It's been difficult for many of us to keep up with all the fuzzy shape-shifting underway in Washington County's investigation into shabbily built bridges. And now county leaders have decided to ... wait for it . . . investigate themselves.
When last we left the melodrama, the county was being sued by a former road department employee who alleged county supervisors retaliated against him for revealing how badly bridges were being built by county employees. A video submitted as evidence in the lawsuit indeed raised serious questions about the way rebar supports were being installed in concrete piers at the Stonewall Bridge under construction near Prairie Grove and similar safety concerns about the completed Harvey Dowell Bridge near Fayetteville.
After the video was released, everyone from the top of county government to state representatives began calling for investigations, not one of which, as of this writing anyway, has effectively begun.
Our attorney general bowed out from an investigation requested by Quorum Court member Eva Madison. So the Quorum Court voted to appoint Madison as one of two county officials to conduct an investigation.
Her partner on this two-person investigative team as of last week was Dan Short, the chief of staff for County Judge Marilyn Edwards. Edwards is ultimately responsible for messes created by the county road department; she previously had asked the state Highway and Transportation Department and Washington County Prosecutor Matt Durrett to investigate.
But then came a story saying Short had asked Durrett to delay Edwards' requested investigation. Short was even quoted saying (long before anyone investigated anything) he didn't believe anything was criminally awry with the bridge problems. Then he conceded in another story that he and Edwards were concerned that his involvement in the investigation might present credibility problems with the public. And now Short is one of the county's two investigators?
Sue Madison, another Washington County Justice of the Peace (and Eva's mother) was one of three Quorum Court members to vote against this two-person internal investigation, largely due to Short's direct connection with the county judge.
"I think Mr. Short has a conflict of interest in that he works for you," Sue Madison told Edwards, adding that an investigation of any kind already was long overdue.
Meanwhile, state Rep. Uvalde Lindsey of Fayetteville and others also have asked the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department to examine 33 of the county's bridges for safety. Even that request remains unresolved.
And all this, valued readers, in the interest of bringing some kind of credible resolve to many questions underlying troubled bridges over county waters.
Walking the walk
I suspect most of us at one time or another have been reminded to put our money where our mouth is. It's another way of saying how admirable it can be when we walk the walk of all our talk.
And so it was little surprise to me the other day to pick up the paper and read that outgoing University of Arkansas Chancellor David Gearhart and his wife, Jane, are bestowing a gift of $1 million to the university he has served so remarkably well.
Chris Wyrick, the school's vice chancellor for university advancement, expressed the feelings of many across Arkansas: "Their announcement brought tears to the eyes of our volunteers and made us all proud to have him as our leader."
In an emailed statement, he expanded: "Talk about leading by example. I'm so appreciative for Dave and Jane's remarkable gift and for their demonstration of love and support for the University of Arkansas. I was genuinely surprised and humbled by their generosity."
I'm one who knows David and Jane and has witnessed how high they have lifted this institution since they became active in its administration in 1998. I say both of them because Jane is the type of person I call an energized pollinator. She has devoted parts of each day to improving the university in any number of ways and, even more significantly, bringing people together to create positive and beneficial synergy for the school. She has a deeply caring nature (probably stemming from her formative years in my hometown of Harrison).
David Gearhart is the type of leader and public servant who, despite being unfairly vilified for a year over that now-notorious budget deficit in the university's advancement division, rose above that nightmare to ultimately be proven right by auditors and politicized inquisitions and unanimously supported by the UA Board of Trustees.
His response today to the people of Arkansas was anything but bitter. They will take one million personal dollars that could have been used to better their lives in lots of ways, and award it instead to even further improving the land-grant university he's served so well. Ah, my friends, but were each of us so giving and devoted to our beliefs.
I'd venture most folks across our state join me in thanking the Gearharts for setting an example and literally putting their money where their hearts so clearly beat.
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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at mikemasterson10@hotmail.com.
Editorial on 04/21/2015