Stories from Tuesday, July 11, 2017

It was the 71st annual Caraway Fourth of July celebration held Tuesday, July 4, with entertainment, prizes, booths, food vendors, games, bingo games and much more. The Caraway Fourth of July is an all day celebration ending with a fireworks display...

Because the school board did not have enough members present to vote during its regularly scheduled meeting Thursday evening, June 29, a special meeting was held Wednesday night to discuss a few agenda topics; primarily an update from Nabholz Construction...

The Leachville Cave Dwellers (a group of local volunteers) work throughout the year to raise money and accept donations to fund fireworks on the Fourth of July each year. Cave Dwellers include firemen, police officers, first responders and other volunteers who want to give Leachville and the surrounding residents a fantastic fireworks display. This is their 11th year and each year the show gets larger...

Slade and Sawyer Hawkins, sons of Heath and Madison Hawkins of Leachville, turned in the first cotton bloom to the Town Crier on the Fourth of July. (photo provided)

From laser treatments to plastic surgery, it seems that people today will stop at nothing to improve their looks and meet the latest trend. Without recorded history, we might be inclined to think that people of the past weren’t as vain as we are today. ...

Buffalo Island Central School District held a double groundbreaking ceremony Monday, July 10. The first groundbreaking was held for the junior/senior high facility on the Monette campus and the second ceremony for the elementary (kindergarten through sixth grade) on the Leachville campus...

Mrs. Willine Jackson Hatcher of Blytheville was born December 6, 1925 in Crawfordsville to the late James Jackson and Viola Blakley Jackson. She departed this life on, Sunday July 9, 2017 at St. Bernard Hospital in Jonesboro at the age of 91. She was preceded in death by parents; her husband, Jesse James Hatcher, Sr.; a daughter, Viola Hatcher; and two sons, Troy Lee Hatcher, Sr. and Henry W. Hatcher...

Ms. Lou Jackson, was born, June 16, 1938 to the late Charlie and Mary Lee Lane, in Blytheville. She departed this life on Friday July 7, 2017 at the age of 79 at her home in Blytheville. She was preceded in death by her parents. She was a homemaker...

Mr. Truevilla “T” Parks, 92, of Blytheville, passed away on July 8, 2017 in his home. He was born on December 1, 1924 in Memphis, Tenn. to Hurley and Lilly Parks. He was a retired brick mason layerer, member of the St. Andrew Lodge #131 in Blytheville and a member of the NAACP. Mr. Parks served our country in the Navy and Army and also served in WWII...

Dinner and a movie. A walk in a park after a lunch for two. Floating the river with a nice picnic to follow. They might not be the most original, but these are classic date ideas. Living in an era where the dating culture has increasingly evolved into a cycle of text messages, each one requiring the code-breaking skills of a cold war spy to interpret the “lingo”[language], it seems as though the word “dating” has been completely stricken from the dictionary...

Mrs. Peggy A. Baxley, 70, was called home Thursday, July 6, 2017, at her home in Enid, Miss. Mrs. Baxley was born in Manila. She was a member of Lambrook Baptist Church in Lambrook. Some of her hobbies included fishing, traveling, gardening, and taking care of her flowers. However, nothing was more important to her than spending time with her children and grandchildren...

Vivian Collette Cole, 82, of Raleigh, N.C., passed from this life July 7, 2017, at the William Dunlap Hospice Center in Raleigh. Born in Etowah, she was the daughter of the late William Finis and Lula Annis Strong Weaks and had been raised in Northeast Arkansas. ...

The following are reports from the Blytheville Police Department. — Police investigated a battery report in the 200 block of East Davis. The offender entered the victim’s home by breaking the screen door window, then he asked him about his pain pills. ...

Monday night, the Armorel School Board and their newly appointed Superintendent Jennifer Barbaree held their regular monthly meeting and discussed student achievement, policy changes and updates on gymnasium renovation. All board members were present except for Board President Susan Hughes and Board Member Dale Cook...