Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Highlights of 2023: Part 2
Top stories from the last six months in western Washington County in 2023 include demolishing the old 1954 Prairie Grove High School building, a new deputy police chief for Farmington Police Department and the decision by Lincoln to use a third-party firm for trash pickup.
The following provides highlights from the Enterprise-Leader in July-December 2023.
JULY 2023
• Prairie Grove School District began demolishing the 1954 high school building on Mock Street to make room for a new two-story addition to the junior high campus. Bricks from the building were set aside for any in the community who wanted to pick up one for sentimental reasons.
• Farmington City Council on July 10 approved a recommendation to promote Capt. Mike
Wilbanks to deputy police chief, a new position and rank for Farmington Police Department. Wilbanks has more than 26 years of law enforcement experience and started with Farmington as an officer in 2009.
• Flowers-N-Friends of Prairie Grove held a ribbon cutting and grand reopening on Saturday, July 1, after the business was damaged by fire two months earlier. Owner Tammy Swaffar happened to be in the store when she and other employees saw spot fires going on throughout
the shop and quickly called 911. The belief was that the fire was the result of a lightning hit on the building the night before. The business has been in the downtown area for more than 35 years.
• Former mayor Sonny Hudson was honored in July with the 2023 Buddy Lyle Citizenship Award. It was the first award handed out since the covid pandemic. Hudson served as mayor for 21 years, the longest-serving mayor in Prairie Grove history.
He also was a city council member for 12 years.
• Lincoln City Council approved a bid of $566,054 for Phase 1 of the Sugar Hill Sewer Rehabilitation Project, a project that had been discussed by city officials for several years.
• Cecedrice Poole, 38, of Fayetteville, pleaded not guilty in Washington County Circuit Court to capital murder and other charges related to a fatal shooting in Prairie Grove on May 18.
AUGUST 2023
• The back-to-school bonanzas in Farmington and Lincoln served more than 300 families, helping to prepare children for a new school year.
• Lincoln City Council, in a special meeting Aug. 1, unanimously voted to change its water rate structure, with the result that water bills will increase an average of $11 per month for city of Lincoln customers. The rate increase was in response to recommendations from a water rate study conducted by Oklahoma Alliance Consultants. The firm recommended a comprehensive restructuring of the city’s water rates.
• The new pre-K program for Farmington School District opens with three classes, a total of 60 children, and a waiting list. Angela Dooly, who was a Farmington kindergarten teacher, was named director of the new program.
• State Rep. Charlene Fite, who has served western Washington County for more than 10 years, announced she would not seek re-election in 2024.
• Farmington schools celebrated the opening of two additions at the junior high with a ribbon-cutting ceremony sponsored by Farmington Area Chamber of Commerce. The district added 39,000 square feet to the junior high: a two-story building and a new fine arts wing with a multi-purpose room and stage.
• Lincoln City Council passed an ordinance authorizing the issuance of $3,885,000 in refunding and improvement tax bonds to construct a new community building on Lincoln Square. Of this, $3.5 million will be available for the construction project.
• The city of Prairie Grove opened a new playground at Muddy Fork Park, along with restroom facilities. The city received a $119,699 state outdoor recreation grant from Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism to help with the costs of the facilities.
• The community of Prairie Grove became the first one in Arkansas to have a private, nonprofit organization called LifeWise Academy to offer off-site, Bible-based character education classes for children in first-third grades. With parental permission, students are allowed to leave school for “time-released religious instruction” for one hour per week at Abundant Life Church.
• Aug. 22, 2023, was proclaimed as Dr. Gary Davis Day in honor of Gary Davis, owner and pharmacist of Sterling Drug in Prairie Grove for more than 50 years.
• Prairie Grove City Council on Aug. 21 approved the preliminary plat for Copper Hill Subdivision, a planned unit development that will have 580 single-family homes, townhouses and duplexes to be phased in over the next nine years.
SEPTEMBER 2023
• In a special meeting Sept. 7, Prairie Grove School Board unanimously voted to purchase 20 acres on East Parks Street for $895,000 or $44,750 per acre, for a second elementary school. The land is adjacent to Prairie Grove United Methodist Church and across from Sundowner Estates.
• The 2023 Clothesline Fair drew thousands of people to Prairie Grove over the Labor Day weekend, for a parade, square dancing, crafts, music and food.
• Folsom Elementary School was designated a Project ADAM Heart Safe School, which means it has a team in place to quickly respond to a sudden cardiac emergency before first responders are able to arrive on the scene.
• In a special meeting Sept. 12, Farmington School Board gave the OK for school administrators to proceed with a new junior high building on land purchased near the high school on state Highway 170. The board voted in 2022 to purchase 27 acres at the intersection of Highway 170 and Clyde Carnes Road for $945,000, from Riggins Construction and Developers, Inc.
• The city of Farmington was voluntarily dismissed as a defendant in a civil suit filed July 15, 2022, by a Farmington resident relating to storm drainage on her property from Goose Creek Village subdivision. Phyllis Young, through her attorney David Dixon of Farmington, filed a motion Sept. 1 to voluntarily dismiss the city from the suit, without prejudice. The order granting her petition was signed Sept. 4.
• Ethan Driskill, a Farmington man who earlier pleaded guilty to distributing fentanyl that caused a man’s overdose death, was sentenced to 38 years in federal prison on Sept. 15. This was the first case of its kind to be prosecuted in the Western District of Arkansas, according to U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes.
• About 2,500 people attended the 2023 Cane Hill Harvest Festival, which for the first time had an admission fee. The one-day event included demonstrations, a country breakfast, crafts, music and food trucks.
• The Arkansas Country Doctors Museum held a dedication ceremony Sept. 16 for its new building, named the Jerry Leach Artifact and Preservation Building after longtime benefactor Jerry Allen Leach. The building has two large rooms, one for storing artifacts and the other for creating new exhibits.
• Prairie Grove City Council approved a $4.45 million contract, reduced by almost 50% because of costs, for a downtown construction project for storm drainage and roadway improvements along sections of Buchanan and Kate Smith streets. The low bid came in at $8.7 million, a cost much higher than the money available.
• Prairie Grove School Board accepted the resignation of assistant superintendent David Kellogg. Kellogg now is being used as a consultant for capital improvement projects. He retired after more than 40 years in education and had been with Prairie Grove for about eight years.
• Farmington Junior High was recognized as a 2023 “School on the Move Toward Excellence” for improving its overall performance from one year to the next.
OCTOBER 2023
• The Class of 2023 for the Farmington Hall of Honor was recognized during a celebration held Oct. 4 at Cardinal Arena. Honorees are Liz Williams-Caudle, Brad Blew, Jessica Carter-McCollugh, Roy Hummel (represented by Cheryl West), Keith Marrs and Bryan Law.
• Thousands descended on western Washington County on the first weekend in October for The Junk Ranch, Junk at the Mill, local shops and Appletown Fall Festival in Lincoln.
NOVEMBER 2023
• Farmington High School and Williams Elementary School were both named top performing schools, based on test results and graduation rates, by the Arkansas School Recognition Program. Farmington High is receiving $63,500 for its recognition and Williams is receiving $20,100.
• Prairie Grove School Board voted to return to full classroom days on Wednesdays for the second semester, instead of school closing at 1 p.m. on that day, and also voted to change from a traditional school calendar to an alternate calendar starting with the 2024-25 school year. An alternate calendar is based on instructional hours instead of instructional days.
• WER architects and CR Crawford Construction, both of Fayetteville, are the two companies that will be involved in constructing a new community building on Lincoln Square. Lincoln City Council approved ordinances Nov. 21 authorizing the mayor to enter into agreements with both.
• Lincoln City Council approved a solid waste collection contract with CARDS NWA, making the decision to use an outside source to provide sanitation service. The company will pick up trash one day per week in 95-gallon polycarts to be provided by the company.
DECEMBER 2023
• The month of December was filled with holiday events in western Washington County, including Christmas parades in Farmington, Prairie Grove and Lincoln, Christmas on the Square in Lincoln, a Cocoa Crawl in Prairie Grove and the Morrow Country Christmas.
• Brand New Church in Farmington held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new Farmington campus on Sunday, Nov. 19. The church plans to build a 41,000-square-foot facility at 700 W. Main St.
• Prairie Grove and Farmington police officers shopped with more than 95 children for their annual Shop with a Cop programs.
• Prairie Grove School Board voted to spend $10,000 on a contract with a marketing company to come up with a strategy to improve the district’s communications.
• The first “Home Town Heroes” in Prairie Grove were honored at the Dec. 18 city council meeting. The volunteers were recognized for helping with the car rider line at Prairie Grove Elementary School each morning. Those honored were Josh Vickery, Janece Vines, Ray Stidham, Heather Walker, Madison Catt, Brianna Saldana, Casie Ruland and Brian Denman.