Author: Michael Tilley

Michael Tilley

Dear Fort Smith regional legislators:

Dear Fort Smith regional legislators: Having given up a few years ago on Santa Claus (apparently, the North Pole logistics folks can’t hook a believer up with a few cases…

Seeking salvation

The thing with this regional economic development alliance thing is that I’m not feeling the religion. You’ll find me on the back pew working hard to suppress my cynicism as…

Wants, needs and ditches

A debate possibly best captured by English historian Edmund Burke is one we might consider in our pondering about the future governance of more than 80,000 Fort Smith citizens in…

Remembering Raymond

Editor’s note: This essay about my grandfather, Raymond Evans, was first published November 2002 when I was business editor of the Times Record. A version of that essay can be…

Tuesday’s on with the spin

Tuesday’s coming. The smart people who wear the smart suits and say smart things about election day politics say Tuesday will replace one set of folks previously thought to be…

Healthy honesty

Fort Smith Mayor Ray Baker says the mayor’s job is largely ceremonial, with little to no authority to govern or provide leadership. His opponent, Mr. Sandy Sanders, sees it different,…

Strange women and other options

King Arthur: I am your king. Woman: Well I didn’t vote for you. King Arthur: You don’t vote for kings. Woman: Well how’d you become king then? King Arthur: The…

Stepping back, again

Editor’s note: Forgive the repetition, but it was decided to reprise an essay on John Bell Jr. that was first published Aug. 30, 2009. The essay was intended to publicize…

You’ve got pledges

Folks seeking political office continue to pledge things to us. Or on our behalf. Most are pledges to remind us who does and does not want to harm babies to…

Billy’s bleepity-bleep lecture

Billy, the college friend from thousands of years ago, called this week. A report on The City Wire about the recession being over put him in a foul mood. In…

On spending Beebe’s money

There was a time Gov. Mike Beebe’s popularity rating was so high that to find folks who didn’t like him or know him required a trip to Kazakhstan. “Mikhail, who?…

Remembrance and perspective

Editor’s Note: This essay was written by Michael Tilley in September 2002 as a reflection on the first anniversary of the 9/11 horror. Link here for its 2007 publication in…

Expectations, excuses and excellence

There was to be a clever tag line at the end of this essay in which I would brilliantly wrap up the point that students in public school systems perform…

The little board that couldn’t

On Tuesday (Aug. 24) the Fort Smith board of directors met to consider when they might bring to voters the convention center funding option or options. Tuesday’s meeting was a…

The banker blame game

What you are supposed to know, Kind Reader, is that your local banker would trod down on the downtrodden minorities if given half a chance. But first, a little history…

Director, can you spare a favor?

Dear Fort Smith city board members: Would like to ask you gentlemen three favors. The favors aren’t necessarily for me — they are the synthesis of citizen wishes collected during…

Cheap shot

The local media recently brought us numerous and breathless reports of how great it was for the Fort Smith region to be THE lowest cost of of living region in…

Degree of perspective

Sincere kudos go to Joe Hardin, dean of the College of Languages and Communication at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, and other university officials in gaining approval from…

Monty Python perspective

A comedic rant against the Roman occupation of Palestine (what is now Israel) was part of a movie scene in “Life of Brian” during which Judeans sought to displace the…

An energy waste of time

What follows is a waste of time — like telling a drunk to quit drinking or Congress to quit spending or Joe Biden to quit thinking he’s a big f*&%$#@…