Letters

What U.S. can afford

While I generally support fiscal conservatism by the government, if the federal government can no longer support school lunches or Meals on Wheels, then surely it can no longer afford to pay for the president's weekly golfing trips to Florida, or for his wife and young son to live separately in New York, or for his children's Secret Service protection on their business trips to Muslim countries that failed to make the administration's new travel ban.

I believe it is outrageous that we would continue to use public funds to pay for such luxuries when we cannot pay for food for poor children and shut-ins.

JOHN I. KAMINAR

Bryant

Who are 'good guys'?

Two points regarding the irresponsible Republican effort to allow unrestricted carry of concealed guns on Arkansas' college campuses:

  1. The NRA and the legislators who live in its pocket argue that all it takes to stop a "bad guy with a gun" is a "good guy with a gun." I'm sure John Hinckley thought he was a good guy; so did Lee Harvey Oswald; so did the Sandy Hook shooter. Because, in our own minds, we are all "good guys," masters at fabricating self-serving justifications for our behavior. So allowing the proliferation of guns on college campuses puts large numbers of lethal weapons in the hands of people who may, under the press of some perceived insult or injustice, decide that as "good guys" they are perfectly justified in using their guns to settle a score.

  2. The human brain is typically not fully wired for critical functions such as impulse control until about age 25. Insurance companies knew this through experience long before neuroscientists confirmed the fact through direct observation. That's why premiums for car insurance remain high until our 25th birthdays. Because we are all, in a sense, mentally defective until our adult brains are fully developed. Of course, just having the proper hardware doesn't guarantee that individuals will develop skill in applying it--as our Republican state legislators demonstrate to us every day.

If we are worried about the possibility of shootings on campus, we should hire more campus police and train them extensively. Leaving the job to amateur "good guys with guns" is a prescription for more, not fewer, gun-related deaths on campus.

ALEX MIRONOFF

Fayetteville

Won't make state safe

A former junior high school student of mine, Marcel Williams, is on death row and is scheduled for execution in April. I do not condone his crime; I also do not condone the state's decision to execute him.

Marcel was an abused child with a below-average IQ and impulse control problems. I often wonder how differently his life would have been if someone had intervened to help him. Teachers try but can only do so much. When teenagers are incarcerated in adult prisons and then released, they have no education, no job training, and often, no support system. Is it any wonder they turn to crime?

Executing Marcel will not reduce the crime rate; it will not make the state a safer place. It will simply highlight the "enlightened" society in which we live.

SUZANNE RITCHIE

North Little Rock

The change of seasons

Sitting on my front porch in the balmy weather with the neighborhood cat, I am reminded that, before long, our plot of dirt will be covered with all the colors of the rainbow and the cold of winter behind us, and life will be good once again. The critters and birds that come to my abode are already marking their spots for new life and scamper and flit about happily at the feeders and crushed acorns under the big oak.

This change of seasons is an indication that the creator has not disappeared from the natural order of things. I know many today will not accept the revealed word as absolute eternal truth, but that does not negate the fact that I believe it is still as true today as it was in the beginning of creation.

This leads me to understand how far we have strayed from the original design, for regardless of the new labels assigned to people as transgender, gay or anything else, it will not stand against the word of the living God. Yes, I know, many will reject this with their own version of the lifestyles chosen by many, but it's not my words they will answer to in the end. I believe God is a just creator and has revealed all we need for life according to his design and it will not change. Regardless of human plans to turn back the clock, the world is still on the timetable of its creator, and it is swiftly coming to its conclusion.

We live in a dark and dangerous time and life can end suddenly without warning. Jesus, the eternal creator, has given us the true path to his new earth and forever dwelling place when he stated that he was the way, the truth and the life. Don't wait to be prepared.

WILLA ROMINE

Bryant

The governor's legacy

At the most recent meeting of the Political Animals Club in Little Rock, Mrs. Annie Abrams, as customary, was given the first question to Governor Hutchinson. In her elegant way, Mrs. Abrams asked the governor what he'd consider his legacy. Laughingly, he said he couldn't completely answer that as he planned to be around quite a bit longer.

I had the opportunity, after his talk, to ask him directly about his scheduling an historic eight executions of men in Arkansas between April 17-27. I told him I am a member of the Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and felt I had to ask him if he'd be present to witness the execution of each of these eight men. He answered that he didn't think it would be appropriate. I strongly disagreed then, and I do now.

Governor Hutchinson, I must ask again: "Will you be present to witness what others must carry out at your direction--the death of eight individuals?" Undoubtedly, a significant part of the answer to Mrs. Abrams' question of your legacy as governor will be the historic execution of eight men within a period of two weeks in Arkansas.

History will not be kind to this action, I believe, and Arkansas will be shamed by this notoriety. You are a better person than to leave this legacy for yourself and your state.

CAROLINE STEVENSON

Little Rock

Editorial on 03/21/2017

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