Hogs sign pair of Maumelle Hornets
Guest commentary from Bill Russell, Chad Gardner with the Maumelle City Council report, Public hearing tonight for PCSSD facilities plan and a busy sports weekend ahead plus news and sports headlines
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The Maumelle City Council meeting last Monday, Dec. 6, started off with a presentation regarding the overall status of Maumelle’s streets. Read more from Chad Gardner by clicking Maumelle: City Council report
North Little Rock: Downtown Tip-Off Club returns this Friday
From the Archives: Former Maumelle Mayor Ken Lamastus dead at 73 | This week, seven years ago, the Maumelle Monitor published the obituary of former Maumelle Mayor Ken Lamastus. It was written, in part, by his close friend, the late Bill Lawson, who was editor of the Monitor then.
Sports
CAC: From an uncharacteristic 0-3 start this season, Steve Quattlebaum’s Lady Mustangs have won five of their last seven games and stand 2-0 in the 3A-6 by Donna Lampkin Stephens and read more by clicking CAC teams open conference play 2-0
Moore on Maumelle: My Take
Neal Moore is taking the week off.
Bill Russell: Separation of Church and State
Guest column
Recently Mr. Brandon Achor announced his candidacy for the new Legislative seat in the Maumelle area. In his announcement he referred to wanting to “represent values that we all share” and proceeded to emphasize supporting law enforcement and promoting competition in our educational system. I understand the “dog whistle” undertones to such statements which appeal to Christian Nationalists.
One of these undertones seems to be that he supports tax dollars being used to finance private Religious schools. In the history of our Republic no less than 10 Presidents from Washington to Carter have re-emphasized the tenant of separation of Church and State.. A Poll by the Pew Research Center in October of this year showed that 55% of Americans are strong or moderate supporters of Church-State separation, 67% reject the idea that the U.S. Constitution was inspired by God, and 69% said the U.S. government should never declare any religion as the official faith of the United States.
I am 100% for Religious freedom. The “Jesus Saves” signs, banners, license plates, billboards, etc. are instruments of proselytism, which groups have every right to display if they are on private land and privately funded. However the use of tax dollars to support faith based schools and agencies who discriminate, or include religious indoctrination as part of their operation seems wrong..
The truth is we all have differing values. As someone once said, “If we are all thinking alike – then no one is thinking”, but one value I do hope that he and his friend Leslie Rutledge share with me is that the terrorist attack by American Traitors on the secular and constitutional government of the United States and attendant Law enforcement on January 6, 2021 was wrong, shameful, and un-American.
Public hearing tonight for PCSSD facilities plan
A public meeting has been scheduled for 6 p.m. for tonight, Thursday, Dec. 16, for the facilities master plan for the Pulaski County Special School District.
The meeting will be held in the boardroom at the administration building on Dixon Road in Little Rock.
A special school board meeting has also been called and it will start at 5:30 p.m.
To view the agenda for the special call meeting, click here. The meeting will for a bond presentation by Stephens, Inc. and for the agenda for the public hearing that follows, click here.
Read more by clicking Public hearing tonight for PCSSD facilities plan
Maumelle’s Chamblee, Davillier sign with Razorbacks
Maumelle, in its previous 10 years, never had a player sign to play college football at Arkansas.
That changed on Wednesday as Maumelle had not one but two players sign with the Razorbacks in offensive lineman Andrew Chamblee and defensive end Nico Davillier in a ceremony at the Hornets Nest.
Chamblee, 6-foot-7 and 300 pounds, played offensive tackle for the Hornets and will play in the All-American Bowl on Jan. 8 at San Antonio.
That game will be broadcast on NBC and will, essentially, be Chamblee's last activity as a high school senior as he will graduate early and enroll at the University of Arkansas that month.
Davillier, 6-5 and 260, played defensive end and saw spot action at tight end and fullback this past season.
His high school career is still ongoing as he's also the starting power forward for the Hornets basketball team.
Both were considered four star recruits.
Sports, sports and more sports
It is going to be one busy sports weekend for those so inclined.
It all starts on Friday when Arkansas basketball coach Eric Musselman is the guest speaker at the Downtown Tip-Off Club's weekly luncheon.
It starts at 11:45 a.m. and will be held at the Wyndham Riverfront in downtown North Little Rock and for more information, click here.
That night, the junior college national championship football game will be held at War Memorial Stadium.
The game between Iowa Western and New Mexico Military will kickoff at 7 p.m. and be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network.
General admission tickets are $15 and can be purchased by clicking here.
On Saturday, there will be a Razorback basketball doubleheader of sorts at the women's team from Arkansas will face the University of Central Arkansas in an in-state matchup at Simmons Bank Arena in downtown North Little Rock.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children. They can be purchased by clicking here.
That night, the Razorbacks will face Hofstra in a game that will tip-off at 7 p.m.
Tickets start at $25 and can be purchased by clicking here.
Neither game will be broadcast.
As for the game, Arkansas enters the matchup against the Sugar Bears at 9-2 and are coming off a 73-39 win against UALR. Arkansas features six in-state players with Sasha Goforth and Jersey Wolfenbarger the best of the bunch. Goforth starred at Fayetteville, while Wolfenbarger, a freshman, was a McDonald’s All-American as a high school senior at Fort Smith Northside.
The game is also a bit of a homecoming for Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors, who previously coached at Cabot High School.
UCA is 3-5 on the year, but have a likely win today against Central Baptist College, and have no in-state players on the roster this season.
In the nightcap, Arkansas is 8-1, and lost for the first time in its previous game against Oklahoma.
Devo Davis starred at Jacksonville and is among Arkansas’s best guards, while 7-foot-3 Conner Vanover grew up in Sherwood.
Hofstra, the pride of Long Island, is 6-5 on the season and unsurprisingly, have no players on the roster from Arkansas but there’s a connection. There’s always a connection.
Forward Abayomi Iyiola plays for Hofstra and started his college career at Arkansas. His freshman season he played two minutes on one game and had one rebound with no career points. He’s doing much better at Hofstra and is averaging 7.3 rebounds a game.
A Very Good Read. Especially the article
Bill Russell: Separation of Church and State