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Times Record
Fort Smith, AR
February 5, 2010
 Former
Poteau Mayor Don “Diamond Don” Barnes died Monday following a
long illness, and those who worked closely with him say the
community will miss him greatly.
Barnes, 71, served as Poteau mayor from 1991-95. He is known for
his efforts to honor LeFlore County military veterans and to
establish Ten Commandments monuments throughout the county.
His funeral will be 2 p.m. Friday at the Donald W. Reynolds
Community Center in Poteau with burial at
Oakland Cemetery
of Poteau.
On Tuesday, Poteau Mayor Jeff Shockley said Barnes, a radio
announcer during the 1970s and 1980s, was a promoter by trade
and put that skill to work for the city before, during and after
his four-year term as mayor. “Diamond Dan” was Barnes’ radio
moniker.
Shockley was on the City Council when Barnes served as mayor. As
mayor, he said, Barnes was responsible for getting Poteau listed
among the Top 100 Small Towns in America and setting up the
Poteau area recreational complex.
Disabled Americans Veteran Chapter No. 63 Commander Charlie
Horsley said Barnes was instrumental in multiple community
projects. He helped lead the push for a memorial war wall
erected in front of the LeFlore County Courthouse at Poteau that
honors county military veterans from the World War I era through
the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars, Horsley said. Barnes was
instrumental in the Ten Commandments program that has spread not
just around the county but also around the nation and world,
Horsley said.
“He doesn’t have his name on any building. He wasn’t an
outspoken man. He worked from the sidelines. … He didn’t do his
work for recognition of himself, he did it for the community,”
Horsley said.
Karen Wages, Poteau Chamber of Commerce president and chief
executive officer, said Barnes was a great leader and community
visionary.
“In the past few years, even though he was very sick, he
continued to push forward for what he believed in,” Wages said
by email.
Wages also cited Barnes as the inspiration behind the Ten
Commandments project, the courthouse lawn veterans memorial and
Poteau’s song contest to promote Cavanal Hill, celebrated by
city officials as the “world’s highest hill” at 1,999 feet in
height. Barnes’ criteria for the town was used by winning
songwriters Michael and Don Martin as lyrics for “Our Town,”
Wages said.
In early 2009, Barnes led the push for placement of a Ten
Commandments monument on the courthouse lawn. With legal
challenges wending their way all the way to the Supreme Court
for similar monuments, that portion of the project did not
succeed. The monument instead was installed in January 2010 on a
small but highly visible parcel of land donated by Community
State Bank.
Barnes’ health failing, he asked Horsley and the DAV to
spearhead the monument push, which continues, Horsley said.
Barnes was active in many community organizations, and even
toward the end of his life continued promoting Poteau, Wages
said.
She said Barnes recently posted an “interesting facts about
Poteau” link on a Facebook page and spoke about a need to make a
movie about a bank robbery in downtown Poteau by the infamous
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow on Jan. 25, 1934.
Barnes was a Vietnam veteran of the Naval Security Group; a
member of DAV Chapter No. 63, American Legion Chapter No. 210,
LeFlore County Veterans Memorial Association chairman, Poteau
Masonic Lodge No. 46, Amateur Radio Relay League amateur HAM
radio operator; and a former member of Veterans of Foreign Wars
and Lions Club.
Shockley said Barnes was a good family man. His family enjoyed
the Super Bowl game on Sunday, and Barnes passed peacefully in
the company of loved ones Monday evening, Shockley said.
 Barnes is
survived by his wife, Vickie Lynn Barnes; a daughter, Candice;
sons, B.J., Shane, Jay and Todd; sisters Shirley Koeninger of
Poteau, Diann Adkins of Broken Arrow, Okla., and Jenna Huggins
of Caddo, Okla.; 12 grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
The family requests in lieu of flower donations be made to the
DAV Chapter No. 63 building fund at Community State Bank or to
the Gideons.
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