Paragould Podcast

Danny Ford grew up on the East side of Paragould, attending Greene County Tech. After marrying his wife, Gail, and graduating from Arkansas State, he began working for his father-in-law, Glen Sain. He started as a car washer, eventually moving up to sales until Mr. Sain asked him to buy the original Rector dealership from him in 1983. Since then, Danny has gone on purchase car lots in Kennet, MO and Paragould, AR. Growing from 8 employees in 1983 to 110 now, we learned a lot of lessons about leadership and the important balance of caring for your customers AND employees. 

In 1979, Clifton Garmrath's grandfather took a chance on his grandson when he loaned him $3,000 to buy a box of cardboard cards with pictures of baseball players on them. Within six weeks, Clifton had paid his grandfather back running Arkansas' first ever sports card shop in the Center Hill area of Paragould, AR. Decades later, Clifton has more stories to tell than we have time to record. He has had dinner with Joe Dimaggio, was friends with Mickey Mantle's son, had a private signing with Stan Musial, visited James "Cool Papa" Bell in his home, and hosted Bob Gibson for a card show. 

Upcoming Card Shows at the Paragould Community Center from 10a-4p on May 6, June 17, Aug 12, Oct 7, & Nov 11 in the conferences rooms behind the receptionist. 

Being born with a rare birth defect called Klippel-Feil Syndrome has not deterred Trevor Thomas from proving to the world, and more importantly to himself, that he is capable of beating the odds. Though he could have been coddled to protect him from harm, his parents rarely treated Trevor differently than any other kid. This led him to being a star soccer player, but after college he felt his confidence waning. That's when he invited friends to go on an adventure of a lifetime on a four month hike up the west coast. Listen today to hear Trevor's vulnerability about what led him to be so adventurous. You can view a video he made of his journey on YouTube: https://youtu.be/-4dji4ZwbRQ 

A 25+ year veteran in law enforcement, Brad Snyder joins the podcast for the third time. This visit he shares with us about his first few months as the new Greene County Sheriff and some of the lessons he is learning along the way. Brad shares with us a bit about what it looked like to run for office and what changes he's seen in his few several weeks on the job. Repeat guests are always great, but when you've made it on three times, you know you've hit the jackpot! 

For 31 years, Chuck Long worked in game and fish careers, most notably as the Regional Educator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Even though he retired last year, his passion for educating our community about hunting, fishing, and all of the nature around us has not wavered. To hear some amazing stories about how beneficial nature is to our personal growth, listen and share! 

Founded in 2018, Arrows Behavior Therapy and Consulting aims to serve families in education and therapy for individuals on the Autism Spectrum. For over 20 years, Miranda Cavaness has been passionate about kids on the Autism Spectrum. Serving 125 learners at Arrows, they develop individualized learning plans and set socially valid goals so that these young people can thrive in our society! Their passion is to teach kids to be who they are and how they can navigate our world successfully. 

This is an informative episode that will hopefully be helpful to many in our community, so download it now, and share it with friends.

On this episode of The Paragould Podcast, we are visited by owner of Paragould restaurant staple Taco Rio, Brad Smith! You'll want to hear the path Brad took to become the owner of Taco Rio, how he learned through resilience and suffering to appreciate the most important things in life and trust God throughout the ups and downs. 

Brad Hyde got his start in the mental health field 29 years ago with Greenleaf, which was later St Bernard's Behavioral Health. Through his career, Brad has learned not to try to be rational with irrational people, that "No" is a complete sentence, and that health is about the whole person.

Lindsay Roberts is the Executive Director for Together We Foster. After launching the organization in 2019, they have since opened three visit centers across NEA where children in foster care can visit with their biological parents in a warm environment. They also operate clothing closets for foster parents to access the resources they need free of charge.

Lindsay and her husband, Quincy, began fostering in 2017, which is a growing need in Greene County. There are currently 107 children from Greene County in foster care with only 35 open homes available. To learn more, visit togetherwefosternea.org.

Brock and Loranne launched Flower Shop Network in the spring of 2000. It was a humble little startup in the loft of Adams’ Florist. Today, FSN has over 100 employees and serves 4,000 florists nationwide. Brock attributes much of their success to "catching a wave," but you will quickly discover just how sharp these two are in this episode.

Started Atwill Media in 2014, which has developed and maintains over 1,100 websites.

When talking about the risk of starting a business, Brock says, “When you swim half way across the river, you can’t turn back.”