U.S. stocks took a hard fall in late trading on Friday as interest rate fears spooked the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices, dragging down publicly-traded Arkansas concerns almost across the board.

Yet, out of Friday’s late market sell-off, Dillard’s again was one of the biggest Arkansas advancers, continuing its march upward following the Little Rock retailer’s robust fourth-quarter and full-year earnings report in late February. For the period ended Dec. 31, Dillard’s reported fourth-quarter and yearly profits of $130 million and $331 million, respectively.

A week ago, the Dillard’s board handed out a cash dividend of six cents per share, payable on May 4 to shareholders of record as of March 31, 2015. Since closing at $122.53 on Feb. 23, Dillard’s shares have gained 7.7% to close at $131.95 at Friday’s close.

Other winners in this week’s session included Arkansas’ regional banking rivals, Simmons First National, Bank of the Ozarks and Home Bancshares. Banking stocks rallied this week after 31 of the nation’s largest financial institutions passed the Federal Reserve’s so-called “stress test” that measures capital as a share of risk-weighted assets.

After Friday’s dip, still most banking stocks were back up in late trading Friday as several reports signaled that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates between June and September.

ARCBESTLEADS DECLINERSFOLLOWING UNUSUAL MARKET BLIP
But Arkansas’ remaining publicly-traded concerns lost ground in this week’s choppy session. One of the biggest decliners was ArcBest Corp., which had an unusual blip in trading earlier in the week. The Fort Smith trucking and logistics company’s shares fell more than 7% in early trading on Tuesday, March 3, from a high of $43.59 at the opening bell to $39.35 by midday.

The trucker’s shares settled around the $40 mark for the remainder of the week, but company officials have given no explanation for the sudden four-hour disruption in its stock in the week’s earlier session. Incidentally, ArcBest President and CEO Judy McReynolds spoke to a group of institutional investors in Orlando, Fla., about the same time the company’s shares backed up seven percentage points on Tuesday.

Other decliners for the week were Wal-Mart, Murphy Oil, Murphy USA, J.B. Hunt, Acxiom, Carmart and Tyson Foods. Windstream, which recently spun off its network into a publicly-traded real estate investment trust (REIT), also lost ground in the weekly session, closing at a new 52-week low of $7.76.

Deltic Timber also failed to gain momentum as its shares fell from a high of $66.74 at Wednesday’s opening bell to $65 at Friday’s close. Deltic did have some insider activity as CEO Ray Dillon sold off nearly 9,000 of his shares in the El Dorado-based timber and real estate company.

BROADER MARKET
In the broader market, most of the major benchmarks closed lower on Friday, losing ground on Friday as investors’ took profits as strong employment figures stoked fears that the Fed will raise interest rates sooner than expected.

According to Reuters, the S&P 500 fell 1.6% while the Dow slid 1.5% and the Nasdaq dropped 0.7%. The S&P and the Dow both ended the day more than 2 percent lower than their March 2 records. The S&P saw its biggest percentage decline since early January on Friday.

The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial index includes market bellwether Wal-Mart and 29 of the nation’s largest public companies. Murphy Oil, Tyson and Windstream are all part of the broader S&P 500 index.

Sodie’s Wine and Spirits, a 10,000-square-foot full service liquor store, recently held its grand opening in Fort Smith.

The new operation is located at 5401 Phoenix Ave., and store hours are Monday-Thursday 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday-Saturday 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.

In addition to being locally built, Sodie’s offers many products from the area as well. A number of craft beers brewed in Arkansas are available at the store’s “Growler Station.” Growlers are 32 and 64 oz. jugs filled with craft beer from a keg and sealed for off-premises consumption. The growlers just became legal for retail sale last July. This allowed Sodie’s to actually put the craft beer kegs in the cooler and route the lines through the slab to the tasting area in the store.

“It’s exciting to bring something new and unique to the community,” said Sodie’s owner, Scott Clark. “You know what I’m most proud of is that this place was built by Fort Smith. Every tradesman, contractor, wholesaler… everybody working here was from Fort Smith and that’s hard to say on a lot of projects.”

Sodie’s also boasts the state’s only enomatic wine dispensing system. The system uses inert gas to preserve opened bottles of wine for up to four weeks. Up to eight wines will be available at Sodie’s tasting area at any given time.

“It’s similar to the idea of a perfume counter,” said Clark. “You can sample a wine before you decide if you want to invest in it.”

Also inside the store is a walk-in humidor made of Spanish cedar, a hard wood that easily absorbs humidity and releases a mild aroma. It is stocked with cigars for sale.

Karen Minkel will succeed Rob Brothers as the Home Region director for the Walton Family Foundation upon his approaching retirement in April.

Minkel joined the foundation in 2012 and has served as senior research officer providing analysis and evaluation of grants. Her past experience in the classroom and in leading urban planning projects, along with public policy education uniquely equip her as director, according the Buddy Philpot, executive director for the foundation.

She received her bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and her master’s degree in public policy from the University of California at Berkley. Minkel joined the Foundation after working for seven years in urban planning, three of those as director of strategic planning for the city of Fayetteville. She also spent time as a classroom teacher in New York City Public Schools as a Teach for America corps member.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has named Keven Anderson, a former state representative from Rogers, to serve on the NorthWest Arkansas Community College Board of Trustees.

Anderson will fill a position left vacant in 2014 with the resignation of trustee Amy Forrest. NWACC’s trustees are elected by voters in the college’s taxing district made up of the Rogers and Bentonville school districts. Anderson will represent District 7.

Anderson, 48, served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 2003 through 2008 and represented District 96. He is the owner of Anderson Electric & Plumbing Supply with locations in Rogers, Springdale and Harrison.

“I welcome the opportunity to serve and give back to the community which has given so much to our family,” Anderson said.

His wife, Lisa, is a former NWACC trustee, having served as a college board member from 2001 to 2004. She now serves as a member of the Rogers School Board and is the director of institutional research at the college.

“We are pleased to have Keven join our board. His past experiences and community engagement will provide a unique and valued perspective going forward,” said Ric Clifford, chairman of the NWACC Board of Trustees.

The college is governed by a nine-member local Board of Trustees with the trustees elected by zones for terms of up to six years.

Walking more than a mile to work, Lisa Pietro, a produce handler at a Wal-Mart Store in Winter Haven, Fla., said the $8.95 per hour she earns after two years on the job barely covers her monthly shelter and utilities, much less food and transportation costs.

Single and 57, Pietro loves Wal-Mart, but does not like working for the retailer at times. She said her department is understaffed with just three employees, one of which is a new hire. She is one of 500,000 hourly workers at Wal-Mart in line for the $9 minimum wage come April, as recently announced by Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon.

Over the past year, Pietro has averaged between 32 and 36 hours of work per week, getting closer to 40 hours a week through the holiday season and now that the department is understaffed. Pietro is a member of OUR Walmart, saying she joined the union-backed group last fall to push for higher wages for workers like herself. She said a $15 hourly minimum wage would truly make a difference, and that’s still a long way from $9 or even $10 per hour.

(Wal-Mart spokesman Kory Lundberg told The City Wire that Pietro is automatically eligible for the $10 hourly rate in February 2016. He reiterated that the retailer has "tens of thousands of hourly associates all over the country earning in excess of $15 an hour.")

“I make $950 per month and Wal-Mart still classifies me as part-time through I work every chance I get, most of the time 32 or more hours a week. I have some critical care insurance but not a medical plan. I just can’t afford it. If I get sick enough that I have to see a doctor then it’s the emergency room for me,” Pietro said.

The bulk of Pietro’s income goes to housing costs as she pays $600 per month for a studio apartment about a mile and a half from the store where she works.

“I have to live near the store because I walk to work and back, I don’t have a car and can rarely afford to take a cab on bad weather days. I rely on friends to help me some; but when you have to be at work at 5 a.m. or your shift ends at midnight or 1 a.m. then you’re on your own. For me, that means walking the 1.5 miles in the dark by myself, which I do regularly,” Pietro said.

“Without my job I would be homeless,” she added.

She told The City Wire that the flexible scheduling promised by the retailer doesn’t help her because the produce jobs are not transferable to other departments.  

“I can’t pick up a shift from a cashier. I am not trained to run a register and the deli worker can’t pick up a shift in my department because they don’t have the training. The flexible scheduling might look good on paper but in reality it doesn’t work for most of the associates in specific areas,” Pietro said.

Over the course of two years, Pietro received two raises from her starting pay of  $7.55, being raised to $8.40 and then to $8.95. She could see a 5-cent per hour raise in April when the $9 minimum becomes effective.

“I don’t know what I would do without the food stamps, that’s how I eat. A nickel more per hour is not going to change that,” she said. “I shop for my clothes at Goodwill, including my shoes.”

NOT ENOUGH
Wal-Mart’s recent efforts to raise worker wages was applauded by retail analysts and the industry’s primary trade group as it was seen as a proactive move that might cause other retailers to follow suit. TJX, the parent of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, announced the following week plans to raise its minimum hourly wage to $9 by June and up to $10 in 2016.

Claire McKenna, of the National Employment Law Project, said Wal-Mart and other retailers raising wages to $10 per hour is antiquated given that many states and cities are already mandating higher minimum wages. According to a January 2015 poll conducted by Hart Research Associates for the National Employment Law Project, in a representative national sample of 1,002 adults, three in four Americans, including 53% of Republicans support raising the federal minimum wage to $12.50, and 63% want the minimum wage increased to $15 per hour by 2020.

McMillon told CNBC recently that he too voted to raise the minimum wage in Arkansas in the general election last November.
 
McKenna said Costco’s base pay of $12 per hour and Ikea’s starting $11 wage are already setting higher standards than Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer. 

“A concern just as important as the hourly minimum wage is the guarantee of service hours which can provide retail workers stable and sufficient incomes to maintain a decent standard of living,” McKenna said.

At least 50% of Wal-Mart workers are part-time – with many reporting not getting the hours they need, according to OUR Walmart information. A study released by the National Employment Law Project found that 9% of adult retail workers involuntarily worked part time in 2014, compared with just 5% of all working adults. Retail workers make up 11% of working adults but 18% of adults involuntarily working part time.

Wal-Mart is addressing added labor hours for its stores. However, store managers schedule the hours, and their incentive is to run an efficient and productive store because bonuses are paid on performance. Executives told the media Feb. 19 that store managers set worker hours based on the needs of the individual stores.

A HAND UP
McMillon and his predecessors at Wal-Mart have said it’s not necessarily where you start but what opportunities there are for advancement that are the most important factors in a retail career. Wal-Mart boasts that 160,000 employees each year are promoted and that 75% of its managers began as hourly employees. But not everybody can get promoted to a job that makes a middle-class salary. For example, there are only eight assistant managers per store, with a base salary of $35,000; plus four shift managers and one store manager, who make more. That comes out to about 62,500 positions, or less than 5% of the company's 1.3 million employees.

While there are plenty of back-office and supply chain related jobs at the retail giant there is a wide base in the retail pyramid. If all workers are the bottom are inherently competing with one another for better-paid positions, some of them won't get far, critics say.

Pietro said she is not interested in becoming a shift manager. She does not want the added pressure from higher management. But, she does want to earn a livable wage doing a job that requires physical stamina, social interaction and attention to detail.

LOW INCOME HELP
Janet Wills, retired manager for the Individual Development Account program at the Economy Opportunity Agency in Washington County, sees plenty of Arkansas families trying to survive on $9 per hour – which she says is incredibly hard to do even in a state like Arkansas that has a low cost of living. One of the largest underserved demographics in the U.S. is older adult workers, who are often employed full-time at low-paying service jobs or part-time jobs, Wills added.

“The working poor are quiet different from those who are broke. The IDA program has has great of success helping those who are broke, whether that is they lost a good paying job or they are trying to finish their college education. It’s much harder for the working poor to save the money they need to be part of our program,” Wills explained.

The EOA of Washington County has the funding to match 50 IDA members annually and there are income requirements which are 185% of the federal poverty level.

The IDA program is a saving plan where the participant works to set aside $667 of their own money for a particular expenditure, such as a down payment on a home, home renovation, college expenses or capital for a business launch. The program makes a 3:1 match of $2,000 for the IDA member and then disperses the $2,667 to cover the planned expenditure. Wills said when a working poor individual manages to get their $667 saved they are hesitant to let it go.

She said housing costs should never equal more than 35% of someone’s gross income. For a person earning $9 per hour, that would be a maximum $465 per month.

“The first thing I stress with our clients is that they must find affordable housing. Food clothing and shelter are the basics everyone must have. Someone earning $9 per hour would have to rely on government assistance like food stamps and utility vouchers and if they can get it, subsidized housing,” Wills said. “They would have no choice but to plug themselves into the system.” 

When asked why she doesn’t leave her job for opportunities elsewhere, Pietro said most of the smaller retailers in her neighborhood have closed. She said there are other retailers across town, but without transportation they are also out of the question.

Pietro was hoping to use her tax refund as a down payment on a car, but ironically the added hours she was so willing to take during the holiday season put her income just over the threshold for an extra tax credit she has received in recent years.

“I don’t know yet what my store bonus will be. I have been at Wal-Mart two years and we are supposed to get the bonuses quarterly but I have only received two so far. They are based on store profitability,” Pietro said.

Shoppers in Bentonville, Rogers and Springdale will have new shopping venues when new Walmart Neighborhood Markets open in the coming months. The new stores in Rogers and Springdale each will have 41,000 square feet and each will feature a fuel station, said Erica Jones, a Wal-Mart corporate spokeswoman. 

There are two stores underway in Bentonville, on the heels of a recent grand opening on Central Avenue. The Bentonville store, under construction on the downtown square, will be smaller and will feature different offerings, such as more convenience foods and “grab and go” lunches or meals, Jones said.

Another Neighborhood Market under construction on North Walton Boulevard in Bentonville along with the new stores near downtown Rogers and near Interstate 49 in Springdale will have the look of the traditional Neighborhood Markets. These stores also feature a small convenience store at the fueling station. 

The Rogers store is under construction in the downtown area, on the southwest corner of Eighth and Walnut streets. The first phase of construction has seen the demolition of several buildings in the area. The grading permit was issued Oct. 17. City officials have said they welcome this store to the downtown area amid efforts to transition more urban housing which could benefit from retail shopping options in the vicinity. 

Jones said the target opening of the Rogers store will be in the third quarter of this year, between July and September, Jones said.

The Springdale store should open in the second quarter of this year, between April and June, she said. It is under construction on Don Tyson Parkway at the intersection with Interstate 49. Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse said he expects it will spur more retail development toward to the city’s western side along the Don Tyson interchange. A new Casey’s General Store (convenience store) has already opened next to the Wal-Mart construction site.

The Bentonville stores are targeted for summer openings, Jones said.

The new stores join a regional network of Neighborhood Markets in Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers, Springdale, Centerton, Farmington, Siloam Springs in Northwest Arkansas along with stores in Fort Smith and Van Buren as well as Noel and Seligman in Missouri.

A typical Walmart Neighborhood Market employs between 80 and 95 full-time and part-time workers and is set up to be pick-up center for online customers choosing the free ship-to-store option for more than 7 million products on Walmart.com. This format has been a shining star in the Walmart U.S. retail fleet. Walmart U.S. CEO Greg Foran recently said the grocery/hybrid model has posted 50 consecutive months of positive same-store sales. The Neighborhood Market stores returned comp sales of 7.7% in the fourth quarter ending Jan. 31. 

Foran said the retailer expects to open between 180 and 200 more Neighborhood Market formats this year, this includes about 10 to 15 of smaller 10,000 square-foot stores in rural outlying areas. He said this would round out the openings of the smallest formats which are still in test mode.

The average building cost of each store is $4.6 million according to local permit values issued by the respective cities. The turn-around time on this format is roughly nine to 10 months once construction begins.

Ozark Mountain Poultry (OMP) plans to acquire a chicken processing plant that ConAgra Foods intends to close in July, according to company release.

ConAgra announced March 6 that the company will close its Batesville poultry plant transferring the production to other ConAgra facilities.

Ed Fryer and Rogers-based OMP will retrofit the facility to accommodate a new poultry processing line that produces and processes antibiotic-free chickens for foodservice and retail customers under the Forester Farmer's Market brand.

In 2013 OMP bought a former Pilgrim's Pride plant in Batesville, reopened it and created approximately 250 jobs. The company plans to create at least 225 jobs when it reopens the ConAgra plant later this year.

Fryer, former University of Arkansas professor, continues to grow the OMP business by providing niche products driven by increasing consumer demands.

Chasidy McAllister, APN, has joined Sparks Gastroenterology Center located inside Sparks Regional Medical Center on Towson Avenue.

McAllister, a Lavaca native, earned her master’s degree in nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in December. She will work alongside Dr. Hrair Simonian and his staff to provide care to patients with a variety of gastrointestinal disorders.


McAllister has nearly 20 years nursing experience and has worked with geriatric patients during her career at long-term acute care facilities and rehabilitation centers.

“My grandparents and I were really close and I just have a lot of compassion for the older population,” McAllister said. “From being in a nursing home or rehab environment, I realize how important it is to give your time and attention to those patients.”

McAllister lives in Muldrow, Okla., with her husband and three children.

Northwest Arkansas’ economy continues to grow jobs, population and generate a robust gross domestic product, but when drilling down in the weeds, there is a looming workforce shortage reported across the region by large and small employers.

The workforce issues were at the heart of the survey findings as the Chambers of Commerce in Fayetteville, Springdale, Siloam Springs, Rogers and Bentonville made 487 visits with local employers this past year. The visits marked the third annual survey for Employer Retention and Expansion which is managed by the Northwest Arkansas Council.

The surveys look closely at employer needs, concerns and expansion expectations in hopes of working together as a region to facilitate future growth. The combined companies plan to invest $112 million in the region over the next three years as one in five companies surveyed cited planned expansions. No detail was provided about the investment intentions. (Link here for a PDF version of the report.)

The cohort also plans to hire 1,541 workers in the next three-year period, which is roughly the same projections made a year ago. The 3-year job creation expectation is up from 965 reported in 2013.

“It will be interesting to see at the end of this year how many of those projections made in 2013 will have resulted in actual job creation in the three-year period. We know there has been steady job creation since mid-2012 in Northwest Arkansas ahead of the rest of the country,” said Michael Harvey, chief operating officer for the Northwest Arkansas Council. 

One eye-opening metric unveiled by the smaller employers this year as well as large manufacturers is the shortage of a qualified workforce to many entry-level positions going unfilled. Harvey said the shortage has been well-documented but this survey found that needs were more deficient at the community level than the industry at large.

K-12 SOLUTIONS
“We have to do a better job with K-12 education offering more vocational training. There is some good work underway, but more is needed. K-12 is going to be the biggest solution to this problem long term,” Harvey said.

Barry Knight, a vocational tech teacher at Rogers Heritage High School, said it’s an uphill battle. He has spent the past 17 years training high school students with the skills needed to assume steady work earning between $12 and $17 an hour in local industry immediately upon high school graduation. Knight spent two decades working in the manufacturing industry after he obtained a degree in education.

“I took a pay cut to teach, but it’s something I always wanted to do,” Knight said.

He has 70 students in his career tech classes which require a two-hour block. Seven are seniors and there are 40 in the entry level class. Knight said he has most of the students for two years and some for a third year. The students get practical application skills in computer drafting, robotics and basic machinist training. 

Knight said the program also qualifies for between six to nine hours of engineering school credit through Missouri Southern University if the students have the required score of 22 on the ACT and meet the other dual credit qualifications.

“It’s very hard to get kids today interested in a vocation even though they can go right to work out of high school in good-paying jobs. Machinists have always been paid well dating back to the Confederate War. A Confederate soldier earned $15 per month, but a gunsmith earned $275,” Knight said.

There are roughly 4,000 high school students enrolled in Rogers, and just 70 have sought out the career tech training offered by Knight.

“There is a lot of emphasis on Advanced Placement and college prep course work but there is also a bright future for those who have practical experience and go right to work and then continue on to college with no or little debt,” Knight said.

Harvey agreed, saying that too many students leave college after two years with no real work skills and loads of debt. Those with practical machinist skills can work their way up to $25 per hour jobs and in some cases get their college degrees funded through employer reimbursement programs like NWA Graduate.

Harvey said Springdale, Siloam Springs, Pea Ridge and Rogers schools are some of those in the region working toward solutions to the workforce shortage.

CONCERNS AND SUCCESSES
The survey consensus also indicated some concern around public transportation. Harvey said Ozark Regional Transit is willing to work closely with cities and industries in need. He said Fayetteville was able to work out additional routes to and from its industrial park at the request of manufacturers who said they were experiencing higher turnover rates. The additional routes at various shift times have reduced turnover and absenteeism. 

The Bentonville-Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce heard from several companies having difficulty finding and recruiting qualified employees with “soft skills” – interpersonal and communication skills. In response the Chamber, reached out to local educators who now offer such training. 

The Fayetteville Chamber has used the survey to help with sustainable agendas of some of its local companies like BlueInGreen who was allowed to use the city’s treatment plant for a demonstration project. It also worked with Pinnacle Foods to help preserve an on-site rare habitat for Monarch butterflies.

The Springdale Chamber said it worked with two local firms to obtain additional incentives from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and the state’s training funds.

Home sales in Arkansas’ four large markets were down 2.55% in January after posting an almost 4% gain in all of 2014. Driving the January numbers lower was an almost 11% decline in home sales in the central Arkansas market.

However, the average price of a home sold in the four markets was up almost 9% in January.

The City Wire’s Arkansas Home Sales Report captures home sales data in the state’s 14 most populated counties within its four largest metro areas — Central Arkansas, the Fort Smith area, Jonesboro/Northeast Arkansas and Northwest Arkansas. The report, which records closed sales, accounts for between 70% and 75% of total Arkansas home sales.

There were 21,447 homes sold in Arkansas’ four largest markets in 2014, up 3.8% over 2013 and up 17.33% over 2012. The total value of home sold in the four markets during 2014 was $3.554 billion, up 3.24% over 2013 and up 18.97% compared to 2012. Gains in the number of homes sold in 2014 certainly varied by market. Sales totaled 9,904 in central Arkansas, up 2.32%. In the Fort Smith region, which has an economy not yet on stable footing, home sales were up a surprising 14.33% for the year.

JANUARY NUMBERS
January home sales in the four markets totaled 1,222, down 2.55% compared to January 2014, and up 5.98% compared to January 2013. The average price per home in the four markets during January was $157,090, up 8.72% compared to January 2014, and up 2.59% compared to January 2013. The total value of sales in the four markets during January was $191.964 million, up 5.94% compared to January 2014 and up 8.73% compared to January 2013.

There were 544 homes sold in central Arkansas, down 10.97% compared to January 2014, and down 5.56% compared to January 2013.

January home sales totaled 436 in Northwest Arkansas, up 8.19% compared to January 2014, and up 10.94% compared to January 2013.

Jonesboro area home sales totaled 124, down 2.36% compared to January 2014 and up 18.1% compared to January 2013.

In the Fort Smith area, home sales totaled 118, up 4.42% compared to January 2014, and up 49.37% compared to January 2013.

The total value of the sales during January were down 6.13% in central Arkansas, up 19.48% in Northwest Arkansas, up 14.9% in the Jonesboro area, and up 6.97% in the Fort Smith region.

THE REGIONAL PICTURE: 2015
Central Arkansas — Home sales
January 2015: 544
January 2014: 611
January 2013: 576

Fort Smith area — Home sales
January 2015: 118
January 2014: 113
January 2013: 79

Jonesboro area — Home sales
January 2015: 124
January 2014: 127
January 2013: 105

Northwest Arkansas — Home sales
January 2015: 436
January 2014: 403
January 2013: 393

The top five counties in terms of January 2015 home sales:
Benton — 257, down compared to 258 in 2014 
Pulaski — 239, down compared to 282 in 2014 
Washington — 179, up compared to 145 in 2014
Craighead — 98, down compared to 103 in 2014
Faulkner — 88, up compared to 67 in 2014

Link here for a PDF document of the January 2015 data.

MARKET OBSERVATIONS
Vicki Briolat, agent with Crye-Leike Real Estate in Northwest Arkansas, said buyer confidence is positive and there are far fewer low ball offers made as the foreclosure market continues to weaken.

“Some people were buried so long under flat to negative equity in their homes, but that is changing as property values continue to rise. We are looking for a strong spring season and with Walmart bonuses coming in March, now is the time for resellers to list if they want to move up or down,” Briolat said.

Kevin King, owner of Weichert King Realty Group in the Fort Smith area, said the reduction in mortgage insurance premiums is timely to help offset what is expected to be higher interest rates by the end of 2015.

“Three predictions I have heard recently is that interest rates will be 5% by the end of 2015, (with) most of that move coming in the back half of this year,” King said.

While 5% is historically a low mortgage rate, it is considerably higher than 3.5% to 4% rates now available.

The one-time family-owned Allens Inc., of Siloam Springs has been sold to canning rival Del Monte Foods for $75 million in cash. The deal was with Sager Creek who purchased the Allens out of bankruptcy last year for $124.78 million.
 
San Francisco-based Del Monte Foods is one of the largest food companies in the United States and the Sager Creek business will add about $250 million in additional revenue from brands like Veg-all, Freshlike, Popeye, Trappley’s and Allen’s.

“This acquisition provides Del Monte the opportunity to expand on Sager Creek’s Foodservice business platform and new retail product offerings while driving significant operating synergies in our network of vegetable production facilities,” said Nils Lommerin, CEO of Del Monte Foods.

Allens, Inc. was founded in 1926 and owned and operated by multiple generations of the Allen family. Sager Creek employs about 1,000 people in Arkansas, Wisconsin and North Carolina facilities, which will be taken on by Del Monte.

The City Wire reported last year that Sager Creek, owned by a venture capital firm, would likely dismantle the 87-year-old food company or sell it off.

JOBS QUESTION
Del Monte’s move does raise the question of management jobs remaining in Siloam Springs. The city’s chamber leader is hopeful job losses will not result.

“The conversations we’ve had with Del Monte indicate that this well-known food company wants to make Sager Creek’s operations a subsidiary rather just merge operations,” said Wayne Mays, CEO of the Siloam Springs Chamber of Commerce. “They obviously did their homework and saw value in this business, which is a good thing for our community."

If there is any long-term concern regarding the deal, Mays said there is the risk some of the local management jobs could be pulled away, but there has been no indication of that.

One interesting aspect of the deal is Del Monte expects to utilize Sager Creek to bolster its foodservice business, and Sager Creek CEO Chris Kiser has experience in the foodservice industry. Kiser has more than 20 years experience in the food business, from his early years as a vice president for Campbell Soup Company to managing national accounts for Diago, to nearly seven years at Pinnacle Food as executive vice president of sales. He later spent three years as president of AdvancePierre Foods, overseeing the company’s retail and foodservice business.

Growers like Dave Chamberlain of Maysville are also happy about the deal.

“I think it’s a good thing. Del Monte knows the business and we have been told that we should no major changes under the new ownership. I am glad for that,” he told The City Wire.

Chamberlain is set to plant 144 acres of green beans for Sager Creek, not Del Monte this spring. The crop will be up from 80 acres of beans he planted last year.

“We didn’t have the opportunity to grow any fall beans last year, but maybe we will under this change. At one time I was growing 400 acres for Allens but things got so shaky there we backed off and grew more wheat and soy beans,” Chamberlain said.

He has raised green beans for Allens and Sager Creek for more than two decades and said most years it has provided steady income for the family farm.

CHALLENGING BUSINESS
Del Monte bought the Sager Creek business out of its revolving credit facility, but the canned food giant itself has struggled to turn a profit amid higher operating costs in recent quarters.

The canned food industry has been challenged by changing consumer preferences for fresh produce. Grocers from Wal-Mart to Kroger to Amazon are investing in fresh capabilities that draw consumers away from the center of the store to the fresh fruits and vegetables that line the perimeter of grocery stores.

The buy local movement has also taken root with farmer’s markets and other local grocers like Harp’s and Allen’s Foods in Bella Vista – no relation to the canning company – who routinely feature fresh fruits and vegetables from local farms.

In the most recent financial statement Jan. 25, Del Monte reported net annual sales of $1.282 billion, with net losses of $47.2 million. While net sales increased from $1.228 billion the cost of products sold also rose.

Allen’s was forced into bankruptcy in October 2013 after a 30% decline in revenue in 2012. Allens officials made several moves in 2012 to shore up business, including a March 2012 announcement that Allens was selling six frozen vegetable brands to the French company, Bonduelle Group.

The company also announced in early 2012 that the company would move operations and 150 jobs from Van Buren into an Allens canning operation in Siloam Springs. The company’s Van Buren warehouse operation was expected to remain open.

Consolidating the canning operations came more than 30 months after Van Buren operations were expanded. In June 2010 the company announced a more than $20 million expansion that included a $13.5 million investment in the company’s Van Buren operation. The $13.5 million investment in Van Buren expanded the company’s capacity to process sweet potatoes.

LINGERING BANKRUPTCY ISSUES
The Sager Creek business is not hindered by the lingering claims from suppliers to Allen’s who have sought payment for PACA claims during the past two years. The Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) facilitates fair trading practices in the marketing of fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables in interstate and foreign commerce

On March 5, the PACA claims for immediate payment filed by D&E Farms, H.C. Schmieding Produce and Hartung Brothers were denied by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ben Barry.

Van Buren-based USA Truck announced Wednesday (March 11) an expansion of its West Memphis terminal operation “to meet the needs of its growing business in the nation’s most active ground transportation hub.”

The expansion is expected to add five jobs at the terminal.

The statement said the long-haul carrier and logistics company expanded its service area in 2013 and added 12 jobs. The West Memphis operation provides more “home time” for drivers because of the central location within the company’s service area.

“As a native of West Memphis, I am pleased to see the progress we have made in creating jobs for skilled professionals in an area where transportation thrives for the West Memphis and surrounding economies,” Burton Weis, vice president of Human Resources for USA Truck, said in a statement.

The H5N2 “bird flu” strain has now been found in a Butterball turkey farm in Boone County. It’s been 11 years since the highly pathogenic strain of Avian Influenza has been found in commercial poultry flocks in the U.S.

After increased mortality on a Boone County Farm the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission performed tests that were confirmed by federal labs in Aimes, Iowa, on Tuesday (March 10). The tests showed the H5N2 virus present on the Boone County turkey farm.

Bruce Holland executive director for the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission., said immediate steps were taken when the lab results were known.

“We are taking this quite seriously. The entire flock on the infected farm will be depopulated and within a 3-kilometer radius a quarantine has been put in place to restrict the traffic to and from all poultry farms. Individual companies are responsible for enforcing the quarantine protocol,” Holland said in a statement.

He said this is first time a high pathogen virus has been detected in the state’s commercial poultry flocks. The virus is transported through migrant birds, namely geese and ducks. Holland said the state’s entire poultry industry has been on high alert since the H5N2 was discovered in neighboring Missouri two weeks ago. He said there is no threat to humans, but the viruses can be devastating to the industry.

A zone 2 radius was set up in a six-mile radius around the affected area. In this area Holland said every backyard flock will be tested and then retested 10 days later. Zone 3 which a broader area also requires backyard flocks be tested.

CARGILL RESPONSE
Cargill, which also has turkey operations in Missouri and Arkansas, implemented its avian influenza protocols last week when Missouri officials reported positive tests for H5N2.

“Our AI protocols include stepped up sanitation of vehicles and equipment and we have restricted movement of eggs, poults, adult turkeys, feed, litter and related materials,” noted Mike Martin, director of communications for Cargill. “We have been cooperating and working with state and federal agencies, trade associations, farms that grow our turkeys, suppliers, industry peers, customers and other important stakeholders to keep them informed and take whatever actions are necessary to contain H5N2. We are monitoring the situation closely.”

The company said a turkey flock that tested positive in Fortuna, Mo., will be “depopulated” by Thursday (March 12). Almost 80 other Cargill farms in the 12-mile test radius did not show an H5N2 positive.

“While there is a high mortality rate among infected flocks, sick turkeys never get to our processing plants and, therefore, all turkey meat for sale is safe from AI. This is not a food safety issue – it is an animal wellbeing issue,” Martin noted in the statement.

EXPORTS BANNED
Export contracts that contact certain triggers relating to Avian Influenza detection have shut off trade with more than 40 countries since this strain was first found earlier this year in the Pacific Northwest.

Toby Moore, spokesman for the U.S Egg & Poultry Export Council, said some countries like China ban the entire nation’s poultry exports from eggs to breeding stock and the chicken or turkey itself. He said other countries like Hong Kong restrict the ban to the county level and others like Mexico restrict to the state level. 

“It’s simply too early to know the true impact of the H5N2 detection in U.S. flocks. Every time there is a new confirmation the clock resets itself,” Moore said.

At the very minimum the discovery of Avian Influenza, especially a high pathogen strain, causes disruptions in exports for the entire poultry industry that recorded $5.501 billion in sales abroad last year, according to the Foreign Agricultural Service.

Moore said even large companies like Tyson Foods can’t always easily work around export bans restricted at the state or county level even though they may have plants in states that are not banned. He said each plant performs certain operations and not all of them are equipped or certified for export.

VIRUS ORIGIN
Moore said the H2N5 strain was tracked from Eurasia that followed the Pacificline flight pattern of migrant birds. It then moved along the Mississippi flyway which brought the virus to the south from Minnesota to Missouri and Arkansas.

“This doesn’t happen very often. It’s a random thing, a game of chance and it was just our time in the barrel. The industry does a good job with bio-security year round and follows the protocol in place one a region goes on alert,” Moore said.

Springdale-based Tyson Foods the largest poultry company in the U.S., based in Arkansas, said that no flocks grown for Tyson Foods have been diagnosed with avian influenza. 

“There are always biosecurity measures in place on poultry farms and we've been even more diligent since AI has been in the U.S. this winter,” said Worth Sparkman, spokesman for Tyson Foods.

Siloam Springs-based Simmons Foods did not respond to a request for comment.

The boyhood home of Johnny Cash and the U.S. Marshals Commemorative Coin Program received tourism awards during the 41st annual Arkansas Governor’s Conference on Tourism.

The conference was held March 8-10 in Texarkana. The Henry Awards honor individuals and organizations that have made important contributions to the state’s tourism industry in the preceding year.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson presided at the banquet and addressed nearly 600 attendees. Richard Davies, executive director of the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, served as master of ceremonies and Miss Arkansas 2014 Ashton Campbell assisted in the presentation of the awards.

Troy Keeping, president and CEO of Southland Racing and Gaming in West Memphis, was named as the Tourism Person of the Year. Greg Butts, director of Arkansas State Parks, and Joe David Rice, director of Arkansas Tourism, were inducted into the Arkansas Tourism Hall of Fame.

The Henry Award recipients for 2014 include:
• Media Support Award: Gospel Station Network, Oklahoma

• Bootstrap Award: WWII Japanese American Internment Museum, McGehee (Desha County)

• Arkansas Heritage Award: Johnny Cash Boyhood Home, Dyess (Mississippi County)

• Grand Old Classic Special Event Award: Quapaw Quarter Association Spring Tour of Homes, Little Rock (Pulaski County)

• Outstanding Volunteer Service Award: Charles Snapp, Walnut Ridge (Lawrence County)

• Community Tourism Development Award: Hot Springs Baseball Trail, Hot Springs (Garland County)

• The Natural State Award: Bridges of Pulaski County / River Lights in the Rock, Little Rock (Pulaski County)

• Tourism Special Achievement Award: U.S. Marshals Commemorative Coin Program (Sebastian County)

The Henry Awards have been a feature of the annual Arkansas Governor’s Conference on Tourism since their debut in 1981. The awards are named for Henri de Tonti, founder of Arkansas Post in 1686, who is often hailed as the first “Arkansas Traveler.”

U.S. GDP growth has improved and the national jobless rate fell to 5.5% in February, but rising consumer debt suggests that overall economic recovery is not resulting in a better financial position for many Americans.

The Federal Reserve has reported that household debt at the end of 2014 was $11.83 trillion, up $306 billion over the end of 2013. According to the Fed data, mortgage debt was up $39 billion and student loans were up $31 billion. Auto loan debt and credit card debt increased by $21 billion and $20 billion, respectively. Outstanding student loan balances now stand at $1.16 trillion.  

However, delinquency rates were unchanged at 4.3%.

“Although we’ve seen an overall improvement in delinquency rates since the Great Recession, the increasing trend in student loan balances and delinquencies is concerning,” Donghoon Lee, research officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said in the statement. “Student loan delinquencies and repayment problems appear to be reducing borrowers’ ability to form their own households.”  

CONSUMER ‘AMNESIACS’
A recent CardHub study showed a rise of $57 billion in credit card debt during 2014, up 47% over 2013, and up a 55% compared to 2012. The fourth quarter marked six consecutive quarters with year-over-year debt load increases, noted CardHub.

“While defaults are at a six-year low, the average household’s credit card balance – nearly $7,200 as of the end of 2014 – is growing dangerously close to the $8,300 tipping point previously identified by CardHub as being unsustainable,” noted the CardHub report. “Consumers have now racked up close to $180 billion in credit card debt following the nearly debt-neutral years of 2009 and 2010.”

John Taylor, with Sterne Agee in Fort Smith and a market watcher for many years, said the rise in consumer debt proves true the old saying that “the only thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history.” He said stagnant wage growth makes worse the rise in consumer debt.

“Consumers are amnesiacs and have forgotten the end result of being over leveraged. Another piece of data is that auto loans currently have the largest amounts financed over the longest terms in many years. With no wage growth over the last seven years how will the consumer retire all of this new credit card and auto debt?” Taylor noted.

Debt levels are not expected to improve. CardHub projects consumers will incur more than $60 billion – up 5% – in new credit card debt during 2015. Consumer debt levels during the fourth quarter of 2014 were up 6% over the same period in 2013, up 4% over the 2011 period and up 102% compared to the same quarter of 2008.

“The bad news is that while economic gains are making our spending habits sustainable for now, attitudes toward debt have not improved since the Great Recession,” noted the CardHub report.

SOME POSITIVES
Compared to pre-recession markers, household finances were improving during the first months of 2014, according to the Federal Reserve. The average inflation-adjusted wealth of U.S. households in the first quarter of 2014 was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter of 2013, with 23% of that gain the result of “rapid gains in the value of assets. The improvement also came through a 12.5% decline in average household debt.

Fortunately, mortgage delinquency rates are improving. In December, the “seriously delinquent rate – mortgages behind by 90 days or more, or in foreclosure – was 3.99%, one of the lowest rates since before the recession. The Arkansas rate in December was 4.36%.

While housing related debt is the majority of debt carried by the average consumer, a report from the U.S. Federal Reserve branch in St. Louis shows that homeownership is declining. The homeownership rate for families with a head of household between 40 and 61 years old fell from 76.9% in 2005 to 72.1% in 2013. Ownership among families with a head of household younger than 40 fell during the same period from 50.1% to 42.2%.

Home ownership among families with a head of household older than 61 grew by 1% during the same period.

The opening of the Amazeum, art and architecture, a film festival, a robust business climate and love for the Razorbacks are expected to draw more visitors to Northwest Arkansas this year.

That has hospitality sector officials gleaming with excitement as the region’s four largest cities posted a 15% gain in hospitality tax collections in the fourth quarter over a year ago. And the early numbers from 2015 are also outpacing last year.

Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville cumulatively collected $1.511 million in hotel and food service taxes for the last quarter of 2014. This compared to $1.310 million in the year ago period and $1.235 million collected in the same quarter of 2012.

Looking back at 2014 the Crystal Bridges "State of the Art" exhibition created a unique experience for visitors. The exhibitions offered a new perspective on living artists within the United States and was a huge draw in the fourth quarter, according to Kalene Griffith, director for Visit Bentonville.

“Crystal Bridges continues to bring over half million visitors to our city and region. Our mountain bike trails continue to be a new draw for the adventurous riders and the culinary experience is also gaining traction,” she added.

Bentonville reported a 17.6% uptick its fourth quarter hospitality receipts, collecting $481,660, compared to $409,409 reported a year earlier. Bentonville collects a 2% hotel tax and 1% prepared food tax. The city’s food tax comprised 67% of the hospitality tax collected in the recent quarter.

Rogers collects a 2% hotel tax which equaled $183,942 in the recent quarter. The city’s hotel tax revenue rose 18.7% from the $154,915 reported a year ago.

In Springdale the 2% hotel tax totaled $113,996, up from $102,012 reported a year ago. Roger Davis, general manager of the Holiday Inn in Springdale, said 2014 was a good year overall ending on a high note. He attributed the gains to more corporate and leisure travel from the stronger economy. Davis said his marketing team does a good job seeking conventions and corporations needing meeting space because he also oversees the Northwest Arkansas Convention Center next door and several thousand square feet of executive meeting space at the Holiday Inn location in Springdale.

In Fayetteville, hotel taxes totaled $88,106 for the quarter which was up about 8% from a year ago. The city also collects a 2% prepared food tax which brought in $643,390 in the quarter. Together the city collected $731,496 in hospitality taxes for the months of October, November and December, up 13.5% compared to the $643,999 in the same period of 2013.

Marilyn Hefner, executive director for Fayetteville Advertising and Promotions Commission, said November and December were great months for collections. November showed a 9.19% increase and December showed a 12.60% increase. A rising Arkansas Razorback football team helped to spur on the number of visitors to town this past fall and a new hotel opening in the city helped to provide more rooms.

STRREPORT
The 98 hotels in the two-county area that participate in the STR Trend Report showed a 56.1% occupancy rate in the fourth quarter of 2014, up from the 47.1% in the year-ago period.

The hotels charged an average daily rate of $83.07 in the recent quarter, up 4.33% from the same period in 2013. The combined hotels showed revenue of $35.376 million in the quarter, which was 23.8% more than earned a year ago.

The report indicates there is still an over capacity of rooms in the region for most nights.  Another hotel is coming online in the next quarter with the opening of the Sheraton Four Points in Bentonville. This will add 100 more rooms to the supply of 8,235.

LOOK AHEAD
Davis and Griffith said 2015 is off to a strong start despite the winter weather that hit the first of March.

“We did have some ball teams and corporate travelers who could not make it into the city in recent weeks because of weather. But even with that, I still expect our (hotel) first quarter numbers to be up 20% over last year. We had a record February at this hotel,” Davis said.

Griffith said there is plenty to look forward to in Bentonville this year with the opening of the Amazeum by mid-summer as well as the Bachman Wilson House on the Crystal Bridges premises. 
http://crystalbridges.org/blog/bachman-wilson-house-update-phase-1-phase-2/

“We believe these two attractions will draw more unique visitors to the region and our city which we have dubbed ‘A new American Town’ which celebrates its history but continues to bring new attractions our future enjoyment,” Griffith said.

Aside from those large attractions, she is also excited about the Bentonville Film Festival which shines attention to women in that creative arts industry.

One of the things learned during the recent Arkansas Aerospace and Defense Summit is that Arkansas could be a big winner in a more than $30 billion deal to build new military vehicles.

There were more than 250 registered attendees this week at the Arkansas Aerospace and Defense Summit, where officials were able to spotlight the state’s rapidly expanding aerospace and defense sector before an audience of local, regional and national leaders, organizers said.

The two-day conference, held Tuesday and Wednesday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in west Little Rock, included a job fair and tradeshow, panel discussions, networking opportunities, and a keynote luncheon presentation that included several high-ranking military commanders.

Chad Causey, executive director Arkansas Aerospace and Defense Alliance, said there were more than 30 companies represented at the conference where industry representatives came together to discuss important issues and challenges, conduct business, and create awareness on how important the sector is to Arkansas’ growth and future economic development.

“Arkansas is a place where we sometimes like to keep ‘big things’ secret,” Causey said, citing Wal-Mart, Tyson Foods and the state’s vibrant steel producing industry in northeast Arkansas. He said the aerospace industry’s impact on the Arkansas economy is just as important.

“Arkansas’ No. 1 export to the world is aerospace goods,” Causey said. “That is saying something considering the amount of agriculture commodities we have in the state and presence we have there.”

Causey continued: “It is important that we highlight that and give the industry a (chance) to come together to work on common goals and challenges, including the workforce and education aspect and (goal) to attract the next generation of our workforce.”

According to the alliance, Arkansas’s aerospace industry adds for more than $1.8 billion in export trade to the economy through the nearly 180 aviation and aerospace-related companies in the state. Commercial airports generate $2 billion to Arkansas’ economy each year, officials say, while general aviation creates an almost $500 million in annual growth.

Additionally, there are 91 publicly-owned or publicly-used general aviation and community airports within the state, eight of which have airline services. Altogether, the industry employs nearly 10,000 jobs, providing wages that are well above the state average.

$30 BILLION HUMVEE CONTRACT
Going forward, Causey said one of the biggest events on the horizon for the state’s aerospace and defense sector is the highly-awaited decision by the Pentagon’s to replace the military’s aging Humvee vehicles. Lockheed Martin, current Humvee maker AM General LLC and Oshkosh Corp., were selected finalists in 2012 to build the iconic armored vehicle.

According to industry reports, that contract could be worth more than $30 billion by 2040. At an estimated cost of between $250,000 and $400,000 per vehicle, the Army has said that it wants to buy 49,000 of the vehicles, and the Marine Corps need about 5,500.

If Lockheed wins the bidding war, the Bethesda, Md.-based defense contractor has said it would build the next-generation “joint light tactical vehicles,” or JLTV, at its huge manufacturing facility in Camden.

Already, each JLTV finalists has delivered prototypes and six trailers to the military for testing and evaluation. The testing phase is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of fiscal 2015, which begins in October. The Pentagon plans to make a low-rate initial production decision in late fiscal 2015, according to the JLTV Joint Program Office.

“Lockheed Martin has expanded their facility there (in Camden), and they are working vigorously to secure that contact,” Causey said. “That would be a huge impact for the state of Arkansas and the defense sector here.”

WORKFORCE ISSUES
But Causey also added the burgeoning sector has some challenges, including the industry’s high employment attrition and turnover rates at between 8% and 10%. Although the aerospace industry has good-paying jobs, Causey said, the high so-called “churn” rate makes it difficult to find and keep enough workers to fill those jobs.

“Arkansas is a small state,” Causey said of the growing workforce challenge. “That is why we bring everybody together in this trade association and speak collective so we have a louder voice and take those issues forward.”

To help meet that challenge, the alliance invited more than a dozen students from the engineering program at Sylvan Hills High School in North Little Rock to attend the two-day conference. Those students participated in a Thursday morning panel discussion that allowed the students to speak with employers and get more information on how to enter the industry.

“Arkansas is full of qualified and talented individuals, and we have a number of employers with great paying jobs,” Causey said. “We just need to connect them and make sure they are getting the education and tools they need to enter this workforce, and enter it successfully.”

On Feb. 18, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced his legislative proposals meant to reduce the state’s incarceration rates. He may want to contact Fort Smith businessman Kris Keyton.

Keyton, president of Fort Smith-based E-cell, recently earned a patent on an iTunes app, House Arrest, where probationary offenders can be tracked with an iPhone 5S instead of an ankle bracelet.
www.e-cell.com/index.shtml

Like a bracelet, the app not only can track the offender’s whereabouts but also predict behavior. For example, an offender who is gone from home for increasingly longer periods or late on check-ins multiple times may need an intervention to avoid another offense. An offender traveling to the same house again and again may be buying drugs at that location.

“Tracking all the analytical data gives us a greater chance of true rehabilitation than just the revolving doors of our prisons,” he said.

The big difference with House Arrest is it enables two-way communication. Offenders receive computer-generated check-in alert at random intervals 8-10 times a day. The app recognizes the offender by his fingerprint and through facial recognition technology. Offenders then record a video response. If warranted, the probation officer or the monitoring center then can do a FaceTime video call.

Those video communications help authorities watch behavior for signs of trouble. “With the phone, you know where they are, and you’re able to call them, you’re able to talk to them, you’re able to get feedback from them, and especially it appears the juveniles are benefiting from that the most,” Keyton said.

The app soon will record offenders performing breath-based alcohol testing using a bluetooth-enabled device that syncs with the phone. Drug tests will be available in the future, Keyton said.

Keyton said he has been running a pilot test involving about 30 adults in Sebastian County since the middle of January, and so far adults are responding to check-in requests immediately because they don’t want to go to jail.

“If they don’t get their test, they’re calling us going, ‘Hey, I think I should get more tests,’” he said.

He’s also running a pilot test with juveniles on probation in the Helena-West Helena area. Jarvis Smith, chief probation officer for juveniles in Phillips, Lee and Monroe Counties, said that, “The process is phenomenal, in a word.”

Smith said juvenile justice is aimed at rehabilitation, not punishment, and House Arrest enables probation officers to monitor offenders in a way that doesn’t criminalize them or institutionalize them. Ankle bracelets, he said, are large and protruding and give offenders “street credit.” He said the young people like their phones and actually have fun responding to the prompts.

“What happens is the juvenile takes a different sort of perspective on the house arrest, and it gives you an opportunity to build a relationship with your client … maybe even quicker than you normally would because now you are connecting with this person two or three times a day,” he said.

Authorities now use the ankle bracelet as a disciplinary measure. Youths who fail to comply lose their phones.

Keyton has spent most of his adult career in the adult incarceration business. His family has owned Exit Bail Bond Company since 1980. He entered the ankle bracelet business in 1995 using first radio frequency and then GPS technology. The idea for House Arrest came to him in 2008, and he started working on the app in about 2013.

“When the iPhone first came out, and I saw the GPS tracking, and I saw how the applications worked, I thought, ‘Well, we could track offenders with this,’” he said.

The iPhones are paid for by the offenders. As with ankle bracelets, it’s up to them to make sure the phones are charged. If they don’t, it’s a violation.

Another advantage to the House Arrest app is it removes some of the stigma associated with being on probation. Instead of wearing an ankle bracelet, offenders are merely carrying a phone.

“We’re taking the scarlet letter out of the corrections,” Keyton said.

Keyton said the House Arrest app increases the chances that offenders will comply with the terms of their probation because it’s more obvious to them that they are being watched.

“With the iPhone, they know that we can see them because we’re talking to them, and they’re going to comply,” he said.

The Video Wire this week delivers an unusual way to conduct a beauty pageant, changes in commands at the 188th Wing, a parade with men in kilts and nothing else and the legendary ‘stache.

Dawson Meadows again delivers with certainty the news and info on things to do, but he does not deliver those things while wearing pants. We’ve contacted the appropriate authorities.

The Video Wire is a collaboration between The City Wire and Things to Do in Fort Smith.

Investors continue to pour money into dining venues for downtown Bentonville, an area that hosts an estimated 500,000 visitors annually. 

Kalene Griffith, director for Visit Bentonville, predicts the city will see between six and eight new restaurant openings this year bringing more world-class chefs to the region. First up are four new culinary venues in the city’s downtown and market districts.

Ramo d’Olivo, a new olive oil, vinegar and wine bar, has opened on the square in downtown Bentonville, at 217 S. Main St. This is retail / wine bar that offers patrons to taste and test their selections of olive oils and vinegar before purchasing them. The store also offers a wine bar where patrons will find a wide variety of domestic and imported wines from Argentina, Italy and California vineyards, according to a press release from owners Laura Brown and Tom Gheen.
http://www.ramodolivo.biz/

The fresh olive oil originates from central and northern California. The vinegar is also made from organically grown fruit from central California. The store also features the 25-year-old Star Balsamic which is cultivated from the Trebbiano grape grown in Modena, Italy, according to the news release. 

It’s the second olive oil and vinegar tasting room to open in recent months, on the heels of Old World Imports, 203 N. College Ave., in Fayetteville.

FRESH SEAFOOD MARKET
Barry Furuseth said he plans to open his Fresh Seafood Market on April 14 where he will feature fresh catches daily, flown in from Northwest and the Northeast. The seafood will be on its way to Bentonville within 10 to 12 hours after it comes out of the water, Furuseth has said.

The market opening has been pushed back from mid-February as previously reported, but is on track for a mid-April launch, according to Furuseth.

Among his offerings will be live lobsters kept in a tank where water temperature remains at 37 degrees Fahrenheit; oysters, wild sockeye salmon and king salmon from Seattle; Dungeness crab from British Columbia; shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico; and grouper from Florida.

The store will also feature of 350-gallon tank of catfish from southeast Arkansas and cedar boxes lined with stainless steel filled with crawfish. Plans include a small café next to the retail counter where patrons may order a variety of fish dishes for take out or eat in. Long range plans include a restaurant, with a seating capacity for 150, which will be built next to the market with a target opening date of late summer. Patrick Mosher is the executive chef, backed by his experience at Gladstone’s in Los Angeles and Nobu in Aspen.

Fursuseth signed a 15-year lease-to-purchase option but will spend roughly $700,000 opening and expanding the fresh seafood market. His partner in the venture is is Ed Harizin of Los Angeles. 

OVEN AND TAP
In mid-April, Oven and Tap, a new restaurant combining the culture of southern Italy with the southern culture of the U.S., at 215 S. Main St., and the Fresh Seafood Market at 607 S.E. Fifth St., in the new Market District.

A large brick oven with stone made in Italy and assembled in California is the focal point of Oven and Tap, also opening mid-Aptil at 215 S. Main St., said Mollie Mullis, who has partnered with Luke Wetzel and Cash East to own and operate the new restaurant with a seating capacity of 93.

Braised meats, vegetables and “all sorts of things” will be served from the oven, Mullis said. She described the atmosphere and menu as a merging of cultures of southern Italy with the southern U.S. The menu will feature locally sourced food whenever possible.

The bar area will feature wines, coffees, cocktails and craft beer on tap. The staff of up to about 25 will be educated about the drinks to help patrons enjoy their experience at the restaurant. The restaurant will offer Onyx Coffee, roasted in Fayetteville. The business will start with a dinner service and move into lunch and brunch at a later date.

“We want to showcase producers in the area and give farmers a face, she said.

ON THE HORIZON
The Belfry Restaurant and Old 71 Club is slated to open this summer and has recruited Mike Robertshaw, a popular chef from Seattle, to downtown Bentonville. The Belfry will be located in a 111-year-old church about two blocks west of the square.

Investors operating as the RopeSwing Group came together to save the building and turn it into another dining option. Rob Apple is heading the massive renovations on the multilevel building. Chef Matt Cooper from Little Rock Cache Restaurant and Robertshaw were recruited to the RopeSwing Group to head up the culinary unit of the new restaurant and club.

In keeping with the “High South Cuisine” movement, the Belfry will focus on clean, fresh and local food, some of which will be grown in an edible garden on site. The group is retrofitting the basement to become club catering to late night eats and entertainment.

Senero LLC that purchased the historic church in May 2010 for $425,000, according to the county records. Renovations on the building are expected to top $425,000 based on permit info obtained from the city.

Also, Paul Esterer, executive manager of Newmark Grubb Arkansas, said he is continuing to find investors for two additional properties in the Market District of Bentonville.

The former Tyson Foods plant, directly across the street from the Fresh Seafood Market and the Ice House, and the old Kraft cheese plant are the two large industrial facilities in the heart of the Market District. More definite plans will be revealed in the coming months, Esterer said.