Chamber honors individuals, businesses

Among those receiving awards at the Malvern/Hot Spring County 2017 Awards Banquet are Malvern Fire Chief Jeremy Harper, left, who was named Firefighter of the Year, and Cpl. Clay Coke of the Malvern Police Department, who was named Law Officer of the Year.
Among those receiving awards at the Malvern/Hot Spring County 2017 Awards Banquet are Malvern Fire Chief Jeremy Harper, left, who was named Firefighter of the Year, and Cpl. Clay Coke of the Malvern Police Department, who was named Law Officer of the Year.

— The Malvern/Hot Spring County Chamber of Commerce celebrated its 100th anniversary Jan. 26 during the chamber’s 2017 awards banquet at the Malvern Community Center.

Don Walsh, chairman of the chamber’s board of directors in 1998, served as master of ceremonies.

“Our purpose here tonight is to honor people who go above and beyond,” Walsh said. “We have seen a lot of changes in the past 100 years. … We, in this community, still work to help one another. There are a lot of good things happening here. We are taking care of people in our community because we care.

“We are here to celebrate 100 years of what people have done to make this community what it is.”

Lance Howell, executive director of the chamber, echoed Walsh’s words.

“There are a lot of good people doing a lot of good things in our neighborhood,” Howell told the audience of approximately 400. “I have an inside, front-row seat to see all of the good going on here.”

Howell cited among the highlights of 2016 the opening of 20 new businesses, as well as the hiring of a new president at College of the Ouachitas in Malvern.

“But we are here tonight to focus on the award-winners,” Howell said.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Jennifer Eubanks, administrative assistant at the chamber, introduced Rex Nelson of Little Rock, who served as the banquet’s keynote speaker.

Raised in Arkadelphia, Nelson is a longtime journalist, both in Arkansas and Washington, D.C. His writings about Arkansas history and Southern politics and culture have appeared in numerous publications. He has also appeared on radio and television stations across the country and is the play-by-play announcer for the Tigers at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, where he received a degree in mass communications in 1982.

“It’s almost like being at home,” Nelson said. “Malvern is nearly home.

“I want to talk about Arkansas, the state we call home,” he said. “I want to go back to the 1965-66 school year. I was 6 years old on Sept. 2, 1965, and had just finished kindergarten. I had just turned 6. … My dad, who was a former coach, told people, ‘I redshirted him in kindergarten.’

“I just say I flunked kindergarten,” Nelson said, laughing.

“My father owned Southwest Sporting Goods in Arkadelphia and traveled the state,” he said. “So that year, he took me traveling with him.

“It was an amazing year. I got to travel the back roads of the state. I developed a lifelong love affair with Arkansas.”

After a career of writing about politics, Nelson said he now writes “about colorful Arkansas … its food and places.”

“We live in such a wonderful place. We live in a much different state than what I traveled in 1965-66. It’s even different than it was 10 to 15 years ago. Several revolutions have transformed Arkansas,” Nelson said.

“There has been a political revolution. Just since 2010, consider the state’s congressional delegation, which was 5-1 Democratic, is now 6-0 Republican. All seven of our constitutional officers are now Republican. We have gone from one of the most Democratic legislatures in the country to one of the most Republican legislatures in the country,” he said.

“Another revolution has been a demographics revolution. From the 1950s to 2010, our censuses show the population for the south and central parts of the state have moved to the north and west parts of Arkansas,” Nelson said.

“Just since the turn of the century, we have seen a widespread mechanization of agriculture. We have lost thousands of Arkies in exoduses from Arkansas. … It started with the 1927 flood and continued with the 1930 drought. In Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, there were just as many Arkies as there were Okies,” he said.

“And from 1940 to 1960, Arkansas also lost a high percentage of population,” Nelson said.

“From 2000 to 2010, the census shows Benton County grew by 45 percent; Pulaski County, still the largest county, grew by 5.9 percent, but that paled in comparison to Faulkner County, which was the second-fastest growing area in the state. Saline County grew by 28.2 percent. Hot Spring County has been solid. In 1970, it grew by 21.9 percent; in 1980, by 26.8 percent. Its population in the ’90s was about 30,300; in 2010, it was 32,900,” he said.

“We seem to be becoming two states in one state. Eastern Arkansas and southern Arkansas do not seem to be growing as fast as northern Arkansas and western Arkansas,” Nelson said.

“One thing I hope does not occur — I hope we do not lose our sense of pride in being Arkansans,” he said.

“Things change. … We seem to be becoming separated as Arkansans. … I worry about that,” he said.

“We have a colorful history. We have an amazing geography. We have the Ozarks, the Delta, Crowley’s Ridge and the Arkansas River Valley, yet I don’t feel our children know our history and our geography. We need to teach them this history,” Nelson said.

“We need to promote what we have. We have the friendliest people in America. We really are like one big family,” he said. “I do write about some of those things, about some of the colorful characters we are losing along the way.

“As the demographics revolution continues to transform Arkansas, we have become wealthier. … Our quality of life is better, but I hope as we continue to grow in the state, we don’t forget to hold on to those traditions that make us what we are … our openness, friendliness, work ethic, the importance of family. This is what we have as Arkansans. … This is what we share.”

Nelson closed his remarks by reading a column he wrote before a recent Thanksgiving Day.

In part, Nelson said he was “thankful” to live in a state where he could “take a hot bath in Hot Springs, spend the night on Lake Ouachita, float the Caddo, see the Gurdon light at night, attend a Battle of the Ravine college football game, drink water at the Mountain Valley headquarters in Hot Springs [and] live in a state where people love their country and work hard for their money. It is the best it can be.”

AWARD WINNERS

Ten members of the chamber and/or business were recognized for their contributions during 2016.

They include the following:

• Cpl. Clay Coke of the Malvern Police Department was named Law Officer of the Year.

Coke joined the Police Department in 2010. He has served in many roles within the department, including patrol officer, narcotics detective, social-media administrator and school resource officer.

• Malvern Fire Chief Jeremy Harper was named Firefighter of the Year.

Harper has served the department for 13 years. He was instrumental in helping start many programs, such as a child-safety-seat-inspection program and juvenile fire-starter intervention, as well as training for the department in various technical rescue disciplines. He is also an adjunct instructor for the Arkansas Fire Academy and has served as president of the Arkansas Association of Fire Chiefs.

• Lainie Voss was named Health Care Worker/Emergency Responder of the Year.

Voss is a registered nurse and is a substitute nurse for the Malvern School District.

• Kassidy Falco was named Young Person of the Year. She also received a $250 scholarship from Bank of the Ozarks, sponsor of the award.

Falco is a senior at BismarckHigh School. She takes Advanced Placement and college-concurrent-credit courses and will graduate with honors. She is involved with band and sports. She has also served abroad by going on mission trips with her church youth group.

• Floyd Parker received the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Parker has served as chairman of the College of the Ouachitas Foundation Board of Directors. Prior to his service on the board of COTO, he was an active voice on the local delegation that lobbied for the presence of a vocational technical school in the Malvern community in the late 1960s, which was during his term as president of the Malvern Chamber of Commerce. After the college was funded and built in 1970, he served as the first advisory-committee chair for Ouachita Vocational Technical School.

• Michael Copeland was named Educator of the Year.

Copeland is the band director at Bismarck High School. He started at the school in 1987 with a band of 13 members. Throughout the years, he has built an award-winning band.

• Jayne West was named Manager of the Year.

West is the administrator of Encore Healthcare and Rehabilitation in Malvern. She is a recipient of the Arkansas Administrator of the Year Award, which recognizes administrators for their dedicated service, proven leadership ability and excellent track record of facility achievement.

• Stihl Southwest Inc. was named Business of the Year. Susan Brittain accepted the award for the company.

Since 1966, this company has sold its products to independent servicing retailers. In addition to operating this business for half a century, the founding family has given back to the community, especially providing assistance to College of the Ouachitas.

• The Malvern Police Department received the Kristi Parker Norris Community Service Award.

Under the leadership of Malvern Police Chief Donnie Taber, in addition to their jobs as public servants, members of the department spent many hours of their own time to better the community. They spent time mowing, weed-trimming and picking up trash; partnered with READ and First Step to read to the children of the community; and spent hours remodeling their facilities to provide better training and meeting locations. Department personnel helped develop a fall festival for the community; help with the Drug Take Back Program to help get prescription drugs off the street; and have spent countless hours planning, designing and building the Welcome to Malvern sign on U.S. 270 at Interstate 30.

• Terri Bryant was named Chamber Person of the Year.

She has served on the chamber board of directors for two years and is proactive in volunteering to serve on committees. Bryant is employed by the Malvern School District.

Following the presentation of the chamber awards, state Sen. Alan Clark, R-Hot Springs, presented Senate Citations to the Malvern Daily Record for its 100th anniversary; the Malvern/Hot Spring County Chamber of Commerce for its 100th anniversary; Acme Brick for the 125th anniversary of its parent company, which was founded in 1891 in Texas; and to former Hot Spring County Judge Bill Scrimshire, who retired Dec. 31, 2016, after many years of public service. State Reps. Ken Bragg, R-Sheridan, and Laurie Rushing, R-Hot Springs, assisted Clark with the awards.

Upcoming Events