Autumn in (and about) Arkansas

by Pat Laster

Still blooming on Couchwood Hill are Encore azaleas (spotty—I didn’t feed them), crape myrtle, dianthus, variegated wandering jew, Wave petunias (revived from a spring planter), common begonia, yellow zinnias, pink mini roses, Mandevilla (only a few), 7 yucca torches, oxalis, abelia, mums, purple monkey grass, a lone lamb’s ear and a community of yellow wildflowers.
The beautyberries are so dense and heavy that the bush umbrellaed to the ground, providing a haven for three kittens that magically appeared a few weeks ago.
It’s about time I used some of the information collected in what I’m calling a Compendium of Journal Jottings. The rest of the column includes items collected from my readings under the heading of “Around Arkansas.” Readings include the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Arkansas Times, The Saline Courier, The Amity Standard, Harper’s and New York Times Book Review.
* The position of the state poet laureate was established October 10, 1923, by concurrent resolutions of both houses of the Legislature. Charles T. Davis was the first person named to the post.
* Camp Magnolia in southern Arkansas was where religious conscientious objectors were housed during WWII.
* William Sebastian, namesake of Sebastian County, began his US Senate career in 1947 as the 30th Congress’ youngest senator at age 37.
* Ten counties (as of April 1 2011) operate with two judicial districts and dual courthouses. Carroll and Clay are two of them.
*2011 is the first time in Arkansas history that counties were split when [congressional] district lines were drawn after the 2010 census. Four are in the northwest counties of Crawford, Sebastian, Newton and Searcy.
* According to the latest census, Arkansas has a population of 2, 915, 918.
*Johnny Cash’s family moved to Dyess in 1935 when he was three.
*Dyess Colony was established in 1934 as an agricultural resettlement community under the Works Progress Administration and the Federal Emergency Relief
Administration. More than 500 homes dotted the 15,000 acres in east Mississippi County.
* Under Arkansas law, the death of someone missing for more than three years may be proved by such circumstantial evidence and a death certificate (ordered by a judge) issued.
* Lake Atlanta in Rogers was built in the mid-1930s as a Works Progress Administration project.
*Since 2008, Arkansas has received eleven disaster declarations for tornadoes, floods, snowstorms, ice storms and remnants of three hurricanes.
* For the next fiscal year (beginning in July, 2011), there will be 76,137 positions in our state government.
*An average (in 2011) of from ten-to thirteen-thousand gamblers visit Southland’s casinos on any given Saturday. The Saturday after the Mississippi casinos closed due to flooding, 20,000 visitors came.
*Interstate 40 is 284 miles long.
* Since 1885, twenty-three Little Rock police officers have died in the line of duty.
* “Mid-way clay” lying 75 feet below Interstate 540 shrinks and swells more than other types of clay. (Talk about shape-shifting!) “The earth is very self-correcting. When it needs to move to relieve pressure, it’s going to move,” said Randy Ort, AHD
* Robbie Tilley Branscum, an Arkansan, won the 1982 Edgar Allen Poe Award for the best juvenile mystery, The Murder of Hound Dog Bates.
At this writing, autumn 2011 entered our calendars in as nearly perfect a seasonal temperature as is possible.
As Elizabeth Lawrence wrote, “Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn.”

c 2011 Pat Laster dba lovepat press