Lyings, tigers and beers, oh my. And that was all just in the closing months of 2012, what with political promises, homegrown coach Gus Malzahn heading to Auburn and St. Louis-based Schlafly Beer entering the Arkansas market.
Other stuff happened, too. A lot, actually. Sometimes it was so much you struggle to recall it all. That’s ok. We have archives. And we’ve dug up some of the past year’s highlights to relive all over again. Sadly, there were some heartaches, too. Too many, in fact. They may be tough to get over, but that doesn’t mean we should forget them.
And the world is still here, despite predictions to the contrary. So, there’s that. Plus all of this:
January
The Great Geese Crisis of Aught Eleven ended in harmony when North Little Mayor Patrick Hays officially withdrew a proposed ordinance that would have allowed a controlled hunt of the uppity geese who were becoming such a nuisance in Burns Park. With input from upset residents, Hays instead opted to pursue non-lethal methods, ultimately hiring a dog to chase away the unwanted fowl.
February
For the first time in more than 80 years, the Little Rock White Pages were not delivered door to door by default. Phone company AT&T, citing a shrinking page count and wholesale landline abandonment (which is above the national average in Arkansas), opted to make them delivered by special request only, still free. Yellow Pages remained unaffected, as AT&T’s tracking indicated 78 percent of customers still use them. Take that, Internet.
March
Bedecked in all its disco finery and still offering the largest medal around, the Little Rock Marathon celebrated its 10th running. Results of the full 26.2-mile race included male winner Mark Chepses and local favorite female winner Leah Thorvilson, who took the title for the fourth year, well, running. The event was not without sadness, however, as local man Michael Kelly, 37, was taken from the course for medical attention at mile 11 and pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after, the second fatality in the race’s history.
April
Gee, did anything even happen in April? Didn’t it just pass by all lamb-like? Not quite. Razorback Nation learned certain details about head football coach Bobby Petrino that came to light after his motorcycle accident on April 1, of all days. Details like having a former graduate student mistress whom he hired to work in his department. Ruh roh. Petrino was summarily fired April 10, which might have gotten a mention or two in headlines afterward.
May
Little Rock became unoccupied. That is, the Occupy Little Rock encampment, which had been moved to a city-owned parking lot at Fourteenth and Ferry in October after a brief stint at the President Clinton Center, was removed. The group had been allowed to remain under a special permit issued by the city, originally open-ended. But in April an expiration date was added requiring the seemingly permanent tent city to vacate by May 16 in anticipation of summer traffic at events like Riverfest. All but four Occupants left, and those were (peacefully) arrested for disorderly conduct. Police then cleared the site.
June
Who could pay attention to the news with all the heat? I mean, honestly. Months without appreciable rainfall left more than 80 percent of the state in conditions of severe drought. That meant higher electric bills all around, and water shortages even became a problem in some rural communities. And livestock farmers will tell you the summer’s heat is still going to be felt, particularly in meat prices in the coming months as the market tends to lag behind when it comes to herd management.
July
July was a notable month in food, too, for more reasons than one. After a two-year hiatus, decades-old Main Street staple The Box reopened on Seventh Street. Its new digs were styled to be a rehabbed dive, and just so as not to lose the essential character of the old joint, the grill was hauled all the way over to make the burgers taste just the same. Also in food news, former Little Rocker JoAnn Taylor shuttered the Georgetown One Stop to retire. Home to fried catfish pulled right out of the White River, the place and its grub were the stuff of legend.
August
The world turned its eyes to London (starting in July, actually) to pay attention to swimming and gymnastics for the first time in four years. Michael Phelps proved beatable, but Gabby Douglas did not, winning hearts and golds in individual and team performances. Meanwhile Arkansans cheered on a dozen former Razorbacks in various events, especially track and field competitions. Among them Tyson Gay earned silver on the men’s 4x100 relay team.
September
Yeah, remember that whole coaching kerfuffle in April? Welllll, it sort of maybe kinda came up again after interim head coach John L. Smith took a then-No. 8 ranked Razorback team into War Memorial Stadium against presumed cupcake Louisiana-Monroe and blew a 21-point third quarter lead to lose in overtime. To make things worse, star quarterback Tyler Wilson was knocked out of the game and could not return the following week for Alabama, a game in which the Hogs were routed 52-0. All pretense of Smith being anything but interim pretty much ended.
October
Not content to go out quietly, October gave the nation a powerful punch at its end with the coming of Superstorm Sandy. She lived up to that intimidating doomsday moniker, affecting the East Coast from Florida to Maine. Though only Category 1 at landfall in the U.S., the storm was the largest Atlantic Seaboard hurricane on record by size and brought everything from flooding to blizzard conditions. She impacted 24 states, millions lost power and 131 U.S. fatalities are attributed to the storm.
November
Finally we had elections. Facebook feeds became only marginally less hostile. On the national scale it meant no change in the White House, but Arkansas’ House of Representatives and Senate went to majority Republican control for the first time since “robber baron” was a legitimate career aspiration. Also, an initiative to allow medical marijuana came up 30,000 votes short of passing, a narrow margin when more than 1 million were cast.
December
It’s a struggle to find words for December. The news isn’t hard to recall, and that’s what makes it so difficult. On Dec. 14, just three days ago as of this writing, a gunman armed with a rifle and two pistols forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and opened fire. Twenty children and six adults were killed at the school. The shooter, identified as 20-year-old Adam Lanza, also killed his mother before the attack and took his own life in the massacre. A community and a country remain in mourning.