Stories from Wednesday, October 25, 2017

During the Blytheville School Board meeting held Monday evening, board members met with a representative of Baldwin and Shell [the school district’s construction management firm] after some concern was expressed from the board about the board’s lack of involvement in the bidding process during their previous meeting...

On Saturday, Nov. 4, the Blytheville Emergency squad will hold its annual fundraising auction at the Exhibit Building at the Mississippi County Fairground. The Blytheville Emergency Squad is an all-volunteer group and provides a critical part of Mississippi County’s EMS system. The squad responds to all 911 calls when too many calls overwhelm Pafford EMS at one time...

For Chris Smith, hard work has been a way of life. It started as he worked his way to become an all-state receiver at Blytheville High School and continues today as he has built up the Germantown High School team from second to last in Tennessee’s Class 6A to No. 4 and a 9-0 start this season...

After a hard fought 26-19 victory over the Pocahontas Redskins last Friday, the Gosnell Pirates (5-3, 5-0 4A-3) hope to not only keep their 4A-3 conference win streak alive (currently at 14), but to also take sole ownership of their second consecutive conference title under second year head coach Brandon Barbaree...

The Blytheville Chickasaws’ chance at making the playoffs ended Friday night with a 37-7 home loss to the Batesville Pioneers. However, the Chickasaws (2-6, 1-4 5A-East) still have two remaining regular season games left this year — against conference foes the Paragould Rams (0-8, 0-5 5A-East) and the Forrest City Mustangs (3-5, 2-3 5A-East)...

Monette -- Larry O’Neal Drummond, 73, passed away Monday, Oct. 23, 2017. He was born June 30, 1944, in Camp Gordon, Ga., to the late Herman and Iris Jewell Drummond. He grew up in North Augusta, S.C., and graduated high school there. Larry served his country proudly in the United States Air Force and as member of the Monette American Legion Post 136 where he was the post commander for several years. ...

For the past couple months I’ve covered several meetings for different boards in our community. For the most part when I go to these meetings the board members seem like they know where they stand on agenda items and typically they don’t take long to make a decision. However, it concerns me that some of these boards do not seem to understand what executive session is...