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For three days, the Garland County family has been searching for their missing father, and tonight they're hoping you can help them.
Good evening, I'm Karen Fuller. Friday afternoon, 66-year-old Clifford Bearden came home for lunch, like he had done every day for years.
But soon after, he seemed to have vanished without a trace.
Channel 7's Carla Wade is following this story tonight, and she's live now from the Garland County Sheriff's Department.
Carla, the Sheriff's Office says it doesn't suspect foul play. Well, how did investigators come to that conclusion?
Well, Karen, so far they still have not been able to locate Clifford Bearden's vehicle, so therefore they don't have any evidence to draw from that.
They've also been able to check all of his cellular phone records and haven't been able to find any traces of any suspicious phone calls that have been made since Friday, and that was when he was last seen.
Bearden is married and has children and grandchildren. His family describes him as a homebody who is always punctual.
Investigators say he was last spotted at this service station around 3 o'clock Friday afternoon. He was putting air in his pickup truck's tires.
When he failed to show up for a 5 o'clock work appointment, his family knew that something was terribly wrong.
There's been no sign and no one's seen him. He hasn't used his gas card. He didn't have any cash. He has no credit cards.
The bank hasn't. There's no money taken out of the bank. There's been, there's just no sign of him anywhere.
Once again, let's take a look at another look at Clifford Bearden. He is 66 years old. He's about 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds.
He has gray hair and green eyes and sometimes does wear eyeglasses.
Now the truck that he was last seen driving is a 1996 metallic Hunter Green Dodge Ram pickup.
The Arkansas plate reads ZLR589. Now if you have any information, please pick up the call, pick up the phone and make a call to the Garland County Sheriff's Department.
That number is area code 501-622-3690. Karen, back to you.
All right, Carla Wade live tonight from Hot Springs and we will continue to follow this story. Thank you.
And now your first forecast with Channel 7 meteorologist Ned Perme.
Hi everybody. It looks like Arkansas's long dry spell may be coming to a temporary end. We've got rain in the forecast and even some thunderstorm activity.
Live Doppler 7 radar showing no showers in Arkansas right now, but you don't have to go too far sliding over to Oklahoma to see numerous showers and thunderstorms.
Some of them very strong and severe southwest of Tulsa and just west of Muskogee, Oklahoma.
Our forecast calls for clouds and showers to continue to increase.
Thirty percent coverage overnight, a little more numerous over the western sections late tonight.
And then tomorrow, thundershowers and a few thunderstorms likely. 60 percent as that cold front slides into the state.
More details and the complete Thanksgiving outlook coming up in just a minute.
All right, Ned, we'll see you then.
We have an update tonight on the discovery of two bodies found in a burned out car a week ago.
Police say the victims are 23 year old Marcus Hamilton and 33 year old Derek Hardy, both of North Little Rock.
The case is being treated as a double homicide and so police are looking for suspects.
If you have any information, you're asked to call the North Little Rock Police Department at 501-758-1234.
An overnight fire leaves one Saline County store gutted while three others sustained heavy damage.
The fire broke out at the Arch Street Mini Mall around 1.30 this morning.
Investigators say it was centered in David's Barbershop and Beauty Salon, which was totaled.
Three other businesses in the shopping center sustained heavy smoke, heat and water damage.
Investigators suspect the fire was caused by an electrical problem in the barbershop, but the cause is still under investigation.
In other news tonight, four horses abused at the hands of their caretaker will stay in the care of the Humane Society now.
As you can see, the abuse was extensive.
These horses were beaten, stabbed, cut with a saw and even dragged down the highway in a cruel act of abuse that lasted two weeks.
Today, an informal hearing decided the fate of the horses and it turns out that they will remain in the custody of the Humane Society.
Currently, the horses are in a foster home recovering from the abuse, which happened about a month ago.
Terry Schmidt pleaded guilty to abuse charges.
He was sentenced to six months in jail and served less than ten days.
Animal abuse, even this severe, is still considered a misdemeanor in Arkansas.
America was built on the promise of freedom and opportunity.
Immigration into the United States has dropped off in recent years, but not here in the natural state.
The U.S. Census Bureau says more Hispanics are moving into Arkansas than any other state in the nation.
Tonight, Channel 7's Joan Early takes you inside the Hispanic community that's moved into Danville with hopes of making this small Arkansas town home.
In the foothills of Petit Jean Mountain, the town of Danville, like most other small towns, has survived on agriculture.
Many people farm, but most work in chicken plants.
Petit Jean Meats, Wayne Farms and a nearby Tyson plant keep the economy pumping.
They also keep the Hispanic immigrants coming.
Santos Hernandez moved to Danville to work for Petit Jean Meats seven years ago.
Like many in the area, he came to Arkansas from El Salvador.
He and his wife, Anna, have four little girls.
They own their own home and car, but they don't speak English.
It's an obstacle most Hispanic residents have not yet conquered.
Hernandez spoke to us through an interpreter.
People are so friendly here, and it's easy for us to make friends.
But the difficulty is the language, because we are not able to communicate fluently.
Nearly 40 percent of the kindergarten class in Danville is Hispanic.
In many families, the children learn English and then translate for their parents.
The family that owns this Mexican restaurant encouraged their niece to move from California to Danville because she speaks English.
She says small town life is attractive.
Residents don't have to have cars, and the crime rate is low.
I feel happy here.
I feel more free to go out, walk in the streets, and it's something you can't do in California now.
Danville's population is more than 2,400, but the city doesn't know exactly how many residents are Hispanic.
As the numbers are being calculated, more and more are moving in.
Orland Thomas has lived in Danville for 50 years.
He says many residents are having a tough time adapting.
Some people just say they feel like maybe the Hispanic people are coming in so fast that this is maybe the reason we can't accept them.
Or some people don't want to accept them because there's so many coming.
As the cultures converge in this small town, there are no doubt problems, but there are people dedicated to the solutions.
One of them is Aristides Ortiz, a native of El Salvador and a minister with the Church of Christ.
It takes time to understand each other and to know culture, the difference between.
And when we start to understand each other, then we start to be more open.
For the past two years, Arkansas has had the highest Hispanic growth in the nation, and officials say those numbers are still going up.
Karen?
Alright, Joan Early, live tonight from our studio. Thank you.
Jason Peterson's 7 On Your Side report is straight ahead on Channel 7 News at 6.
And thousands of Arkansans from various churches gathered this weekend to help those in need.
You may be surprised at just how successful they were. Stay with us.
Channel 7 News at 6, brought to you by your Central Arkansas Cadillac dealers,
Roller Funeral Home, and by Freedom Financial.
Closed captioning provided by KATB, proud to be a part of the spirit of Arkansas.
You're watching Channel 7 News at 6 with Karen Fuller,
Weather with meteorologist Ned Pirmi, and Sports with Paul Eales.
That's here now with actually something to talk about in the Weather Department.
We've got some definitely a cold front. This one, unlike the past half dozen, is active,
and it's going to be creating some showers and even some thunderstorms tonight. That is a possibility.
They're building in Oklahoma right now. And as a matter of fact, as they begin to push toward Arkansas,
toward the northeast, there's a possibility that we could see some over the next several hours.
In extreme northwestern Arkansas, we've got seven counties on the map right here,
and the area shaded in blue, the dark blue area, under a severe thunderstorm watch,
and that remains in effect until 11 o'clock. Let's take a look at the satellite picture
and radar composite, and we can go back over the last four hours or so,
and we can see the thunderstorm activity building in through Oklahoma.
Nothing in Arkansas yet, but it's approaching the western border regions.
All of the readings in the upper 60s and low 70s at this hour,
including central Arkansas, north Little Rock and Little Rock, both at 73.
74 at Benton and 70 at Stuttgart. 60, or I should say 76, the high today,
and the normal is 59. So with that, warm air moving into the state,
plus a lot of low-level moisture streaming in. Humidity way up to 68 percent,
and that's helping to fuel some of these thunderstorms that are building to our west,
and we'll be pushing in with a frontal boundary.
The big culprit is an upper-level low-pressure area, a very cold low-pressure area
that's bringing in snow over the eastern Rockies and areas like Denver,
and out ahead of it, all that low-level moisture streaming up,
and the cold front trailing from it through the central plains states,
and that is where the focus is going to be, or the main lifting mechanism,
for these thunderstorms. You can see the showers and thunderstorms
working their way right along that frontal boundary, primarily moving toward the north.
Warm air continues to stream up ahead, and all of this activity moving toward Arkansas
with that upper-level low later on tonight.
We can see that we've got watches in the area shaded in yellow
covering northwestern Arkansas portions of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma,
until about 11 o'clock tonight, so we'll keep a close eye on it.
The literature cast over the next 48 hours shows the system finally moving in
and through the state by 6 o'clock tomorrow night.
It should be moving its showers and thundershower activity into eastern Arkansas,
and then by Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving,
we're going to see skies clearing for the entire region and cooler temperatures on the way.
The cold air will filter in behind that frontal boundary,
and we're going to see readings that are in the 70s dropping off into the 50s by Thanksgiving Day.
Our temperatures tonight in the 50s and highs tomorrow will be in the 60s and low 70s.
The forecast tonight calls for an overnight low of 62 degrees,
with a 30 percent chance of thundershowers late, some thunderstorms over the west,
and then 60 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms tomorrow.
Most of those will move into eastern Arkansas tomorrow night,
and the winds will shift from the south to the northwest, low of 50.
An extended forecast calls for dry weather back with us, Karen, on Wednesday, Thanksgiving Day.
Real nice 58 and 40, the temperature range, and a little bit of a warm-up
just in time for a dry weekend ahead.
So some rain and some thunderstorms will keep a close eye.
Whew, that was about full. Thank you, Ned.
The investigation is completed into a mysterious Sherwood subpoena.
Jason Peterson has the results coming up in our 7 On Your Side report next.
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Usually if you have to appear in court, you know why.
Unless you live in Sherwood.
Back in August, a Sherwood woman was handed a subpoena at her front door.
It said she had to be in court in a week, but it had no case number and no explanation.
7 On Your Side has been following this story from the start, and now the investigation is complete.
Jason Peterson reports.
Sherwood police officer Reggie Koch and Sherwood resident Christy Yankee don't get along.
It seems Yankee was talking trash about Koch, and he wanted to, in his words, shut her up.
So Koch met with prosecuting attorney David Johnson and municipal court clerk Barbara Collier to see what he could do.
Officer Koch told an internal affairs investigator that Barbara Collier told him that,
quote, in the past when we've had problems like this, what we do is just subpoena them into court.
Johnson said about Collier that, I remember she said we can do this.
It's no problem doing it. We've done it for years.
But Collier told investigators that it was the prosecutor's idea,
saying that, quote, David Johnson stated, let's, we'll do a subpoena.
My statement was OK, and I issued the subpoena.
Koch says he's not sure who subpoenaed Yankee.
They came up with this mutual agreement that, yeah, we'll just subpoena her into court and let her know the law.
Johnson said the idea of calling someone into court without a case number didn't faze him,
telling investigators that a number of unusual things happen out here in Sherwood, and it's kind of its own operation.
For Yankee, who just wanted to know who tried to get her into court,
it comes down to a he said, she said between Johnson and Collier.
I still don't know any more today than what I did three months ago.
I was wanting to know who did it, why it was done, and I guarantee they would not happen again, and I did not get any of those.
Sherwood police chief James Crockett sent Kristi Yankee a letter today
apologizing for the length of time the investigation took and emphasizing that his officer did nothing wrong.
Now, David Johnson is no longer a prosecuting attorney in Sherwood,
and as for Barbara Collier, her boss, Judge Mylus Butch Hale, is standing by her saying that in this case she did nothing wrong. Karen.
Jason, and as far as you know, there are, it's all settled as far as Kristi Yankee is concerned?
Well, she's not happy. She hasn't had her questions answered, but at this point she's not sure what, if anything, she can do anymore.
All right, Jason Peterson, live tonight with the end of the story from our newsroom. Thank you.
Turning to sports now, Paul Eels is here with a preview of Razorback basketball, football, we got it all.
Overlaps at this time of the year, but it's a lot of fun, Karen.
Houston net and the Razorbacks don't have much time in preparing for the season finale.
The Hogs meet LSU Friday in Baton Rouge, and we'll join Steve Sullivan from Bud Walton Arena as the Razorback basketball team opens the season.
And now sports with the voice of the Razorbacks, Paul Eels.
Good evening. Steve Sullivan is in Fayetteville tonight where the Razorback basketball team officially opens the season against Texas Arlington,
and he also dropped by the football field earlier in the afternoon.
Sully, you've been a busy man today.
Yeah, and they say this Hog team doesn't have any size.
I've recruited a nine-foot guy who wants to help, boss Hog, and he's also agile.
Show us the shakes here.
He can go. He's excited about the season opener.
He's in his second year playing boss Hog, and he has more experience than most of the Razorbacks that will hit the floor tonight.
Get this, Paul. Five of the 11 Razorbacks will be playing in their first college game.
Well, you know, not a lot of experience on the floor, but I think that's the euphemism.
I think that's excitement for them, and it'd be for the fans.
You look at the team last year, the guys that are now some of the holdovers, such as Brandon Dean, Teddy Gibson, and TJ Cleveland.
I think those guys are going to be the guys that kind of dictate what type of team we're going to have.
Game time is 7 o'clock. I did stop by as Paul mentioned over at football practice.
They are sky high after those two big wins.
Big problem this week is getting over those two wins and concentrating on LSU.
Houston Nuts says we're the better team.
We've got to go for the early knockout and show LSU Friday who's the boss.
You let these guys hang around.
The more that their fans get into it, the more they think they'll have a chance to win and build off that for pride and recruiting and all those things.
But, you know, we really got to knock them out early and let them know that here it goes again.
But if you watch real closely, they played very, very good against Mississippi State, Alabama.
They had a chance to win three or four ball games that were very, very close, but they didn't pull out.
So you know they're talented. You know they're athletic.
They've had some problems. So, hey, let's take care of the Razorbacks.
Let's take care of all responsibility and especially the first half.
Hey, Paul, I'm always recruiting for younger kids.
Show me what you can do with the ball.
This is little Yvonne Anderson. She has literally grew up with the Razorbacks.
Her dad is assistant coach Mike Anderson.
And there's not many nine-year-olds in the state that can handle the ball like this girl.
In fact, you take the boys to the bucket a lot, don't you?
Doesn't say much, but she has a big game.
Should be a lot of excitement, highlights coming your way on the late show as the Razorbacks open the 1999-2000 basketball season, Paul.
All right, Sully, she's a dandy. And hey, I shake every day we do those workouts like Boss Hogg.
Thanks, Sully.
UALR opens its regular season tomorrow night against Oklahoma State and Eddie Sutton.
Sidney Mankreaf sent his Trojans through a brief workout this afternoon in the arena
and is hoping at least 10,000 to 12,000 fans are going to be on hand for the game.
Sidney also feels good about his team after its last exhibition game.
After two exhibition games, I feel better because we were able to make some adjustments with some things we were doing or things we were not doing.
And I think going to Oklahoma State, had we not played the exhibition games, we might get beaten by 50.
But I think now we made some adjustments offensively and it's going to benefit our ball club.
And let's go to our Super 7 poll. As you can see, Harrison is back on top again.
It's Wynn, J.A. Fair, Springdale, Fordsmith, Northside, Fayetteville, and Bryant.
We'll have more following the football game tonight.
All right, Paul, we'll see you then.
Up next, Arkansas Church has raised spirits and big bucks for worthy causes.
We'll tell you what the annual Sharefest did for the natural state after this.
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Finally tonight, plans are in the works for Sharefest 2000.
That's after a successful weekend of activities in central Arkansas.
Today in the Governor's Conference Room, several local charities received a check each for $58,000.
They are the Dorcas House, the North Little Rock Boys and Girls Club, Step Ministries, and Park Positive Atmosphere Reaches Kids.
Sharefest is an annual community service weekend involving more than 100 local churches.
And as you can see, weekend events included a blood drive, organ donor registration, and food and toy collection.
Coming up tonight after the game, a Little Rock Boy wins big today.
We'll show you why this dump truck filled with toys and games landed in the capital city.
We'll see you back here tonight late after the game.
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