Letters to the Editor

State's required belief in a deity isn't lawful

A tale of two men: Both men are married, two children. Never cheated on their wives. Served in the military. Never accused of a crime, pay their bills and taxes on time and in full. Drink a beer occasionally. They don't gamble. Maybe they buy a lottery ticket once in a while, are liked by their co-workers, and have had successes and failures, happy and unhappy times.

But in Arkansas, one of them can't be elected to a public office or serve on a jury.

Why? Because one of them will not profess a belief in a god.

This Arkansas law is unconstitutional and should be struck down as it has been in every state where this kind of law was challenged.

Wayne Kleeman

Bella Vista

Young people allowing loss of South's identity

Are we losing our identity? Modernity made its way to Northwest Arkansas and has firmly entrenched itself on the youth and doesn't appear to be letting go. As a delivery driver for a prominent business, I saw firsthand a loss of identity of a people. Like shedding its skin, a New South seems to have emerged: One of skinny jeans, ironic beards, craft beers and a loss of traditionalism.

It seems today's youth are more in tune with the likes of Austin, Texas, and trying their best to remodel their image to that of Seattle. Are today's youth not interested in being proud of their heritage? Or are they swept up in social justice to the point where they don't want to labeled as being regressive. Maybe they are just caught up in the current fads and want to be seen as cool rather than historically accurate.

Change for the sake of seeking approval by outsiders isn't change; it's a confusion. Am I a regressive? Yes I am, but I am comfortable enough with myself and our great state's history that no changes were needed. No, I do not follow trends or think Beto and Bernie are cool. I'm just an agrarian at heart. Change is not progress.

Dustin Tipton

Lowell

Police academy shows great work of officers

I just finished attending the annual 10-week (two hours per week) Fayetteville Citizens Police Academy. It was both a joy and sincere transparent presentation of the many functions, rules, procedures, training and successes of the department. We can be very grateful for the superb quality of the police officers working skillfully to keep Fayetteville residents safe from crime and other abuse.

The speakers were all experienced officers and usually told of real incidents in their talks, showed slides and recordings. Some of the subjects, but not all of them, included: dispatch (receiving 911 calls and making immediate decisions on how to respond), motorcycle demonstrations, K-9 demonstrations, emergency response team procedures, use of force procedures, drug task force procedures, criminal investigation, special investigation (child, sexual, and other abuse), crime scene investigation (filming the whole scene first and finding fingerprints), and report writing requirements. There was much more police work shown to us that revealed the high standards and quality, sincerity, dedication and care that the whole department gives to Fayetteville residents.

Kudos and gratitude to our dedicated police department.

Willis P. Anderson

Fayetteville

Editorial on 11/17/2018

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