Protecting the Buffalo
I am writing to thank Gov. Asa Hutchinson for his recent reasoned response to the issue of the C&H Hog Farms' alleged impact on the quality of the Buffalo National River and the Buffalo watershed.
In his guest column the governor states, "Science, not emotion, must drive our approach to protecting the Buffalo National River and the Buffalo River watershed." I couldn't agree more. I believe the owners of the hog farm have done all they are required and more to ensure the river is not impaired and several years of testing have revealed it is still the safe, beautiful, scenic river it was before the farm went into operation.
I applaud Governor Hutchinson's approach and his sensitivity to preserving the beauty and quality of this state and national treasure. If there is ever any evidence the farm has a harmful impact on the river, I believe the extensive testing will reveal that.
So far it seems there has been none, and that's good enough for me. I've already floated the Buffalo River this spring and plan to go on another float this summer, knowing full well it's the same safe natural resource my family has enjoyed for the past 30 years.
JACK BOLES
Hasty
We don't know better
There are a number of noble attributes found in religion, but it also embraces other concepts that only the most credulous would deem worthy of attention. I believe one major flaw in religion is that it has never taught humanity that we as humans are responsible for our world, and therefore act regardless of the consequences.
In most religions, its followers are auditioning for the next world with little or no regard for the present one. In all fairness, there is also an abundance of unbelievers who would turn this beautiful planet into a slag pile for the sake of the almighty dollar.
Few appreciate our world as we should, or are thankful for the privilege of dwelling upon it. Because of overpopulation and greed, we have managed to poison our water, air, and soil and call it progress. Because we know no better, we wonder why the world is in such turmoil, wars, chaos, and confusion.
Seriously, what should we expect?
Politicians and religious leaders of all creeds and color lack truth of reality. They cannot tell history from mythology and are not qualified to run a world. They are ignorant men and women, forever doing today what proves disastrous tomorrow.
It would not be much of a stretch to say our so-called civilization is but mechanized barbarism. It would seem that only in a small percentage of the human population has awareness risen above the level of a clever monkey.
AL CASE
Onia
Split the difference?
More and more people are becoming dissatisfied with the inconvenience brought about because of the twice-yearly time changes. Some are for the change and some against the change. My solution: compromise! In the near future we either spring forward or fall back one half-hour--and then it remains that way.
PAUL CHRIST
Harrison
Our minds are closed
I attended Sen. Tom Cotton's and Rep. French Hill's joint town-hall meeting in Little Rock and left impressed with our elected officials, but dismayed by the actions of the constituents in attendance. It made me want to shout out that our right to free speech must be balanced with an important responsibility to listen. How else can we ever find common ground and move toward action?
The rudeness in the room was appalling to say the least. I felt Cotton and Hill treated the audience with much more respect than they received, or that the actions of many in the room deserved. It really seemed to me that an anarchist element wanted to turn a town-hall meeting into a protest venue. I don't think that's what this event was about. Rather, it was an opportunity to question our legislators, listen to their responses, and make our individual judgment about what they said. That was hard to do with people screaming over them as they talked, and raising placards to block my view. Save that behavior for street protests, not attempts at conversation in a town-hall meeting.
Even a request asking folks to stand to start the session with a short prayer was interrupted by a group shouting for people to sit down if they didn't believe in God, drowning out the few words spoken. Throughout the event, multiple questions were preceded by accusatory statements to try to slander our elected officials, all with shouts of support from others in the room. A total lack of basic Arkansas manners.
It seems to me our minds are closed and our hearts are frozen. I'm disheartened by the whole episode and looking for people to exercise their responsibility to listen as much as they demand their freedom of speech.
JOHN BRAYMAN
Little Rock
See the good in police
Cases like the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Mo., and the Cleveland, Ohio, shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice are just a few of the examples of fatal police shootings that have added fuel to the already raging fire with police within the community. Many people see police as people who are targeting minorities or who lie. However, most people do not realize who these people truly are.
Most police officers are good-hearted people who are out trying to serve their community with honesty and integrity. Many are trying to build a bridge of trust within the community but many are turned away in fear or hatred. Being a police officer is a tough enough job already. Being scrutinized for every little thing doesn't help. Police need people who understand them and hear their cry of help in these tense times.
You cannot let a few "unjustified" police shootings deface what all police departments stand for. It is easy for us people to be quick to judge harshly upon police when they do something that seems wrong and horrible. But put yourself in their shoes. Get a grasp of what they have to go through each and every day when they put on that badge. They have families they want to go home to and see each night.
In a nation that's quick to judge and point out flaws, you can be the start to a nation that will instead see the good in police and make a change.
IAN LEE
Sherwood
About the screw-ups
On Good Friday the Democrat-Gazette published a long column by David Brooks of the New York Times titled "The incompetence crisis." In it he berates our president of three months by saying "the human imagination is not capacious enough to comprehend all the many ways the Trumpians can find to screw this thing up."
I would suggest that Mr. Brooks carefully go over the past eight years of the Obamian reign and I believe he will see a screw-up of massive proportions.
Here again, folks, is your fake news from another incompetent New York Times columnist.
LAVERNE WELCHER
Hot Springs
Editorial on 04/22/2017