75¢
Carlisle Bison win in tournament. (See p. 6.)
Volume 120 Number 13 - USPS 225-680
Community Calendar of Events Stop by your Prairie County Public Library for Free candy bag for Easter (4th grade & younger) while Supplies Last Friday April 2 Good Friday Prairie County Court Houses will be closed. Grand Prairie Quilt Society 10:00 a.m. First Christian Church 10th and main in Stuttgart Monday April 5 Judge Brock will be holding Juror Orientation at DeValls Bluff Courthouse @ 9:00 a.m. Des Arc Courthouse @ 10:30 a.m. Thursday April 8 DeValls Bluff City Council Meeting City Hall 6:00 p.m. Saturday April 10 Movie Night Faith Under Fire DVB Auditorium 6:00 p.m. Monday April 12 Blood Drive Hazen Methodist Church 10:00 a.m.6:00 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.
Serving all of Prairie County and the Grand Prairie
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Hazen Planning Commission and Council meet to change zoning The Hazen Planning Commission met on March 25 in the Hazen Community Center to discuss the rezoning of a home from R1 to commercial to allow for a daycare center in it. Planning Commission members present were Troy Young, Dave Hare, Nanette Belford, Gene Rogers, and Robin McMullen. Julia Beatty requested that the city allow her to operate an “in-home family daycare” in the Grady edition in Hazen. The commission had to consider whether child care facilities of all types administered by the Department of Human Services (DHS) and church complexes with multiple buildings could be included under the “conditional uses” clause of the Hazen Municipal Code. “Conditional uses” includes several “uses not normally permitted in a given zone” that must be approved by the Planning Commission. Beatty submitted plot plans showing the layout of the daycare and its effect on adjacent properties. She also had to get written permission to run a daycare from neighbors within 200 feet of her home, which were also turned into the city. When she addressed
The Beatty home has been a functioning daycare for quite some time, but Beatty is now applying for Department of Human Services licensing, which requires a rezoning of the property as commercial and some internal changes to the property. the commission, Beatty said that she had been contacted by DHS and was informed that she would have to shut down her daycare until she could obtain a daycare license. “This is just something that DHS required,” she said. “My goal was to provide a place for them (the children),” Beatty told the commission. “Their safe place during the day was at my house,” she said. Presently Beatty keeps five children, but after she obtains a license, she will be able to keep a maximum of 16 chil-
dren. She expects to have 10-16 children in her home, which includes two children who only come after school. DHS requires that she install a threecompartment sink, get a fire inspection, send in a fee to the state of Arkansas, and have criminal background checks done on all daycare workers. She already has cubbies and cots for the children. “I was there twice a day, and I never saw anything wrong with it (the daycare),” Commission member Nanette Belford said.
Hazen Mayor David Hardke told the group that the commission’s approval would only pertain to Beatty’s business. Anyone else who wished to have a business in an R1 zone would have to go through the same process, according to Hardke. After some questioning, the commission members voted unanimously to approve Beatty’s request to have her home re-zoned. After the Planning Commission adjourned its meeting, the Hazen City Council met to pass an ordinance that would
amend the Hazen Municipal Code zoning ordinance definition of “conditional uses” to include child care facilities of all types administered by the Department of Human Services and church complexes involving multiple buildings. After a short discussion, the council members voted unanimously to approve the changes with Ordinance 501, declaring it an emergency so that the changes could go into effect immediately. Only Councilman Rick Wiggins was missing from the meeting.
Annual Bi-States Cooperative Extension Program Small Scale Producer Conference to be held April 29 The 11th Annual BiStates Cooperative Extension Program Small Scale Producer Conference will be held virtually Thursday, April 29, beginning at 9:25 a.m. Conference
topics will include the Natural Resources Conservation Service EQIP cost-share program, silviculture, timber management, beef herd health, best practices for co-grazing goats
2021 Specialty Crop Block Grant proposals due April 16th The Arkansas Department of Agriculture is now accepting applications for the 2021 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP). These grants are funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to enhance the competitiveness of the Arkansas specialty crop industry. Specialty crops are defined by USDA as fruits, vegetables, horticulture, floriculture, and tree nuts. The Arkansas Department of Agriculture uses a twophase application process for administering the grant funds. Project concept proposals outlining the project’s goals, tasks, and budget requirement must be submitted by April 16 through this link: https://www.cognitoforms.com/Arkansas Agriculture1/SpecialtyC ropBlockGrant2021Proje ctConceptProposal After all concept proposals are reviewed by an advisory committee, selected projects will be invited to submit detailed project proposals.
Applicants are encouraged to develop projects pertaining to the following issues affecting the specialty crop industry: ·Increasing sales and marketability and driving demand for specialty crops; ·Increasing consumption of specialty crops in Arkansas’s schools by expanding child knowledge and/or improving access to the nutritional benefits of specialty crops; ·Increasing access to local healthy foods; ·Research projects focused on helping specialty crop growers reduce financial costs, improve pest and disease management, and/or value-added products; and ·Enhancing specialty crop food safety. More information about the grant is available in the full Request for Applications (RFA) at https://www.agriculture.arkansas.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2021/03/ A DA - S C B G P - R F A 2021.pdf. For additional information, contact Amy Lyman, amy.lyman@agriculture.arkansas.gov.
and cattle, virtual farm tourism and timber exemption. The conference is sponsored by the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) Small Farm Program and Prairie View A&M University (PVA&MU) Agriculture and Natural Resources Program. To register, go to https://pvpanther.zoom.u s/meeting/register/tJwqc
-qqqjIvGdAqXFllZan0rgYquuRgk05. For more information contact Kandi Williams, UAPB Extension program aide, at 870-5719428 or williamska@uapb.edu or Brandon Hawkins, PVA&MU Extension agent, at 903-6286702 o r brhawkins@pvamu.edu. The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
offers all of its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an A f f i r m a t i v e A c t i o n / E q u a l Opportunity Employer.
USDA announces pandemic assistance program to benefit farmers and producers This week USDA announced new financial assistance programs for farmers and producers. The USDA Pandemic Assistance for Producers (PAP) payments are additional payments to the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program 2 (CFAP 2) benefits.
According to USA Rice "rice farmers will receive $20 per eligible acre when payments begin next month based on their CFAP 2 application. These payments will automatically be issued to farmers. Since the payment is a top-up for CFAP 2, the amount a producer can receive
will be based on the CFAP 2 payment limitation, combining the initial payment received under CFAP 2 and PAP." USDA will reopen CFAP 2 signup for all eligible producers beginning April 5, 2021. Go to USDA's website for more details.
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