THE TIMES LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

— Grateful for friends and ambulance crew

To the Editor:

We want to say “Thank You” to the many Pea Ridge friends who responded to help us when Jerry had a heart attack Wednesday evening, Nov. 17. First, we appreciate the friends who were there with us at the Methodist Church.

Secondly, the Pea Ridge ambulance and EMTs arrived very quickly, assessed the situation, and transported us with no delays.

We were handed off to the Bentonville EMTs who had an EKG machine, and who radioed the diagnosis to the hospital well before we arrived.

By the time we arrived at the hospital emergency room, a team had been assembled to take Jerry to the cardiac cath lab, where they implanted three stents to relieve the coronary artery restrictions. We greatly appreciate the friends who came with us to the hospital, others who visited while we were there, others who helped us with food, clothing and errands, and those who have prayed for us, phoned, sent cards and stopped by to see us at the house.

We came home on Sunday afternoon. Jerry seems to be making a good recovery at home, and will begin a few weeks of cardiac rehab on Monday, Nov. 29.

JERRY & NANCY NICHOLS Pea Ridge, Ark.

Nabholz speaks

To The Editor,

On behalf of Nabholz Construction Services, I would like to sincerely thank those members of the Pea Ridge School District and others in the Pea Ridge community who supported our efforts to assist the Pea Ridge School Board and administration with the construction of a new multi-purpose facility.

As was reported in the Nov. 24 edition of The Times, the district has chosen to terminate the contract between the district and Nabholz for the project. Given that several of our employees live within the Pea Ridge School District and that our office is located in very close proximity to the district, we are very disappointed that we will not be allowed to complete a project in what is, in some ways, our own back yard.

We were hired by the Pea Ridge School District to be their construction manager and bring a project within budget that, as designed, was almost $1 million over the budget set by the district at the time we were selected. Construction management is a process, and during the two and one-half months that we were employed by the district, our process, which included several cost-reduction and designchange recommendations, brought the estimated cost of the project to within approximately $10,000 of the district’s budget.

We fully believed that proceeding with the competitive bidding process, as a part of the overall process, would have resulted in a final and complete cost that was within the district’s budget. It is correct that some square footage was deleted from the proposed final estimate, but our extensive efforts to obtain pricing information from local, not out-of-state, subcontractors and suppliers indicated that the original design could not be completed within the district’s budget.

It is always the role ofthe construction manager, at least in the manner with which Nabholz Construction Services operates, to tell our clients what they can and what they cannot afford. The news is not always pleasant or well received, but to do anything less would be negligent on our part. We are extremely disappointed in the district’s decision, but in a good-faith effort to continue to support the district’s vision for the multi-purpose facility, we have chosen not to bill the district, even though our contract would allow us to do so, and we will not accept payment for the approximately $5,000 in preconstruction services that were provided to the district in an attempt to bring this project within the district’s budget. We sincerely hope that the project is eventually a success and that the students of the district and the community of Pea Ridge will be well-served by the new facility.

Sincerely, ROGER MCDANIEL Operations President Nabholz Construction Services Pea Ridge, Ark.

Opinion, Pages 4 on 12/01/2010