Progress stalled last year at the Jacksonville Museum of Military History after the slashing of a third of its budget.
A casualty of legal crossfire, the museum lost funding -- about $46,500 per year -- from the Jacksonville Advertising and Promotion Commission.
Expansion and outreach at the museum at 100 Veterans Circle ceased. Exhibits like one that chronicles Little Rock Air Force Base's history paused in time, their completion on hold while the museum operates at the bare minimum until it finds new funding sources.
It wasn't that the commissioners no longer supported TripAdvisor.com's top-rated "Thing to Do" in Jacksonville. Rather, they feared legal action after a Pulaski County circuit judge in 2015 deemed payments by Little Rock and North Little Rock to private economic development entities unlawful, saying they violated prohibitions in the Arkansas Constitution on cities giving money to private entities without receiving something in return.
The funding loss left museum leaders scrambling for donations, grants and any other revenue source they could find.
"We have a determined group of people," said Warren Dupree, a museum board member who also helps curate the museum. "And we have donors, I don't want to say with deep pockets, but with enough to keep us afloat until we find a permanent solution. ... We think."
The budget hole was supposed to be resolved in November, after the general election. Voters approved Ballot Issue 3 to amend the state constitution and allow municipalities to pay private entities for economic development projects or services.
Dupree and Museum Director DannaKay Duggar rejoiced and went again to the Advertising and Promotion Commission to have the funding restored. But, it wasn't.
The city's legal counsel advised against resuming the funding, saying the ballot issue did not apply to the commission and that the museum did not fall under the umbrella of "economic development."
Duggar noted repeated comments from Gov. Asa Hutchinson stressing the importance of tourism to Arkansas' economic development.
"If we're not tourism, then what are we?" she said.
City Attorney Robert Bamburg didn't return a message left at his office Wednesday seeking comment.
Nikki Wilmoth, the Advertising and Promotion Commission's recording secretary, said the commission will reconsider allocating funding to the museum if any challenges to the judge's ruling are successful.
The museum is one of about 12 military-related museums in Arkansas. Most museums, military themed or not, are owned by local or state governments, which means they're plugged into a consistent funding source.
The Jacksonville Museum of Military History is owned by a private nonprofit, the Little Rock Air Force Base Historical Foundation. The only tax money it received came from the Jacksonville Advertising and Promotion Commission.
Duggar is the museum's only full-time employee. She gives tours, travels to schools and handles most of the administrative work. Volunteers staff the front desk and do any other work they can.
Duggar is meticulous about the condition of the exhibits, apologizing to one visitor Wednesday for the smallest of imperfections, unnoticeable to the untrained eye.
Visitors, who pay entry fees of $1 to $3, initially see a Vietnam-era F-105 Thunderchief airplane and helicopter outside. Inside, the tour begins with information on the Civil War and the Battle of Reed's Bridge, fought in current-day Jacksonville.
Next in the tour, visitors see original Rosie the Riveter posters, an MG42 Machine Gun and other World War II artifacts. This section of the museum highlights Jacksonville's role in the war.
The museum stands on the foundation of what was the Arkansas Ordnance Plant. Young women flocked to Jacksonville during WWII to work in the plant, producing the bulk of the military's proximity fuses in anti-aircraft shells. Many of the out-of-town workers put down roots in Jacksonville.
The ordnance plant was essential to the city's development and its rich military history, Duggar said. It's why the museum is important, she added.
"Once you understand the history of Jacksonville, the town just makes sense," she said. "I don't know if Jacksonville would be here like it is today without the ordnance plant."
The rest of the museum pertains to most major military events with a focus on Arkansas. There are sections dedicated to the 1980 Titan II Missile explosion in Damascus, the Vietnam War and modern conflicts in the Middle East. At the tour's end, there's a theater that shows documentaries and hosts military ceremonies.
A walk through the facility highlights the many different uniforms worn by soldiers throughout the country's history. They're on mannequins positioned in camps modeled after what soldiers saw in the different wars.
A nearby veterans hospital takes soon-to-be-released patients to the museum as a way to ensure that the patients are able to maneuver in a public space.
When military VIPs are in town, the museum offers an off-base location to meet with local officials.
For now, the museum is operating with grant money, donations, membership and admission fees, and gift shop sales. Since that is probably not sustainable, Dupree said the museum will soon solicit corporate sponsorships.
Also, the museum foundation hosts an annual fundraiser. This year's is scheduled for March 11 at the Jacksonville Community Center.
Only about one-tenth of the museum's items are on display. Dupree said that's not uncommon for museums, but he hopes to showcase more. Unfortunately, all expansion has come to a "screeching halt," he said.
Dupree and Duggar aren't overly worried about the museum making it through the year, but Dupree said maybe he should be more concerned. Jacksonville residents could lose the museum if something isn't done.
"To a great extent, it's up to them," Dupree said.
Metro on 01/15/2017