LETTERS

Must share the truth

I believe atheists want your children. Freethinkers do, too. The dark side in society wants to teach your children and grandchildren that humans came from pond scum and are going to oblivion; i.e. darwinism. Therefore, they ignore what God said in Genesis about the origin of the universe. Forget Christianity, they cry. Live fast, love hard and die young. Science is the new god.

For Christians, atheists and freethinkers are not the enemy. They are the mission field. We must somehow share the truth of the gospel with them and pray for their redemption even as they complain about us.

Vitriolic letters decry the lack of perfection seen in Christians today. However, I wish they would look at the direction of our lives as we grow toward Christ-likeness in eternity. Meanwhile we try hard.

The counterculture demands tolerance from us while growing increasingly intolerant of Christians. I believe that intolerance will soon turn to persecution in America, just as it does in many godless nations of the world.

Yet, it must be so. For as it was in the day of Noah, so shall it be when Jesus returns.

Therefore prepare. Be in the word. Pray for those who spitefully use us. Offer truth in exchange for vitriol. Forgive.

BOB L. WARNER

Hot Springs Village

Does not make it right

Why, pray tell, would letter-writer Emily A. Adams think that our all-powerful, all-knowing God would create something (homosexuality) that is an abomination to him?

I’m sorry, Ms. Adams, but right is still right and wrong is still wrong.

JOHN G. VOWELL

Little Rock

Problems inevitable

I read with interest recently about an “outing” this week for legislators and others on the Buffalo River, with a meal hosted by Cargill. Certainly this experience will open the eyes of everyone who can make a difference regarding the ill-placed hog farm near Mount Judea.

Mike Masterson has been beating the drum for all of us who are concerned about the piggy project and the runoff and seepage that is inevitable. Think of it the next time one of your children or grandchildren leap into the cold, clear waters of the Buffalo.

PRISCILLA STONE

Beebe

Help protect Buffalo

I applaud Mike Masterson’s excellent reporting on C&H Hog Farms’ threat to our precious Buffalo National River. Mike is doing a great service keeping us informed of the ongoing controversy over this confined-animal factory contracted to Cargill.

Many of us are shocked to learn that both the federal and state governments failed to do their job to protect our national river by allowing this to be built with no public input.

Department of Environmental Quality director Teresa Marks apparently slept while her staff quietly issued the permit, ignoring the likely water pollution that will occur. These factories often experience catastrophic failures. Liquid waste stored in large open ponds inevitably overflows in major storms. Routine spreading of manure guarantees contaminated groundwater and surface water during heavy rains. This system is designed to fail.

The federal government performed no better. The Farm Service Agency quietly slipped the project’s environmental assessment through, without consulting with federal agencies like the National Park Service as required by law. Luckily for river lovers, groups including the Ozark Society recently announced their intention to sue. We want the dirty facts about this manure factory on the record. If justice does prevail, C&H Farms may yet be shut down.

Meanwhile we can all help protect the Buffalo by voting with our dollars. Join me in refusing to purchase any Cargill products at the grocery, and let your store manager know.

DAVID ORR

Fayetteville

Power plan too risky

Solar, wind and other renewable and sustainable ways to provide electricity to our homes, businesses and farms must be considered for the next 30 years in Carroll County and Northwest Arkansas.

Transmission landlines are 1900s technology, part of a complex and expensive overhead electric grid with large centralized power-generation plants. Overhead transmission lines are loud, unsafe for people, pets and wildlife, not secure, they scar the landscape and require taking down hundreds of thousands of trees and spraying toxic chemicals to maintain the lines.

Why would we even think of supporting and adopting obsolete, outdated and extremely dangerous landlines? Bastrop, Texas, a beautiful and unique tourist community with many historical buildings (not unlike Eureka Springs) was destroyed in 2011 by an electrical malfunction of power lines with a fire that went out of control for months and a cleanup effort at a cost of over $400 million. Only 50-100 acres of Bastrop State Park’s6,000 acres were undamaged. The Lost Pines Forest of loblolly pines that originated before the Pleistocene era was heavily affected by the fire. This is just one example of the irreversible and unnecessary risk that SWEPCO is asking the state to approve and Carroll County homeowners to pay for.

With the limited resources of our courageous volunteer rural fire departments, why would we want to increase the risk of forest fires by paying for 48 miles of two 345,000-volt lines? We need to stop transmission lines.

LUIS CONTRERAS

Eureka Springs

How to be impressed

Recently, my husband and I went to the west Little Rock Sam’s, but the electrical power was off for the whole area, including the traffic lights. Amazingly, all drivers just reverted to a four-way-stop mode and all traffic proceeded slowly without profanity or accident. Little Rock citizens can be proud!

On other matters, with all the budget duels being currently fought, perhaps President Calvin Coolidge’s (1923-29) statement may give us all perspective: “There is no dignity quite so impressive and no independence quite so important as living within your own means.”

GYPSY NEL HICKS

Little Rock

What they’re afraid of

Here is a question to ponder: Do you feel that all these people who are against background checks for buying a gun are afraid they might not pass if they were checked?

Just wondering.

LESTER POOL

DeWitt