Page 6 - 2018HOLIDAYS

6C El Dorado News-Times
Saturday, December 15, 2018
an inspection showed that the badly deteriorated lights and supporting equipment posed a safety hazard.
It was supposed to be a small break in the annual tradition, not a complete stop.
City officials set about trying to
find the money to replace the lights.
A presentation was made to the El Dorado Works Board in September 2016 by Mayor Frank Hash and Public Works Director Robert Edmonds, asking for $56,500 to cover the estimated costs of restoring the structure by implementing a new design and purchasing new LED lights.
But efforts came to a halt as city officials decided to explore other options due to some restrictions
that came with the agreement with American Tower. For instance, the tree could not be erected prior to Dec. 1. The tree was customarily lit, along with other Christmas decorations
in the city, during the Downtown Lighting Ceremony in mid-November.
So officials opted to try to work with the budding Murphy Arts District to come up with a new plan. Discussions had included an idea to make room for the tree within the district in the spot where a 110-foot replica of oil derrick stands as an homage to the city’s oil boom history. The derrick
is next to the Griffin Restaurant and First Financial Bank Music Hall at the intersection of Washington and Locust.
But the derrick was said to not be tall enough for the tree in its traditional size, nor was the space designed to allow vehicles to drive underneath.
And so efforts stalled again.
News-Times staff checked with officials for this story, and there are no new plans to revive the the decades- old tradition that so many fondly remember.
But perhaps that will change someday.
File photo
McAvoy: In this photo from January 2017, Shirley Johnson-McAvoy sits in her son's living room. According to an article in the News-Times, McAvoy was an integral part of the KTVE Christmas Tree starting.
Winning the Holiday Battle of the Bulge
KTVE: Continued from Page 5C
“The first year it started, there was a lady who was an invalid that lived in El Dorado who could see the tree out her window. She wrote a letter to us telling how much that tree meant to her and how it filled her with the Christmas spirit. I’ve thought about that lady several times and I hope she enjoyed it for years and years,” McAvoy said.
In 2009, then-Mayor Mike Dumas gave the News-Times some interesting facts about the old tree:
A count taken during a 21-day period in 1989 showed that 6,655 vehicles, with an estimated 25,000 people, drove underneath the tree. The survey was taken between Dec. 4 and Dec. 25, and the tree was lit each day from 5 p.m. until midnight during that time.
The tree typically had 5,000 15-watt bulbs — a total of 75,000 watts — on 40 strands.
The tree was 200 feet tall and had not changed much from when it was originally erected. The colors of the lights used to be blue with a white cap. By 2009, the colors had changed to red and green to fit in with the city’s overall holiday color scheme.
The tree was at one time the tallest manmade Christmas tree in Arkansas and possibly the South. It was known as “The World’s Tallest Man-Made Christmas Tree.”
Then KTVE moved offices to its current location.
But the tree continued.
Property owner Shelli Cross
had made a lease agreement with American Tower, which owned the tower, to allow for continued use of the structure for the annual holiday sight.
In 2016, American Tower ordered the removal of the lighting display after
By Clemente Saenz IV
Executive Director of HealthWorks Fitness and Wellness Center
Ah, the holiday season, when the weather gets cooler and, for many, it’s the time when we lose all concept of being healthy.
Many face this time as a battle of wills. An internal struggle with you in one corner versus mountains of desserts, loads of homemade sides and a ton of turkey and gravy which, unfortunately, many lose.
Many media reports have stated an average weight gain for Americans to be around 7-10 pounds but the true number is much less. In the New England Journal of Medicine 2000 edition, reports showed weight gain to actually be 1 to 2 pounds. While this is much less than reported by media sources, it still leads to
an average weight gain for most Americans of around 15-20 pounds a decade.
Here are a few of my favorite tips to help you combat the holiday weight gain!
1. Drink WATER, cut back on sodas Choose to drink water over
anything else. Cold or hot herbal teas are a good option, too. Before you
eat when going out or showing up
at a holiday event, try drinking two glasses of H2O. This will seriously curb your appetite. In fact, it has been suggested hunger is often confused with thirst, so drink up!
Side note: Carbon dioxide trapped in the bubbles of fizzy drinks causes a buildup of air, which can lead to gas. This attributes to belly bloat and other unfortunate situations.
2. Weigh yourself
I am the last person to suggest using the scale as the only determination of
See FITNESS, Page 7C
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