Humor Good Medicine For Board Proceedings

FARMINGTON — Kinco Constructors finished their presentation at a June 28 Farmington School Board meeting and headed toward the door when board member Jeff Oxford stopped them in their tracks.

The presentation and discussion centered around an upcoming expansion project at the junior high on Double Springs Road so they were caught off-guard when Oxford switched topics.

“Let’s talk about some of those guarantees you had on the football field?” he said with a serious face, freezing Kinco Constructors representatives Casey Sowell, senior project manager, and Cruz Pineda, layout engineer.

Their body language gave both men away.

It was apparent, inwardly they braced thinking they were being set up. As far as they knew the $16 million state-of-the-art Farmington Sports Complex highlighted by Cardinal Stadium has performed as designed, hosting football games, soccer matches and the last two graduations.

Aware he had achieved the desired effect, Oxford then delivered his punch line, which brought the house down.

“You guaranteed me we’d never lose,” Oxford said jokingly as laughter broke out among the board members.

Farmington’s varsity football record at home since the opening of Cardinal Stadium in August of 2019 stands at 7-2. The Cardinals have outscored their opponents 226-152 at home over that span which averages to winning by 8.2 points-per-game. Long time coach Mike Adams retired at the end of the first semester in January and J.R. Eldridge was hired as the new head football coach.

From the onset, Oxford functioned like a smooth operator.

With the election of officers to serve out the next fiscal year first on the agenda, Oxford nominated in quick succession Travis Warren for president, Amy Hill for vice president and Lori Blew for secretary. Each nomination was seconded and passed in about as long as it takes Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones to perform a few bars of, “Jumping Jack flash, it’s a gas, gas, gas,” prompting Warren to address Oxford before going onto the next item of business.

“You effectively took yourself out of it,” Warren said.

Oxford downplayed his intent.

“I just sped the process up,” he said.

Warren paused at that juncture to put something in the official record briefly recounting Oxford’s service to the board in many roles for nearly two decades.

“You’ve been very effective in all of them,” Warren said.

Oxford acknowledged the comments, expressing his appreciation and thankfulness.

Football never strays far from Oxford’s mind.

Assistant superintendent Stephanie Pinkerton gave the maintenance update, informing the board the maintenance department has been very busy doing lots of painting and miscellaneous work such as repairing parking lots.

“They’re taking the bleachers down,” Pinkerton said, bringing the board up to speed on a solution to removal of infrastructure at Allen Holland Field, which was retired at the end of the 2018 football season and replaced by Cardinal Stadium.

“It’s nice that we’re able to donate that to Decatur,” superintendent Jon Paul Laffoon said, noting the district had tried to sell the home bleachers without success and donating them to a smaller school serves a good option.

“They need a little red on their campus,” Oxford said.

Decatur’s school colors are blue and gold. A Class 2A high school, located 37 miles northwest of Allen Holland Field in Benton County, Decatur endeavored to keep its program going by working jointly with Hermitage, near the Louisiana border, to form an 8-man league in 2018. An 8-man league originally operated in Arkansas from 1956-1965.

“I’ll tell [superintendent] Steve { Watkins] you said that,” Laffoon said laughing, then commenting, “I think they’ll be glad to get them.”

Creating an 8-man league empowered Decatur to avoid dropping football from its athletic activities. Decatur and Hermitage played an 8-man game on Aug. 31, 2018, with Hermitage defeating Decatur, 38-32, at Bulldog Stadium. By 2020 the league swelled to 16 teams and on June 8, 2021, the Arkansas Activities Association voted to sanction 8-man football for the first time since 1965. The 16 teams now participating form the east and west 8-man football conferences which will allow for the league to have playoffs and a championship game at the end of the 2021 season.