Several discussions around athletics facilities dominated the Huntsville School Board regular monthly meeting Monday night. 

The first case of H5N1 avian influenza in Arkansas poultry in 2023 was reported on Oct. 31 in a flock of 31,600 commercial broiler breeder pullets at a farm in Madison County.

The Huntsville dam, once a source for the city’s drinking water, received its first “notching” last week in an effort to remove the concrete stream barrier, along with an overflow structure and a low water crossing on War Eagle Creek.

His voice and eyes often filling with emotion, William Bowling, 98, recalled his combat experiences in the Pacific Theater of World War II as if he had lived them only yesterday. The Madison County native, a Purple Heart and Bronze Medal recipient, described many instances on the front lines in which he fully expected to be killed by the enemy.

Newton County Quorum Court members passed a resolution at their Nov. 6 meeting opposing “the changing of the name designation or expansion of the Buffalo National River, and any further negative impact on the agricultural lands or infringement on private ownership on the Buffalo National River Watershed.”

Party filings for all Democratic and Republican offices (including nonpartisan filings) began at noon on Monday at the Madison County Courthouse and the State Capitol.

In an emotional and sometimes confusing special meeting, the Madison County Quorum Court on Monday night voted to purchase a new Mack roll-off truck for the Solid Waste & Recycling Department that was recommended by department manager Christal Baker last summer.

Editor’s Note: This article is from newspaper articles about the crime from 1991, that included interviews with Sabrina’s mother, as well as court documents related to the arrest and the former arrest of the alleged killer that put him behind bars for life without parole in 2019 in another murder.

Party filing for all Democratic and Republican offices (including nonpartisan filing) begins at noon on Nov. 6 and ends at noon on Nov. 14. The nonpartisan filing period will end at 3 p.m. on those dates.

The issue of a new roll-off truck for the Madison County Solid Waste & Recycling Department remains unresolved and could come before the quorum court again at its November meeting, County Judge Larry Garrett said.

Madison County is on track for the new sheriff’s office and detention center, with a round of rebidding set for Nov. 15, Jason Roberts, project manager for Smith-Doyle Contractors, Inc., said.

JASPER — After a town hall meeting last Thursday, proponents of turning public land around the Buffalo National River into a national park preserve said they would step back from the idea. The following day, a website touting the benefits of re-designating the land was taken down. 

Holiday shoppers will have an opportunity to find some new and different items for sale in downtown Huntsville on Nov. 11, when the Basham Building will be the site of the first Holiday Market from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

The Huntsville Water Utilities Commission entered into a contract on Oct. 19 with Denali Water Solutions LLC to accept any Class B sludge produced by the city’s new wastewater treatment plant.

The Huntsville School District recently announced its new poverty-level measurement of families who qualify for free or reduced lunch is at 71.35%. While the figure is higher than in previous years, school officials and community members agree that the need has always been there, but now the district has proof.

On Tuesday, Oct. 17, Arkansas State Police charged Rick Allen Headley, a 48-year-old inmate at the Varner Maximum Security Unit, with first-degree murder in the 1991 Fulton County death of 19-year-old Sabrina Underwood of Huntsville. 

After more than 40 years as the agency and office manager of Farm Bureau in Huntsville, Jimmy Peacock will retire on Oct. 31 to spend more time with his grandchildren. “I don’t know that I’ll miss it,” he said of his years in the insurance business. “I never gave retirement much thought. But I will say that, with each day that goes by, I get a little more excited about it.”

Julie Preston Tempel resigned her position as director of the Kingston Library Monday night during the regular quarterly meeting of the Madison County Library Board. The move came as a surprise to board President Amy Hasty and Brandi Holt, president of the Friends of the Kingston Library, and required Madison County Clerk Austin Boatright to accompany Tempel to the Kingston Library to collect her personal belongings, as the resignation was effective immediately. The meeting was held at the Madison County Courthouse and was attended by directors from the Huntsville and St. Paul libraries as well as the Friends of the Kingston Library.

The Runway Group of Bentonville is “retracting” the idea of turning federal land around the Buffalo National River into a national park preserve, according to State Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, who represents District 28, which includes Madison County.

Two local murder suspects had their trials continued last week, according to paperwork filed in the Madison County Circuit Court.