On political division
Pastor Spurgeon once said: Greatly is it to be deplored whenever the convulsions of nations drag Christian men into opposition to one another on the ground of politics. One part of the body of Christ cannot be at war with another. It is a shameful thing whenever we suffer our earthly nationality to dominate over our heavenly citizenship.
B.E. SPURGEON
North Little Rock
Snake-bite kit at hand
Snakes'll bite ya. They can't help it. That's what snakes do.
Republicans will run your life if you're credulous enough to elect them. They will make the most personal of decisions for you and enact laws to compel your compliance. It seems their loyalty is to whoever pays them the best and most of them will lie to you without compunction. Most of them in Arkansas voted for and still vigorously support a compulsive liar who I believe is immoral, narcissistic and complicit in the recent sedition against the country.
Now they are anxious to vote for the liar's liar for governor. She was taught to lie by her father whom it seems has decided that working for Caesar pays better. Now the embarrassment we have for attorney general is term-limited so we have a man with questionable background running for it. He has just been fully endorsed by the biggest liar in the country.
Republicans render allegiance to the NRA and promote its phallic symbols to be legally carried any place they choose. When we twice elected a Black man for president, the racist rednecks all across the South quickly became Republicans to make very sure that never happens again. Their intent to "make America great again" is to suppress the votes of minorities and keep women in their places while telling you it's God's will.
They will prevent the teaching of factual history in schools so they don't have to admit what was done to Blacks, Indians and certain others by white people. They wrote the history books the way they want them.
KARL HANSEN
Hensley
Place your bets on me
The push to allow transgender "women" to compete in female sports has emboldened me to announce my 2018 Harley Davidson motorcycle has identified as a thoroughbred race horse. We will be entering this year's Kentucky Derby. I, identifying as a 213-pound jockey, will be riding him, named Motorama. To quell some complaints, we will contact Oaklawn to enter the Arkansas Derby as a prelim event. Please keep your hating to yourselves!
FRED WILLIAMSON
Maumelle
Hunt food, not people
M.A. Stafford of Maumelle, let's not forget the nine Christians murdered in a church in South Carolina by Dylann Roof. In Connecticut at Sandy Hook, 20 young kids were murdered by Adam Lanza. Some of these young thugs probably can't even spell gun, but know how to go out and take another person's life. It is so, so sad.
I am a senor citizen who has never held a gun in my hands and never will. I grew up on a large farm in Florida where guns were used for hunting food, not people.
JULIA RANDLE
Jacksonville
Huge debt in offing
It seems the greatest scam in our history is now law.
Never have so few authorized the spending of so much. It will mostly benefit those that are the well-connected elites. The working taxpayer will get crumbs and the future generations a huge debt.
How long can this go on?
WILLIAM F. JEBB
Cabot
Pick up after your pet
I love living in downtown Little Rock, although much of why we moved there has been mostly on pause for the past year. Those things will return, and I very much look forward to it.
My wife and I live in an apartment with a great balcony. It's fantastic for people and pet watching, and our dog just loves to sit out there and watch the world go by. Our dog gets walked three times a day, rain or shine, and both of us have always picked up our pet's waste and disposed of it properly. It is what thoughtful and courteous pet owners do. It is downright disgusting to see how many dog owners apparently do not feel the same way. Those folks are pitiful and derelict in their responsibilities to their fellow citizens.
In the six years we've lived there, that is approximately 6,500 trips outside for our dog's sake, and that is just us. Multiply that times 1,000, and one can begin to understand the vast amount of pet waste. If just a third leave their pet's waste for others, that's approximately 300,000 piles of waste for the rest of the populace to step in. Per year! I can smell summer coming a mile away.
There should be waste bags and receptacles on every corner. The motels should not only admonish their many pet-owning patrons to "pick it up," but also supply the waste bags. It would appear, by the incredible amount of waste nearest those establishments, that most visitors could not care less about leaving their pet's waste for the people who live here to deal with.
Rex Nelson has written many fine articles concerning needed improvements and amenities for Capitol Avenue and the surrounding area, and we applaud him for that. He is spot on. That thoroughfare and surrounding area should be a showplace for our city and its visitors. An important component should be much stricter enforcement of whatever pet-waste laws we now have. It is a matter of sanitation, beautification, and common sense.
TIM GREEN
Little Rock