It happened here, years ago

Late January brought heavy rains 40 years ago last week, forcing families from their homes and causing over $150,000 in damage to Clay County's roads and bridges. In other news, the Piggott City Council voted to accept a report from the city planning commission that calls for the extension of 8th Avenue north to U.S. 62 West. The plan calls for the street to proceed north from Cherry Street through the property of Finis Stewart and Dr. Hillard Duckworth, and was suggested by Charles (Bill) Smith.

The fundraising drive is still underway to construct a new Veteran's Memorial in front of the Piggott courthouse, and the Jaycee's will be sponsoring donkey basketball at the Scurlock Gym Feb. 17.

PHS coach Carl "Zig" Williams has been nominated as outstanding coach in Arkansas for 1968 by his colleagues in district AA. Williams, 37, has coached for nine years and is a 1951 grade of Piggott High School. He's the son of Mr. and Mrs. Edgar "Ted" Williams of Pollard.

At the Carolyn Theater this week the features included "A Time to Sing" starring Hank Williams Jr., Shelley Fabares and Ed Begley along with Walt Disney's "Bullwhip Griffin."

In sports, the Mohawks split with Knobel and lost to Corning 46-62 in the past week in the Clay County Tournament. Meanwhile, Janes Department store offered double fitted sheets for $2.09 a set for muslin and $2.59 for percale.. pillow cases were ninty-six cents to $1.29 a pair.

1979

Mitzie Kelsey was crowned PHS homecoming queen 30 years ago last week, and was escorted by Mike Dickerson and Ernie Hodge. Little Miss Basketball was Heidi Jones and Little Mr. Basketball was Brian Watson. The Tribe went on to best the Greenway Tigers 63-53 in the homecoming game.

Piggott Lodge #545 was busy preparing a time capsule to place in their cornerstone, which is scheduled to be set in a ceremony March 17. Steve Besserman of D&G Plumbing and Heating is constructing the copper container, and some of the items included will be pages from The Piggott Times.

Moffitt's Package and Grocery store at the Arkansas-Missouri state line near Fagus burned Tuesday, Feb. 6. Luckily the six people sleeping in the living quarters at the rear of the business narrowly escaped the blaze.

At the Carolyn Theater this week the feature is "Oliver's Story" while the late show was an R-rated offering of "Cinderella."

Winners in this year's Cub Scout pinewood derby were, first place and "Best Looking Car" went to Scott Nettles; second was Gary Don Moody, third went to Timmy Muse and fourth to Tony Green. The Cub Scouts were also marking their 49th anniversary, and Den Four won the window decorating contest with their entry in the Montgomery Ward store.

DeKalb hosted a fish fry and honored local producers in the past week. Otis McFarlin handed out plaques to a number of farmers, including--H.A. Wellman for 156.61 bushels of corn per acre and the Tanner Brothers farm for 7933.57 pounds of grain sourgham per acre. Accepting on their behalf were Bill and Blake Tanner.

1984

Teachers in the Piggott School District were approved for a raise of $1,491 per year at the school board meeting 25 years ago last week. The extra $142,347 was made possible by the Arkansas legislature's passage of the Quality Education Act of 1983. The board was also working to promote the millage issue that will be put to a vote soon, with the money needed to help pay for replacing the burned-out middle school building.

Gov. Bill Clinton sent Clay County a check for $13,000 from his emergency fund in the past week, with the money earmarked to help pay the Soil Conservation Service for work on the Chalk Bluff Recreational Area. The county now owes just $31,000 for the work that was completed. This week also brought the news that longtime Rector publisher Wendell Hiram Crow, 70, had died in Florida.

The Piggott Times welcomed a new columnist, as Mrs. L.W. (Fran) Brannan is now writing her "Around Town" column on local happenings. This week's "lead" story was the seventh birthday party for little Miss Ashley Taylor, which featured a "Care Bears" theme.

Winners at the Cub Scout pinewood derby were, first place Wade Smart, second place Shawn Morris, third place Jon Huffman, fourth place Jason Smith and "Best of Show" went to Jason Beck.

At the Carolyn Theater this week the feature was "Scarface" while the late show was "Teenage Deviate." And in sports, the Mohawks beat Corning behind Scott Parton's 18 points, and then got 25 from junior guard Dane Coomer as they beat Rector. The junior boys won their games too.

1989

The Piggott City Council heard from Ted Bellers that local electric customers would see a credit on their January and Feburary bills 20 years ago last week. The $13-15 thousand dollars saved was from utilizing lower rates. Meanwhile, Peggy Ruhl was crowned homecoming queen at PHS, and was escorted by David Stender and Bryan Allman. Basketball beau was Tim Mills, and he was escorted by Dana Redmon and Sherry Estes.

Winners of this year's Cub Scout pinewood derby were--first place, Brian Settlemoir, second place Josh Sullinger, third place Adam Rodery, fourth place was Nick Calhoun and "Best of Show" honors went to Eric Scott. This week's paper also included a feature for National School Counselor's week on Carol Beasley, Betty Russell and Barbara Carrens and their posts at the three campuses.

In sports, the Lady Mohawks were swept by Corning in the past week, with the senior girls dropping their game 31-50 and the junior girls falling 28-37. Mia Crowson and Martha Pence led the two squads in scoring in the losses.

It was also reported by the USDA that the number one export customer for U.S. rice in 1988 was Iraq, as they imported 600,000 tons worth around $272-million. Of all the rice exported from the United States, about 40-percent comes from Arkansas.