Recollections

40 Years Ago

Wednesday, Aug. 21, 1974

Pea Ridge Graphic-Scene

A threatening storm that sent many Pea Ridgers to storm cellars left one woman trapped in her own storm cellar. Eva Nickerson took refuge from the storm in a cellar outside her backdoor. The storm pitched a tree down on the cellar trapping her inside. A neighbor, Ross Harp, witnessed the event and came running with an ax to chip away enough limbs to free the elderly woman.

Harrison Brown was elected president of the Blackhawk Booster Club. Other new officers were Tony Dye, vice president, and Bobby Carter, secretary-treasurer.

A basketball-size cantaloupe was raised by Mr. and Mrs. Everett Samuel of Pea Ridge. It weighed 15 pounds, four ounces. The fruit grew on a volunteer plant that came up in a potato row.

30 Years Ago

Wednesday, Aug. 22, 1984

Pea Ridge Country Times

The Pea Ridge Blackhawk Booster Club elected Mike Small as president, Randy Easterling as vice president, JoAnn Sorrell as secretary-treasurer and Sharon Webb as reporter.

20 Years Ago

Thursday, Aug. 25, 1994

The TIMES of Northeast Benton County

Enrollment in the Pea Ridge School District jumped nearly 10 percent from the time school closed last spring to when the new year began. Pea Ridge School superintendent Marvin Higginbottom said that there were 835 students enrolled in the school when the school year ended in June and 917 students were enrolled when school started in August.

The proficiency of the Pea Ridge Fire Department has improved so much in the past two decades that the city's fire risk rating will leap three notches effective Sept. 1 giving home and business owners a dramatic break on fire insurance premiums.

Steve Bloxham of Pea Ridge became the new owner of Ozark Feed, established in 1988. Bloxham was employed in the feed business for two years before he bought it from Bill Patterson.

10 Years Ago

Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2004

The TIMES of Northeast Benton County

School Board members met Aug. 17 and hired Marcia Moore to teach kindergarten and Londa Kever to teach high school English. The first day of school was Thursday, Aug. 19, so board members had to fill all the vacancies before then. They also hired Teresa Cochran, high school special education aide; Alvin Stanley, full-time maintenance; Rick Rose, part-time maintenance, and George Parnell and Brenda David, bus drivers.

The Pea Ridge City Council approved the city business license ordinance. A fee of $50 was to be collected from every business for a business license. Businesses applying after July 1, would only have to pay $25. Council members also voted to allow Jackie Crabtree, who retired from Walmart, to work full-time as mayor and said he could apply for health insurance through the city.