Have you noticed? Surely you have. The days are getting shorter. It's always been that way: After Gentry's colorful Freedom Fest, after the Decatur Barbecue drew a good crowd, after Gravette Day was an almost weather-perfect day, after the annual Benton County Fair, after swimming pools close for the winter ... Now it's time to stop for the flashing red lights on school buses and hear the crack, smack, pop as football teams prepare for those opening games.
It's also time to look back at the fast-fading summer and assign it a name we can remember in future years when we are probably sweating through 100-degree days and have scorched, brown, crunchy lawns. What words can best describe the summer of 2016?
Take a look at the unnaturally green lawns, the lush foliage on trees and shrubs, at the rows of round hay bales -- evidence of a good year. Even as summer winds down, there will still be some hot and, hopefully, not too-dry days. Who would disagree this has been a "green" summer?
Maybe you'll be able to remember, say in 2040, that "The grass was green in 2016," or better yet you'll recall that summer of 20-some years ago as being "Green Sixteen." That's no "quoth the raven nevermore," but it does have a hint of alliteration to help remember the year correctly.
'Nuff of that stuff. Let's get down to business on a topic that has inundated us for many months, which has provided a crescendo of mud slinging, name calling and lack of common courtesy ... It's politics time. And what the candidates don't spew, the know-it-all commentators and self-appointed editorial experts (?) bombard us with on a 24/7 schedule. If that isn't enough, there is the social media, filled with half-truths and opinions that glorify or condemn a particular candidate. There's really nothing social about it and, just because it's there for all to see and hear, how much of it is true?
Oh, for the good old days when all the gruff stuff was captured in black, readable type which could be laid aside to reread. That might have a better chance of separating truth from fiction.
Today? There is no respite as the preponderance of self-called experts drone (make that shout) on and on as they try to "interpret," analyze and put spins on every breath and syllable from the self-seeking candidates. It's enough to make one's head spin -- or send out for industrial-rated ear plugs.
This 'cuff will bring us up to date concerning an earlier 'cuff which predicted the next president's name will begin with one of the first five letters of the alphabet. That was before the conventions and even before an unquestionable trend among the 20-some nomination hopefuls
I have to confess I figured the nominees would probably be a Bush or a Cruz, or a Clinton or a Bernie. Yes, I gave myself wiggle room with either a first or last name, so the Donald was covered. Yes, I even figured if Hillary was forced out, the non-runner Biden would be drafted to take her place. Didn't happen. But as time passes and the mud and charges keep flying, could there still be a possibility of that happening?
It's still two long months until election day and, in the political atmosphere of this year, who knows what might be the biggest surprise of all for election 2016.
'Nuff of that. But I do want to comment on voter requirements, not requiring photo evidence but, rather, about early voting. With our nation's bulging population of eligible voters, coupled with the possibility of non-citizens voting or hundreds of felons, as granted rights by the governor of Virginia, early voting eases some of the line-forming problems on election day. Sadly, early voting hasn't increased the percentage of people who participate in the responsible act of voting.
The two-week early voting rule in Arkansas is probably a good time frame. But there are other states, Ohio, for example, which has 35 days available for early voting. Just recently a judge has limited it to, get this, 29 days. Almost a whole month. Is it really logical for a voter to cast a ballot a month in advance, when the possibility of a "bombshell" revelation a couple of weeks later could change his or her mind?
Ah, well, this is just another of the changes that have occurred, and are continuing to occur, in our society. Things have become so complex that even going to the bathroom is controversial. That's enough 'cuff for today, so I'm taking a breather for a week or two. In the meantime, "Happy Green Sixteen."
Dodie Evans is the former owner and long-time editor of the Gravette News Herald. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 08/31/2016