Column

Thankful, but frustrated

A note from Tilley to Kind Readers: Please pardon the repeating of an essay that first appeared in this space Dec. 3, 2008. It was my intent to capture the…

Defeating Sylvester McMonkey McBean

Let’s talk about racism. In case you haven’t heard, the U.S. now has a black president. The top four favorite male sports stars in the U.S. are black. The top…

We (Greedy Capitalists) shall overcome

“The urge to save humanity is almost always a false-face for the urge to rule it.”— H.L. Mencken Recently toured several of the fine museums in Chicago. The city of…

Broadcast this

The Fort Smith Board of Directors began live telecasts of their voting meetings at their July 21 meeting. Those interested in watching the sausage being made can tune to cable…

Let’s get geeky

Editor’s note: This column first was first published Feb 1, 2004, by the fine folks at the Times Record. However, the first clean link to the paper with this column…

It’s about time

Most folks who speak during meetings of the Fort Smith board of directors talk much and say little. Including the members of the board. Especially members of the board. David…

You read it here first

The City Wire was able to obtain an advance copy of the more than 1-inch thick document outlining Fort Smith City Administrator Dennis Kelly’s proposed changes to city government policies,…

To-Do list(?)

In this space last week we asked the question, “What now? As a region, as a people and as a collection of cities, What-Fricking-Now? What are the collective goals of…

What now?

During a March 2000 speech at the University of Ozarks in Clarksville, popular English author, science historian and television producer James Burke told the crowd that in matters big and…

Parameters

At some risk of redundancy, what follows is a repeat of points made in a past essay. The 10 items are a broad set of parameters intended to guide yours…

Brain freight

It was hard to stay focused. The important folks around the table were talking important things about how to greatly improve the way in which businesses and industries ship their…

Garage sale rules

Editor’s note: This column was written by Michael Tilley in January 2005. Link here for the original post. There comes a time to sell stuff long ago tucked away in…

The Mayor says …

Lt. Commander Francis Queeg — played by Humphrey Bogart in the movie, “The Caine Mutiny.”: (Rolling steel balls in his hand while testifying) “Ahh, but the strawberries that’s, that’s where…

Fortunate son

A lot has changed in Mom’s world. The world in 1949, the year of her birth, was a crazy place. Europe was rebuilding its continental economy, the Soviets were rattling…

A few years ago, the Fort Smith Board of Directors rejected a feasible, responsible and appropriate commercial development adjacent to the corporate headquarters complex of Arkansas Best Corporation. Why? Because…

Observations, again

With apologies to Janis. Lord won’t you buy me a new quarterbackmy friends all have Bradys’ leading their pack we work hard in the off-season, but can’t get on trackOh…

Observations

TEA TIMEAt the recent Tea Party event in downtown Fort Smith there was much talk of getting government out of our lives. Lord help me if I said anything other…

C sections

A recent conversation resulted in a challenge to consider and list three big-picture things Fort Smith regional business and civic leaders might do to enhance our strengths, address our weakness,…

Fools rush in …

We briefly considered posting a few stories Wednesday (April 1) containing about three parts Silliness to every two parts Possible. Or some similar concoction of hybrid fiction. But these April…