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| GROUP FROM �SISTER CITIES� ATTENDS NATIONAL CONFERENCE
They came from Texarkana, Arkansasand Texarkana, Texas � the sister cities divided by State Line Avenue �to learn what they could from the Weed & Seed National Conference inHouston, Texas and take it home with them.  
See photo (L-R back row): AssistantU.S. Attorney Tom Ferraro (ED/TX); Texarkana, Arkansas Police Officer ScottMegason; Seed Coordinator Barbara Pitts; U.S. Attorney�s Law Enforcement/CommunityCoordinator Donna M. Copeland (WD/AR); Texarkana, Texas Police Sgt. StephenGass; Texarkana, Texas Parks and Recreation representative Reginald Hicksand (L-R front row): Ozan/Inghram/Iron Mountain Safe Haven Director ChrisOwens; Youth Committee representative and conference speaker Alexis Owens;Texarkana, Arkansas Police Officer Johnny McBride; and Sandflat/GlendaleSafe Haven Director Versia Miles.  
Sometimes it�s hard to explain Texarkanato visitors -- it has two of almost everything.  The easiest thingto see with your own eyes is a Federal Building that sits in the middleof a street, with half of its courtrooms and offices in one state and halfin another.  The most difficult thing to see is the effect of thelaws of the two states on the lives of the people.  From affluenceto poverty and from liquor to the lottery, what isn�t available on oneside of the street, is available on the other.  
But over the years, the cities havelearned to work together.  Representatives of the two Weed & Seedsites did just that when they created a display board to help conferenceparticipants see and understand just how unique Texarkana is.  Thetheme for the board was: �Two Sites, Two Cities, Two States, One Goal:.�  
The motto for the Arkansas Weed &Seed site is the acronym T-BON: Taking Back Our Neighborhood.  Themotto for the Texas site is: Putting the Neighbor Back in Neighborhood. These two sites publish a joint newsletter, attend each others meetings,and work together whenever possible.  When she got back from the nationalconference, Safe Haven Director Versia Miles reported that she was amazedto learn that people from across the nation and from all walks of lifecame together as a team, meeting and networking, all doing the same thingsfor their communities and for the same cause: to make neighborhoods a betterplace to live for the residents.   
In some ways, the two Texarkanas aren�tso different after all.                       |
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