I had to throw away the first column I had written about how bad doing away with the U of A tennis program was and how it accomplished nothing. However, the tennis program has been reinstated -- thank goodness. I ended that column with, "Do you think the University of Texas would ever discontinue its tennis program? ... Of course not!"

Here's an interesting little look at Calion Road here in El Dorado, which is one of the oldest streets in the state. Originally, it connected south Arkansas to the early French settlements on the Ouachita River called Scarborough's Landing, near what is today Calion. The street extended south to the Ouachita River at Monroe, Louisiana.

In early 1845, the settlers, after a bad summer of yellow fever, which they blamed on "bad" air along the river (of course, it was the mosquitoes that carried the virus), decided to seek a better place to establish a county seat and sent five men to scout out a new site. The men were looking for higher ground away from the river, and they recommended a spot where the present Union County Courthouse and El Dorado's First Baptist Church are now located. That area is one of the highest elevations in Union County.

Today, immediately north of Highway 167 Bypass in El........

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