Boozman turns up in film on Netflix
Viewers of The Family will catch a few glimpses of U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark.
Based on a book of the same name by Jeff Sharlet, the five-part miniseries focuses on an evangelical organization that, among other things, organizes the National Prayer Breakfast each year in Washington, D.C.
The film was released by Netflix earlier this month.
Boozman pops up in scenes from the 2017 prayer breakfast. As the event's co-chairman that year, Boozman sat on the platform with President Donald Trump.
The lawmaker from Rogers can also be seen standing in the lobby of Trump Tower. Boozman and fellow co-chairman U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., traveled to New York in December 2016 so they could personally invite the incoming president to attend the annual event.
Trump ultimately accepted the invitation.
The Prayer Breakfast dates to 1953 and has been attended by every president since Dwight Eisenhower.
When he was in office, U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., also served as the event's co-chairman, one year sharing the podium with U2 frontman Bono.
On Netflix, The Family -- officially known as the Fellowship Foundation -- is portrayed as a malevolent force in American politics. Sharlet calls it "the darkest expression of religious life that I've found in 20 years."
Several others interviewed, including former President Jimmy Carter, also portray it as a positive force.
Lawyer didn't rue missed arguments
Cheryl Maples, who championed marriage equality and the right of same-sex couples to adopt, successfully challenged Arkansas' same-sex marriage ban in state and federal court. She died Thursday.
She also persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court, just two years ago, to strike down an Arkansas law that prevented same-sex couples from both being listed on their child's birth certificate.
While claiming a spot in the law books, Maples never got to argue the case, Pavan v. Smith, in front of the justices themselves.
"When the Supreme Court took a look at the Pavan case, it did not require briefings, it did not require oral arguments because it was so clear that the Arkansas Supreme Court and the Arkansas attorney general's position was absolutely wrong," Maples told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette last month. "It was a slam-dunk."
Some attorneys would lament a lost opportunity to argue before the high court, but Maples didn't, according to her daughter, Melina Maples Granger.
"She was ecstatic," Maples Granger recalled. "It is a stronger statement about how wrong the Arkansas Supreme Court was and the Arkansas attorney general was for [the justices] to say 'We don't need to hear any arguments. You're wrong.'"
Maples was outside the U.S. Supreme Court building on April 28, 2015, the day that the court heard arguments in Obergefell v. Hodges, the case that ultimately struck down same-sex marriage bans from coast-to-coast.
After breaking a leg, she was confined to a wheelchair and couldn't make it to the podium to address the swarms of onlookers. But Wes Givens, one of the Arkansans challenging the state's same-sex marriage ban, picked her up and carried her to the microphone.
Maples Granger, who is gay, said her mother's fight was far from abstract.
"She wanted me to be able to marry the person that I love someday, just like she was able to do," she added.
Boozman to make stops across state
U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., will be focusing on agriculture this week, crisscrossing the state to meet with people who till soil and raise crops.
On Monday, he's scheduled to visit the Springdale farm of Jerry Martin, a Vietnam veteran who grows "leafy green vegetables" in what is described as a "closed-loop hydroponic environment."
Afterward, he plans to make a detour to Bayyari Elementary School, pausing to eat lunch and visit its garden.
On Tuesday, the lawmaker from Rogers will head to H&J Land Co. in Newport. The 6,000-acre farm drew attention after its manager, Jennifer James, was named Field to Market Farmer of the Year.
Later that day, Boozman will head to Jonesboro for the groundbreaking at Delta Peanut, his office said.
On the agenda for Wednesday is a stop at the Arkansas State University College of Agriculture's Bill and Alice Nix Petting Zoo.
In past years, the stop has included miniature donkeys, miniature horses, deer, ducks, bottle-fed calves, turkeys, cats, chickens and rabbits, among other creatures.
In the afternoon, Boozman will head to Stuttgart to tour a rice mill and meet with rice industry leaders.
On Thursday, he will tour a pecan orchard in Keo, and on Friday, he visits wood industry businesses in Magnolia and East Camden, as well as a tree farm in Camden.
During the week, he'll also take time to meet with anti-hunger activists at his Little Rock office.
Boozman, a longtime member of the Senate Hunger Caucus, also serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Planning to visit the nation's capital? Know something happening in Washington, D.C.? Please contact Frank Lockwood at (202) 662-7690 or flockwood@arkansasonline.com. Want the latest from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Washington bureau? It's available on Twitter, @LockwoodFrank.
A Section on 08/25/2019