By PJ Tracy
Murfreesboro Diamond
The Pike County Quorum Court approved Resolution 2026-1 that authorizes the applying for grant funds for an ATV/bike trails to Lake Greeson.
“It’s a huge deal and getting bigger every day,” Pike County Judge Eddie Howard said of the trails at the March meeting Monday night, noting that Walmart was facilitating a bike lift at Queen Wilhemina State Park near Mena.
He added that trails would eventually be connected from Fayetteville to Mena, and was in favor of extending that down the Ouachita Mountains into Pike County.
Justice of the Peace Randy Lamb said that many people would like to bike from Murfreesboro to the Crater of Diamonds State Park, but that it was a safety issue with not enough shoulder on the highway.
Local resident Ronald Vaughn was on hand at the meeting, stating his interest in trails. He said that in good weather he would often travel to the trails at Iron Mountain a couple times a week, near Arkadelphia. He also suggested a track be built at the old city park near the tennis courts for bikes to be ridden.
Jane Fugitt, representing the Murfreesboro Advertising and Tourism Commission was on hand to speak about the resolution.
She said recent state legislation made a trail system locally more possible, allowing for ATVs to use designated county roads.
She said any grant money would be used for signage and construction of trails, and once established maps would be available at local hotels to instruct where riding could take place.
Fugitt said the Tourism Commission also hoped to see stimulation of business, including bike shops and ATV repairs.
She cautioned that it would not be fast process and would have to be done in phases, as political red tape was abundant while dealing with the Corps of Engineers and Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
The Tourism Commission will get the aid of the state’s Outdoor Tourism department in preparing their grant application to the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) as well as another grant through the state Tourism Department later in June.
The ARDOT grant is an 80/20 matching grant, with the match coming from the Murfreesboro Tourism Commission, while the funds would be administered by Pike County should any funds be garnered.
Lamb asked if there was a plan in place, but was told this was just the first step and that a plan would have to be established before submitting the grant application to ARDOT.
The Quorum Court approved the resolution unanimously.
Howard told the court that approximately $941,000 has been received from FEMA work from last year’s flooding issue. After recouping the money the county initially invested in the work, some $437,571 remains.
Howard said that money will be used for three projects — flooding mitigation with box culverts in New Hope, Delight and Kirby.
“The FEMA funds are pretty much wrapped up and the [remaining funds] will be a real boon for the county. Flooding is one of our biggest problems and improving drainage will allow us to knock three spots off the map.”
Pike County Treasurer Loletia Rather gave the following openings and closings of county accounts through February:
County General
$1, 923,208/$1,832,328
County Road
$333,260/$252,019
County Landfill
$465,785/$478,054
All Accounts
$6,990,260/$6,716,635
