A tragic fire took the life of the owner of Flying Possum Leather this morning. Bruce Walker died of injuries suffered in the blaze. Walker was a legend on Dickson and spoke out frequently about Dickson and in favor of business owners there. He sold leather sandals, guitar straps and other goods. His straps were patented and were coveted by players because they did not actually attach to the guitar. Walker was 56.
Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Legendary Dickson Store Owner Dies In Fire
Posted by Jeff on March 7, 2011
Posted in News | 6 Comments »
First No Mississippi Rebel Land Shark, Now No Harry Baals Government Center?
Posted by Adam Butler on February 15, 2011
I thought twice about posting this link, but if it’s good enough for the Associated Press, it’s good enough for me. Heck, they even went “Next Level” with the headline. The Onion is undoubtedly proud.
Posted in News | 4 Comments »
Snowpocalyzillamageddon
Posted by Jeff on February 10, 2011
At least there was no ice.
I’ve said this many times before but… this is why I don’t live in Iowa anymore. Although in Iowa, the roads would be passable by today AND I’d get my MAIL!! (Sorry…)
Yesterday broke two records in NWA. Fayetteville had an official 18.5 inches of snow. Benton County reports were 20 – 24 inches. Last night it got to -16 F at Drake Field. We took a few pictures. Enjoy.
This is the snowman we built last week. It is four feet tall.
The sad path up to my Explorer. It took me 45 minutes to shovel that. Because I am so smart, I had left the Ice Melt in the vehicle.
Posted in Entertainment, News | 1 Comment »
Former Razorback Mitch Mustain Arrested
Posted by Jeff on February 2, 2011
Mitch Mustain
Former Razorback and Springdale quarterback Mitch Mustain was arrested in Los Angeles last night and charged with a felony. Reports indicate that he was arrested in a sting for selling narcotic prescription medication.
Mustain has been a backup at USC since transferring after one year at Arkansas. The article lists some of the soap opera that happened during and after his time in Fayetteville.
Posted in News, Sports | 3 Comments »
Will Beck Be Next?
Posted by Brett Kincaid on February 2, 2011
Keith Olbermann shocked many last month by abruptly ending his run at MSNBC as the host of “Countdown”, the liberal answer to Limbaugh, O’Reilly, and the lovable Glenn Beck. The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank wonders if Glenn Beck may be the next to go. Thanks to his steadily increasing rhetoric many view as anti-Semitic, Mr. Beck may finally force Fox’s hand. Call me a cynic, but I sincerely doubt Fox cares enough to sanction Mr. Beck. Until advertisers abandon his shtick, Mr. Beck probably has the most secure job in the business.
That said, Mr. Milbank thinks the tide against Mr. Beck is rising.
A Fox News spokesman brushed off the complaint in the usual fashion, attributing it to a “Soros-backed left-wing political organization.” But that’s not going to fly: The statement’s signatories included the chief executive of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and his predecessor, the dean of the conservative Jewish Theological Seminary rabbinical school, and a number of orthodox rabbis.
Posted in News, Politics | Tagged: Dana Milbank, Glenn Beck | 2 Comments »
Mauch-ary of a Bill
Posted by Brett Kincaid on February 2, 2011
Rep. Loy Mauch (R – 26) of Bismark provided some entertaining fodder in the House Public Health Committee yesterday. Mr. Mauch introduced HB1205, a bill that – among other things – claimed “mind altering drugs” like lithium were prevalent in the water supply. He also seems to think fluoride is making everyone dumb and ripe for a take over by socialists. (I happen to think Fox News is making everyone dumb and ripe for a take over by fascists, but different strokes for different folks.)
Anyway, the bill was treated with all due respect (which is to say minimal). In the highlight of the hearing, Rep. Tracy Pennartz (D – 65) of Fort Smith crushed Mr. Mauch with her questions, perhaps crossing the line between criticism and condescension. The good news is that the folks at the Arkansas Times were there to provide some video.
Click Here to see the exchange between Mr. Mauch and Ms. Pennartz.
Representative Mauch has been under intense scrutiny due in large part to his ties to The League of the South. The Southern Poverty Law Center has identified The League of the South as a hate group thanks to its advocacy for secession from the United States and neo-Confederate rhetoric.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is your Arkansas legislature at work!
Posted in News, Politics | 5 Comments »
Rebel Priorities
Posted by Jeff on January 31, 2011
Apparently they're serving Totties at the state capitol too.
Since there’s obviously nothing else pressing in Mississippi politics right now… (How’s that education coming? Still #50?) … a politician in the land of former Razorback coaches is proposing a bill that would force the University of Mississippi to use Col. Reb as its official mascot. Oh and while they’re at it, the band is required to play “Dixie” during both football and basketball games.
I cannot believe we here at BH spent so much e-ink on trying to get those crazy Rebel fans to go for Land Shark… just to have some agenda-minded legislator screw it all up with… bills and acts and whatnot.
Posted in News, Sports | 2 Comments »
Don’t Call It A Comeback
Posted by Jeff on January 28, 2011
The Jon & Deek Show is back.
Sorry I don't have a new picture. Forgot the camera. I was there though, I promise. I got the Swag Bag and everything.
Jon Williams and Derek “Deek” Kastner are together again and will soon be broadcasting their show to a new audience that may eventually become statewide. At a press conference on Friday, January 27th, Jon and Deek announced their partnership with Vertical Media to present the J&D Show on the Hog Sports Radio Network. Their show will be broadcast in Northwest Arkansas on The Hog Sports Radio on 99.5 and 105.3 FM. It will be on 97.9 FM and 1290 AM in Siloam Springs and on 1480 AM in Berryville.
Jon and Deek first worked together back on the heritage rock station, 92.1 the Keg. Jon was doing the morning show and Derek worked as Jon’s stunt boy, Kid K. Many hilarious things happened including Deek bursting into a lecture hall on campus at the UofA and starting a Hog Call. Later Jon left for 93.3 the Eagle and Deek took over nights. Deek has worked on rock stations in Tulsa and northwest Arkansas mostly on 104.9 the X but also including a four year stint with Jon on the Eagle. In 2009, however, he was let go due to the economy and he returned to the X.
Wanting a change in both format and venue, Jon and Deek started working on the possibility of bringing the show back. Their trail led to Ryan Hughes, CEO and publisher of Vertical Magazine. Vertical is a free periodical geared towards a male audience. After much legwork, Jon and Derek created what will be known as the Jon & Deek Show Presented by Vertical Magazine. The partnership will also include other media through Vertical Media including a website for the show and podcasts. Dan Storrs the General Manager of Hog Sports Radio indicated that their show will also be streamed and the podcasts will be available on hogsportsradio.com.
Plans to syndicate the show statewide are in the works. The Hog Sports Radio Network is based out of DeQueen which along with Mena will be the first two cities outside of NWA to get the J&D Show. Next stop… Little Rock?
From the press conference. Photo Credit: Julia Williams Photography
When asked about content, Jon replied that the show will be slightly more than 50/50 sports. The rest will be their usual topics of discussion. They also indicated that they will continue their work for both the University of Arkansas (as P.A. announcers for both the GymBacks and Lady Hog Basketball) and with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Jon also stated that they would continue to work with all of the charitable organizations with which they have served in the past.
Jon and Deek are both old friends of us here at Blog Hawgs and we wish them well and good luck in this venture. The new Jon and Deek Show starts February 14th.
Posted in Entertainment, News | 4 Comments »
NWC Report for 1/28/11
Posted by Jeff on January 28, 2011
Miss Arkansas Teen USA of 2010, Megan Burgess was arrested for public intoxication on the campus of the UofA.
The UofA is requesting $141M in bonds for new buildings, renovations and a portion of the new football operations center.
Washington County Circuit Judge William Storey denied a constitutionality claim from a former Elkins teacher charged with having sex with an 18 year old student.
Apparently the Tea party movement has hit Washington County and they do NOT want a $1.09M Animal Shelter.
The owner of the club in Rogers that carded uniformed cops earlier this month is negotiating with the chief of police to not get shut down.
A tragic accident at a Bentonville Elementary School has brought a federal investigation into the safety of soccer goals.
Deek (l) and Jon: Nothing good comes from looks like these.
Jon Williams and Derek “Deek” Kastner plan a press conference for today 11:00 a.m. at the Pinnacle Hills Promenade. As mentioned here earlier this week, they are expected to announce a new morning radio show. I’ll be there and I will ask the best question posted here before I leave at 10:30.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
Posted in News | 14 Comments »
NWC Report for 1/21/11
Posted by Jeff on January 21, 2011
Apparently someone had one too many McRibs. (Image lovingly stolen from Fayetteville Flyer. )
A Fayetteville man was arrested Tuesday on Federal charges that he and a San Francisco man hacked into AT&T servers and stole email addresses from iPads. The accused man did not seem to be taking it very seriously.
The McDonalds on College Avenue where you packed on your Freshman 15 is… gone. It is being replaced with a brand new set of Golden Arches.
Two uniformed Rogers police officers were carded as they tried to enter a private club to serve a warrant. One officer had his ID, the second did not. Two more officers arrived later and a funny story got ugly for the bar owner and employee.
The cleanup continues in Cincinnati. Storm debris everywhere.
Snow seems to be the only newsworthy event otherwise.
Have a nice weekend.
Posted in News | Comments Off
Jon Williams On The Move
Posted by Jeff on January 20, 2011
Bye Bye Eagle... Hellooooo...... ??
For those of you in Northwest Arkansas, you might have noticed that Jon Williams, a longtime fixture on the radio in Fayetteville was not on the air to read the school closings this morning.
For 18 years, Jon has been people’s in-car buddy for the commute to work. Jon started on Q-102 when he first moved to Fayetteville to attend the U of A but shortly left that station for KKEG, a heritage rock and roll station. It was there that Jon made his name in radio. He started by himself with producer, Bill Nevin and newscaster, Zach Arns. Nevin left and Zach took a greater role and the show morphed into the Jon and Zach Show. Ratings continued to grow and in 1997, J&Z left KKEG and started on 93.3 the Eagle. Again ratings climbed and while Jon’s partners on-air changed (Jennifer Colonna, Derek “Deek” Kastner) and they even experimented with a Top-40 station (Hot Mix 101.9), Jon stayed at or near the top for 13 years with Clear Channel Radio of Northwest Arkansas.
On Wednesday though, Jon put in his two-weeks notice. As per radio tradition, that means you are off-air. Radio station managers tend to dislike the thought that they might be paying a DJ to broadcast what they will be doing next and where. It makes sense but creates a lot of confusion for listeners.
Jon’s future will be on air in Arkansas. The details are still being ironed out but one hint that perceptive radiophiles should pick up on is that another rock station jock is also no longer on air. (Think about it.)
I will post more details as they become available. Jon has always been a close friend of ours here at Blog Hawgs and we wish him the very best in this exciting new venture.
Posted in Entertainment, News | 30 Comments »
Hammer to the Slammer
Posted by Jeff on January 10, 2011
At least he will be known for one of the greatest mugshots ever.
Tom DeLay was sentenced to at least three years in jail for funneling corporate money to Texas candidates in 2002.
Headline too cheesy? I have no filter, people.
Posted in News, Politics | 2 Comments »
“Socialist” Methodist Church Targeted by Tea Baggers
Posted by Adam Butler on December 21, 2010
I am going to guess this ends very badly for the Tea Baggers –as in what little shred of credibility they had left will soon be gone, if it isn’t, already.
On his blog, Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips, has fired off a number of salvos aimed at the Methodist Church, the most incendiary being that, “”In short, if you hate America, you have a great future in the Methodist church.”
Posted in News | Tagged: Insanity, Tea Party, United Methodist Church | 4 Comments »
Watching Fox News Makes You Dumb
Posted by Brett Kincaid on December 17, 2010
I rot your brain worse than MTV.
I have long held the belief that Fox News was really more of an opinion channel with little attention paid to actual news. Turns out I was right. So says a study by the University of Maryland. This study compared how well viewers were informed of real, verifiable facts based on their viewing habits. No news outlet had a perfect score, but the folks at Fox led the race to the bottom by a large margin.
Oh, and this is not a partisan thing either. Self-described Democrats also lost brain cells by watching Fox.
The effect was also not simply a function of partisan bias, as people who voted Democratic and watched Fox News were also more likely to have such misinformation than those who did not watch it — though by a lesser margin than those who voted Republican,” said the study.
In short, “it has been statistically proven that you will be more misinformed if you watch Fox (News) than other networks,” said Ramsay.
You can read the entire study here if you don’t believe that liberal international paper from…Toronto.
Posted in News, Politics | Tagged: Fox News | 5 Comments »
NWC Report for 12/17/10
Posted by Jeff on December 17, 2010
$80,000 for 5 days of bikers...
The last NWC Report for 2010.
Family in town next week. And well… not much newsworthy up here. Just lower impact ambulances and Centerton people being Centerton people…
Bike Blues & BBQ gave away their charitable donations this week: $80,000 to 21 local charities. The head of the organization also announced his retirement from the position if anyone is interested…
Central EMS might not use lights and sirens to get to your broken ankle call anymore.
Ever watch Crash? It's things like a broken Christmas Tree that can set a town off!
Knowing they will not have the primary venue for the Walton Arts Center anymore, Fayetteville is looking to renegotiate their contract with the WAC Council.
The airport in Fayetteville is looking to resume commercial flights. Destination: Little Rock – direct.
Nothing in Centerton just happens. There’s always a plot… against someone…
Merry Christmas BlogHawg Nation!
Posted in News | Tagged: Bikes Blues & BBQ, Centerton, Northwest Arkansas | 3 Comments »
Army Birther Going to Jail
Posted by Jeff on December 17, 2010
A few months ago I went off on Lt. Colonel Terrence Lakin. Lakin is an Army doctor who refused to deploy to Afghanistan because he believes that President Obama was not born in the United States and therefore is nto qualified to be his Commander in Chief. Turns out he pleaded guilty to disobeying orders and was sentenced to six months in jail plus dismissal from the Army.
Lakin’s attorney said he was influenced by a civilian lawyer and asked for the mercy of the court. Lakin was less than three years from reaching full pension retirement. Barring overturn by appeal, Lakin’s “compassionate and patriotic but also naive” action is going to cost him his entire career.
Posted in News, Politics | Tagged: Birthers, Court Martial, Jail | 2 Comments »
Comic Film Icon Blake Edwards Dies
Posted by Jeff on December 16, 2010
Edwards with wife, Julie Andrews (of Sound of Music fame)
Blake Edwards passed away yesterday. Edwards was best know for his collaboration with Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther movies (before Steve Martin came in and ruined them for a generation of people.)
Edwards was a genious filmmaker. If you have not seen them I want to recommend two of his films. The first is Skin Deep starring John Ritter. Besides co-starring “Zapp” from American Gladiators, Skin Deep has one of the funniest scenes from 80′s comedies: a glow-in-the-dark “sword fight.” The other is called, The Party. This is another movie with Peter Sellers as a bumbling movie extra that accidentally gets invited to an upper crust party. Sellers is spot-on hilarious. Rent it.
Posted in Entertainment, News | Comments Off
NWC Report for 12/3/10
Posted by Jeff on December 3, 2010
The Walton Arts Center... Fayetteville
The big Walton Arts Center decision was made on Thursday. It turns out that the Walton Family Foundation’s letter stating that they could only be the lead donor if the new facility is placed in Bentonville worked. Fact sheet from KFSM.
HOWEVER, Fayetteville city attorney, Kit Williams thinks that their decision might be in violation of a twenty-four year old agreement. And Mr. Williams told them as much 2½ years ago.
An artist rendition of what Cystal Bridges will look like. The new WAC will likely neighbor the museum.
Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan resorted to coach speak to assess his reaction.
Not quite unrelated to the WAC decision is the paid parking on Dickson Street and its surrounding neighborhood. As promised the city is doing its three month evaluation.
It’s been a tough month for legendary NWA business executives. First we lost Jack Shewmaker now Gene George of George’s Inc. (Springdale poultry giant) has passed.
Washington County is looking to charge cities a daily fee for detaining inmates in its jail.
Former Bella Vista police officer, Coleman Brackney was pleaded guilty to negligent homicide. Brackney shot and killed James Ahern after a high speed chase. Brackney shot Ahern six times. The sixth shot appeared to have happened after Ahern had surrendered.
State Championship
The Bentonville Tigers and the Fayetteville Bulldogs will meet each other tonight for the 7A title. The Tigers are 12-0 but their only overtime game was against Fayetteville. The game will be streamed on NWAHOMEPAGE.COM or you can listen to the awesome PBP and Color guy on KURM, 100.3 FM in NWA or online at KURM.NET.
The heck with objectivity… GO TIGERS!
Posted in News | 3 Comments »
Head Coach Bobby Petrino Close to a 7-Year Extension With Arkansas?
Posted by Adam Butler on November 30, 2010
That’s what The Shawn & Wally Show is reporting.
Before you scoff, as did I, that the next time Wally Hall (or a show with which he is associated) breaks a big story it will be the first, consider also that the same show was the only to have an exclusive interview with agent Derek Braunecker (agent for Cliff Lee and A.J. Burnett) who acted as a go-between in the negotiations to bring Petrino to Arkansas from the Atlanta Falcons.
The show must feel good about its sources. It is reporting the scoop on several platforms (Twitter, texts, etc.) I hope it’s true. Here’s what we at BlogHawgs think about it:
Posted in News, Sports | Tagged: Arkansas Razorbacks, BMFP, Bobby Petrino, SEC | Comments Off
NWC Report for 11/19/10
Posted by Jeff on November 19, 2010
So, this is Dickson Street you say?
Two Fayetteville Aldermen met with parking officials to see how the new meters work. Question: If you were an alderman that supported paid parking on Dickson, would you admit that in three months, you hadn’t been down to Dickson?
Local philanthropist and former Wal-Mart executive Jack Shewmaker passed away on Thursday. Shewmaker was instrumental in the growth of Wal-Mart in the 1980’s.
The hazing incident at Phi Delta Theta has been moved to the state level. Apparently in Arkansas, universities cannot be sued. But a claim of injury or damage can be made.
Innuendo? No... Come on... Can't be...
A new local restaurant may have borrowed a few too many ideas from the Texas-based Twin Peaks chain. I wonder if Hooters sued Twin Peaks back in the day…
The Benton County Tea Party sent a letter endorsing Rogers Mayoral candidate Kurt Maddox that makes serious accusations against his opponent. But the tea partiers say they didn’t write it…?
Another local eatery gets the Pink Poster O’ Doom. Actually they also got the Yellow Poster O’ Doom. Seems WOW Japanese Bistro did not pay either sales tax or employee withholding tax.
The Ultimate Peacekeeping Force
The UofA is working with the Arkansas National Guard on a new way to achieve peace in Afghanistan. The Guard is learning to teach Afghanis about handling livestock.
Crystal Bridges will be opening in November of 2011. The long-awaited pet project of Alice Walton is expected to be a major point of interest for Benton County.
Another Bentonville entertainment opportunity opens tomorrow: the city owned ice rink.
Fayetteville Public Schools has done it twice. Bentonville is doing it this year. And now Rogers is considering a voluntary buyout for teachers and staff considering retirement.
The Lights of the Ozarks will be turned on tomorrow night. Thankfully, this city tradition appears to be recession-proof.
Happy Thanksgiving, BlogHawg Nation!
Posted in News | 5 Comments »