Majeste leaving MH Chamber; board combining CEO/Developer role
Eddie Majeste, the CEO and President of the Mountain Home Chamber of Commerce, announced Thursday afternoon at the Mountain Home Rotary Club meeting that he was leaving the chamber affective immediately. Majeste, who has been in his role for 13 years, was relieved of his duties Wednesday. While he says he regrets leaving, he is proud of him time at the chamber.
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Majeste reflects on the growth of the chamber during his tenure.
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With the chamber board’s approval, Majeste began Focus Mountain Home in 2012.
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Thursday afternoon the Board of Directors of the chamber of commerce released a statement saying the board had voted to consolidate the two current roles of Executive Director Economic Developer into a single position. The newly established role will be primarily focused on economic development and oversee the initiatives of the chamber. The new position of Mountain Home Economic Developer/CEO of the Mountain Home Chamber has now been created and the board will begin accepting applications immediately. Anyone possessing a strong economic development background is encouraged to apply by emailing their resume to jobs@enjoymountainhome.com.
The announcement ended saying the chamber is dedicated to growing businesses and commerce in our region and feels this is a necessary step to help responsibly bring economic development to our area.
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Final days of early voting
With the General Election only five days away, registered voters have only three days left to take advantage of early voting in Arkansas. Baxter County Clerk Canda Reese says 799 early ballots were cast Thursday at Baxter Countys to locations, the county court house and Twin Lakes Plaza. In Marion County, 286 voters came to their county courthouse to cast their early votes.
Early voting locations will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, when early voting ends. In Baxter County, early voting takes place at the county courthouse and Twin Lakes Plaza. Marion and Fulton counties have early voting at their courthouses only and in Izard County, early voting takes place at Ozaka College in Melbourne.
On Election Day, voting only takes place at polling locations, not at early voting locations. Anyone with questions should call their county clerk’s office, in Baxter County 425-3475, Marion County, 449-6226, Fulton County 895-3310 and in Izard County, 368-4316.
Voters can go to KTLO.com/electioncentral to view ballots for any county in Arkansas.
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Bombers top West Memphis, stay hot for playoffs
The Mountain Home High School football team continued their late season surge with an impressive win at home Friday night to wrap up the regular season. Brad Haworth has the details.
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There have been comparisons made between this year’s Mountain Home team and the 2006 team that got hot at the end of the season and made it to the state championship game. Bomber fans can hope Friday night’s outcome holds true to that comparison as well. The Bombers beat West Memphis 14-7 to snap a nine game losing streak against the Blue Devils. The last time they beat West Memphis? The 2006 season.
Mountain Home set the tone early. They held West Memphis on downs on their first possesion. The first time Mountain Home had the ball they took 17 plays to go 75 yards for a touchdown with Isaac McKay capping the drive with a seven yard run.
The Bombers ball control offense only allowed the Blue Devils three possessions in the first half.
West Memphis was able to tie the game in the fourth quarter on a Devontae Dean 19 yard run.
But Mountain Home came back on their next possession and put together a 69 yard drive to take the lead back. McKay capped the drive with a one yard plunge.
The defense then took over and held West Memphis on downs to get the ball back and Mountain Home ran out the clock for the win.
It’s the third win in a row for the Bombers and their fourth in their last five games. They are now 4-6 overall and finish 6A East Conference play at 4-3 which tied them with West Memphis and Marion for third place.
The Blue Devils are 6-4.
Mountain Home will open the Class 6A State Playoffs with a trip to Benton next Friday night it what will be a very difficult test. The Panthers are 6-4 on the season with their losses coming to Bryant, Russellville, Greenwood and Lake Hamilton, teams with a combined record of 32-8.
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Baxter County wanted man arrested in Izard County, makes court appearance
Clint Young of Norfork, who spent a short time on the “Most Wanted List” maintained by the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office, appeared in Circuit Court Thursday and entered a not guilty plea to charges against him, including felony fleeing and endangering the welfare of a minor.
He was ordered to re-appear in court November 10th.
In addition, Young is thousands of dollars in debt on court ordered child support payments, according to the Office of Child Support Enforcement.
According to court records, a Baxter County Deputy Sheriff was on routine patrol along Highway 5 South October 23rd when he saw a 2005 dark green Chevrolet Trail Blazer traveling north cross into the southbound lane of traffic while turning off the highway onto Wild Fern Road.
The deputy activated his emergency lights, but reported that instead of pulling over, the Trail Blazer picked up speed, went through fields, through creeks and finally up a steep hill. When the vehicle came to a point where it was blocked by a tree line, it stopped and the male driver bolted from the SUV and ran into the woods.
The deputy found a woman and two young children still in the Trail Blazer. The female said the man who had run into the woods was the 39-year-old Young. The woman said she attempted to get Young to stop several times while being chased by the deputy because of the youngsters in the car, but he refused since he had an active arrest warrant due to the unpaid child support.
Young was arrested Wednesday in Izard County. He was booked into the Baxter County Detention Center on the same day.
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Feds arrest scammers posing as IRS agents
The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) is reporting the arrests if 61 individuals and entities accused of making harassing scam phone calls to several residents including some in the Twin Lakes Area. The suspects are accused of posing as Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents threatening a variety of consequences to their victims, and a number of those victims reside in Ozark County.
According to the Ozark County Times, 20 individuals in the U.S. and 32 individuals and five call centers in India were charged after the DoJ says the scheme victimized tens of thousands of American residents resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. The scam callers are accused of threatining fines and imprisonment if payments were not immediately made.
The arrests were the result of a multi-agency investigation.
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70 veterans honored at annual Freedom Is Not Free ceremony
Over 70 United States military veterans representing all branches of service were honored Thursday in the annual Freedom Is Not Free ceremony at Mountain Home High School. Organized by Bud Zorman, a teacher and Director of the ROTC program at the high school, this is the eighth year of the event which honor a special veteran. This year’s honoree was retired Air Force Master Sergeant Jess Milford who served in the military for over 23 years in locations around the world. Milford had this reaction to being honored.
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ROTC Cadet Ty Webers of the Color Guard speaks of the importance of honoring our veterans.
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Also honored was ROTC Cadet Justin Barnett who was awarded the Meritorious Achievement Ribbon, the highest award given to an ROTC cadet. Nominated for the award by Zorman for his quick action which saved his mother’s life, Barnett recalls the events leading up to his heroic act.
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The Freedom Is Not Free ceremony also honored POW and MIA members of the military, those fallen in battle and featured the flag folding ceremony by the ROTC Honor Guard. The featured speaker was Congressman Rick Crawford and patriotic music was provided by the Mountain Home Brass Ensemble under the direction of Band Director Tom Chentnik.
This month Our Community Cares, sponsored by Knox Orthopaedics, Baxter Regional Medical Center, Century 21 LeMac Realty, FNBC, Brooks Medical Supply, Advanced Auto Body, Danny Porter of Century 21 LeMac Realty, Ozark Surgical Group and KTLO, Classic Hits and The Boot highlights the important lessons of patriotism being taught in Mountain Home schools and honors all military veterans for their service and sacrifice. Learn more at ktlo.com.
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Baxter County quorum court sets millage rate
Members of the Baxter County Quorum Court did their annually required duty and approved the millage rates on real and person property for tax year 2016 during their regular meeting Tuesday.
State law requires the Quorum Court to approve the rates at its first meeting in November.
Millage rates included in the ordinance are submitted by the various taxing entities in the county for the Court’s approval. The rates approved were for the county, cities, towns, schools, and fire and improvement districts.
The rates approved Tuesday remain the same as those now in effect.
Rates for the county include 0.08 mill for the County General Fund, 2.7 mills for the Road and Bridge Department, one mill for the library and two mills for the ASU-Mountain Home campus.
The 0.8 mill for the general fund is the lowest in the state. In 2014, a last minute effort was made to bump the rate up to two mills, but the proposal was shot down by the court.
A majority of the cities in the county assess the maximum five-mill rate for their general funds. Mountain Home, however, comes in at two mills, with Big Flat at 3.5 and Lakeview at three mills.
School districts in the county have the highest millage rates. Mountain Home comes in at 32.16, Norfork at 34.39 and Cotter at 32.67. The majority of the fire protection districts in the county have a four-or-five mill rate.
The county’s 2017 budget will be taking shape during the next several weeks.
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