OPINION | NWA EDITORIAL: Thursday's thumbs

It's Thursday and another chance to fire off a few up or down thumbs about some of news developments in our neck of the woods and elsewhere:

[THUMBS DOWN] The headline in Wednesday's USA Today put it as succinctly as any could: "People hospitalized with covid-19 now have one overwhelming thing in common: They're not vaccinated." Hospitals in states with the lowest vaccination rates -- a description that fits Arkansas -- tend to have more covid-19 patients in intensive care, according to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. USA Today reported Wyoming, Missouri, Arkansas and Idaho had the highest percentage of covid-19 patients in ICU on average. "The people who say, 'It's my body, my choice?' Well, it's not all about you," said Dr. Gerald Malony, chief medical officer for hospital services at Geisinger health network in Pennsylvania. "It's also about the people that you're around." Every vaccination is one more person who can't pass the virus to others who aren't.

[THUMBS UP] It was a good call for the city of Fayetteville to return girls' youth softball teams to Gary Hampton Park, the facility that served the recreational league's needs for years. The youth softball teams were shifted to the lesser quality conditions of Lake Fayetteville ball fields in 2019, a move city officials said was a way to accommodate demand for adult softball. A parks official said the decision was influenced by fluctuating participation numbers in the youth program. Of course, moving a program into worse conditions isn't likely to produce better involvement. Thankfully, the city ultimately responded to the outcry of parents, who had every reason to cry foul about the relocation of the youth program. Every city should invest in its youth and sports programming is an exceptional way to do it, particularly during the months when school is not in session. Fayetteville corrected a change that, whether intended or not, created a perception that the girls' program was not taken seriously. It's a good thing that's been remedied.

[THUMBS DOWN] In a recent discussion about the narrowing of Archibald Yell Boulevard in Fayetteville, one City Council member asked about installing a mural on a long retaining wall, with the idea that the image could help slow traffic. Huh? A mural as a traffic-calming device? Well, it might be so. After all, Fayetteville's restrictive sign ordinance is based largely on the idea that many signs are distractions, designed to grab the attention of drivers away from their primary responsibility, which is to operate a vehicle safely. But if that's the attitude about commercial signage, it doesn't make much sense to pursue a mural for its traffic-calming potential, does it? Is a traffic accident any less of a safety issue if the distraction is artsy instead of commercial? Murals have their own benefits, without a doubt. But let's focus on designing good roads when it comes to traffic safety.

[THUMBS UP] It's only appropriate just days after the legendary former track and field coach died that the University of Arkansas program he once led was named the John McDonnell Program of the Year based on the athletes' performances this past academic year. McDonnell died June 7 at 82. The award was established in 2009, a year after McDonnell retired.