CBS Sunday. Now Northwest Arkansas in the River Valley's most watched local news team.
This is five news at 10.
One of the top outdoor rodeos in the nation is going on in Northwest Arkansas right now.
Around 500 cowboys and cowgirls are putting blood sweat and tears to win a title at the 68th annual
rodeo of the Ozarks. Tonight bull riders take to the arena and it's one man's job to protect them.
Five News reporter Allison Woods introduces us to the rodeo clown who steals smiles from the audience.
Rodeo clowns are like no other entertainer. They'll make you laugh but they also protect
the cowboys which this rodeo clown has been doing for the last 40 years.
I started fighting bulls and now I'm in the barrel. I call it retirement plan for old bullfighters.
Being a rodeo clown is something Rudy Burns never thought he would do.
I was riding bulls one day and the clown didn't show up and I was bad about playing jokes on
these guys. I'd fill their boots up full of sand and hide their bull ropes and stuff. Well
guy told me get out there and do something funny while I load these bulls so I got out there in
front of the crowd and I had a yelling contest. One crowd yelling against the other side and
it's been 40 years of this. Entertaining the crowd and protecting bull riders Burns gets in
the barrel when he sees those horns headed his way. The barrel takes the beating. I still see
them birdies when them bulls hit it but it's no broke bones, no lacerations or nothing like that.
So except for one time which left a scar on his face but didn't scare him away from a rodeo.
And the bull come around with a horn and when he did he stuck a horn right here
and took a mouth full of teeth out but it's beats working. Burns has been named top barrelman in 1995
and 2000 and has been in rodeos all over the country but Burns says performing in the rodeo
of the Ozarks is an honor. Of all the rodeos in the country in Canada Springdale was voted in the
top five so man that's a feather in their hat. Burns will turn 63 in September and he says he
never plans on quitting the rodeo. In Springdale, Allison Woods, 5 news on cakes and W34.
Now you can catch Burns at the rodeo tomorrow and Saturday night but first what's a rodeo
without a little mutton busting? Kids ages four to six held on to their sheep as long as their
little cans could there. The winners of the nightly mutton busting competitions will advance to the
championship round on Saturday, the last night of the rodeo and it looks like we have some future
bull riders there. Now from the mutton busting to roping to bull riding the rodeo of the Ozarks
was recently honored as one of the top five large outdoor rodeos last year by the professional
rodeo cowboys association. The PRCA, the Springdale rodeo brings the best cowboys and the best stock
together for rodeo action. Jonathan Husky will bring us more highlights coming up in sports.
It doesn't take much more than a drive down Interstate 540 to see drought conditions for
yourself. The U.S. drought monitor puts more than a quarter of Arkansas in extreme drought.
5 News reporter Mallory Cook shows us the toll the hot dry weather has taken in our area.
Driving down Interstate 40. Hard to miss. Brown, dry, drought-like conditions. Dangerous.
Now it's not very safe out here. You're gonna pass out, bust your head. Every county in the 5 News
duing area is under a burn ban. It's really hot and dry. Emergency management say it's dangerously
dry. If we get some wind and happen to get a fire, I mean that's everything it takes to be a
disaster. The U.S. drought monitor now puts 36 percent of the state in extreme drought. That's
up from 32 percent last week. The grass is dry. Take a look around. It's obvious we need some rain.
The experts say it'll take more than just a sprinkle or a shower to get us back to normal.
We need a good three, four day soaking rain, you know, that can actually soak in and do some good.
Locals tired of the heat, hope for cooler temperatures and some rain. Look dry. Look
ashy out here. They put some lotion on the city. The Crawford County emergency management director
says he doesn't remember a season being this dry since the 1980s. In Van Buren, Mallory Cook, 5 News.
Only two counties in Arkansas are not under a burn ban. Calhoun County and Deshae County,
both in the far southern part of the state. Commissioners vote to put Sequoia County under
a burn ban today after dozens of fires break out on the 4th of July. A grass fire destroyed an
estimated 150 acres just outside Muldrow this afternoon. County leaders say crews put out about
40 fires yesterday. Sequoia County commissioners called an emergency meeting this morning.
After the results from last night, we felt probably the best decision we could make today
would be to come in and put a burn ban on. Today's fire burned an outhouse but did not
damage any homes. Crews did not have to evacuate anyone. We really need rain to help out these dry
conditions. Let's check in now with Chief Meteorologist Garrett Lewis. So Garrett,
when is the rain going to get here? Well it looks like spotty showers at best late weekend into early
next week. Now it's not a rain guarantee for everyone. They will be scattered. It does look
like even we could see a few pop-up showers for tomorrow. Microcasts not picking up on any early
in the day but as the day wears on in the afternoon a few spotty showers remain possible. And
that's mainly as the high pressure ridge shifts a little farther west. That'll open the door
for a pop-up storm or two. It's going to be another nice day though for the rodeo of the Ozarks.
Mostly sunny skies. Temperatures once again in the mid-90s looking very nice across northwest
Arkansas with sunny skies and warm weather. As we take a look at the big ridge, look at the big
clockwise flow. See how it's centered right about Oklahoma or so. As it moves to the west and a
little bit to the north, some of that moisture that you're seeing out there by Tennessee is going
to make its way a little bit closer to us. So while the coverage may not be for everyone,
we will be looking at at least a chance of some rain in the forecast starting as early as tomorrow.
But as the front moves in early next week we can see a better chance right now in the 80s and 90s.
I'll have a look at your forecast coming up. All right Garrett thanks. We'll see in just a few
moments with the excessive heat course comes the power trouble. New at 10 about 150 Fort Smith
residents were left without electricity around six o'clock tonight because of a blown fuse.
OG&E representatives tell 5 News it was caused by a surge in energy use. Power was restored in
about an hour. They recommend conserving energy during peak times which are Monday through Friday
from two in the afternoon till about seven o'clock at night. Turning down your AC a few degrees,
waiting to run your dishwasher, dryer, maybe your clothes washer as well are a few ways to cut back.
To prevent fires, many local counties and cities ban the use of personal fireworks. That
didn't stop people though from lighting them off on the fourth but not as many citations were handed
out as some law enforcement first thought. Rogers, Springdale, Bentonville and Fayetteville did not
have any major fires caused by fireworks but they all had received dozens of complaints that people
were shooting them off illegally. Rogers was the only city in northwest Arkansas to allow personal
fireworks for a short period of time yesterday. And that they had had some anecdotal better
success with restricting fireworks, increasing their staffing, educating the public, then they did banning.
This issued only one citation for using fireworks during a burn ban. Greenwood Chief of Police
Will Dawson says only five people were given a citation there for shooting fireworks off this week.
A low number compared to the number of calls they typically get this time of year.
I think the community did a great job with adhering to the burn ban and realizing the
danger of shooting fireworks right now. Shooting off fireworks or burning during a burn ban could
cost you thousands of dollars in fines. Now a makeup firework day is expected to be discussed
at Monday night's Greenwood City Council meeting. Springdale and Fayetteville city leaders have
already announced firework makeup days over Labor Day weekend. New at 10, Van Buren police
arrest a man after he allegedly kicked an officer in the groin. Fireworks spectators on Logtown Hill
tell police they saw Carlton Seepmorey breaking into cars. Seepmorey ran off when officers caught
up to him. They say he resisted arrest and reportedly kicked an officer. The suspect told
police that he had been drinking whiskey. Police say three cars were broken into. Several items
were recovered that were stolen. Seepmorey is currently in the Crawford County Jail.
A Fortsmith clown pleads not guilty to child pornography charges. Thomas Harold Morgan,
who performs as Sundance, the clown, was arraigned today. He was arrested last month after police say
he downloaded child porn. Morgan was ordered to avoid contact with minors and prohibited from
using the Internet. He remains in the Sebastian County Jail. No trial date has been set.
Convicted killer Ricky Ray Anderson in Washington County Court today making his case for a new
trial. Here's an eye pick of Anderson and public defender Kristi Beaumont. Anderson claims his
loggers were ineffective in his murder trial. Judge William Story gave Anderson and the
prosecuting attorney's office until August 3rd to submit more documents to assist him in making a
decision. Now Anderson was sentenced to life in prison for the death of Jill Ulmer. One cent sales
tax increase is on the ballot in Van Buren next week. If approved, it would go to fund several
projects around the city. 5 News reporter Meredith Baldwin talked with several people today who
explained what the sales tax means to them. About six or seven guys share that office.
Sergeant Larry Brown says the Van Buren Police Department desperately needs a new station.
We need it very, very much so. We're in this current facility, we're limited with space.
We're pretty much pushed it to the max as far as you know everybody's office is full of
different things and our storage rooms are full of storage where there's no more room. The police
department could get that new facility if a one cent sales tax is approved. It would give them
more room to store evidence and more shelving so they can keep their SWAT gear off of the ground.
People realize a lot of things that we have aren't cheap and to be sitting on floors and possibly
being you know exposed to water damage and things like that it's just it's not good and in the space
we have we can't get everything up off the floor. Employees complain about a leaky roof at the
current police station. When it rains it floods. And it's just it's outgrown, it's in need of a lot
of repairs and so it's something that the community has talked about for a number of years is a
replacement police station. It's something we need to we need to do. Van Buren Mayor Bob Bremen says
a new fire station would also be built if the tax is passed. In Van Buren, Meredith Baldwin, 5 News.
Well most people agreed with a measure some opposed it saying they felt they paid enough taxes
already. Another facility that would benefit from the tax increase is the senior center in Van Buren.
Right now they say they don't have enough room to work in the kitchen and don't even have a working
air conditioner. Instead they have four fans around to keep the workers cool while they cook
meals and clean up. Jim Moore, a regular at the senior center says he hopes the community passes
this tax. I think it's necessary because I believe we get more people to come in and bid it because
it'd be a cleaner nicer place and all that and we definitely need a new kitchen. More than 100 meals
are being prepared every day in the kitchen most of which are given out through Meals on Wheels.
For more information on the one sense tax and who all could benefit from this you can log on to our
website 5newsonline.com. Another hot day today but what else is new right? Well something is new a
cold front it may not be cold weather but it does bring change cooler air and even a few scattered
showers. We'll talk about both up next. A fireworks accident turns deadly when two teens set off a
sparkler bomb and caught on camera a transit van driver doesn't hit the brakes and plows into traffic.
Be sure to wake up with us tomorrow morning we are sizzling up your summer in tomorrow's five news
grill. Hopefully you are feeling festive we're going south of the border as we show you how to
make Santa Fe chicken salad wraps and mango peach salad that's tomorrow morning on the five news
grill. Now at your neighborhood subway the new southwest chili collection attempting.
New attend tonight a Tahlequah man drowns in the Illinois River today that makes the third drowning
in the river this week. The Oklahoma Scenic River Commission says Leslie Rocky Angel was found dead
in the water near the highway 62 bridge in Tahlequah. The commission says Angel was supposed to swim
downstream to meet a friend at Riverside Park about 200 yards away but he drowned where he went in the
water. The commission says he was not wearing a life jacket and alcohol was likely a contributing
factor. Also new tonight a fireworks accident turns deadly in southwest Arkansas authorities say 17
year old Justin Smith died when he and a friend taped about 300 sparklers together and then lit
the fuse in Lafayette County. They tried to cover it with a bucket but it went off before they could
get away. It's a very big explosion but it's nothing cool about it it is very deadly and can
kill you destroy properties start fires that are you know this time of year if things really dry
something that we just don't need to be happening and everybody just needs to be aware that it's
very dangerous and and shouldn't be done at all. The other teen was rushed to the hospital his
condition is unknown. The Big Bay boom was a big bust in San Diego.
The 4th of July fireworks show was scheduled the last 20 minutes it went off early and lasted about
15 seconds organizers say a computer glitches to blame which sent the entire show's fireworks
from four barges into the air at the same time. The show cost the Port of San Diego and dozens
of area companies about 250 grand and left close to a half a million spectators disappointed.
All the effort we went to be down here you know we got the hotel and we walked all the way out here and
no show. This would be the best 4th of July ever but it was the worst.
Yeah the company says it's performed test at each barge on Monday and was everything was working
fine then the owner says he's willing to try again next year if the city will have him.
I don't know it looked kind of cool to me for the for a few seconds all right looks like we are in
store for another hot weekend but after the weekend it's going to be well not cold but you know what I
mean. I know that's the problem with cold fronts this time of year because the meteorological
definition is a well defining air mass between cooler and warmer air and a wind shift line
between south winds and north winds. We do get the north winds we get the north winds and the
cooler air we even get some rain. Now all of us will see a drop in temperatures that's something
to look forward to not all of us will see the rainfall but hey any rain on the radar is better
than what we've been seeing which isn't a whole lot had a few pop-up showers today. You see that
one out there east of Clarksville wasn't much of one what's causing this big mess that big old ridge
of high pressure which we've been talking about for about a month now has just been planted on top
of us look how it flows clockwise and what I love about that is that it's a little bit more
of an eye on the radar and on the radar itself. You can see some of these pop-up showers
watch them develop in south Arkansas and Louisiana and disappear when daytime heating disappears.
Well guess what happens tomorrow as that high pressure starts to truck a little farther north
well we get in on a few of those pop-up showers and the possibility of some rainfall but until
we actually bring a front end which won't be until about Monday or so we don't have that better
chance for scattered rain keep in mind scattered. Hey we'll take scattered we'll take pop-up we'll
take isolated we'll take renegade we'll take anything it was 105 today in Fort Smith good
grief 100 in Fayetteville 100 in Bentonville look for a repeat again for tomorrow unless we manage
to see a pop-up shower 102 in Eureka Springs and 107 in Clarksville hot into the weekend but the
high pressure is finally moving and that will start to see some change late weekend into early
next week the cold front gets here on Monday don't expect a big freeze or sweater weather
we're talking about temperatures in the afternoon Saturday and Sunday we'll see some
rain in the afternoon similar to what we're seeing outside here at 10 o'clock speaking of which 85 in
Rogers 85 at X and A right now 93 in Springdale 81 in Fayetteville reasonably cool with that drier
air that's still in play 95 in Fort Smith 94 degrees in Booneville 94 in Clarksville overall
even though we've been in this really sweltering heat wave the overall air mass has been relatively
dry for this time of year typically we see dew points in the 70s we see that in Shreveport and
towards Little Rock but you can see that slightly drier air which is in our area courtesy of some
southwest winds from the desert which has kept temperatures up but overall kept the heat index
from getting extremely out of control like the 115 range we haven't seen that now certainly we've
seen that heat index up around 105 and 105 115 is there that big of a difference it could be worse
a little bit farther to the south there's a little bit more humidity you can see the heat bubble right
under that ridge and that clockwise flow under the ridge of high pressure which is finally going to
be departing and leaving the area slowly to the north look at the flow right across the central
part of the country bringing some much needed rain out towards Colorado you can really see it too
on water vapor look at it right in there so the high pressure finally moves and the cold front
finally starts to move in late weekend into early next week keep in mind keyword is scattered i don't
want to give everybody's hopes up and say we're going to get a big washout because it doesn't
look like that but it does look like we have some scattered rain coming in late Sunday and into
Monday overnight lows in the low 60s and i'm telling you highs in the 80s it's going to feel
like a world of difference out there sometime around early next week it's not a big change it's
still warm it's still summertime but going from 104 down to about 90 degrees is going to feel
really different for all of us and if you catch yourself underneath the shower you could actually
see temperatures fall into the 70s in the afternoon and that will happen for a few of us the coverage
is going to be a little bit better i don't think this is going to be enough to save my squash though
because i'm having to save the air conditioning save the air conditioning save everybody's garden
right beer beer your bill won't be very high by the end of the month maybe your beer might be
save me here oh boy well power outages can mean some miserable conditions during the hot summer
days more than a half million people are still without power after some strong storms struck the
midwest and mid-atlantic region last week about half of those in the dark are in west virginia
where the state's heavily forested mountains and steep terrains are slowing repairs now out west
firefighters might soon get a break as they take on multiple wildfires chances for heavy rain could
help cruise up and down the rocky mountains thunderstorms are expected in colorado wyoming
and montana over the next few days one wildfire has burned nearly 400 square miles of ranch land
in southeast montana a transit driver doesn't put on the brakes quick enough making for a scary
scene all caught on camera keep an eye on the right side of your screen right there the newly
released video shows a dallas area rapid transit van slamming into cars on an exit ramp the crash
happened on june 29th two people sent to the hospital from that accident right there there
were no passengers in that van transit officials in dallas say the driver is on paid administrative
leave while the crash is under investigation a sad day for mermaid enthusiasts all over the national
oceanic and atmospheric administration has issued a report that says the aquatic creature uh mermaids
do not exist if you're wondering why the report was actually needed well the group says it's
because of a new fictional show that claims to show evidence of mermaids report comes just weeks
after the cdc issued a statement saying zombies are not real saying so coming up next the northwest
arkansas naturals finally back home at the all after the all-star break but the corpus christi
hooks proved to be well rude guests plus bareback riding from day two of the rodeo of the osarks in
springdale jonathan husky has that next in sports wake up with me weekdays at 4 30 right here on
channel five matters wake up with me weekdays at 4 30 on channel five never be out of the loop on
the latest breaking news get the five i news app for your smartphone now just scan the code on your
iphone droid or blackberry search for five i in your app store or visit our mobile site at five
news online.com the arkansas baseball team has nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to how the
2012 season ended a college world series semi-final appearance and number three ranking in the year
but still tough not to wonder what might have been arkansas seemed to be on the wrong side of an
alternatingly generous and then stingy strike zone from home plate umpire perry castillo in
the final game against south carolina hog pitchers walked a season-high nine batters in the game and
the hitters were flummoxed by a strike zone that seemed to expand at times dave van horn couldn't
comment after the game so now that he's home has he watched it i didn't watch it i mean i saw some
highlights here and there but i didn't watch it you know that's about really all i could say i mean
you know just it is what it is it's it sometimes you win sometimes you lose you know we just didn't
get the calls and that's baseball it's disappointing i just feel bad for the guys i mean because it
would have been interesting to see how that game finished up if you know if we'd have got a call
and that's the way it goes hey talk about your dog days of summer huh naturals back home against
corpus christy tonight in the third it's already three nothing hooks and drew lock finds one and
hits it hard out to right center that gets down that's in the gap one hops off the wall that lets
andrew simonik let's say that five times fast he was all the way on first he scores that's that's a
long ways four nothing hooks they'd add another in the inning good guys though get on the board
on the fifth with two on there's johnny whittleman with the base hit into right nick van stratton
comes home from third five to one now then in the six it's six to one jonathan vr absolutely
hammers that one way out to left way out into the bleachers a three run shot makes it nine to one
hooks win 10 to two and there is a freshly minted all-star david freeze cards trying to take three
or four from the rockies tonight in the fifth two nothing bases loaded matt holliday the hottest
hitter in the bigs right now smokes a base hit in the left matt carpenter comes into score that
makes it three nothing as holidays 56 rbi on the season and the fun continues here's another all
star carlos beltron lines one into center that just misses a home run off the base of the wall
lance linn and john j come into score and it's five nothing on the two run double and hitting
is contagious past the bat the whole thing alan craig breaks said bat here with the grounder to
short holiday gonna come home and he beats the throw six nothing cards five running for the birds
in the ninth they're on top six to two bareback riding from the rodeo of the osarx this here is
tyler scales pride of severance colorado if there was an instructional video on on how to ride a
horse without a saddle mr scales here he would be your host just showing how it's done there
lifting and reaching the whole thing he's the top rider brings home an 84 get the snow cone there
gotta get that deal that's a heck of a living right oh boy i tell you what uh i'll pass yeah
i'll sit here and talk about it all right jonathan thanks garrard's back with a we can look at the
seven-day forecast after the break plus a three-legged canine gets a round of applause as it
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in roland looking ahead into the next week a few scattered showers will be possible in northwest
arkansas and how about dropping some of those temps into the mid-80s with lows in the 60s
your first five on five for the river valley shows some rain chances moving in late weekend
and some better chances of rain possibly early next week they will be scattered not everybody
will see the rain but anything is better than what we've seen which is nothing yeah all right
yeah thanks a military canine gets a hero send off today in chicago that applause is for luca
the dog she's in retirement after serving in iraq and afghanistan for the marines her job
was to sniff out explosive devices she found dozens of them and as you can see she did lose a limb
a crowd gathered at a chicago airport as she headed off to be reunited with her handler
love those kind of stories thanks for joining us folks we will see you back here tomorrow night
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