50 Years Ago
From the Herald and Democrat in 1969
Five boys were honored at The United Methodist Church in the morning worship service at which time they were presented the God and Country Award. This came as the climax of a year's service and study under their pastor, the Rev. Arvill Brannon, and in cooperation with their Scout masters. The boys honored were Greg Poulson, Keith Smith, Pepper Pyeatte, Bob Akins and Philip Foss, all of whom were members of Troop 91 of which H.A. Arner was Scoutmaster except Pepper Pyeatte, who was in Troop 84 of which Mr. Hartzel Thurman was Scoutmaster.
The study assigned the boys was a prescribed course of study designed to acquaint the boys with the Bible, church programs and activity and basic understandings of the Christian faith. The service rendered by the boys was done as "Service Projects" through which they performed duties that would beautify the church lawn and buildings, keep the facilities of the Church in a more usable condition and provide for comfort and convenience to the congregation.
30 years Ago
From the Herald-Democrat in 1989
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor,
Our high school seniors of today have missed those 12 years of the reading over the intercom at the beginning of each day, those thoughts of the outstanding scholars, moral leaders and acceptable human social behavior patterns were omitted. No longer were meditation thoughts to be aired.
We made the choice to turn our heads and look the other way, which was much easier to do than to stand a firm ground of discipline. Society demanded we give more freedom to individual thought with no continued base upon which the youth were to form their values.
So, now today, we find our society with its perplexing problems facing both youth and adults. Adults wish things were turned around. Youth are not sure how they have worked themselves into the problem situations they have brought upon themselves. They wish adult lifestyles at the age of 16 without having to have the responsibilities of an adult.
The quality of student that completes high school today is not totally dependent upon the school for this learning, but that quality is shared equally with the home. Many traditional students come from single-parent families. This role of the one parent unit is very demanding, for he or she has two roles to play in addition to providing the basic needs of the family unit.
A more physically tired parent at the end of each day is supposed to do a more outstanding job in child rearing. It is not logical and cannot be done. To those who have raised strong, academic, goal-oriented and outstanding youth leaders--you are to be highly commended.
We have created our own situation and we are the only ones who can change or alter the directions we chose to take in the future. Will we continue that same easy road, falling further behind in growth potential? We are told that too much stress is harmful to our health. Being too passive is, too.
Where are we headed? You and I will decide that. Will we become a stronger America or will we be passed by those with stronger goals and values? Time will measure that, but the time that has passed since you began reading this cannot be regained.
We must make wise use of our time, strengthen our value base and demand more responsibility at a higher level from today's youth. If we fail, it will be because we have continued to follow the trend of the selfish, mind-pleasing pleasures, rather than striving for excellence.
Our own permissiveness has brought on our teen abuse problem that we have seen in the past few years. These beautiful young people are searching for happiness in all the wrong directions, but no one wants to rock the ship. We turn our heads as they become their own self-destruction device.
What is wrong with the word no? Shouldn't we put this word back into our vocabulary and assist the growth of our country to the greatness we once produced? This one word will not solve all our problems, but it would be a step in the right direction.
Teens make choices and adults make choices. Possibly by attempting to work more closely together, we might help some of these young people become better leaders for the future than they would be if they continued in the direction that they are going now. Not all teens are going in the wrong direction, but more than a majority are.
Louie Thomas
Siloam Springs
10 Years Ago
From the Herald-Leader in 2009
Delbert "Pete" Allen was the recipient of the 2009 Pioneer Citizen of the Year Award from the Siloam Springs Chamber of Commerce during the group's annual banquet. Louie Thomas presented Allen with the award.
Community on 02/13/2019