Stories by Mike Masterson

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Nothing ‘afowl’ There's been lots of recent comment and conjecture on social media about the large number of fires at meat-processing plants. People have grown increasingly concerned that perhaps facilities are b... June 28, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Moving movie If you have yet to see the box-office-busting "Top Gun: Maverick" and harbor doubts that Hollywood is capable of producing a quality, immensely entertaining movie during this grossly unpopul... June 26, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Costly fees, questions Taxpayers in Huntsville's School District must fork over $12,912 in attorneys' fees to Fort Smith attorney Joey McCutchen after the district lost a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed aga... June 25, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: From other voices I continue to receive feedback from valued readers over the recent tragedy at Uvalde, Texas, as they share ideas and thoughts on that school shooting and other recent events. Some prefer not be be nam... June 21, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Fortify schools Seems everyone has an opinion on how best to prevent school shootings. I do know these often-suicidal killers are never concerned with laws, including the missives posted at virtually every school.Hav... June 19, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Being back home "Hey, it's good to be back home again.Sometimes this old farm feels like a long lost friend"--John Denver, "Back Home Again"_____Some still ask why I, after living and working ... June 18, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Readers respond Letters to the editor are part of the job when you lay your thoughts and opinions out for others to either appreciate, yawn or disparage. I always weigh the thought rather than the emotion behind each... June 14, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Rue remembered My father, retired Lt. Col Rue B. Masterson, has been gone 42 years.Yet 1980, when he unexpectedly stopped by my office at the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record bearing a grim and ashen face, doesn't se... June 12, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Summer sojourns Summer's finally dawning and Silver Dollar City's National Kids Fest brings two new entertainment icons to the internationally acclaimed 1880s-style theme park near Branson starting this weeke... June 7, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Love bandits When it comes to falling for online romance scams, those seeking suckers found slim pickings in our state.Arkansas actually fared very well in a recent study by the website Social Catfish using popula... June 5, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Back to the cove Twenty-six years of weekend reunions at Ken Reeves' lake house floating in Coffman Cove on Bull Shoals Lake are starting to show in the thinning gray hair, multiplying wrinkles and failing eyes of... June 4, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Written on a wall More than 20 years have passed since I penned my first column in this space on the Voices page. Yet the message behind it remains as relevant today.Since I suspect many readers have come and gone over... May 31, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Spiritual warfare In the wake of national tragedies like the one at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, that claimed the lives of 19 students and two teachers in a single classroom, our polarizing national debate ... May 29, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Incumbents lose seats The good people of Huntsville on Tuesday sent a stinging rebuke of their school board's terrible mishandling of the notorious "bean dipping" and "baptism" scandal by voting to ... May 28, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Costly defense Ellen Kreth, the national- award-winning publisher of the Madison County Record in Huntsville, published a story the other day detailing how expensive it can be for taxpayers when a school district lo... May 24, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Ticks aplenty They're baaack! We pulled two ticks from little Benji the other day, and I found one crabbing up my leg in search of a place to snack.I decided to write about the threatening little bloodsuckers a... May 22, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Bowen faculty rebuff The Bowen Law School faculty hath decreed (so let it be written, so let it be done): No longer will Jewish Professor Rob Steinbuch be allowed to select guest speakers to host his own classes for a few... May 21, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: FOIA violations That student-on-student sexual abuse scandal continued to play out the other day when Circuit Judge Doug Martin ruled the Huntsville School District Board violated the state's Freedom of Informati... May 17, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Day of mystery I suspect few of us exit this life without having at least one mysterious experience we can never explain. I'm prone to refer to some as GodNods.While I'd had several such events over a lifeti... May 15, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Our complex, changing faith Feeling as religious or spirit-filled as you may have been 10 or 20 years ago?As children, my brother, sister and I became accustomed to regularly attending Sunday School and church services with our ... May 14, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Viable alternative With the uproar over President Joe Biden considering that taxpayers pay off our federally guaranteed student loans, I decided to focus on an effective, less-costly alternative to advanced education.Co... May 10, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Beloved mothers The most certain thing about mothers is we can't take a breath in this strange world without coming through them.Yes, males among us must contribute to the process of creating and sustaining life.... May 8, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Back to Cranor’s A typical early morning mist was rising from the clear flow and a woodpecker drilled to his heart's content in the background as we gingerly stepped into guide Jerry Killebrew's boat at Cranor... May 7, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Customers first Anyone recall the classic admonition reminding every merchant the customer is always right? It's been a long time since I've heard it, though the principle remains as valid as ever.In place of... May 3, 2022

Obits say a lot I read the daily paper front to back, pausing when I happen across a headline or lead paragraph that captures my attention.The handy-dandy iPad supplied by the paper with my subscription makes it easy... May 1, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Our changed nation More than 45 years have passed since I packed up a 24-foot Coachman motorhome, bolted a Honda Civic to her rear, and set off from Hot Springs to spend a year writing about the mood of the people along... April 30, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: No charges filed After a year of uproar over the alleged sexual abuse of some Huntsville junior high basketball players by fellow students, it turns out none of the adult mandated reporters will be charged for failing... April 26, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: ‘Les Miz’ coming My favorite Broadway show is returning for a road-show performance on Jan. 19, 2023, at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis.While I realize the 15 times I've seen Victor Hugo's immortal classic &quot... April 24, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Conflict at Bowen Readers may wonder why I've become intrigued by the recent controversy over whether faculty members at the William H. Bowen Law School at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will remain free... April 23, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: At a crossroads The historic Christian-based College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Mo., remains embroiled in a legal battle with a Biden administration bent on erasing various gender needs while enforcing shared ho... April 19, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Past remembered Nearly 50 years have passed since I last walked the streets of downtown Hot Springs. The city has spread out in every direction over those decades, as I discovered the other day after spending two nig... April 17, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Electric vehicles, no thanks We've chatted previously about why I'll never consider purchasing or leasing an electric car or truck to make my way along the highways and byways of our nation.Don't misunderstand. I have... April 16, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Zero education Since personal finance and our economy represent a major portion of the lives we share, it seems relevant here in National Financial Literacy Month to examine everything our educational systems and pa... April 12, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Still simmering Lest you believe the flap over the recent prohibition on law professor Rob Steinbuch's long-approved use of guest lecturers during absences on Jewish high holidays has passed, think again.I say th... April 10, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: A brother’s murder Filing in with scores of others the other day, we glided up the escalator at the Clinton Presidential Library.We were eager to hear Ronnie Williams of Menifee discuss his compelling new book, "Ma... April 9, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Eyes on future In rifling through decades of saved papers, I happened across two folded yellowing sheets dated 2006 that list the late self-described psychic and best-selling author Sylvia Browne's predictions f... April 5, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: In public interest Imagine you're publishing a weekly newspaper in your Arkansas hometown of 3,000.You're expected to accurately inform your readers of events that affect their lives while serving as an ambassad... April 3, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: About our expectations I've come to believe, after decades of interacting with and observing fellow humans, that I've identified perhaps the foremost cause of problems in interactions with each other.It can be summa... April 2, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Student abuse Parents of middle school-aged boys in the community of Lamar appear to have much in common with those who have students of similar age enrolled in the Huntsville School District.I'm talking about ... March 29, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: ‘Little guy’ won I recently engaged in a friendly disagreement with a valued reader over the Fayetteville Public School District's materials, which advocate the highly contentious and divisive critical race theory... March 27, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Abandoning common sense Ever wonder where old-fashioned common sense went in this troubled nation? Poof! All but vanished.I'm talking about the inherent logic that tells us not to touch hot stoves, play in traffic, jump ... March 26, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Light in the dark Politicians, lawyers, city officials, journalists, a judge and concerned citizens from across the state convened in Harrison's Durand Center the other day to discuss aspects of our state's Fre... March 22, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: The best of us There are two newsworthy events scheduled for later this month and early April that pay tribute to the best among us.First, at 5:30 on March 31 at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Ronni... March 20, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Spring is springing Hard to believe the winter's nearly behind us. The daffodils are waving bright yellow hellos, trees are beginning to bud, and covid has loosened its two-year grip. It's the time of year I star... March 19, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: ‘ScareTakers’ A nation is judged by the way it treats its most vulnerable.Which makes Jacklyn Perry Ryan's new book, "CareGivers ScareTakers: Exposing Fraud in Senior Care," important. It is inspired ... March 15, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Devilish doings Those of us old enough to remember the late iconic radio broadcaster Paul Harvey recall his wisdom and deeper insights into the foibles of the human animal.Perhaps his most famous broadcast was one de... March 13, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Branson’s Haygoods deliver I'm no professional reviewer of stage performances by any stretch, but I sure know a dazzling show when I've seen one.And I left Branson's Clay Cooper Theater the other evening amid an equ... March 12, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Bergman’s lament It's a given that no one escapes this lifetime without heartache and loss.That's certainly true for the Bergman High School Panthers and the way they won but "lost" their 3-A Regiona... March 8, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: An angel calls Along with the "GodNods" we experience across our lifetimes, I've come to believe we also have angelic interventions.The best example I can imagine involved a cell phone, of all things, ... March 6, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Preserving our treasure There's been a lot of history published this week about the 50th anniversary of our Buffalo National River, the nation's first so-designated stream.That's as it should be, especially consi... March 5, 2022