Any scent from the pine trees is usually dwarfed by the odor spewing from the smokestacks of the two paper mills that flank the town, and urban problems have plagued the city for years.
The 2007 edition of Cities Ranked and Rated, which ranks the best places to live in the U.S., rated Pine Bluff No. 361 out of 373 metropolitan areas, mostly because of a violent crime rate that is nearly twice the national average.
Murder is so prevalent that years ago locals began calling the town "Pine Box," as in, be careful, or you'll end up in a pine box. Hunter knew about a dozen people, including several close friends, who were killed in gang shootings.
"The temptation to deal drugs, to do drugs, is so evident in this town because for every drug dealer that gets taken off the streets, there are three or four who want to take his place," said Keith Brown, who lives in Pine Bluff and is one of Hunter's best friends.
"But the thing is, Torii is a strong-willed person. He had the talent, the determination and the love for the sport, so he would never risk getting in trouble and missing a practice or a game."
Torii spent most of his childhood in a brick home, which Hunter still owns but is now vacant, on Belmoor Avenue. The neighborhood has a middle-class feel until you notice the sprinkling of homes that have been abandoned, torn down or are in disrepair.
Some houses on Belmoor have bars over the windows for protection; next door to Hunter's house, on each side, there are cars parked on the front lawn.
"This is an OK place to live, but things still happen," Brown said last week, standing in Hunter's old yard. "You can turn a corner, cross a street, be near the projects, and boom, you're in harm's way."
Brown, who recently graduated from Arkansas Pine Bluff and is working on his teaching credential, knows all too well. His older brother, Cedric, was shot and killed after a barroom dispute in 1991, when Keith and Torii were 15.
"That changed our lives," Brown said. "After that, everyone started looking out for each other."
Especially Taru Hunter, who joined the Crips as a teenager but did everything he could to keep Torii, who was beginning to shine on the baseball field, away from gangs.
"He wanted me to excel, so he put his name out there as one of those tough guys on the street," Torii said of Taru, now 35 and a personal trainer in the Dallas area. "Guys would see me and say, 'That's Taru's brother, leave him alone.' He was my protector."
