Photo courtesy of Amber Masterson/Skylar's Voice A Stone County jury convicted Victoria A. Dycus, 30, of first degree murder last week in the death of her 4-year-old daughter, Skylar Shellstrom, in November, 2016. Dycus was sentenced to 19 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC) and will serve at least 70 percent of her sentence (13.3 years) before being eligible for parole. Also charged in the ...

A Stone County man with obvious emotional issues created quite a scene April 3 on Main Street in Mountain View, then the next day burned down his mother’s house. Foy Densmore, 56, withdrew $921 in one- and five-dollar bills and change from First Security Bank on Main Street, according to Densmore’s statement to Mountain View Police. He then walked outside and threw the money in the air. Windy conditions ble ...

Stone County Judge Stacey Avey received word Monday that the county has been approved for a $1 million grant to help construct an 18,000-square-foot building to be leased to Excel Boats for an expansion of the company’s manufacturing operation. The grant, which is being made through the Economic Development Administration (EDA) was announced by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. The project is expected ...

Conditions have been right for three prescribed burns to be conducted on U.S. Forest Service land in Stone County this month, the latest involving a small tract around Blanchard Campground, and 243 acres near Optimus, both last week. District Ranger Jim McCoy said last Thursday’s burn near Optimus, in particular, went “exactly as planned” and should achieve the objectives of clearing the cedar brush that ha ...

Three men were transported to hospitals as the result of this two-vehicle accident on Highway 66 Dec. 8 just after 4 p.m. in front of Red Doors Church. According to investigating officer Arkansas State Trooper Blake Johnson, Manuel Solis, 61, was eastbound in a Ford pickup and was turning into the church parking area when he collided with the westbound pickup driven by Josh Tilley, 36, of Mountain View, who ...

A Mountain View man drowned after a boating accident near Buffalo City Oct. 6. A news release from the Baxter County Sheriff’s Department indicates that John V. Webb, 47, of Mountain View was in a boat that capsized around 1 p.m. on White River near Smith Island. Sheriff John Montgomery said witnesses last saw Webb attempting to swim to the Marion County side of the river. His body was recovered about an ho ...

A Fayetteville woman was killed and four others were injured Sept. 20 in a head-on collision between two vehicles traveling Highway 66 at about 6:15 p.m. A preliminary accident summary posted by the Arkansas State Police lists the fatality as 57-year-old Kathryn Marvin Mayhue of Fayetteville, the driver of a car traveling west. According to the report, an SUV driven by Beverly Chapman, 70, of Mountain View ...

A Stone County native and employee of Stone County Medical Center, Mandy Langston is on the front line of a media campaign that could make a difference in bringing life-saving drugs to rural residents. A government program from 1992 has allowed hospitals that serve a lot of low-income patients to purchase drugs at large discounts. Unfortunately, critical access hospitals like Stone County Medical Center – w ...

A woman who is charged with homicide in the death of her 4-year-old daughter has been released from the Stone County Jail in accordance with the state’s speedy trial requirements. Victoria Dycus, 29, was charged with the Nov. 19, 2016 death of her daughter, Skylar Shellstrom. Dycus was charged along with James Hagen Glenn, 31, with murder in the first degree. According to the police affidavit, the child die ...

Local residents experienced the Aug. 21, 2017 solar eclipse in a variety of ways, including homemade glasses above (Josh Collins, Alexis Shannon and Matthew Wakefield), and an enhanced pinhole viewer below (Mark, Jessica and William Stroud). From the Aug. 23, 2017 issue. ...