Protecting employers
The letters of outrage by women aggrieved by sexual harassment are certainly worthy of sympathy and, indeed, legal recourse. On the other hand, looking at this grievous situation in the workplace may have some origins that might be pointed out.
Our current entertainment industry has indulged itself in the technicolor production of sexual license with darned little protest; when this segues into the workplace we see righteous indignation and cries for regulation and tort law.
Any physician is regularly confronted with the professional problem of disrobed females or confidential interviews, which is regularly solved by the presence of the mostly female nursing staff. The problem might arise--both from a physician's and employer's aspect--in the interview behind a closed door. What can an otherwise blameless male do to protect himself from simple blackmail by a grasping female? If this sounds silly, merely review the news broadsides arising from tort lawyers.
I suggest--and it may come to pass--the installation of glass doors in the interview offices of senior employers to protect them and their company from grasping females intent on blackmail. I realize this sounds outrageous, but stranger events regularly arise in the news.
WAYNE ELLIOTT
El Dorado
Deer have taken over
During the Mike Huckabee administration, the Legislature passed a one-eighth cent sales tax for the state Game and Fish Commission. It seems they have done a magnificent job of endangering motorists.
My insurance agent researched the number of deer-car collisions in Arkansas last year, 2016. They reported 22,100. I've heard somewhere that each collision cost approximately $3,000. That's what government calls good; it increases the health-care system, auto repair business, insurance industry, etc.
I've lived in Heber Springs for 30 years. The deer have taken over. We can't have a garden, flowers or anything of beauty. Our town has become a prune.
In 1999, my youngest daughter grew the state's biggest watermelon in the 4-H contest. This was in our small backyard garden. No more.
Last month, THV ran a propaganda piece for the Game and Fish commission on the 10 p.m. news. They went to Pine Bluff and had a big fishing derby and BB gun shoot. No, they didn't mention that it was being paid for by us ignorant taxpayers. They did nothing that groups like 4-H and others do. Here is the long arm of socialism taking over what civic organizations do. Shameless.
Momma always raised a big garden and canned all of our food for the winter. Never did we get a food stamp, welfare, or go hungry. I know of no one in Heber Springs who can grow a garden or have yard flowers, thanks to the socialist invasion.
JIM GLOVER
Heber Springs
When Mueller's done
An old adage tells one that it gets colder just before the dawning. I wonder if the temperature is dropping in Washington, D.C., right now.
Corruption is a horrible thing for the United States of America to be facing. The money launderers and other corrupt politicians, whoever they are, need to be brought to justice. Then they can go to federal prison and have all the perks that are allowed in these prisons. Not bad, is it? Give them green eggs and ham three times a day for the next 20 years.
Congress has no idea what it is like for a middle-income family to do what is right and face what we "little 'uns" have to deal with. Congress might just have to downsize their meeting rooms when Robert Mueller finishes the task at hand.
Just an early morning thought.
E.G. GIVENS HOWARD
Sparkman
Danger on the roads
I am an ex-truck driver with over 40 years' accident-free driving. I am not a proponent of truck-driving schools; three to 12 weeks is far too short to turn newbies loose on our highways. There is no way they could have attained the proper skills needed to jump into a tanker or van transporting hazardous materials, or anything else for that matter.
How many times do you look into your rearview mirror to see a truck grille filling your mirror, or watching trucks riding the bumper of the semi in front of them? These are your "new professional school-trained drivers" more often than not. They have no clue as to how much distance it takes to stop these rigs. They have no winter training, no mountain training. Courtesy is not part of their training; it is "get the load delivered ASAP."
Too many times at a truck stop their time is spent looking for "company" or someone to "smoke with." They may be required to take a 10-hour break, but they can't be forced to get sufficient rest.
I believe the insurance companies are to blame for most of the problems in the industry. They dictate to the trucking companies who they can hire, and force them to oust older professional drivers. The replacements are these under-skilled, under-trained "steering-wheel holders." At one time, truckers were considered the king of the roads; they were always ready to assist a motorist. That is long gone.
If you observe a trucker driving carelessly, notify the company, give them the unit number and explain what you observed; it may be necessary to notify law enforcement. Contact your representatives and demand extensive training before turning them loose with an 80,000-pound time bomb looking for a place to have an accident. It could mean life or death.
SONNY STARNES
Hot Springs
About that movement
Just what is the Trump movement, as Steve Bannon likes to call it? I have yet to hear a reporter ask that question. I think it's a movement to establish a quasi-dictatorship. Steve Bannon and Donald Trump are determined to change our system of government.
Every time a GOP senator or House member pulls out of the U.S. Congress, he/she is opening the door to a neo-Nazi or a white supremacist. It seems the GOP has catered to the NRA, the white supremacists and the neo-Nazis for so long that now they are taking over the party.
Is this the government you want?
As far as tax breaks are concerned, we already know that giving money to the wealthy and big business doesn't create jobs. The wealthy invest their money, and big business will use it to expand overseas operations. If there isn't a restriction in the tax plan that the extra money has to be used for jobs in the United States, matters are only going to get worse.
MILLIE FOREE
Bella Vista
Editorial on 11/02/2017