Hi there Tex:

As far as there being some environmental issue for the reason why there are so many cases of cancer in this area. Now of course there are different kinds of cancer that people has around here. Some had lung cancer maybe from smoking or from other causes. All I had said is that the Oncology clinic here does treat alot of people and all of those people are not just from Searcy, some are from other towns in other nearby counties and some are from other towns in the county that I live in. The county here is White County and one thing that White County is also known for is the count fair as our county fair is the largest county fair in the state of Arkansas and also it has been rated a blue ribbon county fair by I believe one of the news mag, I believe that it may been US News and World Reports, but that might be wrong. Now Harding University has been ranked by US News and World Reports I  beelieve or maybe it was US business news as being one of the ten best colleges in value to attend as what it cost to goto school at Harding and going to a good college is NOT cheap these days. So the oncology clinic and the oncologist treats people not only from this county but also from surronding counties. The same thing with the hospital here, there are people that come to the hospital here not just from this county but the surronding counties as well.

And there alot of people that lives in this part of Arkansas. This area is one area of Arkansas that sees growth all of the time.

That's it for now. Take care till later. :-)

B4N Joel (aka joetom57) :-) :-)

Hi there Tex:

Yes the Buffalo and White rivers are good for canoeing. My brother had scuba dived all over Greers Ferry Lake and I believe around Hot Springs too. Him and his wife had deep sea dived along the gulf coast of Florida with another couple that were good friends of theirs and still are. All the kids has been certified divers as well. When my brother and his wife got married in 1980 he had his daughter from his first wife and his wife had a son that was just 4 and a daughter that was about 14 or 15 the time from her first husband and in 1981 they have a son together, Now all of those kids are grown and are married and has kids of their own, We have two sets of twins in the family, my niece has a twin boy and girl that are two and a little girl that is 5, my youngest nephew and his wwife has twin boys that are two and my oldest nephew and his wife has little boy that turned 7 in September, he is in first grade this year. Now my brother died suddenly and unexpectdly on March 31, 1999 in a scuba diving incident in Cozumel, Mexico while on a spring beak criuse with his wife, his daughter and their youngest son that graduate high school in 1999, so the cruise was his senior trip and others from my brothers school and his wifes school, My brother was a principal of a elementary school where all of the teachers and kids liked and loved him. So YES when he died suddenly it was a shock to our whole family and all of his friends and co-workers and the kids at his school and their parents. HIs name was Larry Fuller. In case you might had heard his name. You could have if you have worked in elementary education as he is known throughout the South Central Association of Elementary Adminsistaters. Now none of the kids were married back then and so they did not have any kids and my brother had wanted to have grandkids so bad as he loved kids. Now my sister-in-lawa daugther lives in Cal and she has a little boy that is 5 and a little girl that is about 2 or maybe 3 now, now her and kids dad are not married on paper but they do live together as a couple and in Cal they have what is called a comnon law marriage. so in Cal they are considered marriied, not on paper with a marriage license but a married couple.

But my brother was a expreienced diver with many hours of dive time under his belt and he knew the dangers of diviing and he was doing something that he really liked doing and enjoyed doing.

That's it for now. Take care till later. :-)

B4N Joel (aka joetom57) :-)

HI there Tex:

It is my ONLY brother and he was only 51 when he died and his daughter had a close father - daughter relationship, so it was hard on  her to lose her dad and also it was hard on his youngest son to lose his dad as he wsa only 17 at the time. Now my sister-in-laws son, that will tell you that he will always consider my brother as his dad even though he has his own natrual dad, he will say that he feels that my brother was more of a dad to him than his own dad. Now yes legally this is my brothers step-son, but  in our family we don't say or use the word step. My brother and his wife had a blended family. They had yours, mine and ours when it comes to their children. And YES growing up as brothers we DID fight at times, heck don't all brothers fight at times, My brother was 9 years older than me and my sister is 7 years older than I am. So my brother was the oldest and the first born and of course it was hard on my mom too when he died. I did a memoral page for him at what was geocities.com, that yahoo has now closed down, But you can now see the memorial here at: http://artomcat.com/lafsoc/larry.html

That's it for now. Take care till later. :-)

B4N Joel (aka joetom57) :-)