By David Palmer

Shortly before noon on a sunlit day in May, men and women began gathering at the “Recovery in the Daylight” Narcotics Anonymous (NA) 12-Step meeting at Recovery Central, a new Little Rock facility mainly for NA meetings.

More about the “Recovery in the Daylight” meeting in a minute. First, some background on Narcotics Anonymous and on Recovery Central.

NA meetings came along about 18 years after AA’s founding in 1935 and are similar to AA’s 12-Step meetings in almost every respect. There is one important difference, and that is that AA focuses strictly on alcohol addiction while NA is open to all drug addictions including alcohol.

David Palmer

Sports fans were shocked when news broke in September 2007 that Corey Beck had been shot. Beck, who played guard on the national champion Arkansas Razorback basketball team in 1994 and later for the Detroit Pistons and other professional teams, was finished with basketball in 2002 at age 31, and the fans had moved on.

The shooting took place in Memphis in the early morning when two masked gunmen stopped Beck and his friend, Timothy Wilkins, intending to rob them and take their car. When Beck resisted, one of the gunmen raised his shotgun and fired point blank at the side of his face.

By David Palmer

When actress Karen McCann put out a casting call in January for her new movie, Step Away From The Stone, 300 actors and would be actors, diverse in both age and race, showed up at Little Rock’s Rep theater for tryouts.

McCann, who heads Rock Productions, a movie production firm, chose 150, and the shooting began three weeks later. The movie, shot in 30 days, is expected to open in Little Rock theaters in August.

McCann, who, in addition to producing the movie, wrote the script and is the leading lady, is not what you’d call your average Hollywood producer. In fact, in early conversations with Hollywood moguls, they suggested that she would not find the talent she needed in Arkansas and should come to California to make her movies.

Blackouts are periods of intoxication during which the individual is unable to form or store new memories, though he or she appears to be awake and alert. It is not a good sign.

By Ron T

Mark came to at 30 miles an hour. This was just an estimate because his attention was in the rearview mirror. They seemed to be chasing him, these freakish-looking men. As his focus returned he could see carnival booths passing by. My God, he surmised, I am on the midway.