Letters

Painting on sidewalks

I had just spent the day rediscovering all the wonders of the Little Rock Zoo, and was standing on the corner of Markham and Fair Park when I happened to look down and, there, painted over the drain area, was a wonderfully rendered and colorful sidewalk painting of a group of frogs--with the message of keeping our water supply clean and healthy.

I would like to praise Central Arkansas Water and the talented group responsible for the artwork (the frog painting was signed Lorria Eubanks).

Bravo!

C.H. WARE

Little Rock

Let go of Tiger's tail

Yes, I saw the infamous mug shot, the one of a sleepy, haggard, droopy-eyed Tiger Woods being booked on a DUI charge. The tabloids and media have had a field day with yet another example of what they portray as the calamitous, downward spiral of a man who once reigned as king of the golf world. Continual media shredding of the golf monarch's regal robes has relegated him to mere mortal status.

But to Woods' credit, in this case it turns out that tests indicated that he had no alcohol or illegal drugs in his body system. Rather, he was apparently impaired from ingesting a mixture of legally prescribed painkillers. Woods has had severe back pain for a long time and it seems that surgery has done little to alleviate it. It would seem impossible for anyone to accurately swing a golf club under such conditions.

Anybody who has suffered chronic, intense back pain and/or excruciating sciatica can sympathize with Woods. Desperately seeking pain relief, many people have tried legally prescribed painkillers to numb the nagging torture, some finding temporary relief, some not.

Despite Woods' past personal problems, perhaps the media, just once, could lighten up a little and quit kicking a man when he is already down. After all, as someone said, "To err is human, to forgive divine."

BILLY BOOTH

Hazen

Rachel does not care

This is in regards to a letter in last Sunday's edition. Like Patricia Phillips, I too am tired of receiving calls from "Rachel with cardholder services."

But Patricia, I think it is a lost cause; it seems "Rachel with cardholder services" is cloned and multiplying daily.

Just in the last couple of weeks, my caller ID has shown three different phone numbers as well as different names that "Rachel, with cardholder services" has called me from. Calling not only on my land-line, but my cell phone also. And being on the "Do Not Call" list just does not matter to "Rachel with cardholder services"!

LENA RHOADS

Redfield

Found better comedy

The comics aren't funny anymore.

Now I get my chuckles from the liberal politicians!

LARRY HACKER

Bryant

Shame on Riverfest

"Do you want to get high? Who wants to get high with Wiz Khalifa?"--from Saturday night main stage at Riverfest.

When I was growing up, Riverfest was a fun event that our family drove two hours from South Arkansas to enjoy. Then, in young adulthood, I enjoyed lots of the musical artists that were brought in. No more.

I am outraged at the artists this "community festival" is now bringing in. Last year, it was Juicy J, and this year it is Wiz Khalifa as headliner. I saw hundreds, if not thousands, of teens reveling to music with extremely explicit lyrics, lyrics encouraging drug use, and lyrics extremely demeaning to women, it was a free-for-all of drunkenness and drugs all around me.

Our young people and our community deserve better! Riverfest Inc. is a nonprofit whose mission is "to produce a quality, recreational, cultural, educational, family oriented festival for the benefit of and in partnership with the community." That didn't happen from Wiz Khalifa, the Saturday night headliner, nor from Juicy J last year. The Riverfest executive director was quoted in this paper as saying that these are the types of artists that are being booked by other festivals to be sustainable. Really? How about other up-to-date artists that can be played on the radio, and thus have met some criteria of decency?

So many others have just thrown up their hands and accepted what Riverfest has become. However, I believe that we should stand up for community decency at our state's most advertised and largest festival. This represents us. "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Yes, even in Riverfest.

MARY CAROL PEDERSON

Little Rock

Must it be believed?

Many think of it as a religion--global warming/climate change. You must "believe" to be accepted into society. But what all those believers don't know, apparently, is that what they "believe" in is nothing more than a worldwide financial scheme that none of us can afford.

In Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides (nonfiction), scientists, to the point of funding and rigging an expedition to the North Pole, "believed" that the pole was a tropical paradise because of the warm jet streams that they believed flowed there.

In The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan, they "believed" that digging up the plains and farming it would be a good thing for the environment. It's the only time that I know of that the government has ever admitted its error.

So to all the "believers"--are you really that smart? What if you have it all wrong? Have you ever watched the movie The Fly?

Ridiculous, you say. But so is the concept that we have the knowledge and power to change the intricate workings of the universe. Seriously.

PAM MONTGOMERY

Conway

Editorial on 06/09/2017

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