News

Main Street Blytheville director Cody Perrin accepts a new flag donation from Mylinda Nelson of the Daughters of the American Revolution on May 9. The Blytheville chapter of the national organization originated in 1935 with a mission to preserve history and remain involved in local communities...

By Marcus McClain NEA Town Courier The issues around housing in Mississippi County, and specifically Blytheville, may be receiving some answers in the near future with the help of a home-grown NFL star turned real estate investor. Jermey Parnell is looking to help build luxury, affordable housing within the city of Blytheville with a goal of 144 units. ...

The Blytheville Police Department are investigating an attempted home break-in. Officers responded to a call 2107 N. Circle on May 4. The victim stated she heard a loud noise, similar to glass breaking near the rear of the residence. The victim later confirmed that damage was done to one of the children’s bedroom windows on the outside...

By Marcus McClain NEA Town Courier The Blytheville police and fire committee continued to deliberate over the proposed pay scale adjustments for the police department in their May 10 meeting. Police chief Ross Thompson introduced the changes in last month’s meeting that would increase officers paid according to rank, years of experience and certifications. ...

A 4.2-mile surface overlay of Interstate 55 will cause lane closures on the Interstate throughout May and June. Weather permitting, crews will close the I-55 northbound and southbound inside lanes between Burdette (Exit 57) and Blytheville (Exit 63) beginning 8 a.m., Thursday, May 12, and continuing through 5 p.m. Friday, June 24...

Representatives from Nucor-Yamato Steel (NYS) and Nucor Steel Arkansas (NSAR) in Blytheville presented the Blytheville Public Schools Odyssey of the Mind Program with a check for $28,305 on May 4 to fund travel and housing expenses for three teams to attend World Finals in Ames, IA from May 24-29.

The 75th annual Arkansas Farm Family of the Year program has named the 2022 County Farm Families of the Year. Mississippi County’s Farm Family is Carl Edward Cissell and Family of Sandridge. The Poinsett County Farm Family is Dustin Faulkner, 26 Ditch Farms; Craighead County Farm Family, Brian Kelly, Quality Gladiolus Gardens; and Crittenden County, Matt Rogers & Family...

By STEVE KNOX Osceola Times The Armorel School District Board of Directors voted to approve all of Superintendent Tiffany Morgan’s recommendations during their meeting Monday at the administration building. Board members heard reports on the building level improvement plans and Literacy plans for the 2022-2023 term from Morgan, who was pinch hitting for Elementary Principal Joey Carr and High School Principal Tony Crowell...

By SANDRA BRAND NEA Town Courier Editor An Blytheville man has been arrested by Osceola police and charged with battery in connection with the August shooting of two people. Marques D. Price, 29, has been charged with two counts of battery in the first degree, three counts of terroristic act, and felon in possession of firearm...

By Marcus McClain NEA Town Courier The Blytheville Public Works Committee heard an additional update on the Elm Street repair during their May 9 meeting. Director Mark Key stated engineers will be in town this week to meet with the mayor and finalize plans. Once this is complete, the city can begin bidding out the project. However, finance director John Callens pointed out an additional problem could be solved during the Elm Street repairs...

Election coordinator Christina Evans and election commissioner Candance Denny perform a logic and accuracy test May 5 in preparation of the upcoming elections. Early voting is set to begin May 9 and will continue until May 23. Polls will be open from 8 a.m.-6 p.m.on weekdays. On Saturdays, citizens may vote between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Primary election will occur May 24 from 7:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. (Photo By Marcus McClain)...

Mississippi County Arkansas Economic Opportunity Commission will distribute TEFAP Commodity during the month of May. Due to the coronavirus the EOC is asking that everyone remain in their vehicles and show their identification. The food will be placed in each person vehicle...

By REVIS BLAYLOCK NEA Town Courier Mississippi County Sanitation and Solid Waste Committee discussed moving forward with the installation of a credit card system for payments at the Wednesday meeting. Chair Justice Neil Burge opened the meeting giving a financial report of the landfill budget for the 2022 year commenting the landfill is doing well. He said the landfill is well within the first three months of 2022...

By Marcus McClain NEA Town Courier Advancements in education are a key component in advancing any community. The Arkansas Department of Education met with community leaders at Arkansas Northeastern College May 4 to address those needs in Blytheville and Mississippi County...

Atlas holds grand opening - Atlas Tube recently hosted a grand opening event to celebrate the new mill alongside members of the community. Attendees at the event were given an opportunity to tour the facility and hear from Barry Zekelman, executive chairman and CEO of Zekelman Industries; Mike Preston, secretary of the Arkansas Department of Commerce; and Clif Chitwood, president of the Great River Economic Development Foundation. ...

Early voting will begin Monday, May 9 and will continued until Monday, May 23. Voting will be held from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. The primary election will be held Tuesday, May 24 from 7:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.

Mississippi County Sheriff Dale Cook stated the sheriff’s office received several calls Wednesday, April 27 from concerned citizens involving warrants for missing jury duty. This is a scam. The Mississippi County Sheriff’s Office or any other law enforcement agency will not call citizens seeking payment for warrants...

The National Cold War Center was honored with an Arkansas Delta Byways Innovation Award on May 2 for its inventive efforts in promoting tourism in the Arkansas Delta. Arkansas Delta Byways presented the Innovation Award to the National Cold War Center on the center’s campus in Blytheville. The ceremony coincided with Arkansas Tourism Week, which takes place May 2-6...

By Marcus McClain NEA Town Courier The National Cold War Center hosted its Red, White and Blue Bash April 30, highlighted by an important piece of American aircraft history. Flagship Detroit, the oldest DC-3 plane in the world still flying, made a visit to the Arkansas Aeroplex and gave community members the chance for a free tour inside. The aircraft was manufactured in 1937, as the twenty-fourth DC-3 in America’s fleet...

By REVIS BLAYLOCK NEA Town Courier A special called meeting of the Mississippi County Quorum Court was held on Friday morning to review a resolution declaring a vacancy in District 1. A second resolution amending the employment policy handbook was on the agenda but was tabled...

By SANDRA BRAND NEA Town Courier Editor There are some 36 million visitors to the state of Arkansas each year. At least one million of them stop at the state’s 13 Welcome Centers. Therefore, centers’ employees, known as travel consultants, often give visitors their first impression of the natural state...

By Marcus McClain NEA Town Courier Atlas Tube celebrated its new jumbo mill grand opening Wednesday, noted as the largest electric resistance welding tube mill in the world. The facility spans more than 500,000 square feet and uses new welding technology to shape one-inch thick sections of hollow structure sections...

The Blytheville Police Department is currently trying to talk a subject out of their home in the 1100 block of West Main. This stems from an initial response at approximately 3:45 a.m. of shots fired. When officers arrived, they found evidence of gunshots and assisted one family member out of the house through a window. No injuries have been reported...

Charges against a son who apparently shot his father in Blytheville have been increased. As reported last week in the Town Courier, 46-year-old Roy Vanvickle, Sr., of Blytheville, told police on April 17 he had been shot by his son, 26-year-old Roy Vanvickle, Jr...

By Marcus McClain NEA Town Courier The State Representative primary for District 34 will take place on May 24. R-Joey Carr and R-Gary Tobar will run in the primary and will face D-Ollie Collins in the fall. Tobar ran in the previous two house races, but despite the losses, he believes the support he received from cities like Blytheville provide a calling for him to continue pursuing a seat. His primary concern in the campaign is bringing more jobs into the district...

By Marcus McClain NEA Town Courier Prosecuting attorney candidate Martian Lilly made a stop in Blytheville April 23 and attended the community meeting hosted by councilman R.L. Jones at the library. Lilly is campaigning for Judicial District 2 which includes Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Greene, Mississippi and Poinsett counties. Competing candidates include Corey Seats of Jonesboro and Sonia Fonticiella of Paragould...

Aleshia Guerra, 39, of Lepanto died this past Friday night when a motorcycle slammed into her utility terrain vehicle. The crash happened at 6:50 p.m. on State Highway 140 in rural Poinsett County. Guerra was turning her Polaris Ranger into a private driveway when a Suzuki GSXR 1000 driven by 23-year-old Xzavier D. ...

By STEVE KNOX - Osceola Times A person of interest in the April 12 attempted armed robbery at the Southern Bancorp location on S. Division Street in Blytheville is in custody in Tennessee on robbery charges. According to Blytheville Police Chief Ross Thompson, SkyCop video footage helped identify the vehicle used in the attempted robbery. That vehicle is the same one that was used in similar robberies in the region...

Employees from Nucor-Yamato Steel in Blytheville presented the City of Monette with a disaster relief check for $20,000 on April 20. Pictured (from left) are Wayne Shaw, Josh Long, Nucor Human Resource Clerk Kim Zelenski, Monette Mayor Bob Blankenship, Trent Blackshear and Brice Pitts...

By Mark Baratelli NEA Town Courier BNSF Railway will be replacing all the old wooden railroad ties from downtown Blytheville all the way to Hayti, according to an employee of the company who spoke with the Town Courier April 20. Completion of the project is expected in August. The company will be removing all the concrete panels in between the tracks at Main Street that enable car traffic to get over them. New concrete panels will be installed...

By Marcus McClain NEA Town Courier Community members throughout Blytheville came together at the ANC Center for Allied Technologies April 20 for a meet and greet with new superintendent, Dr. Veronica Perkins. Wednesday marked Perkins’ first official day on the job and she was welcomed by local leaders, elected officials, and pillars of the community...

By Marcus McClain NEA Town Courier The city of Blytheville entered an agreement with Raftelis, a government consultant service, to conduct a rate study for the water and sewer department in their April 19 council meeting. In the previous utility committee meeting, finance director John Callens explained that the study is required under new law. ...

By Marcus McClain NEA Town Courier The chamber of commerce held its first annual banquet under the new title, the Mississippi County Regional Chamber. Reflecting on the past year, executive director Liz Smith noted that the chamber gained more than 250 new members. She went on to detail the reasoning behind the name change this past year as well...

By Mark Baratelli NEA Town Courier The Blytheville Planning Commission approved a lot split request for the property at 3783 Highway 18 at its last meeting. The split will enable the developer of a Wendy's Restaurant to move forward with its purchase of the property. ...

By STEVE KNOX Osceola Times Blytheville police are searching for a man who committed aggravated robbery on a drive-thru customer at Southern Bancorp on Division Street Tuesday. Officers responding to a burglar alarm at the bank spoke with an employee who stated a male came up to the passenger-side of a customer’s vehicle and attempted to rob them...

R.L Jones, council member for the City of Blytheville, will host the monthly community meeting April 23 at the Blytheville Public Library at 10 a.m. “These meetings provide an opportunity for citizens to share comments and concerns to improve the city as a whole.”...

By Mark Baratelli - NEA Town Courier Missouri resident Roy Vanvickle, Jr. was taken in custody in Caruthersvile Sunday, April 17 for shooting his father, Blytheville resident Roy Vanvickle, Sr., as well as for his involvement in a second shooting the same day in Hayti...

By REVIS BLAYLOCK NEA Town Courier The Mississippi County personnel committee was informed of the resignation of Justice Aaron Fleeman at a Monday afternoon meeting. Justice Fleeman served District 1. The second item of business was setting a deadline to be placed on the agenda for the full court meetings...

Spring has arrived. It’s time once again to clean out those closets and sheds. Mississippi County Judge John Alan Nelson and members of the Quorum Court are hosting the annual Mississippi County Spring Countywide Clean-Up on Saturday, April 23. All county residents and cities are invited to participate...

Blytheville native Charlie Jean Harris Zlobik passed away on Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022, at the age of 80. She left her footprints from Blytheville to Florida and many other ports. Many will remember her as the fun teacher that taught them to read.  In her retirement, she became known as  “queen of the Carnival” as she went on a total of 98 cruises with Carnival Cruise line.  She made over 100 cruises and had a goal of 100 with Carnival.  If Covid had not hit, she would have reached her goal. ...

The owner of this classic car told the Town Courier Tuesday it’s a 1950 Chevrolet. Harold Cooper has been the owner of this 72-year-old blue beauty for 50 years. He says it’s a “four door deluxe” and has just 73,000 miles on it. Two of his uncles owned it before this Blytheville resident acquired it. Cooper maintains it himself which enables the car to still get him where he needs to go. Regular tune-ups and a radiator installation are all done in-house...

The Mississippi County Regional Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual banquet April 21. The banquet will be held at the Arkansas Aeroplex Hangar 207 with happy hour beginning at 5:30 p.m. The banquet will honor Mississippi County emerging leaders: Brandon Bennett, Arkansas State Police; Jessica Carr, Nucor Steel Arkansas; Erin Carrington, Blytheville Book Company; Jeremy Dever, Dever Industrial Maintenance; Doug Echols, Kagome Foods; Chris Heigle, Arkansas Northeastern College; Steven Henderson, Nucor Skyline; Kristi Hopper, Main Street Osceola; Cody Wyatt Perrin, Main Street Blytheville; Andrew Podoll, The Delta School; Marcos Sierra, Sierra Group; and Seth Wyatt, Nucor-Yamato Steel.. ...

Blytheville Lions Club welcomed Sue Tull, market director for the Arkansas Chapter Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and members of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Lambda Sigma Omega Chapter at the Tuesday meeting. Sorority members in attendance included Priscilla Johnson, president, Toyia Taylor, Bobbie Diamond, Johnetta Orr and Tamika Jenkins...

Blytheville officials are making an effort to improve the city’s website following their April 12 finance committee meeting. Human resources director Melisa Logan explained that the intentions are to make the webpage more interactive and also provide another line of communication between citizens and each department...

The Blytheville police and fire committee sent a new payroll proposal for the police department to the full council during their April 12 meeting. Police Chief Ross Thompson introduced the proposal that he believes would allow the department to compete with the pay scale of other local agencies...

By Marcus McClain NEA Town Courier City of Blytheville Human Resources director Melisa Logan has announced her candidacy for mayor on April 9. “A city is measured by the quality of the lives of the people who live in it,” Logan said in a press release. ...

A veterans voting registration drive will be held at the Herman Davis American Legion Post 197, 401 Lake Street, from 3-5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 19. Post Commander Gregg Roll said the voter registration is open to the public in addition to the veterans...

By Mark Baratelli NEA Town Courier The collection of nineteenth and early twentieth century architectural styles present in downtown Blytheville inspired local Armorel High School senior Grayson Seibert to pursue a career in architecture. “There’s a lot of architectural potential (downtown),” he told the Courier...

By REVIS BLAYLOCK NEA Town Courier The March 2022 Iditarod race did not begin or end as former Manila resident, Bridgett Watkins, had planned, but her dream of the 1,049-mile journey became a true adventure. Even before the race, she encountered obstacles. As she was training with her team of dogs in February, she and her team were attacked by a very large, angry moose. It was a very unsettling experience...

The Mississippi County Library System board recently approved the spending of $30,000 for the creation of a piece of interior design to be hung above the lobby inside the Blytheville Public according to its Director, Lowell Walters. The purpose of the piece is to act as a dimmer to decrease the amount of sunlight currently entering the lobby through the translucent ceiling...