Small town Arkansas residents take pride in home

LEPANTO, Ark. (AP) — Like many other Lepanto natives, Brenda Shortnacy was born in a gray building just off the main road in the city.

Sadie Foote worked in the building several decades ago for one of the town's five doctors.

"When I first came here back in the '50s, you couldn't even get down Main Street," Foote said. "We had three theaters, had five drugstores ... now we've only got one. It has changed a lot."

Foote said the arrival of highways has hurt Lepanto and other cities like it.

"It just sort of bypasses little, small towns," Foote said.

Mayor Dale Dunlap said as older residents pass away, it's getting harder to replace them.

"There's nothing to keep them there, no industry, no jobs," Dunlap said.

"It has gone down in the last 10 years," Shortnacy said.

Despite a declining population and loss of businesses and jobs to bigger cities like Jonesboro, residents still love their small town.

"It's still a wonderful place to live," Shortnacy said. "I moved from Olive Branch back here, to be home . ... Lepanto's got a lot of good-hearted people . ... It's a town full of good people."

Although Jonesboro, Memphis and other large cities are growing, crime often grows along with them. Shortnacy praised the safety found in small towns like Lepanto.

"It's a place you can let your kids play outside and go down the street to your neighbors and not worry," Shortnacy said.

"It's a good place to live," Dunlap said. "... We still have people move to Lepanto from other states."

Dunlap doesn't shy away from the "bedroom community" label. He's aware that the town, like many others in the area, serves as a smaller, quieter residential option for people who work in Jonesboro and other larger cities.

"We're trying to make it a good bedroom community," Dunlap said. "... There's still a few of us older (people) who like to live in a smaller community."

Danny Hobbs, G.C. Shortnacy and Steve Fires relaxed on a bench outside Jordan's Kwik Stop off Greenwood Avenue on Friday morning. Hobbs said it was a typical day for the men, who passed the time by talking to passersby and sharing stories of Lepanto's past.

"I've lived here just about all my life ... it's laid back," Hobbs said.

Shortnacy said he and his wife lived in Heber Springs for less than a year, but after the winter, moved back to Lepanto.

"You know everybody ... it's a typical small town," Shortnacy said.

Shortnacy and his wife lived a few hundred yards from East Poinsett County High School. The school, he said, draws people together, especially through its basketball team, which has won multiple state championships.

Former Arkansas and NFL player Marcus Monk went to the school. His younger brother, Malik, attended EPC his freshman year before moving to Bentonville, but residents still love talking about the University of Kentucky star. Monk has declared for this year's NBA draft and is expected to be a Top 10 pick.

Another EPC basketball alumnus, Jordan Madden, stopped by the gas station Friday morning. Madden, who won a national championship in 2012 with the Baylor Lady Bears, said her hometown supported her during her career.

"They were really good," Madden said. "We have nice, good people. We have a nice little town; they're real supportive."

It's not just basketball, though. Hobbs said that on Thursday night parking spots were hard to find for an EPC baseball game.

Lepanto is home to the set of the movie "A Painted House," as well as Arkansas' longest-running festivity, the Terrapin Derby.

"Main Street, when the derby's going on, it's just unreal," Shortnacy said.

"You can't get down there," Fires said.

The derby features tours of the Painted House, tours of the Lepanto Museum, town parades, class reunions and, of course, the famous turtle race down Main Street. A 60-foot section of a city street is blocked off for the turtles.

"You would think it would eventually get old to people, but every year it gets bigger and bigger," Dunlap said. "It's amazed me."

While Lepanto isn't declining, Hobbs doesn't see much growth in the town's future, either.

"It'll probably stay the same," Hobbs said.

Being a bedroom community means, instead of focusing on expansion and job creation, focusing on maintaining a safe, positive community for raising children and living life, Dunlap told The Jonesboro Sun . He also wants to present a beautiful little town for those who happen upon Lepanto.

"What we're trying to do is clean the town up and make it attractive to people passing through," Dunlap said. "We're working on it ... it's a slow process."