Just when Denny Upton of Tontitown thought he was out, they pulled him back in, only to show him the door yet again.
Is Tontitown an example of cartoon government or what?
The latest episode finds the previously pressured-out Denny Upton out yet again. Newly elected Mayor Paul Colvin had canned the former new police chief, Kristopher Arthur, earlier this month, then unilaterally replaced him with Upton. Within a couple of weeks he was gone again, having resigned because of state restrictions on rehiring former retired employees.
So now a captain on the town's beleaguered police department is filling in until the city council can actually have a say in replacing the chief. Meanwhile, the Tontitown city council last week was hearing an appeal by Arthur, the chief fired by the new mayor, who says he wants his job back.
When is a police chief not a chief because the old chief is now the chief, as the chief who was the chief before this latest chief quit wants to be chief again?
A real chief's message
I never had the privilege of meeting or knowing James Allen, who was buried this week after serving as the honorable and professional police chief in both Bentonville and Rogers in combined tenures spanning 26 years.
Hundreds of police officers and others from across the state attended Allen's funeral on Tuesday. He departed much too soon at age 60.
What struck me deepest about Allen was the tribute at his eulogy when he was remembered for often repeating what obviously was one of his favorite pieces of advice: "Do the right thing at the right time for the right reasons and treat everyone with dignity and respect."
Wow. If only we all could follow that philosophy, what a world we could create together.
Say, ya suppose Tontitown leaders might have that framed and placed on a wall its own chief's office?
Transmission line sequel
SWEPCO announced its abandoning of an ill-conceived plan to construct a 52-mile, high-powered transmission line through the Ozarks, but a Houston company now is pushing to carve a wind-power transmission line from Oklahoma across north-central Arkansas to serve customers in Tennessee.
That idea understandably is drawing fire now from those in Crawford County and eastward who see no benefit to Arkansas in trampling on private-property rights and defacing a lot of acres with little recognizable long-term benefit to Arkansans.
Still, the company called Clean Line Energy Partners has applied to the U.S. Department of Energy for permission to construct the 3,500-megawatt line carrying electrical current from those enormous wind farms in western Oklahoma to Tennessee.
Seems to me the folks of Arkansas, while good neighbors to Oklahoma and Tennessee, have every right (and obligation, to my way of thinking) to ask what's in this grand idea for our state. If the answer is very little or nothing, then I can't see why the federal government would approve it.
Yeah, I know: Common sense.
Eagle eye, not
I wouldn't want to be in the shoes of whoever pulled the trigger on a bald eagle along the Arkansas River near Paris Bottoms in December.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Arkansas Game and Fish, the Humane Society and other agencies are coughing up $7,500 for information that results in an arrest.
People discovered the injured female bird on an island. It had been shot in the leg and wing with a bullet still lodged in her body, the Associated Press reported the other day. She's being cared for at a treatment center and will be released when fully recovered.
Thankfully, the culprit wasn't able take her life, despite obviously trying.
But that's not to say he or she or they might not wish the same result inflicted on this magnificent animal on themselves if and when they're caught, charged and convicted.
We never, ever, under any circumstances shoot federally protected bald eagles, goobers.
Money and happiness
Finally today, who said money can't buy happiness? Certainly not former Rogers City Attorney Ben Lipscomb after that city's council voted to bid him farewell with a parting check for $390,000.
The council voted to settle a lawsuit the controversial Lipscomb had filed in November, accept his resignation from the elected position, and finally be done with months of rancor and turmoil I equate to a WWF cage match.
Hopefully, this means the choppy waters at Rogers City Hall will calm and life within its legal department can return to serene sanity.
Notice I say hopefully.
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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at mikemasterson10@hotmail.com.
Editorial on 01/31/2015