The death of a 37-year-old Sheridan man is being investigated as a homicide by the Grant County Sheriff’s Department after deputies were called to his residence in the early morning hours Friday.

Grant County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Pete Roberts said, in a press release issued Friday afternoon, that deputies were dispatched to a residence on Grant 9 Aug. 23 at approximately 6:55 a.m. in reference to a possible death, and upon arrival found Keith Alan Bailey lying beside a camper trailer.

All 90 or so employees of Grant County will soon receive a 1.5 percent bonus, thanks to action taken on Monday night by the Quorum Court.

County Judge Randy Pruitt said he had looked over the finances and had given his thumbs up after determining that county finances were in good enough shape to make the one-time  outlay of funds, which amounts to about $54,000.

A North Carolina couple took their three dogs, Abby, Izzy and Harpo, to a pond this summer to escape the summer heat. But 15 minutes after they left to go home, one of their dogs started having seizures. The owners immediately took the dogs to a veterinary hospital, where the other two dogs started seizing. In a few hours, all three dogs had died.

The culprit was cyanobacteria, a deadly bacteria in blue-green algae that can be found in ponds and small lakes and that has been blamed for several dog deaths around the country this summer.

By Byron Tate

The national Journalism Education Association has named Rep. Julie Mayberry, R-East End, as a 2019 recipient of its Friend of Scholastic Journalism Award.

But the lawmaker said the award might be coming a bit early.

“We didn’t accomplish all that we wanted to accomplish,” she said. “Maybe the award is premature, but I’m still going!”

Editor’s Note: This article was first published in the August 2018 issue of “Grassroots,” the quarterly publication of the Grant County Museum. For more information about the Grassroots publications, contact the museum at 870-942-4496.

The county fair is an exciting time every year.  Family members enthusiastically jump into the car and pile on top of one another for the drive there.  On arrival, everyone impatiently un-piles before stampeding towards the frenzy of sound and light.  Small children enjoy rides and win stuffed animals that instantaneously become their most prized possession.  Others can’t wait for the rodeo.  For some out there it is a foot-long corndog, funnel cake, and cotton candy. A 3,000 calorie dinner of fried breads, processed meats, and pure sugar.  Fortified with a sugar-buzzed adrenaline rush from the lights and sounds, everybody jumps on the Gravitron for one bout of inner-ear abuse before heading to the house. 

This familiar scene, and various iterations of it, have played out at the Grant County Fair for over ninety years.  Despite the span of time between today and its inception, the fair has remained remarkably similar in its presentation.  Newspaper articles and catalogues from the time of the earliest fairs reflect this continuity.  Carnival rides, exhibits, livestock shows, and refreshment stands have been a part of the fair since the beginning.

Jan and DJ Wallace were on their way home from church years ago. The pastor’s sermon had been on the resurrection and the beginning of new life.

Inspired by the theme of rebirth and rejuvenation, Jan said “if we ever have a shop, we’re going to call it Resurrections.”

And thus it was.