Cleanup may pivot again due to weather

The Tony Henry Ward 3 Community Cleanup may be rescheduled for the second time, Mayor Veronica SmithCreer said.

The community cleanup, named in honor of the Ward 3, Position 2 El Dorado City Council member who died suddenly in 2018, was originally set for Feb. 20 in Ward 3, but the event was postponed until Feb. 27 due to winter storms that rolled through area last week and brought several inches of snow and ice.

Organizers now say the event may have to be rescheduled again because the weather forecast calls for a rainy weekend in El Dorado, with a 95% chance of the wet stuff today and an 88% chance for Saturday.

Smith-Creer said organizers will closely track weather conditions before making the call to cancel the cleanup and come up with a new game plan.

If the event is canceled, the mayor said it may be held in conjunction with another Ward 3 community cleanup that is set for March 20 in honor of late Council Member Jimmy Reed, who also sat in the Ward 3, Position 2 seat.

Reed was the first African American to sit on the El Dorado School Board, having first been elected in 1971. During his 30-year tenure, he served as board president and was named Master Board Member by the Arkansas State Board Association.

He served on the El Dorado City Council from 2006 until his death at the age of 68 in January 2009.

Henry succeeded Reed in a special election to fill Reed's unexpired term for the Ward 3, Position 2 council seat.

“We may have them together on the same day. Where we were going to have five checkpoints, maybe we'll have 10. We're not sure,” Smith-Creer said of the community cleanups, adding that organizers will keep the community abreast of the matter.