The Arkansas Illinois River Watershed Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program will be holding a meeting for landowners in the Gentry Library at 6:30 p.m., Feb. 9.

Eligible landowners could receive $300 per acre for enrollment plus $82.50 per year for qualifying property that borders the Illinois River and its tributaries.

The meeting will include a free meal, and participants are asked to call Darleen Holly at 479-273-2622 ext. 2, by Feb. 4, to reserve a seat.

Filed under: News Briefs by randym. Posted on: February 5, 2010 at 10:00 am
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State Representative Jonathan Barnett will be the featured speaker at the Gentry Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet on Feb. 25 at the Wooden Spoon Restaurant.

Barnett

Barnett was scheduled to be the speaker at last year’s banquet but was unable to attend when winter storms forced the postponement of the annual event for a week.

Barnett is former Gentry resident. His family attended schools in Gentry. His father was a member of the Gentry Chamber of Commerce and very instrumental in establishing the Gentry Medical Center.

“We had lots of folks who really wanted to hear him speak last year, so I think they will be happy we have worked things out for this year,” said Chamber of Commerce director Bev Saunders.

Annual awards will also be presented at the 6 p.m. banquet. The Chamber is currently accepting nominations for the 2009 community awards. The honors, along with the Lifetime Achievement Awards and honors for Arkansas’ Farm Family of the Year winners Bill and Delia Haak, will be presented at the community awards night.

Nominations are being accepted through Feb. 5 for Organization of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Volunteer of the Year, Pioneer of the Year, Citizen of the Year and Business Person of the Year. Nominations may be sent to P.O. Box 642, Gentry, AR 72734 or by e-mail to info @ gentrychamber .com.

Tickets to the banquet are available at the Gentry Chamber office for $20 each.

“Those wishing to attend do need to get tickets reserved, because we always run out,” Saunders said.

Filed under: News Briefs by randym. Posted on: February 5, 2010 at 9:52 am
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A silent auction will be held during senior parent night at the Feb. 12 Gentry High School basketball game to raise money for the high school’s Academic Booster Club.

GHS Academic Booster Club will be accepting donations for the auction through Thursday, Feb. 11.

Already donated for auction are: Dinner certificates from Callahan’s; $100 savings bond from Decatur State Bank; hand-quilted baby quilt from Martha Gardisser; a chair from La-Z-Boy; queen-sized homemade quilt from Toni Sarratt; Silver Dollar City passes from Ted Dorn and Simmons; candle basket from Southern delite Candles; pedicure from VIP Salon and Safari passes from Wild Wilderness Safari. Other donations for auction were also received from Arvest Bank, Cappsalon, Hairbenders Salon, Lisa’s Beauty Salon, Marcy’s Dog Grooming, Pioneer Patchwork, Pioneer Pizza, Smith Drug / Corner Gifts and Vinyl Visions. The high school clubs have been asked to donate a theme basket for the auction, as well.

Money raised from the auction, along with money received from Gentry’s United Way, are the Academic Booster Club’s only source of funding.

For more information, or to make a donation, contact Pat Barnes at 736-2714 or Martha Hawkins at 736-2667.

Filed under: News Briefs by randym. Posted on: February 5, 2010 at 9:48 am
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Community Blood Center of the Ozarks will hold two blood drives in the area on Monday, Feb. 8: From 2 to 5 p.m., at the Decatur Medi Clinic, 346 N. Main Street, Decatur; and from 5 to 9 p.m. , at the Church Of God in Christ Mennonite, 10770 N. Bloomfield Road in Gentry.

CBCO has issued a Code Yellow Alert for all blood types. There is less than a two day supply of blood on hospital shelves. Donations are needed to help replenish the supply.

It takes over 275 donations every day to meet the needs of the 36 area hospitals that use CBCO products.

Eligibility requirements include weighing at least 110 pounds, being in general good health and presenting the required identification.

More information is available at the CBCO Web site, www.cbco.org, or by calling 800-280-5337.

Filed under: News Briefs by randym. Posted on: February 5, 2010 at 9:45 am
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Children took advantage of the snow for some sledding.

Main Street was snow covered and icy following the snowfall.

Bison stood in stark contrast to the white pastures.

Road crews were busy clearing area roads and highways.

Not all appeared to be happy about the snow and cold.

The snow cover made for a variety of winter scenes.

Snow covered a large rose trellis at Parks Lumber.

The snow closed some public buildings and offices.

Fields and hay bales were snow covered.

Some appeared unaffected by the cold and snow.

Filed under: Photographs by randym. Posted on: February 4, 2010 at 8:12 pm
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Ice covered Gentry's Main Street this morning and many businesses were closed.

Schools are closed, along with city offices and some Gentry businesses, due to icy roads and continuing snowfall. Marvin’s Foods is open, Curran’s Feeds, gas stations, and several other businesses.

Freezing rain and sleet have changed over to snow, with the National Weather Service forecasting 3-5 inches yet today.

No power outages were reported this morning.

Filed under: News Briefs by randym. Posted on: January 29, 2010 at 10:29 am
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Forecast for Gentry on Thursday afternoon

Late Afternoon: A chance of freezing rain. Cloudy, with a high near 34. Northeast wind around 14 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%.

Tonight: Freezing rain and sleet. Low around 25. East northeast wind between 13 and 17 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New ice accumulation of 0.2 to 0.4 of an inch possible. New sleet accumulation of around an inch possible.

Friday: Snow, freezing rain, and sleet, becoming all snow after noon. High near 27. East northeast wind between 13 and 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New ice accumulation of less than a 0.1 of an inch possible. New snow and sleet accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible.

Friday Night: A 50 percent chance of snow before midnight. Cloudy, with a low around 19. North northeast wind between 6 and 11 mph.

Saturday: Partly sunny, with a high near 26. North northwest wind between 8 and 10 mph.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 8.

Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 35.

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 19.

Hazardous Weather Outlook

A BAND OF LIGHT FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET IS MOVING NORTH ACROSS NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS THIS AFTERNOON. CURRENTLY THE FREEZING LINE IS NEAR A FAYETTEVILLE TO OKMULGEE LINE WITH FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET FALLING NORTH OF THIS LINE AND RAIN FALLING SOUTH OF THAT LINE. THE FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET WILL INCREASE IN INTENSITY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO TONIGHT AS THE RESPONSIBLE UPPER LEVEL LOW CURRENTLY OVER THE SOUTHWEST UNITED STATES MOVES INTO THE PLAINS. CURRENTLY THE GREATEST ICE ACCUMULATIONS THROUGH TONIGHT LOOK TO BE SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 44 AND NORTH OF INTERSTATE 40 WHERE ONE-HALF TO ONE INCH WILL BE POSSIBLE. THERE WILL BE GREATER ACCUMULATIONS OF SLEET NORTH OF INTERSTATE 44. THERE WILL BE A TIGHT GRADIENT BETWEEN ICE AND SLEET ACCUMULATION ACROSS EXTREME NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA NEAR THE MISSOURI BORDER. THE FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET WILL TRANSITION TO SNOW LATER TONIGHT AND INTO FRIDAY MORNING. SNOWFALL ACCUMULATION OF 1 TO 3 INCHES WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA AND NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA AND EXTREME NORTHWEST ARKANSAS THROUGH TONIGHT WITH HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE NEAR THE KANSAS/OKLAHOMA BORDER.

DRIVING CONDITIONS WILL WORSEN LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO TONIGHT ACROSS NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS WITH ROADS BECOMING IMPASSABLE. POWER OUTAGES WILL ALSO BECOME MORE NUMEROUS OVERNIGHT INTO FRIDAY.

Filed under: News Briefs by randym. Posted on: January 28, 2010 at 5:07 pm
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Tomorrow marks the 37th year since the United States Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. Since that time, approximately 50 million innocent and helpless children have been killed by abortion. About 1 in 5, or 20 percent, of our nation’s youth have had their lives ended by abortion.

Minorities have also been hit hard by abortion. African-Americans account for about 12 percent of the population, but 37 percent of the 1.3 million abortions each year. Latinos make up about 15 percent of the population, yet account for about 22 percent of the annual number of abortions.

In all the wars in American history combined, from the Revolution to the War on Terror, we have lost approximately 910,000 people. However, in 37 years we have lost about 50 million children to abortion. We lose more children to abortion each day than we lost in all the tragedies on September 11, 2001. About 98 percent of abortions are done for convenience unrelated to health. Less than 2 percent of abortions are done for serious health reasons, rape or incest.

The youth of our nation under the age of 35 are more pro-life than any other generation. A majority of all Americans oppose abortion. Last Monday, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, about 15,000 people, mostly youth, gathered in Houston, Texas to protest Planned Parenthood’s 78,000 square-foot abortion facility scheduled to open in April in the midst of a minority community comprised of Hispanics and African-Americans. One of the youth held a sign saying, “We survived Roe. Roe will not survive us.”

Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: “January 22 is a day that will live in infamy. It is the darkest day in American history. The Supreme Court’s decision distorted law and logic. Abortion has caused incalculable harm and pain to all of us. We can deceive ourselves for a time but we cannot escape the consequences of killing our children. But the day will come when we will once again honor and protect the right to life for all Americans.”

Editor’s note: The above release is from Liberty Counsel. We invite our local readers to tell us what they think about the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and abortion. Opinions may be submitted by e-mail to randym@nwanews.com or mailed to The Gentry Courier-Journal, P.O. Box 677, Gentry, AR 72734. We ask that a contact telephone number be included so that the writer’s identity may be verified and any questions answered.

Readers are also invited to read the managing editor’s opinion in next week’s Griz Bear Comments on the Opinion Page of the print edition of the Gentry Courier-Journal and the Decatur Herald.

Filed under: Opinion by randym. Posted on: January 21, 2010 at 10:03 am
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By a vote of 5-2, the Gentry School Board renewed Dr. Randy Barrett’s contract as school superintendent for the 2010-2011 school year tonight, Jan. 20.

After going into executive session for an hour, the school board came back to public session with a prepared motion to extend Dr. Barrett’s contract for another year, with the added stipulation that a pay increase would be considered only after teachers receive a pay raise.

Coye Cripps and Ted Dorn voted against extending the contract. Jim Barnes, Dani Cypert, Le’Ann Watanabe, David Williamson and Brenda Willett voted in favor of the motion.

The board then went back into executive session with Dr. Barrett to discuss his performance evaluation and returned 20 minutes later to adjourn.

Filed under: News Briefs by randym. Posted on: January 20, 2010 at 8:28 pm
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Though the snow is now gone, birds like this cardinal took advantage of feed put out for them.

Filed under: News Briefs by randym. Posted on: January 14, 2010 at 4:53 pm
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