LETTERS

LITTLE ROCK — A friendly heart lost

This state and the cities of Little Rock/North Little Rock have lost a treasure. I have lost a friend and a never-again-experienced delight.

I have traveled throughout this country, and I can state without fear of contradiction that the most heavenly doughnuts ever made were made in North Little Rock by Wadie Moore. He served them with a warmth and humor that brightened my 6:30 going to-work soul. He served them warm with a flavor and texture that no other doughnut has ever had. I have taken hundreds to fellow workers and am sure they agree.

I told him I would buy a doughnut shop and give him half if he would make the delectable delights, but he laughed, saying he was too old to start over. (He was in his 80s then.) I missed him when his health failed and he stopped working. I missed his wit, his smile and the congenial banter we had early in the day. Mornings no longer had the cheeriness and zip they had by a brief visit with him.

I don’t know what he did to give his doughnuts their exquisite taste and creamy consistency, but I am sure it had to do with a friendly heart, love for his profession and pride in his work. He was a landmark, a jewel, and my morning joy and friend. His passing leaves a gaping hole in all who knew him and treasured his God-given talent. May God bless and keep him.

MARY WILLIAMS North Little Rock Extending Medicare

How would it look to open up good old Medicare, plus a supplemental insurance policy, to ages 55-plus?

It seems that one big thing keeping us youngsters from retiring and beginning to live the dream is the inability to afford and qualify for commercial health insurance. It seems that this age inclusion would pump lots of money into the Medicare system from a fairly healthy segment of society.

Is this another crazy idea? Come on, folks!

MARLA DOLLAR Fayetteville Maybe not its content

I would like to thank Anthony Belmont for his gracious letter regarding my response to a previous letter to the paper. He stated that I should “think before embarrassing” myself when writing. He included an interesting but unnecessary history lesson.

The intent of my letter, as well as H.E. Harvey’s, to whom I was responding, was to point out the political affiliation of the residents of the White House when we were drawn into the World Wars, Korea and Vietnam, and in no way to say that the United States started these conflicts. It appears that most readers understood my intent.

Perhaps it was the party affiliation indicated that raised Belmont’s ire and not the content of my letter?

BECKY HALE Little Rock Sacrifice for the cause

The thought I always ponder when someone (in this case, Don Hirschberg) proposes reducing the human population is why is that person still living, breathing and using Earth’s “limited” resources?

Shouldn’t they be first in line to sacrifice themselves for their cause?

MARRIA HAMLIN Maumelle Government lost way

I am extremely concerned that our economic system has been corrupted by the major industries and corporations. Our government has lost sight of its beginnings in “We the people,” and is little more than an enabler for large corporations to make record profits while millions are unable to find gainful employment.

I am a veteran, a wife, a mother and an hourly wage worker. I am in my mid-50s and I was raised to be honest and follow the rules. I identify with the 99 percent and the grievances expressed by the Occupy Wall Street movement.

I see major corporations using their influence to block or gut regulations meant to keep them honest and keep them following the rules, i.e. our laws. Through huge campaign contributions, they seek to influence our elections. They employ lobbyists to push lawmakers like Arkansas’ U.S. Rep. Steve Womack to vote against laws that protect the public interest.

We need to return to a government of, for and by the people.

Major industries need to be held to standards that protect the health of the people and the environment. Corporations are business organizations, and they should not be given the same consideration as people.

If corporations cannot turn a profit, perhaps they need to invest in a different business model instead of trying to buy our government.

MARY WISE Holiday Island Habitat vital to region

It has been more than a year since the Deep water Horizon oil spill along the Gulf Coast, but Americans haven’t forgotten the tragedy, and neither have our elected officials. As a member of the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee, Sen. John Boozman should be commended for the committee’s efforts to ensure that spill-related penalties go toward restoring this critical area.

As Arkansas taxpayers, sportsmen and voters, we can all appreciate our state’s hunting heritage and the positive impact it has on local economies and small businesses. A born-and raised Arkansas sportsman, I was fortunate enough to grow up hunting our wetlands, and I continue to enjoy them each new season, along with thousands of others. Many communities depend on the revenue that hunters channel into our state. Areas like Stuttgart, the “Rice and Duck Hunting Capital of the World,” see their local economies boosted by more than $1million a day during duck season.

The Gulf Coast region provides prime migration and wintering habitat for millions of ducks and geese annually and, in turn, its health is vital to maintaining Arkansas as a prime waterfowl-hunting destination. I am encouraged by Boozman’s support for directing federal funding to restore this waterfowl paradise. With it, we can conserve our Southern duck factory that keeps ducks, geese and the sportsmen who pursue them coming back year after year.

BARTON JAMES Altheimer Hard work’s rewards

The rising chorus demanding that the rich pay their “fair share” of taxes is disgusting. The highest-income Americans already pay the biggest portion of federal income-tax revenue. Most successful people got that way through hard work and ingenuity.

People lose their incentive to work hard and take risks if they know most of their gain will be taken away. That’s why Communism and socialism always fail. Likewise, a nanny government just encourages an entitlement mentality. Haven’t these myopic people seen the rioting in Europe because the people won’t accept that their governments are bankrupt and can no longer support their cradle-to the-grave benefits?

Hard work and determination still brings success in America. Too many people no longer have the independent, self-reliant American spirit, but now just want all they can get out of the government and someone else to pay for it.

BARBARA FOREMAN Siloam Springs It’s a Halloween trick

In the paper, there was an insert from Wal-Mart advertising all the goodies available for Halloween trick or-treating. The pages were loaded with sugary drinks and salty, fat-filled snack foods. And I noticed that down in the right-hand corner of the back page was the SNAP logo. Why is the federal government fighting obesity, yet supporting the very foods that make us fat and add to the high cost of health care?

Someone in Washington, D.C., is a hollow-weenie.

BILL CONWAY McGehee