Who says legal practice in a small town is dull?
A county courthouse was evacuated Thursday after officials said they found a possible explosive device -- one brought in by an attorney.
The 'dangerous' item was.....ahem....an unexploded firecracker that was to be entered as evidence in a trial.
Sheriff Chuck Medford said a member of the Springdale bomb squad happened to be in the courtroom. The officer viewed the device and ordered an evacuation. Subsequently, the entire Springdale bomb squad was called to detonate the possible explosive object.
Medford said the device did not explode, and it appeared to be what he calls a "conventional explosive device."
Funny, when I was a kid, we called those "duds".
Since we were moving all the big furniture last weekend, we didn't go get WildChild like usual. Instead, I picked him up yesterday for an overnight visit. He informed me on the way home that he was upset that I didn't come pick him up. "I'm sorry, but I just couldn't."
"I upset Ma."
"Well," I said, "I came and got you today."
"I _KNOW_!" he grinned from ear to ear. "Now I not upset. ANY. MORE."
But that didn't last long. He mentioned something about the SIL, his favorite uncle, and I told him that the SIL had had a 4-wheeler wreck & had broken his arm. He got all excited.
"I have to be his DOCTOR! I fix his arm!"
I cracked up. But not as much as later, when the SIL stopped by to see WildChild for a few minutes. WildChild was watching cartoons, and every commercial that came on, he needed that toy. Except the Barbie, and his aunt (my daughter) needed that. Then he yelled at the SIL to come & look. I'm not sure what exactly the commercial was for, but WildChild yelled "You need one of those cowboy girls! You need TWO!"
I about died laughing. I told them, "You're right. He needs one for each arm!"
WildChild looks at me like I'm retarded. "Ma," he said. "His arm is broken." Like duh, Ma.
"Well," I said. "He could get a skinny one for his broken arm & a regular one for the other."
I get the look.....the look that said now I know you're yanking my chain.
Hehe. Maybe just a little.
Mike picked up our cable modem this afternoon, and had us online in about 5 minutes. Sweet! Back to civilization!
If only moving were that fast & easy.
The funniest thing that's happened so far is Sollie & the stairs. He went right up them, but is afraid to go down them. Smokey, OTOH, thinks the stairs is his own personal race track. This morning, Sollie was carefully making his way down the stairs when here came Smokey at a dead run. He raced down to Sollie and started smacking him on the butt with his sharp clawed foot. Down they came at a dead run, with Smokey smacking Sollie on the butt with every step....just like he was herding cattle. And the cat had this evil Jack Nicholson grin on his face the entire way. Poor Sollie kept trying to stop, but Smokey would just smack him harder.
It was freaking hilarious.
Latest installment in the growing clusterf*ck that is SBC. A representative has called every day, assuring us that they will 'try' to get our DSL reconnected 'tomorrow'. Since 'tomorrow' never comes, we are still on dial-up. And since we're moving this weekend, reconnecting for one weekend that we're not even going to have time to use it seems pretty pointless.
But it gets better.
Last night, there was a second message. "We're sorry, but we have determined that DSL service is not available at your new location."
Excuse me?
They have been yanking us around for over a week and now they've suddenly discovered it's not available? After telling us that they had to disconnect our present service so that the new service could be installed? And then telling us that the new service couldn't be installed because the electricity wasn't on at the new house, even though it was?
Can you say "cable modem"?
I think we can.
Or maybe we should just write them a letter.(Link via fark) Though it would be hard to top this:
"How surprised I therefore was, when I discovered to my considerable dissatisfaction and disappointment what a useless shower of bastards you truly are. You are sputum-filled pieces of distended rectum incompetents of the highest order."
Hehe.
General consensus is that our Rev. Gov. has done an outstanding job dealing with the recent influx of refugees from Katrina. After FEMA called to inquire whether we had any refugees in the state, our Gov. made a phone call.
"I called the folks at the White House and said, 'This is insane,'" Gov. Huckabee said. "'You guys sent tens of thousands of people here, airlifted them out of New Orleans to Arkansas.' . . . I knew then we were pretty much on our own."
Our Gov., and his wife I might add, quickly went to work.
Luckily, Arkansas wasn't counting on anybody but Arkansas. Within a day of Katrina's landfall, Gov. Huckabee organized state agencies into one all-purpose disaster-assistance team, set up a command center next to his office, and enlisted the state's countless churches to do what churches do--take care of the least fortunate among us. The governor learned that most of the churches were already on the case well ahead of the state.
End result: the few hundred or so of the estimated 60,000 refugees who weren't taken in by relatives, friends, or good-hearted strangers are staying in temporary camps until suitable housing is found.
I met one yesterday, as a matter of fact. A very nice lady from New Orleans, who's been here a couple of weeks with her kids. She was applying for a job at the same company at which I was doing my 'skills testing'***. She's staying in an apartment at Rogers, and seemed to like it here pretty well....though she lamented that there wasn't much to do in Rogers compared to New Orleans.
I laughed and told her I was afraid Rogers was the kind of town that pretty much rolled up the sidewalks every night around 7 p.m. But that she should check out Fayetteville's Dickson Street some weekend. There's always something going on down there.
I suspect she, and many of the other refugees, will end up staying in the area. There's plenty of work available, and most indications are that they are being welcomed by communities all over the state. While this may seem to be counter to the stereotypical clannish, exclusive hillbilly culture, it's really not all that surprising. Arkansas is a state prone to tornados, flooding and even earthquakes.
We all know, either from our own experience or that of family & friends, what it's like to lose everything you have.
The 'skills testing' was....interesting. A timed typing and 10-key test. (I was a wee bit rusty on the 10-key, but did ok considering it's been years since I used one regularly.) A timed basic business math test. And, of all things, a timed spelling test. (You know what I made on that, don't you?)
Someone will call me in the next week or so, I was told, after reviewing my completed application & test results. Meh, whatever. Right now I'm much more concerned with getting our furniture moved within the next two days before the rain from my namesake hurricane hits here.
My mom said when she heard about the new hurricane named after me, she thought "Good Lord, those poor people. Are they in for big trouble!" Looks like she may've been right.
Forecasters said Rita could be the strongest hurricane on record to ever hit Texas. Only three Category 5 hurricanes, the highest on the scale, are known to have hit the U.S. mainland — most recently, Andrew, which smashed South Florida in 1992.
Local forecasters are saying we will even be affected here, with a predicted 2-3 inches of rain & 30-35 mph winds starting sometime Sunday. We definitely need the rain, though it would nice to not get it all at once.
Even nicer if we can get most of our furniture moved this weekend before it arrives.
Here's a different take (registration req'd) on the Mama ain't happy story
A report by patrol officer Vincent Clamser states Jones admitted to attacking her husband, Harold Jones, 58, while he was passed out naked on a bed at their home around 5 p.m. Sunday. She said he had drunk all the beer in the house, wouldn’t leave and wanted to have sex with her.
She also told Clamser her husband had a mistress, but he didn’t want to give her up. "He was lying on the bed and I cut him," Cherie Jones said according to Clamser’s report.
Reckon which one of those was the last straw?
Matt has thoughtfully plotted a weather graphic of our move north. I wish I could really travel that way instead of driving the Dale Earnhardt Memorial Expressway, a/k/a I-540. Driving it in Mike's little Subaru wagon fully loaded with boxes & crap has been quite the experience, to say the least. If I had a dime for every time in the last week I've said "Get off my ass fool or you'll be buying me a new car" I could hire a moving company.
Go check out Matt's great map. It's too funny.
Thanks neighbor!
--Yes my birthday is in a couple of weeks, but really you shouldn't have. You shouldn't worry too much though. After all, I'll be 45.....how much damage could I do?
--Airless paint sprayers work much better with the pitcock valve installed. In case you were wondering.
--Smokey has figured out it doesn't really hurt when Samantha attacks him (she's been declawed). So now he's pestering the hell out of her trying to get her to play with him. Last night he was bugging her and she tried to jump onto the bathroom laundry hamper (and from there into the window) to get away from him. Mid-jump he goosed her in the butt....which startled her so badly she missed the hamper & fell into the bathtub. She got all huffy when I couldn't stop laughing at her.
--Anyone know of a good used appliance store locally? We're switching everything from electric to gas, and looking to do some trading. I swear, I can't imagine why anyone would want an all-electric house in this area. When, not if, the power goes out in the winter you're screwed. No heat, no cooking, no hot water....and frozen pipes.
--BTW, anyone need a good desk? I'll sell you my old office desk cheap. No reasonable offer refused.
--In addition to moving boxes, I have to drop off a pulse-oxygen monitor today....a delightful little device which clamps on the end of your finger & records your blood oxygen level & pulse rate while you try to sleep with something clamped on the end of your finger. The neurologist wanted to check me for sleep apnea. *rolls eyes* You know, Mike's listened to me snore every night for more than 5 years. I think he would know if I had sleep apnea or not. And I don't.
Furthermore, free or not, I absolutely refuse to have one more ridiculous unnecessary medical test run. I have had it with doctors coming up with totally off the wall possible causes for my present problems while ignoring the painfully obvious. And God help the next one who suggests another test. He or she is going to get an earful.
And maybe a punch in the nose.
The move has devolved into such a comedy of errors it's unreal. Our new catchphrase, borrowed from WildChild & slightly modified, is "I hate everybody....but you." Crunchtime is here, we've got to be out of here by next weekend, so I probably won't be around much this week.
And if I didn't already have enough stress, I got an email yesterday from a recruiter who would like to talk to me about some interesting job openings at a local corporation. Which is good news to be sure, but thanks to the Predisone-induced weight gain & edema, I can't wear any of my suits & will have to go buy something suitable on very short notice. Assuming it gets to the interview stage anyway.
To maintain what little sanity I have left, I keep reminding myself of all our many blessings. After yesterday, I can add another:
I'm not Houston Nutt.
Heh.
How hard can this job order be?
1. Install phone line & service at Bentonville address on the 15th.
2. Continue phone/DSL service at Fayetteville address until the 1st.
Really freaking difficult apparently, seeing as how #1 was not done at all, and #2 was done on the 15th, not the 1st. Yes, that's right. They disconnected our Fayetteville phone sometime yesterday 2 weeks earlier than we had requested. And they didn't do anything at the new house like they had scheduled because they claimed there wasn't any electricity. *ahem* Since I was using the shop vac to clean out cabinets during the time they claimed to have been there, I personally think they are full of shit.
Anyway, the Fayetteville phone is now working, though the DSL will not be for several days. So we're on dial-up until then.
We are not amused.
I've developed this dumb habit of calling people crackheads....I don't really mean I think they smoke crack, just that I think they're doing something extraordinarily stupid. Like today, I'm on the road to the new house with a load of stuff when our insurance company calls my cell. They're sending an investigator guy out (to verify the house exists, take outside photos, etc) but he can't find the house. In fact, the lady says, he's at the address we gave them and there's no house there.
"Well he must be smoking crack" I snapped, "because I've been hauling stuff up to that house all week." Ooops. Didn't mean to say that out loud. *ahem* I finally figure out that he's on the right street name but the wrong side of town, and give the lady directions to the correct address. The guy, who was really nice, showed up about 20 minutes later.
Then I got home & read this:
U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled that the pledge's reference to one nation "under God" violates school children's right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God."
It would be unprofessional of me to call a sitting judge a crackhead. I can say that I respectfully disagree though. And I do.
Finally, Sollie just came walking through the house, whining and crying his little buggy eyes out. Concerned, I turned to find that he'd broken his new chew bone into two pieces. For some reason, that's really upset him and he won't stop crying. I told him I didn't know why he was whining, now he had two chew bones. Then I remembered pugs can't count.
Pugs. The ultimate crackheads.
We've been busy with the house and packing and such.....though we can't get much actually moved until the plumber gets finished. Which he swears will be Friday Monday today. I've been around construction enough to know that's just the way it is, but it is somewhat frustrating to also know there are things I could be working on at the house if the freaking bathroom was just reconnected. *ahem*
At any rate, we did get WildChild's toys and his precious computer moved....which was all he was worried about. Saturday morning, he & I packed everything up....well I packed, he fussed about my packing. At one point, I was putting his books in a box when he started insisting I needed to help him RIGHT NOW. I turned & looked and there he stood with his LeapPad backback, a box of blocks under one arm and another box under the other....and he was desperately trying to pick up another box AND his mouse & mouse pad. I started trying to calm him down and explained that we didn't have to carry everything to the cars all at once. We would get everything, but we would carry some things & put them in the car, come back and get more and so on.
No dice. He kept insisting that I hand him another box.
"Honey, you need to calm down. We will get all your toys I promise. We just have to get them all put into boxes first so we can carry them, that's all."
"Ma! You're MAKING ME NERVOUS!!" he exclaimed.
I cracked up. "I understand, but you need to calm down. YOU'RE making ME crazy" I laughed.
Then he was all indignant. "No, I not! I not making you crazy either." Ummm, yes child, yes you are.
We had to make a couple of stops on the way up too, which didn't help anything. By the time we finished the second (to buy him a computer desk), he was practically foaming at the mouth with impatience. We were walking back to the car (ok he was kinda stomping) he remarked loudly "I HATE EVERYBODY!" I laughed and asked "Oh you do, do you?"
"Yes. I hate everybody everyday!" he replied.
"I have days like that too honey" I told him. "It'll be ok."
Big sigh. "Ok Ma."
We finally made it to the new house, he rushed inside. I heard screams of "WOW!!! AWESOME!!!" as he saw his new yellow room. He _loved_ it...especially his new bunk beds with the slide. He'd climb up the ladder, scoot across the bed and down the slide over and over and over. He loved it so much he didn't want to leave when my daughter came to pick him up for an overnight visit. "Why can't we stay here Ma? I want to stay in my new room."
I explained we didn't have everything moved & turned on, so we couldn't stay. Not to mention that we hadn't moved any of his clothes yet.
"I already wearing clothes, " he said. Like duh, Ma.
I countered with the fact that Pa & I hadn't moved our bed yet so we didn't have any place to sleep. We could sleep in his top bunk he generously offered. Giggling at that mental picture, I told him thank you for sharing but I don't think we'd fit.
He was disappointed but after he played awhile (and made sure his precious computer was unpacked & set up), he was ok with leaving....especially since we had no food there & he was ready for lunch.
Shortly before they left, he was standing looking around his new room and I heard him say "Wow! My room really is still yellow. I like my new room!"
He was a happy guy.
FEMA Director Michael Brown has been removed from Katrina relief efforts. Not that there's not plenty of blame to go around from the federal to state to local level, but. When you make screw-ups like:
--Aid shipments are backed up at LRAFB because FEMA directed the first deliveries to the wrong areas of the Gulf Coast, and
--A FEMA rep asked our governor Wednesday if we even had any refugees in the state. Umm, yeah, just a few....like an estimated 75,000, second only to Texas.
That's pretty freaking clueless.
Found via Tim Blair, this article about the "developing alliance between Islamic radicals and neo-Nazis". Go read the whole thing and see if it doesn't give you nightmares. If it doesn't, it should.
Like I've been saying for years, these two groups are natural allies. The only question is whether they can set aside their differences long enough to achieve their common goal: Kill da Joos...and the rest of us what don't agree with them.
Scary stuff.
I know you all will be as saddened by this as I.
Jane Fonda told me yesterday she's scrapped plans for anti-war bus trip next March. As well, Fonda will be making only two appearances this month on another rally with controversial British politician George Galloway, not the eight that were widely misreported in the press yesterday.
Let there be great wailing and gnashing of teeth. Jihad Jane doesn't "want to distract people from Cindy Sheehan's bus trip".
Her upcoming European promotion of her autobiography had nothing to do with her decision.
Really. Honest.
Seems there's more to the story I posted in July of last year (here and here) about how the Arkansas Highway Dept.'s website had been hacked. According to this morning's NY Post, it wasn't just any old hacker.
Experts inside and outside the government confirmed in recent interviews that an intensive effort has been under way for more than a year to track and shut down the mysterious cyber-ghost, who identifies himself as Irhabi 007 — or "Terrorist 007."
....
The FBI has been investigating Irhabi 007 since July 2004, when the Web site of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department was hacked.
The site was transformed into an al Qaeda message board, and links were posted that allowed visitors to view videotapes of Osama bin Laden and tributes to the 9/11 hijackers.
That's not all. Go read the rest for details, but supposedly this person is a fairly major figure in the terrorist world....and may even be an American.
Very strange.
Ack, I've been tagged. Thanks neighbor.
1. Person who most influenced your musical tastes: Hmmm. Probably the 3 people who most influenced my strange musical tastes were my mom (country & bluegrass), my sister (rock) and my undergrad Music Appreciation professor (classical). The rest I just kinda picked up on my own.
2. Top 5 songs to drive to:
3. # of CD's you own: I have no idea, prolly less than 50. I have to rilly, rilly like a band before I spend $15 for a CD. Plus about half my CD's are classical/New Age stuff that I only listen to when I'm writing legal briefs and such.
4. Song/CD you were listening to when you lost your virginity: Yeah right. Like I'd tell you.
5. Song(s) played at your wedding: None.
6. Favorite sad song: The Dance, Garth Brooks.
7. Song you'd like played at your funeral: Please Don't Talk About Me by Billie Holiday. My kids were horrified when I told them. Hehe. Oh, and this old gospel song, Just a Rose Will Do....sung by a quartet of shaped-note singers of course.
8. Song that bests describes yourself. You can only pick one, so choose wisely. Turtle Blues, Janis Joplin.
That wasn't so bad.
Now I'm supposed to tag the next victims, but I'll be nice for a change. You can volunteer.
Jihad Jane is taking some time away from her highly anticipated Magical Mazola tour.
Jane Fonda will join George Galloway, the most radical member of the British parliament, on a tour of the United States to accuse the Bush administration of spending money on Iraq that should be spent to help the poor of New Orleans.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Now there's a Confederation of Dunces if ever I saw one.
So, Jane, tell us. Exactly how many of your millions are you spending to "help the poor of New Orleans"?
Chief Justice Rehnquist died last night. Our condolences to his family.
WildChild's mom called yesterday afternoon, saying he wanted to talk to me. The first thing he said, as usual, was that he wanted me to come get him. I explained we were working on the new house & I would come get him next weekend. "Ok Ma" he sighed, and put the phone down.
Later, he came back on and asked what he really called to find out:
"Is my 'puter in my new yellow room yet?"
I told him no, we hadn't moved any of his things yet, everything was right where he left it. And that he could help us move them the next time he was here.
"I want my 'puter in my new yellow room" he insisted.
Ok, I said. We will do that next time you're here.
"Ok Ma" he sighed, and put down the phone. End of conversation. Apparently, he just wanted to make sure his computer wasn't going to be left behind in the move.
Glad to know he has the right priorities. Hehe.
Thousands of Katrina refugees are in the state, and our Gov. has been told to expect at least 20,000 more.
Gov. Mike Huckabee said he was told by the White House and Louisiana officials to expect 20,000 evacuees as soon as Friday.
Huckabee said there are 4,000 beds at Fort Chaffee in Fort Smith that could be ready as soon as Saturday evening. The governor said the state is looking at using everything from church camps to schools that were vacated due to consolidation to house storm victims.
With that in mind, Operation KARE service centers will be open in every Arkansas county, from 8-5 Saturday & Sunday to register refugees & offer relocation assistance. Refugees may register online here. They can also call 1-877-2-WE-KARE (1-877-293-5273) for more information.
Most of the KARE service centers are being set up by the local National Guard, so refugees can also register at pretty much any Amory or Readiness Center. A complete list of sites & more info can be found at the Operation KARE website.
--We've started the 3 R's on the house....Repair, Repaint & Remodel. We got the first coat of paint on WildChild's room yesterday. The new cheery sunshine yellow is a vast improvement over the old fluorescent screaming yellow, let me inform you.
--I've decided the previous remodel job was done by the Three Stooges. Probably the most bizarre thing we've found so far was in a small closet we're redoing to move the hot water heater into. Two shelves had small wooden boxes built into them....for what reason we couldn't figure. And the closet door had the hook half of a hook & eye latch installed on the inside of the door. I'd be afraid to know why.....lock in or lock out? Very strange.
--After Mike came up with a very creative solution to our problem of the space for the fridge being too small for our oversized one, I remarked that we should get our own tv show about us remodeling old houses. At the rate we work, we could do one house per season. We could call it something like "Old Folks, Old Houses". Mike suggested it be a live, reality show....and that a typical episode would be something like "Hi! Mike's back is acting up today, so you can sit back & watch us play Doom." hehe
--Had two major heart-stopping moments yesterday. The first was when I walked out back to get a bucket of water & discovered the reason the house wasn't cooling off was that the air conditioner unit wasn't running. Ack! Fortunately, I soon figured out the reason was that some dumbass had shut off the power to the unit. Thanks, fool! I'd like to stab you in the eye. The second was opening yesterday's mail. I've been expecting a bill for lab work from my health care provider. Opened a letter from them yesterday, and the first thing I saw was an amount approximately 10 times what I was expecting. However, once I could breathe again, I read on & discovered it was a refund check for an overcharge when I had the MRI done. Whew! A nice surprise for a change.
--Speaking of lab work, I got the results the other day. Everything fairly normal, ruled out some more possible causes of my nerve problems. The only bad thing that showed up was that the Prednisone is only keeping the inflammation under control at a fairly high dosage. But it is working, so I'm staying on it...for now at least. The side effects are annoying, but I'm getting used to not sleeping. And swelling up with fluid retention so I look like the Michelin Man can be controlled somewhat by sticking to my low salt/no salt diet. Which sux ass, btw. While neither of us are enjoying my new-found irritability, Mike (God love him) has dealt with it admirably. A small price to pay for being relatively pain-free and mostly functional. IMO anyway.
--Finally, today's our 5th wedding anniversary. Happy anniversary, baby! We're planning to spend it getting all sweaty and covered with paint & grim, working on our house. No place I'd rather be.
I grew up drinking spring water and swimming in creeks, but I don't do that anymore. Here's why.
A study of area water released by the United States Geological Survey on Thursday found 42 different organic chemicals in area streams and rivers, including some antibiotics.
....
The report found the most common organic compounds of the ones tested for were caffeine, phenol (found in disinfectants and some industrial processes), para-Cresol (disinfectant and wood preservative), and acetyl hexamethyl tetrahydro naphthalene (musk fragrance).
Not to mention the phosphorus, nitrogen, antibiotics and other nasties from all the chicken shit spread on the fields around here. Shit'll kill ya, it will.
The only water I'll drink that hasn't been treated and/or filtered is at my parents' house. And that's because I know it comes from an underground spring in an area far away from chicken houses and urban development. Though I'm sure it's just a matter of time before it becomes as nasty as the rest of the water in northern Arkansas.
If something isn't done, we are going to be paying a hefty price for this for generations to come.
Like the Ancient Mariner, we'll have water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.
The Arkansas Bar Association is soliciting assistance from its members for our colleagues in Mississippi & Louisiana. If you'd like to make a donation, send it to either:
Hurricane Katrina Legal Community Relief Fund
c/o Baton Rouge Bar Foundation
544 Main Street
Baton Rouge, LA 70802
OR
(Only checks can be accepted, payable to:
"Mississippi Hurricane Fund")
Office of the Governor, Attn: Hurricane Relief Fund
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, MS 39201
I've also learned, through them, that the UALR law school in Little Rock will be accepting law students from Louisiana with "special waiver concessions". Additionally, Arkansas colleges are pitching in to help.
Arkansas public universities will provide free tuition and fees for the fall semester to Arkansas students attending universities in New Orleans, officials announced Wednesday.
The universities will also provide out-of-state tuition waivers for non-Arkansas students affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Since most colleges just started back within the last week or so, students shouldn't have much problem getting up to speed at a new school.
BTW, this idea came from Lu Hardin, president of UCA in Conway, my undergrad alma mater. Good job, Lu!
The SIL stopped by yesterday afternoon to drop off my carseat. He'd taken WildChild fishing Sunday and by all accounts a good time was had by all....even though they didn't catch a fish. He was a little surprised WildChild could cast his little Scooby Doo rod & reel so well. I explained he'd had lots of practice, as one of his favorite games is fishing for Sollie. See, his rod & reel came with a little plastic fish on the end, and the game is to cast it down the hallway and reel it in as Sollie tries to catch the fish. Just like real fishing, sometimes Sollie takes the bait, sometimes he doesn't. Cracks me up to watch them too.
The SIL was all excited too, as he's signed a contract to be the drummer for Luke Stricklin's tour band. He'll be leaving short for a concert in Dallas on the 4th, followed by one in Las Vegas on the 10th, Columbia, SC on the 15th, and Tulsa on the 17th. There's also one coming up in DC, but he wasn't sure about the date. I'm sure there'll be many more to follow, check back here for updates on their coming performances.
If you get a chance, go see them. I don't know about the rest of the band, but he's a fairly talented musician. And a good kid to boot.
Just tell him his Ma sent you.
If you'd like to find recommendations to help victims of Hurrican Katrina, check out Prof. Reynold's Carnival of Hurricane Relief. Or here's some good places in NW Arkansas to make donations and/or volunteer:
---United Blood Services in Ft. Smith is asking for blood donations.
---Area Health Education Clinic (AHEC) is asking for medical professionals to volunteer for a free clinic in Ft. Smith that has been set up for victims of Katrina. Call 479-785-2431 to help.