AMITY — Trina Johnson moved back to Amity in 2016, and when she returned, she noticed it wasn’t the same town that it was when she was 16, before she and her family moved to Fordyce.
“When I was growing up here, every building downtown was filled with businesses, and that’s not ringing true now,” Johnson said. “I would like to help with that.”
Johnson said she wants to see Amity prosper the way it did in the 1970s.
“It is a really awesome place to live,” she said. “Everybody is friendly, caring, and they come together in a crisis, and that’s wonderful. But all these wonderful people need Amity to be like it used to be.”
Johnson was elected mayor for the city of Amity in November. She defeated Don Hinkle with 66 percent of the vote.
“I am going to be a strong advocate for the people of Amity, and I think [the citizens] know that,” she said. “Anyone who knows me knows exactly where my heart is.
“If I say I’ll do it, I will definitely try to do my best. I wanted to come here because I was homesick, and my mother’s two surviving sisters live here, so I wanted her to be near them.”
Johnson, 54, is originally from Amity and has family members from both sides of her family who still live in town, so she said she has really strong ties to the community.
“Amity is a great town,” she said. “I love it here. I don’t plan on moving. I am going to be here for the rest of my life.”
Johnson earned her GED after her family moved to Fordyce. She graduated from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia in 1992 with a degree in elementary education and earned a second degree in special education from HSU in 2002. She has taught at both public and private schools. She has spent the past four years teaching special education in the Centerpoint School District.
She said one of her first acts as mayor will be to form a special committee to “find out just what the people want to see get done first and what they are all interested in having happen here.”
“I want to clean up some things. We have several houses and properties that I don’t think anyone has paid any attention to for a while — we need to get that cleaned up,” Johnson said. “We need to be more supportive of our Amity Trade Days, including having a place for [vendors] to stay overnight.
“I just really have a lot of ideas that are long-term, and it may take awhile to put these into place and get them going.”
The Amity Trade Days is a monthly flea market where one of the sawmills used to be. Johnson said there are booths set up inside the buildings and under the awnings, and people from all over arrive, set up and sell or buy “whatever they want.”
“It is awesome. It is one of the biggest flea markets I have ever seen,” Johnson said. “There is live music, food and basically anything you want, as far as antiques and unique items …, and those vendors come from all around.
“That is something that was put in place after we moved, and it is really good.”
She said the closure of one of the sawmills had a major impact on the city.
“I think a lot of people moved away, as I did, but I do see now that those people, including me, are moving back, and a lot of them are really getting involved in the community,” Johnson said.
She recently appointed Joe May to the Southwest Arkansas Regional Intermodal Authority, which includes Clark, Montgomery, Pike and Dallas counties. According to the Arkadelphia Regional Economic Development Alliance and Area Chamber of Commerce, “it enables authority members to combine resources to be more competitive in retaining existing industries and recruiting new commercial activities.”
“For example, what’s good for Glenwood is essentially good for Amity and Arkadelphia,” May said.
May moved to Amity in November 1995, and he owns and operates the Southern Standard, a local weekly newspaper.
“Amity does have a need for more retail,” he said. “We have been blessed to have gotten a Dollar General Store and, at the same time, keep our current grocery store because he switched to a sporting goods and outdoors store.
“But we have lost two gas stations in the past 10 years.”
One of Johnson’s goals is to see another gas station open, hopefully one that is open 24 hours a day.
“I would like to see all of the empty businesses open back up in some form or fashion,” Johnson said.
May has known Johnson for two years, and he said Johnson “has a great deal of energy and is a very positive person.”
“She is a very religious person, and she believes very strongly in Amity. I think she is going to do an excellent job as mayor,” May said. “Not only is she a positive person, but she doesn’t seem to possess a great ego. It is about Amity and the people here.
“When somebody ascends to political office but isn’t all about the ego, they are going to do an excellent job. She is not about Trina; she is about the position.”
May said the Amity Trade Days has “brought a lot more hope back to Amity.”
Johnson has been attending Amity City Council meetings for the past two years, and she said one of her other goals is to keep the city on its own water system.
“We also need more for the children to do,” Johnson said. “We used to have a swimming pool, down where the park is now.
“I am looking into getting a grant and getting some people to help from the community. We would like to see a swimming pool back in the city limits for the kids to go to in the summertime.”
Johnson was in the hospital room with her mom, Mildred Couch, on the night of the election. Her mom had had her second stroke in six months, so Johnson couldn’t go to the courthouse, but she was watching on social media.
“I did not form any campaign committee, but I had God on my side,” she said. “And I had a lot of friends and family and people I have met since I moved back — some new acquaintances that were backing me 110 percent.
“They did a lot of hard work in supporting me, and I do appreciate that so much. I am excited and ready to get started and not nervous at all.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.