Defunding the police
Want to defund our police department? It can be easy--just do the following:
- Don't drive recklessly. Obey traffic laws.
- Stop using illegal drugs such as narcotics, opiates, marijuana, and meth.
- Stop shoplifting, home break-ins, riots and looting in our cities.
- Stop drive-by shootings and murdering each other.
- Stop domestic violence and rape.
Please place these Golden Rules on the Capitol grounds. No religion required.
TOM KNIGHT
Little Rock
Can count on the mail
I have been mailing my young grandson a postcard once a week since Aug. 14 of last year. According to my son, only once did the postcard arrive late. This was from Magnolia to Alexandria, Va.
My mail has always been delivered around the same time every day. I am proud of our service here and know that my delivery depends on other cities for distribution. I've worried about a postcard slipping through the sorting and processing. That has not happened. We shouldn't worry about our votes getting to where they are to be counted. They are just as important as my postcards to my 3-year-old grandson.
PAMELA HOWELL
Magnolia
On reopening schools
This is my first letter to the editor, but, after reading Bradley Gitz's column in the Aug. 17 paper, I have to make a point about opening schools.
I'm just a dumb country boy, not an educated professor like Bradley Gitz, but I believe I'm smart enough to figure out that the real danger to opening school is to the teachers and administrators and the youngsters becoming carriers. I daresay that most of their parents are over 25, and I'm positive that all of their grandparents are. If I remember correctly, Typhoid Mary didn't die from the disease, but certainly passed it on.
If Gitz doesn't understand this, I've got to question his teaching abilities.
WILLIAM BRATTON
Little Rock
Care, empathy, love
It would appear that Coach Sam Pittman may have been largely responsible for Bret Bielema's best years. He seems to embody characteristics such as care, empathy and love for/with his players. Yet he requires hard work and discipline. Discipline that is given out of respect, not forced.
Donald, are you paying attention? Are you listening? Do you care? Donald, are you there? Donald, Donald, you've lost your way.
ALAN SWEITZER
Fayetteville
Same pollutants there
When we equate the Klan in Boone County with the hog farm on the Buffalo River watershed in Newton County, then progress will be made and the Klan will leave just as the hog farm left.
JOHN ROACH
Yellville
A leader should unite
There's an old saying: "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." For those who bought the Trump message in 2016, it may have seemed like a good choice. After all, he was a political outsider with good name recognition. Nov. 3 offers an opportunity to reconsider.
Trump asked, "What do you have to lose?" Now, Americans know only too well what was lost. The daily chaos and scandals that permeate the Trump administration are unprecedented in American history. I am still waiting for Mexico to pay for the "wall." Since Trump hires only the "best" people, I'm sure it's just a coincidence that many face indictment or jail time. The swamp in Washington has only gotten wider, deeper, and darker.
It's no accident that the terms "alternative facts" and "fake news" coincided with the election of Trump. He has offered nothing but division, fear, and distraction. Trump makes a mockery of the rule of law. Every criticism was answered with cries of "witch hunt" or "hoax." His acquittal in the sham Senate impeachment trial demonstrates that the GOP dances to Trump's tune.
He has done nothing to combat the climate crisis or address the scourge of gun violence. In the midst of a pandemic he has done nothing to mitigate, he wants to suppress mail-in voting despite proven reliability. Trump's callous immigration policies have separated migrant children from their families. Thus far, Trump has been shielded from justice by a policy that protects a sitting president from indictment. However, Trump could be justly exposed for tax, bank fraud, and other violations if not re-elected.
A president should unite the people and not govern according to whether you live in a blue or red state. As added benefit, imagine having a president who actually reads!
MONROE CARLTON
Conway
Props in reality show
Trump, in a White House RNC Convention photo-op, welcomed five new U.S. citizens into the "Great American family." They were unaware that they were being used as a prop in his reality show.
He then told them: "You followed the rules, you obeyed the laws, you learned your history, embraced our values and proved yourselves to be men and women of the highest integrity."
Ironic words from a president who does not follow the rules, does not obey the laws, does not know history, does not embrace our values, and certainly is not a man of the highest integrity.
Make America great again: Vote Biden/Harris.
RICK ARMELLINI
Eureka Springs