Any valued reader happen to have a couple million handy to purchase a dilapidated, 400-acre theme park in the Ozarks?
Yeah, I didn't think there'd be much of a stampede to buy the property that once held Dogpatch USA north of Jasper along Scenic Arkansas 7, although a recent news story by reporter Jaime Dunaway did say several potential buyers have emerged after the Li'l Abner-themed property was offered for sale last month. So there's still hope that the latest sale price of $2.75 million will attract a person or group with the resources to restore the rustic attraction that between 1968 and 1993 was drawing sizable seasonal crowds.
Sadly, over the passage of two decades, the park has become but a decaying shell of the glory years. In its heyday popular hillbilly comic strip characters roamed the hilly park's carnival-styled rides and various cultural attractions that ranged from rustic cabins to music, various foods and performances.
It's also not to say the right people with sufficient resources couldn't restore all, or portions of the scenic wooded park to make it profitable. Charles "Bud" Pelsor, a co-owner of the property with James Robertson of Newbury, Calif., was quoted saying four business interests including an out-of-state consortium have expressed interest in possibly buying Dogpatch. Dunaway's story said Robertson was in ailing health and wanted to sell his interest. The men purchased Dogpatch in 2014 for $2.2 million.
This development ignited a spark of imaginings in this peabrain I rely on. Sometimes I'm known to have such pipe dreams, you know, those sleepy visions that creep up on one during idle moments of consciousness.
One of my latest involves Johnny Morris, the dedicated outdoorsman and conservationist of Bass Pro Shops, Big Cedar and Top of the Rock fame deciding to purchase Dogpatch and restore its luster and appeal far beyond the original version. Anyone who knows of this down-to-earth entrepreneur and his penchant for creating first-class "experiences" in all he undertakes also knows the potential he could bring to this dusty jewel.
Sure, this undertaking would be a challenge. But I believe no one could come close to shaping and creating the superior form of enchanting place Dogpatch could become under Morris' transcendent eye and guidance.
One need only enjoy the magnificent assortment of outdoor and recreational visions Morris has made reality between Harrison and Branson (as well as his stunning reconverted Memphis Pyramid) to understand. Those attractions plus Dogwood Canyon offer abundant evidence of how Morris thrives on restoration and fashioning truly wondrous experiences in the outdoors.
I know, I know, valued readers. I said it was a pipe dream. But who knows? As soon as Morris completes and opens his latest major achievement in conservation and outdoor life, the truly remarkable Wonders of Wildlife Museum in Springfield featuring at least 160 displays and 225 animals, this native son of the Ozarks might just be looking for his next masterpiece in the hills he knows as home.
Pressures to conform
I sat to share lunch with a state legislator for nearly an hour. Along with my brisket I got an earful of validation on what it's like to venture into the world of endlessly proposing and passing legislation.
"There are a lot of well-intentioned legislators who arrive in Little Rock with the best intentions and goals to benefit their constituents and the state," he said. "They aren't there long before seeing how things actually work versus what they'd naively expected.
"One thing you face is wanting to do what you may believe is the right thing but doesn't necessarily jibe with the way others of your colleagues and various political influences see things. No one, especially new arrivals to the statehouse, wants to be disliked by their colleagues. So they feel the peer pressure of being accepted and befriended to get along. That's pretty much human nature everywhere."
He said that kind of cognitive dissonance can make it especially difficult to stand one's ground when one believes he or she is right and doing what's best for constituents and voters. That includes introducing voluminous bills and unnecessary laws that often are as self-serving as they are unnecessary.
In other words, these people we elect and send to Little Rock as our representatives are very much human beings susceptible to all the wants and emotional reactions to pressures continually being brought to bear. "In that respect, it's a lot different than what many legislators expect when they arrive and what Mr. and Mrs. Arkansas believe happens, or is supposed to happen in legislating," he said.
And to think, valued readers, some out here are still idealistically naive enough to believe our fallible "public servants" stand steadfastly behind their principles and beliefs that continually guide most of their activities and decisions. The self-interested desires of the good ol' boys are indeed constantly at work to erode character, principle and integrity.
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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected].
Editorial on 06/07/2016