PEA RIDGE — 40 years ago

The Pea Ridge Blackhawk football team was set to begin fall practice 10 days before the first day of school. They had two-a-days until school started. The first game was played against Gentry at the Pea Bowl.

Peter Doke of Garfield admitted he was known for having a high temper but also was known as a man of conviction.

He had a eye for beauty that was sometimes overlooked, and his poems were featured on a two-page spread in this week’s Graphic. He was pictured with a table he had recently completed for his son and some Queen Anne’s Lace from his field.

Rumble strips were installed at the intersection of Arkansas Highway 94 and Benton County 340 after the editorial in previous week’s Graphic stated the need for some kind of warning to approaching drivers that Hwy. 340 would end at Hwy. 94.

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30 years ago

Pea Ridge Police Chief Loyd Pifer termed the bomb threat phone calls being received by Pea Ridge residents were “hoax calls” and suggested anyone receiving such calls report them immediately to the Police Department and not be frightened.

Ken Ford, driver, and Lee Hennagan, both members of the Northeast Benton County Volunteer Fire Department, were injured when a fire truck they were in overturned as they were answering a call to a grass brush fire on Slate Gap Road.

A spontaneous special fund drive by the people of Pea Ridge began for the construction of a pavilion at City Park. The fund was up to $619.

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20 years ago

Members of the Pea Ridge School Board approved the recommendation of superintendent Marvin Higginbottom to work toward elementary and high school accreditation through the comprehensive outcome evaluation program mandated by the state.

The honorary chairman of the second Pea Ridge Lions Club International Mule Jump expected as many as 6,000 people to attend the event. Honorary Chairman Negel Hall said the 72-inch jump by Don Sam’s mule may have been a world record.

Pea Ridge Cub Scout Pack 26 held its first Raingutter Regatta at the school’s home economics building. The boys used their lungs to propel handmade sailboats down the length of raingutter filled with water, a challenging course.

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10 years ago

Benton County Sheriff’s deputies and Pea Ridge police officers searched the new Pea Ridge High School during a manhunt for a manwho escaped from an inmate work-release program on foot in Georgia.

The man, Gary Hurst, eventually turned himself in to Pea Ridge authorities at 2:30 a.m.

Pea Ridge School Board secretary Sandy Easley, who was not running for re-election, received a plaque for five years of service to the board.

Sugar Creek L.L.C., Northwest Arkansas Development Group, announced the construction of Big Sugar Golf Club in Pea Ridge. The 18-hole championship golf course was the centerpiece of a major real estate development in Little Sugar Creek valley.

Church, Pages 2 on 08/11/2010