I hope the good people of Arkansas are paying close attention to the efforts of some lawmakers to weaken our state's Freedom of Information Act.
A story by reporter Lisa Hammersly last week said our legislators are considering more than two dozen proposed laws to limit Arkansas' traditionally strong Freedom of Information Act, which ensures most government meetings and records remain open to our public inspection.
They plan to hide government-related public information such as certain records of taxes collected under the state's Advertising and Promotion Commission Act along with audit records of public colleges and universities also supported by our taxes.
Hammersly reported that those who support and advocate for open-government said this session has produced more bills than usual directly designed to curtail the reach of our Freedom of Information Act. What say we who pay the bills and deserve to know how our money is being spent and/or abused and wasted let our legislators know what a bad idea it is to tamper with what many other states envy as a model Freedom of Information Act? It is working just fine.
Water tastes good
Looking for drinking water with the best taste in Northwest Arkansas? Your best bet probably isn't another case of plastic bottles from the supermarket, not when you can get an award-winning variety by twisting a valve in any Prairie Grove residence.
And the water from Rogers Water Utilities and the Beaver Water District isn't far behind when it comes to the annual regional competition, placing second and third respectively.
Amy Wilson, who directs public affairs for the Beaver Water District, says Prairie Grove won the contest this year after finishing in second place last year.
That tells me the water from this comfortable rural community just west of Fayetteville must taste pretty darned good.
Still hospitalized
Readers might want to know that as of Thursday night, former 3rd District Congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt, 92, of Harrison remained hospitalized in the intensive-care unit at Fayetteville's Washington Regional Medical Center.
The 13-term congressman, whose efforts in Washington created the Buffalo National River as the country's first so designated and was instrumental in seeing Interstate 49 opened from Fort Smith to the Missouri state line, has been hospitalized for nearly a month now after suffering heart and respiratory ailments. No doubt many prayers and best wishes are being offered for his healing and recovery.
A pond leaked?
I was shocked, downright shocked I say, to read a news account where Cargill Inc., the primary supporter and supplier of the controversial hog factory in the Buffalo National River watershed at Mount Judea, had water from its treatment-plant pond at Beardstown, Ill., end up in a city pond where fish were found dead.
The leak in the company's earthen dam was about 40 feet wide and apparently occurred over the weekend of March 7-8. Its pond leaked millions of gallons into surrounding croplands and into irrigation ditches that flowed into the stocked city pond.
Cargill repaired its leak then said it would restock the pond though officials said there hadn't yet been any direct correlation between the corporation's leaky pond and the dead fish. The Beardstown mayor took it a step further and suggested perhaps the fish had died from "winter kill."
What the heck, I wouldn't rule out Bigfoot or the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
I feel certain Cargill's engineers never in their wildest plannings imagined their earthen dam would ever spring such a massive leak.
Cannings create mess
I really think the beleaguered community of Tontitown could be so much better off financially if it convinced its mayor to refrain from arbitrarily firing city employees.
Former Mayor Jack Beckford set the tone by firing a city employee, which last year cost the community $105,000 in a legal settlement.
Now, former Police Chief Kristopher Arthur, who was hired in 2013 then fired on Jan. 9 by new Mayor Paul Colvin, has filed suit claiming he was wrongfully terminated after turning his suspicions of cyberbullying by a council member and alleged wrongdoing by the mayor over to Washington County Prosecutor Matt Durrett's office. Arthur also had appealed to the city council, which refused to reinstate him.
Colvin and the council were named as defendants.
I found the quote of alderman Joe Edgmon downright prescient. "It will cost us several thousand, I am absolutely certain of that--just as a defendant it will cost us money. We're in litigation again at a time when we are trying to watch our budget. It's just a mess."
Understandably, Colvin wasn't talking about the case last week. And he hasn't given a reason for firing Arthur.
Depending on how Durrett's investigation concludes and this latest civil case unfolds, I suspect the mayor will eventually have to reveal his motives and how the city came to find itself in this latest potentially costly legal mess.
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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at mikemasterson10@hotmail.com.
Editorial on 03/22/2015