LETTERS

Very chilly reception

Attention managers of stores, theaters, churches, libraries, senior citizen centers (I didn’t include beer joints because those customers are swilling enough antifreeze to keep them comfortable.):

This is a message to the controllers of the air-conditioning thermostats in all the places I spend my time, money and honor by my presence. Being 89, I have reached the age where I have quit lying about my age and started bragging about it. And at 89, I have never been warm enough through the winter, and as soon as spring gets here, you people start cranking down the thermostat without any regard for us old folks.

We feel that having to carry a sweater or jacket to patronize your facility is an outrage to our sensibilities when the outside temperature is 90 degrees. We were raised without electricity, so even a fan is a luxury for us, and since we represent about a third of the population, how about giving us some consideration?

W. PAGE HILL

Springdale

They’re working for us

Recently, I called the local office of the IRS after being hospitalized for several months. I inquired about the delivery of tax forms. You would be surprised at the response I received.

I had to ask them, “Do you care if we pay our taxes or not? Do you want a job?”

I am a federal government ex-employee. We would have never allowed anything like that. Have they forgotten who they work for and the source of their paychecks? The American people, the taxpayer. They are servants of the U.S. citizens.

I finally got someone to hear my request and they mailed the forms I requested.

JAMES A. VAULT

Little Rock

Hey-you hear that?

The Tea Party-elected birthered themselves into a corner in 2012: BenGhazied there, DoneGhazied that, and they don’t even have a lousy Teashirt to show for it.

Fox folks are outraged that their “journalistic principles” (Hah!) have been questioned.

Sarah Palin praised Jake Tapper (what a smack down for Jake).

Now with all the “Democrat-planned” (or so their conspiracists think) scandals, they’re going berserk trying to decide which one to pursue most rabidly.

That muffled sound you hear is their collective heads exploding-which are firmly ensconced in their hindquarters.

SALLYE MARTIN

Fayetteville

Disaster shelter vital

I think every school needs a safe room, whether a stand-alone structure, or an area within a regular building also used for other purposes. It should be engineered to withstand an EF-5 tornado, but if that is not possible in an existing building, a refuge area offering more protection than an ordinary hallway or room would be better than nothing. Claims that you can only survive in a below-ground space are false. Ground-level rooms are superior to underground for people with mobility problems.

FEMA publication P-361 provides design and evaluation criteria for safe rooms and shelter areas. It is neither necessary nor practical to make the entire building a safe room. Schools that don’t provide shelter have proclaimed their priorities. Ask the parents of children killed because of the lack of shelter if they have the same priority.

In addition, I believe building codes should be adopted calling for all buildings to be constructed to withstand strong straight-line winds, and perhaps a weak tornado. Hurricane straps and anchor bolts are not expensive. This would lower insurance costs over time, reduce damage from wind-borne debris and save lives. A small room within a house can be designed with more hardening for use as a safe room for a lot less that some people spend on upgraded floor coverings or countertops. FEMA has multiple ready-to-build designs.

MAURICE RANKIN

Farmington

It’s what teachers do

I remember one late bus duty from my teaching career quite vividly. There were seven children left and the tornado siren sounded.

I herded my charges into the small, concrete-block ante-room outside the girl’s restroom.

The boys weren’t happy, but I wasn’t about to separate them. We “assumed the position”-heads against the base of the wall with our bottoms in the air, hands over our heads. As the wind and rain howled, we sang “Jesus Loves Me” to calm ourselves.

I had to trust that my three children were being as well-protected at the other campuses as my little charges were. It’s what all teachers who love their students do. It’s instinctive.

Kudos to the Oklahoma teachers. They are truly OK!

LINDA STELL

Fordyce

Was not just in South

Re Jack Schnedler’s Perspective section article on German POWs in Arkansas: The German POWs were not granted front row seats at a performance by Lena Horne due to the color of their skin or due to the Jim Crow laws of Arkansas. The segregation of the troops would have been the same at Camp Robinson, Ark., Camp Roberts, Calif., or Camp (now Fort) Drum, N.Y. The armed forces were segregated from the time of the recruiting and enlistment of black troops during the American Civil War until they were desegregated by Presidential Executive Order 9981, signed by President Harry S. Truman in 1948.

If Schnedler had studied American history, he would have known of such famed black units as the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments and the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments and their history in the Plains Wars in the 19th Century. General of the Armies John J. Pershing, who later led the America Expeditionary Forces in Europe during World War I, was known as Black Jack from the days when he led black troops on the frontier.

After Truman signed the desegregation order, discrimination toward black troops did continue in many parts of the South, but not on military installations.

A very good movie that depicts the segregated U.S. Army during World War II is A Soldier’s Story, starring Howard E. Rollins Jr. The movie was made at Fort Chaffee.

Just wanted to set the story straight. Segregation in the military was not only in the South.

R.D. ALLEN

Springdale

Editorial, Pages 79 on 05/26/2013

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