Bits & Pieces: This Old Town

An excerpt from Thursday’s top story (with credit to Clark County Arkansas: Past and Present): “Arkadelphia’s original town plan utilized the Clark County Courthouse square as a community focal point, an idea that would be abandoned as the commercial district developed along Main Street along an east-west axis.” Imagine if the courthouse and downtown area were still the focal point of the city — a place where businesses and restaurants outnumbered commercial space occupied by banks, Malone Inc. and Dawson Education Cooperative. Our aim is not to step on any toes with this observation — the aforementioned institutions provide needed jobs and services. We simply wonder what impression our town leaves on visitors, and what exactly is Arkadelphia’s focal point? The towns where we vacation certainly always have vibrant, quaint commercial districts in which shops and eateries are all within walking distance of the inns where tourists stay. The generation before us remembers an Arkadelphia with a hopping downtown. Like a magnet, Interstate 30 pulled businesses westward over time, and now downtown is home to only a handful of restaurants and shops — and thank goodness we have them! It’s also applaudable that the City of Arkadelphia has adopted what it calls Town Square for community events. Arkadelphia needs more of that cohesiveness to unite all the facets of our unique community. Otherwise, outsiders will find as much excitement here as you’re getting from this column and its author’s scatterbrained ideas.

Fun Fact: Ice Cube’s real name is O’Shea Jackson.

We owe a sincere apology to Michael Pakko. In our reporting and Facebook post about Tuesday’s runoff election, we failed to include his name as an option for Arkansas Secretary of State in the November election. Pakko, a Libertarian, will be in the running along with Democrat Kelly Grappe and, quite possibly, Republican Kim Hammer. We say “quite possibly” because Bryan Norris has requested a recount of votes in multiple counties after losing the runoff against Hammer by fewer than 1,000 votes. All three candidates have a little more than seven months to campaign, and Arkansans have that much time to research each candidate and, hopefully, make an effort to vote in November.

A reader voiced dissatisfaction in our absence of coverage of last weekend’s No Kings protest in Arkadelphia. We were out of town that day, but likely wouldn’t have gone anyway so long as the demonstration was carried out without incident. We learned from a friend, who sent us a photo of the folks lined up along West Pine Street, that the demonstration attracted 45 protesters and garnered mostly positive reactions from passersby.

Pine Street should have been named Ouachita Street. 

Seeing NASA’s released image of Earth today from the Artemis II crew brought tears to our eyes. On the topic: sure, it can be argued that the government faked the moon landings, but there is no arguing that the Earth — like other planets, moons and stars — is round (or spherical, if we’re splitting hairs). It’s been an accepted scientific fact for over 2,000 years. Where did all this flat-earth nonsense originate?

Local singer/songwriter Anna Brazeal, a deputy clerk at the circuit clerk’s office, is spearheading a unique fundraiser to help offset medical costs for her clerk colleague, Misty Ward. Brazeal, a performing, recording and touring artist, is offering to write, arrange, record and produce a song for the price of $500. Recipients have full ownership of the final product, and have the option of either a commercial jingle for a business/organization/company or a personal song for someone special (think anniversary, birthday, graduation, etc.). Find Brazeal on Facebook for contact information.

Clark County remains under a burn ban, but it’s worth noting that the risk has lessened for wildfire for Clark and numerous other counties in south-central and western Arkansas.

One of our faults as a writer is that we sometimes use poor word choice. The worst part is, we’re cognitive of it.

Ozzy the Chocolate Chihuahua Sez: I see what you did there, Daddy.

Momma would have turned 74 today if she were still alive.

Joel Phelps is editor of arkadelphian.com. Opinions in this column are his own. Contact him by email at editor@arkadelphian.com.