WESTSIDE -- Looking back over the past year, it is amazing to see all that has happened in our west-side communities. The following represent a few of the major stories for 2017.
Jan. 4
Gravette starts the new year with one more eating place than it had in 2016. Mandy Culp, owner and manager of the Simple Simon's Pizza at 602 First Ave. S.W., opened her Gravette location on Thursday, Dec. 20. She also owns Simple Simon's restaurants in Granby and Neosho, Mo.
Jan. 11
Seven acres of land along the Flint Creek in Springtown have been donated to the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust to preserve them from future development and to ensure that a portion of the Flint Creek remains protected, according to a Jan. 3 post on the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust website. "Thanks to a generous donation from conservation-minded landowner, Mr. John Wasson, seven acres of pristine habitat along Flint Creek in Springtown, Arkansas, have been protected forever as our newest Preserve. The property and surrounding parcels have belonged in Mr. Wasson's family for generations. He recalls learning to swim in the cool deep pools and jumping from limestone outcroppings that border the stream," the website states.
Jan. 18
Gentry School Board, at its regular meeting on Jan. 9, approved a preliminary construction budget for a building to house a diesel mechanic lab and career education classrooms at the high school and considered rising costs for the building of a new classroom facility at the intermediate school. Also approved was preliminary work to seek a second lien issue in the amount of $3 million to help fund the construction projects.
Jan. 25
Work has started to build a new diesel mechanic lab and career classroom facility at Gentry High School Conversion Charter. The site on the north side of the high school property was scraped and red dirt was brought in to prepare a pad for the new building. The facility will house classroom space for career-oriented training such as the school district's current certified nurse aide and patient care assistant program and will have a two-bay work area for hands-on training in the diesel mechanic program.
Feb. 1
Representatives of Crews and Associates attended the January meeting of the Gravette city council and gave a presentation on the proposed sales tax bonds. They presented documents outlining a breakdown of projects and costs to be financed by the bonds and explained that Farmers and Merchants Bank of Stuttgart is trustee for the bonds. Four separate construction funds will be held by the trustee, one for street improvements, one for parks and recreational improvements, one for sewer improvements and one for sidewalk improvements. Following the presentation, council members passed an ordinance authorizing the issuance of sales tax bonds and pledging collections of a .75 percent sales and use tax to pay the principal and interest on the bonds.
Feb. 8
When Walmart opened its new Neighborhood Market in January, 2015, dignitaries and residents of Decatur turned out to support the new business. Less than a year later, the store, along with its sister stores in Gravette and Gentry, were closed with little explanation. But now Decatur residents have plenty of reasons to celebrate once again with the announcement of a new retail grocery store coming to town. During a joint gathering of city council, planning and zoning, chamber and historical society members in the committee room (former third-grade classroom) at Decatur City Hall, Mayor Bob Tharp announced the sale of the old Walmart Neighborhood Market building to the Goodlettsville, Tenn., based Dollar General Corporation.
Feb. 15
The school board, on Monday, accepted the recommendation of its screening committee and unanimously appointed Terrie Metz to take over as superintendent of Gentry Public Schools for the 2017-2018 school year, which begins on July 1.
Feb. 22
During its Feb. 13 meeting in the conference room at city hall, the Decatur City Council approved the renovation of the community room, the main entrance and city offices at the Decatur Municipal Building.
Once again the Gravette historical museum has a new curator. Randi Van Noy took over the position earlier this month after the former curator resigned to pursue other interests. Van Noy says she is excited about her new job since she loves the museum, the town and its people.
March 1
The 12th annual A&O Honor Flight is set to depart from XNA at 7 a.m. April 19. This is a huge undertaking for event organizers. One of the biggest challenges is securing enough money to pay for it. ... Seventy-nine veterans from WWII, Korea and Vietnam from Northwest Arkansas and Northeast Oklahoma are scheduled to make this year's flight. They will be accompanied by 81 guardians, volunteers and staff to help meet each veteran's needs.
March 8
Terrie Metz, who will take over the reins as Gentry's superintendent in July when Randy Barrett retires, presented Barrett with a Capitol Citation from Mike Martin, Arkansas Secretary of State. The citation was for 25 years of distinguished service at the head of the Gentry School District. Barrett passed the honors along to the school staff and board members, saying, if he provided distinguished service in the Gentry School District, it was because of the many teachers, staff and board members who served with him over the past 25 years.
March 15
Hugs were exchanged and tears flowed when a Decatur woman met for the first time her long-lost sister at Arkansas Regional Airport on March 2. Old letters and suspicions led to an online search and DNA testing to bring together the two sisters. For Dawn Johnson, a longtime Decatur resident, the last 50 years have been happy ones. Like most people in this small rural town of 1,700, Johnson grew up with two very loving parents, a brother and cousins, unaware that a deeprooted family secret was waiting in the wings, ready to reveal itself.
March 22
Cars were lined up out into the road to get into the Wild Wilderness Safari on Thursday afternoon, and everywhere adults and children were enjoying the animals and their time in the animal park. Either no one knew or no one cared about the most recent complaint filed against the popular attraction in Gentry. The Animal Welfare Institute, a Washington, D.C., organization which was instrumental in the passage of the Animal Welfare Act in 1966 and which opposes confined farming operations like the many poultry growing operations in northwest Arkansas, released a complaint and press release on March 14 in which it alleges that the Wild Wilderness Safari in Gentry "is one of the worst (animal) exhibitors in the country."
March 29
A house at 503 Atlanta Street S.E. in Gravette suffered extensive damage last Wednesday morning when a dump truck loaded with 17 tons of gravel left the roadway and crashed into the front of the home. The driver of the truck, Russell Hutchings of Pierce City, Mo., suffered a medical emergency while driving and briefly lost consciousness, according to police.
After 28 years of public service to three police agencies, Chief Terry Luker is trading in his pistol for a hay rake when he transitions from public service into private life as he retires from the Decatur Police Department May 1.
April 5
For Meals on Wheels driver David Evans and his assistant, Paul Space, serving seniors in Gentry doesn't always end with delivering a hot meal to the door. One stop last week prompted them to break in the door and come to the aid of two meal recipients.
The city of Gravette notified Centerton Utilities, in a Feb. 24 letter addressed to Centerton Waterworks and Sewer Commission and Melvin Coffelt, chairman of the Centerton Commission, of its intent to "explore the feasibility of ... purchasing the portion" of Centerton's water district which lies within Gravette's corporate city limits and planning jurisdiction.
April 12
Gentry's city council, on April 3, approved the purchase of an 11.5-acre tract of land within the city from Tier One Investments LLC. The city intends to use the land as a park, and plans discussed for the tract include the possibility of soccer fields. The tract, located south of Smith and Little Streets, east of Avalon Drive and west of the railroad tracks, adjoins another small tract of land owned by the city to which it did not have street or road access. The agreed upon purchase price for the land is $80,000, according to the contract which was attached to the resolution in the city council packet. The land, according to the contract, has been appraised at $90,000.
Police were called to Maytag Laundry at 313 W. Main Street in Gentry on April 5 when a large tree fell on a patron's car while she was doing her laundry. According to police reports, Tammie Fenner, 54, of Gentry, called police when she heard her car's vehicle alarm and looked outside of the laundromat to see a large tree on top of her 2016 Honda HR-V.
April 19
Once again the put, put, put of old hit-and-miss engines could be heard, saws buzzed as logs were reduced to timbers and planed to finished lumber, and the clanking of hammers on red-hot iron turned shapeless metal into works of art and useful tools. Tractors, with their unique engine sounds, could be heard each day. ... The show, held at the Tired Iron club's own showgrounds on the southwest edge of Gentry last weekend, April 14-16, was the 25th such annual spring show. And it was a busy weekend with lots of people coming and going to see the old engines and machines come alive again.
April 26
For one Decatur child and his family, the dream of seeing Disney World became a reality on April 20. From Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, young Remington Anderson (3), his father Eric, mother Tina, and four brothers and sisters set out on a journey to meet Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck in person. This journey was made possible through the efforts of students, faculty and staff of Mary Mae Jones Elementary in Bentonville and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
May 3
After receiving more than seven inches of rain Saturday in the most recent storms, and that after the ground was already saturated from rains earlier in the week, many areas were flooded and many roads impassable on Saturday. In the Gentry area on Saturday, traffic was being turned back north of Gentry on Arkansas Highway 59 and east of Gentry on Highways 12 and 264. Roads in low-lying areas along the creeks were marked with police tape as closed and impassable until the water subsided.
May 10
The roar of engines and the smell of exhaust filling the air in Decatur marked the beginning of the eighth annual Wyatt Hopkins Memorial Poker Run on May 6. Near 8:30 a.m., bikes of all makes and models, one from as far away as St. Cloud, Minn., gathered at the Decatur Fire Department main station to kick off this year's poker run. In all, 75 bikes and trikes participated in the event ... to raise money for the Arkansas Children's Hospital in memory of Wyatt Hopkins, the son of firefighter Brent Hopkins and wife Sara.
May 17
A Texas man is looking for relatives of Robert Gwartney Jr., who died at the age of 12, along with his family, in a horrific traffic accident near Poteau, Okla., on June 29, 1966. Robert Gwartney Jr. was the son of Robert Gwartney Sr., a dentist in Kilgore, Texas, who was from Gravette and was returning to Gravette with his family on the first leg of a vacation to visit family members here.
For 126 seniors at Gravette High School, Saturday was a day to celebrate a milestone in their hard work as they walked across the stage in Lion Stadium and received their diplomas, handshakes and congratulations as high school graduates.
For 27 Decatur High School seniors, the long road from childhood into adolescence arrived at a fork, one road leading into the vocational field, the other to a college education and a lifetime career in a professional field. Decatur High School held its annual commencement exercises May 14 at Peterson Gym in Decatur. More than 100 families, friends, faculty and honored guests were on hand to share these seniors' transition from school children into the world of adulthood.
May 24
Judy Winslett, the assistant superintendent of the Gentry School District, submitted her letter of resignation on Monday, May 15, and, after June 30, will be working full-time as an assistant professor in the graduate education program at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, where she will teach classes in education and in school counseling. Winslett said she was torn between continuing her work in the Gentry School District and expanding her work as an assistant professor at the JBU graduate school to help train educators and counselors in working with children and families. After prayerful consideration, Winslett said she believes she was led to accept the full-time post at JBU.
For 101 Gentry High School seniors, Sunday's graduation ceremonies in the Bill George Arena at John Brown University in Siloam Springs marked the end of their high school years and the beginning of college or a career in the workforce or military.
May 31
It was a sad day in Decatur when the townspeople received news of the passing of one of its beloved citizens. Charles David Linam, who served as Decatur mayor from 2011-2014, died at 2:47 p.m., May 25, after suffering a massive heart attack while engaging in one of his favorite pastimes, fishing. He was 75.
June 7
To quote Yogi Berra's famous phrase, Sunday was "like déjà vu all over again." Heavy rains fell in the Gentry area and the water rose, covering streets and flooding yards and the city park. It was a reminder of the late April flooding in the city, though the shorter duration of the heavy rains allowed the water to drain away more quickly. Just over three inches (3.17 inches) of rain fell at nearby Smith Field in Siloam Springs on Sunday, and most of that came in a brief period of time -- shortly after noon -- and too fast for the storm drains and ditches to handle the water. As a result, portions of Main Street were flooded, as well as numerous yards along the street. Collins Avenue, just north of Main Street was again under water, with a car stalled out in the water. Portions of Pioneer Lane, Dawn Hill Road and Dawn Hill Road East were also turned into rivers of water.
As the sun rose over the hills of Decatur on Saturday, June 3, more than 100 area residents stood outside the new Dollar General Plus-Plus on Main Street waiting for the store's grand opening at 7 a.m. The line, which formed sometime after 6 a.m, stretched from the edge of the building to the stop sign on Maple Avenue and continued to grow.
June 14
Taylor's Orchard in Gentry opened Friday and some of the earliest varieties of peaches are ready for picking or for purchase at the orchard's fruit stand. Customers may buy peaches and nectarines by the bucket or the flat at the fruit stand, or they may go out into the orchard and pick their own. Everything, it seems, blossomed early this year and some late cold weather threatened the peach and nectarine crops. But, even though he may not have as much fruit on the trees as in some years, Bill Taylor, the orchard's owner and caretaker, does have fruit, was selling buckets of peaches from his cooler and had numerous visitors out in the orchard picking peaches on Friday morning.
June 21
Garrett Gittlein grew up farming his family's land in western Kansas, and for the past nine years, he has been growing his own family farm in western Benton County. Gittlein, 32, with his wife, Amanda, 31, and sons Mason, 6, and Colson, 3, were recognized June 13 as the 2017 Farm Family of the Year for Benton County.
June 28
Gravette city council members, in their regular meeting June 22, voted to approve contracts with BiLD Architects for improvements at Pop Allum Park and improvements in the Hiwasse community. Both projects will be paid for with bond money approved by voters in the March 2016, capital improvements fund bond measure. The $27,750 contract for parking improvements and soccer fields at Pop Allum Park includes a $21,000 architectural contract, a $4,750 contract for surveying and a $2,000 contract for geotechnical services. The work to be done includes 1) asphalt improvements to the north parking lot, 2) three soccer fields on the south side of the park, 3) ADA compliant sidewalks connecting the parking area to the soccer fields with the main north-south sidewalks for future connection to the city trail system and 4) master planning of a future baseball field north of the proposed soccer fields.
Last year was indeed a busy one in Eagle Observer territory, and the following events of the second half are but a few of the news items and events reported in the Westside Eagle Observer over the past six months.
July 5
One of the most popular events at the annual Sulphur Springs Independence Day celebration is the car show. Again this year, collectors of vehicles, old and new, drove their prized cars and pickups into the park and lined them up for the judges’ inspection. Proud owners, many of whom had devoted countless hours in restoring or modifying their vehicles, could be seen polishing them up as they awaited the judging at 1 p.m.
July 12
Demolition work began Friday morning in front of a crowd of school staff (past and present) and children at the Gentry Intermediate School as Tom Smith, of Red Line Construction in Lowell, used an excavator to take down a portion of the building’s front wall. Keeta Neal, the principal at the school, said it was a sad day to see the old school building go but also a happy day because of the new school facility to come for students in the third through the fifth grades. Demolition work will continue until the building and its foundation are removed to make way for the construction of a new two-story classroom facility at the location.
People — thousands of them — gathered in Gentry City Park on July 4 to celebrate America’s birthday. And, other than some light rain late in the afternoon, Gentry’s annual Freedom Festival was deemed a great success, with those in attendance enjoying the all-day musical entertainment, the children’s games and activities, the pageants and, of course, the huge fireworks display at dusk.
July 19
For well over 100 years, canines have been used for a wide variety of functions including search and rescue, drug intervention and explosives detection by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies around the world. Soon a new K9 officer will be added to the Decatur Police Department. During the July 10 session of the Decatur City Council, Chief Joe Savage, with the Decatur Police Department, introduced Sergeant Ty Eggebrecht and his K9 trainee Koda, a 4-year-old German shepherd. Savage asked the council to approve the K9 officer’s addition to the department as a narcotics and tracking dog.
July 26
The transition should be smooth and almost seamless when Hog Radio Inc., a part of the Bunyard Media Group, takes over the operation of the KBVA FM radio station on Tuesday, according to Candace-Dixon Horne, general manager of Hog Radio in Springdale. Instead of being called “Variety 106.5,” the KBVA station will identify itself as “Lite 106.5,” Horne said on Friday. And, while the music libraries and playlists put together by Gayla McKenzie during her 26 years as radio station owner and manager were not purchased, the station will still play music targeted for the same demographic, Horne said, generally, listeners who are 50 and older, though many younger listeners have been tuning in as well. Horne said the music may even be a little more narrowly targeted toward that particular age demographic.
Aug. 2
The Main Street improvements which have been ongoing for several months in Gravette are now complete. “Monday, July 10, 2017, marked the substantial completion of the Main Street rejuvenation project in downtown Gravette,” according to an informational email distributed by the city on July 14. The approximately $950,000 project, which was funded by the extension of a ¾-cent sales tax and approved by voters in March of 2016, was completed on schedule and under budget. The upgrade involved the complete removal of the decades-old street and dilapidated sidewalks in a two-block historical section that were not well designed for modern pedestrian districts. Along with the new streetscape, significant improvements were made to utility lines and storm drainage.
Aug. 9
The bridge over Flint Creek on Dawn Hill Road will likely remain closed for at least four more months as a result of the late April flooding which damaged the bridge’s support structure. According to Kevin Johnston, Gentry’s mayor, “the debris that washed downstream accumulated under the bridge, causing the water to detour around the north abutment of the bridge, which caused scouring and undermining to the support structures of the bridge.”
Aug. 16
The ribbon was cut on Aug. 8 at the new Gentry Career and Technical Education Center, opening the new facility just one week before classes were to begin at Gentry High School Conversion Charter. The facility houses a diesel mechanic classroom and lab, a nurse aide classroom and lab and a computer lab and includes state-of-the-art equipment and training tools. Lonnie Moll will teach a certified nurse aide class this fall and a patient care assistant class in the spring semester. The classes are a part of Northwest Arkansas Community College’s early college experience offerings. Tyson Sontag will teach the diesel mechanic classes for the school district, giving students hands-on experience in the two-bay shop.
The weather cooperated beautifully to make Gravette Day 2017 a resounding success. Some light raindrops fell during the afternoon, but the heavier showers held off until evening when the day’s events had concluded. “Planes, Trains and Main Street” was chosen as the theme of this year’s celebration, and Mayor Kurt Maddox and area officials held a ribbon cutting for the recently completed Main Street improvements at midday.
Aug. 23
Students gathered outside of Gentry classrooms on Monday, donned with special filtered glasses, to watch the solar eclipse (one child called it a solar apocalypse) come and go without cataclysmic events. A few brought homemade pinhole viewing boxes (similar to pinhole cameras) for safe viewing. Different from a lunar eclipse in which the shadow of the earth darkens the moon, a solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly between a part of the earth and the sun, blocking out a portion or all of the sun.
Sept. 6
The 2017 football season kicked off on Friday, with Gentry picking up a big win, Gravette falling in a close contest and Decatur losing by 61 points. On Friday, Gentry and Decatur will face off at Pioneer Stadium in Gentry. Gravette hosts Booneville in the Lions’ home opener. Game times are at 7 p.m. on Sept. 13.
Attendance was less than anticipated on Friday evening, but organizers of the Cool Water Music Festival in Gravette were hoping to do better on Saturday afternoon and evening. Musical groups, some with local ties, played on two stages — the Grand Savings Bank Main Stage and the Sunbelt Rentals Secondary Stage — at the first Cool Water Music Festival. The event was held at the Lykins farm, 11506 N. Highway 59, on the banks of Spavinaw Creek south of town. It featured 15 bands and artists from several states, including Southern Sirens, Wesley Michael Hayes, Jericho Woods, Read Southall, Micky and the Motorcars, Brandon Jenkins, Reckless Kelly, Frisco Cemetery, Johnny Dale Roberts, River’s Edge Band, Mountain Sprout, The Dirty River Boys, JB & the Moonshine Band, Zane Williams and Chris Knight.
Last weekend was the 26th annual fall show of the Tired Iron of the Ozarks. And, once again, the show offered the opportunity for young and old to see and learn about rural farm life in northwest Arkansas in the late 1800s and early 1900s by displaying old tractors, engines, farm implements and household machines and gadgets which were commonly used as a part of everyday life in the region.
Sept. 20
According to Associated Press news reports, Lily Murphy, 18, of Gentry, was among those killed in a fatal crash in Oklahoma late Sunday night. Murphy was a 2017 graduate of Gentry High School, was on the cheerleading squad and wrote for the high school newspaper, Pioneer Press. She was currently a student at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Okla.
Sept. 27
A group of about 20 residents from Springtown and the surrounding area gathered at the Church of Christ in Springtown Thursday evening to discuss possible actions to prevent the city of Springtown from closing a portion of Aubrey Long Road, just northeast of the Don Earley Memorial Bridge in Springtown, and rerouting traffic onto a narrowed and closed section of Bredehoeft Road which was originally a part of Main Street in the town. The concerned group of citizens voiced three goals: 1) to stop the road closure and rerouting of traffic; 2) to determine if the current city council could be prosecuted or sued for any violations of the law related to meetings, elections and actions taken; and 3) to dissolve the town of Springtown as a municipality under Arkansas law.
Oct. 4
Simmons Prepared Foods, based in Siloam Springs, announced the construction of a new poultry processing plant to be built between Decatur and Gentry on Y-City Road, about two miles south of Simmons’ present facilities near downtown Decatur. Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson joined David Jackson, president and CEO of Simmons Prepared Foods, Barry Moehring, Benton County judge, and Todd Simmons, CEO of Simmons Foods, to unveil plans for the new poultry processing facility during a press conference in Simmons Great Hall at John Brown University Sept. 27.
Oct. 11
Friday, Oct. 6, was a red letter day for the students at Gravette Upper Elementary School. They gathered shortly before 10 a.m. on the campus behind the school and surrounded the new library courtyard. They were joined by several adults. Many had balloons. You could feel the excitement in the air as they celebrated the grand opening of the new Upper Elementary library, an event they had eagerly anticipated since the beginning of the school year. The recently constructed Upper Elementary addition added seven new classrooms and almost doubled the size of the school’s library. The renovated library space features new shelving, lighting and furnishings and more modern decor. It includes a new learning center with cheery yellow walls and an outdoor reading space for children and adults. The classroom space was ready for use when the school year began, but the library was only completed a few weeks into the term. The Gravette Public Library shared books with the students in the interim.
On Sept. 23, Father Stanley Rother, the first official martyr born in the United States, was beatified during a mass attended by more than 20,000 people in Oklahoma City, Okla. He is also the first U.S. priest to be beatified. The following day, Sept. 24, the Decatur Catholic community became the first church in the world to be named in his honor — The Blessed Father Stanley Francis Rother Mission — during a mass held at Decatur Northside Elementary School. The Decatur church is a mission of St. Mary Catholic Church in Siloam Springs.
Oct. 18
Gravette has a new fire chief. Lonnie Mullen has headed the Gravette fire department only a little more than a month and, even though he is a world traveler, he says he and his wife are looking forward to settling down, becoming a part of the community and getting to know the people.
Oct. 25
A circus caravan rolled into Decatur before dawn on Friday. The Kelly Miller Circus, based in Hugo, Okla., arrived at Decatur Veterans Park around 7 a.m. By 9 a.m., the big top was raised, the animals were fed and the small midway was set up and ready for the evening performances. By 4:30 p.m., the air was filled with the smell of popcorn, and laughter abounded as the first show began. Circus-goers were treated to an aerial motorcycle daredevil, a band of gypsy canines, GoGo the world’s smarted zebra, Lamount the human volcano, Rowdy the mule and Cindy the elephant. Each captivated the audience in its unique and special way. Each made the circus come alive.
Nov. 1
A Decatur couple decided to get married in a very innovative and memorable way. Joshua Yates and Natessah Harrison decided earlier in the day that they wanted their family and friends to attend a unique ceremony, to take place on the back of an elephant during a circus performance. Just before the intermission, during the evening performance of the Kelly Miller Circus at Decatur’s Veterans Park on Oct. 20, Ringmaster Rebecca Ostroff made an announcement that there would be a wedding. The couple mounted Cindy the elephant and Cindy’s trainer, Joey Frisco, guided the couple to the back part of the ring where Mayor Bob Tharp (former justice of the peace) performed the ceremony and heard the couple’s vows. Ostroff and Frisco served as the witnesses to the happy event. The audience of just over 100 served as the bride and groom’s friends and family. The ceremony lasted only five minutes but, at the conclusion of the ceremony, Cindy was led back to the loading platform and the happy couple unmounted their pachyderm escort and enjoyed the rest of the circus as Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Yates.
Nov. 8
A meeting to gain input from citizens on future park plans was held on Monday, Oct. 30, in the McKee Community Room of the Gentry Public Library. The meeting, hosted by the city of Gentry and with a representative from McClelland Consulting Engineers present to gather input from those in attendance, was held so the engineering firm could learn more about the desires of Gentry residents in its work to prepare an overall park plan for the city to best utilize available parklands for future development.
Nov. 15
Judy Becker opened Judy’s Cafe, on Main Street in Sulphur Springs, on Oct. 26. Hours of operation are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Saturday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Becker says she may start staying open later on Mondays and Tuesdays if demand is great enough.
Nov. 22
The aquaponics growing system in the greenhouse at Gentry High School is growing too. A new tank was being added for fish last week, and new growing beds were being installed. The added components will allow students to grow more plants in the unique closed agricultural system. “Aquaponics is the agricultural practice of growing plants and fish in a closed, self-sustaining ecosystem,” the Symbiotic Aquaponic website states. “True aquaponics recycles water within a closed system which, by many estimates, reduces water consumption by approximately 99 percent.”
Nov. 29
A Union soldier monument stands in the northeast section of the Gentry Cemetery on Pioneer Lane, southeast of the Gentry Primary School. Arkansas has more than 20 Confederate monuments, but fewer people know about the state’s four monuments that honor Union soldiers, said Mark Christ, a spokesman for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. Christ said he didn’t find out about one of those monuments until just a couple of months ago after reading about it in a back issue of The Benton County Pioneer, a publication of the county’s historical society. The 18-foot-tall monument has been sitting in Gentry Cemetery since 1918. The Preservation Program is considering the monument for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, where the other three are already listed.
Once again, Bella Vista, Gravette and Gentry are on the SafeWise top-20 list of safest cities in Arkansas. Bella Vista is at No. 3, Gravette at No. 8 and Gentry at No. 11.
Dec. 6
Last week, Lindy Chamberlain was hard at work helping pour a concrete slab for an art studio behind a Siloam Springs home. As the concrete truck rumbled and men hurried to smooth out the concrete spilling into the mold, Chamberlain used the chute and his handy shovel, nicknamed “Lucille,” to make sure the cement was applied evenly across the area. The only thing that made the scene unique, outside of Chamberlain’s well-practiced skills, was his age. At 87, he still works eight hours a day on a concrete finishing crew. Chamberlain, who lives in Gentry, has been working in construction for nearly 64 years — since he was 24 years old.
Dec. 13
With near perfect weather for a Christmas parade, Gentry’s annual event brought out crowds of people on Saturday night to line Main Street and watch the band, floats and decorated vehicles go by. “O Christmas Tree” was the theme for this year’s parade, and the floats certainly conveyed that theme with decorated trees on most and an entire mobile Christmas tree lot on one of the floats.
Junior- and senior-high cheer teams from across northwest Arkansas gathered at Pioneer Gym in Gentry Dec. 4 to participate in the annual Gentry Cheer Classic. Junior-high teams from Washington and Lincoln, Bentonville, Shiloh Christian and Lakeside, as well as their senior-high counterparts from Shiloh Christian, Ozark, Decatur, Gravette, Siloam Springs, Bentonville, Springdale, Farmington and Gentry, all participated in the evening event. Stunt teams from Gentry, Gravette and Siloam Springs participated in the stunt division. In the individual jumpoff, Desi Meek, Emme Lee and Abby Tilley from Decatur, Danielle Spencer and Whitly Cochran from Gentry, and one competitor each from Springdale and Farmington all participated in this division.
Dec. 20
The J.R. Bever Company, operating as Bever’s Ace Hardware, announced it has entered into an agreement with Harps Food Stores to purchase its property at 905 S. Gentry Boulevard, formerly home to a Walmart Express store. The purchase and subsequent relocation of Bever’s Ace Hardware will enable Bever’s Ace Hardware to expand its extensive selection and provide a more pleasant, less confusing environment for shoppers.
Dec. 27
Benton County planners on Wednesday approved plans for a Simmons Foods poultry processing plant near Gentry. The Planning Board voted 6-0 in favor of the plans, with one member, Ron Homeyer, abstaining. The plans were presented to the board in November and at a public hearing Dec. 6. That hearing was continued to Wednesday’s meeting after some board members said they needed more information from the company on traffic control, landscaping and water and wastewater infrastructure. More than 50 people attended the Dec. 6 meeting, with people sitting in the aisles and standing in the doorway throughout the public hearing. A similar number attended Wednesday’s meeting and about a dozen residents spoke in opposition to the plan. The residents raised concerns about increased traffic, adverse effect on property value, possible groundwater contamination and the potential leaks of hazardous chemicals used in the facility.
General News on 12/27/2017