Siloam Springs Herald Leader

Email or drop a note during Legislativ­e Session

- Maylon Rice — Maylon Rice is a former journalist who worked for several northwest Arkansas publicatio­ns. He can be reached via email at maylontric­e@yahoo.com. The opinions expressed are those of the author.

Never disregard the value of a handwritte­n note.

Or a very civil telephone call.

Those were two of the most often requested and suggested forms of communicat­ion valued by Arkansas lawmakers, politician­s tell me.

And with the start of the 90day Legislativ­e Session down in Little Rock, I am focused on how you as citizens can contact your state legislator­s.

So while most of this column may look like just a list of names, telephone numbers and email addresses, believe you me, you will wish you had clipped this column for future reference and a handy guide in just a few short weeks.

I have written before about the protocol for emails.

Keep them short. Make them in your own words ( never just forward a forwarded email to your legislativ­e leaders). Be genuine. Also, there are protocols to calling both the Arkansas State House of Representa­tives and the State Senate during the session.

During the session to contact the House of Representa­tives, call 1- 501- 682- 6211.

For the State Senate, call 1- 501- 682- 2902 during the session.

Both these numbers only take messages for legislator­s to call you back. You may be asked if you have a bill number you want to talk to the lawmakers about. Please give your name and a call back number and remain civil; these are just telephone answering personnel, not the actual lawmakers.

While the rest of the column is indeed a list, just know this, soon you will wish you had these names, phone numbers and emails.

Benton County State Senators and their contact informatio­n are as follows:

• State Sen. Bart Hester, R- Cave Springs, Dist. 1, 479531- 4176, email bart.hester@senate.ar.com

• Sen. Jim Hendren, R- Gravette, Dist. 2, 479- 787- 6222, email, jimhendren@hendrenpla­stics

• State Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, R- Rogers, 479- 636- 2115, email Cecile. Bledsoe@ senate. ar. gov

• Benton County House of Representa­tives members and their contact informatio­n is as follows:

• State Rep. Robin Lundstrom, R- Siloam Springs, Dist. 87, 479- 957- 1959, email robin. lundstrum@arkansasho­use.org

• State Rep. Jana DellaRosa, R- Rogers, Dist. 90, 479- 2839303, email Jana. DellaRosa@arkansasho­use.org

• State Rep. Dan Douglas, RBentonvil­le, Dist. 91, 479- 6199231, email dan- douglas@sbcglobal.net

• State Rep. Kim Hendren, R- Gravette, Dist. 92, 479- 7876500, email kim. hendren@arkansasho­use.org

• State Rep. Jim Dotson, R- Bentonvill­e, Dist. 93, 479644- 0740, email jim. dotson@arkansasho­use.org

• State Rep. Rebecca Petty, R- Rogers, Dist. 94, 479- 6213464, email rebecca. petty@arkansasho­use.org

• State Rep. Austin McCollum, R- Rogers, Dist. 95, 479426-4141, email austin.mccollum@arkansasho­use.org

• State Rep. Grant Hodges, R- Rogers, Dist. 96, 479- 3819513, email grant. hodges@arkansasho­use.org

This is a quick and easy way to stay connected to your elected officials in the days ahead.

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