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GP quilters share their Easter projects. (See page 6.)
Volume 121 Number 16 - USPS 225-680
Serving all of Prairie County and the Grand Prairie
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
Community Calendar of Events Wednesday April 20
Carlisle Public Library Sow Bee It (adult program) 4:00 p.m.
Thursday April 21
Hazen Baseball @ McCrory 4:30 p.m. V/JV
Friday April 22
Daddy/Daughter Dance Hazen School Cafeteria 6:00 p.m.- 8:00 p.m.
Monday April 25 Last Day to Register to Vote for the Primary Election
Thursday April 28 Food Distribution Hazen Methodist Church 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Lunch With the Lions Riverfront Park at Des Arc Drive Through 11:00 a.m.- 1:00 p.m.
Saturday April 30 Master Gardener Plant Sale Hazen City Park Pavilions in front of Community Center 9:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m.
Community events brought to you by Hazen Chamber of Commerce
and the Please call F&M Bank (255-3042) or The Grand Prairie Herald (255-4538) to list events.
Downs Road rerouting to be completed soon By Leigh VanHouten It took crews just six days to install 65 concrete box culverts at the Downs Road crossing in Prairie County. Crews with Capital Paving and Construction, of Jefferson City, Missouri, did the installation of the 10-foot by 10foot concrete box culverts. The first was delivered on Monday, April 4. The Downs Road crossing is located just north of Highway 70 near DeValls Bluff. This work was done in what White River Irrigation District (WRID) describes as the Canal
1000 portion of project. The project, once complete, will bring water to area farmers in portions of Prairie, Arkansas, Lonoke and Monroe Counties. The current work at Downs Road will tie into the Canal 1000 and reroute traffic over the canal portion of the project. There are five rows of the concrete culverts with 13 boxes per row. Forterra Pipe and Precast, LLC, of West Memphis, supplied the boxes. “Two more county road crossing designs are being completed by Michael
Baker International Engineers, and state Highway 63 and 70 crossings are being evaluated for box culverts rather than bridges. We believe changing from the current bridge concept to box culverts will be easier to maintain and save significant money,” WRID Director and Chief Engineer Dennis Carman said. Along with the box culvert designs by Michael Baker Engineers, NRCS has also delivered the design for the next canal segment. “We don’t know what the weather will be like for the next few months, but
Summer and Fall should be a busy time with the road crossings and canal work underway,” Carman added. The project is now fully funded for the first 12 miles of construction after a recent vote of approval from the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC). The ANRC commission members voted in favor of the $26 million loan through the Arkansas Natural Resources Division of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture. “This funding is a loan and will be used to match $48 million of Natural Resources Conservation
Service (NRCS) funding already approved. This means we are fully funded for the first 12 miles of canal started just west of DeValls Bluff and ending at the Hazen airport,” Carman explained. Prior work includes a pump station, 7,500 feet of twin 10-foot diameter pipelines and the regulating reservoir constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Continue to keep up with construction, public meetings and other information by following the White River Irrigation District on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/White RiverIrrigationDistrict.
Hazen Police Dept. in I-40 standoff On Monday, April 11, Officer Clayton Dillion of the Hazen Police Department was dispatched to the westbound rest area on Interstate 40 after a 911 call informed the department that a woman had her car hijacked. William Donald Rynes of Mississippi, age 52, showed a gun and demanded the keys to the car while the woman was sitting in the rest area parking lot. Trooper Williams with the Arkansas State Police arrived on the scene and along with Dillion, the two took up defensive positions behind Rynes, who was in the gray Ford Expedition that was hooked up to a camper trailer, until additional units arrived. Hazen Police Chief Bradley Taylor arrived
moments later with multiple other officers from multiple agencies. A perimeter was set up around the suspect, but he ignored commands to exit the vehicle for over 30 minutes and eventually left in the vehicle. Rynes drove under the White River overpass at the rest area before climbing up the muddy shoulder to get onto Interstate 40 eastbound. Dillion pursued in the lead vehicle which lasted about five miles when Rynes lost control of his vehicle near mile marker 204 and crashed into the cable barrier causing his vehicle to roll over. He was taken into custody to Sgt. Dillion, Asst. Police Chief Arlin VanHouten, and Chief Taylor without incident. Rynes was medically cleared at the Prairie County jail by an ambulance service.
Hazen ACSIP finalized The 2021-2022 ACSIP plan was accepted at the April 11 meeting of the Hazen School Board held in the high school library at 6:00 p.m. The board also voted unanimously to hire all classified staff for the 2022-23 school year. The only board member missing was Freddie Rogers, who was out of town. The only changes in the ACSIP plan were the addition of a summer remediation program for high school students and a change in the elementary literacy benchmark curriculum which was required by the state Department of Education. The new program, which will be purchased from Benchmark
Education, will cost the district $66,034.50 this year and will be paid for with Title I and ESA funds. The other half of the expense will be paid with next year’s budget. In other business, the board approved the superintendent’s recommendation to approve the certified salary schedule for the 2022-23 school year, which will be the same as this year’s budget. The board also approved the supplemental salary schedule and stipends for staff members for various extra duties and for national board certification. The board committed to using the Arch Ford (Continued on p. 4)
Eddie Joe Williams was the first speaker at the recent Farm Bureau event.
Meet the candidates event Members of the Farm Bureau got together to meet with candidates of various Prairie County races on Wednesday, April 13, in the Farm Bureau building at 11:30 a.m. Attendees enjoyed a delicious barbeque lunch, then listened to the candidates as they gave short speeches. Mason Sickel was in charge of the meeting. The first person to speak was Eddie Joe
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Williams from Cabot who is running for Secretary of State against the incumbent, John Thurston. Williams started his career working for the railroad where he rose through the ranks to an executive position. He also worked for the Trump Administration. Williams stressed the importance of every election. “The future of America hinges on our vote,” he said.
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Running for State Representative in District 61 was Jeremiah Moore of Clarendon. District 61 includes the eastern third of Prairie County. He expressed concern over the loss of population in the Delta part of the state, and wants to work toward moving people back to that area. “I care about where we’re from,” he said. Moore is an inde(Continued on p. 3)
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