Local Chapters Make List
by March 28, 2005 12:00 am 121 views
Four Arkansas chapters of Duck’s Unlimited are honored in the March/April issue of Duck’s Unlimited magazine for being among the top 100 chapters in the United States. That’s out of 3,700 chapters in the nation.
The in-state honorees include the Benton County chapter in Bentonville, where David Bain and Jay Saxton are co-chairmen, the Crawford County chapter in Van Buren (David Martin), the Central Arkansas chapter in Little Rock (Bill Craig) and the Texarkana chapter (Joe Dowd).
The chapters each raised more than $100,000 to make the cut.
Benton County was the No. 1 chapter in Arkansas raising $104,000 for 2004. About 7.5 percent of every dollar given to DU stays in the donor’s home state. Through January of 2004, the organization had invested more than $25.9 million in Arkansas habitats.
DU is responsible for helping restore more than 43,000 acres of Arkansas public wetlands since 1985, and helping protect, restore or enhance 253,000 total acres of public and private land in Arkansas for duck habitats.
DU Regional Director Jeff Lawrence said Jeff Latham, who co-chaired the Benton County group’s annual state barbecue championship, and sponsor chairman David Young also contributed greatly to the unit’s success.
This year’s Fifth Annual Fire Up Your Grill Barbecue Championship is set for April 22-23 at the Benton County Fairgrounds. About 65 teams from a dozen states are entered in the competition, which is a qualifier for nationals.