Pirates Survive Scare, Improve to 13-1 1C
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MES, MIS teach Pirates survive scare, kindness improve to 13-1 1B 1C ADVANCE-MONTICELLONIAN 75¢ WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2018 SERVING DREW COUNTY SINCE 1870 RINGING IN 2018 IN STYLE Year’s fi rst candidate announces for offi ce and make this office everything Tim Nichols will run that it should be,” Nichols add- ed. “I want to give it my best for Drew County shot and best effort to help the office succeed for the people of Sheriff in November Drew County. I want the com- munity to know that if elected I BY ASHLEY FOREMAN want to have an open-door poli- [email protected] cy. The public should be able to always communicate with their Seasoned law enforcement of- sheriff and the county deputies.” ficer Tim Nichols has announced Nichols also noted that it is his candidacy for Drew County his plan to run as an Independent Sheriff in the upcoming 2018 during the election. election in an email sent Mon- “With the office of Sheriff, I day. don’t think it is important to be Nichols, who is running for the wrapped up in politics,” Nichols position currently held by Drew said. “My focus will be to serve County Sheriff Mark Gober, has the people of the county.” been working A main priority for Nichols in law enforce- has been and will continue to be ment since the youth of Drew County. 2007, but has “If one were to take a look at been around the recent crime within Drew the field his County, they would see a lot of entire life. young people involved,” Nichols “My father Photo courtesy of Ember Davis added. “It is more vital now than was sheriff in ever to be a presence in the lives BABY NEW YEAR Nyla Jones (left) was born Tim Nichols Chicot County at Drew Memorial Health System at 10:24 a.m. of the local youth. I am looking and being the in to starting a D.A.R.E. pro- Monday, making her the fi rst baby born at the Drew Coun- hospital in 2018. Dr. Kelly Shrum (above left) de- gram at the schools that would ty Sheriff has been a dream of involve a deputy going to the livered the 19-inch long, 5-pound girl, who is the mine since I was young,” Nich- fi rst child born to parents Keyonna Hamilton and campuses weekly to gain rapport ols said. with the students. I want to be Carlos Jones of Monticello. The hospital’s vol- Over the past 10 years, Nich- unteer auxiliary provides the parents of the fi rst as involved as possible with kids ols has served on the Monticel- to try to help them and educate baby born at DMHS each year with a basket of lo Police Department, the Drew gifts to celebrate their new arrival. This year’s them.” County Sheriff’s Department as Nichols and his wife, Jennifer, basket included a baby blanket and door hanger a deputy and criminal investiga- from the hospital gift shop, outfi ts, toys, socks, have been married since 2004 tor and is currently employed as and they have four children. washcloths, a changing pad and many more an administrator with the Warren items. Top: Linda Barber, a member of the aux- “The reasons I want to be Police Department. your sheriff is simple,” Nichols iliary, presented the gift basket on behalf of the “My goal is to become more organization to Hamilton and Jones. involved with the community See NICHOLS Page 6A In Arkansas, jailing youth increasingly used as last resort BY BENJAMIN HARDY nity. In theory, a night or two of detention Part 1 of 4 “They’re still getting locked up over and board. For Arkansas Nonprofi t News Network at the JDC would have provided the jolt over and over.” She pointed to statistics “They asked me because they really needed to make such a kid reassess his fu- school he went to, because he was in and showing that the juvenile incarceration rate wanted the parents’ perspective, instead In 2008, Wendy Jones’ teenage son, Cor- ture. out so much,” she recalled. “He went in the United States is the highest in the of it just being law enforcement, judges, by, began getting into trouble with the law: But as with so many other teenage of- through all the counseling, all the rehab developed world. “That’s pathetic. … We prosecutors, defenders — you know, all the skipping school, doing drugs, stealing. His fenders, being locked up did little to alter … really, anything that was offered.” Yet shouldn’t have to keep building prisons for typical people involved,” she said. “When behavior soon landed him in Benton Coun- Corby’s trajectory for the better. His drug the court’s default response to Corby’s be- children.” you’re talking about your child, and you’re ty juvenile court, followed by a stay in the use continued, and the court responded by havior was always yet another round of the But then, around the time that Corby in it, it’s completely different from being local juvenile detention center, or JDC, a clamping down harder, creating a cycle fa- juvenile equivalent of jail. aged out, things began to change in North- on the outside looking in. You’re living it, 36-bed, jail-like facility in Bentonville, not miliar to observers of the system. Jones describes herself as a “tough-love west Arkansas. day to day.” far from the home offi ces of Walmart. “I had connections that most parents mom” who is “all for punishment” when Juvenile detention rates dropped. Al- Jones served on the board for two years Corby was just the sort of youth who didn’t when I was going through the JDC necessary. But by the time her son aged ternatives to incarceration expanded. In as the program got off the ground. Today, might be expected to stop dabbling in ille- with my son,” Jones said recently. “But as out of the juvenile system in 2011, she had 2013, a national program called the Juve- she said, she sees the county “actually gal activity after a brush with the juvenile a parent, regardless of who you are, where reached her own verdict about JDC deten- nile Detention Alternatives Initiative began working with kids. We’re not just locking justice system. His mother had a good job you work, or who you know, it’s the most tion, at least for Corby: “It was worthless. ” partnering with the court in Benton County them up. … I can’t say enough about the with the city of Rogers, and, though she lonely, terrifying experience to go through “It was kind of at that point where it’s and its counterpart in adjacent Washington system and (Benton County Circuit) Judge was raising Corby and his sister alone, she with your child.” like, ‘OK, this isn’t working,’ ” she said. County. Jones was asked to serve as the had a strong social network in her commu- “Basically, (JDC) was the only high parent representative on the local JDAI See JDC Page 6A Gas prices to be highest OPEN FOR BUSINESS AGFC names since 2014, report fi nds new director Special to the Advance Special to the Advance not expect any record-breaking prices to be set in 2018, and LITTLE ROCK —The Arkan- BOSTON—Motorists will be most of the country will see sas Game and Fish Commission digging a bit deeper for the sec- prices peak under $3 per gal- announced that Pat Fitts will ond straight year as the yearly lon, but unexpected disruptions become the agency’s 18th direc- national average will rise 19 could push the national average tor in its 102-year history last cents versus last year to $2.57 close to $3. Thursday. per gallon, the highest since • Metro areas including Chi- Fitts will replace Jeff Crow, 2014, according to the 2018 cago, Los Angeles, New York who announced his resignation Fuel Price Outlook released City, Sacramento, San Fran- Oct. 10, 2017. The appointment today by GasBuddy, the only cisco, Seattle, and Washing- was announced during a special smartphone app connecting 70 ton D.C. will likely see prices called meeting and became ef- million drivers with their Per- eclipse $3 per gallon. Cities fective Monday. fect Pit Stop. such as Cleveland, Detroit, Mi- Fitts’ previous position was Some highlights from Gas- ami, Minneapolis, Orlando, St. as the agency’s assistant deputy Buddy’s 2018 Fuel Price Out- Louis and Tampa may get with- director—a position he’s held look include: in arm’s reach of such prices. since April. • The nation’s yearly gasoline • How accurate have past Before that he was colonel of bill will rise to $364.6 billion forecasts been? In 2017, the the agency’s Enforcement Divi- dollars, some $25 billion higher forecast called for a yearly na- sion. than what motorists spent last tional average of $2.49. Actu- He has been with the agency year as the average household al: $2.39. In 2016, the forecast for 29 years, and began his ca- sees their yearly gasoline bill called for a yearly national av- reer as a fisheries technician at rise to $1,898, up from $1,765 erage of $2.28. Actual: $2.12. in 2017. Compared to 2016, “Many will be quick to ask See AGFC Page 6A motorists will be shelling out why we’re expecting higher Ashley Foreman/Advance-Monticellonian prices. Ultimately, OPEC bears $62 billion more during the CHECKING IN The new Mainline Health Systems, Inc.