RECOLLECTIONS

50 Years Ago Pea Ridge Graphic Vol. 4 No. 36 Thursday, Sept. 4, 1969

Lee Otis Hall, secretary of the Pea Ridge School Board, resigned from the board at the regular August meeting last week. Hall said that his resignation was brought about by the fact that he wanted to accept a job driving a school bus and that he needed to be relieved from his board membership to accept a job in the school system. He explained that he has already served his five-year term on the board, but that, due to a new election time in the state since he was elected five years ago, he would not have gone out of office until the regular school election scheduled for next March. Supt. of Schools Andrew Widener said that the School Board could appoint a successor to Hall or the board could serve until the next regular election in March with four members instead of five. He said that no successor had been appointed by press time this week.

If the downtown business area looks neater than usual to you, you might like to know that Pea Ridge has one newer resident who just likes to do things like getting some hand clippers and going along trimming up the excess grass growing beside the business walks. His name is G.R. Edwards, and he resides at the Park Motel. He is the same man you may have sometimes seen jogging for his health sake. He likes to keep busy, and the town is much neater-looking because of it.

The Pea Ridge Fire Department made a run to the Fred Calvin home early Friday, but a fire that had threatened the Calvin automobile had been extinguished with a lawn hose. It was believed that the car’s radio antenna may have made contact with a metal sign as the car was being backed out, shorting out the wiring around the distributor and starting the fire.

40 Years Ago Pea Ridge Graphic Scene Vol. 14 No. 36 Wednesday, Sept. 5, 1979

Little Flock correspondent Pansy Jordan told us she’s be making apple butter in the old black iron kettle in the back yard. Did we want to watch? No problem. As we came round the corner, we smelled a spicy nostalgia, and new we’d found it. The great kettle sat over an open fire under hug old oak trees in the back yard. Marvin, taking his shift stirring with the big old wooden paddle, answered our questions, with assistance from Pansy’s son, Glenn Still and small grandsons, Robert and Michael. The kettle, they told us holds about 20 gallons, and is probably about 80 years old. “It’s wore out a few of these paddles,” Marvin says. The cooking process requires about eight hours, they said. They peeled and cut up about seven bushels of red and yellow Delicious apples for a kettle-size batch, and added some 35-40 pounds of sugar, for a net yield of about 50-60 quarts, Pansy told us.

The burglar alarm at the Pea Ridge Phillips Food Center sounded Aug. 23, late, and police responded. Phillips assistant manager Tim Wise was called from his home in response to the alarm. Investigations showed no reason the alarm should have sounded.

Establishing of a purchasing agent for Benton County has saved the county considerable money over that spend last year in purchasing and “I am extremely well pleased with the seven-month report,” County Judge Al Norwood told the Graphic Scene Friday.

30 Years Ago The TIMES of Northeast Benton County Vol. 24 No. 36 Thursday, Sept. 7, 1989

There were more than 400 children enrolled at Pea Ridge Elementary School as of last Friday, and 11 percent increase from last year, said superintendent Marvin Higginbottom. He said that “at the end of the first nine weeks of school last year, we had 369 students kindergarten through sixth grade.” He said, “As of yesterday (last Thursday) we have 412 students in those same grades —t hat’s an 11 percent growth.”

Julie Wegner knew exactly where she wanted to get her first teaching job when she finished school. Not only did Wegner her first teaching job at Pea Ridge, where she wanted, she also did her student teaching at Pea Ridge. Wegner, who teaches Keyboarding I, II and Applications, Mathematics for Business and Office Technology Laboratory, said she is thrilled to be teaching in Pea Ridge.

20 Years Ago The TIMES of Northeast Benton County Vol. 34 No. 36 Wednesday, Sept. 8, 1999

A committee to study the advisability of school uniforms will be appointed at next week’s Pea Ridge School Board meeting. The board meets Monday, Sept. 13, in the elementary school media center. The board will also hear reports on enrollment and financial reports, consider an additional insurance contributions of $26 above the current $114, consider a recommendation for a high school library aide, approve tuition agreements with Fayetteville West Campus and Charter Behavioral Health Systems, consider approving Dan Caughman for beforeschool tutoring at the high school, consider hiring an additional bus driver and appoint the superintendent to represent the board of the Education Coop Board.

A small crowd gathered at Pea Ridge National Military Park to witness the re-dedication of a Civil War monument. The event marked the 110th anniversary of the dedication of the Reunited Soldiers Memorial, which stands just a few yards from the historic Elkhorn Tavern at the Pea Ridge battlefield. The original dedication was held in 1889 by a group of Union and Confederate soldiers who gathered to erect the monument, which depicts two hands shaking, one labeled “The Blue” and the other “The Gray.”

Gateway is not only literally at a crossroads, at the busy intersection of U.S. Highway 62 and Arkansas Highway 37, but also figuratively, as many of its businesses are changing hands. The city is also revitalizing itself with a new city park. Businesses are changing hands, closing and going on the auction block. The only stable business at the crossroads right now seems to be the post office. Before predicting the possible demise of Gateway’s business district, however, note that the businesses are not closing, just changing hands. In addition, the city has just received a $45,000 matching grant for Arkansas Parks and Tourism to establish a city park southwest of town where an old RV park once stood.

10 Years Ago The TIMES of Northeast Benton County Vol. 44 No. 36 Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009

Residents of surrounding property attended a public hearing regarding a rezoning request, left without knowing the outcome. A number of adjacent landowners and residents attended the Planning Commission meeting and asked questions about the plans for the land if the rezoning was approved. Donnie and Lora Garner, landowners who were requesting the rezone, answered questions and presented their plans through an architect, Dave Burris of Mangold Burris Architecture. The Garners said they want to build an independent living facility for senior citizens that will provide livings space for seven residents. Because it is not assisted living, it is not licensed by the state, Donnie Garner said. “It’s the owners’ intention to not have anything else. It’s been a goal and dream of theirs for some time,” Burris said.

A 13-year-old female student at Pea Ridge Middle School received threatening text messages on her telephone Thursday morning, just days after an altercation between another girl and her. The recipient showed the messages to her mother who took her to the Pea Ridge Police Department at 8:30 a.m. to report the threats. Officers immediately began an investigation which included going to Pea Ridge Middle School to question the 14-year-old girl believed to have sent the texts. At approximately 9 a.m., a school official issued a Code Red for all four campuses, thereby locking down the campuses — which included locking both interior and exterior doors and prohibiting student and teacher movement outside of classrooms. The 14-yearold was arrested for terroristic threatening, and was in the Benton County Juvenile Detention Center awaiting an appearance before a judge.