Text The Times.

Text The Times.

870-225-1456

Here’s what everyone is talking about this week:

In years past Judge Smith Dr in Marion was a busy city street used by many Marionites to go from the service Rd to Hwy 77 and it’s junction with L P Mann for individuals heading to the school complex. This was until the past few years a tree lined street with well kept yards and houses. This has now changed with at least three residence on the north side of the street that resemble junk yards, with camping trailers, large barbeque grills and other junk. These residents also appear to have many more vehicles than driveway you space so in place of parking two deep in the drive they just park all over what was at one time a lawn and now looks like a mud pit. These residences may be rentals but they are running down property values in the area and are constant eyesores. The landlords should require their tenant to clean up the front lawns and place junk in the back yard if they choose to keep it. [Editor’s Note: It’s a sad fact that the gradual decline of neighborhoods is something that is almost universally unavoidable. The area you describe is what I would consider to be the “heart” of Marion, centrally located and, as you say, very frequently traveled. Those houses are all hitting around the 40-year mark, having been built in the mid-to-late 70s. That means most of the original owners are longgone, with many having become rental properties. If you look at any community of notable size, you can draw concentric circles around the original town showing wave after wave of building up and moving out, with the “inner city” often becoming less and less sightly. Marion has actually done a pretty decent job of keeping a pretty large chunk of “Old Marion” up, but time takes its toll on us all. There are still some very well-kept homes in those neighborhoods, but there are those that have simply fallen out of repair]

*** Behind every great man is a great woman. Loretta Tacker was behind her husband. I’m glad this local family business is being recognized. [Editor’s Note: Yeah, I’m not sure why the person who sent the original text in was so riled up. The new place is coming along nicely as well. I think part of the appeal of Shake Shack is the rustic small-town charm though, so I hope they can figure out a way to maintain that feel in the new place]

*** What is going on with Big Star and UPS? Went in to mail a package using UPS and was told that they no longer took packages for UPS. I asked where would I go to find the closest UPS drop off location and was told on Union Avenue in Memphis. There are several drop boxes in West Memphis such as the ones on Dover Rd & the Mid Continent building for small to medium packages, but if you package is too large to put in the drop box, you can’t leave it there. Guess you have to use the USPS. [Editor’s Note: Changing with the times, I guess. You can also have UPS come to your house and pick up packages. Or, like you say, you can still use the U.S. Postal Service]