RECOLLECTIONS

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

— 40 years ago

Pea Ridge School Board members spent considerable time discussing matters of the athletic department budget with assistant coach Fred Austin, who complained the coaches had not been given a solid figure on the amount they could spend on athletic needs. Superintendent Andrew Widener said they had spent about $1,300 already that year, leaving only $500 in the budget to include sweaters for senior letterman, trophies, etc.

Mr. and Mrs. Reed Cunningham of Hoffman Street had two river otters as pets. They swam in a backyard swimming pool and ate carp. Mrs. Cunningham was a native of Italy and they got the otters in Indonesia and Bangkok.

They once found the otters escaped to the neighbor’s house and made use of their bathroom facilities.

Shady Grove EH Club was having a neighborhood cleanup day. Ladies were asked to bring a covered dish. Men were asked to come to work.

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30 years ago

Continental Telephone construction crews started a major project in and around Seligman, Mo., which included the placing of 24 miles of new serial cable and over four miles of Curtis Ave. Finger food is provided. For information, call Sandra Draper at 451-8527.

underground cable.

Avoca Mayor Gary Blackburn, in a letter dated Sept.

29, asked Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton to help clean up Avoca by seeing that state property in the community was cleaned up, especially two oil storage tanks located on U.S.

Highway 62.

Pea Ridge realtor Golda Calvin was honored as Realtor of the Year by the Rogers Board of Realtors and traveled to Hot springs to receive further recognition at the Arkansas Association of Realtor annual convention.

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20 years ago

Pea Ridge Lions Club president Dale Wagner said he expected more than 4,000 people to attend thesecond Pea Ridge Mule Jump in October. He said to prepare for the event that year, they brought in food wagons and a different menu, including barbecue beef sandwiches and hot dogs.

Pea Ridge schools were to begin an after-school tutoring program in response to unsatisfactory performance in the previous spring’s standardized testing. Pea Ridge students scored on average lower than the students in any of the other six districts in Benton County.

The Blackhawk salute to the player of the week was to Henry Bray, who had three touchdowns and 175 yards rushing for the season.

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10 years ago

The discussion of a water line expansion outside of city limits took up most of the council meeting. The council faced the problem of reimbursing those who paid substantial costs to help build water lines outside the city limits when others wanted to hook on at a lower cost.

Ninth-grader Dianne Miller and seventh-grader Haley Bone dominated the competition at the Cyclone Invitational Cross Country Championships in Russellville. They placed first and third respectively.

Quarterback Michael Easterling scored two touch downs as Pea Ridge held off Mountainburg to deliver their first conference win of the season.

Church, Pages 2 on 09/29/2010