The calendar says Thanksgiving is upon us while my seasonal inner clock screams "impossible!"
But in keeping with the spirit of this holiday, I always pause each year to focus on the simple things I'm thankful for, which, if not contemplated for their value to existence, I would easily take for granted.
For instance, I feel gratitude for astonishing sunsets and the fragrance of fresh-mown grass, the colors of autumn and the lime green of spring, as well as waterfalls and frogs on a summer's night. I also appreciate butterflies, hummingbirds, dogs, fresh air, clean streams, a roof over my head, buttered popcorn and hot water.
I offer thanks for those I love and who love me, including family and friends, along with joyful times on a golf course and wading peaceful, crystalline streams with a spinning rod in hand.
Primarily, I am thankful to the creator who allowed me a brief period in this troubled yet wondrous world while providing the opportunity to make positive differences in the lives of others.
So how about you, valued readers?
Asa and our Buffalo
The governor told me last week that he entered this year with a determination to resolve three issues related to preserving our magnificent Buffalo National River. First, to find a fair way for the state to rectify its monumental mistake in allowing C&H Hog Farms into the Buffalo watershed in 2012. Second, he wanted to create a permanent moratorium on any large-scale hog factories in this environmentally sensitive region. Finally, he hoped to create a conservation program that promotes a clean and healthy Buffalo watershed.
As 2019 draws to a close, all three have either been fulfilled or are in the process of becoming a realty.
C&H, which the state bought out for a fair price, has until February to close and vacate, although it's my understanding that could occur before Christmas. The proposed moratorium has a bit longer for the public to comment before the final decision is made. And the conservation plan he envisioned has been approved.
So thank you to our governor. There was a lengthy era of uncertainty as to how this second battle for the Buffalo would be resolved. This avoidable mess ended in a victory for the river and the millions from Arkansas and beyond who appreciate and enjoy it.
One bad concoction
Talk about art imitating life in our state. Chemistry professors Terry David Bateman and Bradley Allen Rowland, arrested and charged with brewing methamphetamines, possibly in a Henderson State University lab, must have been watching seasons of Breaking Bad where the Albuquerque high school chemistry teacher in desperate need of money for his family's woes was doing the same thing, but in an RV.
A Henderson science building was closed in early October after reports of a chemical odor, and testing showed one of the components used to manufacture meth. The two were placed on administrative leave three days later, and the building reopened after a thorough cleaning.
Somehow I feel such a hairbrained, get-rich scheme can't help break any way but bad. I assume Henderson now has openings in its chemistry department since these two academic mentors have likely ensured the significance of their hard-earned degrees also drifted away with the fumes.
Margin for error
Someone asked again the other day why I'm not a fan of the death penalty. It's a double-edged question. If it can be proven with certainty a person is guilty of wantonly taking another's life, then I say they should suffer a similar fate.
But the term "with certainty" creates my reticence. I have been involved over the years with reporting about several people who were wrongly charged and/or convicted for crimes they did not commit, including three homicide cases. Thankfully, the facts were powerful enough to set them free.
Even more significantly, I read that the Innocence Project discovered since the early 1990s no fewer than 22 death-row inmates have been absolved of their crimes through DNA evidence. Sadly, the project staff's efforts exonerated one man after his execution for a murder he did not commit.
For me, 22 innocent people on death row is 22 too many. And I can only imagine how that fellow must have felt as he was led to his death for a murder committed by another who was walking scot-free.
Regressing to slurs
The comic strip Pearls Before Swine, among my favorites, recently pictured a bald man telling Rat: "... And that's what I think about immigration." Rat shoots back: "Oh, my God. You're a total moron." The two stare blankly at each other in awkward silence before Rat asks if he convinced the bald man he was right (he didn't). Later, Ray says to Goat: "I need a new persuasion technique." Four small frames on the funny pages summarized the childishness and profound ignorance level of American political discourse today.
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Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist, was editor of three Arkansas dailies and headed the master's journalism program at Ohio State University. Email him at mmasterson@arkansasonline.com.
Editorial on 11/26/2019