Author: Michael Tilley

Michael Tilley

As it once was

The thing you need to know about Fort Smith Mayor Ray Baker is that he’s tremendously more interested in ensuring cheap and convenient television access to local religious programming and…

Regarding Rosey

The following is a real letter. From a real person. We’re not sure about the dog. Or the story about the dog. But we do take this opportunity to reply…

You want me to support what?

What follows will be a series of observations, lists and explainers all presented in a possibly naive hope they will clear the fog of misinformation, poor information and no information…

Unimportant things

There are a lot of important things we could discuss. Our world of local, state and federal politics are awash in oddities, what ifs and what the hells. The primary…

Parker’s big pipe

Kyle Parker has a big, big, big pipe to play with. That short starter sentence is silly double entendre that high-falutin’ folks will label sophomoric and wholly unnecessary until they…

Looking ahead

And now for the Top 10 Fort Smith regional stories of 2020. Yes, 2020. 10. U.S. Rep. Philip Merry, D-Fort Smith, ends his fifth term as Arkansas’ 3rd District Congressman…

Measure twice, cut once

We are edging closer to screwing this up. That’s the feeling a few folks are getting with this ongoing and seemingly unguided discussion about improving quality of place assets in…

The parade and banquet guest

Dear Gov. Mike Beebe: Was pleased to hear of your planned visit to Fort Smith for the Martin Luther King Parade down Garrison Avenue. Hope you’re able to bring Arkansas’…

Front and center

Arguably, the most effectively outspoken chairman of the Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors in recent history was Emon Mahony Jr., who once unapologetically alleged during a speech…

Still watching out for the SOBs

Editor’s note: This essay first appeared Dec. 28, 2008, on The City Wire. It continues to be an appropriate note to begin a new year. It’s just another day, really….

We don’t want to screw this up

This growing consensus among the citizenry that we might consider more Walk and less Talk with respect to additions and enhancements to our regional quality-of-place assets is both welcome and…

Random Redux

Editor’s note: What follows is an essay originally posted Feb. 1, 2009. Please accept our apology for the repeat. Tilley didn’t have time for anything new as he was competing…

12,000

“But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate … we can not consecrate … we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here,…

The new hospital CEO says …

Folks in the Fort Smith area are so hospitable that they’re likely to forgive Melody Trimble for never having visited Graceland. That Trimble readily admitted — “I drove through but…

A compassionate pause

The Fort Smith board of directors on Tuesday (Dec. 1) faces an appeal of a Fort Smith Planning Commission approval of the Community Rescue Mission’s 3,300-square foot dormitory-style housing for…

Condolences and gratitude

Let’s first note the recent passing of Birnie Pryor, a kind and successful Fort Smith businessman who was a lifelong supporter of downtown Fort Smith. He was 73. Birnie was…

Billy says …

Billy, an old college friend, has taken to renewing our past chats via e-mail. He’s found some measure of amusement watching us folks in the Fort Smith area debate and…

Remembering Raymond and the others

Editor’s note: This essay was first published in November 2002 when I was the business editor of the Times Record. A version of that essay can be found here.) This…

Happy Birthday to You!

We re-started this thing called The City Wire a year ago Nov. 3. By way of reminder, let’s revisit a few points from the simple vision we expressed almost 12…

Lines of optimism

There is a fine line between naivety and optimism. Let’s walk the line. The line walked here is that we have more reasons to be optimistic about the future of…