Put public in danger
What in the heck is going on with the Department of Correction? How is it that a convict with a first-degree murder conviction, sex-offense conviction and other crimes can walk off unnoticed by "guards" from a work-release program outside the prison walls? These convictions are listed in the department's own regulations as non-eligible for work release, yet it was allowed to happen. At least Lloyd Jones was captured and hopefully didn't kill someone else or commit some other horrible act.
The state is not running a "Labor Finders" service; it is supposed to keep these type of people locked up to protect us. I call for Gov. Asa Hutchinson to fire Director Wendy Kelley and the Brickeys unit warden for violating the department's rules. I believe these people failed to do their jobs, as well as put the citizens of this state in danger.
BILL SOSEBEE
North Little Rock
Highlighted troubles
You recently published a guest column, "Long time coming," that should be required reading by every former school board member and paid consultant in budget planning, curriculum activity, personnel planning, etc., for the Little Rock School District. That column was an absolute jewel. I believe the author had certainly done her homework--and it showed in every problem area commented on.
In the paper that same day was a piece indicating that our new superintendent, Michael Poore, met with something called the Civic Advisory Committee. They had evidently presented the new expectations. I have never met any of the characters in this civic drama being played out before us, but common logic tells me that some of the very people trying to get the attention of the new administration are trying to sell old ideas that have been tried, discarded and tried again over the decades.
The author is quite specific in several paragraphs about how this kind of activity affects students, and the school system itself.
By now I'm sure the new superintendent had gotten enough advice to last a long lifetime. Somewhat analogous to taking a drink of water from a fire hose. For him to succeed he's going to have to be very careful, and have a lot of good luck.
WILLIAM H. RAMSEY
North Little Rock
He has been anointed
I believe Donald Trump's foes are ignoring the fact that almighty God has anointed Mr. Trump, who shall be elected the 45th president and shall perform as Abraham Lincoln did during the horrifying years when the satanic slave owners revolted.
Read the letter as per Mitt Romney's idiocy. I say it is time for some pro-Trump letters as this super-gigantic patriot is anointed, to use the outback verdict, and as such and all, the prophets here are thrilled that Mr. Trump is to become the 45th president who shall effortlessly perform as a Lincolnian from A to Z. No doubts whatsoever!
H.E. HARVEY
Clarksville
The early silly season
Way back in the '50s, in addition to late summer being referred to as the dog days, some in the media started calling that time of the year the "silly season." They did so because reports of people experiencing or seeing weird things seemed to spike with the rise in temperature.
Strange sightings had been reported before, but they began gaining national publicity in late June of 1947 when a private pilot named Kenneth Arnold reported seeing a bevy of saucer-shaped discs skipping around among the Cascades. In a later report he called them flying saucers. Still later, UFOs (unidentified flying objects) became the standard nomenclature for such sightings.
Appropriately enough, in 1951 what was then a chilling movie titled The Thing From Another World was released. James Arness in an early movie role played an unfriendly defrosted carrot man taken from a crashed space vehicle found in the Arctic. The movie ended with a warning to all viewers to "Watch the skies!"
Watching the skies was easier then with less light pollution and less incentive to stay indoors in the evenings with no air conditioning or TVs. As air-conditioned homes, light pollution and TVs increased, weird sightings decreased and the term "silly season" was used less and less.
Recently though, it seems usage of the term has seen a revival of sorts, being used to describe the much too long and wearisome time period prior to national elections. I liked the old "silly season" better when all we had to fear were carrot men from outer space rather than nefarious politicians.
JOHN McPHERSON
Searcy
Protect environment
Recently, Senators John Boozman and Tom Cotton voted "no" on the Energy Modernization Act of 2016 (S2012). It passed, but no thanks to them.
The Senate version was a bipartisan brew of items that both hurt and helped the earth's fragile atmosphere. Hurtful items were: increasing the export of liquid natural gas; streamlining permits for oil and gas drilling on federal land; and weaker controls on forest management. Helpful items to the atmosphere were: expanding the electrical grid to increase high-speed transmission of electricity from renewable energy; improving grid security; funding clean-energy technology research; giving permanent status to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which helps communities clean up polluted water and land; promoting hydroelectric power projects; promoting energy efficiency in buildings by more efficient building codes; and promoting smart meters and more efficient air-conditioning systems.
The House version passed, but in it the House Republicans tacked on unrelated political bombs like Home Rule of Washington, D.C. (Res. 744), which the president had already said he could not sign. So energy modernization is dead till we can elect leaders more concerned about what is happening to our climate, air and water. Please contact your national legislators saying you are concerned and that you want a bill that is only about clean energy, air, water and land, for our health's sake!
There is no time to waste. Right now, it seems Arkansas has no U.S. legislators who will fight for us on these basic needs.
DINA NASH
Maumelle
Editorial on 06/18/2016