S
pratilin Finally Receives Newspaper After 55 Years
(USPS156-140) Vol. 133, Number 2 DeWitt, AR 72042 • 16 Pages • 2 Sections • 75 cents
AROUND THE COUNTY
BERRY PRECOON SUPPER
SServing i A Arkansas k County, C t Arkansas Ak Since Si 1882
Story and Photos on Page B1
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Best of DeWitt Volunteer of the Year
The Berry Pre-Coon Supper Reception to benefit the Marion and Carolyn Berry Scholarship Fund will be held January 10, 2015 from 3:30-6:30pm at the Berry Farm Shop in Gillett. Live music by the Wing Walkers. Tickets are $30.00 each with checks payable to Marion and Carolyn Berry Scholarship Fund, ASU Foundation, P.O. Box 1990, State University, AR 72467. For more information call Ben Noble at 501-722-9473 or Gabe Holmstrom at 479-409-3329.
THE GILLETT FARMERS AND BUSINESSMEN’S CLUB
The Gillett Farmers and Businessmen’s Club will host the 72nd Annual Coon Supper on Saturday, Janaury 10, 2015. The Coon Supper will be held in the Gillett Elementary Gymnasium (313 S. 6th Street, Gillett, AR 72055). The doors will open and the meal will be served at 6pm with the program beginning at 6:30pm. Menu will be the same as last year: coon, baby-back ribs, brisket, rice, sweet potatoes, and cake.
SPAGHET TI SUPPER
St. Luke Lutheran Church is having their annual spaghetti supper Saturday, January 24th 4:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
AMERICAN L E G I O N AUXILIARY MEETING
The American Legion Auxiliary will meet on January 8, 2015, at the Willows restaurant, at 5:30 P.M. Please make plans to attend as this is a very important meeting.
Barbara West, Santa, and his elf help children around town have a wonderful Christmas.
By Terrye Seamon People have different reasons for doing what they do. Love, money, and greed are just a few of those motivating factors that can drive a person’s actions. Sometimes though, a person’s actions are motivated by caring and a desire to help and do the right thing. This is the case with Barbara West, the Best of DeWitt’s 2014 Volunteer of the Year. West, who is retired now, worked several years for the highway department after she had worked as a grain inspector for 21 years. Eleven years ago she started what has turned out to be her annual Christmas toy drive. “I just wanted to do it. I had the money, and I was afraid some little kid wasn’t going to get anything for Christmas,” West said. The very first year she actually ran her toy drive out of
the back of her truck in the parking lot of the old AP&L building across from the caboose and Piggly Wiggly. “I bought all the toys,” West recalls. “It was snowing on me, and I’d flag kids down and give them a toy.” It was not long before people noticed her good heartedness and started giving her monetary as well as toy donations, and it has grown to the success it is today. Since there is no overhead for her toy drive, West functions strictly on donations and her own personal funds. She takes any monetary donations given to her and purchases toys for the kids. This year she had 483 toys as well as food, batteries, scarves, gloves, toboggans, and house shoes in a variety of sizes for boys and girls to choose from. And her thoughtfulness doesn’t stop with the kids. She even donated $120 worth of lap
throws to each of the nursing homes here in town. For the last three years, Young’s Insurance Agency (YIA) has helped host West’s toy drive. This December approximately 150 children came and chose from the above-mentioned items. They also received a sack that included an orange and an apple donated by Piggly Wiggly as well as a candy cane and a Beanie Baby. West’s volunteering does not stop with her own toy drive. She also helps with a food drive sponsored by Young’s Insurance Agency. Wendy Young, owner of YIA, said that West works just as hard on the food drive as she does on her own event. This year they were able to provide nine families with baskets of food for the holiday season. “She is the kind of person who will do anything for anybody. She will give you the shirt off her back or her
last dime without expecting anything in return. She’s got a heart of gold,” Young said. The world needs more people like Barbara West, and DeWitt is proud to call her one of their own. She will be presented a well-deserved plaque honoring her and her service to the community at the Best of DeWitt Banquet hosted by the DeWitt Chamber of Commerce January 29 at the DeWitt High School cafeteria. The guest speaker will be Steve “Wildman” Wilson from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Tickets will be available from any member of the DeWitt Chamber of Commerce or Scarlett Lamb at the PCCUA DeWitt Campus. Come and show your support of West and her service to the community of DeWitt.
Elected Officials Take Office in Arkansas County
Elected officials who were sworn in
By Dawn Teer The Elected officials who were sworn in at the Arkansas County Courthouse in DeWitt on January 1 were: County officials: Judge Eddie Best, Sheriff Allen Cheek, County Clerk Melissa Wood, Circuit Clerk Sarah Merchant, Treasurer Charles Horton, Coroner Cooper Essex, Deputy Coroner Laura Essex, Justices of the Peace: Roger Theis, Tim Criswell, Inez McLemore, Larry Gunnell, Kirk Keller, Constables: Billy R. Paxton (Lagrue), James “Bubby” Shelton (Keaton) From DeWitt: Ada Marie Clark, James Vernor and Robert Young, City Council Alderman, from Humphrey: Mayor Rodney Henderson, Aldermen Donald Ray Combs, Cleveland Hatch, Eddie W. White, from St. Charles: Recorder/Treasurer Naomi J. Mitchell Aldermen Walter L. Jones, Kevin Poston, Mickey D. Johnson, Sr., and R. Ryan Long