Right-thinking people
After many nights in my King James beanbag chair contemplating the events in Las Vegas, the fires in California and, most of all, the protests at football games, I needed a break.
To the GOP (God's Own Party) headquarters I went, thinking this is what the Donald would do: a couple of hours of fierce Whack-a-DACA games and off for a cold drink and keeping my enemy closer.
As usual, Professor Phineas Phogbottom was drinking his cheap box chablis when I sat down with him. The new lady, a priestess for a non-mainstream religion, was there; never caught her name so I named her Mushroom Mama based on my last encounter with her. She's part of a group that doesn't think like us right-thinking Old Testament, King James worshipping Christians. I wish her luck.
We got right to the point, the professor and I. I condemned the NFL protests and the professor merely sat there with a smile on his face. Mushroom Mama had a smile as she said, "Tell him, Phineas."
Phineas began talking about old King George not being too happy about a protest called the Boston Tea Party and that America was founded on protest, and I slammed down my beer and left, tiring of his ridiculous statements and prejudice against right-thinking people like myself. I bet he don't even own a King James Bible and probably never even read the Constitution of our great (gonna be even greater when the Donald gets through) country. Made me mad enough to send a letter to the Omnibus Herald Chronicle Register Advocate Picayune.
Well, more later after I calm down in my beanbag chair, thinking right thoughts!
STEVE GIBSON
Little Rock
Let them help nation
When you think of transgenders, do you think of them as less of a person? A true transgender, you could probably look at them and not even know they are transgender.
The cost of reassignment surgeries is what concerns Donald Trump. Really? Some of them don't even get the surgeries; they use hormones instead. Donald Trump reintroducing the vile idea of not allowing transgenders in the military infuriates me.
If there is someone bombing our country, I don't care if the American soldiers that are putting their lives in danger for us are black, white, female, male, get bloody noses easily, or even have seven fingers on one hand, as long as they are willing to fight for our country.
If people were trying to break into the White House to kill Donald Trump, I bet he wouldn't mind if a transgender is the one that saves his life. Transgenders are talented, capable people and do not require additional health care as Trump suggests.
Think of it this way: How would people react if someone said people can't join the military anymore because they are straight? I grew up liking the opposite sex. That's what makes me happy. If something makes me unhappy in life, I change it. That is what transgenders are doing; they are making themselves happy.
If they want to fight and help our country, we should all be grateful and appreciative.
ABIGAIL CROSS
Bauxite
Need a football team
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock needs a football team. How great will it be to open up the school year with football action for once instead of waiting for basketball season to start? It's been 50 years since UALR had a football team. There's 7-on-7 flag football being played on campus; students are interested in having a football team on campus, so why not have a football team for the school?
A football team would recruit students to continue their football lives and would increase revenue. All the big universities have a football team such as Fayetteville, UCA, UAPB, and Arkansas State. Football can bring the community and the campus together.
UALR is one of only two schools in the Sun Belt Conference without a football team. Resurrecting football will motivate the entire campus. It will definitely get people talking and help raise our profile because it will be meaningful to the entire school. As a matter of fact, it will help the athletic department too.
A football team will put UALR on the map. It'll be fun to go to a football game at UALR because right now there's really no activities on campus going on that are exciting for the most part until basketball season starts.
It will be the newest attraction on campus and we as students will have something to look forward to each week. That way there's at least something on campus that students can abide to.
ISAIAH WALKER
Little Rock
One of 'least of these'
Jack Greene will be executed by the state of Arkansas in the coming month, and I am wondering if that is what we really want to do. As a citizen, the state executes in my name.
Inspired by Sister Helen Prejean's book Dead Man Walking, I first met Jack in 2009. Jack and I became friends over the last eight years, mostly by letter and a few phone calls. I do not think Jack had another friend in the world, so I knew my contact was healing in some way to him. Jesus told us to have compassion on the least among us.
Jack told me about his past. He admits his crimes. He suffers incredible psychic pain from what he experiences. He often faints from anxiety, and frequently his face was covered in dried blood from passing out in his cell.
Jack was the 13th of 13 kids. His father killed himself in the home when Jack was 18 months old. The family then moved into a chicken coop on Jack's grandfather's place. His grandfather punished Jack mercilessly. At age 11, he sent Jack to reform school at the infamous Stonewall Jackson Reformatory, where Jack was beaten and sexually abused.
I wonder if I too would have been broken in such a childhood. I believe prison should include healing, not just punishment. Jack Greene is also a child of God, one of the least of these.
DAVID LEWIS
Fayetteville
Avert teen pregnancy
Teen pregnancy is starting to become more common everywhere, but especially in Arkansas. What teen wants to slow her life down to raise a baby when she's just a baby herself? A baby can't raise a baby, so girls need to be armed with information to make better life decisions.
Arkansas has the highest teen birth rate in the nation as of 2017. Arkansas childbearing cost the state $143 million in 2014. Having a child in adolescence makes it more difficult for young girls to achieve their educational and career goals. It appears some teens get pregnant for the government funding, and that's not okay. Sadly, this was evident in my small hometown.
As a teen girl, I know it's already hard. All the boys we come in contact with only want one thing from us, and we oftentimes feel like we have to give it to them or they'll leave. In most cases that may be true, but we have to be strong and tell them no.
Teen pregnancy is not okay. Teenage girls have so much more to offer than just getting pregnant and trying to raise a child. By focusing on giving girls the love and attention they need at home, teenage girls can change the world, one girl at a time. Together.
JALA McNUTT
Little Rock
Editorial on 10/21/2017