Higher-quality judges
I asked about 10 adults if they could name one member of the Arkansas Supreme Court. None could.
We don't know these people we are voting on. Perhaps if the jurists were appointed, we would have a higher quality of judges than those who made the Lake View ruling, wasting a billion dollars in their now obviously vain attempt to raise students' test scores by throwing money at the perceived problem.
ROBERT BURNEY
Conway
Biased information
It is sad that Rick Crawford would team up with the head of the Farm Bureau in an attempt to discredit the efforts of the EPA to clarify the extent of the agency's oversight of the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS).
It is fact that the largest polluter of our waters is the agriculture industry. Although a strong supporter of our farmers, I also believe that the EPA needs to be proactive in protecting our water, the majority of which are already significantly polluted. Unfortunately the Farm Bureau would have everyone believe this WOTUS rule is going to be a disaster for farmers when in fact they have been and will still be excluded from this rule.
The false statements put out by the Farm Bureau and obviously supported by Rick Crawford are inexcusable and I believe show moral irresponsibility.
The WOTUS rule will not mean farmers, ranchers, developers and land owners will be subject to permit requirements, forced management practices and nuisance lawsuits. This rule will once and for all clarify which waters under the Clean Water Act's "waters of the U.S." were intended to be under EPA oversight, which are thousands of smaller streams that provide fresh but often contaminated water for public use.
I encourage everyone to personally read the rule instead of relying on biased and intentionally false statements, and then decide where the truth lies and why this is so strongly supported by the public.
GERALD WEBER
Mountain View
Where the divide lies
Once again, the newspaper has printed an opinion piece bemoaning the growing racial divides in America. Once again the writer danced all around it but couldn't seem to come to the obvious conclusion.
I believe the growing racial divide is between the Republican Party and minorities. All one has to do to see this is to attend a Republican political rally and notice who attends, and listen to the rhetoric about the 47 percent of people who want free stuff. All one has to do is look at what seems to be the GOP political agenda: eliminate voting rights, fight wars around the world while slashing social programs, and go back to a time where millions were denied health care.
Meanwhile, it appears the Democratic Party continues to work toward becoming a more inclusive party and gathering all the people under one tent.
PAUL WAGENER
Jacksonville
Not your father's farm
The guest column by Rick Crawford and Randy Veach against the Clean Water Act makes some statements that demand scrutiny. They wrote: "Farmers are being drawn into the crosshairs ... even though they are using the same safe, scientifically sound ... tools they've used for years."
Farming practices have altered radically in the last 30 years. Independent farmers are increasingly forced out of business or into becoming contract growers, effectively turning many into debt-ridden sharecroppers.
EPA reports agricultural runoff as the major cause of degraded water, with the percentage of monitored waterways designated as impaired increasing from 35 percent in 1994 to nearly 56 percent currently. It's time to explode the myth that farmers are simply doing what they've done for years without causing harm. As we're seeing with the Cargill-contracted hog factory in Mount Judea, even nutrient management plans often prove more theoretical than realistic.
All landowners should have a right to do whatever they wish with their property if it's legal and doesn't negatively impact shared resources. Corporate agriculture insists on owning the animals contractors raise, but not the manure generated, removing them from liability when fertilizing morphs into waste-dumping.
Corporations and their paid lobbyists must stop hiding behind the fiction that contract growers are "independent family farmers" when these folks have been rendered powerless and voiceless by design. The Clean Water Act was careful to maintain existing protections for responsible farming operations. It recognizes what corporations and Farm Bureau prefer to ignore: Our water systems are an intricately interconnected, shared resource unbounded by property lines. We all live downstream of someone and must share responsibility for protecting the elements needed for life.
LIN WELLFORD
Green Forest
Greatest gift to have
Many of us think we are lucky or blessed when we find just the right person to love. By now we know that nothing in life is an accident, including our selection of a mate.
The people who come into our lives are a reflection of who we are. They reveal to us those things we cannot or refuse to see about ourselves. The very thing we don't like about our mate is the thing we need to change. The thing we love about the other person is a hidden, undeveloped or unrecognized asset that we have. We can only draw to us those people who are on our ray, our level of energy and development. They reflect back to us the very things we do.
Most of us reject this idea. But then, most of us reject criticism too. We find it difficult to accept those things about us that others see. We do, however, feel completely justified when we criticize our mates. Here's a question for you: How would you know what to call what you see in your mate unless you have seen it somewhere else?
If we love God with all our heart, soul and mind, the rest of God's commandments will come naturally. Love from God is the basis of all obedience. Make a commitment to truly love God. Not with some temporary halfhearted emotion, but with lasting wholehearted devotion. Love is the greatest of all spiritual gifts.
ROBERT HYMER
Little Rock
Editorial on 10/09/2015