David Edwards of near White Hall is not the largest farmer and rancher in Jefferson County, but Edwards’ love for his chosen vocation has paid off with recognition.
He and his wife, Sue, and their three children — son David and daughters Andrea and Valerie — have been named Jefferson County’s 2012 Farm Family of the Year.
“I didn’t think it was possible,” Edwards said recently. “I thought one of the big farmers, one with so much more acreage, would win it.
“I look at farming as a privilege, and the award is a nice, big honor.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Edwards has 160 acres surrounding the family home on Charles Road, just off Gravel Pit Road. There and on a 60-acre spread off U.S. 270 near the Grant County line, he’s been operating a cattle ranch for 32 years.
Five years ago, he became a farmer, producing soybeans, wheat, rice, hay and corn on slightly less than 800 acres at Pastoria. His agricultural roots run deep, as his father decided to start farming on the very land the younger Edwards now oversees and where he was “born and raised.” He also operates a small trucking company.
Sue Edwards is a full-time homemaker and serves as a White Hall High School substitute teacher. Their son is his father’s “right-hand man” on the farm, and the two girls are students.
Edwards said he and his family live and work by “principles” they’ve learned in part through their membership in church, including a love for one another, others and the land on which they farm.
Congratulations, Edwards family!
Burn bans
You know it’s summertime in Southeast Arkansas when the most popular parking space is determined by shade instead of distance.
It is hot and dry. As a result, county judges in Jefferson, Lincoln and Cleveland counties have joined more than two dozen other judges in ordering burn bans.
Open burning is prohibited because of the potential of wildfires, which have blackened hundreds of acres across the state, according to the Arkansas Forestry Commission.
Without measurable precipitation to reduce the fire danger, Fourth of July fireworks may be limited out of necessity.
Smart 9-1-1
A new service will add vital medical conditions, contact names and telephone numbers to the database for emergency dispatchers in Arkansas. The state will be the first in the nation to fully implement Smart 9-1-1.
Melinda Elliott, operations manager for the Jefferson County Metropolitan Emergency Communications Association, told the MECA board Tuesday that residents will be able to add information such as medications they are taking, whether they are in a wheelchair and even if they have pets into the agency’s database. The information will then come up on a dispatcher’s screen if the person calls 9-1-1.
The system will work with either land line phones or cell phones once implemented, providing emergency responders with crucial information.