News

Berryville Elementary School principal Kelly Swofford and several students check out new playground equipment at the school in 2015. After several years at Berryville, Swofford, 57, will move on to Eureka Springs in the fall, where he will return to the classroom as a fifth grade math and science teacher. David Bell / Carroll County News

Kelly Swofford is almost a fixture in Carroll County education. During a career that has spanned parts of five decades, he’s been everything from a teacher to an administrator, working with and mentoring several generations of the county’s youngest residents, primarily in Green Forest and Berryville.

Eureka Springs Mayor Butch Berry did not lie under oath in a deposition, he told the city council at its regular meeting on Monday, April 25. “Recently I was, been accused of lying,” Berry said at the end of a tense two-hour meeting at the Auditorium.

Active cases of COVID-19 in Carroll County more than doubled over the past week, with 15 cases reported Monday by the Arkansas Department of Health. Statewide, the active case total also showed an increase, rising to 1,562 — the second consecutive week of rising numbers.

Many Eureka Springs city employees will soon be getting a bump in salary. No action was taken by the city council on the issue at its regular meeting on Monday, April 25, but after hearing that the city could afford to make many city employee salaries at least $15 an hour, Mayor Butch Berry said the increase would likely go into effect the first pay period of May.