August 22, 2012

1972

The Otasco Store is now under new ownership, with assistant manager Gayle Garver and serviceman Keith Causey. Special sale items included a Zebco 202 reel for $1.74, a 50-count box of .22 shells for fifty-seven cents, portable phonograph (you know, a record player) for $35.97 or an eight-track player for your car for $37.88. Meanwhile, C. W. Knauts and Scot Sale beat out 59 other teams to take the late summer tournament at Sugar Creek Country Club. The local attorney, and high school student, combined for 11-under-par over 18, and shot a combined 128 for the 36-hole event.

Congrats to the Raymond Fox family of Knobel, this year’s Clay County Farm Family of the Year.

At the Carolyn Theater this week, a special engagement of Liza Minnilli in “Cabaret.”

The Piggott Jaycees have been asked by the city to take on the renovation of the public tennis courts, as more and more people come to enjoy the sport. The courts in question were (are) located on the east edge of the picnic grounds, near the log cabin.

Hamra’s had a big back-to-school sale on Tuf-Nut jeans, with young men’s sizes for just $3.00 and boy’s sizes for $1.99 a pair..regularly $4.00 to $8.00.

What’s on the menu for the first day of school? at PES it’s pork and gravy, creamed potatoes, English peas, applesauce and a roll. High school offered peppered steak, creamed potatoes and black-eyed peas..or you could have a chicken salad sandwich.

They’re racing at the Rector Speedway Saturday night. The track is located on Highway 90 about four miles north of town.

1982

Clay County Judge Rue C. Mack informed the media that he had vetoed both the ordinances approved at the recent quorum court meeting that dealt with the ambulance district. Mack explained that if the ordinance to approve the district passed, and the one financing the district did not, the county would be left to fund it on their own.

School is set to get underway in the area, and at Piggott School they welcome new teacher Kim Mann. In Greenway they have several new or returning faces, including Beth Morgan, Connie Johnston, Alvin Riley and Elmer “Doc” Dunn is the new basketball coach.

Congrats to the Charles Grimes family, of Route One, Rector. They, along with their daughter and son-in-law, Kris and Ronnie Moore, were chosen the Clay County Farm Family of the Year.

At the Carolyn Theater the special showing of Walt Disney’s “Bambi” was the early show, and Friday and Saturday you could stay for the late feature, Chuck Norris in “Force of One.” (what a combination)

Piggott Community Hospital will conduct a tornado response drill Aug. 31, as a simulated twister is scheduled to strike the local Darling factory.

Featured speaker at the Arkansas Democratic State Convention in Jonesboro in September will be Florida Representative Claude Pepper. He had taught law at the U of A in 1924 and 1925, served in the U.S. Senate from 1936-51, and had been in the House of Representatives since 1962.

In sports, Terry Joe Lovelace of Rector, son of Mr. and Mrs. Otis Lovelace, has signed to play baseball at Ouachita Baptist University.

1987

U.S. Senator David Pryor spoke at the Piggott Chamber of Commerce dinner meeting in the past week, after taking part in the ribbon cutting at the new HUD apartments on West Main. The new apartments also set a HUD record, with only four months and 26 days from the approval of funding to the dedication.

School is set to start, while the Piggott School Board continues to work-out the pay snafu that prompted 30 teachers to attend their monthly meeting. In a related note, a scholarship fund has been established at Piggott State Bank in the name of the late Jo Ann Barlow.

Clay County Sheriff Darvin Stow and his deputies burned 2,053 marijuana plants that were seized in a county-wide eradication effort. Officials reported 4,489 plants were discovered in Clay, Greene and Randolph counties. Stow noted it took 15 gallons of diesel to destroy the crop.

At the Carolyn Theater this week—“End of the Line”—a heartfelt story of the plight of railroad workers in Arkansas. The movie starred Wilford Brimley, along with Arkansas natives Levon Helm and Mary Steenburgen. A special gala screening was held at the UA Cinema 150, at the corner of Asher and University in Little Rock (and one of this reporter’s favorite theaters when it was open), with the proceeds benefiting the Arkansas Children’s Hospital and Literacy Council of Pulaski County.

This year’s local T-ball champs was the Piggott Lodge team, while the top team in the pee wee ranks was Cox Lumber Company.

1992

Student numbers are up for Piggott this year, with 325 expected at Piggott High; 310 at Piggott Middle School and the early figures were 412 in PES and another 27 in the ABC Pre-School. Also in the news, First District Congressional Candidate Blanche Lambert visited Piggott—speaking at a local Democratic meeting and then serving as Grand Marshal of the Clay County Fair Parade.

With the Labor Day weekend just around the corner, everyone was reminded of the upcoming picnics at Rector and McDougal. This week also included a feature on the growing popularity of flea markets. Two local markets were profiled--the Second Street Flea Market and Bait shop, belonging to Cecil Holloway and Eric Warbritton—and Everett McKenzie’s Piggott Flea Market on Court Street.

Steve Holcomb of Piggott has been promoted to the rank of Sergeant in the Arkansas Army National Guard. He serves in Det. 1, Company A, 2nd Batt., 153rd Infantry based at the Piggott Armory. And students of Leann Mann and Kim Rouse’s third grade classes at PES have put together a time capsule with plans of opening it in 2001. The capsule was entrusted to Jim Poole and J.R. Blackburn of Piggott State Bank by students Lauren Cole, Joel Coomer, Ashley Poole and Phil Pollard.

And, Steve Laxton of Precision Metals was the first customer to check-in to the new Open Roads Motel, although only a few of the rooms are now fully completed.