Stories from Friday, September 22, 2023

PARAGOULD, ARK — A mistrial was declared late Friday evening by Circuit Judge Pam Honeycutt after a Greene County jury declared themselves “hopelessly deadlocked” and unable to arrive at a unanimous verdict in the rape trial of Santiago G. Vasquez, Jr...

Era Guinette Sims, 74, of Monette, passed peacefully from this life Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023, at the Flo and Phil Jones Hospice House in Jonesboro. The daughter of the late Andrew and Virgie Williams Anthony, Guinette was born over two months premature, so her battle to live began at birth. ...

Evonne Callicott, 73, of Osceola, passed from this life Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn. She was born Jan. 22, 1950, to the late A.C. Henderson and Pauline Johnson in Osceola. Evonne was of the Baptist faith. In addition to her parents, Evonne was preceded in death by her husband, Frank Callicott; the father who raised her, Johnny Moore Sr.; and one son, Kenneth Callicott...

BLYTHEVILLE— The Blytheville City Council met for their monthly meeting Tuesday night at the Ritz Civic Center. With all six council members present the biggest issue of the night came from an item not on the agenda. Roughly 21 minutes into the meeting, Councilman Matt Perrin (Ward 2, Position 2) made a motion to “amend the agenda to include an executive decision to discuss an employee’s performance.”...

The Blytheville Humane Society is in need of dry dog and cat food to fill the shelves of the food pantry. Pam Ford with the Humane Society said the pantry is to help animal owners to be able to care for their animals. “Right now is a difficult time for people and we get calls all of the time,” Ford said. “We seem to have greater numbers of dogs and cats coming in.”...

The Mississippi County Regional Chamber of Commerce, through a sponsorship from Nucor Steel Arkansas and Nucor-Yamato Steel, will host a countywide clean-up on Friday, Sept. 29. Students from the Gosnell and Blytheville school districts will participate, and citizens are urged to participate by cleaning up their private property or joining in litter pick-up...

Naomi Clark, owner and operator of Hasbrook Hives of Bono, started beekeeping at the age of 15 and loves to share information when and where she is invited. Naomi is the daughter of Manila Elementary deaf interpreter Jennifer Clark and has been the guest speaker at Manila Elementary...

BLYTHEVILLE—The Armorel Tigers and Lady Tigers swept the 1A-3 District golf tournament Tuesday at Thunder Bayou Golf Links.  On the men side, The Tigers defeated their conference opponents by shooting 241.  Placing second was the Hillcrest Screaming Eagles with a 277 score. Crowley’s Ridge Academy Pioneers shot 342 and the Marked Tree Indians shot a 371. ...

BLYTHEVILLE- The Blytheville Chickasaws opened conference play in the victory column  Friday night at Haley Field with a 54-0 victory over the Harrisburg Hornets. The Chicks (2-2 overall, 1-0 conference) were led in large part by sophomore running back Courtney Rogers with his first three carries all going to the house...

GOSNELL – Keagan Statler’s two touchdown runs in the final six minutes propelled Highland to a 26-25 comeback win over the Gosnell Pirates Friday. Highland halted a 10-game losing streak to the Pirates which dated back to 2012. The Rebels (3-1, 1-0 4A-3) trailed 25-14 but Statler burst through the line for a 2-yard touchdown run with 6 minutes to go in the game. The two-point pass failed but the gap had been closed to 25-20...