Lake will be dammed

The Federal Emergency Management Agency finally made it official that Bentonville will be getting over $2.7 million from the federal coffers to help replace the aged and ailing Lake Bella Vista Dam.

After months of waiting for the verdict on whether tax monies will be allowed for the reconstruction project, the feds announced last week that it had decided the controversial dam should be replaced rather than torn down to allow Little Sugar Creek to flow freely once more through the park area and community.

Bentonville Mayor Bob McCaslin, the local historical society and others with the city rejoiced upon hearing the news of shared federal funding, which left other citizens disappointed and disgusted that the dam built in 1915 to restrain the creek and form a small, shallow lake would be reconstructed instead of removed.

Greg Van Horn, who has led the coalition Friends of Little Sugar Creek, issued a statement after the news was made public, saying: "People from Northwest Arkansas oppose their valuable tax dollars being spent to reconstruct this obsolete dam, which impounds a silted and shallow reservoir where swimming is prohibited, fishing is unsustainable and water quality is poor.

"Restoring the flow of Little Sugar Creek by removing the dam would recreate a living, moving Ozark waterway; eliminate harmful algae blooms which de-oxygenate water and kill aquatic animals and plants; and provide new opportunities for family recreation along the creek."

McCaslin said the project will soon get underway. He thanked Rep. Steve Womack and Sen. John Boozman for helping acquire the public funds his city's been seeking since 2008 when floodwaters topped the dam, which happened again in 2011. Several storms over the years also damaged the 14-foot tall, 600-foot-long structure, wrote reporter Brandon Howard.

While FEMA has agreed to cough up three-fourths of the expected cost, I don't consider the dam matter as settled. The folks who want to see Little Sugar Creek freed to flow again just aren't the sort to let this decision become the final word.

For instance, Van Horn wrote that despite a solid majority of those responding to public comments about rebuilding the dam were in opposition, FEMA chose to go with the pro-dam minority.

"For me, it hurts to read an announcement from an agency with limited funds to help during real emergencies 'award' funding to ... rebuild a dam for a murky pond in a state with the nickname of 'The Natural State,' " Van Horn wrote. "Now more than ever, it is more important that we organize to stop this ill-fated dam construction plan ...

"We hope Bentonville's aggressive pursuit of our tax dollars to build an impervious wall across our waterway will motivate people who appreciate our natural resources to attend the City Council Meeting on October 13th to show their support for restoring the flow of Little Sugar Creek instead of re-damming it. Let's show the politicians and bureaucrats that we don't want this dam."

Yep, something tells me, also in light of what some scientific studies have found about the karst formations beneath this dam and pond-like lake and a nearby fault line, that this deeply controversial matter's a damsite from being over.

Hinky vacation

I'm still suffering "Yagottabekiddinme-itis"after reading about the Benton County sheriff's deputy using the county's vehicle for his vacation trip to Florida. And it wasn't his first such jaunt.

The prosecutor said no crime was committed here. Instead it was declared an unethical act.

Whatever terminology, Chief Deputy Richie Conner, after 20 years with the department, should have known better, or at least inquired about the propriety of using a sheriff's office SUV for vacation. He apparently explained by saying he thought it was just fine to use the public vehicle for vacation, as long as he paid for the gas. Say wha?

In a statement, Sheriff Kelley Cradduck said that the policy on use of take-home vehicles had been more lenient under previous administrations, but not his. Once he learned about Conner's vacation trip, Cradduck said he did take disciplinary action, adding that the expectations and policies under his administration have been made abundantly clear to his department's staff.

This is where things become a tad cloudy for my pea brain. Conner admitted this trip to Florida wasn't his first, and others had done so too. "It was pay for your own gas and if you damage it, then you pay for it," he told reporter Tracy Neal.

Yet former five-term Sheriff Keith Ferguson (whom Cradduck replaced) contended he never granted permission for any officer or employee to use department vehicles for vacations or jaunts, only to travel to training programs. Hmmmm.

One bet I'm willing to make. Any other vacation trips by deputies or others in the sheriff's office will be in their family vehicles.

Letters make difference

Apologies to former Harrison High School teacher JoAnne Rife, who (because of typos) wrongly became Jann Rife in a recent column.

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

Editorial on 10/10/2015

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