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Ashley News Observer- Features
A quiet read
Crossett man practices unique martial arts
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| Jason Sasser demonstrates the martial arts technique he practices. |
After a doctor falsely promised his family he would finally walk, Jason Sasser found relief from his emotional pain through karate.
Sasser was born with a mild form of cerebral palsy, confining him to a wheelchair all his life. He had surgery in 1985 on both legs and spent six weeks in casts. During his confinement, he watched Miss Michigan demonstrate the first karate demonstration ever seen at the Miss America Pageant. This inspired him to research his options for learning karate.
“(Miss Michigan) broke four bricks with her bare foot,” Sasser said. “It made me wonder, ‘how does the human body move like that?’”
Sasser started researching karate programs in the state and surrounding areas with little luck. He said every time he contacted a karate instructor, they “froze up” after he explained his condition. He even endured verbal abuse after one inquiry.
“One instructor even said I would be a disgrace to martial arts and I shouldn’t participate since I am in a wheelchair,” Sasser said. “I never let it discourage me; I just kept trying and trying to find someone willing to help.”
Sasser never let his disability interfere in other aspects of his life. He said he was the first disabled student to graduate from Crossett High School as a mainstream student, not taking any special education classes. He went on to finish a degree in Radio/T.V./Film at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He said he attended other universities but never found one as “disabled friendly” as UALR.
His inspiration to major in Radio/T.V./Film came from watching Walter Cronkite report the news.
“It’s something I always wanted to do since I was 5 years-old,” Sasser said. “I used to do pretend newscasts and radio shows when I was little.”
After over 20 years of research, Sasser found karate instructor Donna Judge’s Web site in February of 2007 and contacted her to explain his situation. Judge said that, at first, she had doubts about Sasser’s intentions.
“I made some calls to check him out and then asked him to send an audio tape explaining his desire to learn martial arts,” Judge said. “After that, I knew he was someone I wanted to work with.”
Sasser did not have to wait long before he heard back from Judge. He was watching a baseball tournament in town when he received a phone call from Judge, asking if she could visit him that next Sunday.
Judge traveled over 800 miles from her offices in Florida. After so many years of wanting to learn karate, Sasser said he was very emotional when she pulled into his driveway.
“I can’t tell you the emotional release I felt,” Sasser said. “It’s a moment I’ll never forget.”
After the initial meeting, Judge said she saw a lot she could work with in Sasser and started sending him videotaped lessons. Judge knew she had to experience confinement like he did, so she started teaching the lessons in a wheelchair.
(Full story in the Ashley News Observer)
Retired forester recounts history
In a nearly full July 2 Crossett Rotary Club meeting, a retired forester and longtime Georgia-Pacific employee delved into Crossett’s forestry history.
O.H. “Doogie” Darling, who holds a bachelor’s from Louisiana State University and a master’s in forestry from Yale University, explained to Rotarians the area’s lumber history.
While Darling focused on Crossett, he explained that its history wasn’t unique and could apply to most any southern lumber town.
The focus of Darling’s presentation centered around the transport of logs and the problems with hardwoods that were experienced after land was cleared and prevented pine trees from growing.
Darling explained, not surprisingly, that railroads were used to transport the lumber to the mill, however the sheer number of railroad tracks built in the Crossett area to transport the lumber may be surprising.
“I told people when I moved to Crossett they had four railroads and they all ended here,” Darling said.
Those rail companies included the Missouri Pacific Railway, along with a number of regional railways and a system of spurs the company used to transport timber from the camps to the mill.
(Full story, photo in the Ashley News Observer)
Library summer programs encourage young readers
“Look at the turtle!”
Local children who visited the Crossett Library to participate in one of its summer programs experienced Arkansas’ aquatic life up-close Tuesday.
A representative of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission brought a mobile aquarium, stocked with Arkansas native fish and a turtle, a big hit among the children.
The exhibit was a part of the summer reading program for area children which has been hosted for many years, library director David Anderson said.
“It’s a traditional thing at the library,” he said.
Anderson explained that Crossett’s offering is a part of a statewide program that centers on an annual theme, which this year is. “be creative at your local library,” Anderson said.
“We can’t quite tie the aquarium into the theme but it’s still a good thing to have,” he said.
However, the library has been centering its weekly programs on the theme throughout the rest of the summer, recently hosting local artist Norma Ray and involving students in craft projects.
(Full story, photos in the Ashley News Observer)
Home offers Bible-based program for girls in recovery
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| Choice Ministries founder Cathy Howie’s dachshund, Sadie, is often able to connect with the girls the ministries serves before its workers can. “The dog seems to bring the girls some comfort,” Howie said. |
When visitors walk through the door of the unassuming three-bedroom, two-bath home on Fairview Road, they might not notice anything out of the ordinary, but this isn’t a typical family home.
The house, operated by Choice Ministries, Inc. and marked only by a small sign in the front, is a residential home that serves girls with a number of “emotional” problems, often leading them to drugs and a court order to enter some type of rehabilitation center.
Choice Ministries founder Cathy Howie said she started the ministry in February of 2006, after spending several years working with a similar organization in Monroe, La.
“I had a dream, and in my dream this is what I was doing. I guess it just stuck in my heart,” Howie said. “When I left there I still had the desire to do this and here we are.”
The ministry moved to its current location, which gives them a higher capacity, last July.
Howie operates the home with the help of the organization’s vice president, Ginger Weems. The two woman trade off staying in the home, but Howie spends the majority of her time there, including nights. She also works a full-time job to pay her own expenses.
Neither of the woman are paid a salary for their work with the ministry, which is a nonprofit organization that Howie said accepts the girls free of charge and takes no federal money, leaving them free to keep their program biblically based.
We don’t try to teach them doctrine,” Howie said. “We teach them what the word says.”
(Read the full story in the Ashley News Observer)
© Copyright 2005 Ashley County Publishing, Inc.
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