LETTERS

Opportunity appears

Look on the bright side. If there’s going to be just one University of Arkansas game at War Memorial, it opens up a marvelous opportunity.

What better matchup than Arkansas versus Arkansas State? It has everything, the beginning of an interstate rivalry to match those of other states, like Alabama versus Auburn and Michigan versus Michigan State. Neither team will have a home-field advantage.

I think it’s a guaranteed full stadium every year. For at least one day it gives the Central Arkansas economy a monstrous shot in the arm. And it builds to fever pitch the emotions of alumni of both schools!

I have no dog in this fight since I attended neither school. But I know a win-win situation when I see it.

DAVID MILLER Little Rock

Thanks for the season

To Coach Bret Bielema and the entire Razorback team and staff, thank you for another exciting year of Razorback football. Even though the season may not have ended like we would have liked, Arkansans still and always will love our Razorbacks.

A special thanks to the seniors and the best of everything for your futures. As always, by next August, Razorback fans will be filled with excitement and anticipation of the new football season. Woo Pig Sooie!

BEVERLY SUTTON Little Rock

For love of country

In response to Ly M. Crane and others of Crane’s ilk, all I can say is:“Hold my baby, I’m fixing to shout!”

My, my, my, now we have the American flag police. Don’t fly one and apparently you are anti-American; Crane ended with the ever-popular jingoistic statement that anyone not happy living here needs to move out. The icing on the bitter cake for me was, “what do they really know about Nazis?”

How dare Crane. It is arrogant and offensive. I am so tired of being told how to show my patriotism or my love of God. Social media “rabids” say if I don’t repost this Jesus story, I’ll know how you feel. I call bull hockey. That is cyber-bullying at its worst, and now Crane subjects us to print bullying.

My father-in-law is a proud 91-year-old World War II vet. We buried my mother-in-law this year in the Arkansas Veterans Cemetery. I have two brothers who served in the military and an uncle who served two tours of Vietnam, so don’t dare insult me and my love of this country.

Has Crane ever been to a Nazi death camp? I visited Dachau. Guess what? The Nazis had a “sign” or patch denoting everyone who was an enemy of the state. Believe me, it was a very, very long list.

Keep your money, Crane family. Only acknowledge “true Americans.” Only have contact with “true Christians.” Don’t let yourselves be tainted. It’s the only way to ensure “true American” values that other countrymen do not have.

As Bill Engvall would say, “Here’s your sign.” Now, who sounds like a Nazi?

SHARON M. REYNOLDS Little Rock

An unimaginable plan

Eureka Springs is a special, even unique, town. Draping American flags permanently on 24 light poles on Main Street in this rare and beautiful spot in the Arkansas Ozarks could be considered reminiscent of the rise of the Nazi Party, as some local opponents have identified the plan. One might even imagine it as being similar to draping the French tricolor on the Mona Lisa in the Louvre.

That is to say, it is unimaginable. JAMES WILLIS Little Rock

Gray Brigade on way

Oh, Joe Slinkard has stepped in it now.

Of course seniors read the comics, especially Pickles. He’d better do extra penance for that insinuation.

PAT LASTER Benton

Significance of thanks

“Thanks”: Sometimes I wonder if significance is lost in ritual and repetitiveness. How often do we say “thank you” with little thought or regard to why?

Last week, Americans gave thanks for our beginnings and survival as a nation, but I wonder how many actually got past the family and food to pause for a moment to ponder “but for the grace of God there go I,” and consider why other countries don’t have a Thanksgiving and are still living without hope and in fear and chaos.

In our secure little corner of the world, we tend to take for granted that we are all alike. “God blessed us” was my mother’s answer for “What if we had been born there” (a country that did not celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas)? As the years go by, the benefits we have as Americans have become overwhelmingly clear. Even our homeless are among the wealthiest humans on a world scale. Except for a single event, we most likely would still be victims of war-torn oppressive regimes.

I think regardless of beliefs, credit for a world where hope abounds has to be given to one single solitary man by the name of Jesus. Love him or hate him, he was the catalyst for love, mercy, freedom and hope, and continues to stand in the gate against hate, fear, oppression and hopelessness. I believe he alone is responsible for political structures grounded in freedom instead of greed, lust and power, and a social behavior that begins with giving thanks.

SUE RICHARDSON Bella Vista

A mathematics lesson

President Barack Obama has apparently changed his mind regarding a change to the minimum wage. He had proposed, during his State of the Union address to Congress, raising the current $7.25 per hour requirement to $9. He is now supporting a proposal to raise it to $10 per hour.

Various expert opinions are expressed for this change, including “so hardworking Americans can have a decent wage for a day’s work to support their families and make ends meet.”

I would like to suggest a different possibility by looking at simple mathematics. If a worker currently works a 40-hour week at $7.25 per hour, he makes $290 per week. If his hours are reduced to 29 hours a week to place him below the minimum required to be counted as a full-time employee under Obamacare, $10 an hour is still $290 per week.

His income didn’t improve. He simply got back what the Affordable Care Act was going to cause him to lose.

DON R. KLINE Yellville

Editorial, Pages 17 on 12/03/2013

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