Dogwood for hot and cold dogs

Article and photos by Ethan Nahté

Dogwood Grooming and Boarding had hot dogs cooking in the hot outdoors Saturday afternoon but had cool dogs awaiting adoption indoors from the Humane Society of the Ouachitas (HSO).

HSO volunteer Cindy Webster said, “They are doing Dogwood for Dogs and they are helping HSO with dog adoptions. They are drawing people in with their free food and bringing people in to hopefully get our babies adopted. They are not Dogwood Grooming dogs. They are dogs from the humane society that need homes.

Alycia Smith, owner of Dogwood Grooming and Boarding, said, “We supplied the place and the atmosphere. We tried to get prizes and things to draw people in, plus food and all the promotion for the event.”

Dogwood is located at 2303 Fairgrounds Rd. in Mena. The facility boards both dogs and cats and has several staff members for grooming and care. “This place has been here for 28 years, I think, but I bought it October 17, 2022.” Smith said, claiming it’s 100% everything she imag- ined owning the shop would be. “Every day I get to come to work to dogs. That’s what I love… dogs.”

Smith also owns several cats that she and her family brought with them from West Virginia. In general, she said, “I love animals.”

The free hot dogs also included chips and drinks. There were also raffle prizes.

The six friendly, healthy dogs took six hours to groom, and the event ran from 3-6 p.m.

Smith said, “Everyone [of the dogs] got a bath, a blowout, their nails and one of them even got a deshed, we trimmed some of them up — whatever they needed. We worked on them from 9-3.”

“Two of them, Dixie and Godiva, are actually ones that have been at

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I read a short article about the release of the AAR (After Action Review) concerning our withdrawal from Afghanistan. The report was released on 6-30-2023, a Friday, just before the July 4th holiday. Nothing on the news, and I am sure that was planned. Often that is when our government releases information (called news dumps) in the hopes no one is paying attention. This is not a party thing, it is a government thing, as both parties do this.

The review is available online for all to read and contained many references to the great job done by so many. I feel certain there are some that would disagree, me included. The unnecessary loss of 13 more military personnel supports a different view. I found it interesting that at page 20 the report skips to page 85 and it is unknown what was contained in those missing pages. The report is from the US State Department and can be found online if you search AAR Afghanistan. Please read it and draw your own conclusions.

Think about this, for all the rhetoric about gun control, look at how much we left behind (true weapons of war) in Afghanistan that may one day be used against us or others. We just armed the very terrorists we were fighting with our latest weaponry. There was a reference to our withdrawal from Vietnam that I remember, but many younger than me reading this letter may not. The scenes on the news were heart wrenching to watch as people tried to board helicopters from roof tops to leave a country in chaos. We spent way too long there as well. The blood and treasure lost as a result is sickening. In the final analogy, I ask what was gained? The same question could be asked about Afghanistan, and about Iraq. To this day our brave service members that served suffer from disease, loss of limbs, PTSD, nightmares, feeling unappreciated, and feeling left behind. I remember the protests and disdain towards our military as if the war was of their doing. The withdrawal from Vietnam deserved more than a pass- ing mention in this AAR. It appears nothing was learned from that chaotic withdrawal and Afghanistan proved that point. Our elected officials are good at getting us into conflict. Not so good getting us out.

At some point in time, I fear we may find the rest of the world will find it hard to believe us and our ability to honor a commitment. Cut and run is not a strategy. Leaving behind those who helped us, to die is not a good recruitment tool. I refer to our failures at the Bay of Pigs in 1961, Vietnam, and most recently Afghanistan. Do we ever learn or do we just write another AAR destined to collect dust in the archives?

As always, I thank you for a forum to express my thoughts, though we may peacefully disagree.

With respect and kindest regards, Ronald Goss, retired, Mena

By passing the LEARNS Act, the Arkansas Legislature and Governor Huckabee-Sanders have carved out $46 million from the public education budget to be given to private schools (or something resembling such). It’s a bad idea, one of probably more to come, but we might be able to mitigate some of the consequences.

It seems like our public libraries, as a result, will be needed more than ever (libraries have always been needed). The Mena Polk County library has been doing a good job of serving the community for many decades, not unlike most small-town libraries across Arkansas and the country. How about increasing the budget of libraries across the state, especially small-town libraries?

The Mena Polk County library has a great librarian and great staff, we are fortunate. I’ve had the great fortune of being in other fine libraries throughout the state and have

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Letters may be submitted by e-mail to news@mypulsenews.com; mailed to P.O. Box 1450, Mena, AR 71953 or dropped off at 1168 Hwy. 71 South, Mena, AR. A drop-box is provided by the front door for after-hour convenience. TO encountered the same. Our library could use more funds for circulating and reference material. It would also be nice if the library could have subscriptions to more newspapers, magazines, and academic material.

Governors and state legislatures can do good things, like provide funding for public libraries. When’s the last time you heard of any community regretting the funding of a library?

Steve Allen, Mena