Friends ask that I say a word about a familiar Little Rock person —Melvin Pickens, the Broom Man. He's walked the streets of Little Rock selling brooms and mops since I came to town 40 years ago.
A Facebook page post reports that health problems have confined him to his apartment in Cumberland Towers, though he welcomes well-wishers and, at this writing, still had a supply of brooms on hand for those who'd like to drop by and purchase one.
Eric Francis wrote a feature on Pickens for Talk Business Quarterly in 2009.