Last week I voluntarily attended the Chamber of Commerce banquet in Charleston. I say "voluntarily" because in these times that try the soul, I find myself not in the mood to attend many things outside of Stella's ball games. But, like the man in Athens who once told me he would jump from the Acropolis for me, I would do nearly anything for Glen Fenter. He was speaking at the banquet and offered me a seat at his family table.

I have written about Fenter before, and he has been a guest on my vodcast. He is the Marion school superintendent who in a better Arkansas would be our commissioner of education, and in a much better Arkansas would be our governor. He is also from Charleston, son of the late Guy Fenter, the Charleston superintendent who hired my parents out of college, and close friend of Dale Bumpers. Glen was a student of both my parents in the years they taught at Charleston, the years right before and after I was born.

Gathering with the good people of Charleston was a joy. They recently showed Arkansas the power of coming together to stand up for what's right when Governor Sanders tried to build a prison in their midst. They organized, fought, and won. This is an example to us all. It is no wonder that Glen Fenter is a product of this community. I wish everyone in Arkansas could have heard his speech.

I asked him to send me a copy so I could share it here. I don't want readers to miss a word, so I'll share half today and the rest next Sunday.

"It is so good to be back home. Jody and I both still have a special place in our hearts for this community. Particularly today, I hope that many of you recognize what a special place this still is and how fortunate you are to call it home ... and also how important it is that you continue to fight hard to keep the best parts of it for your children and theirs. Small towns don't just shape our past, they provide the foundation for our perspective on the future.

"Compared to today, life was simpler when I was growing up here. We didn't have as much convenience, but we didn't know any better--and we did have a connection. It was a village!

"That was a time in our country when purpose still prevailed over politics. Where your character and cause were more important than your party affiliation. When the needs of Americans and their communities came first. Sadly, somewhere along the road we seem to have lost our way. Like many of you, I am often frustrated, feeling trapped somewhere in the middle. I am not inspired or motivated by either group's national leadership or agendas.

"Ronald Reagan once said that our welfare system was meant to be a transitory process, not a permanent destination. Yet today I watch our Democratic Party essentially supporting a broken system that seldom seems to help folks find an off ramp that leads to skills and employment that breaks the vicious, smothering cycle of poverty. And our far-right Republicans' latest gimmick that uses school choice and voucher schemes to buy support from the religious community and the wealthy, unabashedly supporting resegregation by affluence and race.

"Neither party's agenda represents America or Arkansas to me. Our Congress is deadlocked, frozen by party allegiances, putting merit badges from their party ahead of the people they were elected to serve. I have this image in my head of two third-graders standing in the hot sun, fighting over a rapidly melting popsicle. They are each blaming the other for the heat and the fact that neither got to choose the flavor they wanted.

"Again, I, like many of you, feel trapped in the middle. But thankfully, there are still more of us in the middle than those on the fringes. That middle group has got to recognize their responsibility to take our country back. So here's the truth: Our responsibility isn't to political parties. It isn't to outside groups.

"And it isn't to the loudest voices on some television echo chamber or social media tar pit of misinformation. Our responsibility is to the next generation. To our children, and our grandchildren, who are going to need places like Charleston more than ever before. Places with stability, the nurture and protection that a true community family provides. Opportunity, and a sense of belonging. And leaders like you who are ready, willing, and able to fight to keep it.

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with Arkansas that Arkansans can't fix with prayer, purpose and perseverance. So where do we start?"

Tune in here next Sunday for the rest of the story.

Gwen Ford Faulkenberry is an author, teacher, and award-winning columnist from Ozark. Email her at gfaulkenberry@hotmail.com. Watch her vodcast here: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/podcast/smalltowngirl/, https://www.nwaonline.com/news/podcast/smalltowngirl/.

Gwen Ford Faulkenberry is a mother, author, English professor, and award-winning columnist from Ozark, Arkansas. She has written for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette since 2021.

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