RECOLLECTIONS
50 Years Ago Pea Ridge Graphic Vol. 3 No. 16 Thursday, April 18, 1968
Ground was broken and footings poured Tuesday for Pea Ridge’s newest business — a new service station on Arkansas Highway 94 three and one-half blocks south of the downtown business section. The all-masonry structure, measuring approximately 28 by 40 feet, is being built by Ralph Bolain on property he has owned at the location several years, but is being built specifically for lease to Eddie Adcock, also of Pea Ridge. Derby Oil co. gasoline and other products will be handled at the station, as well as a complete line of oil brands. The station will have three pumps, and will do service work such as chassis lubes and minor repairs, Adcock said. The station is scheduled to open by June 1.
John Easley is chairman of a drive to benefit Boy Scouts that is scheduled to get underway next Tuesday, April 23, with a kick-off breakfast at the Pea Ridge cafe. The drive is to obtain sustaining memberships in Boy Scouting to help raise funds and to gain support of citizens interested in scouting but not able to give of their time to help. Need for additional funds is critical at this time due to the loss by fire a week ago of a building and scouting equipment at Camp Orr. The $30,000 loss was only partially covered with insurance, and will be rebuilt with volunteer help.
Ground breaking started last Wednesday on the new facilities for the Bank of Pea Ridge being erected at the intersection of Arkansas Highways 94 and 72 about seven blocks south of the main business district. The bank expects to occupy the new structure this summer.
40 Years Ago Pea Ridge Graphic-Scene Vol. 13 No. 16 Wednesday, April 19, 1978
The Adcock Drilling Company well-drilling truck and derrick valued at about $100,000 was severely damaged in an accident about 3:10 p.m. Saturday. Chuck Hazelton, co-owner of the business, said the truck overturned on Arkansas Highway 187 between Bush and Beaver in Carroll County when the driver, James Reeves, failed to make a curve at the bottom of a hill. Reeves, who suffered minor injuries, was treated and released at Rogers memorial Hospital.
The groundwork has
been laid for a month-long fund drive to raise funds for continued development of Pea Ridge City Park. At Thursday night’s City Council meeting, the month of May was designated “Promote the Park Month” by Mayor Carl J. Carter
A barn, some farm equipment and a workshop at the Walter Selleck farm, east of Seligman, Mo., on Missouri Highway 112, was destroyed by fire Friday morning. Two trucks and six volunteers from the Seligman Area rural Volunteer Fire Department responded to the fire call but were unable to save the buildings. There were no injuries. The cause of the fire was undetermined.
30 Years Ago The TIMES of Northeast Benton County Vol. 23 No. 16 Thursday, April 20, 1988
The president of the Pea Ridge Lions Club said this week that it is his understanding that the local club has more female members than any other Lions Club in Arkansas. President Sam Ryan said that the Pea Ridge club recently installed six female members. He said that Lions International opened its rolls to women about six months ago. The Pea Ridge club has a total of 29 members, he said.
The Pea Ridge city inspector told the City Council Thursday night that the Planning Commission intends to exercise its authority to establish territorial jurisdiction as much as five miles from the city limits. To the south, Floyd Blackwell said, it borders the Little Flock boundary, adding that on the east side of Arkansas Highway 94, it borders Rogers. Blackwell said that, “it goes all the way over to U.S. Highway 62 to near Avoca” and then goes up U.S. Hwy. 62 to the boundary of the National Military Park. He said it then follows that boundary until it reaches Missouri and then follows the Arkansas-Missouri boundary to a point near where Arkansas Hwy. 94 intersects with the Missouri line gain. Blackwell, who said that the Planning Commission has the authority to take the jurisdiction without prior approval of the council, said that “you may get some flack; the Planning Commission wanted you to know that this is their intent.”
The Pea Ridge Fire Department received almost $800 from Walmart’s United Way organization this year. According to fire officials, the money is being spent on two more pagers, a used radio which is being reconditioned, and additional rescue equipment for the ambulance.
20 Years Ago The TIMES of Northeast Benton County Vol. 33 No. 16 Thursday, April 23, 1998
The Pea Ridge Bank Boosters recently approved a new an unique project to help the High School Band acquire new band uniforms. The band program’s growth has created the need for replacing the current uniforms with a streamlined, more cost-efficient model that will be adequately sized for the average high school student. Current uniforms will then be used by the Middle School Band. The projected cost for coat and trousers is approximately $12,000. The community calendar project is a very successful fundraiser in many communities across the nation and is custom-made to fit the needs of each community.
The Pea Ridge Community Scholarship fund is in its 12th year organizing and establishing a funding base for helping Pea Ridge graduating students to further their education by assisting with their financial needs. The committee is made up of community members who are committed to seek support from individuals and businesses within the area to aid local seniors in making their way into college and vocational schools to pursue their career goals. As more students make plans to pursue a higher education, committe members are faced with raising more financial aid for students to help offset the loss of existing student grant and loan program due to federal budget changes which are occurring.
Let’s get ready for the first annual Pea Ridge Chamber of Commerce Spring Fling Weekend! Next weekend, May 2 and 3, Pea Ridge will be the place to come for a pancake breakfast, yard sales, craft sales and specials at local stores and shops! Make plans to have a yard sale and to visit local merchants. We are proud of our town and we want everyone to know that Pea Ridge is a great place to visit, to live and to shop!
10 Years Ago The TIMES of Northeast Benton County Vol. 43 No. 16 Wednesday, April 23, 2008
School administrators will receive the same raise the teachers receive and one principal, moving from the elementary school to the newly-reorganized middle school, will receive a sizable salary increase. Saying it was the most fair way, although not similar in percentages, school superintendent Mike Van Dyke proposed to School Board members at a special School Board meeting Thursday evening that all administrators receive the $2,000 signing bonus and $500 retroactive base increase for the school year 2007-2008 as well as a step increase and base increase for 2008-2009 of $575 and $500 respectively. Administrators will also receive an additional $1,485 of prorated pay for the 240day contracts administrators sign.
One area resident will bear the cost of the city cleaning up his property after the City Council unanimously approved attaching a lien for $3,596 to John Wilson Lee for costs incurred in cleaning trash, debris and abandoned vehicles from his yard. The work required two dump trucks, two large trash bins and included removing two motorcycles, a car, boat and trailer. The city’s business with a local veterinary clinic to board stray dogs, a cell phone tower, trash collection costs and water line extensions were all items of business at the regular April meeting.
A local man is making a name for himself in the banking industry using the latest technology. Jason Van Dyke, a loan officer for IndyMac Bank, was awarded the top honor of securing the most loan applications online for his company. Van Dyke, of Pea Ridge, works out of Rogers. According to representatives of the Retail Lending Group of the seventh-largest savings and loan and the secondlargest independent mortgage lender int he nation, Van Dyke has garnered the most online applications in the company’s history in a two-month period. Van Dyke is president of the Pea Ridge Optimist Club and the chairman of the Pea Ridge Golf Classic, which he has chaired for three years.