By Jay C. Grelen, Editor, Maumelle Monitor[ed]
Once the new flagpoles were installed out front, the old one had to come down at the faux front entrance. So longtime Maumelle Public Works employee Keith Via rode a lift to the top of the pole and roped it so he could control its descent. Then his co-workers took a Sawzall to the base, and once they had cut through, Keith lowered it. Last I heard, it’s in storage at Public Works.
Until 2020, that was the main entrance to city hall. Not only was it on the side of the building and not at the front, it doesn’t look like a front entrance. It looks more like an employee entrance, which is what it is now.
That entrance faces north across a parking lot and toward the charter school. Lake Valencia, which is to the right, offers a terrific view out the windows along the back of city hall, especially from the conference room.
Now that the entrance is on the west side, where it should be, it’s as if they lifted the building and turned it a quarter click to face the correct way.
Maumelle Monitor[ed] comforts the afflicted and afflicts the afflicters. If you’re an afflicter, buckle up and batten down. We’re here. If you’re afflicted, breathe easy. We’re here. We also offer stories that have nothing to do with affliction.
This is Jay Grelen. I hope you remember me from my Sweet Tea column, which the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette published for seven years on the front page of its Arkansas section on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. That was a while ago. The newspaper business has changed. Now I’m a newspaper refugee clutching his manual typewriter and trying to stay afloat. I worked in the newspaper racket for 35 years, including stints at the Denver Post, the Lexington Herald-Leader, the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, and the Mobile Register. My last stop was a 10-year stay at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. In 2017, Governor Asa Hutchinson hired me as his senior writer; after nearly six years with Governor Hutchinson, I became chief of staff to the mayor of Maumelle, who last year promoted me to Chief of Staff Emeritus. I have returned to writing, and I am participating in the much balleyhooed rebirth of local journalism. This Substack platform is like owning my own newspaper. The basic stories are available to all subscribers. Paid subscribers will have access to a wider range of topics and writers from all corners of creativity. Maumelle Monitor[ed]’s first mission is to chase the elected foxes away from the public henhouses, which belong to the constituents who voted them into office. Maumelle Monitor(ed) is named in honor of its late predecessor, the Maumelle Monitor. Thank you for reading and subscribing, however you choose to participate. ~ Jay Grelen, Storyteller in Chief.
Part II: Flagpole down