Yee Haw Davis

Lane Adams, Director of Account Services at CJRW Northwest presented a proposal to the Springdale Advertising and Promotion Commission on Tuesday to purchase a list of 1500 names to conduct a telephone survey to increase attendance to the 2011 Rodeo of the Ozarks.

Total cost of this survey? Twelve thousand, three hundred fifty dollars or nine dollars per surveyed caller.

Adams didn't say who they would be purchasing these names and numbers from and when asked who would be conducting the survey, Adams talked in circles about a third-party vendor without ever answering the question.

That leaves it wide open for me to guess the money will either end up back into the lining of Perry's pockets or the traveling Mullikin's.

Lance Eads is the chairman of this commission, but it's clearly Perry's playpen.

I've got to tell you, I was impressed with the guy with the accent. Roger Davis, from the Holiday Inn and Convention Center. He was paying attention. Davis pointed out that the A and P budget will be close to $25,000 in the hole by year end and maybe a survey wouldn't be the best use of said hole.

"It's not advertising and it's not promotion," said Davis.

Thanks to Davis speaking up, the vote was postponed until the next A and P snoozefest allowing him time to do some homework and find out how the rodeo board wants their money spent .

Stay tuned...

The Booze Brothers

Liquor permit denials for two Walgreens stores in Springdale a couple months back produced little more than yawns from the locals. Macadoodles finally opened so I guess nobody noticed at the time.

Representative Jon Woods, R-Springdale, has reportedly been spotted carpooling to Little Rock with none other than Springdale Liquor Association (SLA), Prince Jim Phillips. The purpose of their road trips? To attend ABC Board Meetings and object to liquor permit requests for Springdale businesses like Walgreens and EZ Mart. This isn't the first time these two have been spotted behaving in a suspicious manner.

In an interesting side note, Woods made the Top 20 list of lawmakers pocketing the most per diem, mileage and expense reimbursements in 2009. I guess we know who pays for the gas.

It is apparent that it's not the liquor Woods is fussing about. He doesn't object to permits for restaurants and bars. Maybe he doesn't want to rock the boat at establishments his band may play at one day.  No, it seems pretty obvious he is only objecting to businesses that could be competition for his traveling companion.

ABC Director Michael Langley said almost every Arkansas Walgreens located in a wet county was granted permission to sell beer and small farm wines.

Woods is not working for Springdale. Email him at woodsj@arkleg.state.ar.us and let him know.

Disturbing Discovery

Springdale police arrested William Cannon, 43, after discovering a room full of pictures of children.

The Springdale Fire Marshal found the pictures while inspecting the E-Z Credit Auto. After entering a room at the back of the store, police said he discovered nude images of children on the walls and disturbing posters with sayings like "I eat little boys" and "boy sex."

Police say Cannon had turned his room into a violent and disturbing shrine to little boys. They seized more than a dozen printed or photocopied images of nude or partially nude children from the room. In addition, police said they discovered missing children's posters, toys and even children's underwear.

Cannon told police he considered everything on display in his room to be works of art.

Employees at the store said Cannon worked there as a security guard. They said Cannon kept his room locked at all times and they knew nothing about what was inside.

The Next Best

CNNMoney.com has ranked Rogers, Arkansas number 10 on their list of the 100 best small cities to live in 2010, based in large part to Wal-Mart headquarters, which is actually located in Bentonville.

Last November, Bloomberg Businessweek claimed Springdale was the best place to raise a family and listed Tyson Foods and Arvest Ballpark as the big draw. Of course, the Springdale Chamber of Commerce took out a half-page newspaper ad crediting themselves with the achievement, but that's another story.

Now if JB Hunt gets Lowell named the best of something else, we'll really be onto something.

Graffiti

It is interesting that there were 400 cases of 'graffiti' reported last year in Springdale compared to 133 in Rogers and 28 in Fayetteville. However, I don't think what is being reported as graffiti really is. What I have seen is tagging - you know a name or letters spray painted on something. That's not graffiti.

That being said, to combat the vandalism problem, Springdale recently purchased a power wash graffiti removal system that will cost the city about $50,000 a year to operate. In order to fund it, businesses will pay an extra dollar each month on their water bill.

Springdale is also considering updating their current graffiti ordinance, making it illegal to purchase spray paint if you are under the age of 18. This is a common practice in other places, however, I question how effective it can be without limiting the access to paint also.

In any event, while pondering all of this I came up with a few alternate ways to fund the new power washing program.
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