Recollections

50 Years Ago

Pea Ridge Graphic

Vol. 3 No. 48

Thursday, Nov. 28, 1968

In a special session Saturday morning, the Pea Ridge City Council voted to purchase new Christmas lights for the main intersection in town and to meet its share of expense in order to get an old city water tank converted into a Civil Defense shelter. The proposed Civil Defense shelter was built as the original city water tank for the city of Pea Ridge. Located on Davis Street, south of the Pea Ridge Laundryette, it has walls of five-inch re-enforced concrete and once held 30,000 gallons of water. Kitchen Cave located in the east part of Pea Ridge has already been designated as a CD shelter, and provisions for it are now stored at Sisco Funeral Home. The county DC director announced recently that county equipment will be used soon to bulldoze out the entrance and make the cave more easily accessible.

Meeting in regular monthly session Monday night, the Pea Ridge School Board accepted the written resignation of an elementary teacher. School superintendent Andrew Widener told the board that the architect on the classroom addition at the elementary school had requested that the opening of bids, originally scheduled for Nov. 19, be postponed to Dec. 5 to encourage a larger number of bidders. The School Board will a special session that that date, Dec. 5, for the purpose of opening bids on the school addition.

40 Years Ago

Pea Ridge Graphic-Scene

Vol. 13 No. 48

Wednesday, Nov. 29, 1978

School District 109 Board of Education approved a millage rate of 62 mills, same as currently in effect, for the fiscal year July 1980-81 to fund a budget of approximately $825,000 at the regular meeting Monday evening. Other matters before the board included the hiring of a secretary, a teacher's aide, several attendance and registration problems and petitions, actions to economize in various activities and discussions of the next school election March 13, 1979. After a very short discussion and with the understanding that because the state law requires action two years in advance on the school budget and tax rate, the board approved the proposed 1980-81 budget and the millage rate of 62 for the fiscal year.

Two 14-year-old Pea Ridge school boys found and retrieved a U.S. National Weather Service balloon Monday on McCulloch Street in the city. Kevin Bray and Doug Howell spotted the parachute and radiosonde on their way to school Monday morning and couldn't take time to try to get them down. After school they retrieved the materials from the roof of a house and from high line wires. On the box was the following "Notice to Finder": "this instrument is the property of the United States Government NOAA -- National Weather Service. This weather instrument, know as a 'Radiosonde' was released to measure the temperature, pressure, humidity and winds at various heights above the ground. The radiosonde operated as a radio transmitter which was tracked to a height of above 17 miles. If found in the United State, mail at any post office or hand to your rural carrier."

An overflow crowd attended Pea Ridge's first annual Union Thanksgiving service last Wednesday evening at the First United Methodist church. The pews were filled and extra chairs filled with wall spaces and center aisle as members of the congregations of local area churches crowded together for the hour and a half service of thanks to God. Serving as masters of ceremony were the Rev. Baker for the first half of the program and the Rev. Bill Armstrong for the concluding half.

30 Years Ago

The TIMES of Northeast Benton County

Vol. 23 No. 48

Thursday, Dec. 1, 1988

The president of the Pea Ridge Chamber of Commerce has proposed the introduction of high school automobile racing teams as a way to challenge students back into technological studies.President Joyce Hale outlined the proposal last week at the monthly meeting of the chamber. In her proposal, Mrs. Hale said "A way must be found to attract students back to technology in a manner that offers prestige and status among their peers along with education potential." Mrs. Hale's concept would establish a pilot program involving five to six rural school districts over a five-year-period.

A group of people in covered wagons following the historic Trail of Tears to commemorate the forced march of thousands of Cherokee Indians 150 years ago, passed through Pea Ridge Saturday. Paul Vance, a retired pilot from Fredrick Town, Mo., taking part in the journey, said the train began in Red Clay, Tenn., the ancestral Cherokee home, in September with six wagons. The train will arrive in Tahlequah, Okla., on Saturday with a total of 20 wagons and 106 people. Tahlequah was the Oklahoma capital of the Cherokee Nation. Vance said that a main goal of the commemorative trip is to educate today's young people about the suffering the native Americans were forced to endure.

Dentists have come and gone in Pea Ridge over the years. Barry Scott is one of them. He's back in Pea Ridge and this time he intends to stay. Scott, who started Pea Ridge Dental Clinic with Dr. Bob Matlock some eight years ago and operated it for four years, has bought Matlock's interest in the clinic."We worked it for about four years." Scott said, "and we thought it was time for Pea Ridge to have a full-time dentist." He said, however that the two could not find a dentist interested in operating the clinic full-time. Scott said that he anticipates making the Pea Ridge clinic a full-time clinic.

20 Years Ago

The TIMES of Northeast Benton County

Vol. 33 No. 48

Thursday, Dec. 3, 1998

The eighth annual Pea Ridge Area Ministerial Alliance Angel Tree has been raised and decorated in Pea Ridge City Hall. The tree displays angel decorations on which are written information about children in the area who might not otherwise experience a joyful Christmas because of their household's financial situation. Kathleen Everett, a coordinator of the Angel tree, said, "It started from the community's desire that all children have a happy Christmas. It stems particularly from the caring and generous community that we live in." Mrs. Everett said, "We have a significant increase in angels on our tree and expect more this week. The ministerial alliance has seen an increase in applications for all forms of help and we always are gratified by the generosity at Christmas, so go choose an angel from the tree at City Hall."

The Summit Water Project is no more, at least as far as the City of Pea Ridge is concerned. The Summit project involved providing potable water to at least 400 rural customers from north of Pea Ridge to the Missouri line and from Pea Ridge west to the border with Bella Vista. The City Council voted to assume control of the project and filed for and got a $2.1 million loan from the Arkansas Soil and Water Agency to guild Summit, which was to include up to 53 miles of main. Mayor Jackie Crabtree said that the Summit committee that was refused authorization by the Quorum Court can now proceed if it still wants a Summit project. A spokesman for the Summit committee, Frank Manasseri said, "We're going to meet soon to decide what to do."

As Christmas approaches, there's nothing like a roaring fire in your fireplace to make home for the holidays a warm experience. Unfortunately, danger can lurk in your fireplace or chimney, said Frank Roth, a forester who works for the Cooperative Extension Service. There were 107 reported chimney and fireplace fires at Arkansas residences in 1996, according to the Arkansas Fire Training Academy.

10 Years Ago

The TIMES of Northeast Benton County

Vol. 43 No. 48

Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008

The holiday season is being ushered into town through many community activities this week. This past week, Pea Ridge Street Department employees placed lighted green wreaths on the street light poles and hung a sign proclaiming "Seasons' Greetings" on North Curtis Avenue. The annual Pea Ridge Christmas parade is set for 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6, according to Mayor Jackie Crabtree. Immediately following the parade and lighting ceremony, both the Pea Ridge Historical Society and the Regional Chamber of Commerce will host an Open House.

Operation Homefront and Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. will once again bring Christmas to every military base in the nation. On Dec. 15, military families of all branches will have their choice of an estimated four million holiday gifts donated by patrons of the more than 3,300 Dollar Tree stores nationwide, alongside other items donated to Operation Homefront. "Thanks to Dollar Tree, we believe this will be the largest holiday event for military families in American," said Amy Palmer, chief operation officer of Operation Homefront.

Members of the Pea Ridge Varsity Cheer Squad took first place at both the Van Buren Invitational and the Harmony Grove Invitational Cheer competitions. The squad will compete Saturday, Dec. 6, in Bryant, Ark., for the state championship.