Investigate those bridges

Washington County Quorum Court member Eva Madison and I want to know: Why were the questionable concrete supports containing the rebar that was supposed to support the defective Stonewall Bridge so quickly torn down and disposed of? Where has the rubble gone?

Why didn't the county simply wait until the quality of concrete (and apparently flawed bridge-support design) could be thoroughly examined during an investigation?

Wouldn't any thinking person believe the piers in question are a significant part of any in-depth investigation into how this unbelievable mess happened?

To her credit, Madison has asked state Attorney General Leslie Rutledge to investigate how the Stonewall Bridge was improperly being built, as well as the flawed Harvey Dowell Bridge, and whether others in the county might be unsafe.

I'd sure like to know how such gross incompetence could have happened and who in the county is responsible for it, wouldn't you?

These are legitimate, necessary questions. Building safe and reliable bridges is one of the most important jobs any county road department can undertake, and only if they know what they're doing. The public that uses the bridges has to trust they are being built correctly and safely.

The facts must be sorted out here and the public officials responsible held accountable. It's really that simple.

Madison was right on target when she was quoted the other day: "We've got to get to the bottom of what happened--we have to." And make sure this kind of unacceptable development never occurs again.

"My job is not to support you," fellow justice of the peace Sue Madison rightly told some fellow justices who preferred to skip the answers and move on. "My job is to protect my citizens and the people I represent in this county."

County Attorney Steve Zega sees it differently for whatever reason. A news account said he criticized implications of a cover-up, as those claims are part of an ongoing federal lawsuit. That suit was filed by former road department employee George Braswell, who complained to supervisors for months that these bridges were being built incorrectly.

But no one listened or acted until a tell-tale video surfaced in the lawsuit.

"That particular implication is ridiculous," Zega said of a cover-up. He's quoted saying the Stonewall bridge was torn down quickly because it was an unsafe piece of infrastructure that urgently needed to be addressed.

"It's not out of hand to say we have a problem, we need to address it, we need to address it publicly." Say what, now?

The public wasn't using this incomplete bridge when the shoddy work was discovered, and had I been the county judge or any other official connected to this mess, I'd have not demolished a thing until I had concrete (sorry) answers.

Though she's ultimately responsible for ensuring road department employees are properly trained and doing their jobs correctly, I still give a nod to County Judge Marilyn Edwards for properly asking 4th District Prosecutor Matt Durrett to investigate how this happened.

However, a news account reported Zega has asked Durrett to suspend the very investigation Edwards asked for. In other words, to ignore the county judge's request. Huh?

Seems to me, Durrett is now due-diligence bound to take a hard look.

One could could say Zega is faithfully fulfilling his role as the county's lawyer. But I disagree with him and on the way this bridge fiasco has been mishandled since Braswell says he warned months ago how poorly these bridges were being built.

Now we'll all wait to see if the state's attorney general and the county prosecutor will become involved in finding answers in the public interest.

Madison told me the bridge project involved only tax-paid road department employees who apparently weren't well-trained to build bridges.

Those employees would include the county's retiring bridge supervisor who apparently somehow overlooked the serious construction flaws at these two bridges ... and perhaps others.

Pinnacle of ignorance

Hats off to GOP state Rep. Jana Della Rosa of Rogers, who introduced a bill that would have required legislators to file their expense reports electronically. That would make it easy for taxpayers and voters of Arkansas to more conveniently access that public information about the activities of their "public servants."

Her GOP colleague, Rep. Dave Wallace of Leachville, claimed he and others didn't support her great idea because, well, he and others in the legislature were too aw-shucks, boy-howdy "dimwitted" to file these reports by computer.

"I may not be smart enough to do this online," Wallace reportedly said.

Elementary students could do this, Davy. You have children? Nieces, nephews? Neighbor kids?

What are you talking about? Do you have any idea how aw-shucks ignorant that sounds to adults across this state? And you and your colleagues are making the avalanche of laws we must live by.

Every legislator who voted Della Rosa's bill down oughta stay home and go huntin' next session. Go ahead; ask how I really feel about this kind of ignoramics.

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

Editorial on 04/11/2015

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