ROGERS — There has been a newspaper in Rogers since 1881. Sometimes two operated in the growing town. The Rogers Morning News can trace its heritage to 1881’s The New Era.

The names of the various publications have changed through the years as have owners, but as with any news organization, the memories that linger in newsrooms are of stories covered and people met. The follow are recollections from current Northwest Arkansas Newspapers employees of their time working in the Rogers Morning News newsroom.

Name: Rusty Turner

Year Joined Staff: 1983, then again in 1991

What: Westside business development, starting with Village on the Creeks

When: Circa 1992

Where: New Hope Road and the new Interstate 540

The Story: When developers of Village on the Creeks, a commercial and office complex at the end of New Hope Road, was announced in about 1992, many Rogers residents wondered what was going on. Other than a fancy new gated golf community (then called Champions) and a nice restaurant (remember Tail of the Trout?) there wasn’t much out there except pastures and the Rife family’s old barn. In the intervening 20 years, development in that part of town has proven the foresight of the early investors. Dozens of new commercial, retail and hospitality businesses have located along the 540 corridor, anchored by the developments near New Hope Road. These businesses have been fed by the explosion of residential neighborhoods to the south and west. The area is now home to one of the state’s top retail destinations (Pinnacle Hills Promenade) and Arkansas’ largest convention center (John Q. Hammons Center). Several of the community’s largest churches call the area home, as does Rogers’ new, state of the art hospital. In a town that just 20 years ago boasted few hotels and only a handful of sit-down restaurants, Rogers, from Pleasant Grove Road up to Walnut Street, is now a bustling center of commerce. 

Why It Is Memorable: The speed in which farmland turned into an urban commercial center was breathtaking — less than 20 years.

Name: Leeanna Walker

Year Joined Staff: 1981

What: Armed takeover of Rogers Police Department and City Hall

When: Nov. 5, 1984

Where: 212 W. Elm St.

The Story: Frankie Parker was well known to Rogers police. Over the weeks preceding his armed takeover of the Police Department and City Hall, officers responded to numerous complaints made by his estranged wife and her family about him, and complaints Parker made about them. The problems between Parker and the Warrens came to head on the night before election day.

Parker went to James and Sandra Warrens’ home where he shot and killed them and tried to kill their daughter, Cindy. He then drove across town to the Warrens’ other daughter’s home. There, Parker kidnapped Pam Warren, forcing her to go with him to the Police Department where he shot Ray Feyen, the department’s warrant officer.

Feyen was rescued and survived, but the standoff continued for hours. Then, Parker walked into a portion of the department in which he was visible to the officers outside. He was shot in the hand. Pam Warren was rescued and survived a gunshot wound inflicted by Parker.

Parker was executed in 1994.

Why It Is Memorable: This incident brought to Rogers a level of violence not previously seen in the area. It also led to stricter security for public buildings in the city.

Name: Flip Putthoff

Year Joined Staff: 1980

When: 1990s

Where: Northwest Arkansas

The Story: During Bill Clinton’s presidency, he would often fly in on Air Force One to Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport with much hoopla, fanfare, crowds and speech making. Aaron Skinner and I were the two photographers in the Rogers office and we covered these visits.

During the first visit, we noticed that the press photographers were assigned an area on a riser way in the back and could not leave this area. John Q. Public was allowed up front, where President Clinton would pass by shaking hands and smiling while everyone took pictures.

From our assigned press positions, the only photos we could get were the usual images of Clinton waving from the door of the plane, Clinton walking across the tarmac, Clinton at the podium speaking. So Aaron and I decided that one of us would be the official news photographer and the other would attend the event just as a regular guy, as John Q. Public.

Whoever was the John Q. Public photographer would carry only one camera and no other gear or camera bag. We’d dress casually like everyone else.

It worked! The first time we tried this, Clinton walked close by and we were able to get a great photo of him smiling and surrounded by a sea of hands as he worked the crowd. This is the way we did it on subsequent visits and got some nice photos. We had these and also photos from the official press area to choose from.

On at least two occasions the Clinton family stayed for a day or two out at the Tyson lake house on Beaver Lake. People would tell us, “Oh, it must be so exciting, covering the president when he visits.”

Not really.

When the Clintons were at the lake, we in the media were assigned to stay in a specific area, usually at the intersection of two dirt roads with no shade. Here we would stay, sometimes for hours. If the Clintons decided to go do something, such as go to AQ Chicken, we were told about it and could cover it. We learned to take a book, a lawn chair and maybe some board games to keep us occupied when the Clintons were at the lake.

Why It Is Memorable: We outsmarted the Secret Service.

Name: Paul Nielsen

Year Joined Staff: 1984

What: Rogers High Mounties football conference championship

When: November 2006

Where: Rogers

The Story: During the 2006 high school football season, ESPN and ESPN The Magazine sent a reporter and film crew to Rogers to do a feature on the Mounties football team. Network officials didn’t know the Mounties football team was in the midst of its best season ever. That week, Rogers (9-0) was preparing to play Bentonville (7-2) with the 7A-West Conference championship on the line. Rogers jumped to a 21-0 lead but Bentonville battled back and forced overtime. With Lee Ziemba, now a Carolina Panthers lineman, blocking quarterback Cody Kirby rushed for a game winning touchdown in overtime to give Rogers the conference championship. Rogers would finish the season at 12-1 after losing to Fort Smith Southside in the state championship game.

Why it is Memorable: It was the Mounties’ first conference championship in 28 seasons and the game was featured on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” and in the December issue of ESPN The Magazine.

Name: Kent Eikenberry

Year Joined Staff: 1986

What: Mike Herbert competes in the 1988 Summer Olympics

When: 1988

Where: Seoul, South Korea

The Story: Mike Herbert, Rogers resident and a Rogers High School graduate, finished fourth in the 500-meter flatwater kayak race at the 1988 Summer Olympics. He also competed in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, and the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Why it is Memorable: It was my first experience of seeing a community come together showing that much support for an individual. The Northwest Arkansas Morning News (a predecessor of the Rogers Morning News) published names of residents offering Mike their congratulations. Patterned after the Community Christmas Card, people donated money to get their name listed. My memory has dimmed over the years, but I think the community donated a couple thousand dollars or more to the U.S. Olympic Foundation on Mike’s behalf. There was a parade through downtown and a community-wide reception for Mike at the Rogers Activity Center.

Name: Bob Caudle

Year Joined Staff: 1992

What: The Great Ice Storm

When: January 2009

Where: Northwest Arkansas

The Story: Coverage of the ice storm

Why it is Memorable: Electricity was spotty and moving. The newspaper’s copy and design desk moved to the Rogers office, which had electricity, after the Springdale office lost power. We were all trying to scamper around to offices and houses that had power and file stories from there. It seemed like there was a story on every city block about either how people were coping with the loss of power or how they were coping with damage from the storm. It gave reporters a lesson on always keeping a cellphone charged and, no doubt, sold a bunch of phone chargers for vehicles.

Name: Thomas Sissom

Year Joined Staff: 1992

What: The construction and opening of Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport

When: November 1998

Where: Highfill

The Story: I was covering Fayetteville city government for the Northwest Arkansas Times in December 1990 when the first public presentation on the proposed regional airport was made to the city’s Board of Directors. Over the next few years, as I moved to a job at The Morning News, I continued to cover the airport project as supporters fought and overcame local and national opposition.

Locally, critics insisted Fayetteville’s Drake Field could handle the role of a regional airport and, nationally, critics questioned the need for a costly new airport in “rural” Northwest Arkansas. Some Republican foes of President Clinton fought the airport, labeling it as a pork barrel project for the Democratic president’s home state, even though John Paul Hammerschmidt, a former congressman representing the 3rd District, was an early and ardent supporter. The airport project was even the subject of an extremely negative report on a major television network “news magazine.”

When the airport was scheduled to open, my reporting duties included taking a puddle-jumper flight from Drake Field to Dallas to catch a connecting flight to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on Oct. 31. After spending Halloween night in Chicago, the press and assorted dignitaries, including Hammerschmidt, boarded a southbound regional jet for the first official flight to land at XNA.

Why It Is Memorable: Five days later, Clinton landed at the new airport in Air Force One, a specially-configured Boeing 747 that couldn’t have landed at Drake Field, for the official dedication. Clinton noted transportation of people and goods has changed over time as technology has advanced and air travel has replaced other modes of transportation as the preferred means of travel. For Northwest Arkansas to continue to grow and be a part of the global economy, Clinton said, access to air travel was a must.

“Today, in a sentence, at long last, Northwest Arkansas can fly,” Clinton said.