Trump shakes up transition team, elevates Pence s role./SEE A5
VOL. 113 • NO. 317 • 28 PAGES
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November 12, 2016
Arkansas best community newspaper, serving Arkansas best communities Copyright Š2016 TheJonesboroSun
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Loss of store could bring opportunities BY KEITH INMAN Sun Staff Writer inman@jonesborosun.com
JONESBORO — The sadness of watching a longtime retailer wind down its business and its workers lose their jobs can also bring new opportunities. That’s the case with Kmart,
which began liquidating its store at the corner of Highland Drive and South Caraway Road in late September. Kmart could be replaced by as many as five dierent businesses and double the number of jobs, a real estate agent said. Several national retailers
have expressed interest in the 87,543-square-foot space as soon as Kmart announced its plans, Barry Phillips of Phillips Investments said. Kmart has leased the space continuously since October 1980, Phillips
Staci Vandagriff | The Sun
Please see KMART | A2
Marqusha Evans of Jonesboro heads back to her car after shopping Friday afternoon at Kmart.
Deliberation starts in suit over sex ed BY NEAL EMBRY Sun Staff Writer neal@jonesborosun.com
According to the ordinance, it’s unlawful for any person under the age of 18 to on the streets between midnight and 5 a.m. on Sunday through Thursday nights and from 1 to 5 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. Since 2014 there have been 17 incidents of curfew violations that weren’t attached to another crime.
WILSON — Deliberations in a lawsuit filed by a former Rivercrest Elementary School sixth-grade math teacher against the school district are under way in Mississippi County Circuit Court. The lawsuit alleges the school district fired Anthony C. Bridgeforth without proper cause, violating the Arkansas Fair Teacher Dismissal Act. Bridgeforth is seeking $3 million in damages. Bridgeforth, who now resides in Memphis, was fired after 10 parents complained about a lecture Bridgeforth gave in April 2015 to about 100 students that was alleged to be of a sexual nature. Bridgeforth claims in the lawsuit, which was filed in June 2015, that he caught multiple students sending sexually explicit text messages, propositioning each other and teachers for sex and attempting to view pornography in class. After the discovery, Bridgeforth said he delivered a lecture warning his students about the dangers of premarital sex, telling them “having sex at their age could ruin their respective lives,� according to the lawsuit. Students were allowed to leave the room if they felt uncomfortable. Parents complained to Superintendent Mike Smith, who suspended Bridgeforth and recommended the school board terminate his contract. In the lawsuit, Bridgeforth cites a letter he received from Smith, where Smith said Bridgeforth talked about more than the dangers of premarital sex. “You (Bridgeforth) materially deviated from the math curriculum you were supposed to be teaching, and instead spoke to the students on a wide variety of age-inappropriate topics, including but not limited to, explaining the mechanics of heterosexual intercourse, prostitution, multiple sexual
Please see ORDINANCE | A2
Please see LAWSUIT | A2
Staci Vandagriff | The Sun
Veterans Day dedication
Cody Hilderbran, a Westside High School Air Force JROTC cadet, participates in the walking guard Friday afternoon in front of the veterans memorial at Craighead County Courthouse during the Veterans Day holiday.
Ordinance sprung from ’80s cruising BY STEPHEN SIMPSON Sun Staff Writer ssimpson@jonesborosun.com
JONESBORO — Back in the 1980s, the city of Jonesboro passed a city ordinance to corral what they believed were out-of-control youngsters. Now the seldom used ordinance is law enforcement’s way of letting parents know what is going on with their children late at night. Three juveniles were recently stopped by a police oďŹƒcer at 2 a.m. and cited with curfew violations, po-
lice said. The incident occurred at the intersection of Flint Street and West Oak Avenue. An oďŹƒcer said he was in the area in reference to a vehicle break-in that had recently occurred when three suspects fled the scene. He said while he was traveling he noticed three juveniles walking on the sidewalk. The juveniles were then transported to the police department to be picked up by their parents, and curfew violation forms were completed for all three subjects, according to the police report.
When is the curfew enforced?
Students take assembly to veterans BY DIXON LAND Sun Staff Writer dland@jonesborosun.com
JONESBORO — Packing into the mid-sized dinning room at St. Bernards Senior Citizens Center, Bill Brown quietly found a chair toward the front of the room. Dressed casually and walking calmly, Brown wasn’t instantly noticed by all in the room. As he took his seat, a few high school students talked with him briefly about his service. Even at 18 years old, the students did not realize they were talking to a former Army Green Beret, or what
the students would know him as — U.S. Army Special Forces. Students filed into the small gathering of war veterans and their families. The students, from Nettleton High School, had already been to another nursing home before and were headed to another two after. The visits were a part of Nettleton’s Traveling Veterans Program, a 30-minute program performed for veterans who couldn’t attend a veterans’ assembly at a local school. “I really applaud the school for doing this,� Brown said. “To come here among the ones that
can’t physically get out means the world to them and me. They took the time to come out here and not make it about them, but about those men and women who were called to serve their country.� Nettleton counselor Sandra Taylor is behind the event. Taylor has been organizing Veterans Day assemblies at Nettleton High School for years, but after some discussion with a few veterans, she realized a need wasn’t being met. “This is the very first time Please see ASSEMBLY | A2
Dixon Land | The Sun
Veterans watch as Nettleton High School’s dance team performs as a part of the first Nettleton Traveling Veterans Day program. The program was designed for veterans who could not travel to a local school to attend a Veterans Day assembly.
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