By Donna Hilton

The first of a series of subcommittee meetings of the Clark County Strategic Plan Committee will be at 6 p.m. today in the Caplinger Airway Science Lecture Hall at Henderson State University.

According to Dr. Wesley Kluck and Dr. Alan Wright, the first session will allow subcommittee chairmen and advisors to meet with the plan’s facilitator, Ed Bee.

Bee will help the subcommittee leaders learn the techniques for leading their meetings in order to get the most information out of the discussion.

The purpose of the effort is to create a workable plan for improving and developing Clark County in the next few years. It is a project of the Joint Consortium for Education of Henderson State University and Ouachita Baptist University.

There are seven subcommittees, one for each of the focus areas of the Strategic Plan: Education, economic development, health care, housing, tourism, leadership. The seventh committee represents the fundraising aspect and community foundations supporting the effort.

The chairmen of the education subcommittee are Dr. Kenneth Harris and Dr. Stan Miller. The community advisors are Becky Jester, Paulette Blacknall, Dr. Bob Houston, Lewis Diggs and Margo Turner.
The economic development subcommittee is chaired by Lonnie Jackson, Martha Dixon and Carlos Zamudio. The community advisors are Steve Orsburn, Ross Whipple, Dora Bean, Hal Bass, Percy Malone, Bill Wright, Conner Eldridge, Diane Owens and Pam Ligon.

The co-chairmen of the healthcare subcommittee will be Margo Green, Larry Thomerson and Chester Clark. Community advisors on this committee will be Dan Gathright, Dennis Mills, Joe Jeffers, Tommy Roebuck, Mark Jansen and Kerry Stark.

The housing subcommittee will be lead by Jim Andrews, Tom Calhoon and Jon Capps. The community advisors are Fred Hatley, Al Lynch, Dusty Schmid, Teddy Gardner and John French.
Co-chairmen of the tourism subcommittee will be Fred Phillips, Rick Mays and Nikki Jackson. Community advisors will be Rick Brumley, Vicki Egleston, Chris Snodgrass, Claudia Beach, Tommy Potter, Danny Adams, Mike Reynolds and Linda Eaves.

The leadership subcommittee will be co-chaired by Clark Easter, Billy Tarpley and Estella Forte. The community advisors will be Henry Huerkamp, Robert McCallum, Charles Dunn, George Mitchell, Ben Elrod, Lewis Shepherd, Val de la Garza, Johnnie Roebuck and Dan Grant.

Each of these committees will also include two students each from Henderson State University, Ouachita Baptist University, Arkadelphia High School, Gurdon High School and Centerpoint High School.
The funding and foundations subcommittee will consist of the following persons and the groups they represent: Phil Baldwin, Southern Bancorp; Anita Cabe and Charles Cabe, Cabe Foundation; Mary Elizabeth Eldridge, Ross Foundation; and Millard Aud and Theda Aud, Olds Foundation.

Members of the community are invited to attend and join the committees which interest them. The results of the committee meetings will be used to create the actual plan of action.

“You will write the plan,” Wright told the crowd of people attending one of the planning meetings. “Without you, there is no strategic plan.”

The entire Strategic Planning Committee will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the auditorium at Central Primary School.