There was some very rough weather...

mrblanche

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Lots of thunderstorms and tornadoes up in Fastnoc's area Thursday night. Fortunately, he was OK, from what I hear.

However, the town of Mena was pretty seriously torn up. Some 25 blocks were damaged, a factory was destroyed, and several people were killed. This isn't the first time for Mena; they had one some years ago, maybe 15 years ago? Lots of damage close to downtown.

I have a house about 30 miles north of Mena. My brother (and his many cats) lives there. Also, Mena was the nearest town to where my mother last lived.

Now, in this age of Google, this isn't a hard quiz, but give it a try without google, if you can!

1. Mena's name is shortened from a queen's name. Whose?

2. Mena was involved in allegations of a Presidential scandal. Can you give any details?

3. Destruction in Mena immediately raised concerns among race fans and hot rod builders. Why?
 

lil maggie

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I'm a little confused by the 1st question.
Mena, Arkansas?
A lot of people think the city was named after a queen. I'm almost sure it was named after a rich investor/bigwig's wife whose first name was Mena before the 1900's. I do know there is a Queen Wilhelmina State Park in Arkansas because two of the biggest events in that area are the mountainfest arts and crafts show and the Queen Wilhelmina Rod Run. I was suppose to go the arts and craft show one year but never made it down there.


I could be wrong
 
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mrblanche

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Well, you have it correct, more or less. There is no certainty, but it's believed the town was named either for Queen Wilhelmina or for the mother of railroad investor John A. DeGoeijen. There's no certainty in the records.

The Wilhelmina Lodge, on the Talimena Drive, is definitely named for the queen, who was supposed to visit, but never did.
 

fastnoc

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hello, thanks for the thought mrblanche. It was pretty darn ugly here. tornados spotted in numerous places within a few miles of us, but we came out pretty clean. Just had some bad hail.

thankfully we are on the north end side of a small mountain (actually a big hill) that stalls the clouds. But those storms usually move south to north and they stall on the other side. if they get to this side they're moving pretty fast which is good


I was pretty darn nervous though. iv'e got a good UPS so i didn't have to shut down my pc, but i was glued to weather.com watching the radar until the red and purple parts passed. Whew!
 
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mrblanche

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I have a house about 30 miles north of Mena, where my brother lives. The stuff got pretty close, then fell apart.

Mena has had at least 3 tornadoes that I know of, over the years.
 
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mrblanche

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Originally Posted by mrblanche

1. Mena's name is shortened from a queen's name. Whose?

2. Mena was involved in allegations of a Presidential scandal. Can you give any details?

3. Destruction in Mena immediately raised concerns among race fans and hot rod builders. Why?
No one even tried at the second two. The first, as lil maggie pointed out, is that it is unclear whether or not Mena was named for Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands.

#2: Mena has a larger airport (longer air strip) than you would expect in a town that size. The reason is that there is a company there that refurbishes business planes. However, it's long enough that fairly large planes can land there. It was alleged that while Bill Clinton was governor, he was involved in drug running through that airport, in cooperation with the CIA. It's a long, funny, and ridiculous story, and way too much fun for conspiracy theorists who love to tie together GHW Bush, the CIA, Clinton, and about 15 other shadowy group.

#3. Mena is the home of Brodix and Street and Performance. Brodix makes parts for racing engines, and they are particularly famous for their heads. Street and Performance builds complete turn-key high-performance engines, mainly for street rods.

http://www.brodix.com/

http://www.hotrodlane.cc/
 
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