Dear Editor,
Dear Editor,
This letter is supporting Junior Hartley to be reinstated as the Gravette Director of Public Works. Our Mayor fired Junior after 21 years of dedicated services and we believe our City Council needs to override this decision.
Junior was instrumental in getting the rural water available to area residents.
He helped us with all of our water needs and issues.
More recently he worked to refurbish the Old Town park steps, install the new playground equipment in Kindley Park and the Lion water fountain at Kindley Park and helped create the Farmers’ Market that so many of us enjoy.
There will be petitions at local Gravette businesses for supporters to sign and we will provide those to the City Council at the July
Junior Hartley started working for the City of Gravette in 1969, before even the Clean Water Act was law. He has given and enjoyed decades of employment with the City of Gravette under many majors and throughout changing times. Junior has an exemplary work history and has been a soft spoken, well-mannered gentleman.
The termination of Junior’s employment is a travesty. One of the City Council members explained that Mayor Bill Howard has had it in for Junior from the beginning. Junior has worked under duress for the last four years, taking one pay cut after another and having virtually no support from an increasingly vapid City Council.
City Councils were formed in an effort to promote open and honest communication between City Hall and the residents of their community. They are there to enforce ordinances and make sure the current leadership, in this case the mayor, doesn’t overreach their power, creating a detriment to the city.
They have failed. It would take four Council members to reinstate Junior and yet they sit like bumps on a log allowing an outgoing mayor with a record of making poor decisions and under five months of his term left to create this kind of havoc.
It isn’t good for Gravette; it isn’t good for the citizens of Gravette.
I urge the people of Gravette to call your Council members. YOU can change the direction the city is taking. An election is coming up in November.
Remember the inaction of the members of your Council who are running for mayor. Remember today and vote properly tomorrow.
Thank you all for your kind calls, support and words of encouragement!
Our town needs experience in City Hall and Junior has dedicated his entire career to the City of Gravette. He has the knowledge and talents to keep Gravette growing and prospering.
We encourage all concerned citizens to attend the upcoming City Council meeting to support his employment and to contact our Council members personally.
Here is the contact information for our Mayor and Council members: Bill Howard, 479-787-5757, ext. 16; Forrest White, 479-787-3677; Brent Cannon, 479-787-5900 or 479-787-0999; Kurt Maddox, 479-903-1418; Chris Bellers, 479-787-6178; Terry King, 479-212-0401; and Byron Warren, 479-531-0458.
Cheryl (Mullen) Pickering
and Bill Mullen
Dear Editor,
At the city council meeting on June 29,2010, the city council voted to pay off the new city hall building, depleting the city reserve funds by $200,000.00. The city had a 5-year lease contract with Arvest Bank, paying $850.00 per month to lease the building. Arvest Bank President Jim Singleton wrote a letter to the city stating that all past and future payments on that lease would go directly to the principle. In essence, an interest free loan. Two and a half years remain on that lease.
It is the Mayor’s contention that if the funds were left in the capital improvement reserve fund that the council would squander the money and when the time came to pay off the building (approximately $17,000.00) the funds would no longer be in the account.
I do not believe that the members of the city council are that irresponsible.
They are the custodians of the city’s finances and were elected to protect the city’s interests.
Why didn’t the city set up a separate account with the $170,000.00, removing it from temptation, and continue paying the lease?
It wasn’t costing the city any extra to do this and it would have kept the funds available in case something catastrophic happens, say another ice storm or, heaven forbid, a tornado.
Even if something did happen and the funds were needed, the city still owns the old city hall building on Main Street and could at its discretion move its offices back to that location.
My protest is of no avail since the transaction has already taken place but I feel the citizens of Gravette need to know what the options were.
The vote was Kurt Maddox nay, Forrest White aye, Chris Beller aye, Terry King nay, Byron Warren aye, Mayor Bill Howard aye.
Mike von Ree City Recorder/Treasurer 22 meeting at 7 p.m.
Kristina Hartley
Dear Editor,
I want to personally thank the following people that helped the 2010 Summer Reading Program be a great success. Thanks for contributing and helping the kids to not just have fun but to read!
Gravette Fire Dept., Gravette Water Dept., Special Edition, Wizard Works, Bank of Gravett, Arvest Bank, Teasley Drug, DollarGeneral, Shear Design, KLRC 101.1, Sportswired, Gravette Hospital, Liz Weineke, Stephanie Thomas, Deborah and Heidi Querry, Sherri Hoover, Margo Thomas, Betty Adams, Eli Wynn, 4-H Club w/Susan McPherson, Samantha Haynes, Shop n Go, Chik-Fil-A, Gregory Family.
Kim Schneider
Library Manager
Dear Editor,
You wrote the piece I wanted to write about the kitten.
One “No Name” now has a name. Our neutered tom cat brought her to my door starved and wanting to nurse. Bo didn’t appreciate that. But neither he nor our dogs offered to harm “Meow”. I could not keep her and would have taken her to a shelter. Lucky for her our little granddaughter needed a pet.
Meow’s little brother whom I saw peeking through the weeds at the edge of the woods two weeks earlier probably did not survive the wild.
People, don’t be heartless. To quote Dodie, “If you don’t want kittens (puppies) why don’t you neuter or spay your pets?”
Jo Phillips
Dear Editor,
Our Barbecue at Sulphur Springs was a success and a big thank you to David Styles, Lee Jobe and Harmon Landon for the wonderful job of cooking it.
Another big thank you to Betty and Bill Watson and my family (you know who you are) and any others for your help in any help in any way.
This was my late husband’s (Mark) wish to bring this type of barbecue chicken back to Sulphur Springs and I hope it can be continued in his honor. God bless all of you.
Maurine Styles
Opinion, Pages 4 on 07/14/2010