Text The Times.

Text The Times.

Instead of a rodeo arena that might be used 10 times a year how about an Aquatic Center? This would be something the entire city of Marion could use year round. There is nothing for families to do around here. Other cities, much smaller than us are building great water parks and pools for the community. Considering the obesity rate is thru the roof here it would be a great idea. [ Editor’s Note: I get what you’re saying. I really do. Paragould, for example, has a very nice aquatic center as part of their community center there at Futrell Park. It has basketball courts, racquetball courts, an indoor walking track, exercise room, an aerobics room, meeting rooms, a kitchen and banquet area, a ping- pong table and a number of outdoors amenities as well. I haven’t been in a couple of years, but the last time I was there it cost like $ 2 per person for the pool. Now, having said that, Paragould is nearly four times the size of Marion, so there’s a much larger tax base to pull from and a much larger pool of folks to make use of such a facility, which if I remember correctly was an $ 11 million investment for the city. Compare the cost of doing even half of that with the cost of a rodeo arena, which is less than $ 1 million, and you’re really comparing apples to oranges. It’s like a starving man turning down a hamburger in hopes that someone offers him a steak. I’m not saying you’ve got a bad idea. I’m just suggesting the city isn’t in a position to make that sort of investment. As we were discussing this up here at the office, someone mentioned that another potential community- centric idea would be a senior center. If the city is looking to make a major investment in something for its residents, there are a lot of ideas floating around]

*** LOVE OUR TEXT THE TIMES, IS THERE ANY INFO ABOUT THE KFC ROBBERY LAST WEK HERE IN WEST MEMPHIS?

[ Editor’s Note: There was, indeed, a robbery at the West Memphis KFC on Missouri Street. It was last Friday afternoon.

It was an armed robbery. My understanding is that a suspect was arrested and charged with Aggravated Robery shortly after the incident]

*** Wow!!!…no turn signals… speeders..tailgaters… some folks in Marion are dangerous on the roads..slow down folks…life is too short to rush thru… [ Editor’s Note: I consider myself a pretty safe driver. My Dad once told me in my early driving days, “ You might know what you’re going to do, but you never know what one of these other drivers is going to do,” and I’ve pretty much operated under those guidelines ever since. The thing that gets me is that people actually think that speeding through town actually saves any real time. In Marion, the speed limit is 25 in most places, and Marion is about 2 miles wide, so if you drove 40 mph all the way across town, you’d save a whopping 45 seconds. As for no turn signals, my Mom taught me another driving lesson. She was prone to yelling, “ Thanks for the blinker, _______!” ( I’ll let you fill in the blank) sometimes accompanied by letting the no- blinker motorist know that they were Number One ( she’s mellowed a lot since then). I applied this life-lesson to teaching my son to drive with the phrase, “ Use your blinker… Don’t get the finger!”]

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