2022: The Year in Review

A look back at the top news stories and event of the past year

By Ralph Hardin

ralphhardin@gmail.com

Twenty-twenty-two was an eventful year both around the world and here in Crittenden County, as residents tried to move past the lingering spectre of the COVID-19 pandemic, push the county forward, and the winds of change blew through the community.

Here is a look back at some of the biggest events and news stories of the past year…

Politics, Politics, Politics…

The 2022 election season yielded some very interesting results. The surprises began in May as two longstanding members of the West Memphis School Board were ousted. School Board president Gary Masner and board member Randy Catt were voted out of office over claims of lack of transparency, specifically over the hiring process for the WMSD’s new superintendent after Jon Collins resigned at the end of the 2022 school year.

The new-look school board was only one of several changes to the school district. New superintendent Richard Atwill took the reigns of the district, and an all-new West Junior High School opened in August, with a new Wonder Junior High set to open next school year.

In other election news, West Memphis mayor Marco McClendon was reelected in November, over challenger City Councilman Wayne Croom. The City of Marion has a new mayor. Longtime chamber director and economic development director Tracy Brick was elected unopposed to take the helm from retiring mayor Frank Fogleman.

But perhaps the biggest election story of the year was in the City of Earle.

After Mayor Sherman Smith declined to seek reelection, a crowded field of five candidates file for the posiiton. After the Nov. 8 election, a runoff was needed and 18-year-old college freshman Jaylen Smith emerged victorious over fellow contender Nemi Matthews to win the race and become the new mayor of Crittenden County’s third-largest city and the youngest serving mayor in the United States today.

Smith’s election made him an instant celebrity, with news sites across the country picking up the story.

The young mayor made appearances on TV shows and online reports.

Violence in West Memphis

For years, the City of West Memphis appeared at or near the top of “Most Violent Cities in Arkansas” lists. While there is violent crime in the city, most of that reputation is skewed by the 2010 murder of two West Memphis police officers by a pair of white supremacist militants in a shooting that still looms over the community now nearly 13 years later. In recent years, violent ctime has been decreasing in the city, but in 2022, a rash of unrelated homicides threaten to put West Memphis back on the map. Nearly all of the slayings were the result of gun violence Gun violence remained an issue in the community throughout the year.

Ranging from an accidental shooting on New Year’s Day 2022 to the fatal shooting of a 21-year-old on the streets of West Memphis on Dec. 28.

Part of the issue could be pinned on turbulence in the leadership of the WMPD, as 2022 was a year with three police chiefs. Chief Eddie West stepped down early in the year and was replaces by Michael Pope.

During Pope’s brief tenure, the department was rocked by a series of firings and resignations, as well as a sexual harassment claim against one of the WMPD’s senior officers. Ultimately, Pope was replaced after just six months on the job, with current chief Robbin Campbell Jr.

West Memphis 3 Revisited

While this May will mark the 30th anniversary of the infamous so-called “West Memphis 3”murders of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis in 1993, the case got plenty of attention in 2022, as Damien Echols, one of the men convicted twice for the murders, had his day in court in an attempt to have evidence once believed lost tested with a new form of DNA

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Pope was replaced after just six months on the job, with current chief Robbin Campbell Jr.

West Memphis 3 Revisited

While this May will mark the 30th anniversary of the infamous so-called “West Memphis 3”murders of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis in 1993, the case got plenty of attention in 2022, as Damien Echols, one of the men convicted twice for the murders, had his day in court in an attempt to have evidence once believed lost tested with a new form of DNA testing. The evidence was in and of itself news as it had long been held to have been lost but was found earlier in the year, tucked away in the WMPD evidenc room. Ultimately, a hearing held to determine whether the evidence, which Echols held could exonerate him, along with his two codefendants Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, at which the judge ruled that the new testing was not only unproven but also that under current Arkansas law, Echols, a free man due to a controversial 2011 “Alford plea” agreement, had no legal grounds to have the evidence tested.

Southland Expansion Completed

Long-delayed and well over the expected budget, Southland Greyhound Park completed its years-in-themaking transformation into Southland Casino Hotel in 2022.

Parent company Delaware North spent more than $300 million to turn what was once the nation’s numb er one greyhound racing facility into a destination attraction hotel and casino that has been Arkansas’s number one tourist attraction for the past several years.

The expanded casino now features more than 100,000 square feet of gaming floor with more than 2,000 slot machines and 50 live table games.

The casino offers a wide variety of bars and dining options and the tallest building in northeast Arkansas, a 20-story hotel with 12 penthouse suites.

With any major growth comes change, and the biggest change at Southland came at the end of the year, as Saturday marked the final live greyhound races at the park after 66 years. With the looming threat of legal action to outlaw dog racing in the state from activist group Grey2K, the Arkansas Greyhound Association moved to slowly phase out the sport over the past three years, and 2023 will be the first year since 1956 that there will be no live greyhounds running at Southland.

Mother Nature Runs Wild

Christmas weekend’s single digit lows were a quick reminder to just how cold it can get, even in the south, but it was around this time last year when a massive ice storm wrought havoc in the community.

Freezing temperatures left a layer of ice on homes, trees and power lines all across Crittenden County, with at least one death blamed on the freeze.

Many homes were without power and heat for several days and in some cases more than a week, as linemen and emergancy response crews worked day and night to repair snapped power lined and get the lights and heat back on in thousands of homes.

Rats Close Family Dollar

Crittenden County took a heavy hit in February last year when a rat infestation at the Family Dollar Warehouse resulted in what appears to be the permanent closure of the facility and left hundreds of local workers unemployed.

The FDA ordered the 850,000 square-foot warehouse shuttered after thousands of rats were reported and issued a recall for Family Dollar products across six states due to the infestation.

The community suffered other employment losses as well, with massive layoffs at Carvana in May but Southland stepped up with a massive hiring push.

[ Note: See Tuesday’s online edition for Part 2]