A (USPS156-140) Vol. 132, Number 9 DeWitt, AR 72042 • 16 Pages • 2 Sections • 75 cents
AROUND THE COUNTY
ABCD FISH FRY AND AUCTION The 14th Annual ABCD Memorial Scholarship Fund Fish Fry and Auction will be held Friday, February 28, 2014 at The Grand Prairie Center in Stuttgart. Fish Fry is from 5:00-7:00 p.m. Dine-in or Carry-outs are available. Price is $12 per plate. Live Auction begins at 7:00 p.m. Proceeds to benefit scholarships to be awarded to DeWitt and Stuttgart High School Seniors.
BCD Event will be held Friday, February 28, 2014
Story and Photos on Page A8
Serving Arkansas k County, Arkansas k Since 1882 Thursday, February 27, 2014
alt. Consulting Receives State Commendation as Farm to Fuel Work Expands
SASSAFRAS/ THOMPSON ANNUAL MEETING The Sassafras/Thompson Cemetery annual meeting will be held at 7 p.m. March 17, in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Elvin Wright, 175 Elm Branch Rd., DeWitt. All interested parties are encouraged to attend.
HOCKENBERRY ANNUAL MEETING The Hockenberry Cemetery Annual Business Meeting will be held on March 3 at 7 p.m. at the Nady Church of the Nazarene.
ELECTION REGISTRATION LOCATION County Officers seeking election can register at the Easy Living’s office on 312 Main St. beginning February 24 through March 3 from 8-12. Hours are 8:00-4:30 Monday through Friday.
UNITY BAPTIST CHURCH COMMUNITY CLOTHES CLOSET Is open the 2nd and 4th Tuesday and Thursday of each month from 9:30 - 11:30am. Free clothing for those in need.
The State Legislature presented today a commendation to alt.Consulting and Mayor Ralph Relyea of DeWitt, AR. In October 2013, alt.Consulting, an Arkansas-based nonprofit, which has worked with thousands of rural businesses across the Delta since 1998, announced the launch of its Farm to Fuel strategy. Through a close collaboration with 20 organizations, colleges, entrepreneurs and community leaders, alt.Consulting is implementing a comprehensive value chain utilizing multiple inputs including a new energy crop and commercializing small-scale biodiesel refining technology developed at Mid South Community College (MSCC) in West Memphis, AR to make biofuel that meets local and regional demand. Farm to Fuel aims to create small business jobs as well as energy autonomy for small rural communities like DeWitt. MSCC is in the process of replicating its successful micro-refinery prototype that is the core of the Farm to Fuel project, but that
hasn’t kept alt.Consulting and the City of DeWitt from gearing up the project. The City of DeWitt now has a truck equipped to collect waste vegetable oil and containers ready to distribute to about a dozen commercial customers this week. Recruitment is already underway to add more customers across a 10 county collection district as collection begins. Residents in the community have started recycling their used cooking oil by bringing it to the new Delta Bioenergy and Recycling facility to process into biodiesel. A Renewable Energy Technology graduate from the local Phillips County College of the University of Arkansas (PCCUA) has been employed by the City of DeWitt to manage the collection business and learn about the biodiesel feedstock. Local entrepreneur, Johnny Davis, has installed a Springboard Biodiesel processor, leased from alt. Consulting, to start processing the waste vegetable oil into biodiesel until the
new micro-biorefinery can completed at the Marion Berry Renewable Energy Center at MSCC and installed at the facility this summer. He has used small batches of biodiesel produced this winter to heat his facility. Mr. Davis is also renovating the old fuel station facility to house Delta Bioenergy and Recycling and his retail animal feed business, ARCO Seed, planning to add additional businesses over time. The project has seen only one notable setback so far. Five different farmers planted Camelina for field testing along with PCCUA and Arkansas State University field testing plots for a total of close to 100 acres. This year’s harsh winter conditions and ice have not been kind to the winter crop, but a spring planting is scheduled. Farmers have agreed to replant the Camelina as a Spring crop if conditions in February allow. The momentum from Farm-to-Fuel led other entrepreneurs in DeWitt to develop a community market to feature local
food products similar to the River Market concept in Little Rock. alt.Consulting is helping them test the feasibility of the concept while preparing food entrepreneurs to formalize their businesses. With the micro-refinery yet to be installed in DeWitt, communities in eastern Arkansas are taking notice. alt.Consulting has received calls from several communities wanting to do what DeWitt is doing. The organization has begun working with Dumas, AR to develop their community’s entrepreneur strategy for economic development, and Dumas plans to be the next to implement the Farm to Fuel strategy as part of a larger initiative to “grow their own.” Contact: alt.Consulting, Inc. Pine Bluff Office 870535-0011, ines@altconsulting.org Ines Polonius: “We are proud of the hard working entrepreneurs and community leaders in DeWitt that are making Farm to Fuel a reality and a success.”
CORKY’S BBQ FUNDRAISER
$10.00 Each plate includes pork, baked beans, coleslaw, bun, chips and a cookie
ets Tick lable i a v A M at F& ! Bank
Drive Thru MONDAY, MARCH 10 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. F&M Bank in DeWitt
*Proceeds beneift the “Caring for the Community” account*