A whap on the snout

MIKE MASTERSON: To celebrate river

The theme of this evening inside the jam-packed Town Center on Fayetteville's charming square could be summed up by the comments of keynote speaker Ken Smith: "We gather to celebrate and praise nature's beauty. The Buffalo National River is the work of ages, far longer than any of us can ever imagine."

And so the celebration went for a few hours the other night as nearly 400 citizens and lovers of the country's first national river gathered to share fellowship, fundraising and a meal hosted by members of the Buffalo River Coalition. That group consists of the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, the National Parks Conservation Association, the Ozark Society and the Arkansas Canoe Club.

While the major sponsors of the four-hour silent auction and dinner were Don and Millie Nelms and Fayetteville's Advertising and Promotion Commission, the list of donors filled three pages in the program.

I don't know how much money was raised largely, I suspect, to help offset ongoing legal costs involved in combating the potential pollution of the Buffalo and its watershed from raw hog waste being continually spread onto fields along and near Big Creek, a major tributary of the Buffalo. I can assure you the event was well-supported financially and spiritually.

Emceed by Kyle Kellams, who founded and hosts KUAF's Ozarks at Large radio program, the evening featured presentations by Gordon Watkins, president of the Buffalo Watershed Alliance; followed by Kevin Cheri, National Park Service superintendent of the Buffalo; then Suzie and Jim Liles, she a former historian and he a former Park Service Ranger and manager; then acclaimed Buffalo author and photographer Ken Smith, who coordinates trail construction for hiking trails along the Buffalo; and finally Bob Allen, president of the Piney Creeks Chapter of the Arkansas Canoe Club.

I expected to see 150 perhaps 200 would attend. So it was almost overwhelming to find the enormous center literally teeming with people of all walks and ages.

Former 2nd District U.S. Rep. Ed Bethune and his wife, Lana, were seated to my left at one circular table.

The deeply controversial C&H Hog Farms at Mount Judea that our state two years ago wrongheadedly permitted to begin spewing raw waste onto the mountainous karst land about 6 miles above the river wasn't mentioned during the evening set aside solely to celebrate the river.

But that didn't stop this former congressman and me from discussing that God-awful decision across the tablecloth.

As a former FBI agent, politician and once chairman of the state's GOP, Bethune understands well the inner workings of politics and how pressures from special interests too often override the best interests and needs of the general population.

And he fathoms just how much power exists in the hands of the people themselves when they decide to exercise it for a common cause.

We agreed that if the people of Arkansas, those who care about our state and something as precious and God-given as our Buffalo, will pause for 15 minutes in their day to contact their state legislators and let them know this sacred region is the worst place a factory containing 6,500 swine could be located and that it should be moved, the impact of unified voices could be hugely effective.

Otherwise, our elected lawmakers will continue to be wooed by relatively small special interests with handsome campaign checks and personal agendas, which is what's been happening.

The personable Bethune said that turn-of-the-20th-century historian Henry Brooks Adams had a particularly relevant comment about getting the attention of congressmen that's equally applicable to all politicians, especially when they are functioning as a legislative body or bureaucracy.

"I used to paraphrase Adams by saying: 'Politicians do not respond to logic or reason; like hogs, they respond to pressure. If you want to get anything done you must take a stick and hit them on the snout,'" Bethune said. "With respect to the hog factory at Mount Judea: We've tried logic and reason, but it's going to take determined, persistent pressure from the people to get rid of this scourge."

So, valued readers, I can continue writing a million or so more words lamenting what a grievous decision our state's Department of Environmental Quality (cough) made in allowing this hog factory into the Buffalo National River watershed that will result only in a lot more words.

What can change this misplaced travesty Bethune calls a scourge is a chorus of voting citizens like yourselves lifting the stick that is your voice and whapping your legislators squarely on the snout, repeatedly if necessary. But, as with anything that makes a difference in this life we share, you've got to care enough to make the effort.

The late Dr. Neil Compton, the acknowledged patriarch of preserving the Buffalo River years ago, put it this way: "I challenge you to step forward to protect and care for the wild places you love best."

------------v------------

Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at mikemasterson10@hotmail.com.

Editorial on 10/27/2015

Upcoming Events