Fair Board President & 2 Members Resign at Thursday Meeting - story lifted from MONTICELLO LIVE

Since the May tornado destroyed all of the Drew County Fairgrounds buildings, except for the auditorium, nothing has gone right for the Fair Board.
Aside from the “normal” preparation for getting the annual event taken care of, this year there has been the additional struggle of not knowing what conditions the fairgrounds would be in.
The insurance to the buildings only covered $60,000 in damages, and the board still doesn’t have that money in hand.

While there is the likelyhood of FEMA funding, there’s no specific amount approved that will come through.
Any improvements to the property, such as replacing buildings and structures, become property of the University of Arkansas, who owns the land, and not the fair board.
That surely describes an unclear future.
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At the beginning of Thursday night’s special called fair board meeting, the board voted to completely cancel this year’s fair. Concerns included safety issues, electricity and lighting, fencing around the damaged property, and the short time frame left to get everything into working order.
The vote was 7-5, in favor of cancelling this year’s fair activities.
Shortly after the vote, board president Bobby Hood, along with board secretary Sandy Hood, and member Hubert McKeown resigned from the board.
Hood told the board that he couldn’t continue on as president, if it would be “working with a split board”, remembering how everyone had usually worked together, in a united effort.
It was felt that too much dissension at this point of the process, would lead to the failure of the purpose of the board.
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As Hood was addressing the board, he reminded them that John Wayne Ross was their vice-president, and would be taking the position of president, and all seemed to agree.
As discussion resumed, the possibility of being able to provide a few of the scheduled activities is still being considered.
The pageants, talent show, gospel music night, rodeo, and parade will still be planned for, but could possibly be cancelled as the September 21 Fair Date approaches.
The carnival will not be scheduled to be at the fair this year.
About the only good report from the meeting was summed up by Ross, when he said, “the electrical grid should be in place, since we are getting full co-operation from both C&L Electric and Entergy.”