Ward 3 cleanup set for Saturday
Annual event renamed in honor of late Tony Henry
Encouraging residents to take pride in their community, as well as taking responsibility in keeping it clean, is something that fits well into the legacy of the late Tony Henry.
That’s according to his longtime friend and fellow El Dorado City Council member Willie McGhee, who has opted to rename the annual Ward 3 cleanup in Henry’s honor. Along with McGhee, the effort has been spearheaded by Andre Rucks, who represents Ward 3 with McGhee, and former Ward 3 council member Kensel Spivey-Green.
Henry passed away last September at the age of 58, just months before he was to be sworn in to a two-year term as Ward 3, Position 2 council member. He had held the post from 2009 until 2014 when he decided to run for El Dorado mayor.
Spivey-Green succeeded him and resigned before her second, two-year term expired last year because she was moving to another ward. Henry, who had announced a second bid for mayor for the 2018 election, then opted to seek a return to the Ward 3, Position 2 seat, which he won in the May Preferential Primary Election. Now, Rucks holds the council seat, having sealed a nomination by the Union County Democratic Party after Henry died.
McGhee, Rucks and Spivey-Green then worked to rename the annual community cleanup in Henry’s honor, as McGhee said it fit well with Henry’s dedication to the area.
“I just don’t want Mr. Henry to be forgotten,” McGhee said. “Mr. Henry has done a lot of things that he didn’t have to do. … He helped everybody. Everybody loved him.”
“We decided to name the cleanup after him to honor him. This will be an annual thing as long as I live.”
The Tony Henry Ward 3 Community Clean Up will be held from 9-11 a.m. Saturday. There are check points for the cleanup throughout Ward 3 that different groups will tackle. For those who want to take part in the cleanup but do not have an assignment, McGhee said to arrive at Mattocks Park and an assignment will be given from there.
After the cleanup volunteers finish their work, a cook out will be held from 11:15 a.m. to noon at Mattocks Park, where McGhee said he will cook up hot dogs and they will provide other food and drinks for all who helped lend a hand.
Henry also was instrumental in starting Keep El Dorado Beautiful in 2012, McGhee said, after attending a meeting in Little Rock where he heard about other cities that had similar programs.
“Mr. Henry’s the reason Keep El Dorado Beautiful is here,” McGhee said. “He was the one that had the passion.”
Henry also helped to bring his former employer Clean Harbors aboard with cleanup efforts. Clean Harbors has begun offering cash prizes at KEB cleanup events to encourage participation.
McGhee said anyone is welcome to come out Saturday and help clean up Ward 3, regardless of whether they want to be on a team or officially be a part of the event. Anyone who picks up trash during Saturday’s event is asked to put the full bags at the corner of the street, by the stop signs, and someone will pick it up for them, McGhee said.
“We’re trying to teach these young youth the importance of servitude, the importance of giving back to their community,” Rucks said at last week’s City Council meeting. “This is what the cleanup is all truly about. … It’s really more about them understanding that they’ve got to give back their efforts to make their community what it needs to be.”
In addition to living up to Henry’s legacy of encouraging civic and community participation, McGhee said the event also helps to teach people to take care of the earth and leave things better than how they found them.
“This is our community and this is Mother Earth,” McGhee said. “I think we have to take care of our house.”
For more information on the cleanup, contact McGhee at 870-314-1441, Rucks at 870-312-6873 or Spivey-Green at 870-9187674.
Madeleine Leroux can be reached at 870-862-6611 or mleroux@eldoradonews. com.