Stories by Mike Masterson

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Words of wisdom I've collected the following gems of wisdom and advice clearly designed to help each of us create a more blessed and informed 2022.Some are my own observations. Others are borrowed. Nonetheless, t... January 25, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Fight over white A white picket fence surrounds a house of love. More happiness than the heavens above. A house where sweetheart's love blooms. Joy filling every room. ... --Lamar ColePoetic, but perhaps not in Be... January 23, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Hyper-hypocrisy I place no trust in a person who attempts to silence my voice, hides truth to achieve selfish goals, or denies the constitutionally protected right to express a different point of view than theirs.How... January 22, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Remember when Last year I changed my cell ringtone to Alan Jackson's poignant hit song "Remember When."I wasn't making the change out of a mourning for any lost love, but rather to remind me to pa... January 18, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Pews emptier Conversation at the morning coffee group at the Town House Cafe in Harrison turned to religion, which was understandable since most folks having their cups refilled have long attended Protestant denom... January 16, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Professor responds The Voices page carried two pieces on the same day this week that contended their authors did not believe it was antisemitism for the Bowen Law School dean at the University of Arkansas Little Rock to... January 15, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Professor affirmed The myriad travails of late at the University of Arkansas' Bowen School of Law were justified after a university committee found Professor Rob Steinbuch was correct in having invited guests lead h... January 11, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Frayed fabric I've yet to take a moment to wish valued readers a happy new year. Here's hoping this year will improve dramatically over all we've endured for more than two years.In all honesty, the firs... January 9, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: A family in need A widow and her four children from southern Arkansas still need our help and a compassionate federal agency after their relatively young father with a career in law enforcement died of natural causes.... January 8, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: A big verdict The lives of first responders are often fraught with unseen dangers, as evidenced by a court decision last month out of St. Francis County.A jury there came down squarely on the side of first responde... January 4, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: What awaits us? So another new year begins as here we wait holding our collective breath in justifiable trepidation over the unknown during the next 12 months.We can only hope it will be a far more rewarding and fulf... January 2, 2022

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Chats with Benji We regularly talk to our 12-pound pound pup Benji as if he were our 10 year-old-son. Sharing our thoughts with the furry little fella just feels normal."Good boy, want a toy? Wanna go for a walk?... January 1, 2022

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: In the mailroom Bruce Plopper's recent letter to the editor generated considerable response from valued readers after I asked if other Arkansans also had to pay $3 late fees after their annual license renewal not... December 28, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: The day after This column initially was written to appear on Christmas Day.After thinking things through, my rational brain was able to overwhelm my emotional monkey mind and concluded this opinion was not an accep... December 26, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Behind the radiant festivities Merry Christmas 2021, valued readers. It's always been my favorite time of year. Perhaps yours, too.Fortunately The closet thing to the enchanting North Pole in the nation lies under our radiant r... December 25, 2021

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Fill 'er up! Perhaps like you, I have read and watched all the hoopla about the supposed wonderfulness of electric vehicles and how they can revolutionize the way we travel. Common sense leaves me wondering just h... December 21, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Falling short When I chose journalism in 1971 at age 22, it was with the belief I was entering a meaningful calling of sorts.Slogans I admired at the time said it all: It's journalism's role to report truth... December 19, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: ADL supports professor I'll bet good folks at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and its Bowen School of Law continue yanking out handfuls of hair after months of contention over a law school professorship named ... December 18, 2021

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Fighting for FOIA Valued readers know I regularly devote considerable space to promoting the free flow of information and lawsuits that arise when institutions and agencies are accused of violating Arkansas' transp... December 14, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Social identity Floyd Fenix read my column about radical Americans and certain corporations banding together to "cancel" those with whom they disagree, thus ignoring our U.S. Constitution that guarantees in... December 12, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Stew enough to share Thought I'd head a different direction today by sharing a stew of items on several subjects I've discovered from various sources that apply in various ways to your life and mine. Hope find the... December 11, 2021

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Violations persist When it comes to abiding by our state's Freedom of Information Act, the Huntsville School Board continues to have a dickens of a time following this important law.You'd think after having its ... December 7, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: About perception During five years directing the Kiplinger Public Affairs Reporting fellowship program at Ohio State University, I regularly made a point of spicing classroom lectures with examples of life's reali... December 5, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Fight for freedom I've always believed it's acceptable for each of us to express our thoughts as we please. Your life is no one else's business as long as you're not intentionally causing them harm.Than... December 4, 2021

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Waiting for stories Planeloads of civilians, including about 6,000 Americans, were airlifted out of Afghanistan late this summer to escape likely harm, according to news accounts. Another 40,000 or so others reportedly l... November 30, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Scrooges abound We'd better watch out lest we be pouting over grifters this Christmas season.As the nation's supply chain continues to suffer, we can expect online shopping scams to flourish, says the website... November 28, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Life-changing weeks The year was 1968. My friend Eddie Baca and I were boarding an airplane in Albuquerque bound for the U.S. Coast Guard boot camp at Government Island in Alameda, Calif.We’d enlisted during the Vi... November 27, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Sheet cheats Not that it's any of my beeswax, but how often do you change your bedsheets? From advice I've read, probably not enough.A survey of 1,000 people found people routinely change sheets on average... November 23, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Societal whiplash President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 warned us: "If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a poli... November 21, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Our pervasive turmoil I doubt any of us can recall a time over the course of our lifetimes when anger, disrespect, conflict, contention and nasty name-calling have been so pervasive across these once United States. Some sa... November 20, 2021

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Decider resigns The Fayetteville attorney appointed as the "decision-maker" for a second Title IX investigation into alleged sexual assaults by some members of the Huntsville School District's junior hi... November 16, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Memorable advice Attorney Kelsey Bardwell of Harrison took to Facebook the other day to ask her many friends for suggestions about the important things she could tell a class of teenagers about managing life. Response... November 14, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Taking on a critic A Bella Vista resident, who described himself several days back in a letter posted on this page as a boomer white male Christian, called me the "whitest white man practicing journalism in this st... November 13, 2021

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Lawyerly letter The leader of the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists (AAJLJ) recently sent a letter to Theresa Beiner, dean of the Bowen School of Law at UALR, addressing what his organization interpr... November 9, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Complaint sealed U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks has determined the Title IX civil complaint filed against the Huntsville School District should be sealed pending resolution of a motion to seal the entire case, ost... November 7, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Reliving my 'best day' The question raised the other night on the program we watched seemed simple enough on its face: Describe your best day ever. Yet with so many of my days already in life's rear-view mirror, that task ... November 6, 2021

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Protect liberties It's difficult to believe our nation, conceived in freedom of speech, expression and association, today finds itself shrouded in a cloud that tolerates none of those liberties. I'm talking about the ... November 2, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Falling behind I was never a world-beater student in math. It always seemed math instead was routinely beating up on me. I could write a story about a school's math whiz. But sitting down and accurately ciphering f... October 31, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Origins of a scandal Ellen Kreth, publisher of Huntsville's Madison County Record, is spearheading an important public service investigative series about the origins and effects of the scandal that has rocked the public s... October 30, 2021

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Conflicts continue You'll likely recall the recent controversy in the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's Bowen Law School when the plans of Dean Theresa Beiner and a retiring professor and defender of Bill Clinton,... October 26, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: The human pup As the months with our 7-year-old pound pup Benji have ticked away, we've become convinced he was a human being in a previous incarnation. Not only are his actions far different than any dog Jeanetta... October 24, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Nation's best decades I read an article recently that said those of us born between 1925 and 1955 are said in many ways to have grown up in the best years of this planet. With a birthday in 1946, I feel fortunate for bein... October 23, 2021

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Truth in America I feel certain most of those reading have observed the unmistakable evaporation of common sense across the fruited plain. As the decades have ticked away, departing with them are our capacities for u... October 19, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Forsaken oaths We're expected to pledge sworn oaths and allegiances to various endeavors often beginning in school and throughout our careers and lives as adults. But do we actually follow what we swear (often to Go... October 17, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: A daughter remembers Jeanetta and I have each had our covid-19 boosters. At this stage of life, I realize how foolhardy it would be to risk winding up on a live-or-die ventilator with only virus-weary nurses to keep me an... October 16, 2021

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: For protection As this troubled nation endures widespread cultural and political divisions, violent crime continues to soar. That's one reason I acquired my concealed-carry license two years ago, hoping never to use... October 12, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Crows' odd vigil Two years ago I told you about urologist Dr. Scott Ferguson of Harrison being stalked by a murder of crows. The physician had no idea what he'd done to capture the relentless attention of the band of ... October 10, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: More concerns in Huntsville Leave it to Fort Smith's fearless bulldog Joey McCutchen to be the attorney to file a Title IX-related action in federal court against the Huntsville School District. I surely wouldn't want this barri... October 9, 2021

OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Alienating buyers Author's note: The original version of this column was published in 2019. In a nation admired for freedom of expression and speech lived neighboring kumquat store owners, each serving customers from ... October 5, 2021

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: On Border Patrol I don't invest much energy commenting on the abundance of inexcusable national blunders and political power plays designed to benefit one party above the welfare of all Americans. It isn't that there... October 3, 2021