Cathy Frye
Stories by Cathy
State park long time in making
posted: 05/19/2013 4:36 a.m. Discuss
MARIANNA — For more than 40 years, Arkansas officials scrutinized land along the Mississippi River, hoping to find an area to create a state park.
Phillip County court hears jail financing options
posted: 05/15/2013 5:20 a.m. Discuss
HELENA-WEST HELENA — Members of the Phillips County Quorum Court were overwhelmed Tuesday night by the amount of planning and money needed to reopen the county’s decrepit jail. As a result, the justices of the peace readily agreed to an architect’s suggestion that he put off his presentation until another meeting.
Ex-UCA official’s defense loses bid to put prosecutors on stand
posted: 05/11/2013 4:57 a.m. Discuss
Attorneys for Jack Gillean — the former chief of staff at the University of Central Arkansas charged with felony commercial burglary in a test-cheating scandal — weren’t allowed to put prosecutors on the witness stand during a change-of venue pretrial hearing Friday.
Henderson’s ex-chief adept administrator, loved the classroom
posted: 05/07/2013 3:44 a.m. Discuss
When Charles Dunn — who served as president of Henderson State University in Arkadelphia for 22 years — decided to retire in 2008, he did so with a specific goal in mind.
Closed four years, jail ready to reopen
posted: 05/05/2013 4:19 a.m. Discuss
ASHDOWN — The Little River County jail — which closed in January 2009 after failing a state inspection — has been extensively renovated and will reopen this week, much to the relief of the county judge, justices of the peace and the sheriff.
Sheriff closes lockup found unsafe, dirty
posted: 05/01/2013 12:03 a.m. Comments 3
HELENA-WEST HELENA — Phillips County closed its jail Tuesday after a state inspection last month found that some of the jail’s locks didn’t work, inmates had easy access to materials they could fashion into weapons and human waste was overflowing onto cell floors.
’99 crash victim’s family gives burn unit $700,000
posted: 04/24/2013 3:33 a.m. Comment 1
For two weeks, she lay in the Burn Center at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the youngest victim of the 1999 American Airlines Flight 1420 crash.
Democrat-Gazette wins 1st for editorial writing
posted: 04/23/2013 3:46 a.m. Discuss
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette won first place in editorial writing in the 79th National Headliner Awards.
Albert Porter: LR social activist had civil-rights ties
posted: 04/20/2013 4:28 a.m. Discuss
After earning a doctorate in communication at Ohio University in 1960, Allan Ward knew that he wanted to find a teaching position at a college in the South, where he hoped to get involved in the civil-rights movement.
LR racer finished just minutes ahead of blast
posted: 04/16/2013 12:35 a.m.
Discuss
The race clock showed 3:58:23 when Cortney Allison, 47, crossed the finish line at the Boston Marathon on Monday.
Schools take lesson: Need to arm staffs
posted: 04/14/2013 4:21 a.m. Comment 1
As the superintendent of a small, rural school district, Nancy Anderson never imagined she would one day feel the need to carry a gun on campus.
Oily wildlife getting human touch
posted: 04/07/2013 3:21 a.m.
Discuss
A duck coated with thick crude oil squirmed frantically as two field biologists from Florida examined their newest patient.
Arkansas has route to arm school staffs
posted: 04/04/2013 12:16 a.m. Comments 3
A national report on school safety — put together by former U.S. Rep. Asa Hutchinson for the National Rifle Association — includes a sample draft of a law for states wanting to allow school administrators, teachers or other staff members to carry concealed weapons on campus.
Erstine to succeed Gillean as UCA chief of staff
posted: 03/28/2013 3:18 a.m. Discuss
Kelley Erstine, who once served on the board of trustees for the University of Central Arkansas, will become the university’s chief of staff on July 1.
Medical ‘pot’ backers file suit, say McDaniel wrong to ax ballot try
posted: 03/15/2013 12:56 a.m. Comment 1
What’s good for the goose — in this case, Arkansas legislators — also should be good for the gander, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday against state Attorney General Dustin McDaniel.
Troubled past catches up to McCready
posted: 02/19/2013 12:49 a.m.
Discuss
She said it again and again — on Twitter, Facebook, her blog and even in one of her songs: “I’m still here.” Country singer Mindy McCready talked often and openly of her troubled past, one fraught with arrests, drug addiction, mental illness, suicide attempts and ugly custody battles over her oldest son.
Man gets five years in Delta drug case
posted: 02/16/2013 4:44 a.m. Discuss
A Helena-West Helena drug dealer received a five year sentence in federal court Friday for the role he played in a multi-state drug trafficking ring that funneled hundreds of pounds of cocaine into the Arkansas Delta.
Rookie officer in PB arrested over thefts
posted: 02/15/2013 12:52 a.m. Discuss
A Pine Bluff police officer — accused of stealing things from people he knows — was arrested Thursday at the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy in Camden.
Jimmy McKissic: Musician known around the globe
posted: 02/14/2013 4:05 a.m. Discuss
World-renowned pianist Jimmy McKissic declared in 2010 that he was ready to give up his international lifestyle, explaining that he was tired of living in hotel rooms and wanted to go home to Pine Bluff.
Judge named to unsnarl court district in Delta
posted: 02/12/2013 12:45 a.m. Discuss
The Arkansas Supreme Court on Monday assigned a retired circuit judge from Fayetteville to the 1st Judicial District, giving him the authority to assign, reprioritize and preside over cases in the Delta’s troubled court system. Kim Smith, who spent 15 years as a prosecutor and a judge in Northwest Arkansas, also will serve as a consultant, reporting his observations and recommendations to the Supreme Court.
LR museum displays 2 of George Washington’s Bibles
posted: 02/08/2013 4:41 a.m. Discuss
George Washington’s inaugural and family Bibles will be on display at the Historic Arkansas Museum as part of a new exhibit, “Treasures of Arkansas Freemasons, 1838-2013.” The inaugural Bible will be at the museum today and Saturday only. Visitors can get their first glimpse during the 2nd Friday Art Night, which starts at 5 p.m. today, and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Rogers, downtown visionary, dies
posted: 02/05/2013 12:30 a.m.
Comment 1
Many Arkansans knew Doyle Rogers Sr. as a real estate visionary in downtown Little Rock.
His cousin slain at 14, boy forever changed
posted: 02/01/2013 5 a.m. Discuss
Simeon Wright didn’t get to attend his 14-year-old cousin’s funeral in Chicago.
Cord-blood research raises parents’ hopes
posted: 01/27/2013 4:06 a.m. Comment 1
On a chilly winter evening, Drake Haynes, 3, scampers around his grandparents’ living room, nimbly scaling furniture and making silly faces at his baby sister, Cambri.
Dodging ban, family adopts Russian girl, 5
posted: 12/29/2012 2:54 a.m. Discuss
Jason and Kendra Skaggs of Bella Vista said their newly adopted Russian daughter, Polina, 5, will be one of six children allowed to join their American families.
Stranger on interstate a big help
posted: 12/27/2012 1:36 a.m. Discuss
The headlights, bright and unexpected, roused us from a fitful sleep.
A MOTHER’S LOVE: Cancer battle steels mom-daughter ties
posted: 12/17/2012 4:24 a.m. Comment 1
Last in a series. Stiff and sore, Rhonda Harris awoke in a narrow hospital bed, still wearing her clothes from the day before.
Marrow test takes just a cheek swab
posted: 12/17/2012 4:20 a.m. Discuss
Doctors said that if Leslie Harris doesn’t find a donor for a bone-marrow transplant, she will die — either from a recurrence of acute myeloid leukemia or from an infection or virus.
A MOTHER’S LOVE: Delivery-room bombshell sends two women reeling
posted: 12/16/2012 4:01 a.m. Discuss
First in a series.
Jail freed fugitives while warrants sat
posted: 12/09/2012 3:04 a.m. Comments 2
Last in a series — Phillips County Sheriff Ronnie White and his staff routinely released inmates from the county jail even though they were wanted in violent or drug-related crimes, records show.
Rifle-toting ‘pot’ seller gets 5 years in Delta Blues case
posted: 12/05/2012 12:31 a.m. Comments 5
A federal judge ordered a five-year prison sentence Tuesday for a Helena-West Helena man who admitted to trafficking pounds of marijuana and possessing an AK-47 rifle to protect his illicit drugs and drug proceeds.
Gone a decade, girl loved, not forgotten
posted: 12/04/2012 12:35 a.m. Comment 1
Samantha Mann, 23, pinned a button she had saved since middle school on a hot-pink T-shirt.
Mercer, adviser to LR 9, dies at 88
posted: 11/21/2012 12:08 a.m. Discuss
At a July ceremony recognizing 12 of Little Rock’s most well-known activists from the civil-rights movement, Crystal Mercer stood in for one of the honorees: her father, C.C. Mercer Jr., who was too ill to attend.
Little Lilly graduates to loving laps
posted: 11/15/2012 1:26 a.m. Comment 1
She arrived in a shimmer of gold, greeted by flashing cameras and a chorus of “oohs” and “ahhs.” Reveling in the crowd’s admiration, Lilly pranced and preened. Then she ate a piece of cake off the floor.
Guns case shows ripple effect
posted: 11/09/2012 1:29 a.m. Comment 1
Part four in a series A Helena-West Helena man admitted in federal court Thursday that he spent months dealing drugs and illegally building up a small cache of high-powered firearms, all while he was charged in a 2010 doubleshooting case.
Firefighting tax nearing passage
posted: 11/07/2012 4:45 a.m. Discuss
Independence County was poised late Tuesday to approve a sales tax that will generate up to $180,000 for the county’s 15 fire departments.
Lockwood new politics editor
posted: 11/06/2012 4:36 a.m. Discuss
Frank Lockwood is the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette ’s new politics editor, overseeing the newspaper’s state Capitol bureau while continuing his role as editor for the Washington, D.C., bureau, newspaper executives announced Monday.
LR debaters ride out storm in NYC
posted: 11/02/2012 4:51 a.m. Discuss
Stranded in New York City after superstorm Sandy, the Little Rock School District’s Parkview High School debate team spent Thursday afternoon strolling down Fifth Avenue, marveling at the height and architecture of the buildings that towered over them.
U.S. honors prosecutors, lawmen for Delta Blues
posted: 10/18/2012 3:30 a.m. Discuss
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday recognized members of Arkansas’ Operation Delta Blues Task Force for distinguished public service.
Guilty plea cuts off trial in killing
posted: 10/10/2012 2:04 a.m. Discuss
As potential jurors waited to be seated Tuesday in Lakeithon Moody’s capital murder trial, the 26-yearold defendant accepted an 11th-hour plea deal and was sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison for his role in a 2011 fatal shooting.
Sheriff’s lapses hindering case-backlog trims, judges say
posted: 10/06/2012 3:30 a.m. Comments 3
The five circuit judges in the 1st Judicial District say their ability to cut the backlog in Phillips County’s circuit court has been hindered by Sheriff Ronnie White’s failure to enter fugitive warrants into state and national crime databases, according to a letter made public Friday.
Woman gets prison for buying gun
posted: 10/02/2012 2:08 a.m. Discuss
A Marvell woman was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison Monday for buying a handgun for her drug-kingpin boyfriend that was later used to shoot an FBI agent.
23 drug suspects charged; deals around kids alleged
posted: 09/21/2012 4:49 a.m. Discuss
A federal investigation dubbed “Operation Ice Pick” resulted in drug charges Thursday against 23 people in Gurdon, Arkadelphia and Malvern.
Bomb threat evacuates ASU dormitory, center
posted: 09/19/2012 5:25 a.m. Discuss
A dormitory at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro was evacuated Tuesday afternoon after a bomb threat was reported to campus police.
Parole officer is Delta arrestee
posted: 09/18/2012 1:43 a.m. Discuss
A convicted murderer and Marianna drug kingpin admitted Monday that he bribed his parole officer with cash, gifts and shoes in exchange for turning a blind eye as he distributed more than a hundred pounds of cocaine in the Arkansas Delta.
2 plead guilty in Delta Blues case
posted: 09/15/2012 3:57 a.m. Discuss
Two Helena-West Helena men admitted in federal court Friday to their roles in two drug-trafficking rings that funneled hundreds of pounds cocaine and marijuana into the impoverished Arkansas Delta.
Lost in woods, toddler safe after ‘night with cows’
posted: 09/13/2012 1:40 a.m. Comments 2
When searchers found Landen Trammell — the toddler who vanished Tuesday morning into a rugged, heavily forested area of the Ozarks — he was happily playing at the edge of a pond.
Two more guilty in Delta drug case
posted: 09/13/2012 1:13 a.m. Discuss
A Marianna man admitted in federal court Wednesday that he helped distribute more than 110 pounds of cocaine over two years and fired a “warning shot” to protect about 3 pounds of the illegal drug as federal authorities swarmed his home last October.
Officers, volunteers look for missing boy
posted: 09/12/2012 5:23 a.m. Comment 1
Stone County deputies and volunteers combed the Onia area all day Tuesday in search of a 3-year-old boy believed to have wandered off from his home that morning.
Plan calls for ending Pike area overnights
posted: 09/11/2012 1:17 a.m.
Discuss
The U.S. Forest Service is proposing to permanently eliminate overnight camping in flood-prone areas of the Albert Pike Recreation Area.
