Stories from Wednesday, December 20, 2023

BLYTHEVILLE— Thursday night was an end of an era as community members and long time employees, as well as past employees, stopped by the Mississippi County Regional Chamber of Commerce in Blytheville to celebrate nearly 90 years of the Sudbury Services, Inc. owning of the KLCN radio station, and the retiring of Harold Sudbury, Jr...

The Mississippi County retired school personnel held their December meeting and Christmas party on Thursday at the Blytheville Public Library. President William Wiley welcomed the Manila sixth grade choir and director Rodney Cooper. The choir sang several holiday songs. The audience expressed their appreciation and thanks to the group for the excellent performance...

Buffalo Island School Board met Tuesday, Dec. 12, and worked through a short agenda. “We have a tight budget this year,” Superintendent Gaylon Taylor said. “Our land revenue is beginning to come in at around $61,000. Last year it was $44,000. We have building fund that we plan to invest just sitting there right now.”...

Helping families in transition was the goal of the Blytheville School District and Dr. Veronica Perkins, superintendent, at the Christmas giveaway on Thursday. Food bags, personal hygiene items, toys and coats were distributed at the Chickasaw High School arena...

Leachville Council held their last meeting of 2023 on Monday night approving the purchase of a vehicle, appointing a new clerk-treasurer, and hearing department reports. Mayor Rodney Robertson opened the meeting welcoming everyone. Following the approval of the minutes and financial review, Lt. ...

Studio 42 & Co. presented the live production of A Christmas Carol at the Melody Theater in Leachville on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 15-17. The director Sarah Poe was assisted by Ethan Poe. They had a large cast of local talent in the performance...

Family Movie Night at The Melody Theater, 301 S. Main St, Leachville, will be held at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 22. The distributor of this film does not permit the announcement of the title in print, but it is an animated Christmas favorite. Call 888-7-MELODY (888-763-5639) for complete details...

Veteran Fred Greathouse with Veterans Helping Veterans, presented a plaque and statue to Harvey James of Leachville. Harvey, 86, is an Army Veteran. Greathouse expressed his appreciation to James for his service. (Courtesy Photo)

There will be lots of changes with regard to Arkansas Activities Association conference alignment in the 2024-2026 cycle. In Class 2A, the 2A-2 will pick up Izard County Consolidated in the upcoming cycle. The Cougars spent the last two seasons in 8-man and will be playing 11-man football for the first time. Former 2A-2 member Clarendon moves to the 2A-4 for the next two seasons...

LUXORA - The first annual Warren Barbee Colt Classic featured nine teams from eastern Arkansas, including seven teams from Mississippi and Poinsett counties, with action taking place at the Charles Strong Center in Luxora. The first game pitted two of those northeastern Arkansas teams in tradition rich Marked Tree and Osceola and the Seminoles (3-8) pulled away in the third quarter to post the 60-50 win...

LUXORA – After back-to-back conference losses entering the Colt Classic, the Gosnell Pirates righted their ship with a 67-50 win over East Poinsett County Friday in the Warren Barbee Colt Classic at Luxora. Reeling from 29- and 35-point defeats to Rivercrest and Corning, Gosnell (4-3) gained the lead late in the first quarter against EPC and never relinquished it...

Just two games into the their season, the Rivercrest Colts are still trying to get their basketball legs after a run to the 4A State Championship football game. Led by sophomore Fran Robinson’s 17 points and senior Koby Turner’s 14, the Colts (2-0) outlasted the Helena Cougars, 54-45, Friday in day one action of the Warren Barbee Colt Classic...

JONESBORO - Three Manila Lions scored in double figures as the Mississippi County visitors defeated Ridgefield Christian 77-38 in boys basketball action Thursday. Junior guard Rex Farmer poured in 21 points, while senior guard Luke Kirk added 17 points and sophomore guard Carson Baltimore had 11 points for Manila (5-6)...

A second quarter power outage at the Charles Strong Center in Luxora could be blamed on the surging shooting of the Manila Lions and the Trumann Wildcats. For a stretch midway in the second period, the two teams combined to make five of six shots – four nothing-but-net three-pointers – as the teams traded buckets in a tight three-point game. ...

MANILA - Manila’s Rex Farmer and Luke Kirk combined to score 50 points and the Lions went on to defeat the Harrisburg Hornets 70-44 Tuesday at the Lions Den in Manila. The Lions jumped out to an 18-7 lead after one period and led 35-19 at the half. Manila extended its lead to 54-35 entering the final period...

MANILA - The Manila Lady Lions outscored Piggott 29-4 in the second period to open up at 45-9 halftime lead enroute to a 68-36 win over the Lady Mohawks in Conference 3A-3 senior girls basketball action Thursday at the Lions Den in Manila. Manila racked up 11 steals, most of which came in the opening two quarters, to build their 36-point halftime advantage. Manila’s lead was 56-23 heading into the final period of play...

By STEVE KNOX Sports Connection Team HARRISBURG - The Manila Lady Lions opened 3-3A Conference play with a convincing 52-26 victory over the Harrisburg Lady Hornets Monday at the Hornets Nest in Harrisburg. Manila led from start to finish as they improved to 7-4, 1-0 on the season...

OSCEOLA - Osceola’s struggles this season continued Thursday as the Harrisburg Lady Hornets came to Seminole Arena and went home with a 6--25 Conference 3A-3 victory. The Lady Seminoles struggled all game long to find their range from the field as the Lady Hornets took a 19-8 lead after one period and extended their lead to 40-17 at the break. Harrisburg would push the lead to 33 points (56-23) by the end of the third period...

Osceola played hard but fell to conference foe Corning . Osceola’s Neveah Jones led the Lady Seminoles with 20 points. The game was close for much of the first half, until Corning closed the first half with a 12-6 run to take a 39-26 lead at the break...

Corning stayed atop the Conference 3-3A standings with an impressive 102-67 victory over the visiting Gosnell Pirates Thursday at Corning. Bobcats senior guard Jayce Couch poured in 44 points while draining seven three-pointers as Corning steadily pulled away from the Pirates throughout the game...

MARKED TREE - The Marked Tree Lady Indians improved to 9-1 on the season with a 62-58 victory over Rivercrest Thursday at Marked Tree. The loss snapped the Lady Colts five game winning streak. The game went back and forth until the final minutes when the Lady Indians established a small lead and held on to claim the non-conference win...

Riverside had four players score in double figures as they defeated Pocahontas 68-50 Tuesday at Riverside. Riverside led 20-16 after one quarter and 38-27 at the break. The Rebels lead was 52-39 heading into the final eight minutes of play. Brayeson Timms led the Rebels with 19 points, while Grayson Taylor added 16 points. Cash Gillis had 14 points and Thatcher Durham chipped in with 10 points as Riverside improved to 15-3 overall...

LAKE CITY - Riverside jumped out to a 15-point halftime lead and never looked back in a 60-23 victory over East Poinsett County in Conference 2-3A senior girls action Wednesday. The Lady Rebels would push their lead to 30 points (50-20) by the end of the third period...

Riverside (16-3, 4-1) got 26 points from Cash Gillis and 25 points from Brayeson Timms as the Rebels beat EPC (4-2, 3-1) 68-33 this past Thursday in Lake City. Timms scored the first points of the game on a jumper before Dennis Gaines, Jr. canned a three-ball for the Warriors to make it 3-2 early in the game. ...

BIC (10-6, 3-2) came back from a 19 point deficit at the end of three quarters to force overtime. Nicholas Patterson scored eight points in the overtime period to lead the Mustangs to a 77-70 win over Rector in 2A-3 conference action this past Friday at The MAC in Monette...

CAMPBELL— The Armorel Tigers defeated the Delta C-7 Chargers Friday night in the consolation championship game of the Campbell Christmas Tournament 78-62.  AHS led 39-24 at the half.  The Tigers were led by Kadin Knott and Jackson Welch with 17-points apiece. Senior Barrett Crocker and sophomore Ben Braswell chipped in 16-points, apiece. ...

MONETTE - Buffalo Island Central used a strong team effort paced by four players scoring in double figures as they improved to 2-2 in Conference 2A-3 play with a 60-54 victory over visiting Earle. The Mustangs were paced by Jax Whitley’s 20 point effort. Leo Contreras added 16 points, while Nicholas Patterson had 12 points. Riley Whitehead added 10 points and notched a double, double with 14 rebounds as well...

PALESTINE, AR— The Armorel Lady  Tigers defeated the Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots Thursday night in a road contest, 45-40. The Lady Tigers led 21-17 at the half and 32-22 after three quarters.  The Lady Patriots outscored the AHS 18-13 in the final frame. ...

ARMOREL— The Armorel Lady Tigers hosted the Lady Thunderbirds Friday night but it would be the road team winning 52-45. The Lady Tigers lead 9-7 after the first quarter.  A scary moment came towards the end of the second quarter as Lady Tigers senior guard Anna Lloyd was injured on a loose ball with an apparent shoulder injury. Lloyd sat out the remainder of the game. ...

Trumann golfer Jenna Hall is a great example of what hard work will do. Hall set goals her ninth-grade year and worked hard to improve her game. Hall made the Class 4A state golf tournament in September and received an offer to play golf at the collegiate level. Hall signed her letter of intent to play golf at Blue Mountain Christian University Wednesday...

Trumann senior Cobey Riddle signed his letter of intent Wednesday to continue his golf career at Blue Mountain Christian University in Blue Mountain, Mississippi. Riddle captured his third consecutive all-state honor this past season after finishing as the state runner-up in the Class 4A state golf tournament. Riddle also qualified for the state tournament all four years and the overall state tournament once...

Weslie Dewayne Crouse, 72, former longtime Manila resident, passed from this life Monday, Dec. 18, 2023, at his home in Corning. Born in Manila to the late Larie Wesley and Vermell Williams Crouse, he was a 1970 graduate of Manila High School and later served in the United States Air Force. ...

Sandra Gayle Hout Malloy (Gayle) passed away peacefully on Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. She had battled dementia for many years. She was born in Paragould to Martha and Wayne Hout. She graduated from Monette High School in Monette and earned a Bachelor of Education from Arkansas State University. Gayle enjoyed a joyful childhood, actively participating in school and fostering a vibrant social life. She loved riding horses and was active in the Craighead County 4H...