Dare we get optimistic? The Covid numbers are moving in the right direction. Those who can are getting their vaccines. Unfortunately, many are ignoring the directives and continue to do as they please. And now we have variants that are attacking us, which is even more reason to double up on being safe and doing the right things. You know the drill.
It appears that we are getting ready for a dog fight in Maumelle, literally. The pit bull ordinance has come up again with Council Member Chad Gardner introducing an ordinance that would amend the city code to revise enforcement procedures, eliminate the categories of “potentially dangerous animal” and “hazardous animal,” change the current definition of “dangerous animal” and remove the ban on certain breeds of dogs.
Council members are already taking sides, with Council Member Steve Mosley adamantly opposing the new ordinance in a letter to constituents.
This will be a divisive discussion but will certainly spice up the upcoming Council meetings with the second and third readings coming up.
I’m not sure how I feel about it but, like many of you, was complacent with the existing ordinance. I will be watching the debate closely.
With everything going on the world, I’m not sure I agree with tackling this issue when there are so many other important things to consider. Did Mr. Gardner need something to keep him busy?
Ultimately, the decision should probably go to the voters to decide. It would be a shame for a Council member to lose their seat because of the dog vote.
Lowery’s Bill Goes Down
House Bill 1231, by Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, didn’t make it out of committee. His ill-conceived, offensive bill to control the teachings of our history teachers was soundly criticized by students, teachers, fellow lawmakers and the head of the Arkansas Education Department. The message sent to Rep. Lowery was that legislators don’t need to be in the curriculum business. And threatening to withhold funding if schools didn’t comply is simply abuse of power.
Mr. Lowery has embarrassed himself, his district and our state by his bill to disallow the complete study of the past and his other bill to suppress voter freedom through mandatory I.D. to vote with no alternative. Voters deserve better and thank goodness, he has announced he won’t run again. Unfortunately, I have a hunch he may take a shot at a Senate seat.
Conscientious voters don’t forget.
Griffin Exits Race; Do You Blame Him?
Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin is smarter than I thought. He has bailed out on the governor’s race and shifted his time and money to the attorney general race, which so far makes him the only serious announced candidate. I don’t blame him. He looked at facing Sarah Huckabee Sanders and the current AG, Leslie Rutledge, and figured that it would be a losing cause with Sanders the current favorite. Thus, the only semi-qualified candidate has left the race and we face having a governor not only unqualified but both closely connected to former President Trump, unfortunately an advantage in Arkansas.
Please run, Jim Hendren.
Bella Rustina Returns
The Bella Rustina Modern Vintage Market will take place Feb. 12-14 at 9300 Maumelle Boulevard in North Little Rock. Bella Rustina is locally owned out of Maumelle (Ashley Norris, wife of Mayor Caleb Norris) and is the largest vintage market in Central Arkansas. Exhibitors will fill 200+ booths with everything from vintage to handmade creations to vintage-inspired décor.
The organizer said they also have food trucks and many indoor food choices. The vintage market will be open Friday - Saturday, Feb. 12-13, from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 14, from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Early-buying admission on Friday is $8 for adults. Regular admission is $5 Saturday and Sunday for each adult. Admission is free for children 12 and under. Admission is good for re-entry all weekend and parking is free.
Arkansas Department of Health Covid-19 event directives will be followed and include: Masks required for all workers, exhibitors and customers, sanitizing stations at the entrance and throughout the building. A limited number of customers will be allowed in the building at once.
Super Bowl TV
The expectations are extremely high each year for the Super Bowl. We expect a great game, great commercials and a great halftime show. The game was not great, some of the commercials (at $5.5 million for a 30-second ad) were good and the halftime show was just OK. Obviously, I am not the target audience for The Weeknd. “God Bless America” performed by H.E.R. was fantastic. See, I am pretty hip.
The National Anthem performed by Eric Church and Jazmine Sullivan was not that great to me. I much prefer the version sung by Whitney Houston in 1991.
The Super Bowl keeps trying to become a reflection of our conscience with some commercials offering to provide a moral compass for us. I appreciate your effort, but that’s not really the job of beer and car companies.
Stay Safe. Wear your mask. Keep your distance. Get your shot when you can.
I had to google the 1619 Project because I had never heard of it. Why are schools teaching something put together by New York Times magazine? I’m very curious about this & thankful this was brought to my attention.
Regarding House Bill 1231, Lowery said to KATV “Sometimes, the most we can do as legislators is to bring public awareness to an issue that people may not be aware of". To be fair to Lowery, it sounds like with bill 1231 and bill 1218, he was trying to bring awareness about these things being taught in our public schools. I don’t think he embarrassed himself, in fact, I think he made his point that our schools shouldn’t be teaching false history, like the 1619 project, or racist theories like Critical Race Theory. I agree with you, Neal, that the state and federal legislators should not be involved in the local school curriculum and the best solution to this problem is to change the mechanism for funding our schools in the state. I think we, as parents, should be able to take our tax dollars that is currently put in a pot for education and use that money to go to any school that we want. This way, when a school is teaching nonfactual information or is performing poorly in general, the parents can object with their dollars.
What is your definition of "False history".?.....who gets to make that determination ? Reps. Lowery, Hammer, Sullivan, Senators Rapert, Ballenger , AG Rutledge??,..individual school Boards across the State and Private schools with Board members who may believe Hitler was right, God is White, Might is right, Covid is a Hoax, vaccine have microchips, the election was stolen, Leftists are not Christians, The US was good to Native Americans, etc.?....the answer is not to change the mechanism for school funding so as to allow each school District and Board to promote local beliefs as to what are facts. That would promote the very "division" which one of Lowery's Bills purports to want to stop. Lowery has clearly aligned himself at every corner with the Radical Right Republican Wing....that is embarrassing.
One example of false history in the case of the 1619 project is that the American revolution was started by the colonist to protect the institution of slavery in the colonies; this is false. Many actual historians criticized the 1619 Project for its inaccuracies and falsehoods. There are other aspects of this “journalism” project that is inaccurate or outright false. You can read more about the criticism here -> https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/01/1619-project-top-historians-criticize-new-york-times-slavery-feature/
I believe that the curriculum of schools should be established by some sort of board and they can determine what is taught in the schools. I agree with your point though, the question of who determines what is true is a difficult problem to solve. By the sound of what you mentioned, you would agree that some things shouldn’t be taught in school, correct? Is there a school teaching that Hitler was right? What are they teaching that he was right about? I’d be interested to see some facts to support this sort of claim. Many of the things you list are new to me and I don’t see anyone trying to teach them in school, but please show me where this is taking place.
Regarding the idea of teaching the 1619 project, the New York Times and the Pulitzer center have created a full school curriculum to be used to teach this slanted view of history.
Thanks Neal! You know I had hoped that this newsletter, ArkansasNewsroom, would be a place that published multiple opinions from different sides of the issues, but it seems that it is only interested in opinions on the left, like yours. Either way, I always enjoy reading your opinions, even if I disagree with most of them.
Yeah, that is true, I am able to respond in the comments section and I may do that. The main question is why won't the newsletter publish an alternative opinion from someone on the other side of the issue? It is certainly the prerogative of the newsletter publisher to publish whatever they want, but it seems more genuine if the newsletter would state that their bias is to the left.
Neal, is a very common sense approach to let voters decide.
It is my hope that the council will see the wisdom and do so.
We don't need to be known has the city that went to the dogs in the middle of a pandemic.
I had to google the 1619 Project because I had never heard of it. Why are schools teaching something put together by New York Times magazine? I’m very curious about this & thankful this was brought to my attention.
Regarding House Bill 1231, Lowery said to KATV “Sometimes, the most we can do as legislators is to bring public awareness to an issue that people may not be aware of". To be fair to Lowery, it sounds like with bill 1231 and bill 1218, he was trying to bring awareness about these things being taught in our public schools. I don’t think he embarrassed himself, in fact, I think he made his point that our schools shouldn’t be teaching false history, like the 1619 project, or racist theories like Critical Race Theory. I agree with you, Neal, that the state and federal legislators should not be involved in the local school curriculum and the best solution to this problem is to change the mechanism for funding our schools in the state. I think we, as parents, should be able to take our tax dollars that is currently put in a pot for education and use that money to go to any school that we want. This way, when a school is teaching nonfactual information or is performing poorly in general, the parents can object with their dollars.
What is your definition of "False history".?.....who gets to make that determination ? Reps. Lowery, Hammer, Sullivan, Senators Rapert, Ballenger , AG Rutledge??,..individual school Boards across the State and Private schools with Board members who may believe Hitler was right, God is White, Might is right, Covid is a Hoax, vaccine have microchips, the election was stolen, Leftists are not Christians, The US was good to Native Americans, etc.?....the answer is not to change the mechanism for school funding so as to allow each school District and Board to promote local beliefs as to what are facts. That would promote the very "division" which one of Lowery's Bills purports to want to stop. Lowery has clearly aligned himself at every corner with the Radical Right Republican Wing....that is embarrassing.
One example of false history in the case of the 1619 project is that the American revolution was started by the colonist to protect the institution of slavery in the colonies; this is false. Many actual historians criticized the 1619 Project for its inaccuracies and falsehoods. There are other aspects of this “journalism” project that is inaccurate or outright false. You can read more about the criticism here -> https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/01/1619-project-top-historians-criticize-new-york-times-slavery-feature/
I believe that the curriculum of schools should be established by some sort of board and they can determine what is taught in the schools. I agree with your point though, the question of who determines what is true is a difficult problem to solve. By the sound of what you mentioned, you would agree that some things shouldn’t be taught in school, correct? Is there a school teaching that Hitler was right? What are they teaching that he was right about? I’d be interested to see some facts to support this sort of claim. Many of the things you list are new to me and I don’t see anyone trying to teach them in school, but please show me where this is taking place.
Regarding the idea of teaching the 1619 project, the New York Times and the Pulitzer center have created a full school curriculum to be used to teach this slanted view of history.
Thanks Neal! You know I had hoped that this newsletter, ArkansasNewsroom, would be a place that published multiple opinions from different sides of the issues, but it seems that it is only interested in opinions on the left, like yours. Either way, I always enjoy reading your opinions, even if I disagree with most of them.
You are always welcome to respond with your viewpoint. Thanks for reading.
Yeah, that is true, I am able to respond in the comments section and I may do that. The main question is why won't the newsletter publish an alternative opinion from someone on the other side of the issue? It is certainly the prerogative of the newsletter publisher to publish whatever they want, but it seems more genuine if the newsletter would state that their bias is to the left.