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Museum honors veterans from Bradley County
Museum honors Bradley County veterans
Photos of men and women in uniform grace walls
Story and Photos by Michael Dougherty For County Lines
Avision of what one expects to see upon entering a veterans museum might range from an artillery cannon and rifles to medals and other smaller memorabilia.
A few items from the latter category are featured in the display cases that line the walls of the Bradley County Veterans Museum, but this facility primarily shows a visitor the people from this south Arkansas county who have represented the United States by serving in the armed forces.
The walls are lined with picture frames — almost 2,700 of them. Most of them showcase photographs of those men and women from Bradley County. A few of the frames house a piece of paper on which the name of such a veteran is printed. Those names are the primary targets for director John Little and his band of dedicated volunteers who keep the museum operating. They want each frame to feature a photograph of a Bradley County veteran.
In most cases, the photographs are of a veteran in military uniform. That’s the first choice for the display frames. But if a photograph in civilian garb is all they can find, Little and members of the board of directors of Bradley County Veterans Inc. will be proud to place it on the wall.
Little, 75, is from Warren and has lived here most of his life. He flew helicopters unofficially (when he was listed as a mechanic) his first time in the Army and was a trained pilot of helicopters when he re-entered the Army after he went to school, later flying them on missions in Vietnam. After retiring from the service with his 20 years in, he traveled the country, working with pilots in National Guard units.
It was during one of those trips in the 1990s that Little got the idea for what is now the Bradley County Veterans Museum.
“I stopped at a museum up there in Branson (Missouri) and it had all these photographs of these people who had served,” Little said. “Now, they had other things on display there … the military stuff, things like that … and they charged people admission. But even though that wasn’t the main part of that museum, those photographs are what I came away with, and that’s where the idea for this museum came from.”
BUILDING CONSTRUCTED IN 1922
The building housing the Bradley County Veterans Museum originally was an American Legion Hut built by veterans of the First World War upon their arrival home in Warren. It was completed in 1922.
It served as the home of numerous community organizations over the years, including various veterans groups. But by 2002, it had reached a state of decline that appeared to have it on a list for dismantlement.
That’s when members of the local chapters of the American Legion (Martin-Tate Post 82), Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW Post 4564) and Disabled American Veterans (DAV Chapter 11) met and decided to form Bradley County Veterans Inc. as a 501(c) (3) organization to try to save the structure and create the Bradley County Veterans Museum.
The group developed a 10-part plan that started with the jacking up of the building, reworking the foundation and adding new window sills. From there, volunteers with the project added a new roof and then made necessary repairs and improvements to electrical, plumbing, carpentry and painting elements, as well as placing siding to the building. The flooring material consists of ¾-inch
The museum commemorates the service of members of the U.S. armed forces who hailed from Bradley County.
Left: Museum Director John Little, who served in Vietnam, talks about some of the items housed in the museum’s display cases. Above: The walls of the museum are lined with photographs of veterans in uniform. The museum is expanding to accommodate more photographs.
oak, donated by Tommy Maxwell, originally from Warren, who has a hardware store in Monticello.
Finally, on the inside, a rail system was developed to allow movement of the 8- by 10-inch photo frames, as changes and additions to the gallery were made. On the outside, local volunteers reworked the lot, including the addition of shrubbery, a phase that included help from members of the Warren High School football team. Two local banks each contributed a flagpole to the grounds at 210 N. Main St.
It was a project that began in January 2003 and was finished in time for the dedication on Veterans Day, 2005.
ULTIMATE SACRIFICE
One room features the photographs of those who died in service to the United States. To date, the museum counts 18 making the ultimate sacrifice in World War I; 61 in World War II; five in Korea; five in Vietnam; and one in Afghanistan.
In addition to the photo gallery of those who served, the museum maintains a computer database of the military and personal histories of those who served, participates in gathering oral histories of veterans and provides the community with appropriate ceremonies and programs each Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Little said the volunteers receive some computer assistance from students at Southeast Arkansas Community-Based Education Center (SEACBEC).
The building also houses the office of county veterans service officer Dorothy Anders, which has a separate entrance off Veterans Street. A staff of about 10 volunteers keeps the museum open six days a week.
“We are the second-largest tourist attraction in the county,” Little said, acknowledging that the most popular attraction is the Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival, which occurs each June and this year features entertainment by Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder on June 14.
“This place is something special,” Little said. “We have all kinds of groups come through here … church groups, members of high school reunions and family reunions. I wish you could see some of the kids that visit. It’s something to see the look on a sixth-grader’s face when they see a picture of their grandfather or of their mother on that wall.”
He said occasionally, a family member, upon returning to Warren for a visit and going through the museum, will go home and immediately send a photograph of their loved one whose frame was missing a picture.
Board members of Bradley County Veterans Inc. meet the second Saturday of each month (except for December) in the museum conference room. The board consists of two members each from the American Legion, VFW and DAV, with the seventh and eighth members appointed by the Bradley County judge (since 2007, Keith Neely).
Chairman of the board is Harry Lee “Buddy” McCaskill, the only World War II veteran on the board. McCaskill was among those members of “the Greatest Generation” who took part May 3 in the final Honor Flight to depart from Arkansas, which took WWII veterans from Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport to Washington, D.C., to see the National World War II Memorial.
Some of the board members are among the volunteers that keep the place open; others are interested members of the community.
Little said the museum has room remaining for the photos of 28 more veterans. They expect those to be filled by the end of the summer. Because of the diminishing free space, the group began construction in March on a 36- by 40-foot addition to the building, which will approximately double the facility’s current 2,800 square feet.
Funding comes from donations, memorials, grants and fundraising events sponsored by Bradley County Veterans Inc.
Information on the Bradley County Veterans Memorial is available by calling (870) 226-2329 or going online to www.bradleycountyveterans.org.
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— Crystal Graddy, Boone County Clerk
Top: Crystal Graddy with a photo ID camera and printer.
Right: Crystal Graddy works with Merrissa Bridges in the Boone County Clerk’s office.
Improving voter technology a priority for Boone clerk
By Rob Mo ritz For County Lines
Leveraging the latest technologies to improve services to residents may well be Boone County Clerk Crystal Graddy’s specialty.
Indeed, in the 17 years that she has served in the clerk’s office, Graddy has embraced everything from an electronic voting machine pilot program to an initiative that allows Boone County voters to cast a ballot at any precinct they wish.
State legislators took notice of the latter initiative, adopting a similar statewide measure during last year’s legislative session.
“My passion has been elections. I like technology. I want to use it to make it easier and more accessible for people to vote,” Graddy said.
Boone County, which borders Missouri in north Arkansas, has a population of nearly 37,000, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Graddy’s family moved there from Oklahoma when she was 7 years old. A graduate of Valley Springs High School, just southeast of Harrison, Graddy went to work in the clerk’s office in 1997, when David Witty was clerk.
“I’ve held every position in the office,” Graddy said.
Her first job was working probate. She was elected county clerk in 2006. Six years later she asked the Boone County Quorum Court to change the county’s election law so residents could vote at any of the county’s precincts.
Graddy said voters had complained to her both before and after the 2010 redistricting about the distance they had to travel to their polling places.
Even before redistricting one resident had to vote 15 miles away from his home, even though there was a polling place just 5 miles away. Another voter — a woman who relied on her daughter to drive her to the precinct where they both voted — found that after redistricting she no longer shared a polling place with her daughter. In fact, her new polling place was several miles away.
“I thought, ‘How do I make everybody happy?” Graddy said.
Since all precincts in the county had electronic books, Graddy began asking, “Why can’t they vote wherever they want to?”
Quorum court members agreed that voting should be more convenient, and they unanimously passed an ordinance allowing voters to cast a ballot at any precinct in the county.
Boone County Justice of the Peace James Widner, who sponsored Graddy’s proposal before the quorum court, said he saw first hand during the 2012 election that the initiative had made voting easier for people.
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Pictured are Crystal Graddy, Chris Graddy, Kayla Graddy, Hannah Wilburn, Ben Wilburn, James Wilburn and Chase Graddy.
“In my district, there was a problem … with long lines in one precinct, and we were able to get voters to just go down the road to the neighboring precinct, and it sure eased the situation up,” he said. “Everybody got through in a timely manner.”
James Trammell of Harrison was superintendent of the Alpena School District in 2012. He said the law change proved convenient for him.
“I thought it was the greatest thing going on Election Day … super efficient,” he said.
Unable to vote early in the morning because he had to be at work, the new law allowed Trammell to walk during his lunch hour to the voting precinct in Alpena, where he cast a ballot, even though his assigned precinct was more than 10 miles away in Harrison.
“I was able to vote right there at Alpena, and it took me all of about five minutes, as opposed to trying to get back to the polls back in Harrison,” he said. After learning of Boone County’s election law change, state Reps. Mary Slinkard of Gravette and Nate Bell of Mena proposed a statewide initiative to allow other counties do what Boone County had done. Act 1297 of 2013 allows all counties with electronic poll books to allow voters to cast ballots at any precinct in their county.
“It’s voluntary, they don’t have to do it if they don’t want,” Graddy said.
In her capacity as county clerk, Graddy also serves as second vice president of the Arkansas Association of County Clerk’s, and she sits on a number of committees with the Association of Arkansas Counties. She also is on the Commission of State Land’s advisory group.
The meetings keep her busy, but she still finds time to help her son raise show chickens and to referee high school volleyball matches.
Graddy and her husband Chris, an Arkansas state trooper, have four children between them. The oldest, 23-year-old James Wilburn, is a graduate of North Arkansas College in Harrison and owns a trucking business in town.
Ben Wilburn, 22, is set to graduate from the University of Arkansas in May with a degree in agriculture business. He has received an assistantship at the university, where he plans to pursue a master’s degree in economics. His wife, Hanna, has a degree in Spanish from the university and plans to become a registered nurse.
Kayla Grady, 21, is studying early childhood education at North Arkansas College and plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree from Arkansas Tech University.
The Graddy’s youngest child, 16-year-old Chase, is completing his sophomore year at Valley Springs High School and serves as manager of the basketball team. Through his participation in Future Farmers of America, Chase introduced his parents to raising and showing chickens.
“We own a little farm, and the two older sons showed cattle,”
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Graddy
Graddy said. “I would help feed them sometimes, but that was never really my thing. We no longer have the cows. Now we have show chickens.”
She estimates there are about 100 chickens on the farm now, including Heritage breeds such as Dark Brahma and the Lavender Orpington.
Chase has won several championships since he started showing chickens three years ago — grand champion at the Boone County Fair and at the district fair. He was named reserve grand champion at the Arkansas State Fair in Little Rock.
“The birds are a high maintenance thing in our lives right now,” Graddy said.
Still, she finds time to referee high school volleyball.
Graddy herself played volleyball in a church league while she was in high school. Then several years ago, she met a high school volleyball referee who suggested she attend some matches and consider working the games. Soon enough, she was.
“After about a year I was refereeing,” she said, adding that her husband also is a referee, with a resume that includes high school basketball, softball and volleyball games.
In the past four years, Graddy has refereed state tournament games.
Looking ahead at the 2015 legislative session, Graddy said that a move to consolidate all elections could prove to be the biggest election issue. If lawmakers, who see the move as a way to save costs, consolidate elections, there will no longer be separate elections for school districts in September.
Graddy said a major stumbling block in that proposal is that a large number of counties in the state still use paper ballots, which will make it difficult for them to consolidate elections. Counties with electronic ballots would not have the same problem, she said.
“I’m not opposed to the idea, but it would make it much more difficult on those clerks [in counties with paper ballots],” she said. “With just paper ballots, it’s going to be a huge problem.”
And further down the road, the replacement of aging electronic voting machines will be a primary concern for counties, Graddy said.
“An electronic voting machine costs thousands of dollars to replace,” she said, noting that she would like the state to someday conduct all elections online.
“This is 10 to 20 years down the road, but I think that is where we are headed,” Graddy said. “People my age and younger, I don’t think would have a problem with it.”
She admitted many people are skeptical about security online, but online voting is something that could work out over time and would probably save the state and counties a lot of money, she said.
“I think that needs to eventually be considered.”
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Graddy helps her youngest son, Chase, raise chickens. The Graddy farm has about 100 chickens, including Heritage breeds.
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