By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
It was a great night for East Arkansas Community College and fans of The Beach Boys.
Ticket holders showed up at the Forrest City Junior High Auditorium full of barbecue consumed at the Civic Center, ready for "Fun, fun, fun."
Some of them had already met long-time band members Mike Love and Bruce Johnston during an autograph and picture taking session at the Civic Center, and now they were ready to hear the band.
One incident took place out of view of cameras or reporters, but which was related by Beth Loeb of EACC. It showed both the devotion of many fans, and vice-versa.
"A young man rolled in, in a wheelchair," said Loeb. "He and his mother were some of the first people who came into the junior high." Loeb said she knew him only as Joshua.
While arrangements were being made for Joshua to have a good place to watch the concert, Loeb noticed that Joshua had a large photo of Johnston and Love.
"I knew they had probably missed the autograph session. They were running late," said Loeb.
She took the picture backstage and found David Cohn, of Forrest City Grocery, sponsor of the event.
"David tracked down Bruce Johnston, and Bruce's first reaction was, 'Well, where's the young man?' He got up from the dinner table -- he was eating backstage -- and ended up spending close to 10 minutes with the young man. Joshua and his mom are lifelong fans. And you could just sort of see the essence of Bruce Johnston."
Johnston not only autographed the picture, he took it backstage again and had Mike Love autograph it also.
"It was just a special thing," said Loeb.
Meanwhile, the crowd was growing, and soon it was almost time for the music to start.
There was some obligatory speechmaking at the beginning, but the crowd, knowing this was, after all, a fundraising event, was patient.
Cohn promised an "awesome evening."
Dr. Coy Grace, president of East Arkansas Community College, after joking that "I've never opened for The Beach Boys before," reminded the audience that the event was a fundraiser for a new Fine Arts Center at EACC.
"We're not hoping to build a fine arts center. We're going to build a fine arts center," he said, drawing applause.
Cohn said that the concert had been something of a "hard sell," because of the $150-$200 per ticket price. However, he added that people who bought tickets were actually making a donation to the school.
"You've made a donation," he said. "The food and the concert are free."
Dr. Dale Morris, an EACC board member and one of those involved in fundraising, also spoke and gave a brief description of what the Fine Arts Center will be like.
Many thanks were also given to Cohn and his wife, Marsha, for the hard work they had done.
At last the audience got what it had come for. The Beach Boys began with "California Girls."
The audience got almost two hours of solid music. There was very little talk -- most of the time the band went straight from one song to another.
They had to catch their breath occasionally, and used the brief breaks in the action to encourage people to come down front. Many -- especially females of all ages -- did just that. At another point, Mike Love drew howls of laughter from the older generation, when he launched into an explanation, to a new generation of fans, what a 45 rpm record was.
During the show, The Beach Boys departed a little from their own songs to perform some old "doo-wop" numbers, such as "Duke of Earl," which were well-received. But they always came back to the songs which made them famous.
They sang about surfing, they sang about hot cars and Hondas, they sang about the "Sloop John B," "Good Vibrations" and "Kokomo."
They ended with "Fun, Fun, Fun ('Til Her Daddy Takes Her T-Bird Away)." Practically everyone was standing, clapping in time and singing along by then. Some had been dancing since the beginning.
Although final figures aren't in, it was estimated that the event raised between $75,000 and $85,000 for the Fine Arts Center.
The St. Francis County Museum Board learned this week of a program planned at the facility this summer to encourage youngsters to draw.
Museum Director Laura Mazzanti told board members of the Drawing for Fun Camp that will be held at the museum Monday, June 7, through Friday, July 23. The camp will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, and consist of six different weekly camps that will explore a variety of drawing skills.
According to Mazzanti, the camp will be taught by local artist Beatrice McEwen and is open for children ages eight and older.
"The cost of the program will be $75 per week excluding materials," stated Mazzanti. "The children don't have to attend the entire summer session. They can just attend one week if they would like. We are trying to secure some funding in order to offer scholarships for the program. If we can get funding, the scholarships will only cover one week of the program."
Mazzanti also added that space is limited to 12 students per week, and space in each week's session will be available on a first come, first served basis.
Mazzanti also told board members that the Arkansas State Highway Transportation Department has turned down the bid for the museum project. According to Mazzanti, the low bid was turned down by the highway department because it did not include a sprinkler system to prevent fires. The project will be rebid to include a sprinkler system.
In other news, the hamburger and tag sale fundraiser, which was scheduled to take place in June, has been rescheduled for the fall.
The meeting ended with an executive session to review changes
to job descriptions of the museum's staff. After the session,
it was decided that the matter should be referred to the St. Francis
County Quorum Court's personnel committee, and that a recommendation
is expected to be presented to the museum board at the June meeting.
By ALAN SMITH
T-H Staff Writer
The Forrest City Water Commission on Tuesday learned that a project they approved funding for last month will not be feasible.
In April, FC Water Utility Manager Jim Beazley told commissioners of a proposed plan to split the cost of drilling a new water line between Highway 70 West and the south end of Williams Street. He stated that there was talk of a new housing development on Dr. Martin Luther King Drive and the utility splitting the cost of the line with the company planning the proposed development. Beazley estimated the total cost of the project to be about $60,000. Commissioners voted unanimously to split the cost of the line, up to $30,000.
"Last month we were talking about crossing the railroad with a new line," said Beazley. "But we have decided not to do it. We tested the area, and there is just not enough water coming through in that area. With the cost (of the new line) it just is not enough water for us to place the line."
Beazley did state, however, that the project might go forward with some changes. "If they decide that they want to relocate the line further down the railroad track (toward McClendon Street, which is just to the east of Williams Street), then we might be in business, but for right now, it doesn't look like it would be a good deal for us."
Work on a bridge in St. Francis County was among more than $35 million in projects approved Wednesday by the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.
According to the press release, Plains Bridge Contracting of Yukon, Okla., submitted a low bid of $2.1 million to replace a portion of a bridge on Arkansas Highway 50, south of Round Pond. The bridge crosses the Burnt Cane Creek on Hwy. 50.
Other bids accepted Wednesday include an $11.98 million project to widen U.S. Highway 70 in Garland County. Martin Marietta Materials of Hot Springs was the apparent low bidder on the project which will widen four miles of Hwy. 70 and includes the installment of a traffic signal light at an intersection where three Lake Hamilton School District students were killed in a February accident involving a school bus.
Bids were also accepted to widen seven miles of U.S. Highway 167 in Grant County; to widen Arkansas Highway 73 in Hempstead and Howard counties; for bridge work on U.S. Highway 67 at Tuckerman in Jackson County; and to overlay seven miles of U.S. Highway 82 in Lafayette County and six miles of U.S. Highway 49 in Monroe County.