A FEW OF MY LIKES AND DISLIKES
I dislike deer feeding stations. Can we just be honest about hunting for just a minute? In my book, feeding deer until they walk up daily to eat, and then shooting them is not hunting. It is harvesting deer, and according to some studies the feeding stations have caused quail to congregate there and has made them more susceptible to predators.
I dislike the Arkansas Highway Department not being environmentally friendly. All those empty acres between four lane highways could be filled with thousands of trees. Yes, we know when you mow, you would have to dodge a few trees, but it would be worth it. I like the way several of our surrounding states are planting in the mediums. But it's not just helping the looks so the highways that wouldn't look like ugly scars across the state. You could also cut 10 yards off both sides of those four-lane divided highways without any safety standards being comprised and let Mother Nature reclaim them. Each mature tree would remove 40 pounds of carbon a year! All those empty medians and oversized rights-of-ways are wasted millions in maintaining them, and don't give me the old safety pitch. Just check out the Monroe Louisiana East bypass or in Texas, Highway 59 in Houston.
I like public schools, but I dislike giving money to private schools. Yes, I'm a public-school grad, but I couldn't have gone to a private school if there was one next door. However, if you want to send your kid to a private school, go ahead, but I don't want to pay for part of it.
I dislike the Game and Fish Commission having a Bear Season when the bear population is only 10% its historical numbers. Come on! Only 5000 bears in the state, and you're opening a season on them? We had an estimated 50,000 until we slaughtered them for their fat! That's right! Oil Trough, a small village in southwest Arkansas, was named after oil troughs, which processed bear fat. Why on earth would we have a season on bears when just the sighting of one is a "Can you believe it! I saw a bear!
I dislike the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees putting the outstanding historic museum collection of our state in an Argi Wearhouse instead of not constructing a Historical Museum on the University campus.
I dislike Game and Fish Commission ignoring apex predators and not putting a bounty on feral hogs. Come on folks; get serious about doing something to bring back our quail. There are an estimated 150 cougars and around 50 wolves in the state. (Based on actual reported sighting.) Put a mortarium on killing them and put a $10 per tail on feral hogs. And by the way; your $10/bounty on bobcats, cougars, and wolves in the 1920s almost eliminated the apex predators from our state. And what did we get in return? CWD! It is going to decimate our deer herd, and the Apex predators could help stop CWD, by eliminating the slow sick deer Uh, why are they slow and sick? They have CWD!.
I dislike putting The 10 Commandants in public schools. Hey; I'm a Sunday School teaching, choir singing, Southern Baptist, but the way I read the Constitution it says: "No way". So stop passing feel good legislation that does nothing but enrich the legal profession.
I dislike the legislature ignoring Climate Change. Well, it's hot, hot, hot and the Ledge is doing nothing, nothing! nothing. What's it going to take for these numbskulls to wake up?
I dislike the Felsenthal Lock and Dam on the lower Ouachita River, which has killed the best fishing in the state. Okay, the locks did create a whopping big lake here in south Arkansas, but more water doesn't necessarily mean better fishing. Just ask a south Arkansas fisherman: Is the big lake with all the dead trees is a better fishery than former Pete Wilson's Slough and Wildcat Lake? The Arkansas Waterways Commission should request the Corp of Engineers to pull the pins at the Felsenthal Lock and Dam and return the river to its pre-1960s condition. Oh, and by the way; the Corp should clean up the mess they created by raising the river level. Yes, the thousands of trees that are falling into the river are because of the higher water level. And if you want a laugh. Call the Port of 老澳门六合彩图库 and ask about barge traffic. The wasted effort to extend the Ouachita River as a navigable river to 老澳门六合彩图库 has cost mega-millions, and I dislike that.
I like the Madison Murphy four lane highway to Little Rock (Hy 167) but I dislike the idea that the Arkansas Highway Department in making Highway 82 a four lane highway would spend an estimated one million dollars to demolish the Hillsboro Street Viaduct in El Dorado, and then spend only God knows how much more to double it when they replace it. What a huge waste of money when it could be spent to improve one of the worst major highways in the State...Highway 82. We already have a four lane Highway 82 bypass: so, spend that money improving that sorry road. Hey! I know it is the Arkansas Department of Transportation...and I dislike that name!
I dislike our "head in the sand" attitude when it comes to Climate Change. Let me ask my readers this; "When the Arkansas heat index hits 120 degrees, will you stop using plastic bags when shopping, or will you just grumble and mutter, "Hot nuff for ya?"and I really dislike that!