Not telling the truth
Petitioners for the repeal of Ordinance 119 in Fayetteville are soliciting signatures by saying, "Do you want to protect women and children from pedophiles?" and "Do you want to protect the right to vote?"
Fayetteville's Ordinance 119 is not about either thing. It is about granting civil protections to people not currently protected by the Civil Rights Act. It is an affirmation of their equal humanity.
To say that gays and transgendered people are pedophiles or that they will rape women is a lie. The examples being used of men who dressed as women to gain access to women's bathrooms are not examples of LGBT people--they are examples of sick people committing a crime. To be transgendered is not about the clothes you wear; it is about who you are at your very core. To stoke fear by using these misrepresentations and preying on ignorance to further their cause is wrong.
Ordinance 119 will provide protections and recourse to those who are mistreated because of their sexual orientation, sexual identity, familial status, veteran status, and physical disability. It acknowledges that they deserve that protection because they are equal in their status as human beings.
To those who oppose 119, I respect and honor your right to do so. Our personal rights, however, end where our neighbor's begin. And to those who are using lies to gain signatures, I remind you of two things--those signatures will be invalidated and the good book says "thou shall not lie."
MARIA BAEZ DE HICKS
Fayetteville
All we need to know
We the people of Arkansas need know only one fact to determine how we vote in the coming election for U.S. senator. Tom Cotton does not support what I believe to be the worst disaster to ever afflict the American health-care system, Obamacare. Mark Pryor does.
QUINCY JACKSON
Rogers
Take a gander at him
John Brummett has written on the malodorous influence of Charles and David Koch on the Tom Cotton political campaign.
I think he should also write a column on the mephitic contributions of George Soros to the Mark Pryor political campaign.
RICHARD CLARK
Little Rock
Pandering to voters
Re the Mark Pryor safe-room proposal: In typical out-of-touch Washington fashion, the sweetheart of the Arkansas Democrat Party has offered up what seems to be the standard attempt to buy voters with a $1,000 tax credit for the installation of a safe room.
Part of Pryor's argument for a tax credit is that the current $1,000 offered by Arkansas is subject to budget cuts when times get hard.
I am not against safe rooms. Everyone should have one. If wishing would make it so, I wish everyone had the means to get one. The issue I have is with the standard political ploy of offering "free stuff" to buy votes. I think it is amazing that this proposed legislation sees the light of day a mere six weeks before a critical election.
Who do you really think a $1,000 tax credit is going to help? A safe room costs about $4,000. Poor people, people who are living on the edge of fiscal survival and who require assistance to feed or insure their families, are not going to use this credit. Only people who already have the means to pay for a safe room will be helped. Read that as people who have money to spare and the wherewithal to put a few bucks into the campaign till of their favorite politician will benefit from this tax credit.
In my opinion, Pryor has shown his true colors. He is pandering to the voters by offering something that does not exist (free money) and submitting to the safe-room lobby by putting more taxpayer money in their pockets.
Again, I am not against safe rooms. I am against politicizing tornadoes. In spite of the liberal arguments, Bush did not cause them. The Pryor-sponsored tax credit will not make them go away.
GARY B. BOYD
Rogers
Not worthy of cover
I took time last Sunday evening to sit down with the Sunday edition and pull the Perspective and business sections that are close to each other and gave them both a read. Then I noticed the story on the cover of the Perspective section that you had pulled from the Washington Post from someone named Justin Moyer.
The writer informs us that jazz is "washed up." It has no lyrics, and is instrumental. He admits that although he studied jazz, he found it "hard to grasp." He went on to say that Wes Montgomery was "forgettable."
I believe this piece was not worthy of the Perspective front page and makes me wonder what section I will pull out next Sunday to look for something of value. Do you offer a Monday-Saturday option for my subscription?
MARTY LEFLER
Conway
His sign of bad taste
As I was driving to Conway recently, I looked to my right to glance at the tornado damage and noticed a big Tom Cotton campaign sign sitting amid the wreckage in Mayflower. It stands tall amid the debris, telling all those who drive on Interstate 40 to vote for Tom.
But this is wrong.
This place where so many people lost their livelihoods and others lost loved ones is not a place for a political platform--particularly from someone who voted against disaster-aid funding five times!
I wish that we could all band together in times of trial, no matter what party we side with, and I hope that in the future we do not use people's suffering to attract people to look at political signs.
MICHAEL McMURRAY
Little Rock
Age hasn't caught up
Just a word about one of your columnists, Wally Hall: I don't have a problem with Wally, because I realize that at least one totally biased sportswriter is apparently a staple in every area where there are big-time college athletics. It also does not bother me that he seems to have borrowed the title of his column, "Like it is" from the late Howard Cosell.
The thing that really gets to me is his picture. I've been reading your paper since 1998, and I believe that picture of him has never changed, much less been updated. Just to satisfy my curiosity, just how old is the timeless Mr. Hall?
JERRY LOWDERMAN
Rogers
Editorial on 09/21/2014