Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Progress made toward GHS auditorium

Construction of the proposed Gurdon High School auditorium is tentatively set to begin just after the first of the year.

Anita Cabe, who hopes to have the remaining $600,000 of funding raised by then, said the auditorium itself would be phase one of campus improvements she intends to have a hand in accomplishing.

"To complete the complex, which will include new offices for the superintendent, a band room and a choir room, we will need an additional $1.5 million for what I see as phase two," she said.

The auditorium alone is a $2 million project, according to Gurdon Superintendent Bobby Smithson. However, the state of Arkansas agreed earlier this month to fund 43 percent of it, which amounts to $860,000. This leaves the school district responsible for the remaining balance of $1,140,000.

The proposed site for the auditorium is between the high school and Go-Devil Road.

Seating for the auditorium and stage will be between 1,000 and 1,200. There will be a hall of memories for displaying trophies and graduating class composite photos.

The multi-purpose auditorium will be used for functions such as school and community productions, graduation, band concerts and musicals, local pageants and ballet and dance productions.

Cabe said she will use all of her influence at the Cabe Foundation to raise the money needed to complete the project.

"We are in the process of sending letters to Gurdon High School graduates," she said. "And we are contacting foundations and corporations that we think might be interested in Clark County and beyond."

Cabe said more than $500,000 has been donated since the idea was conceived in 2001. The intention is to apply that money to the $1,140,000 owed by the district.

"We will get the other $600,000. I tell people if you want something to happen, you must believe it will," Cabe said.

Those already donating to the project include Paul Barringer, the Horace Cabe Foundation, Charles Cabe, the Gurdon Chamber of Commerce, the Gurdon Rotary Club, the late Charlotte Cabe, the Olds Foundation of Amity, the Lewis Cabe Foundation, Leonard Gills, Tommy Roebuck, Richard and Polly Ferguson, Barrie Gravel, the Morris Foundation of Hot Springs, the Stella Smith Trust of Little Rock, the Hoo Hoo, and the Gurdon High School Class of 1940.

"Our auditorium project is called Raise the Curtain and that is exactly what it looks like we will be doing," she said. "There will be a Web site attached to the Chamber of Commerce Web site to monitor the level of giving and to open this up to everyone. I want everyone to know they can be a part of this."

Cabe said the most ambitious donation level so far is $1 million. If an individual, corporation, organization or foundation sees fit to give a $1 million donation, their name will be on the whole complex.

"If anyone decides to give $500,000, their name will go on the auditorium," she said.

Cabe said hard work by a lot of people can get this money raised and the auditorium built. She thanked the Gurdon Chamber of Commerce for their silent auction efforts over the past few years.

"The chamber has raised $30,000, with $15,000 from the auction going back to them and $15,000 donated for the new auditorium," she said.

Cabe said $100 bricks, which will be inscribed with the buyers name and physically placed in the project, are for sale.

A business, individual, or other organization can donate as little as $25 and still be recognized at the auditorium.

"We will take cash donations or pledges," she said.

For more information or to make a contribution, contact Cabed at 353-2063.