LITTLE ROCK — Editor,
The voters of Springtown recently elected a mayor and city council members; their decision may have been different had the voters been aware of the issues I present here.
Springtown was inactive for many years (maybe as long as 30 years) and was reactivated in 1995 as a result of a petition presented by Paul Lemke and signed by 27 residents of Springtown. This is contrary to Arkansas State Law passed in 1957 revoking inactive charters. Since reactivation, the City Council has been comprised of family members and friends, has made questionable decisions and procedural errors, failed state financial audits, filed lawsuits against its citizens, failed to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests and used the power of eminent domain to obtain private property to replace a bridge and move a road thatshould have been repaired years ago. The Council’s legal advisor appears to represent the best interests of family members who own property in the community.
Although these and other issues have been brought to the attention of the Benton County Prosecuting Attorney, State Representatives, the Secretary of State, the Arkansas Municipal League and the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development Department, no one has taken action. The Council has applied - and continues to apply - for federal grants using inaccurate and skewed information.
Springtown has a grant application under consideration that would consume the entire 2009 disaster relief fund for Benton County ($278,000) to repair one bridge in a town of approximately 67 people. Pending state action on the grant application, the bridge remains a safety hazard. If the grant is not approved, the process will begin again, resulting in another lengthy delay in the bridge replacement. Alternate and cheaper methods of replacing the bridge (offered by competent engineers) have been presented to and rejected by the Council.
The Council recently passed a resolution limiting the public’s participation in Council meetings to three minutes, even though the monthly meetings average 30 minutes. The mayor stated that he didn’t have to allow any public comments during the meeting. The new resolution requires a permission slip be presented prior to any meeting for each agenda item the public wishes to comment on; however, agendas are not presented to the public prior to the meetings. This resolution appears to bea knee-jerk reaction to questions presented to the Council at recent meetings.
The Council members are paid to attend and participate in monthly meetings and to represent the citizens of Springtown and should welcome and encourage public discourse at Council meetings rather than discourage citizen interaction.
Terri Klein Springtown Editor,
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I would like to know if you may be able to print this letter to my angel(s) who gave me blessed boxes of Thanksgiving and Christmas gifts.
You see, sometimes I think my family and I aren’t going to either eat or pay the bills. The economy has hit me, along with others. This 2010 Thanksgiving and Christmas season times have hit me and my family rough. I bought a home for the first time from an awesome person named Connie who is at Teasley Drug Store. I thought I wanted to have Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner here in my home but how do I do this with no food to cook or eat?
On Thanksgiving Day, I looked out my back door. There was a box filled with a feast, a turkey, Folgers coffee, candy, canned food, a lot of things to cook and eat, and it had no name on it. This I call a Blessed God Box from an angel(s).
Then on Christmas, I looked out my front door to let my dog look out. There was another big box of blessings from an angel(s) and I don’t know who the angel(s) are. This box had canned ham, detergent, coffee, canned food, cookies, candies, a little of everything.
I guess, here in Gravette, there is a God who blesses us. I want to say to the angel(s) that I am very grateful for the boxes. It was a blessed thing for my angel to do.
From a person in need to whoever did me a great deed, thanks for caring so deeply. God Bless You.
Janice Hill Gravette Editor,
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I think we have secret Santas to thank!
When we returned to work on Monday, we had an anonymous caller thanking us for all we do at the Gravette Public Library in serving our patrons and it was very heartwarming! I would like to thank that person and invite him to come to the next Committee of the Whole meeting Jan. 13th to tell our council that. I feel, at times, people think we provide computers and books and they don’t know what all we do or maybe don’t care.
We also received in the book drop a Mediterranean gift box full of sweets - my absolute favorites, I might add - anonymous as well. The two could be different or the same person. Either way, thank you for making us feel good!
Kim Schneider, Manager Margo Thomas, Sherri Hoover and Stephanie
Thomas, staff members at Gravette Library Editor,
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It’s just so interesting to me that the postal service complains that they are not doing enough business.
I understand they believe one of the main reasons is e-mail and the ability to not only send letters but even pay your bills on-line instead of physically mailing them.
Maybe I could understand it if the USPS was still an entirely government-run agency instead of the privatized notfor-profit semi-government agency it has become.
I remember when you could walk in to a post office any time of day or night and buy a stamp from the machines, even when the front desk was closed. In fact, I even remember when you could leave your six cents in the mailbox with your letter and the postal carrier would put a stamp on it for you.
Up until last year, Siloam Springs Post Office even had a stamp machine that took pennies. What a wonderful thing in this day and age - something you can use your pennies for that’s useful. But like most all the other post offices around the area, they no longer have any stamp machines.
That means, if you work normal hours Monday through Friday, your only hope is to get your stamps on Saturday morning between 9:30 and 11:30. What do you do if you work till 5 p.m. and on Saturday too? So, in a way, you could say the USPS is forcing some people to use other means to do their mailing.
We have some of the nicest, friendliest and helpful postal workers and postal carriers here at the Gravette and Sulphur Springs post offices. They do a great job. But like most other government deregulated industries - airline and phone companies come to mind - the service has gotten worse, not better, and the employees, from postmasters to janitors, are being forced to work harder, not smarter.
But I guess the bottom line is, what other successful business do you know that is successful being open the same hours as those of the USPS?
Robert Honderich Gravette Editor,
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If I were a parent of a Decatur school student and didn’t encourage my child to strive for the best, I would be ashamed.
Who knows what they might discover or invent if they were well educated?
The brick layer young man will have to read a blueprint. Can he? He will have to measure exactly correct. Can he? It takes reading with understanding and lots of math to lay bricks. I would not hire him to build a home for me.
Decatur schools need a good tutoring system. Anything to get them to read. For years graduates have gone out of Decatur not being able to read. I know. I was there.
College is very important during these days of few jobs. A high school education is the beginning of that college work. Why waste time with remediation?
I hope these people get their thoughts turned around and try to help that student do well.
Mary Flo Edmiston formerly of Decatur
Opinion, Pages 9 on 01/05/2011