Dwayne Culp, Ward 3 candidate

Culp is a graduate of Blytheville High School, and has attended Arkansas Northeastern College (as MCCC), Lee University, and Central Christian University. He holds a masters degree in Pastoral Ministries. He serves as an Associate Pastor at Pathway Ministries and as the Director of Youth and Discipleship for the Church of God in Arkansas, for which he directs a summer camp of over 400 young people. Locally, he serves on the board of Ignite Boxes of Love, has been actively involved in the Cleaner Safer Blytheville initiative since its inception, and regularly attends City Council meetings.

On Blytheville's financial situation:

All of us want to know what happened to the tax money that has put us in a situation with the IRS. I'm sure that will come out, and if not we should investigate to put this to rest. With the tax the citizens of Blytheville voted on, we are well on our way to taking care of this, but more important than the past(which we can't do anything about) is what are we doing for our future. We must make sure steps are in place that this will never happen again, a yearly audit, new book keeping software, etc...what ever it takes for the checks and balances to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.

On population loss in Blytheville:

People are going to move or stay where they have: jobs, restaurants, entertainment, education etc... The best way to correct this problem is to provide quality of life for the citizens. When we take care of what we have and improve on them we will see a stabilization of our city. Just as you do in a church, business or city, get population on the back burner of our thinking and think quality.

On crime reduction and law enforcement:

I feel that we have good law enforcement for a city our size, but there is always room for improvements. We have found out that the cleaner safer Blytheville program has helped cut crime in the west end(ward 3) area, but we must do more. In changing anything, relationship is the key. We must get officers in the communities and out of the cars. Speaking recently to BeBe Gilispey(Healing of the Hood) we both came to the conclusion that we must change the mindset that the police are for good. They are our friends and not the enemy.

On the responsibilities of a city council representative:

As a city council representative you work with the mayor and other council members to oversee the interest of the citizens. You work for the best stewardship of the cities finance and resources to make Blytheville a better place for everyone in the city.

Campaign statement:

There are many positives that we have to offer and need to continue. Our parks are cleaner than I have seen them in years. I have noticed the parks are being used more, now that positive improvements are being made. We need to continue and expand on that. We need to have more structured activities in the parks. We need to continue the cleaner safer Blytheville clean-up...we must not clean and leave, we have to give code enforcement the tools to keep it clean after the community comes in and cleans. As a city council member I would work with the mayor on getting more small business, restaurants, retail , etc.