Letters to the editor

Cheers for local 'activism' regarding 'stump dump'

The letter of Jan. 9 entitled "Origin of 'stump dump'" suggests who should pay" by Jim Parsons of Bella Vista, I wish to thank him and the Bella Vista Patriots for their diligent efforts, tireless persistence and activism for the benefit of Bella Vista residents.

Disposing of toxic chemicals with such callous disregard to the environment and to the health and safety of every resident of Bella Vista is unbelievably ignorant and irresponsible, and the guilty parties should be prosecuted to the full extend of the law.

Every citizen should take responsibility to dispose of hazardous household chemicals with the appropriate county agency. If we are not good stewards of our air and water, we will see many other environmental disasters.

Harry and Carmella Vorbach

Bella Vista

Hutchinson misses mark on president, health care

Concerning a column Greg Harton wrote about our governor, Asa Hutchinson, who we have for four more years: Greg and I don't disagree about much, but our governor does back Trump as president. I don't know if Hutchinson agrees with Trump's policies or just because Trump is his party's candidate. It doesn't matter to me. Both reasons are wrong.

Also, with Arkansas Works, it doesn't work. I'm 61 years old and Hutchinson and his Republican senators and representatives kicked me and a lot of my fellow Arkansans off the Arkansas Works program and forced anyone with a disability onto Medicare. It happened at the end of 2017. Without warning, I and everyone else were cut off from Medicaid and couldn't get our prescriptions, go to the doctor, etc. Everyone had to get on emergency help for the months of November and December, and some were on it until February of 2018. And this happened with no warning. The state did send a letter out, but Medicaid had already stopped covering people. And that happened also in 2015 when Hutchinson decided to stop using Blue Cross Blue Shield, which a lot of us disabled were on and are hooked on opioids. And you can die from withdrawal.

The other thing the governor and his Republican friends own is the dragging of the feet on medical marijuana. Hutchinson has a conflict of interest on the subject. Whether he admits it or not, being the ex-U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency administrator and creator of the Fourth Judicial District Drug Task Force in Arkansas, he doesn't want it to happen. Arkansas has taken longer than any state that legalized marijuana to get it going, and it still hasn't. That's the governor's fault, and the people he has put in charge of it.

Now, he's against people going to Oklahoma to get it. Oklahoma started a year after Arkansas did and their dispensaries are already open. Arkansas has had two years, going on three.

I wouldn't have had to take 2,000 more opioids. If the governor and his Republican friends are so worried about the opioid epidemic, rather than acting like a Drug Enforcement Agency administrator and tearing down the American health care act, I hope the governor gets these issues fixed and gives our state's folks what they voted on and won.

Please, governor, make your last four years count. And dump Trump.

Billy Long

Fayetteville

Editorial on 01/18/2019

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