LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Dear Mayor Warren

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

— Editor’s Note: As reported in the Westside Eagle Observer (Feb. 1) the Gravette City Council voted to erase the $1,500 owed by the small town of Chidester (Ouachita County) which purchased a 1985 outof-service fire truck from Gravette. Council member John Rambadt said at that meeting, “We’ve received help from others and this is the right thing to do (to help our sister community).” Mayor Byron Warren recently received the following letter from Chidester Fire Chief Jason Purifoy:

I received your letter in regards to the fire truck we purchased from your city in January and our debt. The information in your letter simply made my day. I would like to say a big “Thank You” to you, the city council and the citizens of Gravette. This means so much to us! The truck has been a great addition to our struggling city. Many of our citizens have stopped by the station to see it. We have been telling the story of how fortunate we were to beable to acquire it from the great people of Gravette. Now there is even more to the story.

It’s so great to know that there are others out there that understand the hardships placed on the smaller communities. I will always believe the small communities are the heartbeat of our State and where some of the best people live. With hard work, stretching the dollars and most of all good people like the people of your city, I believe that small town Arkansas will be a part of the state for a long time. We thoroughly enjoyed visiting your city, your city hall staff, police officers and firefighters when we came up to get the truck. When we were preparing to place our name on the truck a few weeks ago we decided to leave the lions on the back doors so we and others would remember the assistance we received and to show our “Lion Pride”.

Please express our thanks to everyone. If we can ever do anything for your city please let us know.

Jason Purifoy, Fire Chief Chidester

Editor,

Glenn Duffy Elementary would like to thank all of the parents who attended Parent/Teacher Conferences last week. We are pleased to announce that we had a 93 percent turnout! The other 7 percent were rescheduled for conferences at a later time for various reasons.

We would also like to thank all of the volunteers who help support the staff here at GDE. There are many parents, grandparents and community members who help us out with various tasks. We have a Volunteer of the Day program where volunteers are encouraged to help with copying, coloring, cutting, assembling materials, filing and other tasks. The teachers at GDE really appreciate these efforts made so that more of their time can be devoted to preparing for instruction.If anyone is interested in becoming a Volunteer of the Day, please contact Faith Hendricks for information at 787-4120.

Faith Hendricks Media Specialist

Glenn Duffy Elementary Gravette

Opinion, Pages 7 on 04/18/2012