Joyce Hale
The Arkansas Citizens First Congress and Arkansas Public Policy Panel honored Joyce Hale of Fayetteville with the Brownie Ledbetter Dragon Slayer Award during an event June 23 at the 4-H Center in Ferndale.
Hale is a Free Weekly columnist who writes about fracking — fracturing shale deposits to extract natural gas.
Hale has worked tirelessly through the League of Women Voters, Sierra Club, and other groups, championing a range of issues from fair elections to clean water to make Arkansas a better place. She was one of the first, and most forceful, in the state to raise concerns about the impacts of natural gas fracking on water quality and landowners.
The Brownie W. Ledbetter Dragon Slayer Award is named for the Arkansas Public Policy Panel co-founder and former director. Ledbetter constantly called on Arkansans to fight against the social diseases of racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other oppression.
