Time capsule draws state media attention

By Rick Kennedy, managing editor
For the second time this week, statewide television media was in town Thursday for a segment on the Hempstead County Bicentennial’s Time Capsule as Channel 6 news visited local students and the welding team on the University of Arkansas – Hope campus.
As television reporter Heather Wright shot video and conducted interviews, Hempstead County Bicentennial Chairman Richard Read said he hopes that the time capsule story might attract national attention.
“And why not? This is a worthy community effort celebrating history and telling the story of Hempstead County in 2018 for another generation 50 years from now,” Read said.
For much of 2018, Read has been touting the Time Capsule as an integral and important part of Hempstead County’s 200th anniversary; Read has been the principal behind both the idea and its eventual conception and design.
The “Letters to the Future” is one of the features Read has been promoting for future generations, possibly even relatives, will see the content in 2068.
On Thursday, Read was also emphasizing that no cost was involved to participate, simply the time and effort for Hempstead County residents and organizations to fill out a one-page form letter.
“This is an exceptional once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said.
Read added that all of the letters will be microfilmed by the Arkansas State Archives and then placed in the time capsule, and every citizen of the county is invited to turn in one sheet.
During his television interview, Read rehashed much of the mission statement and thinking behind the project.
“We seek to provide Hempstead County descendants and residents with a fully represented, balanced inclusive understanding of who we were, what we found important, troubling, and our goals, dreams aspirations, and our sense of community in 2018. It celebrates our Bicentennial, but also our moment in Hempstead County’s history. It passes on to the future our personal community legacy and sense of community,” Read said.
On Tuesday this week, statewide television was in Hope for the unveiling of “Denny’s Place” at the Hope Academy of Public Service (HAPS) campus in honor of the late Denver L. “Denny” Dickinson.