GENTRY — To be truthful, I expected more reaction from our readers at the announcement that the newspaper office in Gentry will be closing and that the Gentry and Decatur newspapers will be combining with the Gravette News Herald to become a new publication, the Westside Eagle Observer. But most have been understanding of the decision.
In fact, what I’ve heard most has been instead a question of concern: “How do you feel about the merger?” And, “How will this affect you?”
When I tell people that we are still going to cover the news in Gentry, Decatur and Gravette like we always have but thatit will all be published in one newspaper instead of three, people have been satisfied and understanding.
Of course, we hate togive up the local office in Gentry. And I think I can safely say that Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC would love to be able to have a Main Street office in each of our towns. But the fact is, because of the economy and its effect on businesses in all our communities, we can’t.
I view the newspaper merger as a good thing for our readers under the current economic circumstances - good because each of our communities will continue to receive the news coverage it expects and deserves; good because the Westside Eagle Observer will still be a local, hometown paper for each of our communities; and good because it willenable readers to keep up on local news in neighboring communities as well, without the need for more than one subscription.
Personally, I am hoping that the merger will give me a little more time out of the office to cover local news and events, take photographs and do feature stories on people in our communities. It’s been hard to keep the Gentry office open with any regular hours and still have time to be out and about covering news and events.
So, even though we will by mid-summer publish one newspaper and operate out of one office, you can still expect to see us at local events and activities and reporting the news in each of our communities. And, as always, we welcome submitted news items, announcements and photos and will do our best to include them.
Second Amendment Rights
On Memorial Day, we honored those who made the supreme sacrifice to defend our country and the rights and liberties guaranteed to us by the United States Constitution.
Though not killed in action, I think of my father-in-law on Memorial Day and the battles in which he participated - just doing his duty to defend his country - during World War II as he served in the Navy and was there in the Mediterranean when it was infested with U-boats, and there in the Atlantic along the coast of France on D-day and there when his ship was bombed and hit by suicide bombers just off the coast of Okinawa in the Pacific. He was at the guns and had to duck when an enemy plane came in so low it clipped off his gun sights.
Yet, when he received an invitation to join his shipmates for a reunion, he declined - not because he didn’t want to see the men he fought with during the war but because of all the rules and regulations attached to his invitation banning any weapons, including a pocket knife.
His response: “I fought for our freedoms, and now they’re taking them away from us; I ain’t going.”
The battle to preserve the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution still rages, with most ofthe battles being fought in the courts. Whether or not the Constitutionally guaranteed “right of the people to keep and bear arms” will be permitted to prevail in our land is yet to be determined.
I’ve always been a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights - even when I served as a police officer and had the duty to enforce laws in a locale where most folks were armed at home and often in their vehicles. Did it scare me to stop a pickup truck with a rifle or shotgun hanging in the back window or a handgun on the seat? No, it was the person who illegally owned and carried a weapon that I feared as I walked up to a car door on a lonely highway, miles from anywhere.
Does it bother me today to know that many civilians in public places may have a concealed carry permit and could be armed? Not at all. Again, it’s not those seeking to be law-abiding citizens who commit robberies and murders; it’s the criminals.
And given a choice, I’d much rather be where decent and law-abiding citizens are allowed to exercise their Second Amendment rights than where they are restricted. It’s a deterrent to the criminal to know there may be other armed citizens around to defend against his evil intentions - If you want to hear it, I can tell you of some true encounters with an armed robber which will serve to prove my point.
And thinking outside the law and putting myself in a criminal mind-set as I often had to do when trying to figure out “who done it and why,” if I were a criminal, intent on committing a robbery or another crime, what better place to go than where the no-gun-sign is posted on the door? As I see it, that sign is kind of like an invitation to the wrong kind of folks.
Randy Moll is the managing editor of the Decatur Herald and the Gentry Courier-Journal. He may be reached by e-mail at rmoll @ nwaonline .com
Opinion, Pages 5 on 06/02/2010