Estrada Ad Misleads Us

Maybe our Whispers staff doesn’t watch enough late-night TV. We just noticed Erik Estrada, familiar to embarrassed baby boomers as Officer Poncherello from that ’70s show “CHiPs,” hawking home sites in south Texas and Northwest Arkansas — specifically Bella Vista Village.

That Bella Vista has a bunch of home sites available is not news. Nor is the fact that Northwest Arkansas is one of the fastest-growing parts of the country.

But we thought this statement by Estrada was: “Wal-Mart, J.B. Hunt and Tyson Foods saw this growth potential and are now located in nearby Bentonville, causing an economic boom and unprecedented growth every month.”

We thought J.B. Hunt was at Lowell and Tyson at Springdale, but more importantly, we had long assumed that those companies led the migration to Northwest Arkansas rather than merely joined the parade.

But who are we to question Ponch?

The ads in question are sponsored by National Recreational Properties Inc. of Irvine, Calif., a real estate broker that also promotes residential developments in Washington state, New Mexico and California using Estrada and game show host Chuck Woolery as spokesmen.