Politics

PRESCOTT – Students from Nevada Elementary School’s sixth grade took a field trip Thursday. The trip brought the students to Prescott where they learned about local government, the extension homemakers, health department and city and county government. They started by visiting the Nevada County Library where they were told about how the library works. From there, it was on to the Nevada County Courthouse where they met with the Nevada County Extension Homemakers Club, the Nevada County Health Unit, Prescott City Mayor and Nevada County Judge, along with hearing from Mary Godwin, executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office.

PRESCOTT – Prescott Mayor Terry Oliver signed a proclamation Thursday morning at the City Municipal Building proclaiming May to be Extension Homemakers Month. Originally, the organization was known as the Extension Homemakers Home Demonstration in 1912, to help individuals and families improve their quality of living. Now, the EHC is a volunteer group associated with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service, offering the latest research-based information in the areas of family and consumer sciences, agriculture and community development.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on May 6, 2024, declared Clark, Dallas and Nevada counties as disaster areas following severe storms and flooding that affected Arkansas on Jan. 22. Sanders’s executive action says the weather event “continues to cause dangers, hardships and suffering” for the affected areas.

The Hope City Board met in the City Hall Boardroom on Tuesday (5-7). There was a meeting at 6pm of the steering committee discussing projects to present to be funded by a proposed tax. . During this meeting there was a presentation of the costs and alterations of each project and discussion of how to make the project work. Dan Beronek with McClellan Engineers said the majority want a recreation center.

City of Hope Mayor Don Still, Director Reginald Easter and City Manager JR Wilson met with Governor Sanders and AEDC staff to receive a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant Award to improve the City’s wastewater system. LITTLE ROCK – Last Thursday, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders along with Secretary Hugh...

WASHINGTON – As part of the “Brushstrokes from the Heart” Exhibit, the work of a current Hempstead County artist will be featured every two months. Through the end of June, samples of the work of Carole Braden of Perrytown, Arkansas will be on display as part of the exhibit. Come out and support this local artist.

PRESCOTT – There was a new venue for the Annual Hines Safety and Awards Banquet Saturday. This year, for the first time, the event was held at the Barn and Willow Oaks instead of the Hempstead County Coliseum. Nobody seemed to mind as the employees took the opportunity to catch up with one another and swap stories. The place was filled with employees and their families. A table at the front of the building held the awards, while door prizes were next to it.

The Howard County 4-H will be hosting their 1st Annual Shooting Sports Fundraiser on Saturday June 8th, from 8am to 6pm. This event will be held at the Rick Evans Grandview Prairie located at 1685 Hempstead 35 Rd in Columbus. 4-H Member Asher Howard provided some more of the details...

HOPE, AR, MAY 2, 2024 – On Wednesday, May 1, 2024, Hope Public School District’s School Improvement Specialist Dr. Carla Narlesky served on a three-person panel and spoke at the Arkansas Rural Education Network (AREN) meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas. An AREN grant provided by the Walton Foundation allowed a partnership with the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) to further strengthen curriculum implementation and leadership development initiatives. In addition to Dr. Narlesky, Dr. Nathan Morris, Superintendent of Cross County and Dr. Brenda Poole, Superintendent of Brinkley also served on the panel, which focused on the topics including: Leadership pathways within school districts, AREN support of Instructional Leadership Teams, Professional Learning Communities and High Quality Instructional Materials.

EMMET – In a special called meeting of the Emmet City Council Monday night, the panel voted to allow Hannah Hines Holding to “assume management of the Emmet school facility”. This was the only item on the agenda. Emmet Mayor Dale Booker told the council Hines had...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Tuesday (April 23) that the Hope Enterprise Corporation will receive $93.67 million from the Solar for All grant program to fund residential solar that benefits low-income and disadvantaged communities in Arkansas. Hope is a group of development organizations that help communities in the...

(pictured are Office Manager/Program Coordinator Brandi Tuttle and EDC President Anna Powell) The Hope Lions Club heard from the Hempstead County Economic Development Corporation on Monday (4-29). Anna Powell, President, explained the make-up of the EDC which includes two members from the quorum court, two members from the City Board, ex-officio members including our local representatives in the legislature, the chancellor of UAHT, County Judge Jerry Crane, and City Manager J.R. Wilson. There also elected members from the investor group. Powell noted there are about thirty private investors and three people are elected from this membership each year. The EDC is funded by contracts from the county, the city of Hope, and Hope Water & Light. Other funding comes from the membership investment for both individuals and local companies.

EMMET – Rain held off Saturday, allowing the Emmet Health Fair to be held at the pavilion in Firemen’s Park as planned. Earlier in the week there were concerns the event would have to be moved to the storm shelter, but the weather cooperated and the pavilion was packed with vendors and visitors. While the rain held off, the wind didn’t and papers were blown hither and yon. DeAnna Allen, one of the sponsors, said the fair was to educate people of the services available. The event, she added, was sponsored by the United Christian Church, Wadley Regional Hospital and the city of Emmet.

Many of us know Dan Morales of Hope, either as an Arkansas Highway Patrol Officer or through his current job as a bailiff at the Hempstead County Courthouse. But the story of how Morales came to Hope is fascinating. A native of Costa Rica, whose father was a career diplomat,...

In previous articles, mention has already been made of numerous major figures involved in the building of the new First Presbyterian Church on South Main Street in Hope. None was more important or more prominent than that of Judge James H. Pilkinton. His career would continue for many years after the completion of the new church in early 1954 and the Centennial celebration of the church in 1961. Pilkinton was the son of Ivison L. Pilkinton and Louise Betts Pilkinton of Hope and Washington, Arkansas. I. L. Pilkinton had been born in Guernsey in 1887. He had married Louise Betts, a member of a well-known family in the Hope area, on June 6, 1911, and they became the parents of five children. (Mrs. Pilkinton’s full maiden name was Virginia Louise Betts, and she was a niece of Augusta Betts Barr—the mother of Rev. John T. Barr whose life and career was covered in an earlier article.) Ivison Pilkinton had had a hardware store in Washington, Arkansas, for years, had served two terms in the Arkansas Legislature from 1931 to 1935 and 1935 to 1937 and was head of the Hempstead County office of the State Revenue Department at the time of his death at the age of fifty-eight on March 23, 1945. He was also an elder of the First Presbyterian Church on Second Street in Hope, the site of his funeral service, and a member of the Masonic Lodge. The pastors of both the Washington and Hope Presbyterian Churches officiated at the funeral.

EMMET – United Christian Church of Emmet along with The City of Emmet and Wadley Regional Medical Center of Hope will host a Community Health Fair in Emmet to increase awareness of health & wellness benefits, current and catastrophic illnesses that frequent our communities and ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Many health and wellness agencies will be onsite to navigate you through various health concerns and topics. Wadley Regional Medical Center of Hope will provide free health screenings.

Axel Yhoss, a senior at the Hope Collegiate Academy, has received the Arkansas Governor’s Distinguished Scholarship. The Governor’s Distinguished Scholarship is the most academically rigorous scholarship program for graduating seniors in Arkansas. Yhoss is the second Hope Collegiate Academy student to receive this prestigious scholarship in the last three years.

EMMET – Changes are coming to Emmet. Hannah Hines, chief executive officer of Hines Trucking, Inc., talked about her plans for the Emmet community, starting with establishing a new school there. This was done at a picnic held at the pavilion at Firemen’s Park Tuesday. Hines said her passion is education and there’s no college prep here. She’s been working with Emmet Mayor Dale Booker on rebuilding the old Emmet school and hopes to be ready for class by August.