10 Years Ago The TIMES of Northeast Benton County Vol. 43 No.21 Wednesday, May 28, 2008

When the old Pea Ridge water tower was erected on Finis Wood’s property just west of North Curtis Avenue, it had already served another northwest Arkansas community for many years. The water tower stood 125 feet above the ground and held 90,000 gallons of water. It provided the first city water for Pea Ridge and was erected in the mid-1960s. Purchased from Springdale by the city of Pea Ridge, the tower was disassembled in Springdale and reconstructed on the site in town. Prior to the city’s water system, John Easley, former mayor, said there were both wells and cisterns for the residences in town. Also on the tank is a siren which Easley remembers helping raise to the second level of the water tower. The city’s populating expanded to require a second water tank erected in 1993. That tank holds 500,000 gallons of water. A third tank is expected to be installed on the city’s system in the fall of 2008. That, too, will be a half million gallon tank, according to the city Water Department superintendent, Ken Hayes.

J.D. Fletcher is one of the best-known fishing guides of the Ozarks. Born on a farm near Pea Ridge on Nov. 9, 1930, Fletcher opened a bait and tackle shop on recently completed Table Rock Lake at Eagle Rock, Mo., in 1959. He sold his first bucket of minnows on May 17 of that year, and never looked back. Many celebrities floated with Fletcher over the years. Country singer Jim Reeves and actors Stuart Whitman, Hugh O’Brien and Robert Fuller all made use of his expertise at one time or another.