Monticello Live

It is only mid-May and the ground seems very dry. The weekend rain barely dampened the soil. I hope this isn’t a omen of the coming summer. This Friday at 11 a.m. the VFW will hold a flag disposal ceremony at the VFW Hut to show the proper way to dispose of old and/or tattered American flags. It is a very stirring ceremony and the public is welcome to attend.

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May is beginning as a dry month. Hopefully that will be improved this week. I’ve seen a lot of burning in yards this weekend. Please be careful out there in these dry conditions.

Please remember that early voting started Monday, May 7, at the courthouse.

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Last week was a busy and warm week around the county. Two longtime employees retired too. Wayne Evans, road foreman for over a decade, and Reginald Conway, part-time worker and former highway department employee, both decided to retire at the end of April. They will be greatly missed. We wish them well in their retirement. Both have earned it.

Mike McManus had already been promoted to road foreman in 2011 so work will not be delayed. I have every confidence in Mike. He formerly worked for Plum Creek.

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This weekend must have been “blackberry winter”! Saturday the wind was high and it was pretty chilly! I think all of this week will be cooler; at least it will be more typical of April weather.

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That was a nice, and much appreciated rain Sunday night. Please remember we have plenty of mosquito dunks to help control the mosquitoes the rain may cause to hatch.

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Please remember to set your clocks up one hour Saturday night! Daylight Savings time begins then. Remember “Spring forward. Fall back!”

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February is fast coming to an end and we still have escaped the worst of winter weather conditions. Let’s pray for a quiet spring too.

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By the time you read this all effects of the “great winter storm of 2012” should be gone! Hopefully we in south Arkansas will just get rain Monday. At any rate, building up the drama and anxiety over Monday’s forecast should boost weather ratings! After a weekend off, the television weather “men” will be primed to interrupt regular broadcasting for storm tracking if “needed”. We’d better “batten down our hatches”!!

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Although we have had lots of rain, we’ve just finished another week of warm temperatures for February. It makes me feel slightly nervous. I recently read some forecasters have predicted a spring with an unusually high number of tornadoes. I hope they’ll be mistaken.

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Today is the first day of a new month and I hope the weather continues to be mild. We certainly don’t need any snow, or worse yet, ice. I think most of you know by now that I am retiring at the end of 2012. I have anguished greatly over this decision because I love my job – most days. However I have developed diabetes and high blood pressure over the past 5-6 years and I need to get my meds regulated and take care of my health. I lost another brother to cancer Christmas Eve who was also diabetic. I stay very tired and don’t feel well. This is a fulltime job and I need rest. Thank you for the honor of serving ten years as your county judge. You’ll hear more about this later, but I will be on the job every day until December 31, 2012.

(Incidentally I’ve had several inquiries so I want to make it clear that Sheilla is NOT planning to retire! She is running for state representative in District 9 because her district changed, but she announced earlier and she will be running to continue her legislative work. She will actually have more of Drew County than before. I only bring this up because so many of you have asked.)

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What a dreary day Sunday was!! I think everyone is ready for spring! We still have another week in January and all of February to go though.

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Last week was the first full five-day week of the New Year. Hopefully we can all get back to “normal”. Even the schools are back in full swing, so let’s watch out for the children.

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The first week of 2012 and the Cotton Bowl are behind us so we can now move forward. This is just a reminder that next Monday, January 16th is another holiday. That is celebrated as Rev. Martin Luther King’s birthday. All county offices and the landfill will be closed. However, sanitation routes will be run on their regular schedules.

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I hope each of you had a great Christmas! We did. Now we can all settle down to begin a new year. We received about two inches of rain last week. Hopefully 2012 will continue to have rain like the past two weeks and we can avoid another near drought. My nephew from west Texas has made three trips to Arkansas recently and hauled back hay for his livestock. They are really parched down there.

I trust you saw the notice about trash pickup this week and next week. The courthouse and road department will be closed January 2. Sanitation routes will not be run on Monday, January 2. Monday routes will be run on Tuesday, January 3. Tuesday routes will be run on Wednesday; Wednesday routes on Thursday and Thursday routes on Friday. In other words, everyone will receive service; it will just be delayed one day. (more…)

Well, Drew County has had another visit from Santa Claus by way of the Santa Train!

The train stopped Saturday at 11:30, and there were about 300 children on hand to greet the Clauses. The children were very excited – especially those who got to ride the train with Santa and those who won prizes in the drawing. They also had a great time on the inflatable toys. The Chamber volunteers and Sheilla and I had our fun just watching the kids’ faces!

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I’m sure everyone has put Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday behind them and is now ready to concentrate on the joys – and anxieties – of the Christmas season. Let’s just hope we can all remember the reason for the season.

The courthouse and shop were closed Thursday and Friday for the holidays and sanitation routes were not run. However they had been scheduled to run earlier and it had been announced through our local media. Please keep in mind that schedule changes are usually made during holidays and be alert for these changes. We always try to post them a week earlier on our three (3) local websites, on KHBM and in the local newspaper.

However, I have had some folks call and say they never read or hear any of these sources. I would advise those people to be aware of upcoming holidays and call the office the week before to learn of any changes to your scheduled stop. I would call a few days early as opposed to calling on the holiday. Christmas is coming, as well as New Years Day, and we’ll put out our schedules as soon as possible. Please be alert to those changes.

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I hope everyone read or heard the changes in the sanitation pickups due to the Thanksgiving holidays. Monday and Tuesday routes run Monday; Wednesday routes run on Tuesday; Thursday routes run on Wednesday. The courthouse and road department will be closed on Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving.

Please note that any time we have a schedule change on sanitation routes I try to have it announced on the local news websites, in the local paper and on KHBM. Please remember to check those news sources.

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I hope everyone is having a safe and successful deer hunt this week. Tuesday’s predicted rain may make it better. Please remember not to leave deer carcasses at bus turnarounds.

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November has arrived in full color with all of the beautiful fall foliage all around us. Modern gun deer season also begins Saturday. Be careful in the woods and please don’t build any fires! There is no burn ban, but much of the woods are dangerously dry.

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Fall is definitely leaving its mark on Drew County. The leaves are changing colors and the hint of deer season is in the air. Some hunting seasons have already opened.

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What a storm Sunday night! I didn’t measure the hail, but it surely sounded big – and loud! We received 2.6 inches of rain at my house in the showers last week.

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It seems that the warm temperatures have returned for a few days. At least I hope it’s only for a few days! I trust everyone participated some way in the remembrances activities for 9-11. Both events in Drew County, one at Second Baptist Church and the other at the courthouse, were well-attended. I’m sure no one will ever forget the horrific tragedy that unfolded that day a decade ago.

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Rain! At last! We poured out 1.3 inches after Thursday’s rain; another 5 inches after Friday night’s rain and another 1.3 inches Sunday. That equals 7.6 inches at my house in 3 days! It all soaked into the ground too! MY gauge may not be accurate, but water came across my drive sometime Friday night!

The Burn Ban is lifted! If you can light it, burn it! Just be very careful when you burn.

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Another hot, blustery week!! Even though most of the city of Monticello and a few other areas got a heavy rain in a thunderstorm last Wednesday, not everyone in the county did. In fact, I only measured 2-tenths at my house. Therefore, we still have a Burn Ban in effect – along with 33 other counties. One shower does not eliminate the threat of fires as dry as it has been this summer.

In fact, implementing or rescinding a Burn Ban is not as simple as some may think. Before one is implemented, I check with the Forestry Services to see if the moisture levels are low enough to necessitate a ban. (They have “ways” of determining the moisture levels and have occasionally called me before I asked them.)

Once that dangerously low moisture level determination is made, I must draw up a court order declaring a Burn Ban and notify ADEM (Arkansas Department of Emergency Management) as well as all local media outlets to alert the authorities and the public.

In order to lift a Burn Ban, the same process must be used. It is not a hasty “snap-of-you-fingers” decision either way. It seems that some folks seldom think about burning until there is a Burn Ban. Then it suddenly becomes a life-or- death urgent need.

Surely this dry spell will be broken soon. Until then, please just don’t try to burn. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

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I heard a television weathermen talking about a near-drought in parts of extreme southeast Arkansas. Isn’t that surprising in view of the situation east of us? I did measure only three-tenths of an inch at my house after Friday and Saturday nights’ showers.

Drew County Courthouse and Road Department will be closed Monday, May 30, in observance of Memorial Day. The schedule for the holiday pickup is as follows: (more…)

It looks like the “yellow pollen” season has come. We’ll need a good rain soon. Then the dogwoods can bloom. The weather has been warmer lately, but we’ll probably still have an “Easter cold snap”.

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