The old Highway 71 was dangerous with all of its curves, winding through the Arkansas mountains. Signs were posted telling the travelers to slow down and live, but some didn’t heed the warnings and paid for it with their lives. A new interstate highway was built from Alma, Arkansas, just outside of Fort Smith, to the Missouri border. The people of Arkansas had waited a long time for this. It took most of the traffic off of Highway 71 and the death rate decreased instantly.The new interstate was not as scenic as the old 71, but it was still beautiful as it crossed the mountains, over the hollows and deep canyons with very few curves. It also had a tunnel which was a new thing to the area. The locals had nicknamed it Bob.One morning, students from the Alma High-School had driven out on the new interstate to a bridge that spanned one of the deepest canyons. They parked their car across the bridge on the shoulder and walked back to a point where the canyon floor was over a hundred feet below them. They tied their ropes to the guard rail and were preparing to rappel down. They were unaware of a shooter with a high-powered rifle who was sighting in on them as the first boy dropped over the edge and started his rappel.
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