Skeptical on Harrison
Re Mike Masterson's column on Tuesday: I would be more able to believe Mr. Masterson's assertion that Harrison is not racist if it had been authored by a Black citizen of Harrison.
Having been in the area on my way to other destinations, I am skeptical that the leopard has changed its spots. I believe Harrison has a well-earned reputation as a "sundown town." Having a few citizens of other than the white race does not prove a change of heart in the larger citizenry.
RITA JOHNSON
Little Rock
Closer to Doomsday
Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. (Central time) the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists made a stunning announcement. The 2023 Doomsday Clock is set at 90 seconds until midnight, 10 seconds closer to nuclear Armageddon that it has ever been in its 75-year history!
The war in Ukraine dramatically increases Russia and the United States' threats of a nuclear weapons exchange. The scientists warn that "escalation of the conflict by accident, intention, or miscalculation is a terrible risk. The possibility that the conflict could spin out of anyone's control remains high."
While our state Legislature debates the meaning of "woke" and which bathroom children should use, the two parties in Congress are fighting with each other. But we can work to eliminate the twin threats of climate change and nuclear catastrophe and turn the Doomsday Clock into a relic of the past.
We must demand that Congress adopt a policy of Real Security and start taking steps to eliminate nuclear weapons: taking them off hair-trigger alert, adopting a no-first-use rule, and joining the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that has been ratified by 68 nations and is international law. Canceling the program to "modernize" an absurd stockpile of nuclear "deterrents" could save trillions of dollars that could be used to "cool" global warming.
The scientists warned that the current state of inertia on nuclear weapons is akin to being in a burning building and debating whether it is better to die from inhaling smoke or being consumed by the flames.
JEAN GORDON
Little Rock
Just cannot compare
We just returned from Jacksonville, Fla., visiting relatives over the holidays. Jacksonville is probably twice as large as Little Rock, but its newspaper does not even begin to compare to the fine quality of the Democrat-Gazette or the Sentinel-Record, except for the glaring exception of the puzzle page. Please return it to its former glory!
JUDITH JONES
Hot Springs Village
Having it both ways
Aww, how very dear of our governor to say she will give her pay raise to charity. Let's hope she doesn't take a page from the Trump Playbook and says she's going to give it away and then doesn't, as her mentor, the Bible scholar Donald Jehoshaphat Trump said about his salary.
Perhaps Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, Chapter 6, was expunged from the curriculum of your Sunday School classes, Sarah: "But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." Not a thing was said about heralding one's beneficence on social media.
Either thump the Bible and do what it says, or quit with the thumping is what I say. You can't have it both ways. Or you can, I guess.
JANET HILL
Fairfield Bay
Repeal of wokeness
It seems Gov. Sarah Sanders has committed to following the purity campaign to reform education and public comment modeled by Gov. Ron DeSanctimonius.
Will that include whitewashing the history of Central High and all the prickly issues surrounding it? I know that I am made to feel bad every time I am confronted by those embarrassing images. Imagine if that statue to the nine students at the Capitol was removed and replaced with something uplifting ... like a Mount Rushmore replica with added Trump profile.
MIKE FERGUSON
Little Rock
Raise pay for teachers
I find it reprehensible that the Arkansas Legislature is discussing raising the pay for the "elected public servant" instead of raising the pay for the public school teachers in this state. I noticed that in the case of the part-time legislative members we are paying them more for part-time work than starting full-time teachers.
Why do senators and representatives get pay and per diem? They work about six months out of every two years. The sessions are supposed to be for 60 and 30 days; they never finish on time. Yet teachers work at least 18 months out of every two years.
This is wrong; most legislative members hold other full-time jobs. We don't have to do teachers last.
MIKE SCOTT
Benton
Might be catching ...
J.E. Jackson's letter to the editor made me realize there is something going on in Hot Springs Village. Could it be that all these transplants who are moving here from liberal states so they can buy a cheaper property, live in a warmer climate, live their lives the way they want and tell us Southern conservatives how to live our lives actually want to change Arkansas so it will be more like the state they came running from?
I'm selling my Hot Springs Village lot. I'm afraid it might be "catching."
WR CORLEY
Benton