“Celebrating Culture” event to be held in Stuttgart

The “Celebrating Culture Organization” of Stuttgart will be holding its first event to celebrate Black history and culture on Saturday, February 18, at the Grand Prairie Center Auditorium.

“This is a vision that God put in my heart to do about 6 months ago,” the organization’s Executive Director Joe Alexander Jr. said of the event. Director Alexander and his wife, LaToya, have been pulling things together ever since, he said.

“Our community of Stuttgart has had a lot of bad things to happen over the last couple of years, so we want to do something positive to bring by some peace, hope, unity,” Alexander says. “We want to continue to help motivate our community to stay the course and keep reaching for excellence.”

Navy Commander Eric L. Alexander.

The day will feature an African dance, poetry and spoken words, and performances by local rap and gospel artists.

The speaker of the hour will be Alexander’s brother, US Navy Commander Eric L. Alexander. Commander Alexander is a native of Stuttgart, and as a Navy Commander he has traveled all around the world. “He has done great things, and he will be sharing his story with the youth and everyone in attendance,” Director Alexander said. The organization will also be handing out community service awards and a few high achievement awards. All children 18 years old and younger will get into the event for free. Tickets for adults are $10 in advance and $12 at the door.

“We were blessed to have over 10 local Black business owners to help sponsor this event and make it possible,” Director Alexander said. If anyone needs more information about sponsorship or tickets, they can call Alexander at (870) 672-1495 or stop by Big Dawg Cutz at 1810 South Park Avenue in Stuttgart, Arkansas. The doors open at 5:30 pm and the event starts at 6:00 pm. Cultural Attire is encouraged. Everyone is invited to attend the event.

M o s enthin re c eive s 2023 DAR Co mm unit y Servi c e Aw ard

By Judi Jones Grand Prairie DAR

Glenn Mosenthin was presented a National Society Daughters of the American Revolution 2023 Community Service Award on Thursday, January 19, at the regular meeting of the Grand Prairie Historical Society at the Museum of the Arkansas Grand Prairie in Stuttgart.

Mosenthin has been actively involved with the Grand Prairie Historical Society (GPHS), of which his grandfather was a founding member, for decades. He has served for many years as a director. He also is the editor of the GPHS Historical Bulletin, and with his extensive research into the history of the Grand Prairie region of southeast Arkansas, he frequently writes articles for the publication. In addition, he has written numerous entries for the Encyclopedia of Arkansas and compiled a book on Stuttgart as part of the Images of America series published by Arcadia Publishing.

Working with the Grand Prairie Historical Society, he has played a significant role in the placement of markers at historical sites, including one at Crocketts Bluff and one at historic Stuttgart Holman School, both of which have been included in the Historical Marker Database. Under Mosenthin's direction in 2011, GPHS placed a sesquicentennial plaque at Arkansas Post State Park to commemorate the Battle of Arkansas Post.

Arkansas County has some of the oldest historical documents west of the Mississippi River, and GPHS continues to help rescue and preserve these fragile documents and photographs to film and digital formats through donations to the Arkansas County Records Restoration and Preservation committee. Mosenthin has been a supporter of this work and was instrumental in the creation of the GPHS website and Facebook page to highlight these records which are featured in the GPHS journal. Mosenthin also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Historical Association and actively lobbied for the Association’s 2019 Convention to be held in Stuttgart. He has served on the committee to select the Most Endangered Places in Arkansas with the Preserve Arkansas organization. Mosenthin currently resides in Searcy where he actively works with the White County Historical Society.

New Carlisle Bison football coach Gary Wilson shakes hands with Hazen coach Joe Besancon following the 2022 Class 2A state championship game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. Wilson was promoted to head coach last week following the resignation of Caleb Shock.

W ilson is new Bison H ea d C oa c h

By Mark Buffalo Sports Editor

The Carlisle School Board did not have to look far for a new football coach.

Gary Wilson, the defensive coordinator for the 2022 Bison, was promoted to head coach by the board during a meeting Jan. 30. Wilson has been coaching at Carlisle for three years.

Wilson is a 2004 graduate of Carlisle High School, having played for John Steward and James Clayton in the Bison program. He took the non-traditional route into teaching and earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Arkansas in 2019.

“There is not other place I’d want to be coaching at,” Wilson said. “This job means more to me than any other would. Being able to grow up and be around Carlisle football when it was at its peak, then be a part of the staff that Coach Shock had to get us back to that point, I’m excited that they trusted me to try to keep everything going in the right direction.”

Wilson replaces Caleb Shock, who resigned after five years to get back into the insurance business. In 2022, the Bison went 12-2, finishing as Class 2A state runners-up to Hazen, falling in the state championship game in December.

Wilson said he will continue to call the defensive schemes in 2023. Gage Cawthon will be the offensive coordinator.

“Defensively, we’re not going to change much if anything at all,” Wilson said. “I think what we do, we do really well right now. The kids know our scheme. We’ve got eight out of 11 starters coming back.

So, I think we’ve got a chance to be extremely good on defense. We’ll stick with what we’ve done. We may add a few more blitzes and pres-

La d y Bison are now 7-5 in league play

By Mark Buffalo Sports Editor