used in long-term care facilities, hospitals and physician offices, and it’s good for pathogen testing for urinary tract infections, respiratory passages and soft tissue infection. [The lab] has a wider application that gives us many uses, and we’re currently transitioning some of our business operations to support, in addition to COVID testing, other tests that we can use in the medical community.”

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day-to-day living, allowing for the enjoyment of more pleasant and carefree activities.

Thank You!

We are honored to be recognized as a Champion of Health Care!

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HEALTH CARE EXECUTIVE

Q&A

BY MARK CARTER

DR. JOSEPH SANFORD OF UAMS: BROADBAND DEVELOPMENT A ‘HUGE’ OPPORTUNITY FOR ARKANSAS

Dr. Joseph Sanford (Photo by Ebony Blevins) AUGUST ARM O NEYA 2 02ND 1 P O L I T I C S .COM

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EXECUTIVE Q&A

r. Joseph Sanford took over as director of the Institute for Digital Health & Innovation (IDHI) at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in February, just as the pandemic was making clear the value of telemedicine.

He told Arkansas Money & Politics that broadband development represents a “huge” opportunity for the state.

Sanford earned his medical degree and completed his anesthesiology residency at UAMS and a fellowship in management of perioperative services at Stanford University School of Medicine.

He joined the UAMS faculty as an assistant professor in 2015, and since 2019 has served as an associate professor of anesthesiology and biomedical informatics and associate vice chancellor and chief clinical informatics officer.

AMP: Does broadband development in rural Arkansas represent the biggest challenge to your work right now?

of a patient being able to receive the same quality of care regardless of where in Arkansas they live.

AMP: Talk about some of your other programs that benefit Arkansans.

Sanford: Broadband development is a huge opportunity for Arkansas. While it is a lot of work, we have a great team of passionate people. My biggest challenge right now is the increase in COVID-19 cases in Arkansas and helping to further facilitate outpatient digital health and support inpatient care.

Sanford: UAMS IDHI has many programs working to improve the health and wellness of Arkansans.

These include the Perinatal Outcomes Workgroup for Education and Research (POWER), HealthNow, the Stroke Program and the Tele Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (TeleSANE) programs. POWER is working to improve maternal and neonatal outcomes; HealthNow offers virtual urgent care, HIV prophylaxis as well as COVID programs such as monoclonal antibody virtual screening; and TeleSANE provides clinicians with real-time access to the knowledge and support they need to provide to care for those patients who have experienced a sexual assault.

AMP: Other than access to reliable internet, what are the state’s biggest challenges when it comes to digital health?

Sanford: Digital health and telemedicine have their own set of regulatory requirements and billing needs, which have changed since the pandemic began, and we expect more change to come. Educating providers on these, in addition to the technical and logistical considerations of incorporating digital modalities into their practice, is an important part of our mission.

AMP: What’s the next big advancement in telehealth?

Sanford: I think the next big advancement in telehealth will be in how health systems, particularly those interested in value-based care, take in-home medical device data and integrate it into their routine practice. Although this capability is currently being used at places like UAMS, the user experiences for both patient and provider are not yet seamless. Once any home medical device, such as a thermometer, can intuitively be allowed to share data with a medical system, we will have a greater opportunity to care for patients who might otherwise not receive it.

AMP: Once barriers such as internet access are removed, are there any real limits to how telehealth could help transform communities?

Sanford: While telehealth cannot replace an inperson medical visit completely, there are incredible opportunities to augment the partnership a patient has with their primary care provider to add specialized expertise, assist with after-hours coverage and facilitate care coordination. All of this is with the goal

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HEALTH CARE

Vision CARTI REBOUNDS UNDER ADAM HEAD’S LEADERSHIP, NEW MISSION

By Angela Forsyth

“CARTI began performing more advanced forms of treatments, including surgery and diagnostic radiology.”

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few years ago, members of the CARTI health care team found themselves in a difficult situation. They were in the red by nearly $6 million; their CEO of 25 years had just retired; and they had a large medical facility to run.

This was the scenario current CEO Adam Head entered into when he accepted the CEO position in 2017.

“The board was trying to decide what everyone was actually committed to and what this organization stood for, which was trying to deliver an excellent cancer care experience,” Head re-

CARTI has launched several construction projects since Head joined the team.

The CARTI Cancer Center in North Little Rock.

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membered. “We just didn’t know what it needed to look like in the future.”

Those weren’t the only big changes CARTI was experiencing.

Founded in 1976 in Little Rock as Central Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute, CARTI spent decades — along with the rest of the medical field — mostly focusing on radiation treatment for cancer. But around 2012, the nonprofit started transitioning into more diverse care options and leaning more into medical oncology.

CARTI began performing more advanced forms of treatments, including surgery and diagnostic radiology. Then in 2015, after changing its focus away from radiation therapy, the CARTI team took on the tremendous project of building a 175,000-square-foot facility on a $50 million bond.

Essentially, there were a lot of big changes happening in a span of

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HEALTH CARE less than five years, and with the complexity of the organization as an operation, CARTI was suffering financially.

“We had about one year to turn things around,” Head explained. Although the issues at hand were complicated, the team took a fairly simple approach to fixing them. They simply closed themselves up in a conference room all day and talked it out. They listed all the things they wanted to change and all the things they wanted CARTI to be.

“We said, ‘Let’s imagine what cancer care could be in the state,’” Head said. “We imagined it being independent, being essentially free and having the autonomy to be able to get some things done in short order if we could pull things together.”

That day, the team came out with a simple but powerful vision statement — to be the cancer treatment destination in Arkansas.

“We kick-started with that new culture — culture has to be the foundation — and we reestablished our values,” he added.

Within nine months, CARTI went from losing nearly $6 million in 2017 to turning a profit in 2018. “During that moment, we knew we had done something that was pretty spectacular. That was the beginning,” Head said.

Four years later, CARTI is in a completely different state. It now has 45 physicians and 400 employees. Its comprehensive services cover surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and diagnostic radiology. The organization has 19 total locations; six of them are comprehensive cancer centers. CARTI’s services are available in every county in Arkansas, and it treats more than 35,0000 patients per year.

Reflecting back on these significant achievements, Head said that what he’s most proud of is his team.

“I would say that in mainly insurmountable odds, they chose to say, ‘not today’ in the midst of it, and they turned resolute and made changes.”

Head took an interesting career track to his current role. Pre-9/11, he was enrolled in ROTC while attending the University of Arkansas.

He was serving in the U.S. Army as a medical service corps officer when he was quickly deployed to a combat zone in 2005. That’s where he picked up an important skill he still uses

“We said, ‘Let’s imagine what cancer care could be in the state.’”

— Adam Head

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CARTI has two more cancer centers under construction in Pine Bluff and El Dorado.

today. “In the army, I was interacting in crisis decision making,” Head said. “Certainly, there is a parallel.”

Head’s military experience became a strong part of his foundation going forward. He transitioned out as a captain in 2008 and a couple years later, graduated from Capella University with an M.B.A., merging his leadership experience with business administration. The rest of his career path includes working as an administrator at Encompass Health, Medical Assets Holding Company and Arkansas Heart Hospital before taking on the position of president and CEO at CARTI.

A bold vision

For the CARTI team, the challenge wasn’t just to save the organization. It was to change cancer care as a whole. Most health care professionals in Arkansas will say that accessibility is a fundamental problem in the state.

“The thing that really caught my attention early on after we were able to go through this kind of dramatic transformation within that first year is, you know what? Let’s look out across the state,” Head said. “How can we really change things in terms of not just making care accessible, but delivering it in such a way where patients don’t even have to make a drive to Little Rock, much less drive outside the state. We have the platform for a lot of the technology that’s needed, so let’s go to

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patients around the map rather than make them come to us.”

CARTI continues to expand and offer more cancer care closer to patient’s homes. The organization just opened its third breast cancer center last month. Located in Russellville, it provides 3D mammography with the latest SmartCurve and MammoPad technology. Since Arkansas ranks 35th in participation of mammograms with only 65 percent participation of women 45 and older getting mammograms, the hope is that this technology will reduce the pain and anxiety associated with the exam and increase the number of women who get screened.

CARTI also has two more cancer centers under construction (in Pine Bluff and El Dorado) in addition to a new surgery center in Little Rock. The El Dorado cancer center will open this fall, and the Pine Bluff location will open in January 2022.

The two centers are important locations for people in south Arkansas who travel hours for care. According to Head, they are seeing a rise in cancer cases in that region, and he feels it is critical to take “state-of-the-art equipment, people, personnel and support to where it’s needed most.”

The brand-new, two-story surgery center will open in the fall of 2022 on the main Little Rock campus. This will be the first center of its kind in the state and provide more complex surgeries where patients can stay overnight. It will be the second-largest construction project for the organization since the completion of CARTI’s Little Rock cancer center in 2015.

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Carlton Saffa feels right at home in Pine Bluff's Saracen Casino Resort.

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t makes sense that Carlton Saffa, Saracen Casino Resort’s chief market officer, feels like he’s hit the occupational jackpot. Still under 40 — he reaches that milestone in December — Saffa was the first Saracen employee when hired in 2019.

A self-described action junkie and casino gaming lover, he presided over Saracen’s rise from drawing board to reality. A couple of years now into his dream job, Saracen’s $350 million phase 1 — the largest one-time tourism investment ever in Arkansas — presides over the former soybean fields on the southern edge of Pine Bluff, where the timber meets the Delta.

“I’ve always loved casino gaming,” Saffa told Arkansas Money & Politics.

“My father is a heck of a poker player, though I’ve never had the patience to play with the discipline this game requires. Coincidentally, Casino, released in 1995, has been my favorite movie since I saw it as a teenager. I remember reading Nicholas Pileggi’s book in a weekend while a high school kid.”

Still, Saffa never saw himself in the business, much less serving as the face of the state’s first purpose-built casino.

The historical aspect of his post is fitting. A chancellor’s scholarship from the University of Arkansas lured him to Fayetteville from southwestern Oklahoma, and an interest in state history and politics helped keep him here.

But the road to Saracen was a winding one.

“College debate and politics were more fulfilling to me than the classroom,” he said.

“Debate taught me to be quick on my feet, and the University of Arkansas had an incredible program. My coach, Dr. Steve Smith, is still a mentor to me today, and under his leadership, we won a national championship in parliamentary debate. I also fell in love with the wonderful peculiarities of Arkansas history and politics while in school, largely through a series of chance meetings that turned into longtime friendships.

“Both debate and politics led to the next steps in my life. I spent over a decade in the insurance business, work-

“I CAN’T IMAGINE DOING ANYTHING ELSE AT THIS STAGE IN MY LIFE.”

ing for a publicly traded carrier, and though I managed folks in several states, my first love was the act of selling. I think it was because I loved the so-called action and loved a chance to be quick on my feet. The insurance business was one my father had had success in, and an opportunity to earn a good living meant I could grow up and get married to the girl I loved.”

The election of Asa Hutchinson as governor in November 2014 represented an unexpected diversion for Saffa. But it was one that would afford him the chance to monitor the state’s political temperature, and it would serve him well.

“In 2015, a man I knew as a friend, Asa Hutchinson, took over as governor, and I was honored that he invited me to work for him in the Capitol. I spent almost five years working for the governor on his key legislative issues and being a daily go-between from his office to a number of important state agencies. It was an incredible experience.”

When John Berrey, then chairman of the Quapaw Nation, and Don Tilton, the tribe’s longtime Arkansas lobbyist, approached him about working for Saracen, Saffa said he was fascinated at the prospect.

“They handled it the right way. Don spoke to the governor about poaching a member of his staff, so the governor knew their interest a few hours before I did,” Saffa said. “I jumped at the opportunity, immediately provided notifications to avoid any conflicts of interest, gave my notice, and within weeks was at work in Pine Bluff. This was early June 2019 and technically speaking, I was Saracen Development’s first employee. At this point, we had nothing more than a small office in downtown Pine Bluff. We didn’t even have a casino license at this point.

“As you have probably noticed, I’m an action junkie, and I can’t imagine doing anything else at this stage of my life. I was honored to play a very small part in Gov. Hutchinson’s many successes and am personally proud that every bill I ever worked for him passed. That being said, as busy as the State Capitol is, for me a slow day at Saracen has many more moving parts than a fast day at the Capitol.”

The full casino pulled in $40 million in wagers over 11 days after opening in October 2020.

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*** And things have been busy for Saffa and his Saracen colleagues. Even before the casino proper opened in October 2020, the Sara-

challenges with disruptions from vendors, ranging cen casino annex was a hit with its 300 slots. Opened from certain types of alcohol to booth manufacturers, in September 2019, not long after Saffa was hired, in order to finish out some of our restaurant spaces.” the annex pulled in almost $45 million in wagers the To date, Saracen has paid roughly $18 million in month before the official opening. local, county and state taxes. (The casino pays bePhase 1 of the project entails the full 220,000-squaretween 13 and 20 percent each month based on how foot casino with an 80,000-square-foot gambling much it nets.) For the fiscal year 2021, casino gaming floor; 2,100 slots and 30 gaming tables; a separate pokand sports-wagering revenue at the state’s three casier room; a sportsbook; and seven restaurants includnos topped $69 million. ing the higher-end Red Oak Steakhouse. Phase 2, unThe state’s first der construction and purpose-built castill on track for a late Saracen is the state’s first purpose-built casino. sino, Saracen is 2021 opening, Saffa averaging around says, will include a 150,000 patrons per 300-room hotel with month. (Plexiglass more restaurants, a barriers remain in conference center, place and will stay lounges, a spa as well up as long as the as a museum and Delta variant concultural center. tinues to surge, Saffa Despite launching said.) Saracen paas a pandemic raged, trons represent all Saracen still enjoyed demographics, but a big opening run. It slots tend to skew pulled in $40 million female, while tables in wagers for the 11 games and sports days the full casino betting lean male, was open in October, as they do industry according to state figwide. And most all ures. And that total patrons are coming rises to more than from greater Little $84 million when Rock, Saffa said. accounting for the “With our proxannex. For just those imity, only 40 minfirst 11 days, Saracen utes away, that paid out almost $79 makes sense.” million in winnings and almost $810,000 *** in taxes.

Not only has Sar“Opening day was acen provided Pine huge, but there is no Bluff with much doubt that without needed windfall, it COVID, it would has also infused the have been much bigcommunity with ger,” Saffa said. “Our some much-needed opening day was our energy. Decades of declining population and indusbiggest day for several months, but then came April. try took a toll.

We reset our best day several times in April alone and Fifty years ago, Pine Bluff was considered by most have continued to raise that bar since.”

Arkansans to be the state’s No. 3 city in terms of Just getting to opening day was its own challenge, prominence behind Little Rock and Fort Smith. Enhe said. tertainers as big in name as Bob Hope and the king “Building this place required a monumental efhimself, Elvis Presley, played the Pine Bluff Convenfort and an incredible amount of material. Getting tion Center in the mid-’70s. everything needed shipped to Arkansas in the midst But as technology made agriculture a game in of a world-wide pandemic was every bit of the supplyneed of fewer players, jobs in other industries and chain struggle you could imagine. Even today, we face

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“PINE BLUFF HAS BECOME A PLACE OF GROWTH BECAUSE OF DEVELOPMENTS LIKE THE CASINO.”

Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington extolled the casino’s positive economic impact. As Saracen opened back up to full capacity this spring, the city’s unemployment rate fell from 7.2 percent in January to 6.3 percent in May, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — thanks in large part to jobs tied directly and otherwise to Saracen. Currently, more than 900 of a planned 1,100 local workers are on the job at the resort.

“The casino has been an exciting addition to Pine Bluff, drawing visitors from around Arkansas and across the country,” Washington said. “The overwhelming response from customers has been positive.

And economically, the city of Pine Bluff has been benefiting from increased revenue garnered by the casino environment, which we are

other cities slowly but steadily siphoned the city’s population.

Pine Bluff dropped from a 1970 peak of roughly 57,400 to an estimate of 41,400, according to the 2020 U.S. Census.

No one expects Saracen to return residents to Pine Bluff by the thousands, but the impact seen so far on the city and region is encouraging. The city is a destination once again.

Allison Thompson, president and CEO of the Economic Development Alliance for Jefferson County, is eager to brag on Saracen, noting not only its aesthetics and quality food but its willingness to be a community partner. And of course, the taxes it pays and the jobs it offers — more than 1,000 needed for construction alone.

“I don’t see that changing in the future,” she said.

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No one expects Saracen to return residents to Pine Bluff by the thousands, but the impact seen so far on the city and region is encouraging.

*** It all comes back to the Quapaws and their return to the tribe’s historic homeland.

“Beginning literally at the little rock in Little Rock (la petite roche) and heading southeast, this region was home to the Quapaw people until the federal government removed the tribe,” Saffa said. “The Quapaw name is all around us in Arkansas, if you only look. The Governor’s Mansion sits in the Quapaw Quarter. The Boy Scouts here are known as the Quapaw Area Council. And on and on. The decision to return to the region, and in a big way, is a source of pride for the Quapaw people.”

Saracen represents the tribe’s third casino venture, all of

focused on managing and investing responsibly. Jobs have also been created, with many people moving into the county to pursue opportunities at the casino.”

Washington said she eagerly awaits the influx of even more visitors once the hotel is complete. With public and private downtownrevitalization efforts underway in Pine Bluff, the casino’s influx of tax revenue and visitors has bolstered the sense of momentum felt around town.

“Pine Bluff has become a place of growth because of developments like the casino,” Washington said. “We remain committed to strengthening our relationships with community partners such as the Quapaw Tribe as we work to sustain and build upon this growth.”

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them — so far — successful ones. (Arkansans exposed to almost any form of media likely are familiar with the tribe’s pre-Saracen jewel, Downstream Casino Resort, located a few miles west of Joplin almost exactly on the Oklahoma-KansasMissouri state lines. To get there, one exits I-44 in Missouri, parks in Kansas and enters a building located in Oklahoma.)

So, just what is it that makes the tribe so good at building

Small but efficient, the tribe has built a reputation for quality, especially in its food offerings. Saffa said the food at Saracen represents a destination in its own right. And it sets Saracen apart, he insists.

“We lead with food. All casinos have access to the same slot machines, and blackjack means 21 everywhere. Things like food are differentiators,” he said. “I am now comfortable saying we have built the best restaurant in Arkansas. If Lee Richardson was still cooking at

“We lead with food. All casinos have access to the same slot machines, and blackjack means 21 everywhere. Things like food are differentiators.”

Ashley’s, I wouldn’t be so confident, but without him in play I know we’re there. Our digital folks tell us that Saracen over-indexes website interest on food and beverage, and that makes me smile.

“To fully appreciate what we have in this building, you have to see it. If it’s a microbrewery or a steakhouse or a slot machine that gets you here, it’s all a win to us. As for the steak, specifically we serve prime, dry-aged prime and A5 Kobe beef. We’re proud, for us and for our state, that Red Oak is the only restaurant in the southern United States to be Kobe-certified by the Japanese Kobe Beef Council.”

and running these venues?

“The Quapaw Nation is a relatively small tribe, technically speaking. With several thousand members, the tribe is much smaller than other tribes that might come to mind,” Saffa said.

“But despite its relatively small size, the tribe has a reputation for doing things right. Vertically integrated hospitality components like our own coffee, microbrewery, cattle, bison and even honey speak to Quapaw quality and level of commitment to a world-class experience in operations.”

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Saffa responds: “A casino is, at its core, a business for disposable income. We are also a massive job creator. Realistically, venues for drinking and gambling have long existed (legally and illegally) in the state, but Saracen means something positive. Jobs and massive tax revenue come from these areas. We are serious about monitoring for problem gambling; it and money laundering training are two items that 100 percent of our gaming employees are trained on.

“The fear of the unknown is real. Once we opened and began employing locals, then Saracen became familiar to Pine Bluff. It became a place where a friend or family member worked. And once folks saw what we’d built, an 80,000-square-foot building that looks like something from the Vegas strip, it felt like we had full buy-in.

“Jefferson County voters supported the measure that legalized casino gaming, and naysayers are few and far between. We employ about 600 Jefferson County residents and send millions in revenue to city and county governments here.”

Unlike other proposed casino projects in the state, the entire planning process for Saracen went off without a hitch. Saffa praised the leadership of current Quapaw Chairman Joseph Byrd, Secretary/Treasurer Guy Barker, Jefferson County Judge Gerald Robinson, Saracen General Manager Matt Harkness, Saracen CFO Jim Burns, Washington and Tilton. And he thinks Saracen is perfectly situated for long-term success in a city of almost 50,000 on the edge of the state’s largest metro.

“The casino has been a source of pride for Pine Bluff,” he said. “An investment of this size would be news in any city or town in America, so $300 million-plus in Pine Bluff was and is exciting. Today Saracen has about 900 employees, and we’re still growing. We set out to employ Jefferson County and entertain Arkansas, and I believe we Saffa said Saracen is perfectly situated for long-term success in a city are doing just that.” of almost 50,000 on the edge of the state’s largest metro.

As for what’s next, the casino still has “a few things cooking,” Saffa said. *** “We’ve been at work acquiring a museum-quality art colCulture, of course, is changing at an increasingly rapid pace. lection for Red Oak Steakhouse, and it as well as a number of As recently as 10 years ago, it would’ve been hard to imagine other venues around the property will soon see a significant inmarijuana or casino gambling in any form or capacity being terior upgrade. And of course, the hotel planning is progresslegal in Arkansas. But here we are. ing at a fast pace, with meetings occurring on financing and How does Saffa respond to the argument that casinos can design happening almost daily. deliver a long-term net loss for communities? After all, they “And of course, the hotel planning is progressing at a fast potentially promote excessive drinking, problem gambling, fipace, with meetings occurring on financing and design hapduciary irresponsibility… pening almost daily.”

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Our home is conveniently located just off Walnut in Rogers close to Walmart, under the medical directions of Dr. Kimberly Burner.

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Courtney Phaup, Ph.D. Director of Education

Describe your journey.

After working in the public school system for 15 years, I decided that I wanted a change.

The position at The BridgeWay became available, and I knew it was where I wanted to be.

The Future 50 represents Arkansans expected to be paving the way for Arkansas for years to come. What are some qualities that you think every Future 50 member should exhibit?

I believe that each Future 50 member should have a deep understanding of their field of work along with the ability to make connections with others, both inside and outside their specific field.

What is your favorite quote?

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from their point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird What are some traits that you admire in others?

Integrity, humility and patience.

Congratulations, ON MAKING

If you could spend an hour talking with any person, past or present, who would it be?

Steve Phaup, my father-in-law.

What are some traits that you have that make you a good leader?

Empathy and open-mindedness when working with patients and my colleagues.

What was your “big break”?

My big break came from within myself.

It was the first time I experienced seeing a student gain confidence academically. I knew from that moment on that I would do anything necessary to experience that again.

The Good, the Bad and the Funding

“While focusing on the immediate needs of our state — needs that are critical to the health and safety of our residents, as a group, we’ve also known that we need to look further into the future with a longrange lens on what Arkansas should be considering for economic health and prosperity coming out of COVID,” he wrote.

Walton considers Heartland Forward, funded through the Walton Family Foundation, a “think and do” tank. Its mission is to “improve economic performance in the center of the United States by advocating for fact-based solutions to foster job creation, knowledge-based and inclusive growth and improved health outcomes.” The study was conducted through the implementation of “independent, data-driven research to facilitate action-oriented discussion and impactful policy recommendations.”

The report, designed to help Arkansas bounce back from unprecedented economic circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic, consisted of six major economic sectors: talent and workforce development; innovation and research; entrepreneurship and small business; health care; supply chain and logistics; and high-speed internet, as well as recommendations for improvement in these areas.

Takeaways

Heartland Forward’s key takeaways and recommendations for the state in each category are as follows:

A Deeper Dive into Heartland Forward’s Arkansas Economic Feasibility Study By Katie Zakrzewski

T

he recent Arkansas Economic Feasibility Study from Bentonville nonprofit Heartland Forward revealed the good and the bad of the state’s economic development picture.

The state does many things very well but has much work to do in some areas, the study found.

The report was commissioned by the Governor’s Task Force for Economic Recovery. In it, Steuart Walton, task force chair, outlined the need for such an economic assessment for the state.

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Talent and Workforce Development

• Create a talent attraction and retention strategy; • Embrace data-driven and industry-led workforce development and flexible university credentialing; • Reimagine high school to industry pathways; • Support the economic opportunity of Arkansas women.

Innovation and Research

• Change the state’s economic development culture to embrace innovation as an economic development strategy; • Fund startup ventures; • Promote academic research discoveries

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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

into ventures with high growth and export potential as an engine of economic prosperity.

Entrepreneurship and Small Business

• Coordinate support services; • Increase access and availability of startup capital; • Invest in other forms of entrepreneurship infrastructure.

Health Care

• Improve health behaviors and access to services; • Innovate for health care sector transformation; • Promote health care research and economic development.

nies, offering incentives to companies that expand into the state, and the increase in federal funding and STEM concentrations to earn more funding for research and innovation.

“We didn’t want to create a strategy that just sits on a bookshelf and isn’t implemented,” he said. “We developed a recovery strategy for Northwest Arkansas. An entity has taken interest and has started to provide a leadership role.

This strategy, too, will need a stake-

are two primary measures of talent: one is based upon degrees and credentials, and another is tied to occupations of people,” the report found.

Only 23.3 percent of Arkansans over 25 have a bachelor’s degree, ranking the state 48th in the nation, while just 8.3 percent of Arkansans have a graduate degree (50th). However, Arkansas does better in regards to those who belong in the creative class, where the state ranks 43rd.

Arkansas’ strength is in the state’s

More economic development — open house at Calstrip Industries in Mississippi County. In 2019, the company added 45 jobs and invested $15 million in its steel processing plant.

Supply Chains and Logistics

• Embrace a “new” type of blue-collar work in Arkansas, from manufacturing to transportation and logistics; • Build a state-wide supply chain cluster initiative, connecting the state’s knowledge hubs and its industrial and rural sectors; • Become a leading laboratory for supply chain management innovations; • Build industry-informed workforce pipelines throughout the state, from community colleges and technical schools to universities.

High-Speed Internet

• Ensure ubiquitous availability of high-speed internet in Arkansas; • Empower Arkansans to adopt and utilize internet technologies effectively.

Ross DeVol, president and CEO of Heartland Forward, told Arkansas Money & Politics that the state has an opportunity coming out of COVID to think and act differently, to doubledown on investments and to better integrate the needs of employers. He also stressed the need for supporting entrepreneurs and growing compa-

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holder. The governor will need to get behind it, as well as some leaders from the council, and agree on who is going to take the lead in different areas, and who is going to take ownership.”

Analysis of Economic Sectors Talent and Workforce

The Heartland Forward report made two observations about talent and workforce in Arkansas.

“Arkansas has made improvements in creating talent, but woefully lags other states in its commitment and execution of new training paradigms. There

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share of the workforce in skilled trade, where Arkansas ranks second in the nation. However, a key restraining factor for the state is the low engagement of women in the workforce. Heartland Forward makes a few recommendations, including the need “to develop a cohesive and aligned talent creation, attraction and retention strategy. It should be tied to growing knowledge-based sectors such as data sciences, supply chain management, business services, health care, education and research and development,” along with offering relocation tax credits to individuals with skills in demand.

Additionally, the state should emphasize its attractive quality of life and family friendly nature, the report said.

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Innovation and Research

“High levels of innovation and research activity separate places, creating well-paying jobs from those languishing. So, Arkansas should elevate these activities to play a critical role in its eco-

nomic recovery strategy,” the study said.

Heartland Forward identifies the commercialization of university research as well as industry-performed research and development to be key sources of knowledge-based economic growth. Arkansas was granted $179 million in federal science and engineering funding in 2019, ranking it 50th nationwide. In order to succeed, Arkansas must aggressively pursue its official science and technology plans.

Some of the recommendations that Heartland Forward makes include increasing and making permanent the funding for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC), identifying and supporting ventures with high-growth potential, providing

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that these are the high-paying jobs that Arkansas needs in order to generate a stronger economy.

Arkansas underperforms at attracting venture capital or angel investments, ranking 43rd in the proportion of eligible individuals that are accredited investors. However, the think tank reassures that the pandemic Gov. Asa Hutchinson with Vietnamese presents new opportunities for company officials at the 2019 opening of the Vinh Long furniture factory in Morrilton. the state to focus on entrepreneurship for economic development and job creation. The study recommends that the state embrace innovation and research.

Recommendations include providing sufficient funding and resources to the small business and entrepreneurship programs at AEDC, additional funding of entrepreneurial support organizations (ESOs) and the creation of programs to assist budding entrepreneurs.

The study also recommends that, “Arkansas should bring its personal income-tax structure in line with neighboring states to encourage entrepreneurs to invest in businesses and reduce obstacles that encourage them to move to neighboring states.”

matching funds for Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants and utilizing the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) funds of up to $56 million.

Entrepreneurship and Small Business

“Arkansas has a rich history of entrepreneurs such as Sam Walton; John H. Johnson, founder of Ebony and Jet magazines; and current entrepreneurs like April Seggebruch and her partner Stan Zylowski, founders of Movista, who are revolutionizing retail store management,” the report reads. Young firms that are less than six years old are responsible for 10 percent of Arkansas’s private-sector firm employment, while the national figure is 10.8 percent. Arkansas performs worst among knowledge-intensive young firms, which is classified as those with a high percentage of employees with a bachelor’s degree or greater. The report outlines

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Health Care

“The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the need to shift to a valuebased system where payments are more aligned with health outcomes rather than a fee-for-service model,” the report states.

High rates of chronic conditions across the state, especially in the last year, made evident the need to address Arkansas’ poor performance related to social determinants of health. Lowincome families in Arkansas still have limited access to health care services, while the state as a whole ranks 47th for employer-provided insurance coverage.

The health care sector is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the U.S. econ-

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omy. However, in Arkansas, it is seen as a rapidly rising cost requiring more state resources being directed at it, according to Heartland Forward. The think tank recommends strategic investments of public funds in health education for the public, additional funding for the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI) and “a collaborative program with providers, insurers and others in the health community to develop these programs as necessary to reverse Arkansas’ poor position on the social determinants of health.”

Supply Chain and Logistics

“The knowledge economy is not just about software, digital media and other intangibles.

Manufacturing and the movement of goods in the physical world are essential elements of Arkansas’ economy,” the report stressed. Arkansas’ statewide performance closely reflects a national pattern: while transportation occupations have soared, production occupations in factories have declined.

Additionally, e-commerce sales have grown significantly as a component of retail sales, giving Arkansas a significant competitive advantage.

“Arkansas has the third-highest share of transportation industry employment in the nation — almost double the U.S. average,” the report reported, thanks in part to the large number of Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the state.

The state must “leverage these existing strengths and make further investments in training and methods to become a national leader in supply chain, logistics and transportation services, and a larger player in the e-commerce revolution,” according to the report. Also, the state should embrace a “new” type of bluecollar work found in the transportation and logistics sectors.

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The report emphasized that these suggestions are not meant to replace Internet access was one of the most the current strategies that the state prominent areas affected in the state by employs, but to add to and strengthen the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In 2019, 20 percent of Arkansans did them. The report also acknowledged not have internet access, and 18 percent that COVID-19 has played a big role in what the state can do. It concluded that Arkansas is Little Rock’s poised for success in the next Westrock Coffee few decades but must continfinalized its $405 ue to allocate resources and million acquisition of focus on the groundwork that S&D Coffee & Tea in 2020. is already present.

“Arkansas can be much more effective at attracting and producing skilled and educated talent… Arkansas also has a tremendous capacity for developing talent, which is increasingly important as relevant skills are constantly changing and becoming more technology-driven,” it said.

DeVol noted the recent spike in COVID cases should be the state’s top priority right nowbut added that permanent funding of AEDC should be another.

“Let the AEDC get the ball rolling,” he said. “There needs to be the foundation work laid to work on this longer term so you of households with connectivity only had don’t allow the potential for momena cellular data plan. Further, 122,600 Artum to dissipate.” kansan households did not have access to DeVol also said the state should any computing device, including a smartphone,” the report revealed. The study build on existing strengths that will noted that Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s admin- pay off in the medium- and longistration addressed the issue by allocat- term such as supply chain and logising $125 million of the state’s CARES Act tics, which he said is well-positioned funding to the Arkansas Rural Connect and maybe even under-recognized (ARC) program. The think tank recom- nationally.

“Arkansas has many strengths if you mended that the state “increase funding for deployment efforts to achieve aspira- look at trucking and transportation,” tional levels of internet connectivity for he said. “Walmart and the retail side, Arkansans and ensure expansion and the University of Arkansas has one of technological upgrades of the broadband the top rated logistics/supply chain uninfrastructure over time,” as well as in- dergraduate programs in the country. centivizing the use of multiple technolo- It’s a real opportunity, and it doesn’t gies, in addition to other feasibility and require many additional investments to bridge these industries together.” affordability suggestions.

High-Speed Internet

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COOL

C U S T O M E RS FAMILY-OWNED R&E SUPPLY EYES EXPANSION

By Dwain Hebda | Photography by Jamison Mosley

A

s Bill Miller, president of Little Rockbased R&E Supply, is quick to tell you, if there’s such a thing as a recession-proof, pandemic-proof, bulletproof business, it’s dealing in the air conditioning and refrigeration space in Arkansas.

Even so, it’s not easy to keep a company thriving for nearly 100 years — especially a family business such as R&E, a heating, ventilation, air conditioning, electric and refrigeration wholesaler.

Yet the Millers — including Bill’s late father Carl; older brother Carl Jr., now retired; and son Cory — have done just that, weathering along the way changes in competition, advancing technology and the ravages of time. Today, R&E Supply emerges from the challenges of 2020 on the threshold of substantial growth, an accomplishment built on the back of a timeless core business philosophy.

“Being a family business, there are constant challenges,” Bill said. “But the main thing is to treat your customers the way you want to be treated. My dad always said, ‘Don’t worry about the competition. You worry about how you take care of your customers.’ And that’s really the key to what our business is.”

While it’s not unusual to hear a company executive extol the virtues of customer service, it’s often mere slogan, unhitched from the frontlines.

Not so with R&E, which has taken extraordinary

Cory and Bill Miller

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a valuable differentiator in a crowded marketplace.

“We do take pride in finding those parts that nobody else can seem to find,” Cory said. “We’re known for that. We’re also known to have those obscure parts that nobody has. When it comes to mechanical controls, those haven’t changed a whole lot. A relay’s a relay. But we’ve been known to have those obscure parts that would take some of our competitors a week or two to find.”

R&E Supply’s physical expansion is another concrete reflection of the company credo. In an era when many wholesalers are easing up on the number of brick-and-mortar locations in favor of predominantly online strategies, the Millers have gone the other direction. The company currently maintains locations in Little Rock, Hot Springs, Russellville, Conway, Searcy, Pine Bluff and Fort Smith, and is on the brink of another round of aggressive expansion that will add about 35 employees in the process.

“The closer you get the parts to the customer, the more likely you are going to be able to sell it to the customer. That’s really the biggest issue,” Bill said.

“COVID road-blocked us for a bit, but we’ve been planning to get back into an expansion program.

We’ve got three different sets of store floor plans, depending on the market area and what towns we go into. We hope to get into that pretty quickly.

“I think the time is right for it, and I think the demand is there and it’s going to continue. We’d like to double our size in five years.” ***** Company and family patriarch Carl Miller Sr. began his professional life with General Electric, where the young engineer started on the ground floor and quickly distinguished himself through hustle and a knack for sales.

“He started at GE doing door-to-door sales,” Cory said. “Not everyone had electricity, so he would find his customers by following the power lines, and that’s where he would try to sell refrigerators.”

Miller’s duties also included leading tours of a GE appliance factory in Schenectady, N.Y., where on a tour one day were GE appliance distributors Sid and Pat O’Bannon of Little Rock. They were so taken with Miller, they convinced him to move to Arkansas and help launch GE dealerships.

Peddling newfangled appliances in a state where many were yet to be reached by electrification may have seemed a fool’s errand, but Miller had a vision of where society was headed. As appliances approached critical mass, he convinced the O’Bannons to allow him to open a parts supply-distribution store in 1935 to complement the appliance business.

Miller’s wisdom and foresight saved the company during World War II when most manufacturing was redirected to the war effort. The parts division

The company’s inventory numbers 10,000 products, distributed through seven locations.

steps through the years to remain essential partners with its clientele. The company’s inventory of equipment, tools, controls, chemicals, electronics, accessories and indoor air quality components numbers 10,000 products, distributed through seven locations.

Vice President Cory Miller said in today’s Ineed-it-yesterday pace of business, clients demand responsiveness from their suppliers, and those that don’t deliver get left behind. It’s a fulfillment arms race where the combatants are increasingly global.

“The expectations our customers have are a lot different now than back in the day,” Cory said. “It’s due to Walmart and Amazon; I mean, everybody’s wanting it in two days, and if you can’t get it in two days, you’re worthless. We have to keep up with getting the product to our customers quicker, and that’s probably the biggest change.”

Longevity has allowed R&E to pocket another hole card — stocking the hard-to-find — which is

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thrived, however, thanks to refrigeration supplies being spared government intrusion on the basis of being crucial to the nation’s food supply. After the war, the company moved from the Terminal warehouse, now part of the River Market, into a larger headquarters building at 1210 East Sixth Street.

By the 1950s, Miller had gone out on his own, founding Refrigeration and Electric Supply Company (later R&E Supply), borrowing against his life insurance policies to do so. The move made competitors out of his former partners, but major suppliers Honeywell, Copeland and Sporlan Valve recognized Miller’s track record of expertise and, like many of his loyal accounts, followed him to R&E. The new company would move in 1955 to its current headquarters at 1222 Spring St., and in time, the reins would be taken over by Bill and his older brother, Carl Jr. By the 1980s, Bill, emulating his father’s ability to recognize trends, pushed for computerization, a suggestion that was not praised internally at the time.

“The biggest thing that I had to overcome was our reluctance to depend on computers,” Bill said with a half-grin. “A tremendous amount of reluctance.

“WE’VE GOT THREE DIFFERENT SETS OF STORE FLOOR PLANS, DEPENDING ON THE MARKET AREA AND WHAT TOWNS WE GO INTO... I THINK THE TIME IS RIGHT FOR IT. WE’D LIKE TO DOUBLE OUR SIZE IN FIVE YEARS.” My brother was of the old-fashioned type — Rolodex cards and those type of things, you know. It was a task, to say the least.

“My brother and I were a good combination; he was very technically inclined, and he would do stuff like solve control networks and things for our customers. When Dad passed away, Carl, being the older son, had the majority interest, so I had to convince him of everything I wanted to do. Sometimes, I just had to grind my teeth and go home. But in general, it all worked out.”

In the case of Bill’s early advocacy for computers, the payoff came in spades by giving the company the jump on more technology-reluctant competitors.

Today, the firm’s ERP system is an indispensable operational tool, especially as inventory has ballooned, locations have multiplied and the company has begun to embrace the digital marketplace.

“Customer management, inventory, sales management, I mean, the data is amazing,” Cory said. “Anything you care to find is in there; all the records, all the transactions, all the customer history. It’s learning how to use that data that’s key, and that’s what I’ve been doing more of lately.

“E-commerce is also definitely on the radar, and it has to be for every industry, not just us. If it’s not, you’re already behind the curve. Right now, we offer sales online to existing customers only, and I’ve had a few people sign up from out of state. It’s pretty small right now, maybe 10 percent of sales, but the e-commerce side is definitely going to be a part of our future growth.”

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Longevity has allowed R&E to pocket another hole card — stocking the hard-tofind — which is a valuable differentiator in a crowded marketplace.

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****** Bill, 77, and Cory, 31, share a common backstory when it comes to life in the family firm — both ran around the warehouse as kids, both started on lower rungs of the company ladder, and both say they never imagined themselves doing anything else than continuing the R&E legacy. And that they have done, advancing both the fortunes of the company as well as the state’s HVAC industry, in ways that go beyond product sales.

“We’ve established a full-blown training center in south Little Rock, at 6715 Young Road,” Bill said. “We can gather about 100 people there, easily, and teach them about products. It’s hands-on where they can work on equipment and troubleshoot it. So that is also going to be our future, keeping people involved in our industry.

“One of the things missing in all of the mechanical-type businesses is the ability to continue to bring new craftsmen in.

Our school systems have not been good at it. That’s really a concern. We are working in relationship with the government to get continued education passed for our HVAC industry, and from that, we will be able to expand a lot to help attract new people into the industry.”

No career or company follows an uninterrupted upward trajectory. R&E Supply is no exception, nor is the family behind it. Bill and Cory have had their share of trial and error and outright learning things the hard way, a vivid example of which was Cory’s first taste of executive leadership. The duo relish telling the story, as much for what it says about the character of the firm’s 70 employees.

“OK, so, back in 2017, I was getting ready to have a pretty major surgery, and so I thought, it’s time,” Bill said. “I just said, ‘Cory, here’s my office. You’re getting ready to run this thing.’

And that was basically his training.

“That was also six days before he went on a two-month long vacation,” Cory added. “The whole week prior to it, I was like hey, you gotta tell me what you do around here. ‘Yeah, yeah, we’ll get around to it.’ The next thing you know, he’s out.

“I’m in his office and I’m literally just looking in there like, OK, what do I need to do? There are people here that will tell you they saw me walk out of that office and just look around, dazed and confused, then turn around and go back in there.

There were five folders on my desk, and I’m like, ‘I don’t even know what to do with these folders.’

“So, when I say family business, you know, it’s not just me and Dad. It really is all of our employees. They taught me, showed me a little bit about what this was, where that goes, how to do it. Honestly, I was only able to do the trial by fire because our team is so good. It’s a family atmosphere here, and that’s the one thing I love about it the most.”

And as for Bill, upon his return?

“His words were, ‘Well, the building’s still standing and not burned down,’” Cory said before joining his father in a hearty laugh. “‘You did good.’”

The company has locations in Little Rock, Hot Springs, Russellville, Conway, Searcy, Pine Bluff and Fort Smith, and is on the brink expansion ARM O Nof E YA ND P O L I T I C Sthat .COMwill add 35 employees.

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AVIATION/ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

NEA LEADERS SAY REGIONAL AIRPORT WOULD SPUR GROWTH

BY KENNETH HEARD

An aerial view of the old Eaker Air Force Base in Blytheville. (Photos provided) ARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

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uilt in 1998, the Northwest Arkansas National Airport has seen more than 40,000 flights originate yearly from the twin-runway facility in Highfill.

Now, officials in northeast Arkansas want to replicate that success and create their own regional airport. The area has three airports that each had served as a military-flight training school in the 1940s. There’s also been some discussion about building a new airport between Jonesboro and Paragould.

It’s been talked over for years in the past, but this time, the concept could fly, leaders say.

State Sen. Jack Ladyman (R-Jonesboro) asked in a letter that the Federal Aviation Administration conduct an independent regional study to determine both the need and a suitable site for an airport.

“We feel that the economic growth and the growth in population in Northeast Arkansas is adequate to support an airport in this area,” Ladyman wrote in his July 9 letter to Glenn Bates, the FAA’s district manager in Arkansas and Oklahoma.

In the letter, Ladyman cites the collaboration and expansion of airports in McAllen, Brownsville and Harlington, in the southern tip of Texas.

“These areas have developed their economy and increased their population, allowing them to support a large regional airport,” Ladyman wrote. “A regional airport would have provided service to a broader market and more flight options than the three municipal airports.”

The former Eaker Air Force Base in Blytheville and airports in Walnut Ridge and Newport all feature runways long enough to handle commercial flights and large corporate aircraft. The Northwest Arkansas National Airport has two AUG UST 2021

8,800-foot long runways.

The Jonesboro Municipal Airport has also been included in discussions. But train tracks to the north and south, an industrial area to the west and residential areas on the eastern side, however, have basically landlocked the airport for any future expansion.

Paragould’s airport was briefly in the mix but it, too, is unable to grow because of highways and commercial development.

Mayors from the area have formed a caucus and meet monthly to talk over ideas of boosting the region.

“Obviously, regional growth would help us all,” Walnut Ridge Mayor Charles Snapp said. “The caucus creates unity.

Let’s all take advantage of what we have.”

Walnut Ridge’s airport seems to be the frontrunner in landing a regional facility.

Built in 1942 as a U.S. Army flight training school, the airport sits on the northern edge of the city near Williams Baptist University.

It features three runways, including one that is 6,000 feet long. The other two runways are 5,000 feet long. It has been slated as the go-to airport for C-130s and other large aircraft to land supplies in the event of any major natural disasters such as a devastating earthquake along the New Madrid Seismic Zone which cuts through northeast Arkansas.

“We all can’t land a Peco or an Emerson Electric or a Monroe,” Snapp said, referring to a poultry processing factory in Pocahontas and two large factories in Paragould.

“Walnut Ridge is in a unique place, though,” he added. “Walnut Ridge is growing fast, based upon the new residential areas. But we don’t have a large industrial base to create jobs to support our growth.”

Snapp said a regional airport would probably be more used by corporations rather than by commercial flight passengers. He added that such a facility could bring more industry to the area.

“Let’s take advantage of what we have,” he said.

If anyone could bring a regional airport to Walnut Ridge, it would be Snapp.

Locals had discussed annexing an uninAUGUST 2 02 1

B-17s housed at Walnut Ridge, 1945.

corporated area north of Walnut Ridge that included Williams Baptist into the city of 5,100 for decades. Snapp, who has been the mayor for six years, was successful in leading a movement to claim that area. In 2016, voters approved the annexation, and Walnut Ridge added more than 300 people to its population.

The airport in the Lawrence County town opened in August 1942 as the Walnut Ridge Army Flying School and more than 4,000 soldiers graduated classes that taught them to fly the Vultee BT-13, a basic World War II-era trainer aircraft.

When the war ended, the school was decommissioned on March 15, 1945, and served as a site for scrapping and storing aircraft. When the scrapping process was completed, the airport and about 1,800 acres of land were turned over to Walnut Ridge to be used as a public airport.

Newport’s airport has a similar history. Commissioned in November 1942, the airfield served as a U.S. Army training site for three years. At one point, more than 4,800 people lived on the base, doubling Newport’s population of 4,301 in the early 1940s.

The airfield was briefly used as a German prisoner of war camp and about 300 captured German soldiers lived there from the fall of 1945 until January 1946.

When the war ended, the facility was turned over to the city of Newport for use as a municipal airport and an industrial park.

Arkansas State University’s Newport campus uses part of the runways for its commercial truck-driving training classes.

“We definitely need a regional airport,” Newport Mayor David Stewart said. “Of course, I’m biased to our own airport, but I’m open to wherever it goes.

It will help the entire area. Jonesboro gets everything, but I don’t think their airport 68

can be converted into a regional one.

Ours can land about anything out here.

I’m proud of our airport.”

Like the other facilities, Blytheville’s airport was also activated in 1942 as a flight training school. The area was chosen because of its proximity to the Mississippi River where supplies could be shipped in.

It closed in 1946 and was converted to an air base in 1950 by the Strategic Air Command. In 1962, when officials discovered the Soviet Union was building nuclear missile silos in Cuba, the air command declared a DEFCON II defense readiness and two B52-G bombers were on alert at the Blytheville base to drop nuclear weaponry on Russia if retaliation was necessary.

The base, renamed the Eaker Air Force Base for Lt. General Ira C. Eaker, closed in 1992. Since then, Blytheville has promoted use of the airfield for various operations. The U.S. Postal Service used it as a hub for Christmas mail delivery, and the U.S. Coast Guard considered locating a training site there before it ended up selecting a South Carolina site.

Snapp said a regional airport would better serve industrial needs than commercial flights like at Highfill, located just outside Bentonville.

“I think the stars are lining up,” he said of the idea. “We are all on board with this idea. We’re getting all the links in the right place. If you don’t take advantage, you could lose a link in the chain, and then we’d all lose.

“Let’s take advantage of what we can all offer.”

The mayors meet monthly. Snapp said there’s no timeline yet on developing a regional airport, and officials are waiting for results of any Federal Aviation Administration’s feasibility studies.

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SMALL BUSINESS

MARKET, INNOVATION CENTER FUELING GROWTH IN PARAGOULD

T

he construction of a new farmers market in downtown Paragould will plant the seeds for economic growth, local leaders say. The addition of an innovation center and trial business facility on Pruett Street will help sow those seeds and retain residents in the Greene County town, they hope.

The city has hosted a farmers market on Emerson Street for the past three years but plans to create a pavilion for the market by the old Paragould electric plant, a two-story, 10,000-square foot building west of the Union Pacific railroad tracks along North Second Avenue.

The building, constructed in 1938, features arched windows and once served as a reminder of the city’s imposed curfew.

Each night, a city employee would go to the building at 10 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on Saturdays and blow a loud steam whistle to inform people of the hour.

It’s part of a section of downtown that’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“We want to tie the pavilion in with the historic architecture of the power plant,” said Paragould Regional Chamber of Commerce CEO and economic developer Allison Hestand.

The pavilion will include the signature arches and brick bulkheads of the 83-year-old building. The market first opened in the 100 block of Emerson Street and has drawn scores of people on Saturdays, said Paragould Mayor Josh Agee.

“We’ve seen products grown from farms at Stanford,” he said, referring to a small western Greene County town.

“We’ve had a city hall worker bring in eggs from his family farm. There are tomatoes, cucumbers and other produce.”

The market, which lost customers in 2020 due to the COVID-19 virus but is seeing an increase in visitors now, is also home to various other businesses, Halstead said.

The virus actually helped boost sales at the market in more than one way, Agee

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A rendering of the planned innovation center.

added.

“During the pandemic, a lot of people learned to bake bread at home,” he said.

“They did a lot of things like that. It’s that old saying, ‘You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.’ People realized how important getting together was.”

One person sells dog treats and dog collars at the market. Children sell cinnamon rolls there. Others have sold homemade bread, cookies and soaps.

“The market is the best example of an ecosystem working,” Hestand said.

“Small businesses can grow from it.

Paragould’s market is a draw for downtown events, Agee said. Recently, about 300 showed up one Saturday at the farmers’ market. Another 750 attended a downtown concert and festival that afternoon, and more than 2,000 showed up for an evening block party.

“Within 24 hours in a town of 30,000, we had 3,000 show up downtown,” Agee said. “We want people to come downtown, see what we have to offer and stay here.”

Work on the pavilion is expected to be completed by next spring.

The city will also convert four or five vacant storefronts into a downtown, multi-faceted innovation center, Hestand said. Instruction will be offered in robotics, screen printing, pottery, carpentry and creating podcasts, along with other trade skills.

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“If you have an idea, we want to give you what you need,” she said.

Private donations to the city will fund the purchase of store buildings, Agee said. Each building will be wired with fiber optics for high-speed internet.

One storefront will be converted into a mock business to allow potential business owners an opportunity to practice running a shop before sinking large amounts of capital into their own businesses. Paragould will also work with city schools to offer business and skills training for its students.

“We want to be a continuation of what the schools are doing,” said Agee, who was elected the town’s mayor last November, replacing longtime Mayor Mike Gaskill, who retired.

Both the new farmers’ market and the downtown innovation center in Paragould are incentives for more people in Paragould, Agee said.

“We’re firing on all cylinders now,” he said. “Downtown is a destination. We feel like these are helping create the betterment of our community.”

Hestand said she can envision schools holding vocational summer camps in the innovation centers. Anyone, regardless of age, can use the centers. “We want to be available for anyone from age eight to 80,” she said.

—Kenneth Heard AUG UST 2021

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AUG UST 2021

OUTDOORS

THE

RECKONING

By AMP Staff | Photos courtesy of AGFC

GAME AND FISH, CONSERVATION PARTNERS UNITE TO SAVE FLYWAY HARDWOODS AUGUST 2 02 1

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ike many lifelong duck hunters, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Chairman Bobby Martin got his start hunting just about every Wildlife Management Area or river bottom that would hold a duck in east Arkansas. Since age 9, Martin has chased his quarry on public land and these days, enjoys a slice of private green timber legacy at Greenbriar Hunting Club, one of the most historic and elegant in the entire Grand Prairie.

But for Martin, the passion goes much deeper than the hunt and lands on devotion to conserving waterfowl and their most critical habitat. A skill refined through years of stewarding one of Arkansas’ famed private greentree reservoirs.

Martin and AGFC Director Austin Booth have taken the helm of the state’s lead conservation agency at a pivotal time in the battle to save Arkansas’ storied bottomland hardwood forests. Martin is among the most outspoken THERE’S NO OTHER WAY TO of commissioners on the subject and when SAY IT: WE ARE CLEARLY IN he speaks about duck A SERIOUS FIGHT TO SAVE habitat, people listen.

And he’ll fervently tell ONE OF THE MOST VITAL you, there has never been a more dire time WILDLIFE HABITATS THAT for that than now.

WE HAVE. “There’s no other way to say it: We are clearly in a serious fight to save one of the most vital wildlife habitats that we have. And that is our bottomland hardwoods,” Martin said. “They’re very much critical and key to the migration and wintering of mallards and other duck species. And so much of it is already lost.”

Martin doesn’t stand alone in his resolve to wrangle this issue. Martin is quick to state every current and former commissioner stands along with staff as deeply committed to this issue and all continue to devote time, energy, influence and resources to ensure we do all that we can to preserve Arkansas’s green timber legacy.

Arkansas’ outdoor amenities are not only a collection of natural jewels unlike any to be had in the United States, they are marketable commodities. And market them we have. Arkansas Money & Politics reported in February that outdoor recreation accounts for roughly 96,000 direct jobs, $9.7 billion in consumer spending, $2.5 billion in wages and salaries, and $698 million in state and local tax revenue. HuntBayou Meto ing and fishing alone generate an WMA in Arkansas County. economic impact of more than $1.6 billion annually.

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Wherever you are in the state, you’re never far from good duck hunting.

Heck, even the worst duck hunting in Arkansas is better than the best fowling in some states.”

The choicest cut of this prime resource lies in a north-south band of the state’s eastern shore, parallel to the Mississippi River. This stretch lies under the esteemed Mississippi Flyway, the largest of four migratory routes for birds in North America.

According to Audubon.com, more than 325 bird species make the round trip each year, including millions of ducks that take off from Canadian and northern U.S. breeding grounds

and haul south to ride out the winter.

Arkansas provides a prime winter resort for greenheads, given the state’s traditional preponderance of woodlands, ample water and since 1904, rice cultivation that combine to form the ideal habitat for migrating waterfowl. Before civilization reached east Arkansas, the landscape was blanketed by thick oaken forests skirting the natural Grand Prairie.

In her wisdom, Mother Nature wrought seasonal flooding among the trees at a depth that allowed ducks to paddle and feed (dabble), gorging themselves on fallen acorns and other grub at the bottom.

Over time, settlement and agricultural interests would eat up huge segments of the hardwoods and initiate steps to

Waterfowl hunting is a pillar of outdoor tourism in Arkansas. From its epicenter in Stuttgart, where duck season famously brings in over $1 million a day per the local chamber of commerce, duck hunting grounds radiate to nearly every region of the state. As Joel Shead gushed for Realtree. com, “Going duck hunting in Arkansas borders on going to heaven.”

He writes, “Although Stuttgart might be one of the top destinations in duckdom, it might be harder to pick places that aren’t good duck hunting locales in the Natural State.

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tap rivers for irrigation and control flooding. According to data supplied by Garrick Dugger, assistant chief of the AGFC wildlife management division, bottomland hardwood forest that once covered 8.5 million acres was down to 2.4 million acres in 2016. While still a sizable number, the overall acres tell only part of the story.

A few decades after its inception, the AGFC began accumulating land that it would set aside for public sporting use. The first of these wildlife management areas was Bayou Meto in Arkansas County, which was acquired in 1948. Today, more than 100 other areas have been similarly protected, including duck-rich Dagmar (Monroe County), Hurricane Lake (White County), Big Lake (Mississippi County), and Black River (Clay, Greene, and Randolph counties). Additionally, private landowners and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service played and continue to play a major role in forested land protection that benefits waterfowl.

Ducks still return to these places just as generations before have done, as do the hunters in the footsteps of their forefathers. But as Martin points out, they’re doing so in increasingly fragile ecosystems, especially bottomland hardwood forests.

Greentree reservoirs - GTR - are tracts of bottomland hardwood forest equipped with levee systems and water-control structures that make up a large portion of the scattered blocks of remaining bottomland hardwood forest in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley,” he said. “These GTRs allow land managers to artificially mimic the natural flooding patterns of traditional bottomland hardwood forest and are primarily cultivated for duck hunting and are a crucial component for wintering mallards, other duck species, and numerous other wildlife.”

Over time, AGFC built a system of infrastructure in WMAs to emulate the natural ebb and flow of bygone seasonal flooding. The problem with these structures is that they have stood still while understanding of the science behind tree health has marched on.

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As Dugger noted, decades of misaligned water and tree cycles — getting water on too early, too deep, or leaving on too long — has degraded forest health at the cost of optimal species, which are replaced by trees not as well-suited for duck habitat.

“It’s not just that trees are dying, although they are. Trees are falling over, and we are losing large stands where we have persistent water issues,” he said. “But with that, we’re also seeing a major shift in the composition of our bottom-

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DECADES OF MISALIGNED WATER AND TREE CYCLES — GETTING WATER ON TOO EARLY, TOO DEEP, OR LEAVING ON TOO LONG — HAS DEGRADED FOREST HEALTH AT THE COST OF OPTIMAL SPECIES. A stand of bottomland hardwood forest in a Game and Fish WMA that has died due to water conditions.

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tree is equal in the sight of a duck.”

Arresting these trends is an expensive and time-consuming proposition for AGFC, but Dugger said it’s one that is upon us. Fortunately, the agency finds itself with the right staff and an invigorated leadership team in Booth and Martin. The agency is focused on building support and momentum for a sustained multi-year effort to raise the necessary resources to rehabilitate the forests in several of the state’s hardest hit WMAs. After years of scientific research, AGFC has created plans by which infrastructure will be amended to better move water to maintain quantity and depth in sync with the growth/ dormant seasons. Reforestation with desirable tree species will also occur, followed by management to help ensure overall forest health.

“Our focus, when we designed all 40-plus

land hardwood forest. We’re going from red oaks, Nuttalls, and willows that are falling out and being replaced by more water-tolerant species like green ash and overcup oak.”

Why this matters is twofold: One, the acorns produced by trees that can tolerate prolonged flooding are generally too big for the ducks to get down their gullets and, therefore, not a suitable food source. And two, the proliferation of the less desirable trees creates the illusion of healthy forests, which complicates public awareness efforts.

“Most people don’t care as long as there’s a tree to hunt by, but from a duck’s perspective, there’s a huge difference,” Dugger said. “What we see as the forest composition shifts to watertolerant species is there’s less food available for wildlife, particularly waterfowl. Not every oak ARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

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OUTDOORS

“We’re shifting our focus where we’re going to design infrastructure to move water April through November, in a way that maximizes water flow in the growing season. Holding water is easy; it’s going to cost us some money and modifications to get the right depth at the right time.”

Given the scope of the project — Dugger estimates Bayou Meto alone is a multi-year proposition despite being just one of the WMAs needing rehab — the question of funding becomes a primary concern. Ducks Unlimited and the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation have partnered in the initial funding effort, helping to solicit private and corporate contributions and then using those funds to secure matching federal dollars through the North American Wetlands Conservation Act. “We’ve been able to match our dollars 10 to 1,” said Corey Dunn, Ducks Unlimited’s Arkansas director of development. “For every $100,000 DU puts in with the help of our private donors, we get $1 million in NAWCA dollars, and we’ve done that five times. That alone offsets the cost of this project by $5.5 million.” But there is a lot of work yet to be done, and this match will meet its limitations before the larger network of GTR renovations is complete.

AGFC has embarked on an initiative to elevate the condition of GTRs and the magnitude of the effort to state lawmakers, community leaders, and business professionals through guided GTR tours. Among the former commissioners who have joined the call is George Dunklin. Dunklin, whose name is enshrined with Bayou Meto WMA, is a passionate conservationist, lifetime duck hunter, and successful farmer and eco-entrepreneur.

He’s been involved with the business of duck habitat for decades both privately and publicly as a former AGFC commissioner.

“The goal of the AGFC GTR tours is to show influencers the poor health of the woods so they could see it firsthand,” he said. “They get to listen to the scientists and GTR managers who describe exactly what is happening and why. They

Lizzy Couch of Little Rock enjoying the whistling wings of mallards in the Grand Prairie.

Arkansas provides a prime winter resort for greenheads, given the state’s ample woodlands, water and rice cultivation.

GTRs, over 50,000 acres worth of this habitat, was holding water for waterfowl and for waterfowl hunting,” he said.

“What we’re seeing 50 years later is something that we’ve learned, not something we did on purpose. By holding water early for waterfowl hunting, based on waterfowl season dates, it’s caused stress on our trees.

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AGFC has embarked on an initiative to elevate the condition of GTRs through guided tours.

But the work of conserving our wildlife and wild places is never done. As we balance recreational use with sustaining the resource, each generation is met with new challenges.

Working together to invest in Arkansas’ green timber legacy will certainly be one of the greatest challenges this generation of conservationists and the AGFC has encountered.”

The current commission includes Martin, vice chairman Bennie Westphal of Fort Smith, Stan Jones of Walnut Ridge, John David Neeley of Camden, Anne Marie Doramus of Little Rock, Rob Finley of Mountain Home and Philip Tappan of Little Rock. Martin believes it may soon be faced with taking action on a set of difficult decisions in order to have the chance to save and restore this vital habitat for the future.

“But it is our collective responsibility to effectively respond in support for all generations,” he said.

get to see it and touch it. They’re able to see the trees that are leaning because the soil has been saturated for so long they are starting to lose their ability to stand straight, and that will eventually fall and die.”

The agency recognizes a stiffer challenge is taking the message to the masses, particularly among citizens who are not hunters and enjoy other outdoor recreation or who have moved here from other places. Arkansans must understand that the issue is one that affects everyone, not just those who hunt.

Martin insists that preserving the remaining bottomland hardwood and GTRs is pivotal to the economy, outdoor recreation and is an ecological necessity.

“The early settlers of Arkansas just about wiped out everything that made the Natural State,” he said. “Yet through generations of private landowners, legislators and conservationists, we’ve been able to bring back a lot of what we lost.

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DIGS OF THE DEAL

Crystal Ridge Distillery occupies the old Stearns warehouse in Hot Springs.

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CRYSTAL RIDGE DISTILLERY EMBODIES THE HISTORY OF HOT SPRINGS

By Katie Zakrzewski | Photography by Jamison Mosley

“Of the high school kids that were graduating, the best and brightest were going to college and never returning because they were going to bigger cities with better jobs,” Bradley said. “I started developing a desire to change the community and make it better by creating more jobs here. I got the opportunity to go back to school and get a Ph.D., and I worked with an animal health company, one of the top five in the world.”

This company’s products were made with natural solutions such as essential oils, and lots of the products were derivatives of yeast, Bradley said. He began learning about yeast and fermentation in North America as he traveled, touring distilleries as he went.

But Bradley still wanted to create jobs in Hot Springs. That was when he realized that the solution was right in front of him — Hot Springs was a great place for a distillery.

“We started looking for a building and discovered our current location,” Bradley said. The 17,000-square-foot location was perfect for the production of one of the city’s oldest exports in a way that paid homage to the history of Hot Springs.

“Hot Springs has a history ripe with gangsters, prostitution, smuggling and gambling. But all of the illegal activities can trace their ties back to moonshining, especially during the prohibition days when alcohol was bought here and sourced nationally,” Bradley said.

very city in Arkansas has a unique story to tell, but it’s hard to beat the legends of notorious mobsters and alcohol smuggling that swirl over the city of Hot Springs.

Hot Springs was considered the unofficial moonshining capital of the country in the early 20th century’s Prohibition Era. The city’s heavy hand in moonshining, gambling and a host of other activities led to notorious crime leaders calling the city their home away from home if not their base of operations.

One spot in particular that played an important role in the city’s landscape is Crystal Ridge Distillery, or more accurately, the business that now inhabits the building formerly owned by F.C. Stearns as a warehouse for his hardware, feed and furniture stores. The building, constructed between 1910 and 1920, was on the outskirts of town at the time of its construction. And, most importantly, it was the closest building to the railroad tracks.

Danny Bradley, who co-owns Crystal Ridge Distillery with his wife, Mary, explained that sometimes, fate lets things fall in the hands of the people who are best equipped for the challenge. In 2004, he was working as a school teacher in the Hot Springs area when he started to realize a pattern in his students.

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A vast majority of the city’s law enforcement officers knew about the illegal activities in Hot Springs but turned a blind eye to them as long as the activities weren’t violent, as crime made up nearly all of the city’s income.

David Hall touched on these infamous activities in his book The Vapors: “Hot Springs had enjoyed wide-open casino gambling in one form or another since 1870, despite the fact that gambling was then and had always been illegal in Arkansas, as it was in every state in America except Nevada… But in Hot Springs, gambling clubs like the Vapors were open to the public and on full display, the criminal activity inside of them advertised on bright marquees and in newspaper and radio advertisements across the county,” he wrote.

Criminals like Sam Giancana, Vito Genovese and Alvin “Creepy” Karpis all made themselves at home in their unofficial hideout — the city of Hot Springs. Al Capone even frequented Hot Springs to soothe his syphilis with the city’s healing waters. But during one trip, Capone made an observation.

“Gangsters like Al Capone came here frequently; it was one of his favorite destinations,” Bradley said. “One of the reasons he was coming here was because Hot Springs was very well known for producing some of the best moonshine in the country. That was the industry that a lot of locals were in.”

Just north of town, in the early 1920s, Capone purchased Belvedere Dairy which became his new moonshine distillery. Capone would disguise the moonshine as spring water in glass bottles before packing them in the water coolers.

Capone’s men across the country could tell when they’d received a shipment of moonshine, because the labels on the disguised bottles were upside down.

But Capone needed a way to transport his bottles to Chicago, Atlanta, New York, St. Louis and his other hubs around the country. He decided that the railroad at the edge of town was the most convenient way. And the building closest to the railroad at that time was F.C. Stearns’s warehouse — the building Crystal Ridge Distillery occupies today.

“F.C. Stearns was a big businessman in Hot Springs, and his businesses were primarily hardware stores, feed stores and fur-

Owners Mary and Danny Bradley want to show off the history of Hot Springs and showcase its future.

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niture stores. Our building was the warehouse for that,” Bradley explained. “Out on the east side of the building were the old original railroad tracks. Everything would be unloaded into our building. The ingredients for alcohol are grain and water, so Hot Springs was a prime location for water, but not grain. A lot of the grain that was going into making moonshine came in on the railroad cars and passed through our building. Grain was coming into here, and this was the most logical site for people, especially Al Capone, to load moonshine onto the railroad.”

When the Bradleys were renovating the building, they found dozens of glass bottles packed underneath the floorboards, silently pointing to the same conclusion.

“WE WERE FIVE DAYS OLD AS A BUSINESS, AND WE’RE ALREADY FACING THE UNCERTAINTY OF WHAT THE PANDEMIC WAS GOING TO DO.” As with all markets, the pandemic has impacted Bradley’s business plans along the way. But this discovery gave him an opportunity to focus on his main goal of helping the community.

“We went through the build out, and our grand opening was March 14 of 2020.

We shut down five days later because of the pandemic. We were five days old as a business, and we’re already facing the uncertainty of what the pandemic was going to do,” Bradley said.

Fortunately, opportunity knocked once more.

“Mary had read an article about how distilleries had started making hand sanitizer. My wife still works managing human clinical trials for medicinal and pharmaceutical companies. She is very versed in government regulatory processes and began to

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research the process of making hand sanitizer in terms of legality,” Bradley explained. “By April 1, we had sold our first bottle of hand sanitizer. Our business plan was blown out of the water, because we wanted to be a tourist attraction as a distillery and wanted to have a family tourist attraction that was

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DIGS OF THE DEAL

The Bradleys want to grow Crystal Ridge into a true tourist attraction for Hot Springs.

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intermingled with a distillery. Our only option available then was the hand sanitizer...making the sanitizer was a lot more important than just self preservation, because we were preserving our community. That is what I originally wanted to do.

We were making a difference in helping people stay healthy.”

Bradley’s community-oriented mindset ended up leading to greater success than he’d originally anticipated.

“We were selling hand sanitizer out of our back door because the business area was closed off. We had a stand set up and were selling out of that, and more and more people would buy a bottle

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of ‘moonshine’ with their hand sanitizer. And we stayed doing that until mid-June. The initial rush to have the sanitizer was dwindling, so we pivoted and started to reach out to public schools.

We were supporting 80 school districts and eight universities with sanitizer so that they could stay open by the end of 2020. The value of that was way more than the dollar.”

The timing was great, too, Bradley said — he was able to resume the distillery business just as the tourist season picked up.

“At the same time that we opened our business back up and allowed people to come in, the tourism in Hot Springs started picking up. We started

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having travelers come in. Last year as we transitioned back to our original business model, we did surprisingly well. Of course, every industry and every business suffered last year, and we were no different. But we were able to transition and help our community, the state of Arkansas and the public school system. We persevered as a business and made it.”

Pivoting back to the original business model as a distillery and tourist destination has helped lay a foundation for the future.

“We have worked with representatives here in the state to get the law changed so that Arkansas craft distilleries can self distribute. We can put our product on the shelf at retailers across the state that aren’t in dry counties. We can start selling our product and supply the demand outside of our business,” Bradley said.

Today, Crystal Ridge Distillery produces 16 different flavors of “moonshine” and two unflavored versions as well as other liquors. Bradley is also experimenting with a canned cocktail line and vodka sodas, so that customers can enjoy them while fishing on the lake as a more environmentally-friendly substitute to glass. The flavors he’s tweaking right now are blueberry, raspberry and orange creme. He said more flavors are in development for this fall.

Bradley has also invested heavily in the tourism aspect of his building.

“In our research of moonshine across the U.S., we found that in the 18th and 19th centuries, a whiskey still was considered to be farm equipment because it was too labor-intensive to load all the grain that you make over the course of the year into a wagon to ship out. Almost all farmhouses back in those days had a whiskey still,” Bradley explained. “We designed our interior to look like an old farmhouse. We have faux barns in here as well as old decorations on the wall. Our interior design is what you would have seen at these locations where stills were making moonshine years ago. Our moonshine still is a replica of a west Garland County still from 1850 that spent six generations in business. We employ a lot of old school techniques but with modern technology. Our still has modern technology in it. I can check the temperature of the still from my phone at home, but it looks like it did in 1850.”

Bradley not only is also working towards his goal of bringing more tourists to town but also trying to motivate young people to stay.

“Ninety percent of the time, our average customers are out-oftowners. We’re reaching the tourists that are coming here, and they’re enjoying the product. It comes with its challenges, like supply chain and product shipment, but the future is extremely bright.”

Crystal Ridge Distillery hosts events year-round and remains a family friendly environment, because Bradley believes that the history of the city and his building should be enjoyed by people of all ages.

“I have always wanted to make a difference in this city to impact the community for good,” Bradley said. “I just had to go back to our roots.”

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Arkansas is known as a state that knows how to do business. Whether the subject is Fortune 500 mainstays or hometown businesses that fuel local economies, Arkansas is pro-business.

In this month’s issue, Arkansas Money & Politics introduces a new special sales section recognizing some of the state’s most distinguished businesses.

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OF ATLAS COMPANIES AUTO AUCTION

DISTINCTION as good as the people you have working for you,”

Despite only owning Atlas Auto Auction since December of 2019, owner and founder Matt Lovelis said that he has learned a lot in a short period of time and is using that information for the betterment of all of his customers.

Little Rock’s Atlas Auto Auction provides an avenue for automotive dealers to sell their products to other dealers through a weekly auction.

“Dealers are able to buy and sell cars with us all in a single sitting,” Lovelis said. “We have an auction, and we run cars through six different lanes. It keeps the dealers busy.”

Lovelis said his company stands out because of its attention to detail and supreme customer service. “We care about our customers, no matter how big or small,” he affirmed.

Lovelis credits determination and a dash of luck to his company’s prosperity in just a year and a half since its opening. This determination allowed Lovelis to make it through the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.

Atlas Auto Auction had its fair share of challenges, from limiting the number of dealers in the building during auctions to firmly enforcing its mask policy.

Fortunately, the creativity and determination of Lovelis and his staff helped the company continue. As Lovelis’ competitors closed, his customer base grew. He credits everyone for helping his company succeed.

“I’m a strong believer in the saying that you’re only

Lovelis said.

When asked if it’s harder to stay on top than it is to launch, Lovelis argued that both are difficult, but for different reasons.

“It’s hard to launch due to the fears that one may have, and it’s hard to step out into the water and trust what you believe in. But if you have a good plan and you believe in it, you can make anything work,” he said.

“As far as staying on top, customer service and taking care of your clients is the number one priority, and it’s the thing that I take pride in, as well as being fair. These things keep you at the top.”

Humility keeps Lovelis level headed and grounded; he doesn’t consider himself better than anyone else — just a person who is driven and dedicated in life and business. One of his proudest attributes is his loyalty to both his customers and his vendors, boasting that he “does business with the people who do business with me.”

As someone who has been in the automotive industry since he was 22, Lovelis offers some words of advice to young entrepreneurs.

“If you don’t love what you do, you’re not going to be successful at it. Anything that’s worth doing can be done if you’re determined and resilient. You will have some hard times. You will get knocked down but get back up.”

Little Rock • 501.904.9988

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DISTINCTION THE BRIDGEWAY In 1983, health care pioneers Stuart Harris, MD, and Joe Backus, MD, recognized a need for better mental health care in Arkansas. So, they partnered with Universal Health Services to open the first private freestanding psychiatric hospital in the state.

Almost 40 years later, The BridgeWay is one of the most prominent and respected health care facilities in Arkansas of its kind.

We are known for providing quality care and strong patient outcomes through an empathetic approach,” said Bruce Trimble, MA, APR, Director of Business Development. “We have been successful because we have continued to respond to the needs of the community.”

Located in North Little Rock, The BridgeWay serves people from every county in Arkansas.

“We offer a continuum of care for children and adolescents, as well as adults of all ages,” Trimble said. “For children ages 4 through 12, we provide acute care for behavioral issues. For adolescents ages 13 through 17, we offer acute care and residential treatment for behavioral problems. For both groups, treatment includes on-site education certified by the Arkansas Department of Education. In terms of mental health, we serve adults, 18 and older, with acute care for severe mental illness or mood disorders.”

Trimble said, “Where substance use disorder or dual diagnosis are concerned, the hospital offers acute care with medical detoxification and acute rehabilitation. Electroconvulsive therapy is a treatment option for adults, either on an inpatient or outpatient basis. Also, The BridgeWay offers partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient treatment for mental health issues or substance use disorders for adults.”

The BridgeWay was proactive when COVID-19 hit last year, and it remains adaptable as the pandemic lingers.

“No matter the year, our number one priority at The BridgeWay is providing a safe environment for patients, employees and visitors,” Trimble said. “With that in mind, there are numerous areas that we monitor. With the onset of COVID-19, we developed and made multiple revisions to our protocols as guided by the CDC and our state Department of Health to provide care and maintain safety for all.”

During COVID, The BridgeWay deployed screening protocols for employees and patients; established a single point of entry for all staff, patients and visitors; temporarily converted a 14-bed unit into a negative pressure unit where safer isolation protocols could be initiated; and adjusted visitation to ensure precautions were effective.

“Because the pandemic is ongoing, we continuously adapt our protocols to provide a safe environment for all,” Trimble added.

As it did with many companies, the pandemic did have an impact on The BridgeWay’s business model “Initially, the pandemic precluded some people from seeking help, but it was primarily the elderly population,” Trimble noted. “As a result, we saw more adults with substance use disorders while we experienced a decrease in referrals from nursing homes and assisted living centers. Based upon these trends, we suspended our senior care program operations and in June expanded our substance abuse continuum of care by adding an acute rehabilitation program and expanded our telehealth offerings.”

But The BridgeWay team rose to the challenge.

“The best thing about The BridgeWay is our employees, as they are our greatest asset,” Trimble said. “Without them, we could not touch as many lives as we have.”

North Little Rock • 501.771.1500 • thebridgeway.com

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BANK OF AMERICA Russellville native Heather Albright was named president of Bank of America’s Arkansas operations earlier this year, becoming one of the state’s prominent banking leaders.

And it’s only fitting. After all, women make up 50 percent of Bank of America’s global workforce, more than 40 percent of its managers and 35 percent of its board of directors.

“Our senior leaders are driving and deploying the bank’s resources to address local social concerns to create economic opportunity and mobility, as well as build strong communities,” Albright said. “We also are committed to supporting the health, safety and engagement of our associates.”

With 19 financial centers across the state, including five affiliated Merrill Lynch offices in Little Rock, Fort Smith, Hot Springs, Jonesboro and Rogers, Bank of America is committed to Arkansas.

“We’re a global financial institution yet we meet client needs at a local level — the best of both worlds,” Albright said. “We are enormously proud of our $1.25 billion, five-year commitment to help local communities address economic and racial inequality accelerated by the global pandemic. As part of that commitment, we have made equity investments in several minority depository institutions (MDIs) and community development financial institution (CDFI) banks across the country, including Southern Bancorp, here in Arkansas.”

Bank of America has 290 employees in Arkansas, and Albright is proud of their collective commitment to better their communities and help Arkansans navigate the challenges of the past year.

“From a community perspective, we are proud to partner with several local nonprofits responding to added demands for services including health care, childcare, education and job training and housing, among others,” she said. “We also know that many Arkansans have felt stress in their financial lives as a result of the pandemic, and we have focused on providing financial guidance to help families recalibrate their budget, understand government relief resources, plan for a safety net and more practical tips.”

Helping Arkansans achieve their personal and business goals is what drives Bank of America Arkansas.

“We strive to connect everything our company offers to our clients’ personal and financial goals by providing tailored solutions to fit their needs,” Albright said. “We’re a global company operating locally by personally helping our customers, clients and communities thrive. We are helping Arkansas’ small businesses grow by extending more than $180 million in credit and have helped Arkansas homeowners by providing $110 million in home loans in the last 12 months.”

Bank of America employees and their commitment to customers have made Albright’s transition to Arkansas president an easy one.

“Our talented and knowledgeable team enables us to deliver our capabilities for the benefit of our customers and clients across Arkansas,” she said. “In every situation, we’re committed to growing responsibly and sustainably ensuring everything we do aligns to our purpose of helping people live better financial lives.”

bankofamerica.com

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COMPANIES OF

DISTINCTION ELDER INDEPENDENCE HOME CARE Owner Kim Clatworthy brought a hospitality background to her new business when she purchased Elder Independence Home Care in 2014.

Raised in Hot Springs, where her family owned and operated a lake resort, she uses the same “never met a stranger” approach to providing quality, non-medical home care service throughout Central Arkansas.

“From doctors to health resource programs, our familiarity with the community allows us to better serve our clients with transportation, companionship, conversation and many other solutions,” Clatworthy said. “We know that helping a loved one remain in their home can ensure they maintain that much-needed independence and comfort. We collaborate with clients and families to come up with solutions that make sense for their unique situation.”

Clatworthy noted that it’s important to not only look at the “right now” but also look at the bigger picture so plans can be put in place for the possible issues that may arise in the future.

“Giving them that peace of mind is so rewarding,” she said.

Joining her on the EIHC leadership team are Feather Parrish, operations coordinator; Michelle Whitfield, team development coordinator; Tonda Gresham, R.N., director of care; Ginni Bracy, office coordinator; and Inde, office mascot.

EIHC’s services include personal care, companionship, light housekeeping, meal preparation and medication services such as medication reminders and prescription pickup.

Clatworthy and her team were ready when COVID hit and continue to stay a step ahead of the lingering pandemic.

“We have taken proactive steps to provide specific COVID training on topics such as hand hygiene and the use of personal protective equipment such as facemasks, gloves, gowns and eye protection,” she said. “In addition to these protocols, our clients and care providers are being carefully documented and tracked by our full-time registered nurse. Through our mobile technology, our professional care provider staff are being asked specific health screening questions prior to clocking in for each shift to assure they are ‘fit for work.’

“At the end of each shift, caregivers are asked to respond to similar health screening questions about their particular client. Based on how these questions are answered, appropriate immediate action is taken to ensure the ongoing safety of our care providers and clients.”

Clatworthy is glad she chose to chase her dream through EIHC. She advises anyone doing the same to find someone who is successful and ask him or her to be a mentor. Meanwhile, she and her team plan to continue providing quality home care where it’s needed most.

“Our highest priority at Elder Independence Home Care is the health and safety of our clients and care providers as we work to keep our most vulnerable population safe and allow them to age in place where ever they call home,” she said.

501.847.6102 • elderindependence.com

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COMPANIES OF CARELINK

DISTINCTION Mattingly credited support from community partners and

The secret to CareLink’s success, according to president and CEO Luke Mattingly, is the true passion its employees have for serving older people and making a difference in their lives.

CareLink’s mission indeed represents a labor of love. The North Little Rock nonprofit provides a host of services to Central Arkansas residents aged 60 and older. Those services include information and assistance, in-home care, Meals on Wheels , telephone reassurance, Medicare counseling, family caregiver support, non-emergency medical transportation, senior transportation, wellness and fitness, care coordination and advocacy.

Everything CareLink does is centered around the needs of older Arkansans and its ability to meet those needs.

“Teamwork and adaptability bring our various departments and leaders together to implement changes and new programs to serve seniors where they are in life,” Mattingly said.

COVID greatly impacted CareLink and organizations like it that rely on personal interaction. But that didn’t stop it from meeting its mission.

“Prior to COVID reaching Arkansas, our senior leadership team began looking at possible adjustments that would need to be made,” Mattingly said. “Within days of the first confirmed case in the state, we converted our meals program from hot meals to frozen and began purchasing personal protective equipment for all staff entering homes and purchased the technology needed to send office staff home. Because of these changes and our advanced preparations, we were able to keep services in place and have even been able to serve new people in need of services.”

friends of the agency in helping it navigate a turbulent year.

“When providing vital services that require face-to-face interaction and going inside someone’s home, especially a vulnerable group, you must be very conscious of the changes you’re making to ensure you’re keeping the person receiving care safe, as well as not hindering the quality of care they’re receiving,” he said. “It took a lot of thought and teamwork, but we are proud of how everyone has continued to come together.”

Mattingly notes that CareLink is unique among its competition in that it is local and nonprofit.

“Once you have built something, outsiders think, ‘I can do that.’ So, competition increases over time, and you have to maintain your edge and not get complacent,” he said.

“Continuing to sustain a high level of passion after you have succeeded in what you set out to do in the beginning can be challenging, which can lead to distraction and open the door to competition taking part of your market share.

Be passionate, be prepared to work harder than you ever anticipated and treat every customer with respect and care.”

Plus, it never hurts to hire or partner with a fantastic accountant and listen to his or her advice, he noted. Success boils down to a good team.

“The best thing about CareLink is our employee team, board of directors and the people we serve,” Mattingly said.

“Pandemic or no pandemic, we are constantly working together and within the community to ensure we are getting quality services and care to the older people in need and their family caregivers. We are a business, but we are in the business of people, and our hard work is for them and their quality of life.”

Little Rock • 501.372.5300 • carelink.org

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COMPANIES OF

DISTINCTION C.R. CRAWFORD CONSTRUCTION C.R. Crawford Construction, headquartered in Fayetteville, has grown to be the state’s third largest commercial construction company and established itself as a distinct leader in the commercial construction industry.

The company serves clients not only in Arkansas but across the United States, and offers expertise in project planning, construction management, general contracting and design-build. Founded in 2006, C.R. Crawford is known for its preconstruction services and ability to successfully execute an aggressive project schedule. The company has experience in myriad industries from banking and finance, K-12 and higher education, to office, retail and more.

However, with specialized experience in health care, industrial and multifamily — the industries that are driving construction activity in Northwest Arkansas and across the state — C.R. Crawford has played a significant role in transforming the area’s landscape.

Highlands Oncology Group’s building, located just off Interstate 49 in Springdale; the Simmons Foods processing plant in Gentry; and The Marshall, a student housing complex located across from the University of Arkansas, all are projects the company has recently completed and serve as shining testaments to C.R. Crawford’s expertise.

The Highlands Oncology Group building received multiple design and construction awards including the Construction & Developers “Skyline Award,” presented by Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce. This award, given to the project’s design and construction team, highlights a project that is visually

significant and was constructed with the highest quality.

Additionally, C.R. Crawford was awarded the prestigious 2021 Excellence in Construction award, presented by Associated Builders & Contractors of Arkansas, for construction of the highly advanced treatment center.

The company has also earned a coveted spot on Engineering News-Record’s Top 400 Contractors list. ENR is an independent, well-respected news and rating source for the construction industry. The Top 400 Contractors list ranks the 400 largest U.S.-based general contractors.

Company owners Cody Crawford, Jason Keathley and Scott Stokenbury enjoy seeing C.R. Crawford receive awards and recognition.

“It’s a positive reflection of the hard work, planning and excellence that everyone in the company puts forth each and every day,” Crawford, president and CEO, said. “We are committed to staying focused on client needs and developing lasting relationships. So, having satisfied clients who keep coming back — that’s the recognition we like best.”

Crawford points to the company’s “financial stability, eagerness to work hard and a fresh approach to providing solutions to client needs,” as the secret to C.R. Crawford’s industry success and continued growth.

“I’m pleased with how the company has expanded,” he said.

“And we are positioned to keep growing. We keep our foot on the gas – we always operate at a high level and look out for our clients. When you do that, people notice. Clients want a company who will hustle for them, and that’s us.”

Fayetteville • 479.251.1161 • crcrawford.com

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OF NETWORKCOMPANIES SERVICES GROUP DISTINCTION

Network Services Group president Ryan Flynn believes his company stands apart from the competition because it understands one important thing.

“To provide the most value for our clients, we must create a true partnership,” he said. “Our team cares about our clients and puts their success first.”

Founded in North Little Rock in 1989 as a telecommunications consulting firm, Network Services now provides Managed IT Support, VoIP and Digital Telephone Systems to banks, medical firms, lawyers, staffing agencies, manufactures, car dealerships and service companies across the state. And it’s grown to include offices in Fayetteville and Lake Village.

When COVID-19 hit, Network Services had to find its path through a challenging environment.

“We, like most companies, moved to primarily working remotely,” Flynn said.

“Our team did a great job. Also, our Devops team created a secure tool for clients we named Ticketsend Remote to allow our clients to easily work from home.

But he said the loss of efficiencies was difficult at first.

“It’s amazing the amount of information shared in an office setting. We had to better utilize technology to share information and assist our clients,” Flynn noted.

“We have evolved many times since 1989. Paying attention to technology and trends has been a key for us. Most importantly, we have been willing to change not only how we do things, but also what we are offering to assist our clients.”

The best thing about his company?

“The people at Network Services Group are the best thing. We have 65 employees who work together and spend time together. It is truly a family atmosphere.”

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North Little Rock • 501.758.6058 • nsgdv.com

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COMPANIES OF

DOW JANITORIAL DISTINCTION SERVICES From the very founding of his commercial janitorial services firm in 1985, Dow Worsham knew there were two routes he could take. He could take the easy way and simply offer the cheapest service, for which there was probably more shortterm gain to be had. Or, he could focus on quality, which represented the hard way but likely offered more long-term gain.

Fortunately for customers of DOW Building Services, Worsham chose the latter.

“I chose quality. I only wanted the best, and through that approach, we became the largest,” he said. “I have many customers that we’ve had for 10, 20, even 30 years now.”

For Worsham, success over such a long period boils down to a few things, starting with, “Your word is your bond.”

Worsham believes business owners must stay focused and be passionate about what they’re doing. Because customers can tell if you’re not, he said.

“We have a great reputation in our industry, and I’m very proud of that. I’m fortunate to have a strong team of people working with us who have dedicated many years to DOW.” Dow Janitorial Services stands out in its field because of quality, consistency and integrity, Worsham said.

Now in business for more than 35 years, DOW has branched out from its North Little Rock base with locations in Hot Springs, Jonesboro, Mountain Home and Springdale.

The secret to DOW’s success? It’s easy, Worsham said: Hire quality people, supervise their work and develop relationships with customers through communication.

1.800.791.2902 • dowservices.com ARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

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COMPANIES OF FIRST ORION DISTINCTION

Founded in Little Rock in 2008 by Charles Morgan and Jeff Stalnaker, First Orion is a global provider of digital call experiences for the world’s leading carriers, enterprises and mobile apps.

The First Orion Call Protection Suite provides scam, fraud and spoof protection solutions to hundreds of millions of consumers. The company’s Branded Calling Suite, INFORM® and ENGAGE®, allow companies to brand their calls, displaying the “who” and “why” behind the call to engage in more meaningful connections with customers.

In addition, First Orion solutions are STIR/SHAKEN ready and compliant, allowing consumers to trust their connection. First Orion powers digital call experiences for T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile, Boost Mobile, Sky, along with Fortune 500 brands, PrivacyStar® and other mobile apps.

First Orion prides itself on creating world-class solutions backed by data. Its data team has more than 400 years of experience combined; their discoveries help build and shape all of First Orion’s future products and solutions. First Orion’s culture cornerstone, “People First,” permeates everything it does.

COVID presented many challenges to business in general, but it was a big year for the phone. When physical locations shut down, often the only way to establish a personal connection with customers was through a call. First Orion was able to offer its branded call solutions to businesses looking to connect with their customers at a time when face-to-face interaction was slim.

Stalnaker, First Orion’s president, said the company has thrived by being able to adapt and evolve.

“Don’t be afraid to make mistakes,” he said. “If it’s not working, we figure it out. If there’s no solution to a problem, we’ll create one.”

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501.358.4061 • firstorion.com

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COMPANIES OF

ADVANCED DISTINCTION ELECTRICAL SUPPLY North Little Rock’s Advanced Electrical Supply is a local company whose competition consists mostly of national firms.

While to some that may seem like a disadvantage, company president Paul James sees it as a distinct advantage.

“We are locally owned with a focus within Arkansas as opposed to a national corporation like many of our competitors,” he said. “We have helped our customers design and implement projects from full LED-lighting upgrades on industrial facilities to complete retrofits for hospitals and clinics.”

After serving as manager for the full-service electrical distributor over several years, James purchased the company earlier this year. Despite the change in perspective, the company’s strength remains the same.

“Our true leadership comes from the team we have built,” James said. “Everyone brings value in their experiences and skills they have built throughout their career.”

That team brings decades of experience consulting its customers on lighting, controls and electrification projects. In addition to designing and selling projects, the company helps customers by utilizing incentives from both utility companies and manufacturers to meet their budgets for various types of electrical projects.

Navigating the pandemic and evolving technology can be challenging, but James said the team keeps on plugging by never losing sight on the future of the business.

“For example, we are now focusing on helping our customers design switchgear for utility sized solar projects to EV charging,” James said. “These projects didn’t exist a few years ago but are now quickly becoming a large part of our business.”

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COMPANIES OF

BARRY M. DISTINCTION CORKERN AND CO. Charging a fee for objective advice was a novel idea in 1982. This led to Barry Corkern, CFP®, AIFA® to become the first person in Arkansas to register solely as an investment adviser and not conjointly as a broker dealer.

For nearly 40 years, Barry M. Corkern and Company Inc. has provided fee-only, comprehensive, multigenerational wealth management. Comprehensive wealth management requires objective analysis, discussion and decision-making regarding elements of the client’s financial circumstances. This includes investments, savings, insurance, banking, retirement, estate planning and other components specific to the client.

Corkern believes integrity and excellence set his Little Rock firm apart.

“Because we are not salesmen and do not earn a commission, we don’t have a hidden agenda or incentive for a client to buy any financial product or service.

Our firm’s CEFEX certification, the first in Arkansas, is evidence of our pursuit of integrity and excellence.”

Though COVID presented the firm with unique challenges, Corkern said the firm never left its clients’ sides.

“Because fear is based on the unknown, we had to navigate the conversation away from clients’ fears to focus on the long-term,” Corkern said. “They needed constant assurance that the world was not coming to an end. Although no one at the time knew how it would end, I chose to believe we would be OK. My experience with crises and crashes has given me the confidence that everything will work out in the end. We communicated that to our clients.”

Little Rock • 501.664.7866 • bcorkern.com

hope Is The Foundation. recovery Is The Journey.

Quality Care Rooted in Arkansas

In response to the growing needs of our community, The BridgeWay has expanded its continuum of care for substance use disorders. The acute rehabilitation program will provide hope and recovery for adults struggling with substance use disorders. Led by Dr. Schay, and a Board Certified Psychiatrist and Addictionologist, the Substance Use Disorder Rehabilitation Program is for adults at risk of relapse. Rehabilitation requires the supportive structure of a 24-hour therapeutic environment.

To learn more about our continuum of care for substance use disorders, call us at 1-800-245-0011.

Dr. Schay

Medical Director Of Substance Use Disorders & Patriot Support Program

Physicians are on the medical staff of The BridgeWay Hospital but, with limited exceptions, are independent practitioners who are not employees or agents of The BridgeWay Hospital.

The facility shall not be liable for actions or treatments provided by physicians.

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Sam Pittman

KJ Jefferson

WAR PIGS: Odds Stacked Against Them Again, but the Fighting Razorbacks Have Returned

By Mark Carter

Bumper Pool Myron Cunningham AUGU ST 2 02 1

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he 19th-century transcendentalist and accidental libertarian Henry David Thoreau noted, presumably on a long walk, that perception trumps reality. What one looks at, he reasoned, matters less than what one sees.

And college football fans in the 21st century “see” Arkansas as a bottom-dweller in the Southeastern Conference.

The casual fan can look at the Razorbacks’ challenging assignment to the vaunted SEC West, the NFC South of the Power 5; can consider that the Hogs seemingly own the nation’s toughest schedule on an annual basis; can note how Arkansas has been to the SEC championship game three times; and can even recall that the Hogs turned in backto-back top 10 seasons under Bobby Petrino just a decade ago.

And that’s not even considering the recent bombshell that the SEC is likely to add Oklahoma and Texas to its membership rolls.

But the casual fan sees that Arkansas, once a regular at the relevant table, is struggling and now fights for scraps under that very table with alsorans, wannabes and never-wills.

That’s the perception. The reality, plain for those who bother to consider the nuances of the picture before them (and they are few), is that Arkansas likely would have challenged for a Power 5 division title or two outside the SEC in last year’s COVID-influenced 3-7 campaign, its first under

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Sam Pittman.

More reality? In 2020, the Hogs were robbed, in the literal sense of the word, of a win at Auburn and dropped two more games on last-second field goals. (Reality for Hog fans, of course, consisting of the reliable-as-death-and-taxes gut punch. The most recent coming from the diamond this past June.) And the league office book-ending the Hogs’ 2020 slate with Georgia and Alabama as the extra two league games was either a sick joke or, at best, another example of its general apathy regarding all things cardinal.

Sometimes perception and reality coalesce, of course. Anyone considering Arkansas football’s 2017-19 run, worst in program history, would recognize a mess. And the Arkansas tradition of playing “what if ” won’t erase recent history or change the record books.

The perception heading into 2021 is that the Hogs are a sixth- or seventh-place finisher in the West, despite the expectation of further improvement under Pittman and his staff. After all, other teams can get better, too. And the reality that looms just ahead as the Hogs open fall camp in early August promises another season saddled with the nation’s toughest schedule.

But cautious optimism is warranted for more than just the Kool-Aid drinkers. The Hogs “won” four SEC games last year and were two kicks and a betrayal away from finishing 6-4 against an allSEC schedule that included six teams ranked Nos.

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1, 4, 6, 8, 13 and 16 at kickoff. And Arkansas was competitive in all but two games.

The SEC relearned in 2020 that Razorbacks — the Morris and latter-day Bielema eras notwithstanding — will fight, win or lose. A winning culture, at least, has been restored, even if the Hogs are nowhere near competing for SEC titles just yet.

But under Pittman, the out-of-left-field hire many outside the state were ridiculing a year ago, a full squad of Fighting Razorbacks, indeed, of War Pigs, is back.

Also back are 20 starters from 2020.

*************** It’s pretty close to common knowledge by now that the Hogs’ 2021 fortunes rest to a large degree on the shoulders of redshirt sophomore quarterback KJ Jefferson. The 6-3, 240-pounder is built in the Cam Newton mold, and his performance at Missouri last fall recalled some of Newton’s collegiate exploits at Auburn.

Jefferson, starting for the injured Feleipe Franks, completed 18-of-33 passes for 274 yards and three scores, including the 14-yarder to Mike Woods and subsequent 2-point conversion that gave the Hogs a 48-47 lead with 43 seconds left to play. (That Pittman opted to play for the win there is all the evidence one needs that he’s the right man for the job.)

He also ran for 32 yards and another score.

With talented redshirt freshman Malik Hornsby waiting in the wings but raw, not to mention early

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enrollee Lucas Coley, Jefferson is the captain.

Against Missouri — and the Tigers’ defense actually wasn’t that bad so recently removed from Barry Odom’s influence — Jefferson and the offense clicked to the tune of almost 600 yards. OC Kendall Briles had Missouri guessing, and more so than any other game in 2020, his offense looked like it had the personnel to execute his playbook.

Jefferson is entering his third year removed from high school and second in Briles’ system. Physically, he looks the part. The Hogs’ success this season could ride on his readiness to take the next step.

Despite the unexpected last-minute transfer of Woods, Jefferson will work with an under-theradar good corps of receivers led by all-America junior Treylon Burks, Razorback football’s next big thing. Burks quite simply is the Hogs’ best receiver since Jarius Wright, another Warren product, who played eight seasons in the NFL with the Vikings and Panthers. In a 10-game season, Burks hauled in 51 passes for 820 yards and seven scores. That’s an average of more than 16 yards per catch. He also ran 15 times for 75 yards.

De’Vion Warren, a big-play machine but injury-prone, is back, as is Trey Knox, the 6-5 junior with through-the-roof potential. Woods’ departure could represent an opening for him, or perhaps for newcomers such as speedy Oklahoma transfer Jaquayln Crawford or highly touted true freshman Ketron Jackson. And pass-catching tight ends Hudson Henry and Blake Kern, the latter a COVID senior and former walk-on, will give Jefferson options.

Power-plug junior Trelon Smith returns after taking over as the primary running back midway through the 2020 season. The former Arizona State Sun Devil finished with 710 yards and five scores despite limited play early. Smith is a gamer, elusive at 5-9 but powerful enough to run through arm tackles. Highly touted freshmen A.J. Green, Javion Hunt and Raheim Sanders help give the Hogs a deep pool of talent inside the RB room.

And a potential pleasant surprise is 240-pound freshman battering ram Dominique Johnson. Expect a lot more RPO from the Hogs in ’21.

Of course, the skill players will only go so far as the offensive line will let them. It’s no secret that the line hasn’t been a strength since Pittman’s time as OL coach in Fayetteville under Bielema. Program insiders say the biggest jump on the team will be seen here, despite the spring loss of OL coach Brad Davis to hometown LSU. This is still a Pittman team, after all.

On day one in Fayetteville as head Hog, he began transforming the trench men into something resembling an SEC front after Morris’ “left lane, hammer down” experiment turned Hogs into shoats, a collection of glorified fullbacks. Virtually everyone is back on a unit that got better as the season progressed, and Pittman’s reputation as an OL whisperer is paying off.

Highly regarded newcomers Ty’kieast CrawAUGUST 2 02 1

ford, Jalen St. John and Marcus Henderson will push for PT, while returning starters such as tackle Myron Cunningham and center Ricky Stromberg are candidates for post-season recognition. By the eye test alone, strength coach Jamil Walker is crafting the OL into something like the monsters Pittman coached in Fayetteville during his first run on the Hill and then at Georgia.

Meanwhile, the Razorback defense was razorthin again last year. But first-year coordinator Odom, the former Missouri head coach, mustered a Broyles Award-worthy effort from a unit that finished dead last in the SEC, and comfortably so, in 2019. But under Odom’s guidance, the Hogs improved to 10th in the SEC in total defense in 2020, giving up a yard less per play and essentially defeating the Mississippi schools on defense alone.

In those wins, the defense bewildered, adapted and more importantly, swarmed. Three things that seemingly weren’t a priority of the previous staff.

An inevitable late fade, resulting from depth issues but compounded by key untimely injuries and COVID wiping out roughly the entire D-line for the LSU game, pulled some of the shine off the Hogs’ 2020 defensive performance. But the Hogs had some bite on D. Restoring the full two-deep on defense remains a work in progress, especially at linebacker, but the Hogs should again pack some of that bite with more numbers to spell several starters who essentially never left the field last season.

Savvy senior linebackers Grant Morgan and Bumper Pool return — Morgan a sixth-year COVID senior — and on their mantle are the 212 tackles recorded between them in 2020. New LB coach Michael Scherer, an Odom protégé, just needs help behind them. Opportunities abound, especially for talented incoming freshman Chris Paul. For much of last season, the Hogs employed a 3-2-6 alignment, and we may see more of that in ’21.

The D-line returns many contributors but not a pass-rushing ace among them. Of course, it’s hard to generate much of a rush with a threeman front and virtually no blitzing, an approach warranted by the game’s evolution to fast-paced attacks and the Hogs’ personnel issues.

It looks like Odom will stick with a three-man front again to start 2021. Regulars Dorian Gerald, injury-prone and from whom much has been anticipated; Eric Gregory, Marcus Miller, Isaiah Nichols and Taurean Carter are back and will be bolstered by a trio of transfer newcomers — the highly touted John Ridgeway from Illinois State, Markell Utsey from Missouri and the massive runplugger Jalen Williams from juco.

Once Odom eventually takes another D-1 head coaching job, and he will, don’t be surprised to see secondary coach Sam Carter considered as his replacement. The players reportedly love him, and under his tutelage, his position group is becoming formidable, perhaps even ready to take on 104

Trelon Smith

more man and press coverage this fall.

Jalen Catalon returns at safety to build on his freshman all-America season, and his mere presence on the field impacts game plans. His ejection for a bogus targeting call against LSU enabled the marshland mousers to pull out a game the Hogs should’ve won. Catalon is in the Atwater/Hamlin/ Kennedy mold, and the Arkansas D finally resembles units of old with a mobile sledgehammer roaming the back forty and providing punishing run support.

(Arkansas has recruited talent, even in the lean years, but Catalon probably is one of two current Hogs, along with Burks, who would be a for-sure starter at Alabama.)

Also back are an entire room of old reliables that Hog fans know well by now — Joe Foucha, Montaric Brown, Greg Brooks, LaDarrius Bishop. And Myles Slusher, Simeon Blair, Khari Johnson, Malik Chavis and Hudson Clark, he of the Ole Miss three-pick fame, provide competitive depth when not starting themselves. (And yes, that includes Clark. He may not be a lockdown corner, but he’s a ball hawk and a gamer and valuable in certain packages.)

Plus, the Hogs welcome to the secondary promising newcomers in Penn State transfer Trent Gordon, true freshman Jayden Johnson, plus early enrollee and likely future star Jermaine ARM ON E YA N D P OL ITIC S.COM

True optimism, cautious but sincere, hovers over the program for the first time in a while. ***************

THESE HOGS ARE HOOONGRY!

Treylon Burks

WOO PIG

Ricky Stromberg

Hamilton-Jordan.

Special teams remain a work in progress, a cutand-paste phrase for season previews of late. The Hogs improved last year, for sure, but there was nowhere to go but up. Hog fans continue to wait for the notable results that special teams coach Scott Fountain, a Pittman confidante, provided at other SEC stops, including Auburn and Georgia.

Fountain couldn’t afford to stick many starters on special teams last year because of overall depth issues, but more progress is expected this year.

The return game was almost nonexistent all season, and blocked punts continued to haunt the Hogs early in the year. But things settled as the season progressed, and Reid Bauer developed into an effective punter. If Burks and Warren are available as return men, don’t be surprised to see at least one taken back.

The Hogs bring in true freshman kicking sensation Cameron Little, a rarity as a scholarship kicker, from whom much is expected. He’ll battle Matthew Phillips for kicking duties. Can Hog fans be comfortable this season lining up for a last-second kick for the win? Time will tell. *************** The national general consensus for the Hogs in ’21 seems to be 5-7 with a couple of SEC wins — maybe 6-6 and 3-5 with an upset. Close to guaranteed non-con wins over Rice, UAPB and Georgia

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Southern (although the latter might pose a test coming on the heels off an emotional game with Texas). Probable losses to Bama, Georgia (what do you know? Bama and Georgia, again), LSU (I think we beat ’em) and some might say A&M. The rest, right now, look like probable toss-ups.

But mark it down: the Hogs will deliver at least two unexpected, marquee wins, starting with Texas, it of the hideous burnt orange Barad-dûr in Austin. That long-awaited return game, scheduled for ESPN primetime the night of Sept. 11, is a bellwether for Arkansas’ season. Win it, and it could be “Katie bar the door” for a squad as hungry as any in program history.

(On the flip side, don’t be surprised to see Marc Curles assigned to Fayetteville that weekend and a late review costing us another one.)

Still, the Arkansas program sits in the “buy” column. True optimism, cautious but sincere, hovers over the program for the first time in a while.

These Hogs are “hooongry,” as the lady on the radio used to say, maybe even hangry after TCU’s lame, last-minute bailout from the Texas Bowl last December. (We should still get credit for a bowl appearance and a forfeit win, if you ask me.)

That leaves the deceiving blowout loss to Bama as the team’s last taste of 2020. The Hogs, coming off the heart-wrenching loss at Missouri, were without an injured Franks, and the thin de-

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fense, which had battled all year like Dain’s Iron Hills dwarves atop war pigs in the shadow of Erebor, was quite simply out of gas. (Note to UA brass: you have my permission to use that footage from the movie with Sam’s face photoshopped on Dain as Sabbath’s “War Pigs” blares just before the band starts Arkansas Fight, and the players run through the A.) Pregame choreography and excuses notwithstanding, there’s a quiet, confident intensity emanating from the Hill. It’ll be fun to see what that translates to on the field. And assuming we don’t end up with a COVID lockdown 2.0, it’ll be pretty nice to welcome back college football in its natural, intended state replete with campuses buzzing, bands marching and stadiums full and loud. (A&M and Florida can go back to OVERinflating attendance numbers …)

Two factors to consider, and they’re significant ones: Pittman finally got to have a spring camp at Arkansas after COVID forced a shutdown before the Hogs could even start spring ball last year, and he’s no longer a first-time D1 head coach sidestepping his way through a pandemic.

Whatever the perception, the reality is this: The culture is changed, and the War Pigs are in formation.

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EXECUTIVE EXTRACARICULAR EXECUTIVE EXTRACURRICULARS

MEMBERSHIP

UCA’s A Night on the Stripes serves to raise money for athletics andxxxxx as a thank Xxxxx xxxxxyou xxxxx xxxx to donors.

(Photo courtesy of xxxxx xxxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxxx UCA) xxx.

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HAS ITS PRIVILEGES School connections run deep for college donors

By Mark Carter

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The Johnny Allison Tower at Centennial Bank Stadium, and (below) stadium club suites. (ASU)

E

conomists at the University of San Diego School of Business in December released the findings from a study that sought to determine why fans contribute financially to college athletics programs.

And they found, among other things, that donors aren’t motivated simply by wins, which elicited mild surprise from researchers. Which begs the question — have any of them ever ventured east of Albuquerque?

Throughout much of the South and pockets of the Midwest, devotion to college sports — college football in particular — is almost religion. Fandom is akin to patriotism.

Pro sports took much longer to take root in the mostly rural South, which offered fewer sports-allegiance outlets. Before TV elevated the consumption of sports into an American pastime, sports fans were reduced to huddling in front of the radio and listening to baseball games played in, for Southerners anyway, exotic faraway places like Cleveland.

Local college teams represented the only chance most Americans had to see a game in person.

As college sports — again, college football, in particular — began to gain national traction in the mid-20th century, and fandom evolved into an heirloom passed between generations, Southern fans started equating their teams to armies on the battlefield, defending the homeland from invaders.

Star players were, and are, treated like returning heroes who vanquished evil on distant shores. Consider Razorback basketball’s hardworking Devo Davis and the cult hero status he enjoys following this past spring’s Elite 8 run.

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Us against them. Consider, as well, Arkansas-Ole Miss in Little Rock, 1960. The Hogs’ controversial 10-7 loss on a last-second “field goal” resulted in the series being shelved for 20-plus years because of lingering animosity attached to the postgame brawl that filled the War Memorial bleachers and spilled out onto the parking lot. It remains one of the more controversial finishes in Razorback history, and there have been many.

(Hog fans had a legitimate beef. Referee Tommy Bell called an official timeout for “excessive crowd noise” an instant before Ole Miss kicker Allen Green launched what should’ve been a game-winning 39-yard field goal that split the uprights. Apparently wishing to make amends, Bell signaled the follow-up “official” kick good even though it clearly hooked. For what it’s worth, Ole Miss players and coaches reacted as if the kick were no good.)

That Little Rock Saturday night more than 60 years ago helps explain what motivates college sports fans to give money, oftentimes large amounts of it, to their favorite programs. What motivates them is simple devotion, win or lose, whether born of a loyalty to a family member or a particular school or state. And the connections run deep.

A prime example in Arkansas is Home Bancshares Chairman and CEO Johnny Allison, prominent Arkansas State booster. Home Bancshares is the $15 billion holding company co-founded by Allison, and its portfolio includes Conway-based Centennial Bank.

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“For me, it’s about a family legacy… ASU is an integral part of the community in Jonesboro, and it has given a lot to me and my family.”

- Johnny Allison

and the largest personal commitment ever made to the program.

Coupled with a $5 million commitment from Centennial, the 2017 contribution enabled ASU to finance its $29 million football operations center, which bears the Centennial Bank name. The stadium already bears the bank’s name, and the playing surface now is named for Allison. For that matter, so is the stadium’s press box, dubbed the Johnny Allison Tower.

“This was the first thing I ever allowed to use my name as a ‘naming right,’ and I deliberated about doing it,” Allison told Arkansas Money & Politics. “It’s still surreal to look up at that tower or down on that field and see my name and the name of Centennial Bank. I am honored to be able to make such a donation to an institution that has meant so much to me and my family for several generations. I enjoy attending as many home Red Wolf games as I’m able to, and it’s very rewarding to be a part of this outstanding program.”

The Jonesboro native grew up right next to campus and played football for ASU in 1968. His connection to the school and program is as strong as they come. Not only did his family’s land lie adjacent to campus, his mother, father, sister, aunts, uncles, cousins and his grandmother attended or worked at ASU. Allison’s dad was even the first president of the Indian Club. (ASU teams, of course, were known as the Indians until 2008.)

“For me, it’s about a family legacy… ASU is an integral part of the community in Jonesboro, and it has given a lot to me and my family.”

It was on campus that Allison heard Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson speak at an event, which he credits with motivating him to launch his business career. For Allison and booster/fans like him, the connection to a school or program is almost spiritual.

The Razorback Foundation, the nonprofit organization that exists to support Razorback sports, currently has more than 12,000 member donors. As of 2019, more than 1,200 of them had been giving for 40 consecutive years.

“This level of steadfast support and commitment is pheARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

nomenal and helped build Razorback athletics,” said Scott Varady, the Foundation’s executive director. “As Coach Sam Pittman often says, ‘Arkansas is a proud damn state,’ and for many Arkansans, the Razorbacks represent the very best of Arkansas. This level of passion translates into generous financial contributions to the Razorback Foundation to support Razorback athletics.”

Giving was down everywhere, in every sector, in 2020. But the Foundation still reported more than $27 million in gifts for the year, a drop of roughly 13 percent from 2019. Though the pandemic made charitable giving a more challenging proposition, Varady said Hog fans stepped up in other ways, supporting the Foundation’s “ONE Razorback” campaign.

“Instead of requesting a refund of their annual fund donations to the Razorback Foundation, the overwhelming majority of members chose to keep their annual fund gifts to support Razorback athletics,” he said. “Additionally, hundreds of Razorback Foundation members and fans donated their ticket refunds back to the ONE Razorback Fund. Further, the Razorback Foundation launched creative initiatives such as the Virtual ONE Razorback Open Golf Tournament to generate new revenues in support of Razorback athletics.”

Varady thinks Hog fans make his job an easy one.

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Johnny Allison

Scott Varady

Rush Harding

Matt Whiting

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Bud Walton Arena on the UA campus bears the name of one of the Razorbacks’ biggest benefactors. (UA)

up in such a big way,” Varady said of the pandemic-year support. “There is truly no other fan base that can compare to Razorback nation. Razorback red runs deep in this state, and we are fortunate to get to be a part of it.”

The San Diego study also found that donors are more likely to give when asked to support a specific project or need, and giving spikes after big wins as well. Last year, the football win at Mississippi State, the women’s basketball’s upset of top-ranked Baylor, the NCAA indoor track championship and the Dollars for Dingers campaign for baseball combined to generate gifts of more than $3 million to the ONE Razorback Fund.

Like Allison stepping up for ASU, Razorback programs haven’t lacked for big donors providing big donations for big projects. The Razorback basketball and baseball programs represent two examples. James “Bud” Walton, brother of Sam, gave $15 million in 1993 (factoring in inflation, $27 million today) to enable the construction of Bud Walton Arena, the fifth-largest on-campus basketball arena in the country. His gift represented about half the cost to build the arena.

And the construction and subsequent expansions and enhancements of Razorback baseball’s venerable BaumWalker Stadium, finished in 1996 at a cost of roughly $9 million ($16.2 million today), was made possible by gifts from Arkansas families who support UA athletics. The $10 million indoor track and baseball training center on campus was made possible by the Fowler family as was the $27 million Hunt Family Baseball Development Center, which opened this year in Baum’s right-field corner.

Rush Harding III, co-founder of Little Rock investment

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banking firm Crews & Associates and co-owner of Cache Restaurant, always knew he’d support his alma mater. His blood runs UCA purple. His dad, a legendary highschool football coach at Clarendon, was a star athlete at Arkansas State Teachers College before it became State College of Arkansas and ultimately the University of Central Arkansas.

Harding ended up at UCA himself and was a member of the basketball team. One of his sons, Payne, followed in his footsteps. Supporting UCA, academically and athletically, is a given for him. Harding and Linda, his wife and fellow UCA alum, are co-chairing the school’s current $100 million fundraising campaign, to which they gifted $3 million earlier this year.

“I know firsthand the difference a great coach and athletics can make in the lives of young people,” Harding said.

“Sports is simply another area where UCA excels. The Honors College is second to none. Our nursing department is excellent. There is no shortage of meaningful programs for our stakeholders to get involved with.”

UCA, which officially joined the rebranded ASUN Conference (formerly the Atlantic Sun) on July 1, is set to compete this fall as a one-year affiliate member of the revamped Western Athletic Conference until the ASUN launches football in 2022. The move better positions the school should it ever consider making the move to the FBS level of Division 1.

This new adventure that lies ahead for Bear athletes seems to have motivated Bear fans. Matt Whiting, associate athletic director for external relations at UCA, said his department’s annual drive to boost membership in its Purple Circle donor group is well ahead of previous years and noted significant growth in giving the last few years.

“The response has been great,” he said. “We are fortunate to have a great fan and donor base at UCA, and I think everyone is very excited about the future in the ASUN. The ASUN is an innovative, forward-thinking league, and I think our fans recognize the competitive nature of the league in all sports. It’s an exciting time for all associated with Central

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“The Razorbacks unify the Arkansas athletics.” great state of Arkansas into one Of course, there are those family,” Varady said. “As result of donors who prefer the old the strength of those bonds, we American Express approach: take great pride that Razorback Membership has its privileges. athletics is the only self-supportMembership in UCA’s Purple ing NCAA Division I program in Circle starts at the $100 Cub Arkansas. Specifically, the Unilevel and goes up to the Trustee’s versity of Arkansas Department Circle, starting at $10,000 a year. of Athletics is one of only a hand“We are very fortunate to have ful of departments nationally a great base of philanthropic dothat is financially self-sufficient. nors at UCA — people who love Meaning, it receives $0 from the university and our athletic state or taxpayer funding and $0 programs and believe in supportfrom student fees or direct uniing our student-athletes and proversity funding. grams in their efforts to achieve “And there are no mandatory excellence in the classroom and student fees. Razorback athletics in competition,” Whiting said. generates its own revenues from “We also have those who I would a variety of sources including, call transactional donors, those The Razorback Foundation’s (from left) Quinn among others, private gift supwho give because they enjoy the Grovey, Scott Varady and Matt Zimmerman tidy port donated to the Razorback benefits and experiences they re- up club suites before a football game. (RF) Foundation, ticket sales, sponsorceive as supporters and friends ships and advertising and SEC member distributions.” of our program. Both are critically important to our success Ah, those SEC member distributions. With news breakas a department.” ing in late July that Oklahoma and Texas are likely SECMembership levels in the Razorback Foundation begin bound, the SEC checks Arkansas cashes each year, already with Young Alumni, $35 a year, and top out with the Broylesin excess of $50 million, stand to get bigger. But the FounMatthews Platinum level, starting at $20,000. Other levels dation’s foundation remains those fans willing to put their are Razorback, $50-$99; Big Red, $100-$499; Big Hog, $500money where their allegiance lies. $999; Tush Hog, $1,000-$1,999; Wild Hog, $2,000-$2,999; And that goes for any program whose end goal is to serve Super Hog, $3,000-$4,999; Broyles-Matthews Silver, $5,000its customers, the ones who live and die on last-second shots $9,999 and Broyles-Matthews Gold, $10,000-$19,999. and field goals, from Arkansas Tech to ASU to Arkansas.

Membership affords privileges at all levels including, 15 Allison, for one, always knew that one day he’d finanpercent discounts at Hog Heaven stores (but not on game cially support ASU and the program that means so much to days, unfortunately), invitations to members-only events him. Doing so keeps him connected not just to the school, and ticket priority. Perks for Broyles-Matthews donors inbut to the sport he loves. clude priority seating and parking for football, basketball “I like to work with athletes and farmers. Farmers work and baseball; an increased number of parking passes; a from daylight to dark, and athletes push themselves and membership plaque; two special member gifts; and even never give up,” he explained. “Having been an athlete myCollege World Series ticket eligibility. self, and having benefited in many ways from ASU, once I And that’s not even counting the prestige afforded such finally got to the point where I was ready to make such a high-end contributors when all Foundation donors were listsizable donation, there was no question that it would be to ed by level in Razorback game programs and media guides.

ASU and their athletic program. In the back of my mind, I The Razorback Foundation, like its counterparts at other always knew I would do it if I could.” universities, did its best to stay connected with donors and Varady said private gift support, no matter its size, is the fans during the pandemic. It offered members access to exlifeblood of college programs, helping them achieve their clusive “Tusk Talk” events via Zoom, in which former Hog objectives. greats would participate and share their stories.

“Coach Frank Broyles always credited the passion of the Pandemic aside, other exclusive opportunities for memRazorback fans as a key element to the success of Razorback bers include the opportunity to attend practices, have a famathletics, including private gift support donated to the Raily photo taken inside Razorback facilities and member apzorback Foundation.” preciation celebrations with coaches and staff.

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SPORTS/NONPROFIT Brandon being interviewed by JE Dunlap of the Harrison Daily Times after a game in Little Rock.

NO GREATER LOVE

Than This

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FOUNDATION CARRIES ON LEGACY OF BRANDON BURLSWORTH

By Dwain Hebda

arty Burlsworth has a unique sense for when his little brother, the late Arkansas Razorback legend Brandon Burlsworth, is looking over his shoulder. He’ll feel it on the Arkansas autumnal breeze, or he’ll see something that reminds him No. 77 is there, though just out of reach, right where peripheral vision blurs into imagination and memory.

“It may seem odd to some people. I can be driving down the road, look at the dash, and it says 77 degrees,” he said. “I’ll notice the cell phone says 77 percent battery.

Things like that.”

Not all of Brandon’s calling cards are that conspicuous. Some come to his brother more as a curious thought, dropped in from who-knows-where.

“Just two or three years ago, I told my mother he’d probably have one more year to play,” Burlsworth remembered. “She said, ‘He’d have played this long?’ I said, ‘Yeah, because he’s within striking distance of the all-time record for longevity for an offensive lineman.’ She said, ‘Yeah, he’d have played.’

“I really think he’d have been in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I don’t think I’m stretching at all to say barring injury, and he wasn’t prone to injury, he would have worn one of those gold jackets one day as a member of the hall of fame.”

There isn’t a team of mules big enough to have dragged Marty Burlsworth away

from that ceremony, either. He’d walked every step of his brother’s journey with him, right up to the lip of the grave. He’d had his doubts about the young lineman growing up — everyone did, at one time or another — but he was also man enough to admit when he was wrong. And how wrong were they all, now converted believers, about the headstrong young athlete with the bulky glasses.

“Did I think he would grow into the ability and develop the ability that he did?

No, not at all,” Burlsworth said. “Did I think he would stick to it and run through a brick wall and do everything in his power to make it at the Division I level? Yes, I knew that would be the case. But as far as him making the heights that he did, no, I did not see that.” ***** It’s been more than two decades since Brandon Burlsworth died in a head-on collision while driving to Harrison from Fayetteville. The 22-year-old, drafted 11 days earlier by the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, was headed home to take his mother to church. All of Razorback nation mourned along with the shell-shocked residents of his Boone County hometown; after everything he’d overcome to reach all-America status, it seemed impossible even death itself had the power to stop him.

“Well, when he died, it was extremely hard-hitting,” said Tommy Tice, the longtime head football coach at Harrison High School who coached Burlsworth. “He had come back here so many times from being at the university and had grown into, around here, rock star status. So, it hit really, really hard.

“I remember, of course, just a cloud of gloom fell over the entire community. And everywhere you’d go, every marquee in town had some positive statement about him. It was an utter shock for the entire town.”

Those who remember the story of Burlsworth’s college career, his final shining season on the Hill and the gut-punch of his untimely death will never forget the bespeckled underdog who went from flabby walk-on to rookie starter in the NFL. But for those who knew him, trained and

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played alongside him or were witness to his character, “The Burls Way” goes to the bone. Every one of them has a story about Brandon Burlsworth, it seems, from his work ethic to his strict, obsessive habits to his immense faith and sense of fair play.

“I remember going to the cafeteria after one practice during two-a-days and Brandon’s sitting with his buddies, all the lineman,” said Houston Nutt, who coached Burlsworth in his senior year at Fayetteville. “And I notice he picks up his tray and goes and sits with a freshman walk-on who’s sitting by himself. It was a little thing, but there was a special place in his heart for walk-ons.

“It’s just hard to explain the goodness of this guy. You know, he never said a foul word. He didn’t have a devious bone in his body. He’d be out of that field, and he’d ask his teammates, ‘How bad do we want it? How bad do we want it!? It’s third and 8. How bad do we want it?!’”

It’s left to conjecture now how many times Burlsworth himself had to echo that catch phrase inMarty Burlsworth side his own mind thinks his brother would’ve to achieve the things been a surethat he did. But the thing NFL Hall of facts of his life sugFamer. gest it was nearly constant. Far from an athletic prodigy, his love for football was rivaled only by the number of people who didn’t see it in him, who missed the raw greatness that lay below the surface. But Brandon Burlsworth, they’ll tell you, made you believe.

“When he came to us as a 10th grader, he was not a good

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athlete,” Tice said. “The thing that you learned very quickly about him was the fact that he was going to be there. You couldn’t run him off. He was going to show up every day. But the quality of work he put in during that day wasn’t going to be anything that you thought would lead anywhere.

“The middle of his junior year, we had a problem at right offensive tackle. And just to be honest, we had a really good team. We were 11-2, got beat in the semifinals by Lake Hamilton, who won the state championship. Brandon split time from the middle of the year on with another young man at right tackle. Well, we ran the ball to our left.

That’s about as bluntly as I could put it; we did not run it behind Brandon then.”

Burlsworth’s senior year at Harrison was a triumph, especially considering where he started out, but he was still only lightly recruited coming out of high school.

Single-minded in his determination to be a Hog, he walked on at Fayetteville, a massive physical specimen in every wrong sense of the term.

“It’s hard to explain to folks who weren’t there, but the transformation of his body was just...,” said Chad Abernathy, a college teammate who after all this time still struggles to put the Burlsworth mystique satisfactorily into words. “For a kid that age to lose that much weight and then, to pack that much muscle on and become that athletic. I mean, it wasn’t that he was just terrible and had two left feet. But it was, you know, he looked like a piece of chewed bubble gum when he first got to college.

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“The percentages are low of folks that get here, anyway. But the percentage of people who get here that look like that and then turn into what he looked like and what he could do physically?

It’s a small percentage of people in the world who can do that.”

The excess weight and technical gaffes of his first months on the team proved fleeting hindrances, for the body after all is ruled by the mind, and the mind is the servant of the spirit.

Burlsworth brought all three into harmony in a career that decorated him twice as a first-team all-SEC lineman, an all-conference academic honor roll recipient from 1995 to 1998, and the first Razorback to complete a master’s degree before playing his last collegiate game.

The Razorback faithful adored the gentle giant

tion are already truly blessed with great athletic ability. Brandon was not blessed with great athletic ability. What he got, he worked into it.”

It was not to be, of course, and even as the whole state grieved his untimely passing, the people who knew and loved him most understood how fleeting a thing notoriety can be. DrivBurlsworth (66) was projected to start in his rookie season with Colts.

“YOU KNOW, I BECAME A BETTER MAN, A BETTER COACH BEING AROUND BRANDON. AND I THINK ONE OF THE BIGGEST THINGS HE TAUGHT ME WAS JUST PERSEVERANCE, WHICH I KNEW FROM MY MOM AND DAD, BUT IT JUST PUT A BIG OL’ STAMP ON IT WHEN YOU SEE A YOUNG MAN’S LIFE IN ORDER, WHO’S COME SUCH A LONG WAY AS A WALKON. HE WASN’T A FIVE STAR. HE WASN’T HIGHLY RECRUITED. HE HAD TO GO WORK FOR EVERYTHING AND THEN, TURN THAT INTO SOMETHING SPECIAL.”

Houston Nutt Arkansas Razorbacks head coach 1998-2007

right down to the thick black glasses he wore in games, donning replica specs to show their fandom. Those closest to him know without a doubt his athletic and personal success would have continued in the pros, where after mini-camp he was projected to start the Colts’ 1999 season.

“Just think about this,” Tice said. “Between when he played his last collegiate game against Michigan in the Citrus Bowl and the NFL combine, he improved his body in just that time to where he’s now the fastest offensive lineman, he’s one of the strongest offensive linemen. He just never quit working. He never took a day off. A lot of young men today who are in a walk-on situa-

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en to do something meaningful and lasting with his legacy, Marty and his wife Vickie formed the Brandon Burlsworth Foundation just two months after his death.

“When the accident happened, it just totally floored our family. It was devastating,” said Vickie, executive director of the foundation. “We had

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SPORTS/NONPROFIT so many people around the time of the accident who wanted to donate money, and we didn’t know what to do with all of that money. So, that was where the foundation started out.”

“I AM 18 YEARS OLD. I HAVE GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL AS OF JUNE 3, 2021. I AM GOING TO TRY TO ATTEND WOR-WIC COMMUNITY COLLEGE. I WAS THE MANAGER FOR FOOTBALL FOR

**** The foundation launched Burls Kids, a program that purchases 30 tickets to a Razorback home game every year, complete with associated hoopla, distributed to underprivileged kids in Arkansas. From that, programs have expanded to include several awards such as the Burlsworth Trophy, recognizing the nation’s outstanding collegiate walk-on, the Brandon Burlsworth Award, presented solely at Harrison High School, and the Burlsworth Character Award, by which 16,000 high schools na-

TWO YEARS FOR 11TH GRADE AND 12TH GRADE, AND ONE TIME I WAS IN FOR ONE GAME NEAR THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME, SO I GOT TO BE A FOOTBALL PLAYER. MY NUMBER WAS 89. I WAS SURPRISED WHEN THEY GAVE ME THE BURLSWORTH CHARACTER AWARD. I WOULD TELL OTHERS TO ALWAYS HAVE GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP, ALWAYS TREAT YOUR FELLOW TEAMMATES WITH RESPECT.”

Guy Spiker 2021 Burlsworth Character Award winner Snow Hill High School, Snow Hill, Maryland

The Burlsworth Trophy is awarded each year to the nation’s top player who began his career as a walk-on.

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The Burls Kids program sends underprivileged kids from across the state to a Razorback home game each year.

“THE EASY WAY OUT IS JUST TO HANG IT UP LIKE, ‘HEY, I DON’T WANT TO DO THIS.’ DON’T GET ME WRONG; I LOVED EVERY DAY I WAS A WALK-ON AT PITT, BUT IT DOES REQUIRE YOU TO KEEP GOING AND NOT GIVE UP. THE AWARD, I THINK, SYMBOLIZES MY LOVE FOR THE GAME AND FOR A LOT OF WALK-ONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY WHO HAVE BEEN NOMINATED FOR IT AND HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SUCCEED AT A HIGH LEVEL. IT SHOWS OUR PASSION FOR THE GAME AND HOW MUCH WE LOVE TO DO WHAT WE DO AND WORKING HARD. “IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW YOU START. IT MATTERS HOW YOU FINISH. ONCE YOU GET ON THAT FOOTBALL FIELD, NOBODY CARES IF YOU’RE A FIVESTAR OR A WALK-ON.” Jimmy Morrissey 2020 Burlsworth Trophy Winner Center, University of Pittsburgh Drafted by Las Vegas Raiders, NFL

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tionwide recognize a player in their program who demonstrates outstanding sportsmanship and perseverance.

There’s also a yearly football camp where coaches promulgate the Burlsworth legacy into a new generation of athletes, passing down his story year after year.

“I’ve helped every year, but the year my son was born,” Abernathy said. “It’s kids third grade through ninth grade. We try to give them a little nugget, a little pearl that they can try to take out of it just to try to implement him in there. We take a few minutes there to explain what Brandon did. And then we talk about it in our drills and explain to them some of the stuff of what he did and some of the things that they can do too, if they want to be good in football or school or just life in general.

“The culture today is to blame everybody else for what’s wrong with you and why you’re not making it and that’s unfortunate. Everybody’s going to run into roadblocks and stuff where people will tell you, you can’t do it.

Brandon’s story shows you what you can do if you put the blinders on, focus on yourself and take some good coaching and mentoring and work hard.”

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Brandon, being interviewed by Brian Stewart of Little Rock’s KTHV, on the family porch.

Another impactful program of the foundation is Eyes of a Champion, by which eye care and eyeglasses are provided to low-income youth through a partnership with Walmart/Sam’s Club and a growing number of eye doctors.

“On average, the Eyes program provides 1,000 exams and 1,000 free pairs of glasses through optometrists in the state of Arkansas every year,” said Matt Jones, a Blytheville optometrist who sits on the foundation board. “We have some doctors in eastern Oklahoma, Louisiana and a few in North Texas. We’ve started to creep out there just a little, and I want to get more states involved as well.”

In 2016, a movie on Brandon Burlsworth’s life hit theaters. Greater introduced a whole new generation to the inspiring tale, an audience

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well outside the boundaries of Arkansas and Hogs lore. It was a nice shot of publicity and has helped the foundation serve even more people than it did before.

“It’s funny; I work for CBS, and I go to New York or I will be in the DFW airport and there will be Razorback fans and sometimes, even Alabama, Auburn, LSU fans. And they’ll bring up Brandon Burlsworth,” Nutt said in his signature Tommy-gun staccato.

“I tell them, you think about the ‘Burls Way ‘and it’s one of unselfishness. You get up, you buckle up both chinstraps, and you may have a bad day. But it’s the next play. It’s caring about your teammates, which he did. And Marty and Vickie have done just an awesome job with Brandon’s legacy.”

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Inside Razorback Stadium on the set of the 2016 film that chronicled Brandon’s journey, Greater.

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“GUY HAS A LOT OF CHARACTER IN HOW HE GOES ABOUT HIMSELF EVERY DAY. AS OUR TEAM MANAGER, HE WORKS HARD IN PRACTICE AND THROUGHOUT THE SCHOOL DAY, HE HELPS EVERYBODY. HE’S JUST A ROLE MODEL FOR HIS PEERS. WE HAD TO RECOGNIZE HIM WITH THIS AWARD, AND HE IS DEFINITELY GRATEFUL FOR THIS AWARD. I WOULD TELL ANY FOOTBALL COACH THAT THE BURLSWORTH CHARACTER AWARD WOULD BENEFIT THEIR PROGRAM RECOGNIZING COMMITMENT TO THE PROGRAM AND SPORTSMANSHIP. FOOTBALL REALLY BUILDS CHARACTER, AND THIS AWARD WILL BE GREAT FOR ANYONE’S PROGRAM.” Deitrick Downing, head football coach Snow Hill High School Snow Hill, Maryland

***** In the final analysis, the Brandon Burlsworth Foundation is less about eyeglasses, movie screens and a college football landscape that’s changed exponentially since the naïve, idealistic boy from Harrison walked awestruck into Reynolds Razorback Stadium for the first time. At its core, the tale it continues to tell is of the life and continuing times of a family desperate to make sense of the unfathomable. To turn the Burls Way inward and heal themselves through service.

“What Marty and I say when we speak across the country was, that first year was horrible,” Vickie said. “The movie talks about how it was for the first weekend. But to us, that was probably the first year. The first year was devastating and we didn’t probably handle it well. But there was a point where we said we’re going to either sink or swim. We’re not dealing with this well and my family is in trouble and our marriage is in trouble, but we can take this and let it destroy us or we can take it and make good with it.”

On the day of Brandon’s funeral, guests and congregants packed the school gym only to leave, as all funeral crowds do, the family standing alone at the end, wondering why, wondering what was next. The record shows, clearly, they’ve found that way home in the countless lives the foundation and the story continue to touch.

“Brandon did a lot of good in a short life. Our family did not want that to be over,” Marty said. “Selfishly, the thing for me was, aside from being able to help kids and help people and show this good example, I just couldn’t stand the thought of him being forgotten as a brother.

“I just couldn’t stand the thought of maybe he wouldn’t be remembered. I wanted him to be remembered for his faith, for his hard work, for the inspiration that he provides people of all ages.”

“BRANDON SET AN EXAMPLE FOR US OF HOW TO TREAT PEOPLE LIKE YOU WANT TO BE TREATED. AND THAT’S HOW WE TALK TO OUR KIDS, ABOUT THINGS LIKE THAT, NOT JUST HIS ATHLETIC ABILITY, BUT HIS ACADEMIC PROWESS AND HIS PROWESS OF BEING AN OUTSTANDING YOUNG MAN. I TOLD OUR COACHES MANY TIMES, ‘YOU’VE GOT TO REALIZE THAT SOME YOUNG MAN IS OUT THERE LISTENING TO WHAT YOU’VE GOT TO SAY AND WRITING IT DOWN ON HIS HEART.’ SO, WE HAVE TO KEEP TELLING THE STORY, OK? WE DON’T KNOW WHO IT’S AFFECTING OR THE WAY IT’S BEING EFFECTIVE. BUT SOMEBODY IS BEING IMPACTED.” Tommy Tice Head Football Coach, Harrison High School (ret.)

Vice Chairman, Brandon Burlsworth Foundation Board of Directors

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Burlsworth led the Hogs’ ground attack in a 24-21 win at Auburn in 1998.

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SPORTS

CHANGING TIMES TOP 6 REASONS WHY SEC EXPANSION WILL HELP ARKANSAS FOOTBALL

Alex Collins ran for 76 of the Hogs’ 191 rushing yards in a 31-7 win over Texas in the 2014 Texas Bowl.

By Beaux Wilcox

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t took all of a few days for a curious, seemingly outlandish thing to become a reality.

Texas and Oklahoma locked hands like Thelma and Louise and drove right the hell off the cliff of the Big 12. (Subsequent landslide ensues, as it did when Arkansas fled the Southwest Conference 30 years prior.)

In the fanciful, surreal SEC expansion tale unfolding recently, many new schedules are postulated, and one keeps emerging: an SEC West that consists of five of the present seven members, with OU and UT joining up and Missouri shifting over.

The SEC East would absorb Alabama and Auburn. The gravity of this fact isn’t lost on anyone in Arkansas who remembers that Ben Cleveland and Jeremy Davis were responsible for the last points on the football field when the Hogs last beat the Crimson Tide.

Some would, of course, note that the addition of two reasonably, historically powerful football programs may not really help the Hogs. There’s plenty of room, at the infancy of this wild-assed scenario playing out, to speculate about all the rigors this new superconference will entail.

I’m going to take a more uplifting angle here.

There are six ways that SEC expansion plays to the Arkansas football program’s advantage, globally speaking.

THE ARTIFICIAL RIVALRY WITH MISSOURI BECOMES REAL… There are signs that a staid, manufactured annual bout with Mizzou could gain significant, immediate meaning.

Geography notwithstanding, the cross-division Battle Line game has been a sloppy byproduct of the conference’s prior expansion a decade-plus

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ago. Texas A&M’s lust to escape the Big 12 and UT’s shadow is, was, and forever will be, both understandable and transparent.

Missouri was in the sidecar. The Tigers admirably won the East twice with Gary Pinkel at the helm and continued to compete well under now-Hog defensive coordinator Barry Odom.

The Tigers, notably, own this “rivalry” thus far. The games have ranged from frustrating to boring, but there are signs of spark now that Sam Pittman and Eli Drinkwitz have one dandy back-and-forth battle behind them.

“I kind of like the rivalry we’ve got with Arkansas,” Drinkwitz said during the recent SEC Media Days.

“I don’t remember the last time they beat us, so I kind of like that one. And the Battle Line Rivalry, it’s pretty good for us.

I think we’ll just keep that one right now. That’s a good one.”

A divisional shift would clearly enhance that, and at the right time. Coming off that 50-48 game last November, and with the Hogs welcoming Mizzou this fall, there’s depth and meaning coming to this game for the first time since…well, ever. …AND BYGONE EAST RIVALRIES GET REKINDLED Obviously, Arkansas lost a “flex” cross-division game each year because it was tethered to an annual clash with Missouri. Now, if those two are paired in the West, the Hogs potentially see a nine-game league schedule with two

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SPORTS

President Richard Nixon was in attendance at Razorback Stadium for the 1969 ‘Game of the Century.’ Could the Arkansas-Texas series become near as meaningful again?

East matchups.

We don’t have to be shy about admitting the fact that pushing the Alabama programs off the annual schedule looks beneficial at present. But Arkansas still needs to play those teams, and in the context of a nine-game conference slate, the Hogs would conceivably play one or the other every third year.

And to be candid, the Hogs have played the East teams more competitively over the long haul anyway. Pittman’s squad rudely bumped off Tennessee, had Missouri on its heels until late, and competed gamely against both Georgia and Florida despite the obvious talent disparities at hand.

If this nine-game slate emerges, then the Hogs will potentially see their friends from the other side more regularly. Even if the East gains aggregate strength in the aforesaid scenario, Arkansas winds up with a more balanced schedule year to year.

A “FIXED” INTRA-DIVISION FOE WOULDN’T HURT In the newly expanded SEC, some cross-division games might still endure from year to year. For Arkansas, its fixed battle with Missouri was one such example.

Auburn would now play Georgia annu-

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ally as divisional foes; Alabama and Tennessee, long bitter foes, would do the same.

Arkansas’ newest “most likely East rival” presumably favors South Carolina again. The schools played each other every year for the first 22 seasons they were members and are joined at the proverbial hip after entering the SEC together.

And mind you, it’s been a good rivalry, too: Arkansas leads 13-10, but South Carolina steamrolled the Hogs the last three times (2012 and 2013, then 2017). Darren McFadden’s SEC-record rushing game came against the Gamecocks in 2007, and the 2011 battle in Fayetteville represented the first time the two programs faced off as Top 10 teams.

TRAVEL LOGISTICS FOR ARKANSAS FOOTBALL FANS IMPROVE A reshaped SEC West means that Arkansas finally resides in a division where all foes are in contiguous states. That means fans, if public health and safety protocols permit, can be more enthusiastic about road trips.

Obviously, Arkansas fans had precious little optimism about any trip to Tuscaloosa in the last decade or so. A few times, Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium hasn’t been welcoming, either. Especially in 2016, a nightmare which turned out to be

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Auburn’s largest margin of victory over a ranked opponent in program history.

There’s little question that the new SEC calls for Arkansas to head to Austin, Norman and Columbia more regularly.

Certainly, how this will move the winloss needle is hard to predict.

But Arkansas fans, particularly those in the more burgeoning northwest and central parts of the state, will beat a path to all those places more readily.

THE “POD” OR “QUAD” LAYOUT ISN’T PUNITIVE Your all new SEC’s 16-team lineup makes a four-division or “pod” scenario possible. That conceivably places the Hogs in a four-school unit with Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

But it might not be the only “districting” that makes sense. If Texas A&M ended up sharing a pod with Texas, Arkansas could find itself in a grouping with LSU and the Mississippi schools.

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This structure is novel for college athletics. It’s also pragmatic and potentially landscape-altering.

That alone engenders interest. Consider one of the best and most regularly replayed programs on the SEC Network is the channel’s documentary surrounding the genesis of the SEC Championship Game.

In past decades, divisional play flourished once smaller conferences consolidated into larger ones. The excitement factor ratcheted upward when the SEC grew in 1991, and another seismic change like that is coming.

TEXAS. DUH. Anyone my age or older knows that Texas truthfully wields the big cudgel in the Texas vs. Arkansas football rivalry.

It doesn’t stop us from having idyllic visions of closing the gap.

Texas fans fashionably, accurately assert that they don’t need or even want a

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rivalry with us. That’s predictably elitist, and yet still fair.

They also cannot deny the role Arkansas played in changing their own athletic landscape. Arkansas’ exit from the SWC triggered the slower but inevitable withering of that once iconic Southwestern Conference.

Texas didn’t have to scramble, necessarily. The Big 8 made its logical transition to the Big 12 thanks to UT leading other Southwest expats to safety. The Longhorns’ 30-year run since is a mercurial one, peaking with its 2006 Rose Bowl win over USC. There’s symmetry, then, to this remarriage. Both Arkansas and Texas lost a degree of shine in their respective transitions. Yet they’re both blessed with financial resources to compete and now have confidence in the coaches shepherding their rebuilds. Y’all admit it: you missed ’em a little, too.

This story first appeared on BestofArkansasSports.com.

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DISCOVERY ECONOMICS

PROTECTING OUR GROWTH INDUSTRIES: Q&A WITH DR. ARGELIA LORENCE, ASU

By AMP Staff A rice field in the Arkansas Delta.

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Dr. Argelia Lorence and ARA’s Jerry Adams

ore than 40 percent of the nation’s rice production is attributed to Arkansas rice farmers. In fact, no other state in the nation produces more rice than Arkansas, which contributes more than $6 billion to the state’s economy. Enhancing this industry through the application of cuttingedge science is crucial to the Arkansas economy.

Member and professor of metabolic engineering at Arkansas State University, has devoted her life to equipping farmers with the latest tools and technologies to maximize their yields and adapt to changing growing conditions.

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AMP: Much of your recent work centers around heat stress-levels on rice. How are the changing climate and extreme weather conditions affecting Arkansas’ No. 1 crop?

Dr. Lorence: Unfortunately, climate change is raising nighttime temperatures. We call this high night air temperature stress, or HNT stress, and it has two main effects in rice. First, it causes the yield to drop significantly. Second, it increases chalkiness, decreasing the quality and value of rice grains.

Globally, nights are becoming hotter at a higher rate than days are, and there is a 10 percent yield penalty for every 1oC increase in night temperature. Arkansas’ nighttime temperature

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has increased by 0.5oC, a 5 percent yield penalty that costs our state millions in revenue. Accelerating strategies to develop rice varieties able to thrive under more frequent hotter conditions is key.

AMP: You advocate for more weather stations near agricultural farms to reliably track temperature patterns in the rice growing regions. Specifically, what is required to meet that need?

Dr. Lorence: In a paper we published in 2021, one of the Ph.D. students on our team discovered that during the last four decades, night temperature has significantly increased in several of the U.S. rice-growing states. We also found that California is the state with the best weather station infrastructure. They have between three to five times more weather stations than other rice-growing states. (Arkansas, which more than doubles California’s rice output, currently maintains five stations.) This allows California to have more detail (a.k.a. higher granularity) and enhanced ability to model and predict how changing climate conditions may affect their crops.

AMP: You serve as director for the Arkansas State University phenomics facility. How does this facility serve Arkansas, especially in its relationship to our state’s agricultural community?

Dr. Lorence: Arkansas State was an early adopter of high-throughput plant phenotyping, or phenomics, in the United States. Because of this, we have optimized protocols to characterize the responses of plants growing under normal and stressful conditions. We acquired key instrumentation in 2011, and we’ve not only maintained it, but we’ve also been able to upgrade. This facility serves both academic users and industrial clients.

In addition, we can do a wide range of assays, from testing the effects of soil types, application of various biological products, germination assays, vigor assessment, growth measurements, plant health indicators and yield tests. The species we have the most experience with are crops such as rice, corn, soybean, tomato, and tobacco and model plants such as arabidopsis and marchantia. We can analyze seeds, plant tissue cultures, small plants and the vegetative growth of crops. We serve users from our region (Arkansas, Missouri and Texas) in addition to many other parts of the U.S. AMP: Food security is a global concern, and the U.S. is a global leader in food production. What steps can the country take to safeguard the nation’s food supply?

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Dr. Lorence: I spent two full days recently in a workshop — Feeding the Planet Sustainably — talking with 120 other scientists helping the National Science Foundation identify steps that the U.S. can take during the next two, five and 10plus years to fund research to safeguard food security of the United States and the world.

I had three big takeaways from the workshop. First, better integration between agronomy, breeding, biotechnology and computational and modelling approaches is needed to find solutions. Arkansas has these research capabilities and is working to grow and leverage them to find solutions.

A second big point is the need for regional investments and strategies, as different regions may be affected by a changing climate in various ways. The third is improved training of a diverse next-generation of students. I’ll slide in a fourth in that our collective research requires better integration with international counterparts.

AMP: Your work is important not just for Arkansas, but for the entire world’s food supply. What if funding weren’t an issue?

Dr. Lorence: I’d develop our phenomics capabilities at the greenhouse and field levels in Arkansas. This could serve different groups, including plant researchers, rice growers, soybean growers, cotton growers, corn and sorghum growers and people involved in the forestry industry. I would also promote developing a center to improve the resiliency of crops of importance to the Mississippi Delta region to heat, drought and diseases with emphasis in bringing to this region more experts in key areas such as genome editing, artificial intelligence and computational and modelling expertise.

AMP: What do you want the Arkansas business community and public officials to know about your research and how it’s making a difference?

Dr. Lorence: I would like the Arkansas business community to know that we have good ideas and promising results, and that additional investment would go a long way to help us make further progress in discovering novel markers to develop rice varieties that are more nutritious and resilient.

I would like public officials to know that we need their help in removing barriers to attract the best talent. Interdisciplinary and multi-cultural teams are needed to address the challenging problems we are facing. We welcome talent from anywhere and everywhere.

The ARA Academy of Scholars and Fellow is a community of strategic research leaders who strive to maximize the value of discovery and progress in the state. Learn more at ARAlliance.org.

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THE LAST WORD

LESSONS FROM A CAPE

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artin Scorsese caused quite a riff in the film world when he said that superhero movies were not “cinema” and that in them, “Nothing is at risk.”

He’s wrong; let’s just get that out of the way. But it’s not easy to just say that of one of the best filmmakers in history. And then, I suppose, he’s also right. It’s complicated.

I wouldn’t dare compare something like Iron Man to a masterpiece like No Country for Old Men, but I would argue that superhero flicks can be necessary, instrumental and, at times, better for the mind than “art” from an auteur.

Take Batman, for example — specifically, in most comic iterations and in Christopher Nolan’s film trilogy. He’s a person with no definitive superpowers and whose only real claim to fame is his surname — and that his parents were murdered in front of him when he was just a boy. He is forever burdened by a toxic revenge syndrome, paranoia and untreated grief. Bruce, er, Batman, more than likely suffers from PTSD, depression and who knows what else.

He’s flawed — deeply. For the most part, he’s found a way to channel his rage into doing good, but he also fails because of many of the aforementioned ailments.

He fails when Robin dies in A Death in the Family; he fails when Bane takes over Gotham in The Dark Knight Rises. And, every time, he rises from the ashes of failure and devastating loss to find a way to persevere, to endure — to live. When I was younger, Batman taught me that it’s OK to be imperfect and damaged; we all are, so much so that even he is. From him, we learned that “a hero can be anyone,” and that “it's not who we are underneath, but what we do that defines us.”

As a new father, lessons like these have an even greater weight now. The desire to

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BY DUSTIN JAYROE

be the right man for the job, to do right by my boy, is a desire unlike any I’ve ever felt.

Among those thoughts, amid a mind laden with anxiety, is the fear of failure. But I find real solace in knowing that when (not if) I do stumble along my son’s journey, I can lean on my old friend in Batman. At a pivotal moment, the caped crusader can help me pass on the lessons that I might lack the eloquence to adequately do alone. Or, even better, when my 15-month-old eventually becomes a 15-year-old with a know-it-all attitude who’s outgrown lame lessons from Dad, I can simply suggest a movie night with the much cooler Batman and trust he finds resonance.

Deep talks about life can be awkward with adolescents; superhero movies, when chosen wisely, can break the ice and help families get past that first wall.

COVID-19 has caused an unprecedented amount of strife in all varieties. But, we should not forfeit the opportunity to learn from this time, no matter how dark the shadows have become. Mental health struggles in every age group are on the rise, but declining is the stigma that used to surround the topic. Let’s not take this victory, however small, for granted.

I thought a lot about loss — that of life, that of normalcy — when watching Marvel’s WandaVision earlier this year.

(Spoilers ahead.) It’s a TV show built around a foundation of grief under the guise of “superheroes.”

It follows the characters Wanda Maximoff and Vision, who are in love. They live a literal sitcom life of happily-ever-after through the first few episodes. The only problem is: Vision is dead. He was killed right in front of Wanda in Avengers: Infinity War. As it turns out, her festered mental health afflictions caused Wanda to use her magic to put a Band-Aid on her problems.

She accidentally creates a fantasy world in which he is alive, and they are together.

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However, she finds out that this “fantasy” is based in reality, and she has essentially taken an entire town hostage, causing pain and suffering to innocent civilians while she attempted to mask her own.

The series’ resolution forces Wanda to say goodbye to this facade, which also means saying goodbye to Vision and their children. She’ll be alone again. Within this climax came one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve ever seen.

Wanda (talking about grief and mourning): “It's just like this wave washing over me again and again. It knocks me down, and when I try to stand up, it just comes for me again. … It's just gonna drown me.”

Vision: “No. No, it won’t.”

Wanda: “How do you know?”

Vision: “Because it can't be all sorrow, can it? … What is grief if not love persevering?”

Life, at least while we are on this Earth, can be riddled with anguish, heartache and tribulation. But there is no pain without pleasure, no sorrow without joy and no grief without love. Don’t be afraid to find lessons like this — for the whole family — in unlikely places. Like in movies you might have thought only good for popcorn and explosions. A

Dustin Jayroe is the editor of AY About You and the Arkansas Mental Health Guide.

His award-winning column series, “Deserts for Trees,” is produced exclusively for AY Media Group.

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