by - January 1, 2017 10:47 am
Riff Raff: Calling the system an SOB
Editor’s note: This essay first appeared Dec. 28, 2008, on The City Wire, now Talk Business & Politics. It continues to be an appropriate note to begin a new year….
Riff Raff
by - November 11, 2016 8:16 am
Riff Raff: A Veterans Day remembrance
Editor’s note: This essay about my grandfather, Raymond Evans, was first published November 2002. Raymond Evans died Dec. 6, 2008. There is no expiration on the need to remember Veterans…
by - October 30, 2016 2:50 pm
Riff Raff: 3 concerns with Issue 3
As a former chamber of commerce employee, Issue 3 is appealing. As an Arkansan interested in good public policy, the appeal wanes. Issue 3 would amend Arkansas’ Constitution “to encourage…
by - October 20, 2015 3:02 pm
Natural gas, budgets and BS
Some in the upper levels of Fort Smith city leadership have said the city has cut expenses as much as possible and the best/only way to fix budget holes is…
by - September 26, 2015 2:11 pm
An unexpected cavalry
Downtown Fort Smith was alive. Alive with “special energy.” A new element of culture was brought to the city. The “cool switch” was turned on for Fort Smith. Those are…
by - August 20, 2015 9:03 pm
Carter’s charity
It’s not likely I’ll soon praise the presidency of Jimmy Carter, if for no other reason than dad would disown me. He is not a fan of the Georgia peanut…
by - August 9, 2015 11:26 pm
Escalating the avoidance
Recent commentary suggesting citizens should avoid escalation during police interactions to avoid negative outcomes serves only to escalate avoidance of what is a broad and complex problem. Reducing violence and…
by - July 12, 2015 8:59 pm
Breaking the law
The trust and transparency deficit with Fort Smith municipal government took another hit Friday (July 10) when Mayor Sandy Sanders admitted – maybe unwittingly – that the Board broke state…
by - July 5, 2015 6:19 pm
The jobs hole
Recent numbers reflect well on the Fort Smith metro economy, but there remains a four-letter word that makes unpleasant a more in-depth conversation: Jobs. Positive economic headlines have been frequent…
by - June 29, 2015 5:10 pm
You should know Jack
Let’s take a moment and talk about the late Jack White and leadership and paperclips. Jack is remembered by the Jack White Legislative Golf Classic held each year by the…
by - May 17, 2015 11:26 pm
Trust, transparency and trails
Funding for a 35-mile multi-use trail system in Fort Smith wasn’t rejected because voters don’t like trails. It wasn’t about the trails. Never was. It was about trust. It was…
by - May 7, 2015 4:11 pm
A 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…
by - April 26, 2015 5:47 pm
The Earth Day thing, revisited
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…
by - April 23, 2015 1:12 pm
A lack of confidence
Raising of Fort Smith sewer rates in a process that will more than triple the average bill by 2017 is not a problem. It’s not welcome news, but we’ve been…
by - April 1, 2015 11:48 pm
Some you can’t replace
Having watched and interviewed elected officials for more than 30 years, there are only two with which it was easily and immediately evident why they were popular and successful: Bill…
by - March 18, 2015 9:19 pm
Passions of the Sen. Cotton
The good Senator Tom Cotton isn’t acting like the farm boy from Yell County who was dominant in his campaign commercials. Those small town, farm values he loaded up in…
by - March 4, 2015 9:50 pm
Muddy shovels and needle movers
If or when the post-Great Recession history of Fort Smith is written, a leading candidate as an historic marker in the economic recovery will be the recent and well-attended cold…
by - February 22, 2015 11:20 am
The trail money money trail
The Fort Smith Board of Directors may not have had a full battery of information when approving a ballot question seeking voter approval of a plan to spend more than…
by - January 21, 2015 6:05 pm
Shut up and pay up
Let’s consider this mysterious and allegedly absolute cover of confidentiality under which Fort Smith and federal officials discussed the settlement of the city’s Clean Water Act violations – a settlement…
by - January 11, 2015 7:34 pm
7 Fort Smith government moves
Solely for the purpose of providing a window into how Fort Smith city staff and the Board of Directors conduct public business, let’s revisit the process to name the water…