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PB TO WELCOME TOURNAMENT FANS, HONOR SOLDIERS
BY THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Monday, March 2, 2009 9:55 AM CST
Pine Bluff will welcome a state basketball tournament this week as well as honor area soldiers who recently returned from Iraq .
Dollarway High School will host the Class 4A state basketball tournament Tuesday through Saturday at the Pine Bluff Convention Center. The 16 boys teams and 16 girls teams are expected to draw many visitors to the Pine Bluff area.
Bob Purvis, convention center director, estimates about 1,500 people will visit.
“You would like to see the teams from way off do well so they’ll stay and sleep in our hotels and spend money, but on the other hand you would like to see the local teams do well so you want to root for Dollarway,” Purvis said.
A group of soldiers who returned to Arkansas from Iraq recently will gather at Pine Bluff for a time of retreat and reunion Saturday and Sunday.
The weekend retreat for El Dorado-based National Guard soldiers will be held at the Ramada Inn & Suites to provide the guardsmen assistance in readjusting to civilian life, Major Brenda Cluck said.
“It’s a good time for them to reconnect. Many of them haven’t seen each other since December,” Cluck said. “We will offer break-out sessions including stress management, anger management, financial and savings planning and we will have spousal forums.”
Also this week:
Pine Bluff City Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. today at the city council chambers of the Pine Bluff Civic Center .
Committees of the Jefferson County Quorum Court will meet at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the quorum courtroom of the county courthouse.
Pine Bluff Rotary Club will meet at noon Tuesday at the Pine Bluff Country Club. Mike Hengel, publisher and editor of The Commercial, will be the speaker.
West Pine Bluff Rotary Club will meet Thursday at the Pine Bluff Country Club. Juvenile Judge Earnest Brown will be the speaker.
The graduation ceremony for the Jefferson County Drug Court will be held Friday at 6:30 p.m. at the waterfront facility at Regional Park. Circuit Judge Berlin Jones is the drug court judge for the 11th Judicial District West.
The Center of Compassion, 1210 S. Cherry St., Suite 19, a program that helps people recovering from substance abuse, holds a “Keep It Real Cocaine Anonymous Group” meeting from 6-7:30 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The Pine Bluff Area Transportation Study Policy Committee meets at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in the conference room of the Pine Bluff mayor’s office at city hall at the civic center. The agenda includes a report on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s portion of the stimulus program.
The Southeast Arkansas Regional Planning Commission will meet at noon Thursday at White Hall City Hall. The agenda includes the director’s report.
Weed and Seed Coffee with the Chiefs will be held at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Harmony Baptist Association, 2001 S. Cherry St. Ken Ferguson, the Arkansas Workforce Investment Board executive director, will be the guest speaker. The public is invited to attend.
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