The Nashville Leader

Curtis Turner Jr., superintendent of the Eureka Springs School District, will take the helm at Mineral Springs School District July 1. A former teacher, Turner served in leadership roles including superintendent at South Pike County School District, Delight School District, Clinton School District and Centerpoint School District. He also worked in the Fiscal Distress Unit at the Department [...]

Arkansas Education Commissioner Dr. Tom Kimbrell exercised his authority, Thursday, under state law to dissolve the school board of the Mineral Springs School District. The action was taken to immediately move toward stabilizing the finances and management of the troubled district in Howard County. The district is facing a severe budget deficit and does not have sufficient cash [...]

Caught in the never land of “fiscal distress,” the Mineral Springs Saratoga School District cannot enter into new contracts with teachers. Last month, interim Supt. Bill Blackwood said there was a possibility of the district losing certified teachers. It has happened. Monday night at the end of a 50-minute executive session, the district board voted [...]

The executive director of the Elberta Arts Center, who also operated his own business within the center’s building on Main Street, has been arrested and faces a class A misdemeanor theft charge. Scott Wendell Turner, 32, white male, Nashville, was interviewed at the police station on Saturday, May 11, after employees of Ivan Smith Furniture [...]

A motorcycle poker run event sponsored by the Howard County Democratic Party will be a benefit for the Bread of Life Soup Kitchen. The run will be Saturday, May 25, and registration is from 9-9:30 a.m. for $20 per motorcycle. All proceeds will go to the soup kitchen, according to party chairman Albert Motta. Motorcyclists [...]

The Howard County Democratic Central Committee will meet Tuesday, May 21, at Western Sizzlin’ in Nashville. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. and the public is invited. For more information contact Reba Sharp, secretary-treasurer at 286-2342.

A Hot Springs woman was killed last Wednesday evening in a head-on crash near Glenwood in Pike County, according to a report filed by the Arkansas State Police. Melissa A. Mitchell, 49, died in the wreck, which happened on Highway 8 East. A 2000 Ford truck driven by Anthony A. Jones, 52, of Arkadelphia entered [...]

In the past, persons who pleaded guilty to felony charges were sometimes granted a few days of liberty in order to settle their personal affairs before returning to the jail and being transported to prison. That practice has come to an end. Both of the judges of the Ninth-West Judicial District have told “The Leader” [...]

By John Balch Leader staff A longtime bus driver with the Dierks School District has been suspended and facing a charge following an incident where she reportedly trapped an elementary student in the bus door and drove away. Wanda Kirkpatrick, who Dierks Superintendent Donnie Davis said has worked for the district since the 1970s, is [...]

By John R. Schirmer Leader staff Their meetings in the past have settled conference championships, regional championships and questions of bragging rights. Friday night in northwest Arkansas, the stakes will be higher. The Nashville Scrapperettes and Ashdown Lady Panthers will play for the state Class 4A softball championship Friday at 7 p.m. at Bogle Park [...]

LAKE CHARLES, La. – Jasmine Ellis of Nashville, a senior at the University of Central Arkansas, won the Southland Conference heptathlon Saturday afternoon during the conference’s outdoor track and field championships at McNeese State. Ellis won the heptathlon with a school-record and stadium-record 5,125 points, breaking the 1994 record of Texas-Arlington’s Jennifer Robeson. Ellis was [...]

By Jana Copeland Leader staff Thirteen years of making memories, classes, pep rallies, ball games, and other school events all lead up to every senior’s dream… Graduation! As these Nashville seniors look back on their high school careers, they realize what all they will be missing. Maddie Mcjunkins said that she will miss building stronger [...]

Graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2013 at Nashville High School will be held Friday, May 17, at 8 p.m. at Scrapper Stadium. In case of rain, the program will be moved to the Scrapper Dome. The ceremony will include speeches by students and a faculty charge to the graduates. Counselor Kelli Webb will review [...]

HAVE YOU NOTICED how the North Korean generals who surround Glorious New Leader Chick-Pok-Pok always have notebooks and pens at hand in case they need to write down one of Mr. Pok’s utterances? The generals are always attentive, and appear to be most anxious to learn from Glorious New Leader who was apparently born wise. [...]

Clayton S. Friend, 90 of Dierks, Ark., died Sunday, May 12, 2013 in Dierks. He was born March 8, 1923 in the Muddy Fork community north of Nashville to the late George Washington and Alice Brandon Friend. He was retired from Weyerhaeuser, was a Christian, and was an Army Air Corps veteran of WWII. He [...]

Ruby Dell Wilson, 85, of Amity, Ark., died Thursday May 9, 2013. She was born Sept. 25, 1927 in Arkadelphia, the daughter of the late George and Nancy Etter (Karr) Cooper. She was preceded in death by her husband, Willie E. Wilson. Survivors include: a brother, James Cooper, of Dierks; two sisters, Doris Barker of [...]

By Emily O’Neal Guest writer It seems like it was just yesterday. I was a curious senior at NHS about to graduate and embark on my collegiate adventure. It was 2009. I had decided I wanted to go to the University of Central Arkansas. I was accepted into the UCA Honors College and had decided [...]