District 7 - N

Announcements :

Do you live in the Crossett area? Would you like a way to make new friends as you serve your fellow man? Come check out the Crossett Lions Club. We have a lot of fun as we help the needy of our community and our state. Informative guest speakers keep us abreast of the latest news and happenings in our world. Contact any Lion member or drop us an e-mail at crossettlions@yahoo.com

Check out the new playground equipment that was recently installed by the Crossett Lions Club at the City Park. There is now a special swing for disabled children!

2/5/08 Wanda and John Barnett gave us a presentation and information about the Lions Of Arkansas Foundation (LOAF). This foundation is funded to provide monetary assistance of up to $1000 for Lion's Clubs WE SERVE projects in their local community or beyond. Refer to the Lion's District 7N website for details.

Feb 4, 2008: Mr. Mike Smith of the Crossett Economic Development Association spoke to our club. He informed us, that within approximately 7 years, the CEDA has helped to facilitate the economic growth of the Crossett area; some of the significant growth areas are: ·An increase in the size of the Crossett Industrial Park from 14 acres to 50 acres. ·An increase of 240 jobs, equal to $5 to $10 million increase in annual payroll. ·Improvements in infrastructure of Crossett area utilities, roads and rail facilities; funded by the acquisition of $2.68 million dollars in grant money and $2.2 million dollars in sales taxes. The Crossett Economic Development Association’s networking and recognition with and by other economic development groups continue to attract positive attention to the Crossett area.

11 September 2008: Mr. Todd Ledford spoke to our club. Mr. Ledford came to Crossett a few weeks ago to assume the responsibilities of Dean of Students, Athletic Director and Coach for the Crossett Public School System. He was born in Texarkana, graduated from Southern Arkansas University, and was in the Ashtown, AR school system for the last 7 years. His focus is to; Use his knowledge and experience of athletics as vehicles to teach young people; supported by discipline and by reinforcing good values taught in the home. His wife Vanessa and children 8 and 3 years old will move to Crossett this coming summer.

March 10, 2008: Lioness Linda Goodwin brought guest speaker Crossett Police Chief Tommy Sturgeon. Chief Sturgeon has had this post for 15 years. He told us that the Crossett police department has an average of 200 interactions per month of some type with the citizenry of Crossett. In February 2008, 9 of those interactions involved some type of serious crime. Chief Sturgeon cautioned us to be ever vigilant, aware of our surroundings, and avoid putting ourselves in potentially dangerous environments.

Lions Tony Hendrix, Donald Flentroy and Roger Reves attended the Lions Extension Workshop in Pine Bluff Arkansas where they received training and field work in recruiting techniques.

4/07/08 Lion Ed Gilbert brought J. Ward to speak to our club today about his recent 12 weeks of training in the Camden, Arkansas Law Enforcement Academy. Their days from 4:30 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. were filled with: Physical training classes and lots of pushups, pepper-spray exposure, pursuit driving, firearm training, informational classes conducted by police, FBI, U.S. marshals, etc. etc. He told us it was a tough 12 weeks, but that he received much useful training to use in his work as a Crossett Police Officer.

4/07/08 Please welcome a new member to the Crossett Lions Club. His name is Michael New. He is the owner of Micheal’s Barber Shop in the Main Mall of Crossett. Micheal has been a supporter of the Crossett Lions Club auction in the past. We are glad to have in our club, and we congratulate Lion Bill Gilbert for bringing Michael to us.

Apr 14, 2008 One of our own, Lion J.L. Jeffers, gave us information about how and why he and a few others formed and have grown the business for U.S. Dunnage in North Crossett. They have, at this date, preserved about 50 full time employments for the Crossett area, and they are growing. U.S. Dunnage is providing a high quality product to the shipping industry. J.L. has high praise for the Crossett community and the Ashley County business climate for their support and promotion of small business opportunities.

May 5, 2008 Arkansas State Senator Jimmy Jeffress, a member of the Crossett Lions Club, arranged for 4 of our local Arkansas State Representative to be present. We were honored to have all of them as our guests. Each gave a brief bulletin of one or two of the many things on which they focus their attention. ·Rep. ALLEN MAXWELL, not pictured, of Monticello spoke of his work to reduce by 33% the energy tax on manufacturing; important to many including our local Georgia-Pacific facility. ·Rep. GREGG REEP, pictured on the left, of Warren spoke of his work on the Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee, and of his work on the Agriculture, Economic Development and Forestry Committee. ·Senator JIMMY JEFFRESS, pictured 2nd from the left, introduced each of them and spoke of the good cooperation between all of them to bring attention and benefits to southeast Arkansas. ·Rep. ROBERT MOORE, 3rd from the left, of Arkansas City likes to focus on the betterment of our local youth for future leadership, and ways and means to encourage them to stay, work and live in southeast Arkansas. ·Rep. EDDY CHEATHAM, pictured on the right, of Crossett works on the Education and the State Agencies Committees. His work includes the study of health insurance for teachers, state constitutional amendments and legislature scheduling.

Activities :

The 41st annual Crossett Lions Club Radio/TV Auction was scheduled held April 28 and 29 2008, at the First United Methodist Church in Crossett. Bidders and buyers tuned in to KAGH-FM 104.9 or Charter Cable TV channel 37 for all of the fun and excitement. Others came to the auction in person to see the action. We thank the approximately 120 merchants and businesses that donated items and merchandise that helped the Crossett Lions Club to raise about $5300 to be used for charity, youth and vision assistance needs.

The Crossett Lions "Go Fish" project is scheduled for October 2008.

Arkansas Lions

Crossett Area Chamber of Commerce