Articles

State Capitol Week in Review, June 9, 2023

Debra Marie Wilkerson Madera, 67 of Hampton died Wednesday June 7, 2023 at her home. Born July 17, 1955 at New Orleans, she was a daughter of the late Lavere “Bud” Wilkerson and Billie Jean Johnston Wilkerson.

Summer Reading Kick-off At Library

JUNE 15-16 VBS

Is your passport up to date? I encourage you to check and find out! U.S. Passport Services are continuing to see unprecedented demand for passports. During the pandemic, many people put their travel plans on hold. Well, now that most everywhere is back open and travel restrictions are being lifted, more and more people are traveling abroad. That means more and more people are realizing that they need to renew or apply for passports, leading to an increased volume of applications.

I take pride in being an American, but that is not acceptable for some. I take pride in being a Christian, and that is beyond reprehensible to some. I take pride in owning a gun (ok, guns) but it is simply not acceptable to some. And, I take pride being a biological male married to a biological female with no intentions or aspirations of changing, oh, but that just isn’t appropriate for some. As a matter of fact calling one out as a biological male/female seems to be offensive and flagged according to AP Style guidebook: Avoid terms like biological sex, along with biological male and biological female, which opponents of transgender rights sometimes use to refer to transgender women and transgender men, respectively. They are also redundant because sex is inherently biological.

Myles Allen Lea, age 75 of Hampton died Friday, June 02, 2023 at Ouachita County Medical Center in Camden, Arkansas. He was born August 10, 1947 in El Dorado, Arkansas. He was a retired carpenter and a U.S. Army veteran.

Sylvia G. Thornton, age 86 of Fordyce died Friday, June 2, 2023 at her home. She was born March 7, 1937 in Hampton, Arkansas. She was a member of Temple Baptist Church in Fordyce and former owner operator of Captain Cook’s restaurant in Fordyce.

Stringfellow, 60, of Hampton died Sunday May 28, 2023 at Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock. Born July 7, 1962, she was a daughter of the late Samuel E. Cosby and Frances Naomi Clemons Cosby.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library puts books into the hands and hearts of children across the world, partnering with local communities to provide a hand-selected, age-appropriate, high-quality book each month to registered children from birth to age five. Recent data shows that our county affiliate of the Arkansas Imagination Library has enrolled 74% of the eligible children in our county, putting us in fifth place statewide! In a recent study published through the University of Central Arkansas, researchers found that Arkansas students enrolled in the program are 24% less likely to repeat kindergarten and 28% less likely to repeat third grade (2021). Calhoun County Imagination Library mails free books to children until they turn five, no matter their family’s income. Having more books at home has a direct, proven positive impact on learning, and this program is available for free to all children in Calhoun County! There are just over 50 eligible children who aren’t registered for the program - if you know one of them, encourage them to sign up for this great program! If you’re interested in helping to sponsor the program, it costs $26 to sponsor one child for one year, or $130 to sponsor a child for all 5 years of eligibility (that’s 60 books!). For more information about how to sign up a child or become a sponsor, visit www.calcolibrary.com/aril/ or contact the library at (870)7984492.

Tuesday’s night Hampton school board meeting we had a couple of resignations and new hires.