Coronavirus in rural America (Part LVI): my hometown newspaper

I've been busy enough during the coronavirus "shelter in place" orders here in California to have let weeks of my hometown newspaper, The Newton County Times, accumulate in a corner of my office.  I'm going to take this blog post to highlight some of the headlines over these ten weeks, and I'll give you a heads up that not many of them are about the coronavirus--at least not in any truly localized sense.  That is, the paper sometimes picks up public health information and re-publishes it, but given that there have been only three cases in the county during this whole time (and no deaths), it is perhaps not that surprising that coronavirus has not dominated the news except in rather peripheral ways.  I suppose the local paper counted on folks to get their state news about the virus from state media outlets, like the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and probably also from radio and television stations. 

So here we go with the front-page headlines for the first month or so after schools were canceled in mid-March (Arkansas never imposed a lock down):

March 18, 2020:

• Washing hands can't be over-emphasized, accompanied by photo of 10 folks talking with the Newton County Health Office, Dr. Jacky Dunn, D.O., who is also a health care provider at Boston Mountain Health Clinic in Jasper.  
• Schools take early holiday due to virus
• Jasper city services limited
• Not that there were many to begin with, but the matters mentioned are having city employees avoid public contact, which means "drop your bills in the drop box or text if you need contact."  The mayor wrote of employees that "even though they seem young and healthy, they may have families receiving cancer treatment, are elderly, have compromised immune systems, are pregnant, etc.  I will personally work from home until I get over a self-diagnosed sinus infection."   
• Arkansas governor orders public schools closed (seems largely redundant of above headline, but I note the local headline is above the fold, the state one below)
• Library following school closings (initially only from March 16 through March 28)
• Courthouse closed to public (until further notice)

March 25, 2020:

I  can't find my copy of this issue, but I wrote a bit about what was in it here, including closure of the Buffalo National Park because many from out of state--far out of state--had sought refuge from the virus there.  

April 1, 2020:  

• Newton County sheriff's deputies to carry Narcan
• Jasper council puts COVID-19 plan in place
• Driver killed in truck crash
• The driver was killed on Scenic Highway 7, just south of Jasper, where many truckers have lost control of their rigs over the years, even after a runaway truck ramp was built a few decades ago.  The driver was a 34-year-old man from Morrilton and was hauling lumber.  
• OMSD talking with seniors about graduating (Ozark Mountain School District includes the Newton County town of Western Grove, but is based in St. Joe, in neighboring Searcy County)
• Then there is a photo of a man at the Newton County Nursing Home (probably a volunteer or employee), putting up the "old Martin's bird house so the residents will have birds to watch during warmer weather."  

April 15, 2020:

• Whitaker Point and Glory Hole trails closed (these are popular trails that drive the county's ecotourism economy, both just outside the boundaries of the Buffalo National River Park but within the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest)
• Buffalo National River closure, includes angling, turkey hunting
• Governor announces schools closed for remainder of year
• Standoff at Mill Creek ends peacefully
• Newton County Sheriff Glenn Wheeler said his office began receiving multiple phone calls about a disturbance in the Mill Creek area around 8 pm, Wednesday, April 8.  Callers said an unknown male was screaming, threatening to kill an unknown victim and threatening to beat an unknown child.  The disturbance could be heard for quite a distance. 
• When deputies arrived on scene, they were confronted by Earnest Bischoff, 55, of Mill Creek, who was armed with a recurve hunting bow.  Bischoff threatened to kill law enforcement officers with the bow and broad-tipped arrow, then grabbed his seven-year old son and used him as a shield and retreated into a house. 
• After an hour-and-a-half standoff, officers entered the home and took Bischoff into custody.  The child was turned over to a family member.  Bischoff was charged with kidnaping, aggravated assault, terroristic threatening, endangering the welfare of a minor, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and being a habitual offender.  He was transported to the Newton county Jail.  The sheriff's office was assisted by the Jasper Police Dept., the 14th Judicial District Drug Task Force, and North Arkansas Regional Medical Center's EMS.  
• Jasper superintendent updates homebound students and parents
• "While we wish our students were back in our campuses and back in our classrooms learning the way we are all accustomed to, but [sic] we know we must keep our focus on staying safe and healthy during this nationwide pandemic. ... [references to the governor's directives] Starting on Tuesday, April 14, all AMI [Alternative Methods of Instruction] will be moved to the online format.  ... For elementary students, their AMI material is being provided through Public Broadcasting System.  High school students would be receiving an email with instructions on how to access their coursework, which will begin on Tuesday, April 14"
• BMRHC at Jasper offering COVID-19 screening/testing (Boston Mountain Rural Health Center)
• The suggestion is that all can be screened simply by calling and making an appointment to do so.  
• Meanwhile, a story on page 2 is headlined, "Flu deaths inch up," and it reports on information from the Arkansas Dept. of Public Health on seasonal flu.  
• A story on the back page is picked up from the U of A System Division of Agriculture and is headlined, "COVID-19's impact on forest products industry could linger into 2021."  Timber cultivation is a big economic driver in the county--to the extent there is any big single economic driver there.