Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Bond Passes

Clark County residents voted overwhelmingly to get the interstates repaired quickly, and turned out in good numbers for it.

In Tuesday's special election, held June 15, there were 1,342 votes cast, with 1,169 voted for the bond issue, with 173 being opposed to it. This amounts to an 85 percent to 15 percent victory.

Statewide, the vote was similar, as the issue won 4-1.

Local boxes show early voting with 62 for and 9 against; absentee voting had a margin of 31 for and 19 against.

A box-by-box breakdown shows Alpine voters favoring the issue 22-2; Amity went for it 38-2; Arkadelphia JP District 1 approved it 64-8; JP 2 had a 91-8 margin; JP 3 was 123-13; JP 4 was 87-14; JP 5 was 238-16; Arkadelphia General's vote went 66-6; Beirne had a 5-1 win; Caddo Valley went 17-4; Central was 58-6; Curtis's vote was 12-4; De Gray went 21-8 for the issue; and Gum Springs vote was 28-4.

The Gurdon General vote was 46-5 in favor of the issue; with Gurdon wards 1,2,3 being 39-7; Gurdon wards 4,5,6 were 52-4 in approval.

In Hollywood, the vote was close at 5-3; Joan favored it 12-2; Manchester also went big for the measure at 23-5; Oakland's vote was close as well, being 16-10; with Okolona getting a narrow win at 5-4.

The measure lost 2-3 in Vaden, and was deadlocked 6-6 in Whelen Springs.

With the issue being approved, bonds totaling $575 million will be sold to repair 372 miles of Arkansas interstate highways.

This was the first time in 50 years Arkansas voters approved going into debt for highway repair. The state could be in debt for the bonds as long as 12 years, after the bonds are officially sold. This likely won't happen before the end of this year.

During the past 50 years, the state has had to do highway repair on the pay-as-you-go method. If there was a shortfall, some roads didn't get fixed.

But, in 1949, Gov. Sid McMath managed to get a $28 million bond issue passed, by, believe it or not , a 4-1 margin, with those bonds being paid off in 1960.

Since 1972, the state's highway program has been debt-free, when bonds predating the '49 bonds were retired.

The election was a major victory for Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who originally proposed the idea, nursed it through the legislature and headed the $300,000 campaign.

The issue depends heavily on federal funds the state expects to receive for interstate highway repair. Arkansas expects to get $239 million from the federal Highway Administration in interstate maintenance funds though the year 2003. These monies will be used to help retire the bonded indebtedness incurred by Tuesday's election.

In addition, a portion of the 4 cent diesel fuel tax the legislature approved during the recent General Assembly, will be used to help retired the debt.