Quorum Court members decline aid to businesses
Washington County business owners, if you thought our Quorum Court has your best interests in mind, you are sadly mistaken. The county still has $3.5 million in CARES funds from 2020 it will not disburse or even consider how to use. Months ago, a resolution was brought forward to use a portion of the CARES funds for small-business relief. What did the GOP members of the Quorum Court do? Voted it down and created legislation blocking the resolution from further consideration.
A recent news article stated 70% of Arkansas restaurants that applied for restaurant revitalization funds through the Small Business Administration did not receive funding. How many of them are in Washington County? Apparently by their actions, GOP members of the Quorum Court do not care and have no inclination to find out. How many other businesses in the county were impacted by covid? Certainly walk-in retail, hospitality, entertainment and service industries. How many and to what degree? Don't bother looking for answers from Republicans on the Quorum Court. They couldn't wait to approve a raise and new vehicle for County Attorney Brian Lester, who is also the GOP county chair. Mr. Lester is now the highest-paid county attorney in the state. This was done outside the regular salary review process and after they voted down raises for county employees making less than $15 per hour.
If you'd like to tell them what you think, you'll have to search the internet for the Quorum Court members' phone numbers. Contact phone numbers for these elected officials have been removed from the county website and an email group allowing constituents to email all the Quorum Court members at once is no longer functional. They have also turned off commenting on the county YouTube channel. They do not care to hear from constituents as they pursue their own agenda.
Kate Wallis
Springdale
Eradication of history
erodes American spirit
I recently read that another statue depicting the history of our country has been removed. This time it is not another Confederate soldier, it is a statue of the great explorers Lewis and Clark and their Native American guide.
Perhaps a reading or a rereading of the novel "1984" by George Orwell could be an instructive look at our present time. One could also view the movie staring Richard Burton and John Hurt.
The protagonist is a man named Winston Smith. He works for the state, and his job is to rewrite history. Winston comes to see that he knows nothing of the past, or real history. This is a quote from this visionary work: "Every record has been destroyed or falsified," he says at one point, "every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been altered. ... Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right."
Does any of this sound familiar? President Reagan said, "I am warning of an eradication of the American memory could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the the American spirit." To present young people with a full and honest account of our nation's history is to invest them with the spirit of freedom. Depriving the young of the spirit of freedom will ultimately deprive us all of our country.
Patricia L. Babb
Springdale