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The 2024 December count of 153,423 mallards in the Arkansas Delta region was almost double the total from the same time last year but was still well below the 2009-2024 December long-term average in estimates made from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s December Aerial Survey, conducted Dec. 9-13.

Derwood Brett, 76, Mount Ida, June 16. Brett got his start in the advertising department at the Minden Press Herald while studying journalism at Louisiana Tech University.

It began to rain lightly at first. But from the dark clouds building to the northwest, I knew what was coming.

Sidney Craig Woodall, 86, Malvern, May 22. Woodall started as a carrier for the Malvern Daily Record at age 11. At age 15 he worked for Malvern Amusement Company as a projectionist, and later served as assistant manager for the Ritz Theater, the Joy Theater and Malvern Drivein Theater, and the Sunset Drive-in Theater in Hot Springs. Around 1956 he returned to the Malvern Daily Record, working in circulation for a short time, after which he was promoted to advertising manager, a position he held for 23 years. He left the Daily Record to become advertising coordinator for Gibson’s Discount/ Kirchoff Stores, Inc. He then worked as an assistant manager at Davis Lumber Company for 17 years, until his retirement in 2002.

Baxter Health is proud to welcome Jamie Leach, LMSW, as the Behavioral Health and Community Relations Specialist. Jamie brings a wealth of experience and a deep commitment to supporting the mental and emotional well-being of our community.

Baxter Health is pleased to welcome Debra Wilhite, APRN, to Baxter Health Cardiovascular Clinic. She is a board-certified nurse practitioner practicing alongside Dr. Zaid Alirhayim, Dr. Michael Camp, Dr. Akihiro Kobayashi, Dr. Jamon Pruitt, Dr. Patrick Tobbia, Dr. Otis Warr, and nurse practitioners Denise Beeson and Leah Fountain.

magazine in Little Rock, then in 1988 he became general manager of Helena Daily World. In 1991, he returned to Louisiana as publisher of the Minden Press Herald. After he left the newspaper business he worked as communications manager for Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas, then as manager of Clay County Electric Cooperative before retiring to Mount Ida.

In this special year-end issue of Arkansas Publisher Weekly, we remember those connected to APA and Arkansas journalism who died in 2024 and whose legacies will live on through the lives they touched. Many of the fallen journalists have helped set up the structure of Journalism in Arkansas. These journalists will be missed as well as their contributions.

Peggy June Barentine, 88, Jacksonville, June 1.The mother of APA Director of Operations Terri Cobb, Barentine married her high school sweetheart, Buford Barentine on May 27, 1955. She retired from Dillard’s Department Store after working many years in mortgage banking and was a former member of the North Little Rock chapter of Beta Sigma Phi.