Just one question

LITTLE ROCK — It was not a headline to inspire confidence in the high-and-mightys over at the Game and Fish Commission:

“Wildlife official drunk, ranting, report states/ After shot fired outside, mother says she got kids on floor.”- Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Page 1, January 24, 2013.

To quote the mom in the story, “I thought [Lonoke] was a quiet town until this happened.”

So did we, ma’am, so did we.

But let us reserve judgment. To quote The Hon. and always reasonable Mike Beebe, who appointed the wildlife commissioner in question: “From what I know, it’s pretty serious for a Game and Fish commissioner. . . . But it is still America so you withhold your final judgment until the process runs.”

Well said, Governor and Counselor.

But it is not too early for Commissioner Rick Watkins to recuse himself from all meetings, discussions, and any other participation in the commission’s deliberations till this unsettling matter is cleared up and the cloud over his head-and the commission’s-is lifted.

Mr. Watkins-and a couple of his buddies on the commission, plus its slick lawyer-all should have resigned in shame a couple of years back when they were caught devising their own (un)Freedom of Information Act. As if they were a law and state constitution unto themselves.

Just when the commission seemed to be doing better, now is no time to further compromise its reputation by having this commissioner take part in its decisions. It’s much too early to judge his case, but it’s not too early to raise a question a friend of ours did on hearing the news about Rick Watkins:

Is it too late to name a lake after him?