LITTLE ROCK — PAYING IT FORWARD:
A reader called Paper Trails the other day to report on a trio he's seen lately working in the neglected, overgrown and litter-filled Haven of Rest cemetery in Little Rock at the corner of 12th and Rodney Parham. The caller was pretty sure the man, wearing sweat pants and sunglasses, on the riding mower was local philanthropist Jennings Osborne.
"Yes, it's me," Osborne told Paper Trails when asked about it. "I read the article about it in the paper, and thought these people could use the help."
So, for more than a week, his family has been working there from about 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. about five or six days a week. He mows, wife Mitzi rakes, and daughter Breezy bags. Osborne estimates he'll have the entire 17-acre cemetery mowed afteranother week and a half.
"If I can get it under control, then I can maintain it," he says of the overgrown historic cemetery, founded 77 years ago that became the resting place of some of Little Rock's most prominent black residents.
The work is hard, hot and time-consuming, but he says it's a small inconvenience.
"The people who are buried here were inconvenienced their whole lives through no fault of their own," he says, referring to racial discrimination many, if not all, experienced. "It's the least we can do for them."
ARKIE JOES:
The recently released summer flick G.I.
Joe: The Rise of Cobra has at least a couple of Arkansas connections.
Little Rock native Mitch Gates (Mills High, class of '88) served as a computer graphics supervisor on the film, and West Memphis native Johnny Wilson, who moved to Benton as a teen (Benton High, class of '89) served as digital effects artist and compositor and provided a sound byte as an unseen announcer near the film's end.
TRIVIAL PURSUITS:
Remember Lee-Ann Whitlock, mentioned here for her recent appearance on a prime time special airing of Who wants to be a Millionaire? (where she incorrectly answered the $25,000 question and was bumped back to $1,000)?
The rest of the story?
She's married to Little Rock radiologist Shane Whitlock, whom Paper Trails has written about in the past for his winnings on Jeopardy!
- first in 1996 as a college student who won more than $30,000 and as a former show champ who returned in March 2005 to score another $30 grand-plus.
And guess what? He was recently called to appear on the daytime version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?.
He'll tape his show soon in New York.
JUMPING THE GUN(BUNNIES):
There's a change to former Little Rock-based 1980s pop rock band Gunbunnies frontman and songwriter Chris Maxwell's free solo show at Satellite Cafe in the Heights, mentioned here earlier. The show originally set for Saturday has been changed to 9 p.m., today.
OOPS:
The last name of the couple who live near Sherwood and recently found 16 cats dumped in their yard was misspelled. It's DeSio.
Paper Trails regrets the error.
Paper Trails appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Contact Linda Caillouet at (501) 399-3636 or at lcaillouet@arkansasonline.com.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 08/28/2009