May 2023

The Clay County 4-H O’Rama were held Tuesday, May 30. O’Ramas are a competitive 4-H event that is the culmination of a 4-H member’s hard work during the year. The event provides them the opportunity to develop and practice citizenship and leadership skills in a different environment. Members can present a topic that they have a passion about and that they’ve worked on in their project areas or even branch out into Performing Arts or Identification Skills.

Clay County Electric Cooperative has selected five delegates to represent the co-op on the 2023 Youth Tour, an all-expenses- paid educational trip to Washington, D.C. Luke Blanchard of Corning, Spencer Blanchard of Corning, Cole Mandrell of Pocahontas, Kenan Ogden of Pocahontas, and Mollie Thompson of Corning will explore the nation’s capital June 16-22 with delegates from the other Arkansas electric cooperatives.

The Corning 4th of July 50/50 Raffle has begun! The tickets arrived last week and thanks to Bryan Dodd and Johnny Haynes at Carter-Cox who brought the ticket barrel to the Corning Chamber of Commerce, ticket sales have commenced.

The state of the railroad tracks at the crossing at Front and Elm Streets in Corning were recently in such disrepair that a person in a motor-powered wheelchair could not cross the train tracks safely. This condition made wheelchair travel east to the M.B. Ainley, Jr. Community Center or the Victory Lake Ball Complex or west into the city of Corning impassable due to gaps in the track formation that could trap wheelchair wheels on the tracks.

The 2023 Corning 4th of July t-shirts are ready for the 4th of July Homecoming Picnic and Parade on Saturday, July 1. This year’s design was created specifically to commemorate the sesquicentennial celebration by Lynn Masterson, owner of Electric Beach.

Five local women recently pushed their boundaries to conquer 20 miles of scenic trails through a Mammoth March experience, a long distance hiking event that occurs all over the US throughout the year, over different terrains, rain or shine. Paula Cate, Shannon Sears, Dena O’Guin, Vanessa Tyler and Whitney Hollis walked a trail in light rain, through mud, forests, fields and sidewalks for eight hours in the Mammoth March at Shelby Farms Park in Memphis on Saturday, May 20. The ladies completed over 47,000 steps within the eight-hour trek. Each hiker earned a medal and great memories.

Following Saturday’s flag event at the Corning Cemetery, on Memorial Day, Monday, May 29, the Corning VFW held a small ceremony at the Veteran Memorial at the Western District Courthouse at 1 p.m. The veterans congregated at the monument with the names of Clay County’s fallen veterans inscribed on each side in an act of remembrance to their sacrifice. Photos/Pam Lowe

In full recognition that this comes a few days late, I would like to offer this poem I wrote in memory of those brave ones who never made it home. I wrote this on my 84th birthday, last Thursday. A Story of One