The Lions' Chronicle staff will moderate upcoming town hall discussions featuring Director-At-Large and Mayoral candidates for the upcoming municipal elections. The town hall discussions will be held in the Reynolds Room in the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith Campus Center. Each session will begin at 11 a.m. The Director-At-Large Town Hall will be held Monday, Oct. 12; the Mayoral Candidate Town Hall will be held Tuesday, Oct. 13 According to UAFS Chancellor, Dr. Teresa Ril

1. Provide us with some information about your history and your background with Fort Smith. Fort Smith has been home for more than 20 years. I grew up in Alma and have spent most of my adult life here, raising my family and serving this community in different ways. My background is a little unconventional. I’m an Air Force veteran, caregiver, homeschool teacher, artist, writer, photographer, and community volunteer. In 2012, I founded A Volunteer Organization, originally to

Carl Nevin Provide us with some information about your history and your background with Fort Smith. I was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. My dad joined the Air Force soon after I was born. We moved around most of all of my childhood. I went to high school in Germany. I went to college in Santa Cruz, California. I am married to wife Barbara for 47 years. Together, we have 2 children, and 2 grandchildren. I have worked 2 jobs most of my life. Currently, I am running a lawn service. I

Provide us with some information about your history and your background with Fort Smith. Fort Smith is home. I was born at Sparks Hospital and graduated from Southside High School in 2002. My wife, Sarah, graduated from Northside in 2003. We married in 2005 and are raising our five children here. For most of my adult life, my work has centered on leading organizations and serving people. I helped start Forefront Church in 2013 and currently serve as its lead pastor, but my

1. Provide us with some information about your history and background with Fort Smith. Fort Smith has been my home my entire life. My mother moved here in 1983 to work for Beverly Enterprises, and I was born at Mercy Hospital in 1985. I attended First Lutheran School and graduated from Southside High School in 2003. When my mother later moved to Tulsa and invited me to join her, I chose to remain here and attend the University of Arkansas Fort Smith. I graduated from UAFS in

Brian Trumbly Provide us with some information about your history and your background with Fort Smith. In my time in Fort Smith I have been able to help create, own, and co-manage a commercial construction company, Petree Construction. I’ve also been fortunate to give back to the community by donating my time and experience to several boards and organizations. I spent 7 years on the Fort Smith Planning and Zoning Board, successfully completing multiple terms; served a couple

1.Provide us with some information about your history and your background with Fort Smith. I was born in Fort Smith and have spent my entire life living in either Fort Smith or Van Buren. I grew up in a working-class family without many financial advantages, but that never diminished my entrepreneurial ambitions. I started my first business, a concert-promotion company, in 1999. I later worked in advertising, website development and technology consulting. For the past nine

1. Provide us with some information about your history and your background with Fort Smith. Fort Smith and the River Valley have been home to my wife Amy and me for nearly nineteen years. We've worshiped and served at Midland Heights Church for eighteen years, and for fourteen years my work through Safe Haven Homes has put me alongside people facing homelessness, addiction, and mental-health challenges. Some of the hardest days of their lives. I've also mentored veterans and

1. Provide us with some information about your history and your background with Fort Smith. I've lived in the greater River Valley area for 32 years. I've always either lived or worked in Fort Smith. In 2017, I was homeless here. After living through it, I've been an advocate for the homeless, having worked alongside Hope on some of their policy proposals and as a former member of the Next Step Board of Directors. My wife and I have done independent animal rescue in the city

Provide us with some information about your history and your background with Fort Smith. My wife and I and our one year old daughter moved to Fort Smith in 1997. I had previously worked at Ernst & Young in Little Rock for 24 years, 12 as a partner. We moved so I could take a job at ArcBest Corporation as Vice President of Finance. I worked at ArcBest for 20 years retiring in 2016 as a Senior Vice President. I became involved in City matters in the early 2000's as one of the

1.Provide us with some information about your history and your background with Fort Smith. I was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas. I went to Van Buren schools. I've lived in Van Buren, Fort Smith, Alma, Kibler, Mulberry Cedarville, I even attended the Cedarville high school for a little. My first job was in Fort Smith as a newspaper subscription seller, (door to door) 2.What made you want to run? The reason I decided to run for mayor is because I was watching a video on Facebook

Provide us with some information about your history and your background with Fort Smith. I’m Greek-American, and my family’s story in Fort Smith goes back about 100 years. My family came to America as immigrants and ultimately made Fort Smith home. Like a lot of immigrant families, they came here looking for opportunity and built a life through hard work, family, and small business. That history has shaped a lot of who I am. I grew up seeing what it takes to build a busines

Meet the staff of the 2026 Fall Semester Lions Chronicle!

By: Riplee Breeden What are you doing on Wednesday August 26th from 11:00am-1:00pm? If you said nothing, then come over to the RAWC for the UAFS Block Party! Different RSO and resources will be there tabling and getting to meet all the new faces on campus along with reconnecting with some familiar ones. There will be free food and the tradition of making your own stuffed Numa! Along with all those incredible things, The Lions Chronicle (a.k.a. us) will be there tabling as wel

In the Arkansas River Valley where small businesses often rely as much on relationships as they do revenue, networking is less of a strategy and more of a survival skill. For women entrepreneurs, however, finding the right room to build those relationships hasn't always been easy. That’s where groups like River Valley Social are stepping in. Built as a women-focused networking community in the Fort Smith area, River Valley Social is part of a broader shift toward more intent

By: Addison Ketter According to the World Record Academy, the Lavaca Beer Can is recognized as one of the world’s largest Budweiser can sculptures, adding even more historical significance to the landmark. Driving down Highway 22 near Lavaca, Arkansas, there is one thing almost everyone notices right away, a giant Budweiser beer can standing in the middle of a pasture. Rising high above the fields and cattle, the famous “Beer Can” has become one of the most recognizable landm

By: Emma Conley Picture it: the wild west. Tumbleweeds drifting by in the dusty wind. An old saloon. A man with his horse, trotting into the center of town, drawing a gun. Many such stories have been told over time, but there are many voices in literature who have a unique spin on it waiting to be read. Now imagine you could ask all the questions you wanted to, all for free! The Fort Smith Public Library will be hosting a meet-and-greet event with 16 acclaimed crime and west

By: Jacob Childers With graduation coming up, there are a lot of seniors doing their best at the end of the semester trying to make their way to receive their diploma with their cap and gown. Myself being a senior, I wonder if my peers are thinking the same thoughts I have. I was able to ask these questions to a couple of graduating seniors. I asked them to look back, look ahead, and tell me what they’d do differently. What I heard was a story of two different people: the ner

By: Abigail Winton When someone starts talking about their pet guinea, the automatic response is to think of the cute fluffy rodents. Stories are passed around about the extravagant ways their pet happened to die or escape from their enclosure. It is a general consensus that these animals have a very low survival instinct. And surprisingly enough, these are not the only guineas with such strange behaviors. Bald headed, gray feathers, like a turkey and a chicken had a baby. Th

Image Credit to Alexandria Jones By: Riplee Breeden Day of Giving and Numa’s Birthday is a tradition that every lion comes to know. Started on April 28, 2022, to raise money for 6 projects on campus. This year, 2026, will be celebrated April 28 at 8:00 a.m. until April 29 at 4:08 p.m. funding around 16 different projects on campus from RSO’s and department. How did it get to this point? How have we grown this celebration to what it is now? I got the opportunity to sit down wi