It happened

The Piggott Fire Department accepted the donation of several new pieces of equipment from the Lion's Club 40 years ago this past week, including oxygen masks, tanks and accessories. In other news, winners of the Greenway schools spelling bee were Sherry Parks, Kathy Cowgill and Richard Benson.

A couple of seasonal announcements came this week in 1968. It was announced that Daylight Savings time would go into effect on Sunday, April 28, and starting May 1 many local businesses will be closing at noon on Wednesday throughout the summer months as the "half-day holidays" get underway for this year.

It was announced that J.D. Ellis has been elected president of the Piggott PTA for the coming year, while Wayne Stewart has been elected president of the local Jaycees. Meanwhile, congratulations are in order for Junior Harris of Irby Ford Sales of Piggott. Junior was singled-out as one of the top Ford salesmen nationwide for 1967 and was honored at a banquet in Memphis.

Also from the newspaper ads this week in time; Huffman's Auto Salvage in Piggott reminded everyone that they buy scrap copper, brass, aluminum, radiators, pot metal, cast iron and steel. And finally, Litz Brothers Hatchery noted that they have baby chicks for sale every Tuesday and Friday.

1978

Norman Muse was named director of local ambulance drivers 30 years ago this past week. Muse would coordinate drivers for both Piggott and Rector. In other news, the Piggott chapter of the FHA held their annual banquet April 11, at PHS. And work is continuing on the drilling of a new water well alongside the city's water tower on South 12th Street. Engineers on the jobsite report that the well should be complete and operable in 2-3 months.

In other news, election positions were drawn in the past week for the upcoming primary election. Meanwhile, the Piggott Webelos received the highest award given in Cub Scouting, as they earned the "Arrow of Light". The local scouts included Mark Berry, Michael Binkley, Damon Cluck, Joey Cook, Mark Duckworth, Thad Hinkle and Paul Stow.

The Piggott High Marching Mohawks recently hosted the band's annual show, and a big crowd was on hand for the event. This week's feature at the Carolyn Theater was "Semi-Tough" with Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristofferson while the late show feature was "Candy Snatchers".

From the ads; Roeder's Ben Franklin featured four Bic pens for .49, Fred's had a 28-quart Styrofoam ice chest for two bucks while the U-Save-Mart had "Brut" cologne for $1.77 for seven ounces.

1983

Spring cleaning at the Piggott Public Library turned up a valuable find recently, as an autographed copy of Ernest Hemingway's "Death in the Afternoon" was found in a storage area. The book, which was published in 1932, would be on display at the library but could not be checked-out by patrons. Hemingway, who was married to Pauline Pfeiffer from 1927-1940, visited Piggott many times during those years. The famous author died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound July 2, 1961. In other news, the Piggott Community Hospital repaid a $20,000 loan back to the city back recently, some four years before the note was due.

Alpha Club induction was held at PHS recently, and new officers were elected for the coming year. They included president Angela Wright, vice president Tonya Swann, secretary-treasurer Carol Crowson, student council representative Joy Haley and reporter-historian Latraca Tanner. Meanwhile, PHS grad Allen Lee Warmath has been inducted into the honor society Phi Kappa Phi at ASU.

Speaking of PHS, the annual "Campus Cutie" contest was held recently sponsored by the Beta Club. First place went to Steve "Rosetta Stalleta" Statler, second was Chris "Christine" Ebert and third place honors went to Scott "Buffy" Roofe. Meanwhile, the junior class staged their annual play recently, "Tune In On Terror".

Finally, Dixon Radio and TV offered several cartridges for the Atari game deck, including--Reactor, Pitfall, Jedi Arena, PacMan, Space Invaders, Empire Strikes Back, Frogger, River Raid, M.A.D., Superman, Centipede and Super Breakout.

1988

The Piggott City Council was considering a $400,000 bond issue to fund construction of the new wastewater treatment plant 20 years ago this past week. This move was made after the hospital board waffled on a plan to borrow part of the money from their budget.

Kerry Champ of Piggott competed in the state spelling bee recently in Little Rock, and finished 12th out of 60 competitors as he represented Clay County. Meanwhile, the Mohawk baseball team beat Pocahontas then lost to Clay County Central and Greene County Tech. Their district will be played at Highland May 2-7.

The Clay County Peace Officers Association met March 28, and voted to raise money to help the county purchase a drug dog. There were 16 members on hand for the gathering. In other news, the local Lion's Club and Piggott softball joined forces and put on last week's annual pancake breakfast.

This week's Piggott Times also included a retrospective by Rossie Johnson on the old county homes. The original was on the Ezra Montgomery farm north of Piggott, and was replaced by the new one in 1912. The new home was located on 40 acres two miles west of Piggott on the land that is now Heritage Park.

This week also brought a feature on National Library Week which gave the history of the Piggott Library. The former library, which now houses John Lingle's law office, was dedicated March 10, 1938. The current library was dedicated in Dec. of 1984. Lura Brown was librarian until 1940, Ruth Gwin was librarian from 1940 to 1965 followed by Mrs. L.D. Robinson from 1965 till 1981. Gay Johnson took over at that time and still serves in that capacity today.