After leaving the outskirts of Houston on your way to the Canadian border, the most congested and dangerous stretch of road is U.S. 71 through Bella Vista. Yet, we have well more than 2,000 school children riding in school buses on their way to Bentonville schools. These buses are competing with 18-wheelers (some loaded with hazardous materials).
We trust our school bus drivers and truck drivers, but accidents do occur.
Statistically the best chance of a terrible accident happening would be along this strip of highway. This is one of the many reasons why Bella Vista needs to form its own school district to keep these kids off this dangerous stretch of highway.
Now that liquor storesare popping up along this already congested corridor, this means our school children will be forced to vie for a place on the highway with alcoholics and druggies who are desperate to get their fi rst early morning hair-of-the-dog fix. It is a bad idea to make these kids have to share the same road with a bunch of drunks. Let’s build our own schools and keep our children out of harm’s way and off the highway.
Go Bella Vista Spelunkers!
JIM PARSONS
Bella VistaMEDDLESOME DETAILSKudos to Phil Warner, with his letter of Jan. 3. Mr. Warner compares Santa Claus to (presumably) God,then states that “at last count in this country 80 percent of adults never outgrow the tales they are told of the invisible man in the sky.”
Mr. Warner nails it completely. Well, except for three small, niggling little mistakes, that are hardly worth mentioning.
First, the characterization of God as invisible. God is as visible as the human soul, therefore God is neither visible nor invisible.
Second, God is neither male nor female. Therefore, God cannot be an invisible man.
Finally, God is omnipresent, meaning he is everywhere, not confined to just the sky.
Therefore, God is not an invisible man in the sky.
Other than those three small little errors, the rest of Mr. Warner’s letter was as accurate as hisdescription of God.
LONNIE HILL
FayettevilleCULTURE CHANGE A MUSTThe argument presented by Joseph R. Ling in the Dec. 27 edition ignores the possibility that God might have good reasons for giving human beings free will.
Of course, there will always be those who blame God for the actions of men, but I submit that the correct response to such tragedies is to ask how we human beings can establish a culture in which all people are highly valued. No crime is ever committed in a vacuum.
All such perpetrators are invariably caught up in a cycle of abuses or at least at some point, taught to devalueothers. As long as God gives us free will, his kingdom will only be realized on earth when people choose to do His will.
As Ghandi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
GREGORY ROLNIAK
RogersDON’T FALL FOR SCAMS
Iwonder how many people
besides me who get phone calls from Jamaica, Washington, D.C., or New York telling them that they’ve won a big pile of money in the sweepstakes, anywhere from $250,000 to $5.5 million.
There’s just one catch. They tell you to go to your bank or Walmart or Walgreens to purchase a money order worth $350 to $5,500depending on how big your cash prize is. The money order is to insure the prize money while it’s on its way to your front door.
Please don’t fall for their scams. If you even talk to these people, they will keep calling. Tell them you’re not stupid and not going to fall for it and they will start cussing you. The guy from Jamaica even admitted it was his way of getting back at white people for our ancestors owning slaves. We had a good cussing match and I don’t think he’ll waste his time calling may anymore.
I reported them to the Benton County Sheriff ’s Oftce and they told me that I would be surprised at how many people actually fall for it. Don’t be one that does.
DAVID GIDEON
Lowell
Opinion, Pages 12 on 01/13/2013