The tragic fatal fall suffered by Hot Springs city manager David Watkins left many hearts heavy, and serves as a sad reminder to all that, while rarely capturing headlines, accidents remain one of the most voluminous killers in America.
Nearly 83 people a day die from an unintentional fall. Those 30,000 annual victims are just a little fewer than the 33,000 who perish in car wrecks, and more than twice as many as yearly homicides produce.
The leading cause of accidental deaths in the U.S.? Unintentional poisonings.
Arkansas has a mortality rate that is 25 percent higher than the national average, mainly attributable to a high incidence of cancer and heart disease deaths. But even our rate for accidental death is a full 12 percent higher, too.
State unintentional death rates range wildly, spanning the continent, and about the only thing those with the very lowest rates (more than 25 percent lower than average) have in common is a coastline.
Maryland has the lowest accidental death rate, followed closely (less than one percentage point per 100,000 population) by California and New York.
It's not coincidental that rural and low-population-density states generally suffer more accidents.
States with agricultural economies have more population operating and in proximity to dangerous farm implements and machinery. Rural roadways are often more perilous than metropolitan highways.
Rural states have more ATVs and other off-road vehicles, and more hunters take to the woods and blinds every season.
Accidents often seem easily preventable in hindsight, especially those that occur at home. An unsteady ladder, a misstep on stairs, a slippery floor--just as with auto accidents, the time-frame separating safety from fatality is often the blink of an eye.
Even non-lethal, accidental falls cause countless injuries costing tens of millions of dollars in medical treatment and much more in lost work or disability.
We can't live our lives petrified of our homes, of course, any more than we can tremble in terror each time we get behind the wheel.
But like public-service education campaigns geared toward keeping people from texting or drinking and driving, we can stress accident prevention through basic cautionary measures.
Falls at home often occur in tubs and showers, where water combines with smooth, slick surfaces to create hazardous footing conditions.
There's still something of a stigma to "grab bars" in bathrooms--which smack of nursing-home decor--but I can attest to their usefulness.
The home we live in was previously occupied by an elderly woman, and she had guide bars installed in her bathrooms. More than once I have used the two bars in my shower to steady myself and stave off what otherwise might have been a nasty tumble.
In addition to utility, newer models are actually integrated with other bathroom items to produce a uniform, more attractive look.
Unintentional poisonings rarely involve bottles with skull-and-crossbones labels. As often as not, it's a combination of medicines (both prescription and OTC) which the victim simply doesn't realize can be deadly.
Modern pharmaceuticals are complex, and even mild usage in conjunction with alcohol or certain other drugs can be very, very risky.
Based on the toll it takes on society, safety at home warrants its own broad public relations campaign, but probably won't get it.
That doesn't mean we can't have a lot of individual campaigns that result in improving Arkansas's ranking. Do your part: be safe and remind others.
Henry Blythe spinning
Blytheville is a town in turmoil. It's barely been two weeks since a shooting sent 11 people to three hospitals and left one teenage woman dead.
The dispute that led to the shooting apparently followed the victims to the ER at one of the hospitals, where reports indicate a massive brawl broke out, requiring the hospital to shut down its emergency department and shuttle victims off to another facility for medical care.
Despite widespread injuries, a well-known feud, more than 200 people descending on the hospital parking lot and who knows how many bullets sent flying, nobody saw anything when it came to assisting in the police investigation.
Fear is a powerful silencer, and gangs peddle it in abundance.
A few days later, a multilevel law enforcement sting called "Blynd Justus" netted 50 arrests on 70 indictments following an 18-month investigation for drugs, firearms and other charges.
One official said the goal was to get "the worst of the worst" off the streets in the Mississippi County town of 15,000 that has already buried eight homicide victims this year.
If you do the FBI Uniform Code Reporting math, that's a rate more than 10 times the national average.
The police chief has promised criminals that if they put poison on the streets, he'll put them in prison, period.
Founded by a Methodist minister 136 years ago, Blytheville and its citizens deserve better than being ravaged by rampant, unrepentant criminals. Parents there can't even take their kids to the carnival without fear of gunplay.
Here's hoping a determined Blythe-ville will wrest its destiny from the lawless and soon restore some semblance of normality.
Getting serious about getting thugs--and their guns--off the streets is a good start.
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Dana D. Kelley is a freelance writer from Jonesboro.
Editorial on 08/21/2015