Swimming with gators
I was shocked after reading about the young alligator in Lake Hamilton ("an area along Little Mazarn Creek"). Especially stunned that the person who caught the little fella was told to throw it back in the water after reporting it.
Are people crazy? The story mentioned different officials being upset that a person had picked it up, but no one seemed upset that a gator was found in our wonderful recreation lake!
Do you want to swim and ski with these critters? What about our pristine Lake Ouachita, not too far away? How long till some prankster releases some there? Shouldn't we be working diligently to remove all gators from Lake Hamilton rather than tossing them back in?
VIRGINIA MILLER
Conway
On political opinions
Before I get into more political opinions, let me answer a question from Voices about when I became a heterosexual. When I was young, until my late teens, I didn't know what a heterosexual or homosexual was, but I knew there was a difference between boys and girls. When I got to about age 12, I started noticing that the girls were prettier and better-proportioned than the boys. So I guess that's when I became a heterosexual, and I am glad I made that choice. I don't think I could wake up every morning staring into a fuzzy face with a 24-hour growth of beard, or have a hairy chest rubbing me in the back all night.
But back to political opinions. The Republicans don't want Barack Obama to pick a Supreme Court justice because they believe they are going to win the White House and pick the justice from their own party, which will leave them in full control of the government and judiciary. That's pretty close to a dictatorship, isn't it? But the two parties are in constant turmoil because one wants to take from the rich and give to the poor and the other wants to take from the poor to further enrich the rich.
And I think China is the scapegoat on being called the one we owe a debt, when it's really the Social Security trust fund that the politicians seem to have robbed all these years.
D.E. HUNTER
Benton
Can lose my number
Advances in technology have allowed the art of voice communication by electronic means and telephone to arrive at today's excellent state of service. Mathematics allowed the technical advances to be made. Binary counting allowed for Solid State devices to be produced and perfected and used in today's computer world.
However, there is a problem.
My phone rings. I answer and a voice similar to the sounds made by a dog in the process of passing peach seeds is trying to sell alarm systems or worse. I have no real way to stop these calls except for a very few that AT&T has chosen to let me control. These calls all originate from outside this country, I think. Who ever heard of a telephone area code of 016?
How best to stop them?
DERREL THOMAS
Searcy
Thanks for the repairs
Orion Cemetery was recently vandalized. I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to all the folks who responded--friends, family, neighbors and others--for their help and donations to rectify the damage done to our cemetery.
There were about 130 stone vases and shepherd's hooks overturned, broken and scratched. This cemetery is about 160 years old and all of my family is buried there.
The community came together and repaired most of the damage over the next two days after the vandalism occurred.
CHESTENE BRUCE
Redfield
They've fed the fears
Even as columnist Bradley Gitz writes his mournful eulogy for the Republican Party, it seems he can't help himself from repeating the lies that brought about its demise.
He says that Donald Trump supporters believe their country is swirling down the toilet. "They see criminals ... given free rein ... millions of able-bodied Americans on fake disability ... and illegal aliens streaming unimpeded across the border."
Criminals aren't given free rein. Thousands of hardworking law enforcement personnel work every day to arrest lawbreakers. I believe the problem with the criminal-justice system is drug policy. We should have learned our lesson with alcohol prohibition. Prohibition fuels an enormously profitable black market, militarizes our police, and undermines the rule of law.
It's asinine to claim that millions of able-bodied Americans falsely claim disability. Gitz presents no data to support his claim.
If the Social Security Administration doesn't know whether someone's claim is false, how would Gitz? When it comes time to address the real issues behind possible fraud, Gitz would likely be first in line to say no to increased funding for agency operations, and no to comprehensive policies to establish one-on-one counseling to assist people in getting their lives together.
Illegal immigrants seek haven in the U.S. because our drug policies have made their native homes unsafe. Our multinational corporations control their lands.
It's this kind of alarmist shallow thinking that feeds Trump's candidacy. Gitz and his ilk only have themselves to blame if the Republican Party draws its last breath. They've fed the fear driving Trump's candidacy.
DENELE CAMPBELL
West Fork
Legal system's unfair
The story on the sentencing of a woman for forcing prostitution on two teens left me in shock. If no creeps paid $20 to have sex with a teenager, this would not be happening--worldwide.
What is wrong with the legal system that these misguided women are the ones being punished? Why does it seem the male participants aren't being arrested, fined and made public?
These guys are not some innocent bystanders who accidentally participated in sex. They were out looking for someone. When they find them, they are just as guilty, just as pitiful and just as wrong as the female.
When is our legal system going to start being fair to women? When will we have a leader who is willing to speak up and see that the law applies to both men and women?
I am not saying that Ms. Johnson is innocent. I am saying that every john who participated in sexual encounters is just as guilty.
If the law protects the men then, Governor Hutchinson, get the law changed.
ELIZABETH BRANDON
Little Rock
Editorial on 05/30/2016