ABOUT | July 2016

Directing Sunbeams

Reflecting the Character of the Arkansas River Valley July 2016

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www.aboutrvmag.com

Back to School AUG

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Center Valley: 5401 SR 124 Crawford: 1116 N. Parker Rd. Dwight: 1300 W. Second Place London: 154 School Street Oakland Heights: 1501 S. Detroit Sequoyah: 1601 W. 12th Street Mon-Fri: 8a-4p

Classroom assignments posted: Aug 11 at Noon

Russellville High School (10-12)

AUG

Registration Dates

Elementary Schools (K-4)

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2203 S. Knoxville n 968-3151 Mon-Fri: 8a-3p Schedule Pickup: 12th Grade: Aug 3 11th Grade: Aug 4 10th Grade: Aug 5

AUG AUG AUG JULY

Monday, August 15

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Preschool

1000 S. Arkansas Ave. n 967-6025 Accepting applications for the 2016-17 school year.

Must be 3 or 4 years old by Aug 1.

Upper Elementary 5th Grade

1201 W. 4th Place n 968-2650 n Mon-Fri: 8a-noon & 1-4p Classroom assignments: Aug 10, 4-6p

Russellville Middle School (6-7)

1203 W. 4th Place n 968-2557 n Mon-Fri: 8a-noon & 1-4p Schedule Pickup: Aug 4, 5-7p & Aug 5, 9a-3p.

Parents are asked to attend with their child.

Russellville Junior High School (8-9) 2000 W. Parkway n 968-1599 n Mon-Fri: 8a-3p Schedule Pickup: Aug 4, 5:30-8p & Aug 5, 8a-3:30p.

Parents are asked to attend with their child.

Registration Information: Students who attended Russellville School District last year are pre-registered. All students new to the district should register at the school in their zone, and should contact the school attended last year as well as the one to be attended this year.

For more information about the registration process at each school, visit the RSD website at www.russellvilleschools.net 2

ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

To register students will need: 端 端 端 端

Birth Certificate Social Security Card Immunization Records Medicaid Card (if applicable)

905 E. MAIN, RUSSELLVILLE • 479.968.7071 1003 S. ROGERS, CLARKSVILLE • 479.754.7075 JULY 2016 ~ ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY

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TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S

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J U LY 2 0 1 6 E D I T I O N

Pg16

Pg8

Pg30

8 Directing Sunbeams

Nothing says the growing season is here quite like the drone of bees diligently collecting their golden nectar, and nothing tastes quite as nice as sweet wildflower honey. Just northeast of Russellville, Rick Holland’s bees have been gathering nectar in Hector since 1986.

14 What’s a Hippie?

16 Your Pope County Library

The unmistakable smell of books fills the Russellville branch and main office of the Pope County Library System. It’s the scent of knowledge and creativity condensed. The River Valley has had this plethora of information available for nearly 80 years..

30 A Field of Angels

Subscribe Today!

Have every issue of ABOUT...the River Valley delivered to you monthly!

Subscribe online today at www.aboutrvmag.com or send a $20 check for a One-Year Subscription (11 Issues) to ABOUT Magazine 220 East 4th Street Russellville, AR 72801 Call 479.219.5031 for more information.

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ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

Mark Brashear is the founder of A Field of Angels, a baseball league dedicated to special needs kids and their families. The nonprofit’s mission statement is to help children with special needs experience the joy of baseball, in a positive and safe environment.

42 Petit Jean Auto Show

48 Little Lives of the Creek

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JULY 2016 ~ ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY

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A PAGE FROM

The Editor’s Notebook

It was 1980 something

If you’ve still got your Van Halen 5150 cassette, go ahead and click it into the deck and push play. If you could never dig on “Van Hagar” then Bon Jovi or Guns & Roses or Poison or Ratt will work. But you gotta have some Alabama and Waylon, and maybe some Hank Sr. to balance it all out. That’s the diet I fed my Pioneer stereo, the one that lived in the cab of my 1969 Chevy pickup.

The truck had a 400-cubic-inch engine topped with a four-barrel Quadrajet carburetor. I was never a gear head (mechanic-ing took time away from fishing), but I knew how to tweak the Quadrajet to get its full benefit.

With one simple adjustment a punched gas pedal resulted in an abrupt roar from glasspacks as twice the usual amount of fuel and air dumped into that small-block motor instantaneously. Satisfying yelps from the too-wide, 50-series tires wrapped around gleaming chrome spoke wheels often accompanied the roar. This is what 8-miles-per-gallon of fuel economy sounded like. And the only thing that made it sound better was hair-band rock with some country twang on the side in honor of my roots. When you put it all together, it was the anthem of summer nights for many Generation Xers here in the River Valley.

The cruise route was 4th Street, down Arkansas Avenue, circle through McDonald’s parking lot then backtrack. Stoplights were our makeshift testing grounds as we jockeyed for position and timing to meet the rig we wanted to challenge just as the light turned red. Then it was a pipe-racking stare down waiting for the green.

And we wonder why our parents worried.

Thankfully, teenagers and how they spend summer nights in the River Valley have changed a lot in the 25-plus years since my white Chevy cruised through town — music blaring, skinny tan arm hanging out the window, the humid night air billowing through my mullet — and I believe it’s for the best. We can’t afford to be wasteful with petroleum. Loud music hurts my middle-aged ears. Too much sun can cause all kinds of skin problems. And mullets… do I even need to mention that our world is a better place without mullets?

But on some summer nights, when the air is thick and the moon wears a mischievous grin, I think back to a carefree time. And I can almost hear a wailing guitar over the low rumble of eight-cylinders pulsing down the streets of Russellville.

Johnny Carrol Sain, Editor johnny@aboutrvmag.com

Celebrating a Decade of Character in the Arkansas River Valley A Publication of One14 Productions, Inc Vol. XI, Issue 6 – July 2016

DIANNE EDWARDS | founding editor JOHNNY CARROL SAIN | managing editor johnny@aboutrvmag.com BENITA DREW | advertising benita@aboutrvmag.com CHRISTINE SAIN | advertising christine@aboutrvmag.com MEREDITH MARTIN-MOATS | freelance meredith@aboutrvmag.com SARAH CHENAULT | freelance sarah@aboutrvmag.com LYDIA ZIMMERMAN | columnist lydia@aboutrvmag.com LIZ CHRISMAN | photography lizchrismanphoto@gmail.com CHRIS ZIMMERMAN | layout/design chris@aboutrvmag.com CLIFF THOMAS | illustrator maddsigntist@aboutrvmag.com

ABOUT… the River Valley is locally owned and published for distribution by direct mail and targeted delivery to those interested in the Arkansas River Valley.

Material contained in this issue may not be copied or reproduced without written consent. Inquiries may be made by calling (479) 219-5031.

Office: 220 East 4th Street Email: info@aboutrvmag.com Postmaster: Please send address changes to: One14 Productions 220 East 4th Street Russellville, AR 72801

Benita DREW

ad ver t isi ng

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ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

Liz

CHRISMAN

phot og r a ph e r

Chris

ZIMMERMAN

l ayo u t/ d e s ig n

(479) 264- 2438

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS: JULY 2016 July 2 — Second Annual RiverDawgs 5K Run/Walk in Clarksville from 7-10 a.m.

Starts and ends at First Baptist Church.

All preregistered entries will receive a T-shirt. For more information contact agreeder@yahoo.com July 4 — City of Russellville Firework Display on Lock and Dam Road in Russellville at 9:25pm.

July 9 — Single Parent Scholarship Fund of Logan County will sponsor a four-person scramble Golf Tournament at Little Creek Golf Club in Ratcliff. Registration at 8am and shotgun start at 9am. Cost $200 per team with cash prizes and free lunch and drinks. For Hole-in-One Ft. Smith Golf Cars is offering a 2016 Yamaha Golf Cart. All money raised will provide post-secondary scholarships for single parents in Logan County. For information contact Jessica Philmon 438-0013 or Kay Johns 438-2067.

July 13-15 — Nature Explorers Day Camp at Lake Dardanelle State Park. Admission: $65. Exploring the natural world around us. Hikes, kayak, experience wildlife, and much more. The camp is open to kids ages 8-12. Camp registration includes meals and supplies.

For more information contact 967-5516.

July 20-23 — Johnson County Peach Festival. The Johnson County Peach

ABOUT...the River Valley

Festival, one of the oldest festivals in the state of Arkansas, is celebrating their 75th anniversary. In honor of turning 75, this year’s theme is Peach Jubilee.

Enjoy movie night on the square, 5K run/walk, contests, pageants and much more. For more information contact 754-9152.

July 28 — Single Parent Scholarship Fund of Pope & Yell Counties 19th Annual Shrimp & Catfish Dinner at 1000 E Parkway in Russellville from 5-7 p.m.

All-you-can-eat peel & eat shrimp, fried catfish, chicken tenders, hushpuppies, fries, pickled tomatoes and more. Plus sundae bar, music, silent auction, and t.v. raffle. Tickets are sold at the door: Adults: $20, Age 7-10: $10, Age 6 & under: Free.

For more information contact 970-8800.

July 30 — Food 4 Paranormal Stories Community Food Drive for Ray of Hope. Heritage Hall next to Russellville Pope County Library from noon-1 p.m.

Spooky stories, EVP, readings. Free admission but bring a donation of nonperishable food items, please. Hosted

by River Valley Paranormal Research and Investigators, LLC. founder Duwane Ledbetter. For more information contact 567-6292.

July 30 — Music Downtown @ Sundown in Downtown Russellville at 8 p.m. For more information contact 967-1716.

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*Unless otherwise indicated, all area codes are 479. To have your event included in the ABOUT Calendar of Events, email: editor@aboutrvmag.com or fax to (479) 219-5031. Deadline is the 15th of the month preceding publication.

August 3 — 2016 River Valley Business Expo at Tucker Coliseum from 9 a.m.

- 4 p.m. For more information contact 968-2530.

August 6 — Donny Edwards: A tribute to Elvis. Two-time world champion Elvis tribute artist was selected as the first and only Elvis entertainer to ever perform on the estate of Graceland. Also featuring the 9 member band, Fever. For tickets go to http://www.russellvillecenter.net/ or call 832-312-0074.

Celebrate Independence Day with a FSB MyStyle Debit Card

Member FDIC

fsbmybank.com

479-498-2400 JULY 2016 ~ ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY

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ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

Nothing says the growing season is here quite like the drone of bees diligently collecting their golden nectar, and nothing tastes quite as nice as sweet wildflower honey.

Just northeast of Russellville, Rick Holland’s bees have been gathering nectar in Hector since 1986, making Holland Family Honey a staple in the River Valley for 30 years. Rick started with just two colonies, but over the years the operation has grown into a full fledged honey farm: 150 hives strong.

Story by MIKE QUAIN | Photos by LIZ CHRISMAN

JULY 2016 ~ ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY

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The idea took shape in a doctor’s office. Rick’s allergies were causing chronic sinus infections, and he had tried everything with minimal success. An acupuncturist recommended eating local honey, but Rick was unable to find any local honey in the area. Fortunately for Rick, a copy of Field & Stream magazine in that doctor’s office held the answer to his troubles. In the back of the magazine he saw an ad for a bee supply company. A few weeks later his hives and bees were on their way.

The hives -- wooden boxes with structures for the bees to build upon and removable frames allowing the beekeeper to harvest honey and monitor colony health -- arrived first. A few days later the bees arrived. “They came through the US Post Office,” Rick recalls. The bees came in small wooden boxes with a screen mesh on either side. Inside each box was a queen along with three pounds of worker bees.

The bees were provided with enough sugar water to sustain them during transit. “The

“The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.” ~ HENRY DAVID THOREAU

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ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

Post Office called when the bees came in,” Rick said. “They told me to get there and get there quick.”

Rick has amassed a wealth of knowledge over his 30 years on the farm, and he is eager to share his experience with curious customers and writers.

During our interview he was able to sense what his bees were doing just by the sound of their buzzing. “That lower humming means that the males [drones] are leaving the hive to find mates,” he said. Drones are one of three types of bees in the hive. These three types work together as a unit to produce the honey we know and love.

The queen bee arguably plays the most important role in the hive, and a colony couldn’t survive without her. She is also the biggest bee in the hive and is responsible for laying eggs and leading the hive through pheromone signals. A queen bee can lay about 1,500 eggs per day during the spring build up. She mates with up to eighteen drones during one

short period, just a few days, of her life.

Afterward she can produce fertile eggs for the rest of her 3-4 year lifetime.

Each hive has up to 200 male drones whose only purpose is to mate with a queen. They’re bigger than the average worker bee and have more sensitive eyes, useful for spotting queens on their nuptial flights. The drone lives a short, tragic life.

They are fed and cared for by worker bees until they are strong enough to begin mating flights. During these flights, the drone will find a place to congregate with

“The Post Office called when the bees came in.

They told me to get there and get there quick.”

other drones from other hives sometimes up to four miles from their home colony. If they are lucky they will have a chance to mate with a virgin queen. Upon fertilization the drone will die. To conserve energy within the hive, any drones still alive when winter draws near will be forced out of the hive to starve.

The bees most often seen collecting nectar and pollinating plants are female worker bees. As the name suggests, worker bees labor for the hive to ensure its survival.

Worker bees take on many jobs. Their first job is nurse duty. They feed and take care of their larvae siblings for about two weeks.

After serving time with the young, they take responsibility for carrying food and storing nectar gathered by the foragers. Once a worker reaches adulthood she gathers nectar for the hive until she dies of exhaustion. A worker bee lives only three weeks during peak foraging season.

A single worker bee produces only 1/8 teaspoon of honey in its lifetime, and a single teaspoon of honey requires 10,000 miles of flight. Rick estimates that a good honey producing hive consists of 60,000 - 80,000 bees during the summer months. Any less than that and the bees can only produce just enough honey to provide for themselves. A strong hive will produce more honey than they can use; that’s the honey that goes to market. Rick estimates that one colony produces 100 pounds of honey each year. “We produced eleven 55-gallon barrels of honey last season,” he said Rick explains that bees produce honey as food for themselves. “We don’t feed our bees,” he said. “They have to sustain themselves.” If a hive is weak Rick will supplement them with sugar water, but natural honey is healthier.

“Sugar will get them through. It will help them build up and produce more brood to increase their numbers, but in my opinion the honey is a better source of food for them,” he said.

Honey bees are one of the few insects that survive winter as a colony, but they don’t hibernate. They just slow down. The queen stops laying in the winter, and most of the hive dies off. Drone bees are forced outside the hive to starve, and worker bees form a cluster around the queen to keep her warm. They use their body heat and stores of honey to keep her at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The queen begins laying again soon after the winter solstice. >> JULY 2016 ~ ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY

11

As the days grow warmer, the queen builds up her colony, hatching thousands of new worker bees and replacing the old winter bees who gradually die off.

Additionally, the queen will rear drones

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ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

and up to four new queens. “A hive swarms in the springtime every year to ensure the survival of the species,” Rick said.“The old queen and half the bees leave the hive to start another colony somewhere else.”

These bees will cluster on a tree limb just long enough for scout bees to find a perfect location for the new hive. In nature, scout bees will decide on a location and perform a dance to inform the rest of the swarm of the location. Once the swarm decides on a location, they break up and settle in the new spot where they immediately start building wax structures. A lucky beekeeper may be able to capture a swarm before it settles and brush them into a new hive.

Keeping bees has far reaching benefits on the farm. Holding a blackberry, Rick said, “The size of the fruit is determined by the pollination.” A well pollinated flower produces more seeds per berry and bigger fruit. Rick’s blackberries are often the size of his thumb. His homegrown squash and cucumber benefit from honeybee pollination as well since both plants have a male and female flower. Without pollination from bees they won’t bear fruit.

With the bee’s help they produce delicious summertime snacks. “We picked 90 pounds [of squash] yesterday and we’ll pick about

the same amount tomorrow,” Rick said.

The bees also produce useful wax that Rick and his wife incorporate into chapstick and a lotion stick for rough skin areas. In addition, they produce a hand lotion that doesn’t leave your hands greasy. In some cases they send the wax to a bee supplier who will reform it into a foundation that bees can form their honeycombs on.

Rick inspects his hives every two to three weeks to keep an eye on hive health, honey stores, and space needs. He doesn’t usually wear a suit, but does wear gloves and a veil. “If you handle your smoker right, and your bees are calm enough, you don’t always have to have a suit,” he said.

However, there are two situations when he does wears the full suit: in the early spring when they first open the hives, and in the late fall when they medicate for mites.

“Bees are more aggressive in the fall when their crop is stored and they don’t have as much to gather,” he said. When the bees are less busy, they’re especially aggressive.

You may have seen one of Rick’s observation hives at Lake Dardanelle

State Park. He donated the colony in 2005 and regularly maintains it. You can watch worker bees go about their business, collecting pollen and nectar and caring for the hive. The queen bee has a white dot painted on her for easy identification.

If you wish to purchase Holland Family

Honey, it can be found at the Russellville Farmer’s Market, Harps in Dover and Russellville, B & W Feed in Dover, and Mac’s Food Market in Hector.

As for Rick’s allergies, he said he hasn’t been to the doctor with a sinus infection in 30 years. l

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EVERY DAY LIFE

ABOUT...the River Valley

What’s a Hippie?

Story by SARAH CHENAULT Illustration by CLIFF THOMAS

Fireworks and food, sparklers and bottle rockets, patriotism and the red, white and blue… festivities ring out all over the country for days before Independence Day, and several days after. It’s one of my favorite holidays and equally beloved by my son. He, along with nearly all children, loves the excitement that comes from watching the fireworks surge into the air and light up the night sky.

Last Fourth of July, Raff and I set off to buy fireworks. We passed Chick-fil-A on the way, and he asked if we could stop for lunch. I obliged and made a right turn toward the restaurant. As I drove towards the entrance, Raff noticed a man perched on a rock holding a sign. He was bearded and scruffy, his clothes wrinkled and dirty, and his shoes a mere fragment of the footwear they had once been.

“Mom, there’s my friend that needs food,” Raff said, pointing.

“Don’t point,” I hissed. “That’s very rude.

Don’t worry, we’ll get him something.”

As we frequent Chick-fil-A, Raff had become accustomed to picking up lunch for the man on the rock or anyone else he felt may be in need of food or drink.

After we received our order, I turned my car toward the direction of the man on the rock. He gave us a slight smile as we slowed down to pull up next to his perch.

Raff ruffled through the red and white bags containing our lunch, selected the one that was purchased for his friend and hopped out of my car. He immediately began an animated conversation with the man and I watched with pride as my son conversed with the older gentlemen. Raff drew a grin and a chuckle, then a gravelly response from the man. The two shook hands and Raff bid him a good day and climbed back 14

ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

into the vehicle. Once he was buckled in, he turned to me with a serious face.

“Mom, what does it mean to be homeless?” Raff asked.

“Well, it means that someone doesn’t have a house to live in,” I explained.

“So, if they don’t have a house to live in, where do they sleep at night?”

“Well, sometimes they might sleep in their car, if they have one, or maybe a tent, if they have one. But some homeless people don’t have anything at all. That’s why it’s so important to help people anytime we see an opportunity. You never know what their situation may be.”

“I like helping people,” Raff said.

“I know you do, sweetie. And I love that about you. You have a very generous heart,” I told him.

“I’m gonna look for people to help everywhere I go,” he said excitedly.

I just smiled and continued driving.

A few moments later, we arrived at the fireworks stand. Raff jumped out of the car and made a beeline for the red, white and blue striped tent. Upon entering, a friendly man greeted us and handed us both a red plastic shopping basket.

In one corner, there were piles of fireworks designated for children neatly

stacked in rows on a long white table. I steered Raff in that direction. Raff searched through his options, selected a few items and placed them in his shopping basket. I noticed a display of Roman candles on the adjacent table.

“I’m going to step right over here to this table, Raff. Stay right here, and finish picking out what you want, OK?” I said.

Raff briefly glanced my way.

“OK,” he said.

I walked to the other display table. After a few moments, I made my selections and glanced back in Raff’s direction. No Raff.

My eyes flickered over the faces in the tent.

No Raff. My heart began to race and panic crept over me.

“Hey mom!”

I spun around, my heart still thumping wildly in my throat.

There Raff stood, his red shopping basket still in his hands, standing next to a heavily bearded man with dread locks.

The man’s clothes were rumpled and dirty, and his big toes protruded awkwardly from both of his shoes.

“Raff!” I exclaimed. “I told you to stay at this table. I was very worried when I couldn’t find you!”

Story continued on page 41...

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ABOUT...the River Valley magazine is 10 years old, and we couldn’t have done it without YOU! To show our appreciation for your support we will be rewarding one lucky subscriber for each month of 2016 with a $100 Gift Card from one of our many loyal and local advertisers!

UPCOMING PRIZES FROM: Peters Family Living • Rose Drug Taylor’s Nursery SPECIAL THANKS TO Gifts on Parkway • Millyn’s • Catfish N Kitchen Essentials • Fat Daddy’s BBQ

For just $20, you’ll receive 11 issues of ABOUT in the mail! Your subscription (or subscription renewal) will also automatically enter you in our MONTHLY PRIZE GIVEAWAY. Each month a subscriber will be randomly selected to receive a $100 Gift Card from one of our many advertisers. The sooner you subscribe, the more chances you have to win!

Subscribe online at www.aboutrvmag.com or send a $20 check to: 220 East 4th Street, Russellville AR 72801 JULY 2016 ~ ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY

15

“Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation.” ~ WALTER CRONKITE

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ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

Your Pope County Library

Story by JOHNNY CARROL SAIN Photos by LIZ CHRISMAN

THE UNMISTAKABLE SMELL OF BOOKS fills the Russellville branch and main office of the Pope County Library System. It’s the scent that you expect to meet after passing through the glass doors. It’s the scent of knowledge and creativity condensed. This knowledge and creative genius is free to us, and its dissemination is arguably the most important responsibility of a library. The River Valley has had this plethora of information available and accessible for nearly 80 years.

JULY 2016 ~ ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY

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0

2013 2013 PCLS Library Visits Consortium PCLS LibraryeBook Visits Checkouts Consortium eBook Checkouts

2014 2014 PCLS Website Visits PCLS Website Visits

2015 2015 eBook Checkouts eBook Checkouts

Breakdown of checked-out book types for 2015 Breakdown of checked-out book types for 2015 80,000 80,000 60,000 60,000

71,541 71,541 51,726 51,726

40,000 40,000

46,966 46,966

20,000 20,000 0 0

12,391 12,391 Adult Books Adult Books

Juvenile Books Juvenile Books

Young Adult Books Non-Print Materials Young Adult Books Non-Print Materials

Information Services provided by PCLS in 2015 Information Services provided by PCLS in 2015 70,000 70,000

60,869 60,869

52,500 52,500 35,000 35,000

35,952 35,952

17,500 17,500 0 0

5,045 5,045

Reference Transactions Reference Transactions

Information Questions Information Questions

Electronic Resource Users Electronic Resource Users

Program Attendance for PCLS in 2015 Program Attendance for PCLS in 2015 12,000 12,000

11,564 11,564

9,000 9,000 6,000 6,000 3,000 3,000 0 0

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2,325 2,325 Children’s Programs (196) Children’s Programs (196)

Adult Programs (144) Adult Programs (144)

ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

1,489 1,489

Young Adult Programs (46) Young Adult Programs (46)

In 1936 the federal Works Progress Administration agreed to build a public library in Russellville, Arkansas. The agreement was contingent on land being available and that land was made available through a generous donation from the children of Mrs. Sue Munday Deaton. The property would remain a gift to the county as long as it was used as a library. Total cost of the building was $7,000.00 with $1,151.00 spent on furniture and the Russellville branch of the Pope County Library System formally opened in October 1937 with Mrs. Lucille Hickman as the first paid librarian. This first building, now known as Heritage Hall, served as the library until 1976 when the present building was constructed adjacent to it and in 1989 the Donald E. Harkey Addition was opened. Recent remodeling of the library includes new carpet throughout, a new ceiling in most of the library, and new paint with help from the Russellville Junior Auxiliary in refurbishing the children’s and young adult areas. The property was deeded to the Pope County Library System in 2000.

The creation of that first library in Russellville was an act of community will. The second library building was a continuation of that community will according to current Pope County Library System Director Shawn Piece. “The previous library board had raised funds for it and then the children of the area donated pennies to purchase the 86,000 bricks in the building.” It was a concerted effort that highlighted the best of what Russellville could do while

12,391 0

Despite that wonderful smell of the published word, the library is more than just books, It’s also more than microfilm and computers and internet access. The library provides services that enrich and benefit the individual as well as the community working together. “At that point we didn’t have a millage. There was, I think they called it a community chest or something, there was some funding but we weren’t even into that,” said Shawn.

Much has changed in those 80 years since the first Russellville Library, and much has changed in even the 40 years since the new library building was constructed. The Pope County population has doubled its 1976 numbers and library usage has grown in parallel.

Shawn says it’s time for the library building to grow again. “The library should be four and half times the size it is,” said Shawn, “which means 1,000 square feet bigger than the Tech Library.” This level of growth is a part of the forward-thinking plan for the next 20 years. Despite claims that the library is obsolete in a post-internet world where the corporate name “Google” can be used in verb form as a synonym for research, library usage continues to grow. >>

Adult Books

Juvenile Books

Young Adult Books Non-Print Materials

Pope County Library Visits 2015 Information Services provided byin PCLS in 2015 600000 70,000

60,869

450000 52,500 300000 35,000

35,952

150000 17,500 0 0

80,000 12,000 60,000

2013

2014

2015

5,045 PCLS Library Visits

PCLS Website Visits eBook Checkouts Consortium eBook Checkouts Reference Transactions Information Questions Electronic Resource Users

Breakdown of checked-out book types for 2015 Program Attendance for PCLS in 2015 71,541 11,564

9,000

51,726

46,966

40,000 6,000 20,000 3,000 0 0

2,325 Adult Books

Juvenile Books

Children’s Programs (196)

12,391

1,489 Materials Young Adult Books Non-Print

Adult Programs (144)

Young Adult Programs (46)

Information Services provided by PCLS in 2015 70,000

60,869

52,500

35,000

35,952

17,500

0

5,045 Reference Transactions

Information Questions

Electronic Resource Users

Program Attendance for PCLS in 2015 12,000

11,564

9,000

6,000

3,000

2,325 0

Children’s Programs (196)

Adult Programs (144)

1,489 Young Adult Programs (46)

JULY 2016 ~ ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY

19

Our thoughts on the library/lots/rezoning issue

By JOHNNY CARROL SAIN, Editor of ABOUT...the River Valley magazine

ABOUT the River Valley firmly and unequivocally supports the Pope County Library System and its growth. With that being said, we want to offer clarity regarding the current rezoning/library/Casey’s convenience store discussion.

The debate is over the sale of two lots, and the rezoning of one of those lots, to Casey’s General Store, Inc. The lots are a focal point because they’ve been on the Pope County Library System’s wish list as part of PCLS planned expansion. The debate has been framed up as a choice — either the library or the convenience store.

This framing, however, is not accurate.

The two lots in question are privately owned and, as such, no government entity has power to influence the usage or sale of those lots outside of zoning requirements.

It’s an example of free-market economics, and I believe it’s safe to say that all of us appreciate this level of autonomy. Speaking just for myself, any entity — government, corporate, civic or individual — attempting to dictate actions regarding my personal property will always elicit a bristling reaction. But this clear and simple truth seems lost in the emotional response to the proposed rezoning. The rezoning itself is a nonissue.

One lot rezoned from C-1 (central business district) to C-2 (interstate commercial).

Yes, the rezoning proposal is an explicit decision meant to enable the sale to Casey’s, but it’s all perfectly legal and, from a city’s perspective, sensible.

The rezoning and sale of the lots is a separate issue from another clear and simple truth — we need a bigger and newer library in Russellville.

The accompanying story about our beloved Pope County Library System, and the Russellville location in particular, has numbers and dollars for all the reasons the library is so important to our community. But the library needed a new and bigger facility long before the two most infamous lots in Russellville became infamous. And so, gentle reader and citizen of the River Valley, let me suggest that had we all stepped up, had we all been aware of the glaring needs in our community, there would never be a debate about the pros and cons of having a Casey’s convenience store in the heart of Russellville.

If events unfold as expected, the Russellville branch PCL will remain as is with a new commercial neighbor sometime in the not so distant future and the idea of expansion for the library on those two lots will be effectively dead. But we will still need a newer and bigger library. So get involved with the Pope County Library System Foundation. The Foundation is a non-profit, fund-raising organization for the PCLS, and it along with the PCLS need your help now more than ever.

Libraries are a quintessential greater good for a nation founded on Enlightenment era thinking and fiery written rhetoric from the likes of Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin and others. The American Revolution and the American citizenry were birthed through ideas recorded in writing and made available to all. This is a level of democracy — like so many levels of our democracy — we take for granted. But it is vital to our form of government. Literate, educated and engaged voters are a requirement for self-governed people, and libraries are a pillar of our society and our culture. The Pope County Library System is a pillar of our community here in the River Valley.

We can’t blame convenience stores, commissions and city councils for our current situation when citizen apathy and procrastination are the better suspects. The bitter truth of the matter is that money talks, and for decades now our money has been silent about the value of our library. l 20

ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

Shawn Pierce, Pope County Library Systems Director

“We’ve gone from 287 programs in 2012 and now we’re over 1,000, and 386 of those programs happening in the Russellville location. The remainder took place on the other three libraries in the system.”

It’s not just programs that are seeing high usage, it’s also the traditional services of disseminating information through print and digital publications.

“It’s just a balancing,” said Shawn.

“The adult fiction went down, I think, 15 percent over the last few years, well our ebooks have gone up. It’s like when everything was in microfilm form and… well people haven’t quit using microfilm because it’s permanent.” Library usage numbers are in fact quite staggering (see accompanying graphs). “It’s between 350 - 700 people per day,” said Shawn.

“That’s 110,000 people per year. That’s half the population of Pope County. They come in for everything.”

Despite that wonderful smell of the published word, the library is more than just books, It’s also more than microfilm and computers and internet access. The library provides services that enrich and benefit the individual as well as the community such as: The Bookmobile, adult reading programs, teen reading programs, genealogy groups, writer workshops, books for the sight impaired, wi-fi for the public and the list goes on.

All of this is accomplished with a small

staff and 20-something regular volunteers, and all of this is accomplished in the face of budget cuts.

Throughout the conversation with Shawn, one theme resurfaced repeatedly: The costto-benefit ratio, what the library receives from the community versus what they give, is tilted heavily in favor of the community.

The projected cost of a new and adequate library building is $19 million. The Pope County Library System Foundation — an organization founded solely for the procuring private funding for the library — currently holds $179,000. Of that amount, $170,000 was donated by one source.

“Every time they’ve done a library, whether it was this one [Shawn thinks the current library building cost $40,000] the community has said ‘oh my gosh, this is such an incredible amount of money,” said Shawn. “And it is. But when this building was built, and the Dover Library was built, it was all hands on deck.” What Shawn means it that it was a community effort with services and donations provided for nothing more than satisfying a sense of duty and maybe

your name engraved on a plate. “There’s a group from the Dover First Baptist Church, they put the library in the dry,” said Shawn.

“We’ve got pictures of the judge up there sweating and helping them. Every time they say ‘well this is so much’ but then the community starts helping.”

The time to help is now.

“There is money in this town. There are people that want a new library,” said Shawn. “But they need to let us do it.”

And that leads us to the complicated ordeal regarding two lots setting adjacent to the current Russellville Library building, the subject of this story’s accompanying editorial and a source of months-long debate. The value of our library, however, is not up for debate.

For information about all the services and programs offered by the Pope County Library System, go the their website www. popelibrary.org. l

Happy Birthday America!

Presenting the “America the Beautiful” bracelet.

2149 East Parkway | Russellville | 479-890-6932 JULY 2016 ~ ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY

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ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

VALLEY VITTLES

ABOUT...the River Valley

Food fit for the King Photos by LIZ CHRISMAN | Story by JOHNNY CARROL SAIN

OLD SOUTH RESTAURANT | 1330 E Main St, Russellville

Elvis ate here.

Do I need to say anything more?

I’m talking about the Old South restaurant in Russellville. The last of its kind, Russellville’s Old South was constructed in 1947 as one unit of a roadside cafe chain designed around America’s love affair with automobiles and the open road. It was built alongside Highway 64 when that east/west stretch of blacktop was the main artery connecting North Carolina to legendary Route 66. Today, with its sleek roofline, glowing neon and the only powder room wait seating left in existence (at least in the River Valley), Old South stands out as a slice of classic Americana amid the new-fangled

ideas of what a restaurant should look like.

And they also make food, delicious food from a menu that defines retro-American cuisine. Our pick was the chicken fried steak dinner. This is not your run-of-themill chicken fried steak, and it’s not even fried. This is Old South chicken fried steak.

That means a center cut of round steak, in-house tenderizing, coated with house breading and sizzled to perfect on the grill.

A generous helping of mashed potatoes and gravy is the traditional side.

With all due respect to the fried peanut butter and banana sandwich (which is rumored to be an off-menu option at Old South), it’s a meal fit for the King. l JULY 2016 ~ ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY

23

COUNTERTOP CREATIONS

ABOUT...the River Valley

HONEY GARLIC SHRIMP FOIL PACKETS 1/2 c honey 2 - cloves garlic, minced 2 T rice vinegar 2 T tamari or soy sauce 1 T olive oil 1 pinch red pepper flakes salt and pepper, to taste 2 c cooked rice 2 medium zucchini, sliced into strips 8 oz cherry tomatoes, halved 3 ears of corn, kernels removed from cob 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined salt and pepper handful of fresh basil, sliced thin

Honey just makes life sweeter Story by LYDIA ZIMMERMAN, Food Editor

H

oney is nature’s sweetener. It’s been used for thousands of years for recipes and medicinal purposes.

Some say that eating local homegrown honey will even help alleviate seasonal allergy symptoms.

In keeping with this month’s cover of bees and honey, I have collected some tasty honey recipes all made possible thanks to bees and their “liquid gold.”

As always, enjoy!

“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”

~ ALBERT EINSTEIN

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ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

Preheat a gas grill to 400F or medium high heat. Place two pieces of foil in an X shape. Repeat so you have four total packets.

In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, garlic, vinegar, tamari/soy sauce, olive oil and red pepper flakes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Place about 1/2 c of the rice in the center of each X. Divide the zucchini, corn and tomatoes evenly between the packets. Top with the shrimp. Sprinkle everything with salt and pepper.

Drizzle the honey glaze evenly over the packets, reserving 1/4 c for serving. Bring the edges of the foil up over the vegetables and shrimp and fold over to create a seal. Prick with a fork a few times to allow steam to escape.

Place the foil packets on the grill and cook for 12-15 minutes or until shrimp is pink and vegetables are tender.

Serve the packets straight from the foil or in bowls, drizzled with additional glaze and fresh basil.

Recipe courtesy of honey.com FAT FREE HONEY BERRY MILKSHAKES 1 pt Nonfat vanilla frozen yogurt or ice cream 2 c strawberries or assorted berries 1/2 c Nonfat milk ¼ c honey 4 small Mint sprigs Combine all ingredients except mint sprigs in blender or food processor; process about 30 seconds or until smooth.

Pour into tall glasses. Garnish with mint sprigs.

Recipe courtesy of The National Honey Board

GRILLED CHICKEN SALAD WITH HONEY-JALAPENO VINAIGRETTE *Honey-Jalapeno Vinaigrette, divided 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, 4 oz. each 9 c lightly packed baby spinach 1 1/2 c shredded Monterey Jack cheese 3 slices - crisp-cooked thick bacon, crumbled 3 small tomatoes, each sliced into 4 wedges lengthwise *Honey-Jalapeno Vinaigrette 3 T white wine vinegar 3 T fresh lime juice 2 T fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped 1 T jalapeno pepper, seeded & coarsely chopped 2 large cloves garlic, quartered 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper 2/3 c honey 2/3 c vegetable oil Place chicken in a large resealable plastic bag and add 3/4 c Honey-Jalapeno Vinaigrette. Seal bag and refrigerate for 30 minutes or overnight. Drain and discard marinade. Grill chicken, covered, over medium heat for 6-7 minutes on each side or until juices run clear. Cut chicken across the grain into 1/2 in-wide strips. Put 1 1/2 c of spinach on each of six serving plates.

Drizzle each with 1 T vinaigrette. Top each

with chicken strips, 1/4 c cheese and crumbled bacon; garnish with two tomato wedges and drizzle 1 T of vinaigrette on top. *For Honey-Jalapeno Vinaigrette: process vinegar, lime juice, cilantro, jalapeno, garlic, salt and pepper in a blender or food processor. With blender running, add honey, then oil; mix well. Refrigerate until needed.

Recipe courtesy of Taste of Home Cooking School/honey.com BREAD MACHINE HONEY STEEL CUT OATS BREAD 1/4 c Boilling water 1/4 c Steel-cut rolled oats 1/2 c water 1/2 c Buttermilk 3T honey 3 T Butter (softened) 1 tsp salt 1 c old fashioned rolled oats (not cooked) 3 c flour 2 tsp Active dry yeast Place steel-cut oats in a small bowl.

Pour boiling water over them. Let set 30

minutes, or until water is absorbed and oats are lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in warm water.Place all of the ingredients in the pan of your bread machine in order suggested by manufacturer.

Press “”dough”” cycle and “”start””.

Follow directions given by machine’s manual for making adjustments to the dough consistency.When cycle is complete, remove dough to a lightly floured board, knead approx 8-10 minutes.

Form into a loaf and place in a 9x5 inch, lightly oiled, bread pan. Allow to rise in a warm place until almost doubled. Place in a preheated 350° F oven for 40-45 minutes. Tent with foil if it appears to be browning too much.

When done (internal temperature of 190° F) remove from pan and allow to cool on a wire rack.Yield: 1 loaf.

Recipe courtesy of beemade.com >>

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25

ALMOND AND HONEY-BUTTER COOKIES 1 c whole almonds, toasted (see Tip) 1 1/4 c whole-wheat pastry flour, (found in most natural health food stores) 1 c all-purpose flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 2/3 c plus 1/4 c honey, divided 1/3 c canola oil 4 T unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided 1 large egg 1 tsp vanilla extract 3 T toasted sliced almonds, (see Tip) for garnish Process whole almonds in a food processor or blender until finely ground (you will have about 1 1/4 c ground).

Transfer to a large bowl and add wholewheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt; stir until just combined.

Beat 2/3 c honey, oil and 3 T butter in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined. Add egg and vanilla and beat until blended.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients; stir to combine. Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat 2 baking sheets with cooking spray or line with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats.

Roll tablespoons of dough into 1-inch balls and place on the prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Press the tip of your index finger in the center of each cookie to make an indentation. Bake the cookies, in batches, until set and barely golden on the bottom, 13 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool for 30 minutes.

Combine the remaining 1/4 c honey and 1 T butter in a small bowl until creamy.

Use about 1/4 tsp to fill each cookie and top with 2 sliced almonds, if desired.

Make Ahead Tip: Store in a single layer in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Tip: To toast whole almonds, spread on a baking sheet and bake at 350°F, stirring once, until fragrant, 7 to 9 minutes. To toast sliced almonds, cook in a small dry skillet over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant and lightly browned, 2 to 4 minutes.

Recipe courtesy of eatingwell.com CROCKPOT HONEY GARLIC CHICKEN 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs 4 garlic cloves, minced 1/3 c honey 1/2 c ketchup (you can also use lowsodium ketchup, if available) 1/2 c low sodium soy sauce 1/2 tsp dried oregano 2 T fresh parsley 1/2 T toasted sesame seeds

Arrange chicken thighs on bottom of slow cooker; set aside. In a mixing bowl, combine garlic, honey, ketchup, soy sauce, oregano and parsley; whisk until thoroughly combined. Pour sauce over chicken thighs.

Close with a lid and cook for 6 to 7 hours on LOW, or 4 to 5 hours on HIGH. Remove lid and transfer chicken to a serving plate.

Spoon the sauce over the chicken and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Serve Recipe courtesy of diethood.com HOMEMADE GINGER ALE 1/2 c honey 1/2 c sliced peeled ginger 4 c club soda Fresh mint Combine honey, ginger, and 1/2 c water in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until flavors meld, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

Strain syrup into a large pitcher. Add club soda, fresh mint, and ice. Stir gently and divide among 8-oz. glasses.

Recipe courtesy of bonappetit/The Selby

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ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

Card

SWEET ’N’ SOUR SLAW Dressing 1 c mild honey 1 c wine vinegar 1/2 c finely chopped onion 1 tsp celery seed 1 tsp salt In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Cool.

Vegetables 1 lg head of cabbage, finely chopped (about 4 c) 1 c diced green peppers 1 c diced celery Pour enough dressing over prepared vegetables to coat thoroughly; toss. Cover and chill several hours or overnight to blend flavors. Serves 10-12.

HONEY SPINACH SALAD 3 slices of bacon 4 T honey 3 T lemon juice 3 T grated cheddar cheese 2-3 T vinegar 3 tsp grated lemon peel 1/4 c chopped apples or pears 1 hard-boiled egg, sliced Fresh spinach, washed and drained (2 c) Fresh lettuce, washed and drained (2 c) 1/2 c bean sprouts Cut bacon in small pieces and fry until crispy. In skilled with bacon add vinegar, honey, lemon juice and grated lemon peel; simmer for about 2 minutes. In a large

bowl, mix spinach, lettuce, bean sprouts and apples/pears. Pour bacon mixture over salad greens. Toss lightly. Garnish with grated cheese and hard-boiled egg slices.

Serves 4.

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE COBBLER WITH HONEY WHIPPED CREAM Strawberry Filling 4 c - strawberries, sliced 2 T - lemon juice 2 T - honey 2T - cornstarch Honey Biscuits 1 1/2 c - all-purpose flour 1 tsp- baking powder 1/4 tsp - salt 1/4 c - cold unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces 1/4 c - honey 1/4 c - cold heavy whipping cream Honey Whipped Cream 1/2 c - cold heavy whipping cream 2 T- honey 1/2 tsp - vanilla extract Preheat grill to medium heat or oven to 400F. Have a 9-inch cast iron skillet or similar heat-proof skillet or pan ready.

For the filling: In a large bowl mix together the strawberries, lemon juice, honey and cornstarch. Add to the skillet or pan.

For the biscuits: In the bowl of a food processor, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the butter and pulse a few times or until the mixture

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looks like coarse pebbles. Add the honey and cream then pulse until a dough forms. Alternatively you can add the dry ingredients to a large bowl, cut in the butter by hand with a pastry cutter, and stir in the honey and cream with a wooden spoon.

Divide the dough into 7-8 pieces and shape each piece into a round biscuit. Place dough on top of the strawberry mixture.

Grill with the lid covered for 25-35 minutes or bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown and strawberry mixture is bubbling. Cool for at least 15 minutes before serving warm with honey whipped cream.

For the whipped cream: In a large mixing bowl (with whisk attachment if using a stand mixer), beat the heavy cream until thickened. Gradually beat in the honey and vanilla then continue beating until stiff peaks form (when you pull the beater up, peaks will form and not fall over).

Recipes courtesy of honey.com >>

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Your family-owned furniture and bedding store, serving the River Valley for 37 years.

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www.orrautomall.com JULY 2016 ~ ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY

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HONEY SRIRACHA GRILLED WINGS 2 c - honey 4 lbs - fresh chicken wings 3 c - rice wine vinegar ¼ c - Sriracha 2 T- salt Place wings in a large bowl and rinse with cool water. Add rice wine vinegar, sriracha, salt and 1/2 of the honey. Fold to incorporate all the ingredients and coat the wings evenly. Using the slow and low

method of BBQ’ing, set grill temperature to 225-240 degrees. If using coals, let them burn off and move over to one side of the grill. Place the wings on the grill, cover with a lid and cook for 12-14 minutes before turning once and letting them cook for an additional 15-18 minutes. Open the lid and turn the wings one more time.

Brush the remaining honey onto the wings.

Let the wings cook for 5-8 more minutes, remove from heat and serve them up hot and juicy!

Recipe courtesy of honey.com

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HOT AND SWEET MUSTARD 3/4 c (packed) light brown sugar 4 oz mustard powder 1 c good-quality apple cider vinegar (Bragg’s Organic is great) 1/4 c honey 3 lg eggs, beaten to blend Special Equipment Four clean 8-oz jars Whisk brown sugar and mustard powder in a large bowl to combine. Add vinegar and honey; whisk well. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large metal bowl.

Add eggs and whisk until blended.

Set bowl with mustard mixture over a large saucepan of gently simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water; eggs may scramble). Cook, whisking and scraping bottom of bowl frequently, until mustard is thick and an instant- read thermometer registers 160°, about 5 minutes.

Divide mustard among jars. Screw on lids and chill. DO AHEAD Mustard can be made 2 weeks ahead. Keep refrigerated for up to 2 months.

Recipe courtesy of bonappetit.com

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ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

(479) 229-3321 www.catfishn.com

210 Dam Road, Dardanelle, AR Tue-Thu: 4-8pm | Fri and Sat: 4-9pm Closed Sunday & Monday

GRILLED PINEAPPLE MOJITOS Grilled Pineapple 1 T - honey 1 T - rum 2 - limes, juiced 1 - pineapple, peeled and cut into 16 wedges Mojitos 4 - limes, cut into eighths 8 tsp - honey 1 c - fresh mint 3/4 c - rum ice club soda In a shallow dish, mix together the honey, rum and lime juice. Add the pineapple and turn to coat. Let sit 5-10 minutes.

Heat your grill to medium high. Add the pineapple and cook 1-2 minutes on each side, or until the fruit softens slightly and golden brown grill lines appear. Remove from heat and let cool.

Roughly chop half the grilled pineapple. Divide the chopped pineapple among 8 collins glasses. Add 2 lime wedges, 1 tsp honey and 10 mint leaves to each glass; muddle to combine. Stir in the run, then fill each glass with ice. Top with club soda.

Garnish with remaining grilled pineapple, lime wedges and mint leaves.

Recipe courtesy of honey.com HONEY-AND-SOY LACQUERED RIBS 2 (2- to 2 1/2-lb.) slabs St. Louis-style pork ribs 1 T kosher salt 2 tsp freshly ground pepper 1/2 c honey 2 T soy sauce 2 T Asian chili-garlic sauce 1 T fresh lime juice 1 T butter 1 tsp dry mustard 1 tsp ground ginger Preheat oven to 325°. Rinse slabs, and pat dry. Remove thin membrane from back of slabs by slicing into it and pulling it off. (This will make the ribs more tender.)

Sprinkle salt and pepper over slabs; wrap each slab tightly in aluminum foil. Place

slabs on a jelly-roll pan, and bake 2 to 2 1/2 hours or until tender and meat pulls away from bone.

Bring honey and next 6 ingredients to a boil in a saucepan over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 5 minutes or until reduced by half.

Transfer to a bowl.

Remove slabs from oven. Increase oven temperature to broil on high. Carefully remove slabs from foil; place on a foillined baking sheet. Brush each slab with 3 T honey mixture.

Broil 5 to 7 minutes or until browned and sticky. Brush with remaining honey mixture.

Recipe courtesy of Southern Living magazine March 2014 HONEY ALMOND APPLE CRISPS IN JARS 4 apples (around 41/2 c) 1 T fresh ginger (minced) 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 T balsamic vinegar 1/3 c honey 3/4 c oats 1/4 c slivered almonds 1/3 c whole wheat flour 1/8 tsp kosher salt 1/4 c honey 2 T butter, melted or very soft 4 half-pint canning jars

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Preheat oven to 375°F. Peel, core, and slice 4 apples into small pieces. Peel the ginger and mince or grate 1 T . In a large saute pan, mix together the apples, ginger, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and a pinch of kosher salt. Stir in 1/2 T balsamic vinegar and 1/3 c honey. Saute until softened, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine 3/4 c oats, 1/4 c slivered almonds, 1/3 c whole wheat flour, 1/8 tsp kosher salt, ¼ c honey, and 2 T softened butter.

Divide the fruit mixture into 4 halfpint canning jars or ramekins. Spread the crumble over each jar, pressing down on the crumbs to ensure that none are above the mouth of the jar.

Place the jars on a baking sheet and bake 15 minutes until top is brown. Cool for 10 minutes and enjoy.

Recipe courtesy of acouplecooks.com l JULY 2016 ~ ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY

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ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

It’s just a family out here

Story by STEPHANIE BAKER Photos by LIZ CHRISMAN

Mark Brashear is the founder of A Field of Angels, a baseball league dedicated to special needs kids and their families. “Our Angels,” as he affectionately calls them, “are why I am out here every week. I have just as much fun watching them as they do playing,” said Mark. The non-profit’s mission statement is to help children with special needs experience the joy of baseball, in a positive and safe environment.

“I got the idea when I went to watch my nephew play a basketball game at Shooting for Success,” said Mark.

“I’ve always done baseball. I told my wife, ‘We need a baseball league for these kids.’ I just happened to know the right people to be able to get it started.”

The league has found a home at the Thomas G. Morris ball complex in Pottsville where they hold games every Saturday morning of their regular season. “The Pottsville Athletic Association has been great from day one. They have graciously let us use their fields and supported us in every possible way,” said Mark.

The league has seen impressive expansion in the eight years since it began, nearly doubling the number of it’s players. “Our first year we had 42 kids playing. We had 76 play this year. We’ve expanded from one team playing on one field to four teams playing on three fields.

We’ve had families come from as far as Paris, Arkansas, to have their kids play in our league. I was so surprised we had so many kids that first year because I had no idea there was such a need around here,” said Mark.

JULY 2016 ~ ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY

31

The league is open to anyone with special year who used a walker and got upset when he “Our community has needs, regardless of age or disability. “We’ve couldn’t get to the ball as fast as the boy who had kids everywhere from mildly autistic to even played first base. The next time he was out on been so generous. one boy who was completely blind,” said Mark. the field he went out without his walker and got We’ve always been able “I am never going to tell anyone they can’t play. to the ball faster. He was so proud of himself. He Mark said that establishing an age limit for the to raise enough money never went back to playing with a walker,” said first year of FOA was his biggest regret. “I had Mark with a proud smile. every season and still It’s impossible to talk to Mark without realizing it set ages 3 to 18. There was a young man in a wheelchair who came to watch his brothers and have a little bit left over the heart he has for the players. “I was talking to sister play but was too old to play. The last game one of the dad's of our Angels at our last game. He to start off the next of the year we had some kids that could not be at told me how much his son enjoys playing baseball season.” our Day of Champions celebration. I asked his during our season. He said they were at home the parents if they thought he would like to play. He other day and a major league game was on TV and was so excited when I asked. He had the biggest smile I had seen his younger son pointed at the TV and said, ‘Bubba plays ball.’ He all year. I knew from that second on we would never have an age said our Angel got the biggest smile on his face because his little limit again.” This player’s story has continued for another season. brother knows he can play baseball,” said Mark.

“This year I had the opportunity to watch the same young man Finances have no bearing on who can and cannot play because bat a home run at our Day of Champions. He raced his electric the league is absolutely free to its players and their families. “From wheelchair around the first few bases but stopped at third base and day one we’ve never had to charge a penny for the kids to play. We stood up and walked across the baseline to home plate. That was have been able to pay for everything. We furnish the equipment and one of the greatest moments for me the last eight years.” jerseys. We pay for insurance for all the kids. We buy them pictures Mark has many stories to tell of players overcoming their and take those who want to go to a Traveler's game every year. It disabilities and enjoying the game. “We had one boy our first takes a little over $5,000 a year to do everything,” said Mark.

32

ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

The non-profit organization is able to offer including everything from helmets to bats. “CJ’s “Supporting them as consignment of Russellville calls me about twice all of this because of donations and grants from around the River Valley community. “If we want they play means just as a year and donates big boxes of baseball cleats to continue to do everything we’ve been doing, and pants, and any related items they don’t sell,” much as anything else. and grow our number of players, our greatest said Mark. “I give them to new players. It makes need is money. But I haven’t really had a problem These kids are amazing them feel so welcome when they sign up and I with that. Our community has been so generous. can give them a jersey, a bat, a glove and cleats. to watch...Even if you They come out that first day and leave with We’ve always been able to raise enough money every season and still have a little bit left over to come once and never everything they need,” said Mark. “It’s so neat. start off the next season.” said Mark. have parents who come up to me after the first come back again you Iweek All money raised goes directly to A Field of and say the their kids love the cleats, and will remember it.”

Angels. Major sponsors include Pope County can’t get them to take them off.”

Community Grants, Con-Agra, Friendship Baseball is a showcase of the abilities of team Community Care, and VIP Awards. “When I first decided to members. It serves as a distraction from the challenges players do this, Kevin Van Es of VIP Awards came to me and said, and their families face in their daily lives. “That first year, I had ‘Whatever you need in trophies you’ve got it. Don’t worry one mom tell me it was the first time they had felt like a normal about it. I’ll take care of it.’ For eight years now he’s given family, because she was able to sit in the stands and watch her us trophies at the end of every season.” said Mark. “The past son play baseball,” said Mark. “That makes such a big impact three years, Friendship Community Care has supplied food for when you hear something like that. My kids used to play. I used our Day of Champions, the last game of the season, for our to coach them, and I took it for granted that my kids could go players, their families, and everyone who comes out to watch out there and do all that. Until I went to watch my nephew in the game and cheer on the kids.” that basketball game, I never thought about a need for a special A Field of Angels also provides baseball supplies to its players needs league around here.” >> JULY 2016 ~ ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY

33

A Field of Angels is always looking for new players and Mark is excited about seeing the organization grow even larger. “I want to encourage parents to bring their kids out just to try it. Even if they don’t want to keep playing. If they just want to bring the kids out and let them try we will get them their jerseys and let them play. If they don't want to come back it’s fine, but if they want to come back they are more than welcome to come back. I don’t care if they want to come out halfway through the season, if they show up we will let them play,” said Mark.

In addition to bringing in new players, another goal of Mark’s

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ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

is collaboration with other teams around the state. “One thing I would like to do is get some other teams from other towns to come plays us for our big Memorial Day game. But, even if we can’t get it any better, I think we are doing pretty great right now.

I would also like to have more groups of people, come out and cheer on our Angels,” said Mark.

“Just being out here cheering for them is as important as being on the field,” said Mark. “Supporting them as they play means just as much as anything else. These kids are amazing to watch. The pure love for the game is a joy to see. Even if you

come once and never come back again you will remember it.”

Volunteers of all ages are welcome as well. “I allow kids who want to help to get out on the field with them. Often the kids they help go to same school as them.

It allows them to make a connection. It’s a lot easier to make a friend on the field than at school. I had a boy our first year, who played on a team in Dardanelle, and he came out and helped another boy. He ended up missing one of his own tournament games just so he could see the boy he helped all year play in the Day of Champions game and watch him get his trophy,” said Mark.

Even after eight years, Mark is still looking forward to the next season.

“My goal when we started was to make a commitment to do this for 10 years. I figure I’ll be at it much longer than that.

I get so much out of it,” said Mark. “Just seeing the kids change from their first day on the field to the end of the season, seeing how much they love playing and are comfortable interacting with the other players.”

Mark says that A Field of Angels has changed his perspective on sports. He believes it can do the same for others, parents and coaches bogged down by the negativity sometimes found in competitive athletics. “With me being an umpire all the time, I can see the bad side of organized baseball,” said Mark. “But these kids remind me of the good side of the game. If some of the coaches came out here and just saw the joy the kids have while playing it, might change their perspective of the game.”

How does Mark measure success?

“By the smiles on the faces of the kids, and the parents in the stands. As long as we can keep the kids coming out and having fun, and the support of the parents and volunteers I think we have a success. I just have a blast with them every year. It’s beyond me now. I got it started, but everyone has jumped in and helped make it what it is today. It’s all about the kids.”

More information on how to donate or get involved is available on the non-profit’s Facebook page: A Field of Angels. l

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COMMUNITY PAGES

ABOUT...the River Valley

First Lady guest of honor at potts inn museum First Lady of Arkansas Susan Hutchinson was the guest of honor at Potts Inn Museum Friday morning, June 10, for the induction of the doll wearing a replica dress designed

by Connie Shepherd of Paris, of her inaugural gown, into the First Ladies Doll collection. The collection was started by Sue Taylor of Atkins and then donated to the Potts Inn Museum. Ms. Gertrude Buchanan kept the collection up to date through United States First Lady Michelle Obama and Arkansas First Lady Ginger Beebe.

Shepherd first created a pattern of paper from looking at pictures of Mrs. Hutchinson at the inaugural ball. Then, she made a gown from muslin fabric to assure a proper fit, then sewed the actual dress on display using extra fabric sent by the designer from Hutchinson’s original dress.

On the Potts Inn Museum grounds are several historic buildings housing their own unique museum displays. The First Ladies Doll collection holds an exact replica of each of the First Ladies’ of the United States and the First Ladies’ of

Arkansas inaugural ball gowns. In addition to the doll museum is a clothing museum, and doctor’s office museum (housed in the original Potts’ smokehouse). Also under construction is an Indian artifact museum.

Museum hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 10am to 4 pm. Special arrangements can be made for group tours.

For more information, call 479-968-8369 or on the Potts Inn Museum Facebook page.

PLANS UNDERWAY FOR 18TH ANNUAL FABULOUS FOURTH

Make plans to spend the Fourth of July at Morrilton’s Cherokee Park for the 18th annual Fabulous Fourth for an evening of fireworks, live music, hot dogs, and watermelon as Conway County celebrates Independence Day. Thanks to volunteers and donors, the celebration will remain completely free to

all who attend. All activities will start at 5 p.m., and the fireworks will begin at 9:15 p.m. There will be a watermelon eating contest; a contest for the best apple pie; games for children; red, white, and blue helium balloons; and hot dogs, iced tea, and lemonade.

State Representative Rick Beck is helping organize this year’s event. He said, “This year’s Fabulous Fourth will be unlike any other. I’d like to extend my thanks to all who support this event so we can continue to provide a night of fun and free activities to all who attend.”

Picnic baskets and coolers are allowed in the Corps of Engineers park on the banks of the Arkansas River. One-hundred fifty American flags will be on display along with large shade trees will make for a festive celebration.

For more information, visit fabulousfourth.wix.com/fab4 or find the

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event on Facebook. A full list of event sponsors is available there as well as an up-to-date schedule of all activities as they are added. Those interested in sponsoring or volunteering can call the Morrilton Area Chamber of Commerce at 501-354-2393 or email stell@uaccm.edu.

Directions: From I-40, take Morrilton exit 107 and go South on Oak Street. Turn West on Hwy 64 (Broadway). Turn South on Cherokee Street and follow the signs to the Fabulous Fourth.

DRIVE LED BY TECH STUDENTS, FACULTY GROWS LARGER

Arkansas Tech University’s Because We Can student organization had already organized a successful drive to provide hygiene items to Russellville School District students in need during the spring 2016 semester.

On the morning of Saturday, May 28, Arkansas Tech students and faculty members took the project to another level when a truck carrying 44,000 bottles of Dove body wash donated by Unilever arrived in Russellville.

The driver was greeted by Because We Can members Derec Carson of Huntsville, Logan Felder of Russellville, Danielle Hurst of Conway, Chelsea Johnson of Harrison, Jericho McElroy of Magazine, Mason Sims of West Fork and Sydney Skaggs of Russellville as well as faculty members

Dr. Sean Huss, Dr. James Stobaugh and Dr. Jason Warnick.

One armload at a time, the Because We Can representatives moved the more than 900 boxes and prepared them for distribution.

Huss, who serves as co-advisor for Because We Can along with Stobaugh, said that the bounty was so large that they will be able to meet the immediate need of Russellville School District students and have some additional products to share with local relief organizations.

The hygiene items drive started when Skye Thompson, human services worker for the Russellville School District (RSD), approached Because We Can seeking

assistance in providing RSD students and their families with necessary personal items.

With the additional bottles of body wash, the spring 2016 hygiene items drive coordinated by Arkansas Tech Because We Can has now gathered more than 49,000 items at an approximate retail value of more than $72,000.

LAKE DARDANELLE STATE PARK HOSTS ARKANSAS RIVER CLEANUP

Lake Dardanelle State Park will be hosting the Arkansas River Cleanup held in conjunction with American Rivers’ National River Cleanup on Saturday, July 9, 2016. >>

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Volunteers are needed to help with litter pickup. Your efforts will improve the health of wildlife, people, and habitat of our local waterways year-round.

Registration begins at 8 a.m. at Lake Dardanelle State Park’s visitor center. The event will last until 10:30 a.m. To preregister and reserve a kayak in your name or for more information, please contact the park at 967-5516.

LEADERSHIP RUSSELLVILLE GRADUATION

During a graduation ceremony June 1, 2016 at Lake Point Conference Center, nine individuals were recognized for their participation in the Leadership Russellville program. The 2016 graduates are: Leo Cantu, Regions Bank; Brooke Chandler, River Town Bank; Lucas Cox, Lucas Cox Insurance; Dr. Marc Fusaro, Arkansas Tech University, Jessica Ginsberg, DP Engineering; Jason McGee, Arvest Bank; Kelly Stewart, Palacios Marine Industrial; Candice Underwood, Suddenlink Communication; Brandon Wright,

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Arkansas Tech University. Jason McGee, Mortgage Loan Officer at Arvest Bank, received the “Outstanding Leader” Award as voted by his peers for his contributions during their project.

Each year, the Leadership Russellville class must complete a group project that is beneficial to the citizens of Russellville.

This year, the class solicited donations to replace the Russellville Community

Christmas Tree on Main Street in Downtown Russellville.

Leadership Russellville is an annual program of the Russellville Area Chamber of Commerce (RACC) designed to identify, educate and motivate potential leaders to become involved in the future of our community. It is aimed at developing a pool of well-informed and well-motivated men and women qualified to assume present and

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future leadership roles in the Russellville area. Since the program began in 1986, over 400 men and women have completed the program. For more information about or applications for Leadership Russellville 2017 and other RACC programs call 479-9682530 or visit www.russellvillechamber.org.

GAME AND INTERACTIVE MEDIA DESIGN DEGREE TO DEBUT AT ARKANSAS TECH

A new degree program designed to provide graduates with the skills necessary to work in the video game and entertainment industries is coming to Arkansas Tech University in fall 2016.

The Bachelor of Arts degree in game and interactive media design will be offered through the Arkansas Tech Department of Art. Dr. Dawn Ward, professor of art and head of the Arkansas Tech Department of Art, said that a new computer lab for the program will feature the latest in highend graphic cards, software and a threedimensional printer.

“The Department of Art is very excited

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about the opportunities that this program will offer our students in an industry whose rapid growth has created a very high demand for these skills,” said Ward.

In addition to the video game and entertainment fields, other career paths for graduates of the program could include animation, simulation programming, web design and interactive visualization construction.

Ward was part of a similar program prior to her appointment at Arkansas Tech. She has experience teaching digital illustration, digital photography and digital art history.

Other faculty members who will contribute to the game and interactive media design program include Jasmine Greer, who has a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia College. >>

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Jasmine teaches animation, digital illustration, motion graphics and web design; and Dustin Simpson, who holds a Master of Science degree in game production and management from the University of Advancing Technology and has more than five years of experience teaching in the technical and artistic facets of video game development.

“The work that Mr. Simpson demonstrated on campus this spring in the Unreal Engine 4 software is beautiful and inspiring,” said Dr. Jeff Woods, dean of the Arkansas Tech College of Arts and Humanities.

For more information about the Arkansas Tech Bachelor of Arts degree in game and interactive media design, visit www.atu.edu/art or call (479) 968-0244.

UACCM ANNOUNCES COMMERCIAL DRIVER TRAINING PROGRAM

The University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton Workforce Training & Community Education department is now accepting applications for the new, non-credit, Commercial Driver Training Program. Beginning in June, the program is four to seven weeks, consisting of 160164 training hours. Wayne Smith Trucking generously donated a 2007 Great Dane trailer for use by the class.

Program participants must be 21 years of age and be able to pass a DOT physical, background check, and drug screening.

Participants must be able to read, speak, and comprehend the English language sufficiently to meet the Department of Transportation regulations. Participants may need to be available for some evening on-the-road training.

Upon completion of the program, students will be tested by the State Police or a third party tester for their Class A Commercial Driver’s License (CDL). Tuition and fees total $3,500 for the training program. There will be additional fees for the CDL packet and written and skills exams. These fees are not included, and will be the responsibility of the participants.

If applicants are currently unemployed, funding for this program may be available through grants or scholarships. Contact Jessica Rohlman at 501-977-2004 for more information and to apply. l 40

ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

...cont. from page 14 “Mom, this is Harry. He’s going to come to our house,” Raff stated with a wide grin.

He was completely unaware that he nearly caused me to have heart failure.

Then his words resounded in my mind, and my eyes widened.

“Hi, Harry,” I said, faking a serene smile. “Um, Raff... Can I talk to you over here for a minute?”

I grabbed his forearm and half dragged him to an empty corner.

“Raff! You cant invite people to our house without checking with me first! And certainly not strangers, that can be very dangerous,” I said, trying to maintain my composure.

“Mom,” Raff said calmly, “he’s a nice guy! He’s homeless and he needs a bath.

And you said we have to help people in any way we can.”

My heart swelled and my frown softened.

“Hey kid,” the man named Harry said.

“My ride’s here. But thanks for inviting me to your house. Maybe some other time.” he said with a wink.

Raff looked puzzled. “But don’t you need a home and food and a bath?”

“What?” Harry asked. “You just asked if I wanted to come over for dinner.” Harry looked at me, sheepishly.

“But, you’re homeless.” Raff said.

“Homeless?” Harry repeated. “No way, man. I live with my mom. Why did you think I was homeless?”

Raff looked the man up and down.

“Because you look dirty and you smell weird,” Raff said.

My head rolled towards the tent’s ceiling in exasperation. But Harry just chuckled and said, “Nope, I’m just an old hippie who doesn’t like baths.” He stuck out his hand, and Raff reluctantly shook it. With a quick grin and a nod in my direction, Harry turned and walked towards a 90s model Toyota Corolla, climbed in, and the car sped away.

I looked down at my son, mentally preparing a speech about strangers, when a look of concern flashed across his face.

“Can we go home now?” He asked. “I want to wash my hands.”

I stifled a small grin, and nudged him towards the cash register. We paid for our fireworks, got back into the car, and started the drive home.

“Mom?” Raff asked. “What’s a ‘hippie?” l

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PETIT JEAN

42 ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016 42 ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

JUNE 14-18 MARKED THE 58TH TIME that auto enthusiasts from across the state and country

met for the Petit Jean Auto Show and Swap Meet. Petit Jean Mountain’s sultry late-spring air hummed with conversation and the sound of combustion engines as gleaming chrome and metal-flake paint sparkled with a nostalgia. The annual show and swap meet is an opportunity for admirers to marvel at dazzling machinery and for restorers/collectors to locate hard-to-find parts and automobiles.

Photos by Liz Chrisman

JULY 2016 thethe RIVER VALLEY JULY 2016~ ~ABOUT ABOUT RIVER VALLEY 4343

COMMUNITY COMMERCE

ABOUT...the River Valley

Feltner’s Athletes Corner Feltner’s Athlete’s Corner is filled to the brim with the latest, name-brand apparel and equipment for any River Valley athlete.

While this image may paint an overwhelming scene, the store itself is very cozy. The side door puts you at the split between the apparel and shoes, and evidence of the store’s personality are apparent; shoe boxes are stacked waist high against the walls, display cases are crystal clear and staff casually point out preferred items to customers.

Cara and Richard Payne bought the business in 2001. They decided to keep the Feltner name for many reasons. “We are honored to carry on the tradition of the Feltner name,” Cara said.

Richard was a junior in high school when he began working as a clerk for the previous owners, John and Katy Feltner. Cara said John had branched out from his father’s WhattaBurger and opened “his own athletic and footwear business in 1983.” Richard eventually worked his way into management, and five years into the couple’s marriage, the pair bought the business.

“Richard knew his dream would be to own the store,” Cara said. “John eventually offered it to him, and after a few more years of working for him and training under him, we were able to make it happen.”

The Paynes themselves are very active in the sports community around Russellville; Richard coaches his children in soccer and still has a love for baseball, football and basketball. Cara recounts that when they were dating, they “ran in lots of races and did a couple of triathlons together.” Despite their combined love for 44

ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

By Sierra Murphy

sports, it’s arguable there’s a bigger passion behind their work at the Athlete’s Corner.

“Our main objective at Feltner’s is to provide the best products with excellent customer service,” Cara said. “We have a passion for staying current with trends and educating our customers so they can make the best decision for their needs.”

Whether a customer is looking for a hammock or a pair of shoes, Feltner’s can assist in with its “wide selection of Feltner’s Athlete’s Corner high-quality products that are 2320 West Main affordable for our customers’ Russellville, AR needs.” In fact, its current (479) 968-6464 selection includes sunglasses, casual clothing, workout apparel, Chacos and Keens, a selection that Cara claims is one of the best in the state.

Retail is not the only service the Paynes are providing the River Valley, though.

“We offer screen printing and embroidery in addition to our retail services,” Cara said. “We screen print sports teams’ uniforms, school groups’ T-shirts, race T-shirts and a lot more. We love coming up with the right design for your group and making your idea become a reality.”

Customers can visit Feltner’s Athlete’s Corner at 2320 W. Main St. or online at myfeltners.com. l

JULY 2016 ~ ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY

45

BACKYARD LIVING

ABOUT...the River Valley

The Boiled Down Juice Read more from Meredith at www.boileddownjuice.com

So many books, so little time

I

By Meredith Martin Moats

I have always been someone who has at least two books going at once. Before I had children, I’d often balance a novel with a nonfiction read, slipping in a few magazine articles here and there for good measure. These days, with three young children at home, I am more likely to have eight books going.

This is not intentional, of course. It’s just that uninterrupted reading time is basically nonexistent. I never know exactly when I might happen upon a few quiet minutes so I just leave books scattered throughout the house. There are some on the coffee table, another three by the bed. I have a few in my office to read when I’m restarting my computer or downloading a large audio file for my radio job. I read the books in very small spurts — three pages here, a half a page there. I’ve long since given up on novels as they don’t really lend themselves to this kind of patchwork, but I’ve always been more of a non-fiction reader so this suits me just fine.

I recognize this may seem horribly chaotic, and you might wonder how in the world I ever retain anything. I’ll be the first

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ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

DIAGNOSTIC CENTER AUTISM EARLY INTERVENTION

to admit that many things fall through the cracks. But all we can do is work with what we have, right? Strategy can never be about perfection.

Long before the kids ever came along, I’ve been rather enamored with this idea of reading seemingly disparate topics at the same time and seeing what kind of connections bubble up. It’s not something I try too hard to cultivate. I don’t try to come up with a perfect combination of topics or anything. Rather, I just let my curiosities lead the way and wait to see what commonalities bubble up. Here are a few recent combinations: a book on poor people’s social movements and the spiritual life of children; an anthropological work on the Quapaw in Arkansas and Ta-henishi Coates new book Between the World and Me; Articles on the Young Patriots and Rufus Jones’s Essential Writings; a children’s book about the life of Muhammad Ali and a book about an autobiography of a white anti-racist woman called Memoir of a Race Traitor.

Sometimes I have time to jot down a few notes about the parallels in my journal. Usually, though, the themes just get sewn together without much commentary only later to come out in some radio piece or magazine column. They seep into the groundwater of the collective building of the McElroy House: Organization for Cultural Resources. And, hopefully, they influence the ways I interact with the world on a daily, mundane basis.

Every so often there are books that seem to never be bumped out of rotation. I’ll put them down only to find them reappear on the kitchen table or in the hallway floor, deposited there by my daughter who seems to gravitate toward anything she knows I find meaningful (I recognize this is a short lived phenomenon, and that by the age of 16 she will likely be repulsed by the things I love). One is my Quaker Faith and Practice book. That one is always around. But there’s another that keeps showing up: Louise Erdrich’s collection of poems Original Fire: Selected and New Poems.

I’m not much of a poetry reader anymore, but back in my early twenties I was an avid reader of poetry. These days I crave things a little less distilled.

But a few months ago — as I was heading out the door to go camping with the family — I saw the title on the self. I’d acquired it years ago, but I’d never spent any time with it. After reading it by the campfire one morning, I felt something shift. And I have been rereading it ever since.

There is one poem in particular that I keep returning to. I find it to be crushing yet invigorating, futile but with a spark. It’s the kind of spark you have to work for. And I think, maybe, that’s the one thing I’ve come to crave in reading. l

Asinnig The Ojibwe word for stone, asin, is animate.

Stones are alive. They are addressed as grandmothers and grandfathers. The universe began with a conversation between stones.

A thousand generations of you live and die in the space of a single one of our thoughts A complete thought is a mountain We don’t have very many ideas.

When the original fire which formed us subsided, we thought of you.

We allowed you to occur.

We are still deciding whether that was wise.

Children We have never denied you anything you truly wanted no matter how foolish no matter how destructive but you never seem to learn.

That which you cry for, this wish to be like us, we have tried to give it to you in small doses, like a medicine, every day so you will not be frightened.

Still, when death comes you weep, you do not recognize it as the immortality you crave.

Where Residents Come First...

605 NW 7th St. | Atkins, AR 72823 | 479-641-7100 JULY 2016 ~ ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY

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OUTDOORS

ABOUT...the River Valley

Little Lives of the Creek

M

MY FIRST MEMORIES OF A CREEK trace back to Hacker’s Creek. Hacker’s is a transition for water draining from semi-spirited rapids in the Ozark hills to the somber brown might of the Arkansas River. Topography is the deciding influence for a creek’s personality, and Hacker’s reflects the gentler rolling hills and long stretches of flatland through which it meanders with longer pools, subdued riffles and nary a waterfall of any size. The water looks like weak tea — clear as air at it’s thinnest points, tannin stained by sycamore and oak leaves at it’s thickest. If you’ve seen the movie “O’ Brother Where Art Thou,” and you remember the creek scene with the three sirens, then you’ve got a good idea of what Hacker’s looks like minus the sirens.

As a six-year-old, the best thing about Hacker’s besides the fishing was that every flat rock in the creek was a doorway to another world. It was a world full of creepy-crawlies and

Story and photo by Johnny Carrol Sain

mysterious small fish that mostly fell under the column of “minners” according to Dad. Bass and bream brought me to the creek bank and into the water, but other more obscure forms of life held me captive when the fish weren’t biting. And sometimes even when the fish were biting I’d still spend my time looking for salamanders and crawfish, and wondering how the tiny black catfish my dad correctly identified as madtoms could pull a Houdini and seemingly dissolve into the water.

Thirty-eight years later, I’m still drawn to moving water and I’m still looking under rocks.

You’d think that years and education would pull me away, toward more important things, but the definition of important things is subjective. When I learned that those bottom hugging little fish that dart from rock to rock are really called darters, it led to a desire to learn even more about them. Did you know darters are really perch, cousins of the yellow perch and walleye? They hug the bottom because they don’t have an air bladder. Through eons of time they’ve been crafted to deal with swift currents by living underneath them. I’ve learned that besides being a food source for predatory fish, biologists now think that many species of darters along with other fish are integral in the reproduction of some species of freshwater mussel. And to think that just a few years back I knew darters as only minners.

Read more from Johnny at www.aviewfromthebackroads.com

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ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

Decades ago, Aldo Leopold, the father of modern wildlife biology, wrote about the importance of every organism, even the unseen, in an ecosystem: “The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant, ‘What good is it?’ If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not. If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts?”

Ecosystems are greater than the sum of their parts, but each part is precious.

Darters are only one of those minners.

There’s also stone rollers and hog suckers and bigeye shiners along with other representatives of various fish families. And I haven’t even mentioned the freshwater snails and hellgrammites and tadpoles. Or the aquatic sowbugs that aren’t really bugs at all but are in fact crustaceans related to the familiar terrestrial roly polys found under rocks and rotting logs in the forest.

Just imagine all the critters in your favorite creek. Hopefully, you already know them. Hopefully, you already have a sense of place regarding your favorite water.

Though he didn’t coin the term, Leopold understood a sense of place. What I’m talking about is an awareness of the critters and cycles of the places where you live or hike or hunt or fish. Leopold went the botanical route in talking about a sense of place. “Tell me of what plant-birthday a man takes notice, and I shall tell you a good deal about his vocation, his hobbies, his hay fever, and the general level of his ecological education.”

Tell me of what creatures other than game fish an angler takes notice, and I shall tell you a good deal about the richness of his time spent in the water.

The more I know and understand about the smaller and often unnoticeable denizens of the stream, the more I get a sense of the overwhelming complexity that, frankly, is beyond our limited

capacity of comprehension. God, and I’m referring to “god” in the deistic god of nature sense, lives in those tiny details and tiny lives that are the most important but often forgotten gears of life in the creek.

Bass eat crawfish and crawfish thrive in clean water and mussels filter the water and the mussels are here because of the darters. Every bass that comes to hand deserves a “thank you” to the darters.

Actually, a few words of gratitude for the creek system as a whole are in order.

And with this gratitude comes a sense of understanding that were it all not working in concert in this symphony of life, there’s a good chance that there would be no reason at all to visit the creek.

It’s a grand system built on humble creatures and cycles that don’t catch the consumer’s eye. Pictures and stories about a greenside darter won’t sell a lot of rods or reels. But without that quiet and cryptic circle there is no place or use for rods and reels. l

JULY 2016 ~ ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY

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On a Personal Note Service to country can take many forms Guest Written by Dr. Russ Hall President of the River Valley chapter of the Military Officers Association of America

This short essay is being written by a person that loves this country more than anywhere else on this earth. After graduating from ATU, I served seven years in the Air Force as a pilot. A total of 21 months of my Air Force time was spent in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

I’ve seen lots of foreign lands and this is the place I choose to call home. Therefore, I speak only of my personal feelings and experiences.

The United States was founded on the principle of freedom. Yes, we have our problems just like all the nations of this world. But I feel so lucky to be living here and to be a citizen of the USA. You can disagree with the establishment. You can believe in a different religion. You can run for a political office even though you might not be qualified. Folks,

The United States was

there’s not many places on this earth that can provide you with all these freedoms.

The freedoms that we share have been provided to us by those that sacrificed their

founded on the principle of

blood and lives for you and their country. Freedom definitely comes with a very high

freedom. Yes, we have our

that our forefathers provided for us? I realize that the military isn’t for everyone. In fact,

problems just like all the nations of this world. But I feel so lucky to be living here and to be a citizen of the USA. You can disagree with

price tag. As a citizen of the USA, what have you done to preserve these foundations only three percent of the American public belong to one of the military organizations.

There’s nothing more important than one person willing to lay down his life for another, our police and firefighters do this every day, but there are many ways to serve your country and fellow man other than the military or emergency services. In my case, I chose the Air Force and, later, provided health care through chiropractic services. Volunteering to help the less fortunate is another way. Whatever you do must be a sacrifice for the better good.

Every American citizen should feel the need to provide a service to their country. We

the establishment. You can

should all want to give back to those that have sacrificed for us and our loved ones. I

believe in a different religion.

my country. It just so happened that this phase of my life occurred during the Vietnam

You can run for a political office even though you might not be qualified. Folks, there’s not many places on this earth

did not retire from the military but do not regret spending seven years of my life serving era. My only personal regret was that I had a three-year-old that didn’t know me and I didn’t know her. Would I change the past? Absolutely not. That time served in the Air Force was but one factor in making me what I am today. The key to growth in your life is sacrifice. No one owes you anything. In reality, we owe a deep debt of gratitude to all that have sacrificed for us and our country. So if you haven’t served in any way, it’s time for you to step up.

that can provide you with all these freedoms.

Look for more interesting features and tidbits in "On a Personal Note" each month in future issues of ABOUT...the River Valley. You'll find short stories, interesting pieces and other great reads from people you know, or would like to know from around the River Valley.

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ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY ~ JULY 2016

ENGAGEMENTS

ABOUT...the River Valley

Save the Date!

Calendar listings of engagement, wedding and anniversary announcements on the pages of each issue of ABOUT‌the River Valley are available at no charge. They may be mailed to: ABOUT Magazine, P.O. Box 10176, Russellville AR 72812 or sent via email to: editor@aboutrvmag.com. (A phone number must be included for verification.)

July 2

September 25

Sarah Grace and Brice Maxey

Melissa Lomax & Cole Sikes

July 9

October 1

Kaci Jackson & Luke Posey

Julia Lyon & Nick Killingsworth

July 16

Jessica Ginsberg & Joseph Hunt

Emily Storment & Nathan Cathcart

October 15

July 23

Mary Streett & Clyde Tuggle

Kathryn Jade Gracie & Justin Roy

October 21

Jenna Spikes & Gabe Barnhart

Shelby Santucci & Ryan Pinter

Kaitlin Spry & Nick Hancock

October 28

Photo by Benita's Photography

August 26

Paige Leavell & Brandon Sikes

December 3

Alex Pusch & David Hill

November 5

Alexis Sisson & Logan Stuckey

September 10

Hatley Adkins & Charles McIllwain III

December 17

Brenna Brown & Christopher Harmon

Melissa Cupps & Scott Dorminy

Ashlee Edwards & Jacob Tisdale

September 24

November 19

December 30

Blair Lewis & Jordan Lieblong

Laura Byrum & Britt Sory

Alexa Sotomayor & Eric Turner

To have your engagement or wedding published in a future issue of ABOUT Magazine, send your information, photo* and a check for $57.50 to: ABOUT Magazine, PO Box 10176, Russellville AR 72812, or visit www.aboutrvmag.com/forms.html. Word count is limited to 225 words. Deadline is the 15th of the month preceding publication. For additional information, call (479) 857-6791. *Digital files are accepted and will be published upon receipt of payment.

JULY 2016 ~ ABOUT the RIVER VALLEY

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Saint Mary’s Surgical Services team: (from left), Dr. Sarahrose Webster, Dr. Mike Bell, Dr. Craig Mizes and Dr. Valentino Piacentino III.

Choose Well.

Choose Saint Mary’s.

Choosing where to have your surgery can be daunting. So it’s comforting to know that when you choose Saint Mary’s, you are placing your care in the hands of experienced, eminently skilled and well-trained surgeons who are backed by a full-service, Joint-Commission-accredited, regional hospital. Add in our team’s comprehensive surgical specialities and Saint Mary’s reputation for excellence in patient safety, and the choice becomes clear. Choose well. Choose Saint Mary’s for your surgery. * Saint Mary’s is the only hospital in

Arkansas to receive The Leapfrog Group’s “A” Rating for Patient Safety for four consecutive years.

1 8 0 8 We s t M a i n

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Russellville, AR

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479.968.2841

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saintmarysregional.com