Merry Christmas to All!
75¢
Letters to Santa section inside. (See page 3.)
Volume 122 Number 51 - USPS 225-680
Serving all of Prairie County and the Grand Prairie
Wednesday, December 20, 2023
Community Calendar of Events Hazen Senior Center opens daily from 9:00 a.m.- 1:00 p.m. Lunch is served from 11:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. Thursday December 21 Hazen City Council Meeting 6:00 p.m. City Hall Food Distribution Hazen Methodist Church 10:00 a.m.-Noon Monday December 25 Christmas Day Local and County Offices are closed Monday January 1 New Year’s Day Most local and County offices are closed. Friday January 5 Hornet s vs McCrory Hornets Nest 4:30 p.m. 7B, JG, SB Monday January 8 Biscoe EHC meeting 10:30 Biscoe First Baptist Church Community events are brought to you by the Hazen Chamber of Commerce and the
Please call F&M Bank (255-3042) or The Grand Prairie Herald (255-4538) to list events.
Hazen’s “Christmas in the Park” is huge success... The Hazen Chamber of Commerce presented the “Christmas in the Park” luminary event that was held on Monday, December 11, in downtown Hazen. Jennifer Kelly, Dee Hare, Megan Anderson, and a host of others worked hard to coordinate the activities. Two thousand luminaries lined downtown. Activities included Santa Claus and his gingerbread helper, a parade, a cakewalk, roasting marshmallows, serving hot chocolate and cookies and s’mores, a live nativity with real animals, and entertainment by local groups. The Hazen High School Alumni held a fundraising dinner at Simmer Down, and some businesses stayed open. More pictures can be found on page 12 of this edition, some of which were taken by Ruth Corley.
Prairie County Quorum Court receives audit The Prairie County Quorum Court passed one ordinance and discussed the recent state audit report at its December 12, 2023 meeting. Present at the meeting were Judge Lawrence Holloway, County Clerk Gaylon Hale, County Attorney Abram Skarda, and Justices Rick Stallings, Bobby Willeford, Levi Childress, Zach Payne, Bill Calhoun, Gary King, and Paul Hooks. The county received the report on the full audit of 2022 county funds which was explained by Skarda. He told the court that the state found that the county budget had been inflated which caused overspending by various departments. He also told the court that a vehicle had been purchased when Mike Skarda was the county judge. The former judge
had ok’d using money from a restricted road money account for the purchase. The money has since been returned to that account from the county general account. Justice Stallings asked how this could have happened, since none of the court members voted to buy the car. No answer was given. The county has provided a plan to the state to address the problems stated in the audit, according to Holloway. It was reported that the money has since been returned to the restricted road money account. Holloway told the justices that the county’s budget for next year is almost done. The court will meet on Tuesday, December 19, at noon to discuss all of the departmental budgets. Copies of the budgets will be emailed to the justices before the meeting.
The county general account began the month of November, 2023, with a deficit of $487,774.32, but after $307,172. 86 was transferred into the county account from taxes and $189,222.19 apparently from the county’s cd investment fund, the ending balance was $109,453.71. The Emergency 911 account is $195,822.19 still in the red, and the county is still waiting to receive the grant money for the repair of the courthouses. Ordinance 2023-21 allows the county to do business with BugMasters, for which two justices work. It was passed unanimously. During the meeting, Judge Holloway was presented with an Association of Arkansas Counties (AAC) safety award.
Judge Lawrence Holloway was presented with the a plaque from the AAC for his safety program efforts.
DeValls Bluff Council approves bonuses, raises By Lisa Mills The DVB City Council met December 14th with Mayor Thelma Gray, Recorder/ Treasurer Darlene Conner, and Council Members Shirley Goff, Carol Griffin, Alice Metcalf, Jackie Adcock, Matie Flanagan, and Pam Del Giorno present. Metcalf presented a recommendation from the budget committee to give employees a Christmas bonus of 2% of their annual salary, stating that the funds are available in the budget. Goff stated that she felt like the bonuses should be more like $500. Metcalf said, “Our employees work hard, even voluntary sometimes, we appreciate them and want them to know it, that’s why the committee feels like they deserve the 2%, if we can afford it.” DelGiorno asked what the total amount would be, to which Leah Woodall said, “We haven’t figured the total yet, but the highest salary is around $42,000.” DelGiorno
said “I just don’t feel comfortable not knowing the full amount.” Goff said, “I don’t see how we can afford it when other things have been asked for, that cost less, but weren’t approved because we were told we couldn’t afford it. We don’t know what might come financially in the future, so we have to be responsible.” Metcalf made a motion to approve the recommended 2% bonus. Adcock asked, “If the motion doesn’t pass, we need to make some kind of decision now since Christmas is so close.” The motion failed by a vote of two yes (Metcalf & Griffin) and four no. Goff made a motion to give $500 to full time and $300 to part time employees. The motion passed by a vote of four yes and two no (Metcalf and Griffin). A motion was unanimously passed to give employees a 3.5% cost of living raise, included in the 2024 budget. Metcalf informed the council that an offer had been made to buy the
bank building and clinic building for $20,000 each. A motion was unanimously passed to accept the offer. Des Arc Council member Gail King and Animal Rescuer Amy Patterson spoke to the council about Des Arc’s animal control program and what they have done to get to where they are now. Patterson said that after a lot of
time and effort they have recently partnered with “Best Friends of Animals” from Springdale, and they are helping Des Arc make even more improvements that will be a big help in the future. King said that “Best Friends” had given them sample plans for a shelter and an ordinance and a lot of other information that could be shared
with DVB. Metcalf thanked Patterson and King for coming and asked them to leave the information and their contact information. Police Chief Jeremy Murphy reported two felony and one misdemeanor arrests, and 12 traffic citations. Leah Woodall reported that Engineer David Hilsdon reported to her that the (Continued on page 2.)
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