LETTERS

— Thanks for the help

I am so proud of the sports administration department of our flagship university in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks realize that Arkansas colleges and universities are all well financed and need not play them.

However, this is not so with neighboring like schools, so the answer is to have them come to Arkansas and pay them to play in men’s basketball Grambling, Troy, Mississippi Valley and Florida A&M;

in women’s basketball, Florida A&M, Texas-Arlington; in baseball, Delaware State, Texas State and South East Missouri State; in softball, Crowder College, Seminole State, Nebraska and Oklahoma A&M; and in football, Missouri State, Troy and New Mexico.

Wow, lot of help to our visitors.

Just knowing that the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville is that concerned about our neighbors’ well being makes me warm all over. Having these out-of-state teams most surely enhances attendance, whereas in-state teams would probably not draw and leave plenty of empty seats.

Oh, well, being the nice guy is not a bad thing. Mamas and papas may want state colleges and universities playing the ,Razorbacks but then they probably don’t understand scheduling.

Thanks again, ’Backs, for another season of helping less fortunate outof-state teams.

JIM BLANCHET Hot Springs

Courage is laudable

Hoorah for Deborah Stark, featured in your recent story. I applaud her courage to take that first difficult step to recovery. I applaud her tenacity, determination and faith, which kept her on that very difficult journey that led her to sobriety, recovery and freedom.

It is almost impossible to know how difficult this two-year journey has been for this woman unless one has traveled this same journey or accompanied a loved one as he or she maneuvered the twists and turns thisrough road to recovery can take, the pot holes of guilt and shame, the detours of regret, remorse and hopelessness, the overwhelming fear of failure, the constant voice in your head yammering, yammering, begging to be silenced, the burning, the yearning, the need that consumes and the terror that you will cave in, that it will beat you, that you can’t win. But Deborah’s experience says to all who are fighting this battle, yes, you can win.

Thanks to all who helped her through the hard times. Thanks to all who have authority in the judicial system who went to bat for her, making a way for others like her. Incarceration is not the answer. And thanks to Deborah for taking responsibility for her past and her future. Her statements in the last two paragraphs of that Sunday story say it all. Congratulations to her on finding her way. Keep that faith, keep doing the right thing, trust God to provide.

PAM DECKER Newport

Find a worthier goal

I heard this morning that 453 amendments from members of both parties have been proposed in the budget debate currently under way in the U.S. House of Representatives.

This is not the fiscal 2012 budget but the one for fiscal year 2011, currently under a continuing resolution. The House majority has pledged to cut $100 billion out of the current year’s spending halfway through the current year.

While many of the amendments undoubtedly are significant in nature, here are a few as examples of trivial pursuits. One of the featured five came from Arkansas’ own Steve Womack, Republican of the 3rd District. His amendment proposes to delete any funds used to support the cost of President Obama’s Tele-PrompTer.

Now I see the necessity of reducing the size of the federal budget and agree with a full debate in the House. But TelePrompTer funding? Really! I think Womack and his staff might find a more worthy goal for an amendment if he is serious about this task.

This assumes the level of a schoolyard tussle.

BARBARA PATTY Little Rock

How to waste money

In 1997, according to the book, “Arguing With Idiots,” the English Parliament decided to place a ban on handguns. Over a decade later, the ban proved to be disastrous. From 1998to 2005, deaths and injuries from handguns soared to 340 percent.

According to the book, a European study of 21 countries found no significant relationship between the number of guns and the corresponding deaths; another European study compared gun ownership and murder rates in just about every European country, to which more gun rights equated to less murders and vice versa.

If someone breaks into your house and the only reaction you have to defend your family is to fire two shots, you don’t deserve a gun. Giving someone 20-to-life for owning a gun, guaranteed by our rights, is a huge waste of taxpayers’ money. So many times scum bags get away with murder, only to be put in jail for life, while we pay for a cozy little cell. Any laws against guns only affect law-abiding citizens. You can’t have fully automatic weapons without a tax stamp and papers, yet they are still on the streets. Criminals have no care for laws. That is why they are criminals. There will always be a black market.

And have you forgotten that the Prohibition was lifted? Alcoholism is still a big problem.

ANTHONY DAO Maumelle

Show whole picture

I read that the Arkansas House of Representatives voted to cut taxes in three different bills.

The bills would reduce state revenue by $44 million.

In my budget at home, when my income drops, I have to cut spending. I may stop going out to eat, play less golf, cancel plans to visit Arkansas state parks and definitely shop less often for clothing.

What spending cuts are being proposed so that the income and expenses balance each other?

What is Arkansas going to stop spending money on? Foster children? Education? Jobs? Law enforcement?

I’d like to see the whole picture before I support the proposed tax cuts.

ANDRA ATTEBERRY Bella Vista

Protecting the ‘castle’

Re the letter from Bob Sloan of Jonesboro about a country gun-ridden: I am a 74-year-old woman who owns several guns, none of which has killed anyone. Nor will they do so unless said someone breaks into my house, at which time I will blow them away.

My home is my castle and none dare enter it uninvited. Personally, I think he is an idiot and should immigrate to Sweden, England, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, etc.

Of course, they use knives and garrotes and things to kill people. Guns are so much more efficient and neater.

JOAN MILLER Scott

Editorial, Pages 17 on 02/25/2011

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