Secede!
No, that's not my suggestion to Arkansans bent out of shape over consideration of dropping the state's observance of Robert E. Lee's birthday on the same day it marks the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s contributions.
Rather, it's the sense I get from a few folks here in Northwest Arkansas who turn the old "not in my back yard" attitude about landfills and cell towers on its head; when it comes to being informed about other parts of Arkansas, they say they only want the news that's in their back yard.
My employer's decision last month to create one regional newspaper to serve Northwest Arkansas has its pros and cons, no doubt. Yet we have been amazed at the number of people who have contacted us with words of appreciation about what we're doing and, even better, subscribed in the wake of that decision.
It hasn't all been smooth. The employees here learned of the regional approach about 15 minutes before everyone else, and we had a week to make it happen. Not everything was finalized in that week, and we've been nipping, tucking, adding and subtracting features based on feedback from readers.
I've been a little surprised by a few folks who have voiced their opposition to our inclusion of any -- and I mean any -- news from the rest of Arkansas in our newspaper.
I love the comments we get from people wanting more local news and commentary, because we're delivering it day in and day out better than anyone else. It's our bread and butter, and we're not about to turn our backs on it. Our reporters are out beating the bushes for stories at local courthouses and city halls and neighborhoods and school districts.
I respect our readers and really appreciate their appetite for local news. But antagonism about stories about the rest of Arkansas isn't healthy. Our fortunes are tied to the future of the entire state. If Arkansas doesn't succeed, that will place serious limits on the level of success Northwest Arkansas can achieve.
For decades, Northwest Arkansas was so isolated it's easy to understand how this go-it-alone mentality took root. Interstate 49 didn't open until 1999, and that opening created access to the rest of the state like our region had never known. Remember when getting down the mountain was a stress-inducing task filled with curves and steep grades and an official sign warning about how many deaths had occurred on old U.S. 71 in the preceding few years. "Don't you be next," the sign warned. This wasn't a lawyer's product-label warning that death may happen; it was the state of Arkansas' reporting of deaths that had in fact happened on that treacherous, often foggy, highway.
So folks here found it easier to get to Tulsa than to Little Rock. That made it hard for the people of the region to feel connected to the folks living in the Delta or in the suburbs around the capital city or the wooded river bottoms of south Arkansas. But connected we are.
Add to that the fact 56 percent of our region's population today was born in another state. They aren't native Arkansans, so it might be hard for them to build that connection to Arkansas, especially if they maintain a mentality that this is just one temporary stop on their career ladder.
I love this state, and I'm convinced Northwest Arkansas can achieve its great potential when Arkansas as a whole does well.
What happens in the rest of Arkansas matters.
The Northwest Arkansas Council's recent release of a blueprint for advancing the region no doubt focuses on what can be done here, but it also acknowledges how people beyond the state's borders do not regularly distinguish between Northwest Arkansas and Arkansas.
"The state of Arkansas' lower scores on many national business competitiveness rankings and its lack of brand recognition create challenges for recruitment of talent and news businesses," the council's report states.
If statistics about the state's educational system reflect shortcomings, does anyone believe people outside the state think through how it might not apply to Washington or Benton counties?
If lawmakers adopt some hair-brained state policy, does it not impact how people react to Northwest Arkansas?
Northwest Arkansas cannot afford to limit its vision to just what's happening here. The region has done admirably in growing despite Arkansas' negatives (and in part because of its positives), but to fully realize our region's potential, the entire state is going to have to have a brighter future as well.
We cannot be self-centered. Self-interested, yes, but not self-centered.
Northwest Arkansas has more political muscle than ever before in Arkansas, and the region can be a critical part of leading the state into a brighter 21st century. But we must work with the entire state to make that happen.
Greg Harton is editorial page editor for the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Contact him by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAGreg.
Commentary on 02/16/2015