Monticello Live

A 26 year old Dumas man, likely to be charged with Capital Murder and Felon in Possession of  a Firearm, appeared before Circuit Judge Bynum Gibson for a First Appearance Hearing, Monday afternoon, at the Drew County Courthouse.

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In the true spirit of Thanksgiving, Pauline Baptist Church members spent yesterday morning preparing, serving, and delivering around 400 Thanksgiving dinners to Monticello area residents.

Giving their holiday to serve and minister to others; now that’s really celebrating the meaning of Thanksgiving.

This week we will continue our “look” at some remembered businesses along the south side of East Gaines Street in Monticello. Starting at the business on the corner of East Gaines and South Main, one of the earliest businesses there was a dry goods store owned by a Mr. Ely, a Russian Jew. It has been pictured as a two-story building with a wooden sidewalk on the south side.

However, records also indicate that one of the two water wells for the courthouse preceded the mercantile store. (There were originally two wells for the 1870 structure – one for people and one for the livestock.) That well is believed to still be buried under the present buildings.

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A Monticello man, arrested for stealing multiple items from his employer, was released on a $20,000 bond in February.

He allegedly fled to Los Angeles, CA, and was recently arrested there by U.S. Marshals.

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Fredrick “Alex” Rayford was arrested Sunday, and charged with the rape of a juvenile victim in Drew County, earlier that day.

Rayford is a registered sex offender and was on probation at the time of the alleged event.

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On Monday, James Edward Green, Jr., was convicted of Failure to Register as a Sexual Offender, and Registered Sex Offender Living Near a School or Daycare, by a jury in the Drew County Circuit Court.

Green still faces drug charges from an arrest last week, while he was out on bond, for this trial.

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Monticello District Judge Ken Harper reportedly agreed to accept letters of reprimand and censure by the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission, last week.

By reaching an agreement with the JDDC, Harper will remain in the position of District Judge, with no other disciplinary action being taken against him. if he follows the guidelines outlined in the agreement.

Below are the context of those 2 letters.

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Before we journey down South Main Street, let’s look briefly at the business history of the primary streets that begin at Monticello’s Square. We’ll start on the corner of East Gaines Street and travel to the railroad tracks, but first let’s examine how Gaines Street was named.

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This is a Little Boys “Sunday best” early 1920’s clothing along with other clothing from different periods on display,

Come see this and many other interesting items on display at your Drew County Museum, We are open Fridays from 1pm till 5pm, and Saturdays and Sundays from 2 pm till 5 pm.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Drew County Historical Society, memberships are $25 Dollars for a single membership or $40 for a family membership. Please mail your membership request to The Drew County Historical Society 404 South Main Monticello, AR 71655.

Monticello Municipal Airport received yet another award this year. Benji Ryburn, Airport Commissioner, went to Fort Worth, TX on Tuesday to accept the Outstanding Airport Award from the FAA. Five states were represented at the event.

Only one airport from each state is selected.

“To put into perspective what a big deal this is, there are 91 airports in Arkansas. If you were the worst, it could take you 91 years to get one [the award].” – Benji Ryburn

In other airport news, Mr. Ryburn asked the council to consider looking into a match grant, an 80/20 grant, to pay for a hanger to house larger planes. This is based on one of the airport’s client’s decision to possibly purchase a plane too large to be housed by any existing hangers at Ellis Field.

Click here.

According to Lt. Jason Akers of the Tenth Drug Task Force, a multi-county investigation by the Task Force has resulted in the arrest of three suspects the Task Force believes were involved in the illegal distribution of prescription narcotics.

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Taylor Eubanks, a 2009 graduate of Monticello High School and former captain of the MHS cheerleaders performed with the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders recently in a halftime performance at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington Texas.

Taylor is a Junior Theater Arts major at UT-Arlington, and also head cheerleading coach for a local gym in the Dallas area.

Taylor is the 21 year old daughter of Von and Terri Eubanks.

Before we continue our historical “tour” and head down South Main Street, we should revisit our Square itself and again look at its fascinating history.

The Square is located in the “heart” of the original 83-acre tract of land donated by Fountain C. and Polly Austin in 1849 for the establishment of the city of Monticello. The town was laid out with 35 numbered blocks and one unnumbered block in the “center” designated for a courthouse square. This square was to be a 170 foot square.

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Happy Birthday, Sue!

And many more!

Love you,

Joe.

The Drew County Health Unit recently provided over 1,850 free flu shots to local residents, including 916 flu shots and 35 mist for a total of 951 at the mass clinic, Thursday, as well as around 900 flu shots that were given at the local school in recent weels.

Karen Brown, Administrator of the Drew County Health Unit, expresses their appreciation to the nursing students from UAM-Monticello and UAM College of Technology – McGehee and Crossett, along with nurse volunteers from the community and UAM nurse.  Volunteers also helped with paperwork and data entry from DHS, The Woods, CIS Department @ UAM, as well as fraternity members from UAM and volunteers from the community.

Approximately 50 local residents attended Thursday nights public meeting to see the presentation of the proposed Convention Center at UAM’s Fine Arts Center.

The video of the meeting is posted above, along with the question and answer session. (more…)

Congressman Mike Ross, featured speaker, and several other public officials break ground on the Arkansas portion of the proposed Interstate 69, east of Monticello in Drew County. Ross, who helped secure federal support for the project in Arkansas, said the interstate is expected to bring many much-needed jobs to south Arkansas and provide an economic boost for the entire region.

When complete, I-69 will span over 2,700 miles from the Canadian border in Michigan to the Mexican border in Texas running through southeastern Arkansas.  

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Here are some of the personal items donated to the museum by Sadie Johnson.

Come see this and many other interesting items on display at your Drew County Museum, We are open Fridays from 1pm till 5pm, and Saturdays and Sundays from 2 pm till 5 pm.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Drew County Historical Society, memberships are $25 Dollars for a single membership or $40 for a family membership. Please mail your membership request to The Drew County Historical Society 404 South Main Monticello, AR 71655.

At last we come to the west side of the historic Monticello Square. In many ways this side may have been the most colorful and exciting! Let’s start on the south end of the block. The earliest business on this corner that has been related to me was a service station operated by the White brothers (George and Ed). I also understand that Monticello’s first telephone office was formerly located on the second floor. (Telephone service first came to Monticello in 1898 with 65 phone lines. This office would have been at that location at some point between that date and 1929 when the office was moved to the cornet of Trotter and Church streets.)

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The displayed price of unleaded seems to have sky-rocketed, following a strong gust of wind (at least on the Walmart side of Murphy’s).

Thank you to the many readers who told MLive abou this great photo opportunity.

Well, it’s that time of year again.  Time change.

Tonight, most parts of the country will turn their clocks BACK.  So if it’s 2 a.m., it becomes 1 a.m. again.

Now that’s a deal, an extra hour of sleep.

By the way, using the excuse of, “I forgot to set my clock” won’t justify missing Church in the morning.  It would only explain why someone was there an hour TOO EARLY.

So, see you in Church.