SIGN OF PROTEST: Last month, AshleyMadison.com, a Toronto-based business that claims to be the “world’s leading married dating service for discreet encounters,” posted a billboard on Interstate 30 in Little Rock stating, “Who Says Cheaters Never Prosper? Happy Presidents Day!” along with a background of the U.S.
flag and photos of former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton, Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy.
Now, Dennis Rainey, president and co-founder of Little Rock-based Family Life, is firing back against adultery and extramarital affairs with his own billboard on I-30. Rainey’s sign contains a similar red, white and blue flag background with a photo of a young woman comforting two small boys. It reads: “When spouses cheat others get hurt. Keep your vows! FamilyLife.com.”
In addition to posting articles on FamilyLife.com, Rainey has launched a campaign, Stand Firm for Families, asking supporters to recommit to faithfulness in their marriages.
NATIVE SON: Sparkman native and country music star Jim Ed Brown will return to Arkansas on April 26 to perform at Fordyce’s 34th annual Fordyce on the Cotton Belt festival. Brown - who in the 1950s and 1960s landed on the pop and country charts with sisters Maxine and Bonnie as The Browns - today lives in Nashville, Tenn., often appearing at the Grand Ole Opry. In Fordyce, he will lead the parade at 11 a.m.
and perform at 6:30 p.m.
ROLLING OUT RIVERFEST: A second installment of this year’s performers for Riverfest in Little Rock on Memorial Day weekend was posted Tuesday on the festival’s Facebook page. Who’ll be joining the already-announced country singer Hank Williams Jr., hip-hoppers Salt-N-Pepa and rockers Buckcherry?
Circa 1970 rockers Chicago, grunge rockers Three Days Grace and country singer Lee Brice.
Possibly the bigger news? At-the-gate ticket prices have hit a new high - $40, twice the price from 2008. Half-price tickets will be sold at Walgreens stores beginning April 1. In the early 1990s, attendees paid $1; the 14 years before that, the event was free.
OUT OF SIGHT: Viewers of KTHV, Channel 11, may be wondering where news anchorman Craig O’Neill has been the past few evenings. Wife Jane Hankins explains on her Facebook page that he had surgery to repair a detached retina, adding that the procedure was successful and he’s recovering.
SECOND INNING: Here’s more on that new book, Brooks: The Biography of Brooks Robinson, on the Little Rock native and famed baseball player. The book’s author, Doug Wilson of Columbus, Ind., will speak at the Little Rock Literary Festival on April 26.
IN THE BAG: The Esse Purse Museum in downtown Little Rock scored a shout-out on Huffington Post’s contributing blog, Smartertravel. Other Arkansas locales included Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and 21c Museum Hotel, both in Bentonville.
Contact Linda S. Haymes at (501) 399-3636 or lhaymes@arkansasonline.com
Arkansas, Pages 13 on 03/16/2014