It's official, say the regional planners. Light rail from Greenland northward to Bentonville is possible (the crowd cheers!).

All that's needed is a couple billion dollars or so to fire up the locomotives (silence).

The study revealing this predictable finding was completed using a $200,000 federal grant. The planners for moving people up and down the booming population corridor I call Ozarkopolis studied three possibilities.

First, and the most expensive alternative at over $2 billion, is to build a rail line paralleling I-49 from Greenland to Southern Bentonville. Secondly, about $700 million to utilize the existing Arkansas and Missouri railway right of way and line with some sort of connector to serve Bentonville and Bella Vista. Lastly, at about $100 million, rapid transit buses from Greenland to Bella Vista.

A couple of years back, I could have saved those $200,000 in tax dollars when I predicted that the idea of a rail transit line, while sounding nice in an idealistic and dreamy way, was just far too exorbitant to be realistic. We in Arkansas aren't jammed together as they are in the congested, rail-reliant urban settings and we enjoy our cars and trucks too much to trade them for a train or bus seat.

Ask folks in New Mexico how their comfortable and convenient Rail Runner train line between Santa Fe and Albuquerque is faring financially for that state.

UA gifting soars

That sustained and negative 2013 flap over the budget shortfall in the University of Arkansas' Advancement Division that stretched on and on and on in the media obviously didn't damage the enthusiasm and widespread public support for our state's land-grant institution of higher education.

A news story the other day said the U of A at Fayetteville received gifts totaling $113.3 million, which exceeded expectations and was $5 million more than the previous year.

I, for one, am not the least surprised considering the soaring growth in student population and national stature of Arkansas' major university. "This was a remarkable year for us," said Chris Wyrick, the latest vice chancellor for the Advancement Division.

"Our donors stepped forward and made significant investments in the University of Arkansas because they believe in our overall vision and our desire to make a positive impact on the state," he added.

That would be the same Advancement Division, incidentally, that experienced the unfortunate shortfall which cost two UA officials their positions.

Besides these 5 million additional dollars raised, Fayetteville's campus reported 90,543 gifts and new pledges, a record in that category for UA. Those were from 48,383 benefactors.

It's nice to see the Fayetteville school continuing to grow in every way.

Arrested Allens

Why am I no longer surprised at the negative creativities of those confined in our jails and prisons?

The latest inmate to pull doozies came the other day when 53-year-old Allen Hoskins somehow found and removed a 3-pound, 8-by-1-inch steel drain cover from his Springdale jail cell and tried to conceal it when officers opened the door to let him out.

An ensuring scuffle with this Pea Ridge man jailed on charges of DWI and impairing the operation of a vital public facility (did he steal a commode too?), left two officers with minor injuries.

He was transferred to the Washington County Detention Center in Fayetteville where he was greeted with two additional charges of aggravated assault for his efforts and a $5,000 bond.

Somehow, I suspect Hoskins would have been far better off to have left the drain cover in place, sat calmly and faced the music on that DWI charge, don't you?

And if that wasn't enough, another Allen, this one with the last name Bradbury, wound up facing a litany of charges after reportedly having kicked a doctor in the head and threatened his life at Northwest Medical Center in Springdale.

The news account said Bradbury told police the doctor was hurting him "sadistically" while providing treatment. Bradbury threatened to bring a gun to the emergency room to shoot everyone and to cut an artery in the doctor's neck, according to witnesses cited in the police report.

This particular arrested Allen, charged with second-degree battery and other counts, also wound up at the Detention Center under a $10,000 bond.

Which contributions?

I'm still scratching my head over the message delivered the other day by our President Barack Hussein Obama.

He was addressing a group on a Muslim holiday. Among other of his statements, Obama praised the "contributions of Muslim Americans to building the very fabric of our nation and strengthening the core of our democracy."

Hmm. What's throwing me most about that remark is the fact that our Judeo-Christian-centered nation didn't even elect its first Muslim American congressman until 2007. So I naturally wonder how in the world those who choose to practice that faith contribute specifically, or generally, or in any way to building the very fabric of our nation while also strengthening the core of our democracy.

Shoot fire, the ignorance of this Ozarks boy when it comes to comparative religions is showing yet again.

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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected]. Read his blog at mikemastersonsmessenger.com.

Editorial on 08/10/2014