Stories from Saturday, September 8, 2012

Recent reports from the Blytheville Police Department:

I believe it was 2009 when the Arkansas animal cruelty law came into being. Well, being the 46th state to admit that torturing an animal was more than a Class A misdemeanor shows progress. (Perhaps we were a little on the late bloomer side, but I digress.)

While most of the high school football schedule was canceled before kickoff Friday night, Blytheville and West Memphis were able to get one half of football in before officials called the game because of lightning. Just before the start of the second half, lightening crossed the sky and officials delayed the game for 30 minutes. Most of the fans piled into the girls practice gym behind the north end zone to wait out the storm...

GOSNELL -- An emotional Russell Leggett had trouble choking back the tears following his team's first win of the season. Just hours after his father-in-law passed away, Leggett coached the Osceola Seminoles to an 18-0 win over county rival Gosnell Friday night in a game stopped at halftime because of lightning...

Mrs. Emma Lou Phillips Anderson, 89, of Blytheville, passed from this life Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012, after a long illness, at St. Bernard's Regional Medical Center in Jonesboro.

Much has been made about the abundance of coaching changes in Mississippi County over the past few years. Each end of the county has seen changes in nearly every sport, and this past spring saw even more turnover, with three changes at Blytheville and two at Gosnell.

Tenaris kicked off year three of The Academic Excellence After-School Program on Tuesday. The free after-school program was developed in partnership with the Blytheville School District and is located at Blytheville Primary School and Central Elementary School.

Carl C. Clifton, the son of the late Victor Lee Clifton and Dorothy Bond Clifton, died Friday, Sept. 7, 2012, at his home in Cooter.