We awoke Monday morning to news that Pope Benedict XVI will resign at the end of the month.
That kind of news will get the old eyes open, even mine, and I am not Catholic. Still, I follow what’s going on with any pope because of the power the man wields both inside the church and out.
Benedict is 85 and has apparently decided he no longer has what it takes to be the religious leader of a whole bunch of people. He cited his “advanced age” when announcing his retirement.
Good for you, Benedict. It takes strength of character to decide you can’t do the job anymore. Most of his predecessors have taken the pope-for-life thing seriously. The last one to retire was Pope Gregory in the 1400s.
Now, politicking in the Vatican gets serious. Experts naming the top five likely candidates picked men between the ages of 68 and 70. That’s younger than 85, but maybe the cardinals should consider an even younger, more vital man for the job. After all, he has a lot of work to do.
The most important thing I think the next pope needs to do is clean up the sex abuse mess that came to a head while Benedict was pope, but was brewing much longer.
It is a shame — dare I say a sin — that this has gone as long as it has. The apparent willingness of some in the church to cover it up? No sin is unforgivable, I suppose, but surely this one takes some serious penance.
It will be interesting to see who the cardinals choose to shoulder the burden.
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Really, I do know how it is.
Whatever is shiny and bright and new is the best, and we all want it. At least that’s the way I am.
Oh, I have the occasional reservation. Like computerizing everything. Too much to go wrong, and fixing it is always expensive.
Still, I like what computer technology brings to everything from my car to my sewing machine.
Another reservation I have involves these roundabouts engineers are so hot on.
Surely you know what they are: Instead or a normal intersection, you get on the roundabout and drive in a circle until you need to get off — if you can get off. There are reports of people getting on the one at Pauline Whitaker Parkway in southwest Rogers and driving until they ran out of gas.
You are supposed to enter the roundabout and get into the inside lane then move to outside lane when the street you want to exit on comes up. It’s that changing lane thing that creates problems. Best I can tell, everyone stays in the outside lane because they are afraid they can’t get back where they need to be, creating issues for those trying to enter the roundabout.
Makes you dizzy doesn’t it?
Get used to it, because it looks like roundabouts will dot the landscape. The latest one announced is expected to be build to accommodate the intersections of First, Arkansas and Oak streets. Traffic from the new, improved Monte Ne Road will also travel it. And, remember, First Street is to be the route of the much-anticipated eastern corridor, likely to see heavy traffic traveling between Rogers and Fayetteville.
I think this will have to be one whopping roundabout. I mean there will be several streets connecting to it, the eastern corridor traffic, truck traffic. How can it not be big?
City officials have said a roundabout isn’t a sure thing because engineers are still designing the project.
Here’s betting that shiny bauble is indeed a part of the plan.
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Speaking of the southeast portion of town, have you driven the area? The landscape is changing every day. Structures — residential and commercial — seem to be coming down almost daily as work continues on street improvements.
It seems likely the presence of better traffic access will mean a change in what surrounds the streets. I am not sure what the area is zoned, but I think it likely that we will be seeing some proposals from planners to amend zones to allow for more commercial.
It would be nice to have more commercial development on the east side of the city, and it would be way more convenient for some of us.
I’ve long thought eastern Rogers was ripe for development and growth.
Maybe all it will take is a roundabout.
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Leeanna Walker is local editor of the Rogers Morning News and the Springdale Morning News. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NWALeeanna.