1cleanbird

iTrader: (2)

I believe its at the Benton City Hall. Looks like I'll be heading out there.

99Hawk262

iTrader: (19)

Uh, yeah.....there was never a chance in hell for this dragstrip. That was a horrible meeting. Benton isn't my city and I don't have a voice there, but those people had a horrible misconception about drag racing. Some of them are pretty ignorant. I'm glad I don't mind the drive to Memphis!

bene

iTrader: (16)

I totally agree. That was pretty much an ambush. Benton= retirement city for OLD folks.

99ngc00

iTrader: (2)

+1 I must agree with everything posted above. The meeting in a whole was a joke. The points that were trying to be made and being said over and over again are erroneous. It seemed like the towns folk of Benton have no idea what a drag strip will consist of or for that fact do for there community. One statement that really bothered me concerned the amount of traffic to be coming and going through the community. What about the baseball games that are held in the park beside where the proposed drag strip is to be and also there was mention that they would rather put businesses there instead of the drag strip. How much traffic do they think is going to be avoided by building houses or businesses on this plot. The drag strip would only cause traffic possibly 2 nights a week and with the curfew enforced in the city there would not be any real late racing going on. Also the thing about the noise... Some were even complaining about the freeway being in that area so how many cars will be able to be heard over the sound of the traffic. How will the citizens in there houses living 8 blocks away be able to differentiate between a car accelerating to get on the highway or one for 8-11 seconds on the track. Am i making any sense here?...

LS WHAT

well it is over for benton to have a drag strip but somethings happen for a reason but i stayed after the meeting and nathen is still looking to builded a track in central arkansas they were talking about in the bauxite area so maybe something good will come out of it

ThaBirdMan

iTrader: (15)

This whole thing was ridiculous.


Simply Ridiculous

NMann

My name is Shelly Mann; I am Nathan's wife. In his defense I have to say that he went further with this than anyone ever has. We went into this meeting tonight with all the possible facts available to us; so please don't say we should have done this or that. We did all that we could to prove our idea to the City of Benton & they just didn't want to hear it. They had their minds made up before we even got to the meeting. I do have to voice my opinion and say that for those of you that were there & chose not to speak on the behalf of the idea; you have no room to get on here or any other board & say anything negative toward Nathan's efforts. He never had a chance up against all the "Bentonites" that were interrupting him. He never once spoke out of turn while an opposer was at the mic. But he was interupted several times while he spoke. Everyone that attended had the opportunity to get up & speak their mind. So please don't judge someones efforts if you didn't make any at all. For all the support that we had in the beginning it sure wasn't shown in numbers tonight. We do not blame anyone for our loss at the meeting. We came as prepared as possible & it was in vain to say the least.

We have decided to go forward with our idea & look for another venue that would welcome us with open arms. Not everyone is closed minded about drag racing or the people that do it. Most people & towns know what kind of revenue comes along with racing & would never turn down that kind of investment.

Finally; I want to thank all of those that supported us while we fought the council & the city. For those that chose to sit back & critize our efforts-feel free to do it yourselves next time if you think you would have a better chance of convincing the City of Benton.

If you have any comments to make please direct them to us personally. Most of you have our numbers. If you don't you can email them to
shellymann78@aol.com.

Thank you
Shelly Mann

RobertR.

iTrader: (1)

Well Shelly, if it were me, I wouldn't build that track where Benton or Saline county could get one dime of revenue from it I'd build it in Malvern... but I'm the vindictive type.

GJL0180

See what the city of Cabot will say or the county of Lonoke, there are alot of racers in this area.

bene

iTrader: (16)

I was there and I didn't think or I got the impression that we don't have the voice of the matter. What am I going to say? Hi, I'm Mervin Brice and I'm from Dallas, Texas and live in Jax, AR and I'm for the drag strip. My voice to that hearing proposal automatically becomes null after I said I'm from Dallas,TEXAS and live in Jacksonville, AR.

slowandrichws6

iTrader: (2)

wow! ive been away from the computer for a couple of days and i guess im surprised that it went down like it did. shelly, i think yall did a great job from the meets that i went to and i am still gonna suppot yall in lookin for a track.

99Hawk262

iTrader: (19)

I kind of felt the same way.....who am I to tell the people who live in Benton what to do with their city. I might have to deal with it once a week. They have to deal with it every day. I thought this was another deal for signing the petition. Once I got there and saw that it was a meeting, I certainly wasn't going to stand up and say something.....I know almost nothing about this. I was there to learn more, not get pounded by questions I couldn't answer. This would have strengthened their cause even more, not that they needed any more strength. I still disagree with most of the people who spoke against it because they were grossly wrong in what they thought this was supposed to be.

I will say a huge thanks to those who tried to make this a reality. I just hope it keeps momentum. I will continue to support any effort to bring a track to central Arkansas.

02SSLE

iTrader: (26)

well this sux

Zak Attack

iTrader: (1)

I watched the video on the public access channel (Channel 12 for local Saline County people that have Charter) and it was brutal, I am glad you guys kept your cool. Chances are I would of asked those people how old they were. If they thought they would last another 10 years. If you can answer yes then you are allowed to be in the meeting. Hell the alderman looked a little dusty.

Not to mention they got $600,000 to build a bridge and then changed their minds so now they are gonna spend it on a sidewalk in down town Benton. Way to go Aldermen, way to go ahead and screw your Grandkids out of a place to have some fun and be safe. Instead they will have one ****** fancy *** sidewalk downtown WHERE NO ONE EVER GOES!

silverstreak_ws6

damn wish i coulda been there...i love debating..

Red96TA

iTrader: (14)

Damn. This blows.

99Hawk262

iTrader: (19)

It was very hard to keep cool....hearing some of the things they said. 99ngc00 made several comments that people sitting around us heard. I thought he was going to blow up.

Zak Attack

iTrader: (1)

Were you guys sitting behind Nathan and them or on the other side, the video was pointed at the old people that were over there Shoulder, and there is one old lady that would clap her *** off whenever a fellow old person would talk bad about the race track. I bet my neighbors could hear me yelling at the TV when that old bag of bones was flailing her arms like two big dead salmon.

1cleanbird

iTrader: (2)

^^ LOL dead salmon. we were on the opposite side of nathan. There were old people all around us clapping, and I was just like wow, wtf, it's useless to try and say something. Nik def. shouted out some stuff which was awesome. There was one lady who looked just so old, and mean, (She looks like Ms. Havishum would look in the book Great Expectations) and she just had this mean *** frown the whole time, and would clap profusely at anyone saying the track would cause "noise" or the pollution.

99Hawk262

iTrader: (19)

I think you're officially the funniest person I've ever met. It's impossible to stop laughing when you're around .