Joys of small towns

Small-town America. I’m convinced that it is the glue that keeps this fractured nation from falling completely apart. Sure, there are good, decent people everywhere, but in some places they seem to be the exception; in small towns they must surely be the rule.

I recently had the good fortune to spend a delightful afternoon in one such small town, Lepanto, in the company of two fine ambassadors for that town: Mary Slack and Pat McClain. My brother and I had journeyed to Dyess to see the restored Johnny Cash house, and on the way back stopped in Lepanto to see “The Painted House” used in the TV adaptation of John Grisham’s novel of the same name. Mary Slack was there to show us around, shared lunch with us, and took us to see the town museum hosted by Pat McClain. Royalty could not have been treated any better than we were.

They told us about the annual turtle/terrapin race that has been held in Lepanto since 1930. Some say turtle. Some say terrapin. It was the brainchild of American Legionnaire Coleman Jerrigan, who was inspired by a rattlesnake race he observed somewhere in Oklahoma. At first those in charge of the race got their turtles from the nearby Little River, but these days someone travels to a turtle farm in southern Missouri to rent 300 turtles for a day.

Who knew there were turtle farms where turtles could be rented for a day?

We had missed the event by one week. Next year I’ll make it a point to be there. JOHN McPHERSON

Searcy