Dollar General coming to town this fall

— There will soon be a new business in town. Dollar General is to open its doors Sept. 1 just west of the car wash on U.S. Highway 62.

The decision to come to Garfield was largely due to the efforts of Dale King.

Whether as a council member or a justice of the peace, King works to promote his community without concern remuneration. King was instrumental in getting the Dollar General store located in this small northeast Benton County town, according to Mayor Laura Hamilton.

“I took them down there and showed them the property,” King said, when asked about the new business. He said he had heard the company had been looking but no longer was. He called Charlie Montgomery in Greenfield, Miss., and asked what itwould take to get a store in Garfield. He said, “Well, he said nobody had helped them and I said ‘I’m your Huckleberry.’”

King drove Montgomery and other representatives from the company around the area and showed them several pieces of property.

“I’m pleased it finally worked,” King said. “Garfield is coming a long ways.”

“I went over and bush hogged the property about a month ago,”King said. “I’m the go-fer. I feel like it’s well worth it. I like to see progress.”

King came to northwest Arkansas in 1957 from Dardenell when his mother remarried and moved up here. He said he has always taken an active part in building the community.

Although he’s retired from his career, he works still for the community.

King, who resigned his City Council seat after he was electedto the Benton County Quorum Court and learned he could not legally hold both positions, has donated work to the city several times. He prepared the ground where the city park is located and laughs when he remembers that someone complained that the job should have been bid.

“I did it for nothing. Nobody wanted to underbid that,” he said.

King’s wife, Ellen, was appointed to replace him on the City Council.

News, Pages 1 on 07/20/2011