Week in Clark County History: May 14

By Joel Phelps on May 14, 2023 • ( Leave a comment )

For the Week in Clark County History, we combed through bound copies of the Daily Siftings Herald to choose some front-page news from editions dating 10, 20 and 30 years ago.

10 years ago this week (2013)

The Okolona City Council heard an alderman recount what a neighbor had told her about a “big, hairy-looking thing” spotted on Highway 51 near the Burtsell community. The sighting prompted an unfruitful hunt by an area Bigfoot researcher.

The City of Arkadelphia announced it was the recipient of a $48,000 grant to connect Feaster Trail to both Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist universities. The grant would be used to connect the trail beneath a North 10th Street bridge that spans Mill Creek.

The Arkadelphia Badgers baseball team brought home the 4A state title trophy, the first for the program, after defeating the Stuttgart Ricebirds in a 5-4 showdown.

20 years ago this week (2003)

An upgrade to Arkadelphia’s water treatment plant was planned to increased its capacity to move up to 10 million gallons of water daily.

High winds associated with an overnight storm toppled trees, damaging homes on 15th Street and 14th Street, including the parish center adjacent to St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Across town, a pine tree fell in the parking lot of Taco Tico, smashing a Nissan pickup parked there. The roof of Henderson’s Newberry Dorm also sustained damage.

Arkadelphia city employees were the first to try out the city’s aquatic park, with a pool party and cookout, before the pool would open to the public.

30 years ago this week (1993)

Then-APD-police-chief Bob Johnston was set to become president of the Arkansas Association of Chiefs of Police, a statewide organization whose mission is to promote and improve municipal law enforcement.

The Arkadelphia Board of Education voted to modify three policies that allowed students to withdraw from the district for certain offenses. Students would no longer be able to voluntarily withdraw from school in lieu of expulsion.

In this 1993 photo, a young Joel Phelps is pictured, sitting seventh from the left. He was likely pouting — a common pose for him in various other pictures — as his turtle never would attempt to leave the first circle.

Sgt. David Turner of the Arkadelphia Police Department was pictured carrying a torch in the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Arkansas Special Olympics. Local police participated in the run from the Nevada/Clark county line on Highway 67 to the Fish Net restaurant in Caddo Valley.