Special Olympics team forming; information meeting is ThursdayTeam Kidsource, a countywide Special Olympics team, is launching with an information meeting Thursday at Kidsource Therapy.
The meeting is an opportunity for parents, volunteers and athletes 8 and older to find out about the year-around sports training and competition available through participation in the Special Olympics program.
Possible sports the team plans to participate in include cross country, cycling, softball, bowling, volleyball, powerlifting, basketball, track and field, aquatics, gymnastics, golf, boccie and tennis. The sports events begin in August and follow the school schedule, with usually one event each month.
Team Kidsource will have weekly or bi-weekly practices geared toward the sport of the upcoming monthly meet. A representative from Special Olympics Arkansas will be on hand to provide information and answer any questions about the program.
Brecca Jenkins, team coordinator and an occupational therapist at Kidsource Therapy, hopes “this will be an opportunity for children and adults with disabilities in the community to engage in active extracurricular activities and sporting events throughout the year.”
County schools participate in selected Special Olympics events, but have limited time for practice. The team’s purpose is to enhance those efforts by providing extra practice and increasing the number sports available to involve more young people and adults.
Volunteers are the backbone of Special Olympics and come from all walks of life, all income brackets and all age groups. Volunteers serve as coaches, officials, competition and event support.
Kidsource Therapy is at 17706 Interstate 30 in Benton.
For more information call Becca Jenkins or Amy Covert at 501-315-4414.
— Courier staff
Author will sign copies of murder mystery at Benton, Bryant librariesNorth Little Rock resident and author Breanna Cone will discuss and sign copies of her latest novel, “Murder at the Oasis,” at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 21, at Herzfeld Memorial Library and at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 22, at the Bryant Library.
Both events are free and open to the public.
Cone’s latest novel is the first in a set of five mysteries in the Gumshoe Series and is set in the same small town of Spencer City, Conn., the setting of her earlier Spencer City Series.
“I set the novel in the same town … because it is a small, quiet town where jaywalkers are the normal lawbreakers and to say a final goodbye to the characters I had developed over the years writing the first series,” Cone said.
“Murder at the Oasis” involves the story of an apparent random murder and the conflict that arises between the FBI agent and private eye who is in town on another case. According to the private eye, Josie Palmer, the case makes for “a tangled web of lies [that] begs to be unraveled.”
This novel is Cone’s first crime fiction novel.
“I look forward to sharing this book and those to come with everyone and seeing what the reaction is,” Cone said. “An author always has a glib tongue and ready conversation to share.”
Cone has plans to release one novel a year for the next four years. Her latest novel and all of her Spencer City Series novels will be available for purchase at the events. All of her books can also be purchased online at www.amazon.com or www.barnesnoble.com.
For questions on either of Cone’s Saline County Library events, call Herzfeld Memorial Library at 778-4766 or the Bryant Library at 847-2166.
For more information about Cone and her works, visit www.breannacone.com.
— Courier staff
Civitan Services holding fifth annual barbecue fundraiser May 22 in BentonBenton Civitan Club will hold its fifth annual Drive-Through BBQ fundraiser Thursday, May 22, at the Civitan Center on Cox Street in Benton.
Hours for the event are 3-6 p.m.
This year, the club will only be selling whole pork butts and whole slabs of ribs to raise funds for Civitan Services.
The meat is smoked for up to 10 hours and seasoned with a secret family recipe for a great Southern taste, the club said in a press release.
A whole pork butt is $30 and a whole slab of ribs is $25. Each comes in easy-to-transport foil pans with extra sauce on the side.
Call the Civitan Center by Friday at 776-0691 to reserve your order.
All orders will be served from a drive-through station set up in the Civitan Center driveway. Traffic should enter from the north side, closest to the Boys and Girls Club of Saline County, and exit to the south toward Edison Avenue.
This year, the event is co-sponsored by Middlebrooks Electric, Bill White, Smith-Caldwell Drug Store, Landers, Rasberry Surveying, Curves of Benton & Bryant, Glover’s Plumbing and Rineco.
The Drive-Through BBQ is the second Circle of Friends event for the Benton Civitan Club this year to help Civitan Services serve developmentally delayed children and adults living in Saline County.
Civitan Services this year celebrates 50 years of service.
— Courier staff
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