White River Journal, Inc

10/31/2025

Most beautiful words to live by ! "HERE'S TO LIFE", lyrics partially by Artie Butler below. Please open Closed Captions @ lower right of video in order to see & fully take in the lyrics as they are being sung. Important word missed by cc in this line: A love can go from warm "HELLOS" ... to sad goodbyes.
Apologize for any commercial at beginning, but as you know with YouTube videos, it can be skipped.
And if you enjoy this, you can let the video continue to play on automatically and be introduced to Uwe Karcher, a genius German pianist & transcriber-arranger of some older popular and slow jazz songs (non-classical).

(Music & Lyrics by Artie Butler & Phyllis Molinary)Performed Live December 28, 2014 Upstairs At Vitello's - Studio City, Ca."CABARABIA ON GLOBAL VOICE BROADC...

10/30/2025

Trying to make reading Journal pages easier on mobile phones. The idea is to divide the page into two approximate halves, which would mean a smaller area to scroll. But articles that continue across the midway point of page would not be continuous ... reader would have to open 2nd half of page to finish article. This might prove more difficult than trying to read whole page.
As a test, this post includes the full front page, plus top & bottom halves of the Jan 17, 2008 issue posted yesterday. Recommend opening whole page located on left side first. The two halves can then be accessed via arrows on side of page.
Feedback will be appreciated again asking if this makes it easier for those with phones only to read. Those with tablet-size or larger screens would probably choose the whole page option.

10/29/2025

Posted are only two pages of WRJ, Jan 17 and June 19, 2008, primarily seeking feedback. The realization has occurred that viewers of such large documents really need a larger screen than a cell phone to easily read, without having to continuously scroll. It's quite easy to read on a 27" screen, so it's been mistakenly assumed that everyone else could also read, easily enough.
Although many people enjoy reading about what happened in years past, for those having only smart phones, reading these past pages is probably most difficult - maybe impossible. and so why should they continue to be posted, even irregularly ?
There were only a few "like & love" responses to the recent 9 pages of July 13, 2017. There was one comment saying "this is great ... thanks", so it would be disturbing to deny at least that viewer the chance to read about local history.
If there are those who welcome the pages, and who can read satisfactorily with only a smart phone, please share your thoughts with a comment ... maybe tell everyone how you do it.
Thanks

10/26/2025

This is an attempt to share 9 of 10 pages of White River Journal's July 13, 2017 issue (classifed page omitted).

09/01/2025

Attached is a YouTube link I created today, Aug 31 . . . for the purpose of introducing those who don't know about - to "Wild Earth". It is a free streaming-twice-daily opportunity to observe live animal life in Africa.
The link contains 3 recorded animal action scenes (two from Aug 31, 2025 ... and one from Jan 28, 2023. The latter is sensational video of a pride of 9 grown lions slowly walking by and ignoring humans - who could reach out and touch or pet them, if they dared risk it.

An extremely impressive scene of 9 Lions walking by next to the Naturalist's jeep in Jan 2023, along with his exhilarating comments, has been added to prev...

07/03/2025

Aug 21, 2008 issue (16 pages)
Since WRJ's last post on Sun, 6/29, complete issues from Jun 19 thru Dec 25, 2008 have been found and are now accessible for posting.
The Aug 21 issue is posted today in recognition of the passing this week of Pamela Jean (Griffith) Patton, a lifelong resident of the Crossroads Community, formerly a trusted medical assistant to Dr Gerald Schumann, and later continued dedication to public service with the City of Des Arc, plus Prairie County Judges Butch Calhoun and Mike Skarda - until her retirement in 2008 because of health problems.
Born October 4, 1957, Pam was a member of the 1976 Class of DAHS. Her complete obituary is posted at Garth's Funeral Home.
Reason for extra emphasis on Pam Patton is because WRJ failed her daughter Marsha's request 2 weeks ago to provide a picture of her mother receiving a retirement award. Unfortunately, it was't confirmed until today that the 8/21/08 issue was where it should be. However, WRJ wasn't provided a picture or story of Pam's receiving the award from the County; and therefore her name only appears briefly on Pg 16 in a continuation of Quorum Court News from Pg 1.
The 17 attachments begin with an obituary photo of Pamela.

06/29/2025

LOOKING BACK @ 2008:
This post includes 12 front pages: Jan 17 ... Feb 7, 21, 28 ... Mar 6, 20, 27 ... Apr 10, 17, 24 ... May 1, 8
2008 is the earliest year for which PDF files used in printing the paper can be found . . . and from which these images were made. Otherwise, we could look back to at least 2001 . . . (there might be some chance of eventually finding ... IF, they still exist somewhere).
These 2008 files are also incomplete, with only 8 add'tl front pages, 10 pg 2's, 2 pg 3's, 10 pg 4's, plus a few other pages available for future posting if viewers want to see more of 2008 ?

06/26/2025

JPEG pics of 7/9/15 issue:
As a followup to earlier post today, the 7/9/15 issue is reposted here as 14 Jpeg pictures -- in lieu of screenshots posted earlier. It is a test to find an alternate, and maybe better, way for viewers to read pages.
Hoping these JPEG pictures may be easier to read than "screenshots", but don't know. Thanking you in advance for your feedback.

06/26/2025

We wish to thank Facebook viewers of our June 22 post for their Likes & Comments. Since it is now Thursday, the day issues were normally mailed; we're repeating Pg 1, 7/9/15 . . . plus adding the remaining 13 pages (14 pgs total).
We apologize to those who cannot read screenshots ... hoping to find a better way of sharing.
Please feel free to comment re ability to read, or not read, the pages . . . your feedback is important.

06/22/2025

WRJ Facebook would like feedback re future posting of old Journal issues. Eight pages from 12/24/17 were recently posted, with less than 20 people responding with a "Like/Love" ... (fewer making a comment). Perhaps more would be interested if they knew in advance when & how reliable the posts were going to be ?
Most issues (All weeks / all pages) dating from 2010 - 2017 can be posted via either PDFs or Screenshots . . . and posted on a regular basis (maybe on Thursdays, just as in olden days).
To view earlier years; again, the local Museum has microfilm of 1907-1944. State Archives, on Capitol grounds in Little Rock, has all 110 years 1907 - 2017. The expected, searchable online issues (1907-1930) are on hold because of the recent suspension of federal funding. State Archives can provide WRJ copies of the "digital" copies, but they will remain "unsearchable" until (and if) funding is restored and they are put online.
Most importantly is how well can Facebook viewers read articles ... and see pictures ?? Your comments will be appreciated.
As a 3rd opportunity to check out . . . Pg 1 of Jul 9, '15 issue was randomly picked to post here. Of course, multiple pages or/and different years could be posted upon request.

06/18/2025

Here are 5 more screenshots of pages from the final WRJournal issue Dec 24, 2017, making screenshots of 8 pages available from that issue on Facebook in last 2 posts. That 12/24/17 issue had a total of 16 pages. (More screenshots/pages are available if comment requesting them is made -- and is noticed by WRJ). For those having the free Acrobat Reader app, pages are also available as PDFs in lieu of screenshots.

06/18/2025

WHITE RIVER JOURNAL digitized and online for research:

With the expectation of accomplishing that, beginning with the first 23 years of WRJ's existence, 1907 thru 1930; Arkansas State Archives (Little Rock) picked up the original papers for those years at Journal office May 1, 2024. The process is detailed & time-consuming . . . portions of which were to occur in Little Rock, India, and the Library of Congress. Those issues were estimated to be online by late 2024, which would've provided easy searching for specific items. However, the following email was received from State Archives today:

"The White River Journal was part of the last couple of batches sent to the Library of Congress before President Trump pulled funding to the NEH, prematurely terminating the project. The Director of Arkansas Heritage did not approve state funding for the last batches to be completed, so unfortunately, they will not be put on Chronicling America. We are keeping all digital images of the Journal (here at State Archives) in case we can work something out in the future."

The Journal issues contain 110 years (1907 - 2017) of history of Des Arc and surrounding communities. All those issues still exist, on microfilm ... at the State Archives, located directly behind the State Capitol building in LR . . . and can be scanned, with individual articles, obituaries, photos, advertisements, etc saved and copied -- at no charge. The Lower White River Museum in Des Arc also has available microfilm for years 1907-1944. There also exists the actual papers for years 1984-2017, full size in bound, hard-cover books, which are in personal possession at present ... but which will be made publicly available in near future. From these, one can search for specific items ... and take their own actual photos with camera or phone (later year pages being in color).

As a bonus to this post, are a few screenshots from the Journal's last issue on Dec 24, 2017. Hoping they can be enlarged enough on devices to see photos and read.

Finally, the Journal still has in its possession countless number of photos of school children & activities on discs from the early 2000's.