If you had asked me a couple of months ago if I thought I would be writing a column like this at any point in the foreseeable future, my answer would have been a confident, "No." With that being said, it is with both excitement and sadness that I announce that I am leaving the NEA Town Courier...

In a little less than a week, downtown Blytheville will be bustling vendors, food, and fun times as we kickoff another annual Mayfest, and I am ready for it. I really enjoyed the last Mayfest and I am hoping to have an even grander time this year. It is my true hope that Blytheville citizens of all ages, races, creeds, and beliefs can come together as one and just enjoy all that our great town has to offer for a weekend...

I’m going to write another nerdy column this week, so if you are one of the 10 people in the world who don’t watch Game of Thrones, you may want to skip this one. Last Sunday the final season premiere graced the televisions of many eagerly awaiting fans anxious to see just how quickly things are going to go wrong now that winter is here...

After being witness to the last two animal control meetings, I can't help but feel a bit sick to my stomach when hearing about this dysfunction between the Blytheville Humane Society and the Blytheville Animal Control. Ever since I've worked at the paper it has seems that the two groups have been unable or unwilling to work together for various reasons and I think that it is time for that to end...

Warning: this column will contain spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War, the movie has been out for almost a year now and I would think that anyone who wanted to see it would have already. Consider yourself warned. Ever since last April, many moviegoers have been eagerly anticipating the release of one particular film, the fourth Avengers film, titled Avengers: Endgame...

I know that I usually take this space as an opportunity to talk about some local goings-on in our community; however, I will instead be writing about what I would like to see in our community. We need to stand together to change to outlook that everyone else has about Blytheville...

Over the past three months, Blytheville has seen a wave of homicides, many of which have involved persons most would consider to be youth. Blytheville is often categorized, particularly by those who do not live or work here, as a place of lawlessness and frequent violence and whenever we are three months into the year and have had seven homicides, others injured in shootings, and vehicles and restaurants shot at, it can be easy to see why others think that. ...

This week I would like to take a moment to talk about my experience with the Blytheville Leadership Institute as our class graduation sits just over the horizon. I've first got to just take a moment to thank all those who make this program possible — from the hard work that those at the Chamber of Commerce who choose to help make this program possible to the businesses and organizations that open their doors to the class to show what they do in our wonderful community. ...

This week I’m writing about two different issues that were brought up in the Blytheville City Council committee meetings earlier this week and have been brought up numerous times in the past. I'm referring to the ANC water well issue and the council attendance/pay issue...

Right now, we have a vote going on throughout the county concerning the repurposing and extension of a tax for renovations to our Blytheville county courthouse and continued funding for the county hospital system. The vote has been talked about a lot the last several weeks. I hope you will go out and vote for what you feel is the right decision for the county and will benefit our community the best...

On Monday at the Blytheville School Board meeting, a rather lengthy discussion occurred over the board's travel budget. Superintendent Bobby Ashley thought that the board needed to set a more specific policy for the travel budget because they went over the budget by $377...

Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about citizen-led commissions in Blytheville. The newly established Ritz Commission has been in the spotlight the most; however, there is another "commission" that was passed approximately eight months ago and has not yet been established...

I would like to start off this column by prefacing that I am not attacking the actions or members of Main Street Blytheville when writing this. I know many of the Main Street board members and I think that what they do for the community is essential to keep life flowing through Blytheville...

Last week I got the wonderful opportunity to visit New York City with my mother and younger brother as a sort of combined Christmas gift for all of us. The trip was amazing and we all had a wonderful time taking in the city and seeing all the sights we could see. ...

In Blytheville, Mayor Sanders says we will see infrastructure improvements and that the nuisance abatement board will finally be set up. In Gosnell, Mayor Walker wants to see more community involvement in town and says she wants to get a grip on the city's spending. Across the county, the QCs want everyone to extend a tax for a number of years to pay for the renovations of the Blytheville courthouse. It is sure to be an interesting year...

As we here at the office sit around compiling our last edition of the Blytheville Courier News and the first edition of the NEA Town Courier, it has given me an opportunity to look back at this past year and reflect on its events. It has certainly been an eventful year for better or worse. We’ve seen new opportunities and reasons to believe in the future like Nucor’s expansion and Arkansas Northeastern College’s new Center for Allied Technology...

With our local runoff elections over, we can finally take a break from this long political season. Since everything is finally decided, I would like to take a minute to address all those who won their races, both recently and last month; do your duty...

There has been a big issue brewing in Blytheville for the past two months, though the circumstances which caused it have been brewing for far longer, and it seems like it may finally be coming to a head in December. I’m talking about the establishment of a Ritz Commission to take over the maintenance and operation of the Ritz Civic Center, a city-owned facility. ...

As we reflect on this time of Thanksgiving, I’d like to take some time to discuss something that I am thankful to see. I will start off by saying that I love this little town of ours; however, one thing in particular really disappoints me and I see it nearly every day...

A fair warning in the opening, my column this week may be a little all over the place, but that is sort of a reflection of how I currently feel. If you are expecting me to call out some sort of wrongdoing in the community this week, I hate to disappoint you. This past month has been a sort of cluster of the good, the bad and the confusing...

We are in the homestretch now, ladies and gentlemen, and I sincerely hope that all of you are stepping up to the plate. This is it. Voting is almost over so if you haven’t gotten out to vote yet, I strongly encourage that you grab your state-issued I.D. and head up to the election center...

I’m going to keep it short and sweet this week. Early voting begins Monday and if you are registered, you need to get out there and vote sometime between now and November 6. It is time for you, the voters, to express your will and decide who is going to lead us into the future...

Well, here we are, back again with another column. I guess first off I would like to state that I stand by all my comments from last week 100 percent. I would also like to acknowledge that I got a lot of feedback from last week and no matter if you agree with what I said or not, I need to address something. Some, particularly those that did disagree with me, seem to have a misconception of how things work when it comes to opinion pieces...

Well, our live debates are over and while I believe that they were very informative, I find one detail about them particularly troubling. I'm referring, of course, to the lack of participation from Mississippi County Sheriff Dale Cook and Mississippi County Judge candidate Darrell Gist...

Well, we started off strong on our first debate earlier this week with full attendance and a lot of viewers. I thought that the various candidates did well and I hope that the Blytheville Courier News Facebook Live debate was helpful for some of the voters who were unsure who to vote for...

Once again our Mississippi County Quorum Court has brought up the issue of a new courthouse and once again naysayers on the court have managed to stall the project and spend money on something irrelevant. The court just agreed to spend $25,000 on a study to find out the cost of renovating the current courthouse instead of building a new one. Those of you reading this can probably hear me groan in disapproval...

As we get closer and closer to November 6, every action by our candidates is having higher political motivation. Every photo-op, phone call and Facebook post made on their pages might as well be screaming, "IT'S ME! I'M THE BEST ONE! PICK ME!" and I guess that is to be expected...

Back in January the Blytheville City Council voted to remove all meeting attendance requirements in order to get paid. At the time those council members in support of the legislation said that the requirements were unnecessary because they were all adults and knew what they needed to do...

Well, we've made it to August 17, which means that the political season is about to start full throttle again, and I feel like I need to address a few things before we see so much political spin that it makes me dizzy. Readers, you are going to hear things in the coming months that will make it sound like Blytheville under (insert any politician's name here) will be heaven on earth under their leadership, be it incumbent or challenger. ...

I would like to start this column with the disclaimer that I am writing this as of Thursday night and therefore am unaware of any filings that may have happened on Friday. IS NO ONE GOING TO CHALLENGE ANYONE IN THE BLYTHEVILLE CITY COUNCIL? It’s the beginning of the real election season folks and unless people are waiting to be fashionably late, it doesn’t appear any of the sitting council members are going to have any opponents once November comes around...

In last Sunday’s edition of the Jonesboro Sun, an editorial titled “New Courthouse Simply Bad Idea” was published. The piece, as you may have guessed, reflects the writer’s opinion on why Mississippi County does not need a new courthouse and starts with the line, “Blytheville needs a new courthouse about as much as it needs another golf course.”...

I know that technically election season has already started since we had primaries back in May; however, it seems like, other than the occasional campaign presence, we haven't heard much in the way of elections and politicians. I'm fairly certain all that is about to change. Yesterday marked the first day for municipal filings, meaning it is all about to start again and this time, it will likely be an even heavier presence than a few months ago...

I don’t often find myself wanting to talk about the same thing from one week to another, but I can’t seem to walk away just yet from this library situation. The building’s current state and potential future of closing is 100 percent the fault of the Mississippi County Library System. That being said it isn’t the fault of any one person within that group; however, group failure is no better than singular failure, in my opinion, it is worse...

It seems like every week I attend some meeting or hear from some official person that something, somewhere is broken and needs fixing. Sometimes these groups get right to it. They identify the problem, figure out what they need to do, shell out the funds and get it fixed. Others, however, don’t seem to be quite as fast at accomplishing the necessary tasks, and it ends up just making things about 10 times worse...

Code Enforcement and Animal Control, it seems like this department just can't catch a break. Every month this meeting seems to be the one where citizens want to speak their minds about all the things the city is doing wrong, regardless of whether it has anything to do with the department or not...

I'm so irritated by what is happening or rather has happened in our state right now that I find it difficult to find a place to even start with this column. Since I can't currently find the words to express how utterly infuriated I am with the Arkansas Legislature, I guess I will start with some background. ...

With both the Blytheville Parks and Recreation Committee and the Gosnell City Council showing support for the Alert Facility Cold War Museum, I thought I would give some of my thoughts on the idea of this supposed facility that will supposedly turn Blytheville into a tourist hotspot...

All I can say is, “Wow.” I’m still not exactly sure why the Parks and Recreation meeting this week got so heated, but boy, did it ever. Usually Parks and Rec meetings are the most tame of the committees and not too much happens at them. I guess this meeting followed that guideline somewhat. Not much happened but it was nowhere near tame...

It seems like no matter what organization, board, council or committee I come across while doing my job, an instance comes where the group wants to stop acting like a citizen-elected governing organization and start acting like a secret society. I’m embellishing a little but the point is I simply get dumbfounded whenever these governing bodies try to mysteriously hide details that they know they shouldn’t be...

Well it happened, we had our 2018 primary race and because of it, we will definitely be seeing some new leadership in many areas of government within our community. While some may still have opponents in general elections, others will simply bide their time until January rolls around...

Last weekend I attended my first Mayfest celebration and it was a blast. I had a wonderful time, saw some stunning performances and ate some great BBQ. In reviewing the great time that I had, I've been wondering why we only do these celebrations twice a year...

This past week has been National Teacher Appreciation Week for 2018 and what I've really seen has been a little bit ridiculous. Teachers in our schools are the most valuable resources that we have as humans. People who dedicate their lives to trying to make sure that you and your children are educated and ready to function in society and yet in this week dedicated to them, all I've really seen is politicians for the primary elections trying to win over teachers by bringing them food. ...

Primary elections will be held very soon and with them come one of the biggest responsibilities we have as citizens of our great country — voting. Participating in your right to vote gives the opportunity to help make changes in your community, state and country. If you’ve ever once complained about management in one of those things, then you should take voting very seriously...

I want to do something a little different this week and talk about a certain life experience of mine. I guess I should start out by giving a little background. I’m a pretty big nerd and through my nerdiness, I have always loved comic book movies. I even like some of the movies that others swear are terrible; I’m looking at you, Man of Steel. But what I really like above all else are the Marvel movies, specifically the movies in the MCU...

The Dancing for the Cure event was an overwhelming success last weekend. More than $93,000 was raised for American Cancer Society and we were told that we are the fifth highest money-raising county in the country, I couldn't believe it. Actually, that isn't true, I could believe it because since I've been living in Mississippi County and even before that when I was just visiting a lot, I've known that this community has one heck of a heart. ...

I know that everyone in this world needs money. Money is what everything is built upon, but I believe that a difference exists between money that is needed and money that is wanted. In a perfect world, everyone would have enough money to adequately survive, this isn’t always the case and can certainly be challenging for some people but money isn’t everything...

As many of you know the Blytheville School Board rectified its decision to not include the bus drivers in the $300 bonus to be awarded by the end of the academic year. After the meeting, another issue was brought up to me by some community member, as well as some members of the board, as to whether or not the hiring of Bobby Ashley as superintendent was considered to be a "proper" vote since it was not on the agenda prior to the meeting. ...

I am in utter shock due to the actions of the Blytheville School Board this week. I truly cannot comprehend what has led the majority of that board to make some of the decisions they have made this week. I don’t even know where to begin, so I guess I’ll start with a little disclaimer. I am not against the hiring of Bobby Ashley as superintendent...

Ah, the Theatre, the home of things as classy as Shakespeare and as crude as the Book of Mormon. I know that some people may find this topic trivial but I don't think it is and I hope I can convince any who think that otherwise by the end of this column...

For those that read my column weekly, you probably know that I typically talk about what is going on in the community. I intended to write this column about the ANC well issue, but that is going to have to wait. You see, Wednesday morning I received a text message from a member of the Blytheville City Council...

I'd like to start off by saying good job to the Blytheville School Board and superintendent Richard Atwill. At the most recent meeting, the board accepted Atwill's recommendation for a salary schedule that included a $1,627 increase in pay to all teachers in the district. They did what they said they were going to do...

Let's start this column with a little disclaimer. This is not going to be a piece about gun control. We have all seen where that argument goes time and time again and I don't feel like writing about something that is just going to irritate most of our readers. I am also not capitalizing on this recent tragedy in Florida. While some believe that discussion on prevention should be halted until "an appropriate amount of time has passed," I don't subscribe to that belief...

An all too common rebuttal to CN editorials (and even some news articles) is to not even attempt to refute what is said, but simply brand the piece as “negative.” I’ve seen examples of this on websites and various social media platforms and I’d like to take an opportunity to address it...

At some point in their life, everyone has a moment when they have to decide what they would like to do with it. For some, that moment comes early in life and for others, it comes a bit later. In my case, the moment came and then died off and has recently been revived. I’m referring to my relationship with journalism and how being a journalist/columnist can make me feel like part of something bigger than myself, unlike any other task...

Monday night at the Blytheville School Board meeting, a motion was made by Desmond Hammett to give all employees of Blytheville Schools a $300 bonus. The motion did not get a second from any board member and therefore “died on the table.” This is yet another example of the deep misunderstanding that this board has for its district and its employees. The school board does not understand the needs of the faculty, and the district is suffering for it...

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is celebrated on the third Monday of January every year. King himself was a major advocate and, to many, gives a face to the Civil Rights Movement. Across the country people recognize King and many consider him to be a hero. ...

I’m beginning to think that some of the Blytheville City Council members do not understand how governing works. Now don’t misunderstand, I have always known that the council is bad at governing, but I at least thought that they understood it’s key concepts, now I’m not so sure...

On December 15 a jury reached a guilty verdict in the case of State v. Allan Curtis Jones. Jones was convicted of murder in the second degree and he was sentenced to 24 years (18 years for murder and six years for fire arm enhancement) in Arkansas Department of Corrections. ...

Last week a jury reached a guilty verdict in the case of State v. Allan Curtis Jones. Jones was convicted of murder in the second degree and he was sentenced to 24 years (18 years for murder and six years for fire arm enhancement) in Arkansas Department of Corrections. ...

If you read my columns you know that I have problems with some of the leadership in Blytheville. If you ask around in Blytheville I think you will find that I’m not the only one who feels that way. In fact I know that I’m not. Recently I was discussing these points with a few people who live here. ...

Recently the city of Gosnell proposed an ordinance that it will vote on in January. According to the Arkansas Municipal League an ordinance is “a local law that usually regulates persons or property and usually relates to a matter of a general or permanent nature.”...

Thanksgiving is almost upon us which means that most everyone will be gathering with family and friends to “give thanks” for the year and eat way too much food. Some will follow this by watching football, watching a parade or watching the back of their eyelids. Others will begin to prep for an all-together different tradition, Black Friday shopping...

It is time for the public to open their eyes. Whether or not you identify as a Democrat, Republican or third party, the Russia investigation exist and people need to be taking it seriously. Paul Manafort, former campaign manager to Donald Trump, has been charged with failing to register as a foreign agent, false statements about being a foreign agent, conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy against the United States and tax fraud...

If I’m being honest I’m a bit of a fanatic when it comes to horror movies. I will watch anything that comes into my field of view whether it’s a 80s classic like “Nightmare on Elm Street” or something new in my Netflix suggestions. I love horror movies almost to the point where they have become predictable when I watch them...

Everywhere I look today I see people that have an obsession with negativity. As a culture we have a very “glass half-empty” outlook of the world around us. I don’t think things have always been this way because if they have been, I don’t see how we’ve made it as far as we have...

Let me start by saying this, I know a lot of readers heavily disagreed with my opinion in my last column. People have the right to disagree with me and they also have the right to publicly voice their opinion on Facebook or any other forms of social media. I was told when I took this job, and I’m paraphrasing here, that column writing is a different entity...

It’s time for America to do something about its gun problem. Those who consider themselves right-wingers will tell you “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” Strangely, when someone is killed with a firearm you say that they have been shot not that they have been “peopled.” Ignoring that 59 people did not die Sunday because a man threw knives out of the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Hotel; they died because Stephen Paddock aimed a gun out of the hotel window and opened fire onto a crowd of innocent civilians. ...