Prescott, Ark., finally caught a break.
After years of watching door after door close, finally, one didn't.
When the Arkansas National Guard said it was closing down its Prescott armory, most of us assumed it was a done deal. Even the town's mayor decried a fate that seemed inevitability.
"We're just tired of losing stuff," Terry Oliver said when it was announced his Southwest Arkansas town's armory and two others were slated for closure. It seemed like a done deal.
See, when an operation as large as the National Guard decides to close or move something, there usually isn't much that can stop them.
So when Gov. Asa Hutchinson stepped in-at the prompting of Oliver and a collection of community and regional leaders, including state Rep. Brent Talley of District 3-and put a halt to the plan, it was a pleasant surprise and fairly unexpected.
Decisions like this usually aren't made public unless the outcome is certain. And when big wheels get rolling, it's hard to put the brakes on.
But put the brakes on they did, and that's a good thing. A place like Magnolia, which will lose its armory, is in a much better position to absorb a loss like this and turn it into a positive.
In the world of commerce, Prescott is suffering. The Southwest Arkansas town that hugs Interstate 30 just up the road has had little to cheer about in recent years-save for some sprawling truck stops constructed at its exits.
And it's not like Prescott had much leverage to force a retreat, let alone the time to do so. Resistance had to be mustered quickly, which makes this unexpected retreat even more impressive.
In Bowie County, for example, we've seen the Department of Defense again and again try to take an ax to our military complex-and with some success. They've also tried, unsuccessfully, to close it down entirely, and it has taken all the private and political clout the region can mobilize-and at great expense-to keep it as the driving force of our regional economy.
And the process is alive and ongoing. We're either fighting or preparing to fight the powers that be.
If, hypothetically, the DoD announced without warning plans to close down Red River Army Depot, it would be practically impossible for the region to fight back on short notice. Luckily, there is a procedure in place governing how base closures are handled, and luckily. leadership here has learned to navigate that process with some success.
Prescott had no such framework.
This decision is not a gift the state has afforded Prescott out of the goodness of its heart. The state has plans that will keep the armory viable going forward. It will be win-win in the end.
So bully for Prescott. Bully for the governor. Bully for a happy ending when one wasn't expected.
Weather Data Update
In a December column, I suggested the local weather leading up to Christmas and year's end was some of the mildest on record. The statistics we had at the time supported that conclusion, but we were missing the last two weeks of the year.
That information, obviously, is now available, so we can complete this assessment.
The conclusion that November and December period of 2015 was the mildest in 20 years was based on two measures: 1) the number of freezing and below-freezing days in the period and 2) average mean temperature for those months.
At the time the column was published, only four days had dropped to freezing or below. During the final 13 days of the year, two more days were added to that category: Dec. 19 and Dec. 31. Both checked in at 31 degrees. So the final count from November and December 2015 was six days at or below freezing.
By this measure, 2015 was not the mildest. In 2002, only five days registered freezing or below-making it the mildest. However, if you consider temperature averages, this conclusion is debatable.
In 2002, temperature averages for November and December were 54 degrees and 49 degrees respectively. In those two months in 2015, the temperatures were 57 degrees and 53 degrees-higher (milder) on both counts.
Two other years deserve mention: 1998 had seven days of freezing weather, all in December. Average mean temperatures for November and December were 57 degrees and 47 degrees respectively. November was wonderfully mild. But December was colder than either 2002 or 2015.
And 1996 had only eight days of freezing weather, and the average mean temperatures were 52 degrees and 50 degrees. Both of these temperatures were colder than this past year.
So the only reason we even can quibble about 2015 being the mildest is that 2002 has one less day of freezing temperatures.
To that I say, "Brrrrrrr!" Some of us measure our misery by the number of times we have to scrape our car windows each winter. Every little episode is painful.
I would also point out that of the six freezing days last year, two of them were 32 degrees exactly, two were 31 degrees, one was 30 degrees and the most chilling of all was 28 degrees. These weren't exactly roller-coaster plunges into polar conditions. These were short excursions into a little inconvenience and personal distress.
We should be so lucky.
(Weather statistics came from Weather Underground, research from Lindsey Foote. For stark perspective, consider the last two months of 2000, the "Ice Storm" year: 26 days freezing, 23 of them in December. Temps averaged 49 degrees in November and 37 degrees in December. It gets the prize of Worst in Class.)