Never forget.
INDEX Feature Events Opinion Obits COVID Update Sports
No. 4
Vol. 3
1 2 2 3 3 4
September 9, 2021
Nom noms from Braums Movie review: "Shang-Chi" Blanton Matthews Contributing Reporter
The location of the building that once housed Western Sizzlin’ buffet restaurant on W.P. Malone drive has been sold, and speculation abounds as to what new business could be on its way to the spot of the once-popular Arkadelphia restaurant. Public county records obtained by The Oracle via actDataScout.com, a database of property and tax records for counties in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri, indicate that the property was purchased by a company named Retail Buildings Inc. That name does not seem to say much, but a cursory search for the
corporation on the website of Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston reveals much more. Retail Buildings Inc. is a company based out of Oklahoma City run by its president Elaine M. Braum and other members of her family. If that last name sounds familiar, it is because the Braums have a chain of fast-food and ice cream restaurants with over 300 locations in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, and the very northwest corner of Arkansas. An Arkadelphia location would be far and away from the furthest southeast the chain would reach, over 100 miles from the next nearest store. In fact, Braum’s website
says that stores only open within 300 miles of their own farm in Tuttle, Oklahoma, due to their exclusive use of their own fleet of refrigerated trucks to deliver dairy products. Arkadelphia sits just 33 miles outside that radius, which raises further questions about whether they will actually open a store here or if they have some other plans. “I have heard (about the apparent possibility of a Braum’s opening) from a lot of people,” said Clark County treasurer Karen Arnold on Saturday. While nothing is yet concrete, it seems likely that Braum’s is on its way to shake up the once sizzlin’ Malone Drive.
Sydney Bowman Contributing Reporter There seems to be no stopping the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) this year as Phase Four of the popular franchise is ever-expanding. So far, 2021 has seen the releases of “WandaVision,” “The
Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “Loki,” “Black Widow,” and the currentlyrunning “What If…?” all to rave reviews from critics and fans alike. “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” joins the MCU’s lineup as the first Asian-led, directed, and majority-
cast film of the franchise. Amid a scathing lawsuit from Scarlett Johansson over the release of “Black Widow,” “Shang-Chi” is a theater-exclusive, which many experts predicted to be to the detriment of the film’s earnings. Instead, (contd. page 2)
RSV Preschool: RSV at HSU's Davis-Baker Preschool
Photo by William Matthews
RSV has shut down preschools across the state as officials take higher precautions amid the pandemic.
William Matthews Contributing Reporter
Photo by Blanton Matthews
The once popular Western Sizzlin is now under speculation that it could become the fast food restaurant Braums.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders to visit Arkadelphia Lance Brownfield Editor-in-Chief
Daughter of former governor Mike Huckabee and Arkansas Governor candidate, Sarah Huckabee Sanders will make a stop in Arkadelphia today on h e r s t a t e w i d e "F r e e dom Tour."
The week long tour began Sunday, Sep. 5 and will end Saturday, Sep. 11. The 15 stops include Benton, Cabot, Conway, El Dorado, Fort Smith, Jonesboro, Russellville, Springdale, Texarkana and other towns across the state. An alum of OBU,
Sanders will be hosting a meet & greet at t he Hamburg e r Barn at 3:45 p.m. and she will attend the Clark County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner at HSU's Grand Ballroom at 6 p.m. Both Arkadelphia events have been sold out for months.
Photo courtesy of Sarahforgovernor.com
Sarah Huckabee Sanders looks to defeat fellow Republican Attorney General Leslie Rutledge in the race for Arkansas Governor.
The Davis-Baker Preschool at Henderson helps many kids foster a social and educational experience. Something else that might foster from children is viruses. There are several common diseases that are often spread in preschoolers, like colds, ear infections, strep throat and the flu. One more prevalent disease is RSV or Respiratory Syncytial Virus. It has similar symptoms to colds but can cause pneumonia.
Like flu season, there is an RSV season, and it has just started this year. Especially with a respiratory virus like COVID-19 spreading, it can make diseases like RSV more impactful and dangerous. There have already been cases of RSV reported across Arkansas, including last week at the Davis-Baker preschool. However, the director of the school, Cheryl Massey, stated there was no outbreak of RSV. “It is our practice to do what we can in taking extra precautions on a daily basis,” said
Massey. “Not only during a pandemic, to keep our children healthy. If we have more than our normal amount of children absent because of sickness, we take a few days and let children stay home to recover.” With the preschool having closed its doors for a few days, Massey explained that it is all standard protocol for dealing with illnesses in the school. After disinfecting the entire grounds, they let the students return to school with only two kids still absent.
Our withdrawal from Afghanistan felt more like a student remembering that his science fair project is due tomorrow and he has not even started than an actual military procedure. If Biden was so hellbent on leaving the country before September for the 20th anniversary of 9/11, he should have started the process the day he took office. These things take time, and we did so many things wrong in our haste. Perhaps the worst statistic from our clumsy exit is that virtually the entire country, including the capital of Kabul, fell in just ten days of our departure. Twenty years came undone in just ten days- 26 of 34 provinces from Aug. 6 to Aug. 15. Yes, outright victory might have never been possible, but we could have worked to leave the majority of the country in the
hands of a stable government with the resources to defend itself from radical terrorist groups. We did not communicate with our allies in the region, leaving them completely in the dark to fend for themselves. America was just one of 36 NATO nations with troops on the ground in Afghanistan, and instead of strategically and methodically working with our allies in the country, Biden had the troops hastily slip out to meet his Aug. 31 deadline. Many European leaders are questioning future relations with the US after being forced to scramble to evacuate their own troops. France’s Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Angela Merkel, The UK’s Boris Johnson and many other powerful allies no longer feel completely secure in their military relationships
with the US. “The Americans have lost the prestige of a global leader,” said Czech President Milos Zeman. The fall of Kabul is an echo of the fall of Saigon and leaves many wondering if America is still the most powerful nation on Earth. Islamic terror groups, China, North Korea and Russia are all watching and taking notes. Afghanistan was our longest military campaign in history, lasting almost twice as long as the SovietAfghan war, which subsequently (and combined with other factors) led to the dissolution of the once great world power. We’ve reached the end of an era. We lost, and the world knows we can’t even do that right and that we’ve got at least three years of this administration left.
Editorial: Withdrawing from Afghanistan and our allies
Info from Weather.com
FRI - Sep 10 partly cloudy
SAT - Sep 11 partly cloudy
SUN - Sep 12 mostly sunny
MON - Sep 13 mostly sunny
TUE - Sep 14 partly cloudy
WED - Sep 15 mostly sunny
THU - Sep 16 partly cloudy
93o 62
95o 64
96o 67
97o 69
94o 69
93o 68
93o 67
Precipitation: 3% Wind: SSE 4 mph Humidity: 66%
Precipitation: 7% Wind: SSW 6 mph Humidity: 63%
Precipitation: 7% Wind: SW 6 mph Humidity: 69%
Precipitation: 15% Wind: SW 7 mph Humidity: 73%
Precipitation: 24% Wind: SW 7 mph Humidity: 78%
Precipitation: 24% Wind: SW 6 mph Humidity: 80%
Precipitation: 31% Wind: S 6 mph Humidty: 81%
o
o
o
o
o
o
o