75¢
Fishing Derby at Mammoth Pond (See p. 6)
Volume 117 Number 28 - USPS 225-680
Community Events Calendar Tuesday June 26-30th Eagles Sr. High Band Camp UAM Thursday June 28 Commodities Distribution Hazen Methodist Church 10:30am - 12:30pm DeValls Bluff & Des Arc Public Library Presents Toltec Arrowhead Crafts 10:00am-Des Arc and 11:30amDeValls Bluff PC Democratic Women Meeting Speaker is scheduled El Amigo in Hazen 6:00pm Wednesday July 4 Independence Day Most County and State Offices are closed Monday July 9 Hazen Chapter # 5 OES Meeting BancorpSouth 6:15pm Tuesday July 10 Quorum Court Meeting Annex Building Des Arc 6:00pm Thursday July 12 De Valls Bluff City Council Meeting 6:00pm City Hall Hazen Lodge Meeting 7:30pm Lodge Hall 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, Arkansas
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Hazen Council discusses hiring park manager Dr. Jeff Dulany and Troy Young were special guests at the Hazen City Council meeting held on Thursday, June 21, in Hazen City Hall. Present at the meeting were Mayor David Duch, Recorder/Treasurer David Hardke, and Councilmembers Barbara Rogers, Tim Juola, Steve Chlapecka, David Campbell, and Rick Wiggins. Dulany and Young, representing the Hazen Booster Club asked the council members to consider hiring someone fulltime to organize and manage the Hazen youth football, basketball, baseball, and softball leagues and be in charge of upkeep on the baseball and softball fields. This parks and recreation director would also be in charge of hiring umpires and other officials, maintain and hire workers for all of the concession stands for all sports except peewee football, and be in charge of the gate receipts. “I don’t have any young parents coming up to volunteer anymore,” Young said. The person hired would work for the city of Hazen, according to the plan suggested. Young said that Lonoke’s park manager started at a salary of #32,000 plus a truck and an incentive package for any extra money earned for the pro-
Booster club members Jeff Dulany and Troy Young addressed the Hazen City Council about hiring a park manager to be in charge of all youth sports programs. gram. But Mayor Duch organized 4 or 5 (base- grams through field that the annual fishing said that anyone working ball) tournaments or a maintenance and expan- derby at Mammoth Pond for the city would get city basketball tournament, sions and helping the was ready to go, rain or benefits and that the the person will pay for Hazen School District shine. The tree cutting salary for such a full-time themselves,” he said. maintain the buildings around the city is about job would probably cost Young said that there is and fields that the pro- finished, and the lights along the walking trail the city around $50,000 a grant money available for grams use. Hardke asked that the are being installed. A city/non-profit partneryear. When asked about the ships that would help pay Booster Club put together $15,000 grant for a pavilsome numbers and pres- ion to be built in front of amount of money raised for the program as well. Young said that the ent them to the council at the stage in Hazen City this year by the programs, Young and Booster Club has $18,000 at the next meeting. Park East has been Dulany said that the in its account at present. Duch said that nothing received and construction Baseball Association had The group has main- could be done before will begin soon. Foot also made a $3600 profit on tained the peewee foot- January 2019, but that said that he wants to get the last baseball tourna- ball, youth baseball and the budgeting process for the streets in the city ment, and felt that softball, and youth bas- the city would begin in painted this summer. Fire Chief Ashley adding softball to the ketball programs in the the fall. “I’m proud of all tournament schedule past. The money raised of our parks,” Duch said. Loudermilk reported that Hazen Fire would add another $2500 from the admission fee for “There’s no doubt that we the Department had been profit. “And that’s just the events, the concession will benefit.” In departmental reports, part of 9 rescues on one tournament,” Young stands management, and said. “Most cities have the participation fees has Utilities Manager Phillip Interstate 40 in the past (Continued on p. 4) several.” “If the director gone back into the pro- Foot informed the council
Des Arc Baseball Association asks permission to ban disruptive fans from city ball park The Des Arc City Council held their monthly meeting June 19th. Present at the meeting were Mayor Jim Garth, Treasurer/Recorder Chrisanna Knupp and council members Jodie Mayher, Welton Robinson, Steve Ryan, Ray McVay, Janice Huffstickler and Anna Beth Fisher. Baseball Association members Michael Kearby and Kevin Cook addressed the council with concerns at the baseball park.
Kearby stated that during the season there had been several incidents where people had been asked to leave for various violations but they were allowed to return. He felt that association members should be allowed to ban fans from the field permanently or at least for the season, but he had been told the association could not do that. Kearby said, “We want the council to give us the power to take control of these matters, or we will
Locals graduate from AR Tech RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (June 19, 2018)-Courtney Rae Scott of Des Arc and Casey Renee Beliew, Jordan Pierre Meador, and Trenton Eugene Mosby of Hazen were conferred degrees from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville at the 2018 spring graduation ceremony. Scott graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Summa Cum Laude; Beliew graduated with a Bachelor of Professional Studies;
Meador graduated with a Master of Science; and Mosby graduated with an Associate of Science degree. Scott’s designation as Summa Cum Laude denotes that she maintained a grade point average of 3.90-4.00 on a 4point scale. The Arkansas Tech University Registrar's Office conferred 2,237 degrees upon students on the Russellville campus during the 2017-18 academic year.
just give all the control to the council and let you handle everything.” Council Member Anna Beth Fisher asked, “But can’t the umpires eject people from games?” Kearby said “Yes, from games but not the park. We have had several incidents where someone was ejected but returned to the park, and we were told we couldn’t ban them from the park.” Mayor Garth suggested that police should be called to handle such incidents. Kearby said the association members were concerned that the police were not always available to handle incidents in a timely manner before things get out of hand, and that association members should be able to kick someone out and ban them from returning. Police Chief Rick Parson stated, “That would be against the law because the only person who can ban someone from public city property like the park is a judge. The person would have to be arrested and charged with a crime
on the property and brought before a judge and then the judge can ban them.” Kearby said “then we need to have an officer at the park at all times during ball season.” Mayor Garth said “The association can hire an officer to be there.” Kearby said “No, it’s city property so the city should do that.” Chief Parson stated “we do have plans to have officers there as much as possible starting next year.” Kearby said that he has been at other parks where association members have banned people so he doesn’t understand why they can’t. Council member Jodie Mayher asked Kearby to get information from other city ball associations stating how such incidents are handled and present it to the council to be reviewed. Micki Barlow addressed the council concerning a public notice from the Des Arc Waterworks she received with her water bill. The notice states that the federal safe drinking water act requires a notice
be sent to water customers when a violation occurs. During the quarterly samples of the city’s water for January-March 2018, it was determined that the water contained an average of 89-90ppb of trihalomethanes (bi-product chemicals formed by the use of chlorine to treat the water) and the maximum level allowed by the EPA is 80ppb. The notice states that persons consuming water containing Trihalomethanes in excess of the maximum amount over many years may experience various health issues. The notice also states that the Arkansas Department of Health has advised the water department that there is no immediate health risk from consuming the water or failure to meet the requirement means the water is unsafe.and the water department has cleaned the filters and clarifier. Ms. Barlow stated that she is concerned about at
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A-S State announces 2018 honors lists JONESBORO – Prairie County students who earned a place on the Chancellor’s and Dean's Lists for spring 2018 at Arkansas State University have been announced. They are (from Des Arc) Tori Bell, CL; Hayley Calhoun, DL; Kylee Elam, CL; Tyler Hill, DL; Brandi Long, CL; Natalie Treadwell, CL; Abigail York, CL; (from DcValls Bluff) Taylor Strohl, DL; (from Hazen) Kalyn Boothe, CL; Mitchell McCarty, DL; Katie Shelman, CL; Megan
Stock, DL; and Lucas Tenison, CL. The Chancellor’s List (designated as CL) includes students who earned a grade point average of 3.80 to 4.0 for spring classes. The Dean’s List (DL) includes students with a grade point average of 3.6 to 3.79. The two lists recognize undergraduate students who achieved the highest grade point averages while enrolled in 12 or more credit hours of study. Combined, the group numbers 2,183 students.
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