Saline County might be getting a flag. Justice of the Peace Keith Kellum formed flag committee consisting of himself and several others from the local art and history community, including Kathy Lewellen, Warren Kuhn, Russell Burton, Sara McClain, and Trevor Villines. See below for the submitted designs and what County officials thought about them and the project.
They launched a contest on July 30th, 2025, asking community members to submit designs according to North American Vexillological Association’s (NAVA) guide. In summary, NAVA says a design should be simple, so that a child can draw in from memory. It should also be meaningful, comprised of 2-3 contrasting colors, using no letters or seals, and be distinctive.
One student and one adult were chosen for the basis of the design. Adi Story of Benton High School entered a design with a maroon background, a line drawing of a clocktower in the middle that represents the middle of the Saline County Courthouse, and 8 stars, arranged in a half diamond in the lower third of the rectangle. The stars represent to represent the 7 municipalities in the County, along with Hot Springs Village, a gated community with roughly half its property in Saline County. Ms. Story added a special touch, depicting the clock hands to show 6:35. In military time, that may read as 18:35. This is a reference to the establishment of Saline County in the year 1835.
Businessman Ryan Taneja submitted a similar flag, but with a silhouette of the clocktower to look like there’s sun on one side and shade on the other. Mr. Taneja’s design arranged 7 stars in an arc above the clocktower to symbolize the municipalities. He also included background colors that mirror the County’s logo – green for agriculture, blue for the Saline River that runs through the County, and orange for the history of clay and pottery in this region.
The flag committee determined that they would combine elements from the two winning flags. liked Ms. Story’s courthouse and time elements, but that the maroon color is a symbol for the City of Benton, and the high school. They liked the arc of stars and the colors from Mr. Taneja’s design.
See below for what County Committee members and others said about the flag designs. Also, the full meeting video is below. The flag discussion is from 5:00 – 24:00.
Justice of the Peace Josh Curtis asked what would happen if another community incorporated into municipality. JP Karen Crowson asked whether they wanted to include Hot Springs Village as a star. It’s not a municipality, but it’s a large population in the county. Someone in the courtroom audience joked that they could use a marker to add a star.
JP Jim Whitley commented that he really liked the profile of the tower on Mr. Taneja’s design and would like to use that, but keep the clock hands set to 18:35.
Mr. Kellums stated that he would like to decide on a design that night, so it could be placed on the Quorum Court agenda in the next two weeks. He also said that the cost of the physical designing of a flag, along with flagpole installation might be around $10,000 to $15,000.
JP Clint Chism stated he didn’t want to leave out smaller communities as far as representation by a star. JP C.J. Engel stated that he wasn’t ready to move the project forward until private funding was identified. He felt that County funds should not be used for it at this time. JP Crowson later agreed with this.
JP Josh Curtis asked Saline County Judge Matt Brumley for his opinion on the topic. Brumley first congratulated Ms. Storey on her flag design and said, “Good for you!” regarding using Benton High School’s maroon color on the flag. This produced laughter around the room. He also stated that he wouldn’t approve anything that didn’t have the county colors, and he likes the combined design that the flag committee came up with.
The County Committee ultimately decided to wait on further action, and allow the public to give some opinion on the designs as well. Watch MySaline for updates on this topic.
Browse MySaline’s list of all the events in Saline County, at www.mysaline.com/events.
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