NWA editorial: Thursday thumbs

Disruptive crowds hurt their efforts to get answers

Members of Congress around the country are paying a price for the presidency of Donald Trump. Crowds of angry constituents (and sometimes others) are showing up to question, jeer, interrupt, shout at and occasionally cuss lawmakers from the POD (Party of Donald). Whether they like it or not, members of the Republican Party who serve on Capitol Hill are the closest most Arkansans will get to influencing the new president outside an election. They're getting an earful from people who didn't vote for Trump and, to a lesser degree, people who did and want him to stop being so counterproductive to the goals of the GOP with his erratic and controversial behaviors.

Northwest Arkansas saw the tensions Tuesday with a wild and woolly interchange in West Fork between 3rd District Congressman Steve Womack of Rogers and an overcrowded room of folks at West Fork's City Hall. It followed that U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton's town hall meeting Tuesday afternoon in Springdale would follow the same path.

We argued for civility from all parties in Wednesday's editorial. But it's definitely worth a thumbs up that so many people are ready to speak with their elected representatives. We appreciate the people willing to participate in a constructive exchange.

That's not all that's happening around Northwest Arkansas and beyond, so here are a few thumb-backed observations on recent developments:

[THUMBS UP] George Spence, city attorney in Bentonville, offered wise counsel in suggesting aldermen act now rather than later on realigning the wards from which the City Council members are elected. Realigning zones isn't all that fun, but doing it in 2017 helps avoid the appearance of political maneuvering later. "If you do it immediately before the election, it looks like you're trying to affect the election, which we are not trying to do," Spence said. "All we're trying to do is re-balance them [the voting wards]." Every city's wards are designed to have approximately the same number of residents, but Bentonville's growth has caused a serious imbalance. Without adjustment, it's hard to argue the preservation of the "one person, one vote" approach that's central to the idea of democracy.

[THUMBS DOWN] Did you see the item Wednesday about interracial couple in Stamford, Conn., who have refused to remove a racial slur painted on their home's garage door because they feel the police haven't properly investigated the case? The couple have now received a city blight citation for not covering up the slur.

[THUMBS DOWN] An initial lack of microphones at Cotton's town hall meeting intensified the crowd's negative reactions Wednesday, but we're not sure anything would have settled down some in the crowd intent on screaming and chanting at every utterance from Cotton's mouth. Their tactics are not productive and, in fact, wasted a lot of time that could have been used for important additional questions from the audience. There's a place for rallies and assemblies, but town hall settings are too rare opportunities to hear vital questions from constituents and the important answers from our elected representatives. The question the loud shouters and chanters need to ask themselves is, how many questions did not get asked of Tom Cotton because of the ridiculous disruptive, near-constant shouting? It was an awful display.

[THUMBS UP] The Naturals are expanding the sections of seating covered by netting at Arvest Ballpark, a move to increase the safety for spectators, many of whom are as busy checking their smartphones for videos of cats doing cute things as they are watching the game. The new netting will cover an additional 1,420 seats. Baseball purists may not like the addition, but in this day when people attending are as likely to be looking down at their smartphones as they are to be watching the game action, the additional netting is a necessary part of keeping people safe while watching the great game of baseball.

[THUMBS UP] The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review Arkansas' death penalty drug scheme, clearing the legal hurdles (for now) that have blocked execution of eight inmates for whom appeals have been exhausted. But the state still faces the struggle of finding a company to supply the drugs necessary to carry out the executions, so the wait for carrying out the long-delayed sentences continues. We're not giving a thumbs up to the prospects of someone's death, but Arkansans have supported the death penalty and these sentences have been imposed by Arkansas juries. It's unfortunate to see these cases dragged out by legal maneuvering. If Arkansans don't want the death penalty, that's a fair decision. But it's on the books and should be carried out in less than a couple of decades after conviction.

Commentary on 02/23/2017

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