Top 10 stories of 2022
Part two: Stories one through five
As 2023 begins, it is time to reflect on the top headlines of the 2022 year. Siloam Springs saw the return of different events as well as new challenges in 2022. Some of those stories were exciting, poignant, serious, sad and even fun at times.
While compiling the list of top news stories, the Herald-Leader staff considered not only the community impact but also the amount of engagement and interest of the public the stories conveyed. Stories six through 10 were published in the Dec. 28, 2022 edition of the Herald-Leader and stories one through five are listed below.
1. Winter weather
A winter storm blanketed Siloam Springs in early February causing closures throughout the city. The storm began on Wednesday, Feb. 2, and continued on until Friday, Feb. 4.
According to Meteorologist Brad McGavock from the National Weather Service, in Tulsa, Okla., it was estimated that six to eight inches of snow fell in Siloam Springs for those two days.
The city of Siloam Springs closed municipal offices on Thursday, Feb. 3, due to inclement weather and trash and recycling crews continued to run their routes, however the transfer station was closed, according to a post on the city’s website.
Siloam Springs Public Schools used Alternative Method Instruction (AMI) Days during the three days of inclement weather.
On Feb. 3, John Brown University. announced that it was shifting to Tier 1 of their inclement weather policy, according to an email from Carlson Wakefield, writing and content and marketing specialist.
As of Friday, Feb. 4, JBU remained at Tier 1.
On Wednesday, Feb. 23, a second winter storm hit Siloam Springs bringing a mixture of snow and sleet. As of Friday, Feb. 25, a total of 1.5 inches of snow and sleet came down on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the National Weather Service in Tulsa.
City offices closed at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday and Thursday. This included city hall, the public library, parks and recreation, the transfer station, public works, community development and the administrative office for the city of Siloam Springs Police and Fire Departments.
On Tuesday, Feb. 22, Superintendent Jody Wiggins said the school district would probably issue Chromebooks to students so the district could implement AMI days if needed.
According to multiple posts on the school district’s Facebook page, the school district pivoted to AMI days for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. JBU implemented Tier 1 of its inclement weather policy.
Snow fell on the city on Thursday, Dec. 22, bringing a white Christmas to Western Benton County. According to Bart Hakke of the National Weather Service in Tulsa one to two inches fell from 8 a.m. to approximately 2 p.m. or 3 p.m. on Thursday.
City offices were closed on Thursday due to inclement weather. Siloam Springs Public Schools and JBU were closed for the holiday break so they were not affected by the snowfall. Due to freezing temperatures snow remained in parts of the city as late as Tuesday, Dec. 27.
2. Hospital celebrates 10th anniversary
Siloam Springs Regional Hospital celebrated its 10th anniversary with a short ceremony on Thursday, April 28, which was held in a large tent in the hospital’s parking lot.
Employees of SSRH, Northwest Health and members of the community attended the event. Chris York, Market CEO of Northwest Health, welcomed attendees and spoke of the hospital’s history before looking to the future.
Then York welcomed Chris Blair, the new SSRH chief administrative officer, who joined the hospital in mid-April. Blair said Siloam Springs Regional Hospital is committed to delivering high quality, world class care to Siloam Springs.
York also recognized Maria Wleklinski, the chief nursing officer for SSRH, for her role as an ambassador for the hospital.
The ceremony concluded with Siloam Springs Mayor Judy Nation delivering and reading a proclamation which recognizes the hospital’s 10-year anniversary of the hospital’s opening.
Siloam Springs Regional Hospital opened for business on April 28, 2012, and is currently located at 603 N. Progress Ave. The hospital itself is more than 100 years old as it began in a city hall building in 1916.
3. Tyler Dees wins state senate seat and other election news
Siloam Springs resident Tyler Dees became the first state senator for the new Arkansas State Senate District 35, on Tuesday, Nov. 8, when he defeated Libertarian Opponent Doug Peterson.
Dees received 18,411 votes or 73.67 percent of the vote while Peterson received 6,577 or 26.33 percent of the vote according to the official results from results. enr.clarityelections.com.
In the primary election held on Tuesday, May 24, he faced off with State Representative Gayla Hendren-McKenzie (R-92) and businessman Jeff Tennant. Dees received 4,292 votes or 45.72 percent of the vote while Hendren-McKenzie received 3,162 votes or 33.68 percent of the vote and Tennant received 1,934 votes or 20.60 percent of the vote, the results state.
Since no candidate received the necessary 51 percent of the vote to win the primary election, a runoff election was held on June 21 with Dees and HendrenMcKenzie facing off as the two candidates who had the highest percentages.
Dees walked away as the winner with 2,950 votes or 63.25 percent of the vote while Hendren-McKenzie received 1,714 votes or 36.75 percent of the vote. Dees would face Peterson in November.
Siloam Springs School Board also had elections for Zone 2 and Zone 4. Chris Whorton defeated incumbent Misti Stephens to become Zone 2’s school board representative. Whorton received 423 votes or 55.51 percent and Stephens received 339 votes or 44.49 percent of the vote, according to election results from Benton County.
Incumbent Brian Lamb retained his seat for Zone 4 by receiving 419 votes or 67.69 percent of the vote, the results state. Challenger Todd Varnadoe received 200 votes or 32.31 percent of the vote.
Four Siloam Springs City Director positions were up for elections in 2022. Director Mindy Hunt retained her seat as Ward 1 director with 706 votes or 69.28 percent of the vote while her opponent James McGuirk received 313 votes or 30.72 percent of the vote, the results state.
Ward 2 City Director Brad Burns decided not to seek reelection. Mike Henry, Blake Jones and Ken Wiles campaigned for the seat.
Wiles won the director’s seat with 46 votes or 70.77 percent of the vote, the results state. Challengers Henry and Jones received 17 votes or 26.15 percent of the vote and two votes or 3.08 percent of the vote respectively, the results state.
Betsy Blair-Finn defeated incumbent Ward 3 Director Marla Sappington with 67 votes or 63.81 percent of the vote. Sappington received 28 votes or 26.67 percent of the vote. A third challenger, Carla Creasey, received 10 votes or 9.52 percent of the vote, the results state.
Incumbent Ward 4 Director Lesa Rissler did not have a challenger and won the election with 100 percent of the vote. Totals for the number of votes for Rissler were not provided by Benton County.
Voters chose to keep the current split of the one percent sales tax with 2,530 votes or 66.27 percent of the vote. There were 1,288 votes or 33.73 percent of the vote against keeping the split, the results state.
The one percent tax is a permanent tax enacted in the 1970s which granted 80 percent of the revenue collected to the street department and 20 percent to the city’s general fund, according to City Administrator Phillip Patterson.
In 2013 voters approved to modify the split for 10 years to 40 percent for the street department, 20 percent for the police department, 20 percent for the fire department and 20 percent to the general fund, Patterson said. If the split was voted down the tax would have reverted back to the original split.
A 0.25 percent sales and use tax for a new jail was voted down with 55,738 votes or 62.44 percent of the vote and 33,533 votes or 37.56 percent of the vote, the results state.
As the lone candidate for State House District 17, Delia Haak won with 7,102 votes or 100 percent of the vote, the results state.
Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders will become the first female governor of Arkansas with 571,105 votes or 62.96 percent of the vote, the results state. Sanders will be inaugurated on Tuesday, Jan. 10.
Sanders’ opponents Democrat Chris Jones and Libertarian Ricky Dale Harrington Jr. won 319,242 votes or 35.20 percent of the vote and 16,690 votes or 1.84 percent of the vote respectively, the results state.
Republican Attorney General Leslie Rutledge won the seat of lieutenant governor with 577,316 votes or 64.21 while Democrat opponent Kelly Ross Krout received 288,631 votes or 32.10 percent of the vote and Libertarian opponent Frank Gilbert received 33,163 votes or 3.69 percent of the vote, the results state.
Republican Lieutenant Governor Tim Griffin won the attorney general position with 605,785 votes or 67.61 percent of the vote while Jesse Gibson, Griffin’s Democrat opponent received 290,183 votes or 32.39 percent of the vote, the results state.
Secretary of State John Thurston retained his position. The Republican incumbent received 600,194 votes or 67.05 percent of the vote while Democrat challenger Anna Beth Gorman received 294,970 votes or 32.95 percent of the vote, the results state.
U.S. John Boozman (R-Ark) won reelection with 592,437 votes or 65.73 percent of the vote, the results state. Democrat challenger Natalie James received 280,187 votes or 31.09 percent of the vote and Libertarian Challenger Kenneth Cates received 28,682 votes or 3.18 percent of the vote, the results state.
U.S. Representative Steve Womack (R-03) retained his seat with 142,401 votes or 63.69 percent of the vote, the results state.
Democrat challenger Lauren Mallet-Hays received 73,541 votes or 32.89 percent of the vote. Libertarian Challenger Michael J. Kalagias received 7,646 votes or 3.42 percent of the vote, the results state.
Voters also voted on four issues during the November election. All four issues were voted down, the results state.
Issue 1. which would allow the General Assembly to convene in a special session without the governor’s approval received 522,693 votes or 60.90 percent against the issue and 335,569 votes or 39.10 percent of the vote for the issue, the results state.
Issue 2. which would require 60 percent of the vote to place an item on the Arkansas Constitution received 511,580 votes or 59.12 percent of the vote against the issue and 353,815 votes or 40.88 percent of the vote, the results state.
The “Arkansas Religious Freedom Amendment” or Issue 3. was narrowly defeated with 440,687 votes or 50.41 percent of the vote against and 433,475 votes or 49.59 percent of the vote, the results.
Issue 4, which would allow for the legalization of Marijuana, received 505,130 votes or 56.25 percent of the vote against and 392,940 votes or 43.75 percent of the vote for the issue, the results state.
4. Pete Allen passes away
On Friday, Nov. 25, Pioneer Citizen and former President/ CEO of Allen Canning Delbert “Pete” Allan Jr. passed away at the age of 81 leaving behind a legacy of compassion and giving for the Siloam Springs community.
As a proud member of the community, Allen worked to make Allen Canning the largest privately owned food processor in the world and also gave faithfully to different organizations like Siloam Springs Memorial Hospital, Siloam Springs School District and World Orphans, according to Allen’s obituary.
“Dad was kind of ‘larger than life’ in that he would enjoy and be friendly to anyone he met,” according to Allen’s son, David Allen. “He was very much like his father in that way. He wasn’t sophisticated or ever pretended to be, was rough around the edges because of growing up in the country but he was still a very sharp businessman and knew common sense when he saw it.”
Pete Allen began working at a very young age in his father’s factory and owned his first semitrailer truck at the age of 15 and began driving over the road hauling goods for the family business.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Allen Canning grew exponentially through acquisitions of competing companies, including Popeye’s and experienced 100 percent growth and continued in triple digits throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
One of the secrets to Pete Allen’s success was knowing everyone who worked for him as well as who the competition was, the obit states.
Jerry Cavness who worked in the food service sales department from 1978 to 2007 said he had favorable interactions with Allen despite not reporting to him directly.
“I thought he was a great guy and enjoyed visiting with him and talking to him,” Cavness said.
Retired Banker Art Morris said he knew Allen from his time at Arkansas State Bank when Morris worked there and Allen was on the board. Eventually Morris worked his to president of the bank while Allen served as chair of the bank’s board.
“He was nice to work for and was always available when you needed him,” Morris said of Pete Allen.
Pete Allen cultivated an attitude of giving and served as cochair of the largest fundraising effort in Siloam Springs Memorial Hospital’s history: the HEART Fund.
Following a large donation to the Siloam Springs School District, Pete Allen had the Delbert “Pete” and Pat Allen Elementary School in 2006, according to an article in the Herald-Leader on Aug. 23, 2006.
Pete Allen was honored with the title of Pioneer Citizen in 2009 as his father, Delbert Allen Sr., was in 1984.
“My dad was my hero for my entire life,” David Allen said. “He was a very generous man, felt blessed by God and wanted to bless others.”
5. Sarah Huckabee Sanders visits
Governor-elect Sarah Huckabee Sanders visited Siloam Springs on Friday, Nov. 4, outside of 28 Springs. Sanders was conducting her final round of campaign stops to meet voters before the General Election which was held on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
The event was initially supposed to be held in the conference room at 28 Springs but was moved outdoors due to the larger crowd showing up.
Sanders won the gubernatorial race and will be inaugurated on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023, according to an article in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette on Nov. 22, 2022.
“We have spent the last two years crisscrossing the state (and have) been to all 75 counties,” Sanders said. “Now we’re going back to the second, third, fourth, fifth or sixth time to a lot of places, and I have to say the excitement and the enthusiasm is absolutely overwhelming in a good way.”
Sanders said she and her family were encouraged by the amount of support they have seen in every area of the state they have been to and it is a reminder that Arkansas is ready for a new generation of leadership.
She spoke about being a White House press secretary in the Trump administration and had the chance to meet public figures like the Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un.
Her two and a half years spent in the White House taught Sanders to prepare for any situation she walked into, Sanders said.
Attendees had positive reactions to Sanders’ visit. Andy Weaver said it was a great event and that he was happy to be here.
Amy Brooker, a member of the Siloam Springs Republican Women, said she knew Sanders as a child and it was exciting to see her out and about.
A few people showed up carrying signs for Sanders’ Democrat opponent Chris Jones and stood across the street by the Arvest Bank location.
Ben Bergstrom said he saw an internet ad that morning that Sanders was coming to Siloam Springs and wanted to come hold a sign for Jones since Bergstrom is not a fan of her politics.
Matt Feyerabend said Sanders’ politics are totally atrocious and that Sanders is 100 percent a part of the Jerry Falwell/Trump white Christian Evangelical movement which Feyerabend said was deeply fascist and deeply rooted in the history of racism and white supremacy.