Letters

Save strategic reserve

A fully grown tree releases 1,000 liters of water vapor a day into the atmosphere. What happens when forests are cut down? No more water vapor. No more clouds. No more rain. Released carbon dioxide. Increase of heat and pollution. Drought. Desertification. A changed climate. A changed planet.

Water-filled clouds are flying rivers that travel a long ways.

All of this is happening in places like California and Brazil because there was no planning involved. We arguably are at, or perhaps even way past, the tipping point. How are we, in Arkansas, responding at this critical juncture? Unfortunately, in the natural state, we are doubling down on deforestation.

Why don't we try and develop new economic opportunities for a sustainable planet, like eco-tourism? It is the fastest growing segment in tourism. The millennials are the fastest growing demographic and they are looking for meaningful change. The millennials are interested in tiny houses. They are interested in water-recycling systems and solar-power solutions. They want to suck clean air into their lungs.

We cannot allow shortsighted governors to sell out our strategic reserves. We don't want to walk around with masks on our faces. We want to see the sun. We need rain.

At the end of the day, It all begins with the forests, and how it ends depends on how much forest we keep. Our Ozark forests are our strategic reserve. The real costs of not keeping the forests are not even quantifiable. Gov. Asa Hutchinson, please meet with a few of us here in Northwest Arkansas. We can't give you cash, but we can give you brilliant ideas and a novel way of looking at things.

SUSAN PANG

Garfield

Arkansas system good

Re the "Dedicated employees" letter by Don Blaylock concerning the Little Rock VA Hospital: I, too, want to stand up and add my voice about the care we have received at the Little Rock and North Little Rock VA hospitals.

My brother did not want to go in for medical care until he had almost hit the bottom on the health scale. I have been to the VA Hospital in Little Rock and North Little Rock with such frequency in the last nine months that I have commented that I should apply for a job. In other words, my opinion is not based on a one-time visit.

The care we have received has been excellent and we have been given appointments in a timely manner. My observation is that these Central Arkansas hospitals have a very high volume of patients, and 99.99 percent of the patient-level employees have been fantastic in their treatment of my brother. (In an organization of this size, there will always be an occasional employee having an off day or administrative issues.)

We do not take the medical care and patient respect that we have received for granted. We are very thankful. Just because a few hospitals in the United States have been an administrative disaster does not mean that all VA hospitals fall in this category. The Arkansas system has been very good to us.

LINDA GUNN

Sherwood

Beauty of Arkansas

I so enjoyed Celia Storey's article on mushrooms. The pictures are beautiful, and thanks to those who sent them in for sharing them.

I'm an Arkansas implant from the West Coast. I fell in love with this state the first time I visited. It's things like this that speak of the immense beauty throughout this state.

I do wish there had been more info on the mushrooms, though. This is one of those articles I cut out and save.

ROSANN QUILTY

Little Rock

Power of wrong thing

Once, a relative said to never underestimate the power of the American people to do the wrong thing. I wouldn't believe that, but it seems we have a pathological liar and wrestling promoter making headway in the presidential race.

I believe Donald Trump's kids don't want his taxes released because people will question his companies and their overseas connections. Ivanka seems to think that nobody has brought up child-care issues before now.

Trump wants to do in Iraq and Syria what we are already doing. He is uninformed about many things but his supporters don't care because they hate Hillary Clinton so much.

STEVE WHEELER

North Little Rock

Right person for job

Regarding electing the correct person for president, I still hear people say, I only vote (Democrat or Republican), always have, always will. To me that means if Hitler ran on that particular party's ticket, they would vote for him.

Have you ever heard of so many uninformed and stupid people? Most intelligent people would want to elect the best person, regardless of party, race, religion or sex because the president should and does represent all the people in the United States, not a political party. I must agree; it seems instead of picking the best person, it's usually someone who is part of the establishment with crooked connections, people who would take the Fifth if questioned, or may have questionable traits.

The right president doesn't owe anything to any political party, only the people. I would like to think people would want to vote for someone who is honest, doesn't lie, can be trusted to achieve or at least make every effort to achieve everything listed they would do if elected, like growing the economy, growth of America and citizens, increasing employment for everyone who is unemployed, create a working health-care system, reduce debt, improve treatment of veterans, increase security of America and all of its citizens, and see that the laws of the land are enforced.

We the citizens also know the government has a lot of waste, and more than its share of corruption and under-the-table deals. This needs to be eliminated to get the full effect of a great president.

ROBERT MAYNARD

Hot Springs Village

Respect and candor

I don't know where to start. How about with respect for the office of the presidency of the United States of America? Or for that matter, respect for the notion that any job of significant import deserves a concomitant level of competency from its claimant?

After mere competency, let's examine the worth of character: Merriam Webster defines it as "the aggregate of moral qualities by which a person is judged apart from intelligence, competence, or special talents." Include the term "grace," and we get "disposition to, or an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency." These traits hearken back to two icons of the Republican Party: Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan.

Now think in the same breath ... of Donald Trump!

Here is a man I believe has displayed a level of low character heretofore unseen by anyone running for president, an utter lack of prerequisite knowledge for the job, an ego the size of the Titanic, and the temperament of an adolescent bully.

Ladies and gentlemen: this year's Republican nominee for president of the United States.

As one considers these concepts of high human strivance, it is beyond my scope of understanding how any clear-thinking voter, modestly possessed of said qualities, could possibly support Donald Trump for the "highest" office in the world. And how is it that when Hillary Clinton tells it like it is in referring to half of Trump's supporters as a "basket of deplorables" she is chastised for her candor?

DANE BUXBAUM

Little Rock

Editorial on 09/26/2016

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