Baxter Bulletin from Mountain Home, Arkansas • 3

Monday, January 25, 2010 THE BAXTER BULLETIN, Mountain Home, Ark. Page 3A GhitVLGLVlQS About 11,200 Sam's Club staffers cut Infant Jordan Michael Kriel Infant Jordan Michael Kriel, of Gassville passed away Thursday, January 21, 2010 at Arkansas Children's Hospital. Infant Kriel was born January 20, 2010 in Mountain Home to Thomas Joseph Kriel and Regina Dailree Melder. Infant Kriel is survived by his parents; Thomas Joseph Kriel and Regina Dailree Melder, 1 sister; Kayla Marie Kriel, Paternal Grandparents; Thomas Kriel and Linda Wycoff, Maternal Grandparents; Lenora Melder and Joe Melder, 5 uncles; Joey, Shon, Isaac, Joseph, and Ben, 5 aunts; Chrissy, Michelle, Jolene, Clara, and Alesha. Visitation and funeral services were held Sunday in the Roller Funeral Home Chapel with Rev.

Quinton Brakebill officiating. Burial was in Baxter Memorial Gardens'. Visit www.rollerfuneralhomes.com for an online guestbook. Death Notices Bradburn, Robert Wayne 57, of Yellville, passed Tuesday, January 19, 2010. Burns Funeral Home.

(870)449-6621. Hamrin, Jean, 90, of Talequah, OK, passed Saturday, January 23, 2010. Kirby Family Funeral and Cremation Services. (870)425-6978. AP Photo Associates ready samples in front of a case of Angus beef at a Sam's Club in Ben-tonville.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. on Sunday said it is cutting more than 1 0,000 jobs at Sam's Club, representing about 9 percent of the warehouse club operator's staff, as it outsources its product-sampling department to marketing company Shopper Events and eliminates another unit. Batesville shop offers freshwater pearls Tips" with new carts, signs, uniforms and a trained team, said Cornell. He said the move was not made to save money. "It's not a cost-cutting measure, its really an investment in enhancing our demo program," he said.

Cornell added that Shopper Events plans to hire "roughly the same number of people" cut, and said Sam's Club workers are invited to apply for those positions. "I feel betrayed," said Sally Grueling, 56, who had worked at Sam's Club for nine years, most recently in Hilliard, Ohio as a new business membership rep. In a memo to employees, Cornell said eligible workers will receive severance pay and benefits, and that the company will help them find opportunities at other Sam's Clubs and in Walmart stores, in addition to Shopper Events positions. NEW YORK (AP) Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. will cut about 11,200 jobs at Sam's Club warehouses as it turns over the task of in-store product demonstrations to an outside marketing company.

The move is an effort to improve sales at Sam's Club and comes on top of a decision to close 10 underper-forming warehouse locations, which cost 1,500 jobs. The cuts represent about 10 percent of the warehouse club operator's 110,000 staffers across its 600 stores. That includes 10,000 workers, mostly part-timers, who offer food samples and showcase products to customers. The company also eliminated 1,200 workers who recruit new members. Employees were told the news at mandatory meetings on Sunday morning.

"In the club channel, demo sampling events are a very important part of the experience," said Sam's Club CEO Brian Cornell in a phone interview with The Associated Press. "Shopper Events specializes in this area and they can take our sampling program to the next level." Shopper Events, based in Rogers, currently works with Walmart's namesake stores on in-store demonstrations. Sam's Club is looking to the company to improve sampling in areas such as electronics, personal wellness products and food items to entice shoppers to spend more. Sam's Club has underper-formed the Walmart chain in the U.S. and abroad.

Cornell has been working to improve results since taking the helm in early 2009, introducing new store formats, price cuts and offering more variety and more brands of items from take-home meals to baked goods. Concealed LITTLE ROCK (AP) State police say requests for a permit to carry a concealed gun in Arkansas are back to more routine levels after showing a sharp spike in late 2008 and early 2009. State police records show that the number of applications for concealed- Lonoke LONOKE (AP) A prosecutor says he will retry former Lonoke police chief Jay Campbell on 17 felony charges accusing him of involvement in making illegal drugs, theft, and stealing prescription medications. Campbell's conviction on those charges plus a count that accused him of running a criminal enter As consumers eat out less in the shaky economy, Sam's Club has tried to draw customers from grocery chains and rival warehouse stores like Costco Wholesale Corp. by offering more everyday goods like food and health and beauty items and paring its assortment of general merchandise like furniture and clothes.

But during Wal-Mart Stores' most recent quarter, revenue at the Sam's Club division slipped nearly 1 percent to $11.55 billion while U.S. Walmart stores posted a 1.2 percent sales increase to $61.81 billion. The move to outsource its food sampling efforts is a way for the company to tout its fresh food offerings in a cost-effective manner, Johnson said. Shopper Events will launch a new demo program called "Tastes and carry bids carry permits totaled 1,199 in November 2008, but jumped to 2,072 in December of that year. The records show that the num-'bers continued to rise through March, when 3,472 applications were filed, before dropping back to 1,199 requests in December 2009.

"We had not seen that rose fast, then dropped Now, due to student testing required by education officials, teachers do not have the time to schedule such history-oriented programs, Holmes said. Byproducts of the pearl boom were button factories and hog feed. The feed consisted of the meat boiled from the mussel shells; the boiling cleaned the shells for the button-making process and the finding of pearls. On her wall at Pearls Unique, Holmes has a 1923 photo of the Newport button factory. Newport, Batesville, Akron (near Newark) and Black Rock all had button factories, as did other communities along the rivers.

Plastic buttons put the mussel-shell button factories out of business by the end of World War II. Prospective customers at Pearls Unique can select from pearl rings, pearl strands and necklaces, broaches or, if they make an appointment, loose pearls which they can purchase and take to the goldsmith of their choice. Natural pearls are pearls all the way through and may be any shape, and are grown without any help from man. Cultured pearls are round and are only the thickness of a thumbnail grown over a bead which has been inserted into a mussel or oyster by man, Holmes said. "The Japanese have done a good job of marketing" to make people believe that pearls should be round, but cultured pearls are not natural pearls, she said.

A natural pearl grows in a mussel or oyster when a grain of sand or other irritant gets inside its shell and the animal coats it with mother-of-pearL The longer you wear a pearl, the more lustrous it looks, Holmes said, adding, "They go with anything from formal wear to blue jeans." The store is usually open from 9 a.m. until noon and 1 to 4 p.m. on weekdays. However, sometimes Holmes has to be out for a while due to an illness in her family, so anyone coming from a distance should call ahead to be retried, prosecutor says The cuts come as many Americans had hoped job losses would abate as the economy slowly recovers. However, analysts said Sunday that while this marks Wal-Mart Stores' largest job cut, they expect many employees to be picked up by Shopper Events, so the net effect on the economy probably won't be that bad.

"I would argue that from an economic standpoint it's somewhat nominal," said David Strasser, a retail analyst with Janney Montgomery Scott. "It looks a lot worse than it really is from a layoff standpoint. My read is the majority of employees are going to be picked up by Shopper Events." Strasser said he did not expect the move to materially affect Wal-Mart Stores' fourth-quarter earnings results. Wal-Mart reports results for the quarter and full year in February. lice database of concealed-carry permits from 61,000 in April 2008 to 80,000.

Sadler declined to speculate on causes for the spike. The state's application form for a concealed-weapon permit does not ask why an applicant wants to be able to carry a hidden gun. ber ruling that the prosecution took a random set of allegations and wrongly concluded that Campbell conducted a continuing criminal enterprise. Campbell was released Dec. 21 on $50,000 bond after spending two years behind bars.

iVVi 4. Batteries for $10- si BATESVILLEFrom Page 2A in hand, it was time for an education. Holmes contacted the Gemological Institute in San Diego which, fortunately, had scheduled an upcoming class in Memphis. "Jan and I took a pearl-grading course," she recalled. They also studied under a pearl specialist in Austin, Texas, before taking some of the pearls to gem and jewelry shows at Dallas, Memphis, Tulsa and other big cities.

"We were the hit of the shows. We were the entertainment. Everybody came to our booth to see our pearls," Holmes said. "The pearl business, it's an interesting story." The Black and White rivers pearl boom began in the spring of 1897, when former Newport physician J.H. Myers, who had moved to Black Rock, recalled reading about valuable pearls being found in freshwater mussels.

Myers began opening mussels about two miles above Black Rock, according to Sallie W. Stockard's 1904 book, "The History of Lawrence, Jackson, Independence and Stone Counties of the Third Judicial District of Arkansas." "Myers had opened a few hundred muckets (a type of mussel) when a ball pearl, weighing 14 grams, fine luster and pinkish color, was found," Stockard wrote. When the news broke, Holmes said farmers, businessmen even bankers flocked to the rivers to harvest mussels, looking for pearls. "Everyone just went out there. Whole families went" and camped out on the river banks, hunting for pearls, she said.

One of the pearls found in those days is said to have been used in the crown jewels of England and, Holmes said, "I believe that is a documented story. That's where they sold most of the pearls in the old days England and France." "Schoolchildren, they don't know the history. I used to go and give programs to the school kids." I Any Event or Occasion will travel Videos. Photo Transfer to DVD CD Format tony mom Let's Do Lunch! HOT SOUP SPEQSAL Our Very Own 3 Bean Taco Soup Tortilla Chips Drink Dessert Only $4.00 including tax delivery. 701 Hwy.

5 North 425-1551 Powerball DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) The winning numbers drawn Saturday. 15-16-20-42-53, Powerball: 17, Powerplay: 2. Lotto JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) The winning numbers in Saturday evening's drawing of the Missouri Lottery's "Lotto" game were: 06-07-13-25-31-43. many (applications) in the past," state police spokesman Bill Sadler said.

"This was something new to us." Before the jump in December 2008, the previous high for any month in the preceding three years was 1,429 in March 2008. The volume of applications pushed the state po additional drug, burglary and theft charges. Campbell was sentenced to 40 years in prison after he was convicted in April 2007 on 23 counts, including masterminding a criminal enterprise and a series of underlying crimes. The high court said in a Novem 20 Hearing Aid prise was overturned last year by the state Supreme Court. Lonoke County Prosecutor Will Feland said in court Friday that he will not retry Campbell on the continuing-criminal enterprise charge and some other counts.

Feland also cited statutes of limitations and time already served as reasons for not pursuing THE BUUK OF LEO irrj jr. i raiiM? ii THEBLINDSlDE ft fj EXTRAORDINARY )p MtAbUKb '03 ill I Ik6 I THE CHIPHWWHS the quel Obituaries Friends and families of the deceased have prepared these obituaries, funeral announcements and memoriams. They are a tribute to their loved ones accomplishments and a service to friends who would like to pay their respects. To submit announcements and discuss fees, please contact your funeral director or phone The Baxter Bulletin Obituary Department at (870)508-8082 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

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