Monday, May 31, 2010

National Cemetery Memorial Day crowd honors veterans who served in our nation's numerous wars




Please click on image to ENLARGE view of Beverly Swaim talking with Mayor Lioneld Jordan after Jordan served as keynote speaker for the 2010 Memorial Day ceremony at Fayetteville National Ceremony. Mrs. Swaim and her late husband served the cemetery for decades as donors to the Regional National Cemetery Improvement Corporation.



















Sunday, May 30, 2010

Official VA Web site lists Memorial Day Ceremonies in Arkansas: Fayetteville's event is at 10 a.m. on Monday May 31


ARKANSAS       Back to top
At the May meeting of the Regional National Cemetery Improvement Corporation, it was announced that Mayor Lioneld Jordan will be among the speakers at tomorrow's 10 a.m. ceremony at the National Cemetery.

Fayetteville National Cemetery
700 Government Avenue
Fayetteville, AR 72701
(479) 444-5051
Ceremony: May 31 at 10:00 a.m.
Fort Smith National Cemetery
522 Garland Avenue
Fort Smith, AR 72901
(501) 783-5345
Ceremony: May 30 at 11:00 a.m.
Little Rock National Cemetery
2523 Confederate Boulevard
Little Rock, AR 72206
(501) 324-6401
No ceremony

Friday, May 28, 2010

Tyson Foods Inc. donates $75,000 to the Regional National Cemetery Improvement Corporation; Tyson donated $25,000 to the Town Branch neighborhood fund in 2005 to help purchase the land that now is World Peace Wetland Prairie

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of Peggy and Roger McClain, Archie Schaffer and Don Tyson at the Fayetteville National Cemetery on May 28, 2010.

Don Tyson, Tyson Foods Give $75,000 to National Cemetery Group
Funds to help provide burial space for military veterans
Fayetteville, Arkansas –May 28, 2010 – On the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, Don Tyson and Tyson Foods awarded a $75,000 “challenge” grant to an organization seeking to provide more burial space for military veterans at the Fayetteville National cemetery. 
In 2005, Tyson Foods donated $25,000 to acquire land for a city nature park only three blocks southwest of the cemetery on South Duncan Avenue in the Town Branch Neighborhood.
 The money will be used by the Regional National Cemetery Improvement Corporation (RNCIC) to support the group’s mission of securing nearby land to “insure the cemetery can continue to receive veterans for burial.”
 “This gift is an example of our company’s long-running support of the nation’s military veterans and the important work of the RNCIC,” said Don Tyson, retired chairman and CEO of Tyson Foods and current member of the company’s board of directors.   “We challenge other local businesses and individuals to join us in supporting this volunteer, non-profit group by making similar contributions.”
 “We’re grateful for the support of Don Tyson and Tyson Foods for this important project,” said Roger McClain of the RNCIC.  “This donation will help us continue our ongoing efforts to provide more space in the cemetery for veterans who want to be buried with others who shared the same military experience.”
 The Fayetteville National Cemetery, opened in 1867, is one of the first cemeteries established for the re-internment of soldiers who fought in area battles during the Civil War and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  It has since been expanded to serve as a final resting place for other military veterans. 
The RNCIC was established in 1984 to raise money to buy property for the Fayetteville National Cemetery to ensure it would remain open for the veterans.  Through the efforts of the organization, the cemetery has tripled in size and currently has sufficient space for burials until approximately 2024.   However, RNCIC officials want to continue the expansion by purchasing additional property adjacent to the cemetery.
 The support of the military by Tyson Foods and its employees goes back many years and most recently includes the shipment of holiday care packages to employees, family members and friends serving the U.S. military in the Middle East.  The company and its employees last year also provided financial support to a program designed to help wounded soldiers who have served there.  In addition, Tyson has been a winner of the National Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Freedom Award, primarily because the company provides differential pay for all Tyson Team Members called to active military duty.  The money makes up any difference between their military compensation and the pay they normally receive from Tyson. 
 Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN - News), founded in 1935 with headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas, is one of the world's largest processors and marketers of chicken, beef and pork, the second-largest food production company in the Fortune 500 and a member of the S&P 500.  The company produces a wide variety of protein-based and prepared food products and is the recognized market leader in the retail and foodservice markets it serves. Tyson provides products and services to customers throughout the United States and more than 90 countries. The company has approximately 117,000 Team Members employed at more than 400 facilities and offices in the United States and around the world. Through its Core Values, Code of Conduct and Team Member Bill of Rights, Tyson strives to operate with integrity and trust and is committed to creating value for its shareholders, customers and Team Members. 
The company also strives to be faith-friendly, provide a safe work environment and serve as stewards of the animals, land and environment entrusted to it.
Contact:  Gary Mickelson 479-290-6111 or gary.mickelson@tyson.com








Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Tyson Foods Inc. is expected to announce a donation from its foundation to the Regional National Cemetery Improvement Corporation at 10 a.m. Friday, May 28, 2010, outside the main gate of the cemetery on South Government Avenue four blocks south of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Fayetteville, Arkansas

We wanted to let everyone know there will be a press conference at the National Cemetery gates with Tyson Foods on Friday, May 28th at 10:00 AM to announce their donation to the RNCIC.

It will not be inside the cemetery but, at the front corner by the gates.

Also, because I travel so much, if you need to get a message or information to Roger and I, please either call Roger 479.306.6459 or email him also at rmcclain46@cox.net. I will be on the road every week for the next month and will not be checking my emails until the weekends.

Thanks,

Peggy McClain

Monday, May 17, 2010

Please help raise money now to expand cemetery to the Washington County Livestock Auction property in the future to maintain the historic design of the cemetery and the integrity of the wetland to the west and north that helps protect our Beaver Lake watershed

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE. Series below starts by showing a butterfly in the wooded wetland that still exists north of the National Cemetery property but also is targeted for addition to the National Cemetery if the sale-barn property isn't added instead. Preparing the hilltop portion of the sale-barn property on the east side of the cemetery would be much easier and much less environmentally destructive than continuing to dredge and fill wetland for gravesites. Sadly, the soil, both rich, dark, prairie topsoil and the clay beneath it that was dug out of the pictured area is being stored on the surface of the north portion of the sale-barn property. The temporary dirt-storage area has been leased by the Department of Veterans' Affairs or its contractors for this use. That land was pasture for cattle being held for livestock auctions until 2009. And it is seasonal wetland that historically displayed all the characteristic vegetation of typical prairie in this area. The dirt is being stored down to the overflow, riparian area of the Tanglewood Branch, which joins Spout Spring Branch only 200 yards to the east.

Above: yellow butterfly in wooded wetland area north of Fayetteville National Cemetery. Photo made this morning in the wooded area to the left side of the photo below.



Above: water being pumped from wetland dug out for future gravesites on Monday, May 17, 2010. Heavy rain previous two days left several feet of muddy water standing in the hole, which is serving as a stormwater detention pond while land about 200 feet to the southeast is being prepared for crypts.




Above: View downstream from 11th Street Bridge over Town Branch shows silt-laden water headed for Beaver Lake.



Above: Muddy water from National Cemetery northside wetland dig flows from pipe under Hill Avenue and directly from under 11th Street and is dumped into Town Branch on the downstream (south side).

Above: Upstream (north side of 11th Street bridge over Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River) showing clear flow a day after heavy rain.






Above: Topsoil and clay dug out of wetland 300 yards to the west to make way for additional National Cemetery gravesites is being stored on top of wetland along the Tanglewood Branch, which runs southeast along the edge of the Washington County Livestock Auction barn land in south Fayetteville, Arkansas.