Name change contest

Local news commitment remains the same; reader contest will choose paper’s new logo

This newspaper has served Pea Ridge and the surrounding communities for more than 50 years, providing readers with news, information and entertainment. While the paper’s formal name is The Times of Northeast Benton County, many readers simply refer to it as The Times, or more often, the Pea Ridge Times.

The newspaper was established Jan. 1, 1966, as the Pea Ridge Graphic. By the late 1970s, the name evolved into the Pea Ridge

“We appreciate our subscribers and our advertisers.”

Kent Marts Publisher

Graphic-Scene. It was renamed The Times of Northeast Benton County in the mid-1980s.

So, why fight it. Beginning July 5, the paper will change its name to exactly what many people call it, said publisher Kent Marts.

In addition, newspaper staff are going to let readers help decide how to present the paper’s new name to the world through a contest.

For the next three editions, four versions of the Pea Ridge Times’ frontpage logo — what journalists call a flag — will be published. Readers will be asked to vote on their favorite; the one with the most votes will be the one used with the name changes on July 5.

Everyone who votes will have their name entered into a drawing for a grand price: two tickets to the TCU-Arkansas football game in Fayetteville Sept. 9.

Next week’s paper will contain information on how to vote.

Marts assures readers that while the name will be different, the newspaper will still have the same commitment to serving its readers throughout the area.

“We appreciate our subscribers and our advertisers — people who understand the importance of a local newspaper,” he said.

The Times of Northeast Benton County is one of the most highly respected weekly papers in Arkansas, having won the highest recognition in the Arkansas Press Association — first place in General Excellence — for five out of the last seven years.