Looking back over the past year there were good news stories in this newspaper, sad ones and a few criminal cases to report, but all in all it appears good news triumphed over the bad.
The first week of 2013 began with the arrest by Washington County Sheriff's Office deputies of four Prairie Grove residents following the beating death of Ronnie Lee Bradley, 48, also of Prairie Grove.
Bradley's body was discovered on Dec. 27, 2012.
Heather Swain, James Patton, Anthony Swinford and Timothy Swinford were initially charged with capital murder and felony kidnapping charges.
Anthony Swinford pleaded guilty in November to Bradley's killing and was sentenced to two consecutive 40-year terms at the Arkansas Department of Correction.
Timothy William Swinford pleaded guilty last month in Washington County Circuit Court to being an accomplice to first-degree murder and kidnapping. The plea bargain allowed Swinford to avoid the death penalty.
Swinford was sentenced to 80 years at the Arkansas Department of Correction with 30 years suspended. Swinford will have to serve 35 years before becoming eligible for parole. He was given credit for 360 days of jail time served.
Two defendants remain in the case, Heather Swain and James Patton. The two are charged with accomplice to capital murder and kidnapping.
Prosecutors recently announced they aren't seeking the death penalty against them. Swain and Patton face 10 to 40 years or life in prison if convicted of the capital murder charge. They also face 10 to 40 years or life on the related kidnapping charges.
Swain has a hearing on all pending motions set for Jan. 3.
Both are being held without bond in the Washington County Detention Center.
New Facilities
Farmington School Board in February approved a construction contract with Hight Jackson Associates architectural firm for a new Farmington High School basketball arena and fine arts center to be located on Highway 170.
The projected cost of an 18,000 square foot fine arts center and 55,000 square foot basketball area is $12 million. This is considered the first phase of a new high school campus.
Prairie Grove voters cast ballots this year for a 6-mill property tax increase for the Prairie Grove School District, so that city too will have additional education space in the works with a new primary school campus, a new high school basketball gym and storm shelter for the safety of students and for use by the community after school hours.
Budget Cuts
Automatic budget cuts that went into effect on March 1 were soon felt by parents, teachers and directors of the Washington County Head Start program.
Washington County Program Director Brenda Zedlitz said in April the families who had children at the Lincoln Head Start Center and other pre-school centers in the county would have to find an alternative to the centers, because childhood learning centers in the county would shut down 13 days early, which they did.
In September, Zedlitz said due to the budget cuts the Lincoln center had only one classroom this year.
New Libraries
Residents in both Lincoln and Farmington will have new public libraries this year.
Lincoln will soon see the doors of a new Lincoln Public Library open. The new library, located on the downtown square. will have 10,000 square feet with two conference rooms, Wi-Fi, 20 new computers, separate areas for children, youth and adults, as well as a coffee and lounge area.
A grand opening will be scheduled soon, according to Mayor Rob Hulse.
The city of Farmington in April bought the former Pizza Breadeaux building across from the Farmington Post Office for a new Farmington public library.
The building also had been used as a daycare center.
The city council agreed to pay $330,000. Remodeling on the facility began in the fall and is now completed. Library employees are planning to move everything into the new building on Jan. 7-9.
New Principals
Jon D. Purifoy was hired as the new Farmington High School principal. Purifoy, who was an associate principal with Marshall High School in Marshall, Texas, started July 1.
According to his resume, Purifoy has been in education since 1994. Before Marshall, he worked as a health teacher and junior high and high school coach for the Jefferson Independent School District in Jefferson, Texas.
Purifoy and his wife Amy, an elementary school teacher in Farmington, have three daughters.
Lincoln High School, too, had a new principal hired in July.
Courtney Jones was assistant principal at Mayflower Middle School before accepting the position and moving to Lincoln with her husband and three children.
Jones had spent 13-and-a-half years in education before being hired in Lincoln. She taught math and science in grades 7-12 before working as assistant principal. She also taught at the Jackson County School District in northeast Arkansas.
Jones grew up and graduated high school at Newport.
New Superintendent
Clay Hendrix turned in his resignation in May as superintendent of the Lincoln Consolidated School District to take a position with the Springdale School District, which had the Lincoln school board immediately seeking potential candidates to fill the position.
Though the board had 17 apply for the position and interviewed several candidates, board members ultimately decided to hire someone already familiar with the district -- Mary Ann Spears, who had been with the district for seven years and had been the high school principal.
Spears took over the superintendent's position on July 1. She also currently serves as president of the Lincoln Kiwanis club and is a member of the Lincoln Community Alliance.
New Assistant
Missy Hixson of Prairie Grove was promoted to assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction in June. Hixson, a former curriculum coordinator, had been with the Prairie Grove school system at the time she accepted the new position.
Hixson's responsibilities include curriculum for kindergarten through 12th grade, testing, professional development and federal programs.
Hixson has been in education 32 years with 25 of those years as a classroom teacher.
Budget Cuts
Farmington, Prairie Grove and Lincoln senior centers also suffered from federally mandated budget cuts, which could seriously hamper the Meals On Wheels program, but with some fundraising and donations the centers have been able to continue the program through the year.
Cuts totaled $11,504 for Lincoln, $5,095 for Prairie Grove and $3,465 for Farmington.
Official Resigns
Dan Ledbetter of Farmington resigned in November as public works director a day before he was charged with theft, a Class B felony.
He was in charge of the public works department and responsible for code enforcement, building permits and inspections, plan reviews and enforcing the sign ordinance.
Ledbetter turned himself in to the sheriff's office and admitted to the theft charges of selling building permits to a local builder for a sum of money and depositing into his business account rather than distributing and reporting the money to the city of Farmington.
The loss to Farmington was estimated at $33,000, according to the arrest warrant.
The city has decided to make changes to the position of public works director and split the duties into two separate positions, according to Mayor Ernie Penn.
Ledbetter pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of theft of property by deception in a Dec. 9 arraignment hearing in Washington County Circuit Court.
Early Winter
Winter unofficially arrived early bringing freezing rain, sleet and snow to the area earlier last month.
Slick roads in the area caused several wrecks though no one was seriously injured. Snow accumulation was 7-8 inches in west Washington County. Close to record low temperatures kept the ice accumulation beneath the snow from being cleared off right away, resulting in multiple school days missed by area students.
Farmington students missed five days of schools. Prairie Grove students missed six days and Lincoln students missed seven days. Farmington, Prairie Grove and Lincoln school districts had to scramble to determine how to work in snow days. All three districts have extended the first semester into January and will make up the snow days in a number of ways, including Saturday classes and going to school on federal holidays.
Runners
Anyone need inspiration for the New Year? Remember these two fellas who have run in marathons in 2013?
Koei Nakanishi, 78, of Farmington, took up running at 52 years-old and has been running ever since.
Nakanishi said in March that he has retired from three different careers but doesn't plan to retire from running marathons.
Born in Hawaii, he served in the U.S. Air Force for 22 years then went to work at the Skippy Peanut Butter plant in Little Rock. He was there a little more than 19 years and made a move to Farmington, where he went to work landscaping for the University of Arkansas for the next 12 years.
Nakanishi's first race was the Pepsi 10K. He has raced in the Boston Marathon, the White Rock Marathon, the U.S. Air Force Marathon but now only runs in the Hogeye Marathon each year.
Ed Marshall, 68, a former Lincoln High School teacher and Vietnam veteran, spends part of each day running.
In February, he put his running skills to work to benefit Lincoln Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4675 by traveling to Fort Worth for the 35th annual Cowtown Marathon.
Marshall trained for the marathon and pledges were accepted to benefit the VFW.
Marshall who often runs each day for five miles down the road in Cave Hill near his home, went to the Lincoln High School track to practice. Four laps around the track equals one mile. Marshall would run 20 laps for five miles and 40 laps for 10 miles.
Marshall completed the marathon in 2 hours, 45 minutes, 56 seconds, better than more than 5,000 other runners.
Marshall served 22 years in the U.S. Navy and retired as Master Chief Petty Officer.
General News on 01/01/2014