The other candidates who are running for State Representative in various Southeast Arkansas districts were also invited, but they are unable to attend at this time.

Please make plans to attend the meeting at 6:30 P.M. at the Living Word Fellowship, located on Hwy. 425 South in the south end of the Cowboy’s Restaurant building. The candidates will speak about their campaigns and platforms, and they will answer questions. Everyone is invited. Please attend.

Her schedule includes visiting UAM’s Entrepreneurship and International Business classes, speaking at the Rotary Club meeting at noon, and stopping by the MEDC.

The U.S. Small Business Administration was established in 1953 to aid, counsel, assist and protect, insofar as is possible, the interest of small business concerns. SBA assistance includes loan guarantees, microloans, business counseling, and programs to encourage government contracting.

On Thursday, February 9th, LifeShare will be at Drew Memorial Hospital from 1pm until 5pm. Please come out and help support your local hospital by donating the “Gift of Life.”

All donors must present identification at the time of donation.

According to Gillespie, the black history awareness programs kicked off on last Wednesday night at Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church. Youth were presented with sports and black history trivia.He was the guest presenter. Over 70 youth of the community attended the event.

The programs are held from 6 to 7 p.m. at rotating locations. Church youth and community leaders are encouraged to bring their children where a presentation and guest speakers will be expounding on various subjects of interest.

The schedule for the rest of the month is as follows:

Wednesday, Feb. 8 – Pilgrim Rest AME Church. The topic is music and guest presenter is Mrs. Clarissa Pace. Wednesday, Feb. 15 – Revival Center COGIC. The topic is Famous African American Women, guest presenter is Mrs. Gaynell Jamerson. Wednesday, Feb. 22 – Kennedy Boulevard Church of Christ. The topic is Dramatic Arts, the guest presenter is Mrs. Toni Perry.

The final activity will be an oratorical contest held on Wednesday, Feb. 29 at the Holiday Inn meeting room. Youth from 5th grade through 12th grade are encouraged to participate. The entry is free. For the topic and entry, contact Mr. Gillespie at 504-234-9630.

He is very friendly and appears to be someone’s pet.

Please call 367-5058.

Have you ever wondered how you qualified for a loan? Or why you didn’t? Or maybe you ended up with an interest rate higher than the one advertised?

Lenders use a credit-scoring to determine your credit rating, otherwise known as a credit score. The higher your credit score, the more likely you are to get the credit you want at a desirable rate.

Credit Score
Credit scores are often called “FICO scores” after the Fair Isaac Corporation, a California-based company that developed software to compute the first credit scores. When using the FICO scoring method, your credit score will be a three-digit number ranging from 300 to 850 that tells the lender the level of future risk associated with your credit history. Lenders use the information in your credit report to determine your credit score and assess whether or not loaning you money is a good risk.

Good Credit Score
There isn’t a single “cutoff” score used by all lenders, and there are many additional factors besides your credit score that lenders use to determine whether to give you credit and at what interest rate. So it’s hard to say what a good score is outside of a particular lending situation. For example, one auto lender may offer lower interest rates to people with scores above 680 while another lender may use 720, and so on. Generally speaking, 300-650 is considered high risk, 650-700 is medium risk, 700-750 is low risk, and 750-850 is considered very low risk.

According to the Fair Isaac Corporation, credit scores are typically spread among the population as follows:
27% Below 650
15% 650-699
18% 700-749
27% 750-800
13% Above 800

Understanding your credit score is the first step to financial success. It’s a good idea to also monitor your credit report periodically, which you can do by receiving a free yearly credit report at annualcreditreport.com.

They ran away from a new home on Garnett road. Please call Anita 1-870-723-6669.

We want to welcome anyone suffering from either disorder to attend, as well as care-takers/loved ones.

For more information, call 870-224-1127.

Johnnie Bolin was a two term Chairman of the House Transportation Committee, Chairman of the Transportation and Culture Affairs Committee for the Southern Legislative Conference, and served on Arkansas Joint Budget Committee.

As a lifelong resident of southeast Arkansas, Johnnie Bolin has an unrivaled understanding of the challenges facing economic development. During his extensive travels around Arkansas promoting better roads, highways, interstates, streets and bridges Johnnie says without highway improvement southeast Arkansas cannot reach its full potential.

Working as an hourly employee for many years, as well as a business owner and former Ashley County Judge Johnnie Bolin says there are five areas he will address if elected: tourism attraction, economic development, infrastructure, education (pre-K through college) coupled with a well trained workforce, while maintaining agriculture’s status of Arkansas’s ranking in the top ten of ten different commodities. We in Senate District 26 must work to keep and gain in this national ranking.

Johnnie Bolin, 68, was born and raised in Fountain Hill Arkansas before his family moved to Crossett where his father started the family’s first business, a full service Esso station. As a young lad working at this station, Bolin learned very quickly that a satisfied customer was the name of the game. Johnnie graduated from Crossett High School in 1961. He began working for the Crossett Paper Operations, now Georgia-Pacific in Crossett.

In 1991 he accepted a position with Albany International and serviced accounts in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee receiving awards for outstanding sales two years in a row. Additionally in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s Johnnie was president of the Crossett Little League, then move up to the Babe Ruth Baseball Association, providing over a four-year span approximately 1350 young people a well rounded quality summer program at a very low cost to our area youth.

Mr. Bolin has two children, Lisa Bolin McPherson and Stephen Bolin, and two grandchildren, John Marshall McPherson and Carter Bristow McPherson. He is an active member of First Freewill Baptist Church in North Crossett.

Bolin stated, “With voter confidence low, it will be my goal to wage a well thought out campaign on the issues that affect District 26, as well as the Great State of Arkansas. Let’s make plans to see each other down the road.” For further information please contact 1-870-510-5784 or home/office 870-364-2829 or email bolin25@windstream.net.

You can visit his website at http://www.bolinforarsenate.com. You can also follow on Facebook by logging onto your Facebook account and searching Bolin for AR Senate District 26 and clicking on “like.”