Sign of the times
How we do things around here
IT WAS hard to know what to say when Cody Carpenter and Joel Campora were killed in courageous action. This being Arkansas, of course folks at the paper knew them. The emails back in May were heartbreaking.
On the last day of that month, flash-flooding hit several low-lying spots in the state, and not just those. The two men—Sheriff Carpenter of Scott County and wildlife officer Joel Campora of the Game and Fish Commission—took to a small boat in an attempt to rescue two women from a home in Y City.
Mill Creek raged. The men fought on anyway.
When the men got to the house, and finally inside it, Mill Creek tore it down. And the flash flood took their lives. Along with the two officers, the two women they were trying to rescue were lost, too: Regina Shearn and Vivian Sue Reimer.
Arkansas was left in a state of shock. When a sheriff and a wildlife officer show up during a flood, it usually means all will soon be well. It’s not supposed to end like this.
Now, several weeks later, the two men who gave their lives May 31 have been honored with a billboard on U.S. 71B, just south of Waldron’s downtown area. Folks at Clear Channel Outdoor, which donated the sign, say the billboard will stay up for a year. Another sign, a similar but smaller one, was presented to Waldron High School to be displayed at football games.
Well, sure. In small-town America, if you want to get attention, first you put up a billboard on the highway. Then you put one on display at Friday night football games. If anybody deserves this kind of tribute, it’s Cody Carpenter and Joel Campora. And their families. For they, too, have made a great sacrifice.
Peace. May we all remember that nothing good is ever lost.