A Chinese wall

Art Hobson ahobson@uark.edu

Fayetteville was too quick to go along with the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department's plans for North Garland Avenue. - Saturday, July 4, 2009

Times Editorial : Happy Fourth

As of July 4, 2009, those who count the United States as home can accurately say they live in a country where citizens celebrate their nation's independence day by taking a break from work, watching movies, flipping channels, enjoy a barbecue with family and friends, watching children run about the yard with sparklers in hand, and gazing up into the night to observe different colors mixing amidst exploding skyline patterns. If they're very lucky, the fireworks tonight will unfold to the sounds of Ray Charles singing "America The Beautiful" somewhere in the background, and all will seem right with this little world. - Saturday, July 4, 2009

Letters to the editor

Reforming health care a must News of the Iranian near-revolution, as well as Michael Jackson's death, have overshadowed the congressional tussle over health care reform, but it has continued to play out in the news media. Obama wants to improve the quality and cast of health care, and statistics quoted recently in a Washington Post poll say that 59 percent want change in the present system. Although negative ads on TV try to convince people that we'll be faced with a socialistic system, it has been emphasized time and again that those please with their present plan can keep it. - Saturday, July 4, 2009

Times Editorial : A few brief words

On July 4, 1939 — 70 years ago Saturday — the greatest first baseman in the history of the game stood before a raucous sports crowd in the Bronx, N.Y., to explain why, despite being given "a bad break," he still had an awful lot to live for. - Friday, July 3, 2009

ON THE FLY : The decisions we make

Christie Swanson christies@nwarktimes.com

Every day we make decisions — some good, some not so good. - Friday, July 3, 2009

Letters to the editor

Sarah Palin deserves better This is in response to Times Editorial Page Editor Scott Shackelford - Friday, July 3, 2009

Times Editorial : An unfortunate hire

When it comes to how politicians behave, there are those times when an act is just flat-out wrong. Yes, we're looking at you in South Carolina, Gov. Sanford. - Thursday, July 2, 2009

HATCHET : Material suffering

Lucas Roebuck lucas@roebuckmedia.com

One of the most successful strategies during the 2008 presidential campaign was Team Obama's efforts to peel off the Christian Left. In the Clinton and post-Clinton eras, Evangelical Christians were largely thought to belong to the Republican Party, and the Christian Right certainly has little-to-no incentive to cross the aisle. - Thursday, July 2, 2009

Guest Commentary : Forget guns - I'll take a cell phone

BY DONALD KAUL Minuteman Media

The Internet is a lot like the dreaded kudzu vine. Once introduced into a venue it doesn't merely grow, it explodes. It goes anywhere it wants, does anything it wants and generally takes over. - Thursday, July 2, 2009

Times Editorials : Protectionism

The announcement that the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville is seeking a historical district designation for a core unit of buildings sitting at the very heart of campus — think of the space immediately surrounding Old Main, in the area surrounded by Arkansas Avenue, Garland Avenue and Maple Street — goes a long way toward complementing a costly effort to renovate and restore several of these same buildings. - Wednesday, July 1, 2009

TABLE FOR ONE : Elvis, Michael and fame

Grady Jim Robinson GradyJim@aol.com

You know you're getting old when you can remember everything about Lance Alworth, from being a high school athlete and becoming a Razorback All-American to his 12-year pro career and, finally, induction into the NFL Hall of Fame. And to make it seem even worse, he was inducted way back in 1978. Ouch. - Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Guest Commentary : Need to cut $150 million?

BY JESS HUNTER-BOWMAN Minuteman Media

Let me go over my "this one has got to go" checklist one more time. Costly? Some in Washington will disagree, but $150 million is still a lot of money to me. Ineffective ? The goal was a 50 percent reduction in drug crop production and seven years later we have a 23 percent increase, so I'd say ineffective is on target. Unethical? Even the most stone-faced on Capitol Hill would have to admit that spraying an untested chemical mixture over innocent civilians despite the U.N.'s claim that there is "credible and trustworthy evidence" suggesting human health impacts would qualify as unethical. - Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Law begs to be tweaked

Arkansas law dictates that teachers can be prosecuted for having sex with one of their students, even if the student is as old as 20 and the sex is consensual. This is the law that cost former Bentonville High School math teacher Melissa Gayle Monroe her job; Monroe was convicted after having sex with one of her students on the night of his 18th birthday. - Wednesday, July 1, 2009

JUST A THOUGHT : Understanding Michael

Scott Shackelford scotts@nwarktimes.com

In the afterglow of the shocking news that Michael Jackson is dead, it suddenly occurred to me that I never owned a single one of his records. Not "Thriller." Not "Bad." Not even a Jackson 5 greatest hits package. - Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Times Editorial : Safety first

Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. Not that most people adhere to this philosophy all of the time, people just aren' . Playing golf despite foreboding clouds above, leaping off a bluff without checking the depth of the water down below, telling your wife you're not crazy about her hair — common sense suggests that such actions tempt fate. Still, people go through with actions that could cost them dearly because they're human — because they just can't help themselves. - Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Guest Commentary : Nail in smoking's coffin

BY DONALD KAUL Minuteman Media

It's been 45 years since I quit smoking cigarettes, two weeks before the surgeon general's report on smoking came out. I thought you should be smart enough to figure out that cigarettes were bad for you without the government telling you. After all, they didn't call them "coffin nails" for nothing. - Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Times Editorials : The fair thing

Aweek ago tonight the Washington County Services Committee sided against an ordinance that would have kept excavating, mining, quarrying or similar activities from being established or expanded (here comes the important part) within a two-mile radius of cities. - Monday, June 29, 2009

CROSS CURRENTS : Justice at a price

Fran Alexander frana@nwarktimes.com

We have all been told countless times that freedom isn't free. It should be noted at this very important time in Arkansas' history that neither is justice. For both freedom and justice to exist, eternal vigilance by all of us is a requirement, and unfortunately, money helps a lot as well. - Monday, June 29, 2009

Guest Commentary : Unions are good for rural economies

BY RICHARD A. LEVINS Minuteman Media

Congress is considering legislation called the Employee Free Choice Act. If passed, the Act would make it easier for people to join labor unions and bargain for higher wages and better benefits. This, in turn, would provide some much-needed stimulus for rural economies. - Monday, June 29, 2009

It's our house, too

President Barack Obama, who made a pledge to bring greater transparency to government during his administration, needs to implement that philosophy at the door to his new home. - Monday, June 29, 2009

WHAT GIVES : Where are the feds?

Greg Harton gregh@nwarktimes.com

Aman who served his nation through the military dropped by the front desk the other day to drop off a press release. - Sunday, June 28, 2009

Times Editorial : A game too far

Long before Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, in 2008, asked the Natural State's residents if they had any interest in playing host to a statewide lottery, voters had made their opinions well-known during past election-day efforts: "No!" Until last November, the public's protests could not have been much clearer. - Sunday, June 28, 2009

Letters to the editor

Having a home makes a difference I have a different kind of memory regarding the Fayetteville sale barn. This was a few years ago, when my grandsons were little and used to ride in the back seat of our car in their car seats. We used to drive by the sale barn and the cattle would be in the pens, which can be seen from the street. We would stop, roll down the window and holler "Moooo" at the cows. The boys got a big kick out of that. This is pretty much how they learned to say "cow." There's never a time I drive by there that I don't fondly recall this time in our lives. They are older now, and it is with misty eyes that I remember this cute little childish thing that was so much fun and didn't cost a nickel. - Sunday, June 28, 2009

A health care prescription? Political and policy questions

Hoyt Purvis email@nwarktimes.com

If debate and decisionmaking on overhauling the health care system could be conducted in a vacuum, we might see some real progress. - Sunday, June 28, 2009

Guest Commentary

BY GENE POLICINSKI First Amendment Center

U. S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter's free-press legacy may well center more on what he said off the bench than on his role in significant decisions in cases ranging from confidential sources to sidewalk news racks. - Sunday, June 28, 2009