Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Rudolph Gives Opinion Of 'Downtown' Arkadelphia

Dear Editor,

In the Daily Siftings Herald last week there was a letter from Mrs. Veda Morgan urging the Quorum Court to pursue the site on Main Street between 3rd and 4th for building a new courthouse. There was also a full page advertisement in Friday's Siftings paper apparently written by soneone with the Arkadelphia Area Chamber of Commerce.

Both Mrs. Morgan's letter and the ad contain statements that I feel are lacking in merit. I wrote a letter to the editor of the Siftings Herald and after it was published I had several calls and visits from citizens from throughout the county agreeing with my position. I wrote basically the material that follows:

Mrs. Morgan speaks for the Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Business and Merchants Association, the Arkadelphia Business Partners and the 2025 Committee, but we need to remember that Clark County is made up of more than those few groups.

We need to look for what is best for the entire county! We need to get the best facility possible, but we should look a the cost versus the benefits to the county.

Mrs. Morgan describes down-town Arkadelphia as the "central business district of the county." I feel that this is outdated thinking. When most people come to Arkadelphia, they come by Baptist Medical Center, the doctors' offices in the western part of our city, J.C. Penney, Brookshires, Piggly Wiggly, Wal-Mart, Hardman Lumber, Bettis Hardware, the accounting firms, insurance companies, Kregs, Western Sizzlin, Andy's and on and on.

Please wake up and smell the coffee! The bulk of the property taxes are paid by these firms in the fastest growth area of Arkadelphia and also the bulk of the sales taxes are derived not from the old downtown area, but from the newer, more vibrant business area of our city.

The Arkadelphia Area Chamber of Commerce still has the mind set that the only section of the city that counts is "downtown." Please remember that there is more to the city of Arkadelphia and Clark County. Yes, it is necessary to re-build "downtown," but we should not take over county government to do it!

I hope that people will take their time and not be so close-minded that they cannot listen to all of the options before making a decision on the location of the courthouse. Let's don't have any more of this "I've made my decision and I'll never change!" We hear people on both the county and city factions being bullheaded about their stands and that will not work for the good of our community.

We have Quorum Court members and City Board members who have adamantly opposed the idea of building a joint county-city facility. If this is our best alternative, and we can get the funding by pulling together, I feel that both sides should negotiate in good faith. I don't feel that the city should have to pay for the county a courthouse and I don't feel that the county should have to pay for the city a city hall. Both sides might cooperate and be money ahead by combining the buildings.

At one time, there was talk of closing the old courthouse and doing nothing with it, but the idea for selling it to the city was turned down with apparently no discussion being brought before the Quorum Court.

Mr. Crawford wrote a very common sense approach to this matter, and that is what we need - common sense!

Thanks for letting me put in my two cents. I don't represent the city of Arkadelphia, Clark County, Chamber of Commerce or any other organized group. This is just my own opinion and I'll keep plugging along no matter where the courthouse is built.

Pete Rudolph

P.S. In the ad the argument was made that putting the courthouse between 3rd and 4th on Main Street would spur development to the east toward the scenic view of the Ouachita River. I hope that the citizens of the county will drive east on Main toward the river. You run into the railroad tracks before you get to the river and "down by the tracks" is not the most desirable location in any city.

The ad urged the Quorum Court to purchase the land between 3rd and 4th on Main Street, with the exception of Mrs. Elms and Mrs. Adams home and then wait to build. Frankly, if that were to be done, it would look like we are a bunch of vultures waiting for the ladies to die. This would also tie up county funds for an indefinate time. I Certainly hope that the ladies continue living happily for many years to come and that we quit worrying about building the courthouse on their property.

Mr. Rudolph, now a resident of Arkadelphia, was once the Mayor of Gurdon.