LETTERS

Get up, help someone

Re the extra-curly newspaper: Really? How petty can you get? Is that all you can come up with to write about? Get a life, people!

Get up and out and help someone. Volunteer at a soup kitchen or community center. Do something nice for a shut-in or perform a random act of kindness, anything. Maybe you will become happier with your life.

CHARLIE WHITE

Heber Springs

Must learn from past

The crisis in the Ukraine is disturbing, but I believe it’s not to the point that it requires U.S. military intervention. The U.S. has already shot its wad with money, lives and arms in Iraq and Afghanistan, and cannot always intervene to police aggressor states.

Rather, I think the United Nations should declare Russia an international outlaw and impose economic sanctions to stop Russia from bullying the Ukraine into submission. I believe to intervene would result in a second Cold War. I think the U.S. should have been supportive of Ukraine from the beginning. Had we more strongly supported Chiang Kai-shek, perhaps the Chinese communist regime would have never succeeded.

Let us learn from past mistakes.

LESLIE PUTMAN

El Dorado

Time of justice is here

Madam Shoffner, zero days, but still counting.

Besides the 14 charges for which she is currently on trial, she has an additional 10 counts of mail fraud to face at a later court date. Will it never end?

NEALUS WHEELER

Mountain Home

Mourning the Majestic

Along with many saddened Hot Springians and other Arkansans following Thursday night’s tragic Majestic Hotel fire, this lover of Hot Springs mourns.

Columnist Rex Nelson’s thought-provoking piece on his blog makes a compelling case that the saving/restoring/renewal of this hotel and Bathhouse Row is an issue for the city but also the state … and it is do-able. In the above-mentioned blog he lists the comparable cities in Texas of Mineral Wells and Big Springs where high-dollar investors are re-creating these two deteriorating cities.

Why can’t we convince high-dollar investors who would frequent Hot Springs to do the same for our great city by plugging into state and federal tax credits, EPA grants, etc., with great tenacity? It is do-able. Let us connect with local advocates of such like Hot Springs native Brenda Brandenburg (found on Facebook), Mike Petty, Steve Arrison, our city’s board of directors, and all of our current local “shakers and movers” in Garland County. And why not connect with our representatives and senators, both state and national, and our governor?

May we move from shame to fame!

BEN H. BATEMAN

Hot Springs

A sad turn of events

It was with great sadness that I read about the Majestic Hotel fire. How many times have my wife and I expressed our concern with the closed hotel just sitting there empty?

“Couldn’t someone or a group of investors put some money into the place and reopen it, or turn it into apartments or even assisted living for seniors?”

She would reply, “Yes, that would be nice.”

I would reply, “But remember the first rule of real estate in Arkansas: If it doesn’t sell-burn it.”

TIM RISHEL

Hot Springs Village

Rectify misconception

There have been many misconceptions concerning the Democratic Party that I would like to address. It seems to be popular belief in Arkansas that Democrats as a whole cannot be Christians. I believe the fact that any Republican or other party would voice such a stereotype is offensive and very un-Christian. Everyone who reinforces this opinion simply tarnishes their own reputation. Do these denigrating Republicans know that the Democrats led the fight for civil rights, which gives every American free and equal opportunity?

While Democrats are fighting to help everyone receive justice, there are many who discredit them and spend their time attacking their moral value. The spiritual and personal lives of our nation’s leaders and supporters should not be the topic of discussion.

These attackers should be focused on the political issues that greatly affect our nation, such as abortion, gun control, and gay-marriage rights. Furthermore, I think any Republican that attacks the moral standing of the entire Democratic Party can be sure he is committing the poor fallacy of ad hominem, in which someone attacks a person to undermine them rather than their arguments.

To be clear, being a Democrat is not a sin listed in the Bible. Because many are keen on pouncing on another’s moral standing and using the Bible to do so, there’s a great and widely known verse from the word itself we can all refer to: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.” KASEY MAIN

North Little Rock

Find other complaints

I find the letters regarding curling pages of the newspaper ridiculous.

If you have lived in Arkansas very many years, you would know that the low humidity has this effect, as well as static electricity in homes. I believe the weight of the paper isn’t at fault; there are heavier-weight brochures, etc., that also are curling.

Get a humidifier and find something worthwhile to complain about, or just wait until the hot summer. The humidity will straighten the pages out.

There are plenty of topics that are eligible to receive legitimate complaints.

NADINE BRANNAN

Fayetteville