Arkansas by Richard Mason : Arkansas by Richard Mason---Downtown Trees

Arkansas by Richard Mason : Arkansas by Richard Mason---Downtown Trees:      ARKANSAS                                     BY                     Richard Mason                           DOWNTOWN TREE...

Arkansas by Richard Mason---Downtown Trees

     ARKANSAS

                                    BY

                    Richard Mason

                          DOWNTOWN TREES

In many of our towns and cities, downtown improvement associations, city governments, and interested individuals have joined together to plant trees. They look nice, and many of them cover‑up some unsightly architecture.  But do trees in our downtowns provide other uses?  How about wildlife habitat, lower utility bills, and ambiance? Let's take a close look at downtown trees. 

First, let me say that my hometown, El Dorado, has a master plan for downtown tree planting.  The year by year implementation of this plan has resulted in over 1000 trees planted.  My comments here are being written as I look into a downtown that is literally full of trees. El Dorado's downtown trees are a mix of Ornamental Bradford Pear, Live Oak, Red Oak, Sycamore, and Sweet Gum extending out over a twenty block area. As our trees mature, they rise above the mostly two story buildings in the downtown, and as they have gotten larger, their use by wildlife has increased.  Numerous downtown trees are now roosting areas for a wide variety of birds.  Granted, not all of our downtown birds are the most desirable of the species, but on the whole, the cumulative effect of several thousand birds in a downtown is positive.  As the trees get larger, nesting occurs.  On a recent trip to Houston, I passed a mall with several Bradford Pear Trees planted in a parking lot.  In one tree, I counted six nests.  In several major cities, the downtown trees which attract a general mix of smaller birds, have brought in hawks and falcons, which prey on these birds.  Several falcons have even nested on building ledges, adapting to tall buildings as if they were mountains.  Recently in Chicago, one of the most popular public television programs was a still television camera trained on a falcon's nest.

            Spring comes to my downtown with the Bradford Pear Trees in full bloom.  Honey bees by the thousands invade the city to work the pear blossoms.  In the fall as acorns fall from the numerous oaks, birds feast on the acorns crushed by cars or pedestrians.  At night, when the city sleeps,  numerous opossums, raccoons, and skunks roam our back alleys, and our trees serve as a place of refuge or as a spot to prey on the roosting birds. Just the presence of hundreds of trees in an otherwise sterile downtown setting is conducive to wildlife.  Birds crossing from one area to the next pause in our trees. 

Across the country, thousands of trees have been planted in downtowns.  Each one of these trees is looked upon by wildlife as either a source of food or shelter.  When the tree planting is supplemented by the addition of shrubs or other low bush planting, the wildlife usage jumps.  Vacant lots or even parking areas can be mini‑wildlife corridors by merely planting trees, shrubs, and grasses along their back edges.  As more and more habitat is lost to urban development, these city trees and shrubs become more and more attractive to wildlife.

And finally, one more good reason to plant downtown trees; lower utility bills for your downtown merchants.  No, it's not only because of the shade of the leaves, it's more complicated than that.  When our first satellites carrying heat sensors scanned the country, they immediately detected hot spots in every town and city of any size.  If you have ever walked across a blacktop highway barefoot, you understand how asphalt, concrete, and other building materials hold heat.  The average downtown is sometimes 10 degrees hotter than the surrounding countryside.  When the satellite data was closely analyzed, certain areas within a city would stand out as cooler than other areas.  It became very clear that cities with parks and downtown trees were substantially cooler than a city without trees.  A downtown with good tree planting can have midsummer temperatures as much as 10 degrees cooler than a comparable city without trees.  Translate that to your electric bill and you can have as much as a $50.00 to $100.00 a month reduction. 

So the next time you look at your downtown, try to imagine a beautiful tree every 25 feet along every street.  What a difference it would make.  A difference not only for wildlife, but as a beautiful addition to a bare street and as a cooling agent for those hot Arkansas summers.

Richard can be contacted at richard@gibraltarenergy.com

What's a Woman Doing in My Restroom?

            ARKANSAS

                          BY

                Richard Mason

What’s a Woman Doing in My Restroom?

Actually, I thought at first I was in the wrong restroom, because there was a woman washing her hands at the lavatory. But then a man came out from one of the stalls and headed for the lavatories, and in seconds there were men and women standing there washing their hands while others entered the stalls. Yes, that was restroom wake-up for me. So here’s my take on the restroom controversy here in the USA.

Restroom use seems to be the question of the moment, and states such as North Carolina have taken it upon themselves to try and direct restroom traffic. Yes, that’s right, and as the squeeze of dollars keeps hitting, them they will probable cave in and open those restroom doors to transgender folks. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Let me back up and give you the whole story about having women in my restroom. My wife and I were on vacation heading for Dijon, France, and we landed in Geneva, Switzerland where we would catch a train to Dijon. We walked through Swiss immigration and customs---which took about two minutes and then into the main airport terminal. I had been needing to take a restroom break ever since we landed, so I began to check for restroom signs. Well, the Swiss have plenty of signage and clocks, and sure enough a series of arrows pointed toward the restrooms. I picked up the pace, looked back at my wife, and said, “I’m going to stop in the restroom before we get a taxi.” She nodded and I hurried on to the area where I could see the very obvious man and woman signage over a door. I stepped inside expecting to find a hallway to another entrance, which naturally would be to the men’s room and another to the women’s restroom. After about three steps into the room, I was sure I was in the women’s restroom because a women was washing her hands at one of the lavatories, and I turned to leave just as a man came out of one of the stalls. What? What? What? Flashed through my brain.

This is how the Swiss restroom area in the Geneva airport was set up: it was a fair sized room with about a half dozen wash basins on one side of the room and about the same number of stalls on the other side of the room. The stalls had doors, which you easily lock after you entered. It was that simple. After a few seconds I figure it out, stepped in one of the stalls, locked the door, and used the facility. As I finished my restroom break, the room filled with men, women, and children. Several planes had just landed, and it was a wait-in-line to use the restroom. Did anyone get upset? Did anyone worry about children being in the same restroom with men or women or who knows, transgender? No, not in the least, and it seemed to me the Swiss are showing us how to solve our restroom phobia. Simple, efficient Swiss ingenuity is what flashed through my mind, and I wondered why we didn’t copy something that would solve any restroom problems you could imagine, and save millions of dollars in doing duplication restrooms?  For gosh sakes, folks, after seeing what people are wearing to the mall going to the restroom together is nothing.

But my restroom experience didn’t stop with Geneva. The next day we headed to Dijon, and in various train stations, I ran into another restroom problem. The French, in most train and airport stations charge to use the restrooms. They are separate and the price changes if you want to do # 1 or # 2. There is an attendant on duty to mainly make change, and the restrooms are separate. That my friend is a step backward in restroom design. Seventy cents to use the bathroom, even if it’s just to do # 1? I know other countries do the same thing in airports, but that’s exactly the wrong way to handle the restroom problem.

After Dijon it was on to London, and after standing in a two hour to get through immigration (the Brits are frantic that thousands of refugees are going to flood into the country and they put everyone through the slow---“You’re not getting in this country  if you are from _______fill in the blank.) Well, the Brits have free restrooms for the most part, and the airport ones were about what you would find in the USA. However, in London, right off Trafalgar Square, I saw a circular kiosk and it had a stall like portal about every two feet where a man could stand on the sidewalk and get up close to the stall and urinate. No, I didn’t try it out, because I really don’t think I could have managed with hundreds of people passing.

Well, so much for the restroom problem. No, I don’t like the going on the sidewalk in London, or paying to pee in France, but the Swiss one restroom for all, seems a perfect fit for any county.

Is We Civilized

             ARKANSAS

                                 BY

                       Richard Mason

                         Is We Civilized?

No, not completely. We may be the most powerful nation on earth, and the most technologically advanced country, in the world, but we're not the most civilized. Yes, as a red blooded American, I know we're supposed to go around with a “we're number one” attitude, on everything, and that fine. Heck, I have that attitude, and I wouldn't want it any other way. But let's talk about being civilized, and be honest on where we stand.

Well, what are the keys to a civilized country? Civilized nations do have many things in common. But before we consider items such as healthcare and other criterion let me relate a story about attitude. After all a civilized county must reflect being civilized in everything a person does, or it reduces the mark of a civilized society. Here’s a little story about a civilized attitude.

We were on vacation in Switzerland, and were traveling by train when we stopped at a fair size town for lunch. As we walked into the center of town it was obvious they were preparing for a parade. Of course, we were tickled that we had lucked out, and after speaking with one of the policemen on duty, we found out it was a military parade. We found a good spot to stand and soon we heard a military band, and then leading the parade came a squad of Swiss Mountain Soldiers carrying crossbows. The parade lasted for several hours and as Swiss army units passed they went from knights on horseback forward portraying every era of the Swiss Military. And then, as the units became more and more modernized, the last unit passed were Swiss Special Forces in white, winter uniforms. It was a great parade, but one small incident sticks in my mind. Just to our left where we were standing was a young Swiss girl who looked to be about 10 years old. She was with her family, and they looked to be an average Swiss family out to watch the parade as we were. One unit passed that got them especially excited to the point where they yelled and clapped. It was group of Swiss Special Mountain Soldiers. I smiled as I noticed one of the soldiers nod in recognition, and it sure didn't take much guessing to know he was part of the family.

The parade took over two hours and somewhere toward the middle of the parade the young girl managed to buy some sort of an ice cream snack. I just happened to notice that as she finished her ice cream bar, she started looking for a trash can. I actually glanced around, and there wasn't one in sight. Well, I didn't give it much thought until I saw her neatly fold up the wrapper and put it in her pocket. The parade finally ended and as the crowd left the street, I made a point to look along the street and sidewalks where people had been standing. There wasn't a scrap of trash.

Yes, the lack of litter is a sign of a civilized society. We lived in Benghazi, Libya for two years and traveled North Africa extensively. As we went in and out of those third world countries the people and buildings changed, but not the liter. I've traveled throughout Mexico and to several countries in South America, and I can guarantee you the one thing they have in common is litter.

While we lived in Libya we went on vacation visiting most of the countries in Western Europe. It was easy to see the difference. The more civilized the country the less litter. Okay, so how do we stand on the litter scale compared to a third world country? We're sure a notch up, but we’re not at the top of the list. Are we uncivilized? Yes, in some ways we are, but it’s not just the littler we toss out. Being civilized is a quality and that is spelled out by our attitude. The little Swiss girl had a civilized attitude, and until that attitude permeates every item of our society, we can’t say we’re totally civilized. That's a mindset that says "no more coal fired generating plants, serve freshly prepared foods with no chemicals added, a mindset that makes litter disappear, an emphasis on education rather than sports, a commitment to plant, beautify, preserve, and a restoration of our environment. That requires a civilized mindset, and just building bigger buildings with super technology won’t ever get us completely civilized.

Left Lives Matter

ARKANSAS

                                      BY

                            Richard Mason

                          Left Lives Matter

I know that sounds trite to you righties, but live a day as a lefty, and you’ll at least have a little sympathy for a small segment of our society. Lefties make up about 10% of the population, and we have faced discrimination since the beginning of recorded history. According to some reports, left-handers suffered severe prejudice during the 18th and 19th centuries, and it was often “beaten out” of them. Even the Latin word for “left” has as an alternate meaning, “sinister,” and in the Bible lefties are put in the same category as “goats.”

The trials and tribulations of a lefty start early in school when your teacher places a writing tablet on a right-handed desk, and you have to do a crab claw turn of you left hand to even write. And as you get older, discrimination increases even up to the highest levels of our country. Our president, who is catching a lot of negative comments about his policies, which some people think it’s because of his brown skin, is really because he's left handed. And, if we consider presidents for a moment, you will find, of the last four presidents, three, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and George Bush Sr. were lefties, and of course George W. Bush was a righty—figures. I know you’re wondering about Hillary—yes she’s a lefty and The Donald is a righty.

Discrimination of a lefty goes everywhere. Consider a dining night out.   A lefty must drive in a right-handed designed car, and of course even to start the car you have to reach across to the 'right' side, and then, drive on the right side of the road. Then when you pull into the restaurant parking lot, your wife will invariable say, "You're going the wrong way!" Yes, all parking lots are designed for righties. That’s one of the reasons why an estimated 2500 lefties die each year trying to navigate right-hand roads, road signs, and power saws. Of course, all office and shop equipment is designed for a righty, and so are power saws. Lefties who work with table saws and other power equipment rarely have ten fingers.

After a lefty is seated at a restaurant, they must change the place-setting to a left setting, put up with being served from the wrong side, as if they were a righty, and they can't even butter their bread because there is a right-handed butter knife. Yes, there are right handed butter knives! Then, there are the harsh stares from a righty next to a leftie as their elbow bumps an obtrusive right arm. That's right, those righties think they own the table.

Of course, I do have some satisfaction to know that there are no left-handed Muslim terrorists, (All Muslims are taught to use their right hand, and use their left hand when wiping at the toilet.).And most of the dictators from the beginning of time we're righties. Vladimir Putin, Hitler, Napoleon, Mussolini, Tojo, Count Dracula, and Stalin are or were righties, and Pope Francis and Billy Graham are lefties.--A coincidence? I don’t think so.

Ah, but we lefties have some built in advantages, and if you have ever tried to return a lefties tennis serve to the add court, you realize lefties can do some things a lot better than a righty, and that’s why 40% of the top tennis pros are lefties. Yes, sports do give lefties a boost and Babe Ruth, Arnold Palmer, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe are proof. Another study of left handed college graduates and right handed graduates show lefties turn out to be 26% richer than righties. And a study from St. Lawrence University in New York finds that more lefties score higher than 140 on an I. Q. test than righties. I guess that mean we lefties are smarter and richer than the rest of the world.

Famous lefties have been responsible for most of what we take for granted in this old world. Just a few come to mind: Benjamin Franklin, Churchill, Mozart, Rembrandt, and Van Gogh, and if you want a little glamor, consider Marilyn Monroe and Angelina Jolie.  I do have a good bit of   satisfaction knowing that most of the creative items of our society were invented by lefties. When you call on your cell phone or type on a computer, thank a lefty.  That's right Steve Jobs is a lefty, and so is Bill Gates, and don't forget, if you like Facebook, another lefty, Mark Zuckerberg invented it. And if we look back into almost any of the former creative people that have ever lived, we have a list of notables: Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Picasso, and Albert Einstein; all lefties. Of course, the first and second man on the Moon were lefties; Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin,

Well, as in most areas of discrimination, it takes a long time for the majority to recognize a need to right wrongs, and since lefties are a humble, contrite minority of our population, we likely won't be demonstrating in the streets protesting our plight, but maybe one day on your tax return there will be a box saying, “Check, if you are a lefty and deduct 10% from your tax due.” Actually, as a whole, lefties are the most creative people on earth, and we should honor lefties with a national holiday. August 13 is International Left Hander’s Day, but it should be a national holiday like Christmas, where the righties of the world give gifts of appreciation to lefties in recognition of their creativity.

Yes, Left Lives Matter!

The Curb Appeal of Downtown Pine Bluff

                  ARKANSAS

                                        BY

                              Richard Mason

          The Curb Appeal of Downtown Pine Bluff

“You have got to be kidding.” Of course, even if you haven’t been to Pine Bluff lately, you have an opinion from reading about buildings falling in the street, streets closed, and the appalling condition of their downtown. Yes, it’s really sad, but the reason I’m writing about Pine Bluff is not to rub their noses in the mess, but to alert the citizens of Pine Bluff and the rest of the state to the seriousness of this situation. This is it in a nutshell: When the center of a town is considered to be a failure, the whole town is perceived to be a failure. Yes, Pine Bluff, as a town, is considered a failure primarily because of a failed downtown. Their downtown has reverse curb appeal.

Well, what is curb appeal, and how does it work, and would it help thousands of ugly Arkansas cities and towns? Yes, they all can be helped, and for a lot less money than it takes to bribe a Chinese Pulp Mill into setting up shop.

I really think you have to see curb appeal to understand how it works. Oh, we plan a vacation to Europe or Santa Fe without even considering that our choice was very likely determined by curb appeal. I know, when you consider visiting Switzerland, you think you will be taking in all those wonderful mountain views, but you won't. Yes, you will see the majestic mountains, but you'll spend the majority of your time in the small towns and cities, and when you return home you will rave about the great vacation in the Alps. Yes, you did vacation in the Alps, but those mountains were just the backdrop for the quaint, charming towns and villages in the country. What really made your vacation pop was curb appeal. Of course, here in Arkansas we tend to think of curb appeal as a planter of flowers in front of a business or a token tree. But curb appeal is so much more than that. It's underground utilities, a strict sign ordinance, it's preserving historic buildings, and yes it is planting thousands of trees along with more flowering plants than you can count.

I think most reasonable people will agree that all of the above recommendations sound pretty good, but the question is why do these positive ideas sit on the back burner of our economic development program? Huh? Yep, those recommendations are considered fluff. What we actually do is give the Chinese another 100 million to put in a polluting pulp mill. However, curb appeal costs only a fraction of what we regularly dole out to entice industrial development, and the benefits are multigenerational lasting. Those ideas should be on the top of every town’s economic development program, but of course they aren't even on the list. Why? Well to be brutally honest we're stupidly stuck in 50s with the concept that adding or creating jobs at any cost is the best way to improve the quality of life, and to hell with the environment.

We live in a capitalistic society, and that means our driving focus is based on an economic model. Well, I'm okay with that, but when we ignore things like beautification thinking we shouldn't waste money on those items, we're missing some of the core values of commerce. The curb appeal that sells houses sells towns. We have ignored our towns, especially our downtowns in the state until we have bricks in the street. Yes, it is a terrible indictment for a community to sink to the level where buildings actually fall in the street. That is curb appeal in reverse. Bricks in the street drive nails in the coffin. That anti-curb appeal will slowly eat away at a town until the community is a former skeleton of what it once was, and the remaining civic leaders will still be saying, "We need more jobs, jobs, jobs ...” If Pine Bluff had a beautiful, thriving downtown would their still be a flood of people saying, “Goodbye, Pine Bluff?”

Pine Bluff can make a comeback, but if their city essentially ignores their Downtown, it’s is going to be an uphill battle. What Pine Bluff should do is pass a one cent sales tax and dedicate a goodly portion of that money to creating a quality downtown. Yes, spend money rather than blowing hot air moaning about how terrible things are. And a word to the Pine Bluff City Council. Don’t try to pass the buck and blame the mess on the property owners. Gut up and pass ordinances that will either make the property owner maintain their property or sell it. But for God’s sake! Do something!  

Unless, the center of Pine Bluff regains its stature as a symbol of quality, the goal to bring back this community from the edge of total failure is going to be an impossible job.

Arkansas by Richard Mason : The Coming Deer and Elk Herd Apocalyse

Arkansas by Richard Mason : The Coming Deer and Elk Herd Apocalyse:          ARKANSAS                                            By                       Richard Mason     The Coming Deer and ...

The Coming Deer and Elk Herd Apocalyse

         ARKANSAS

                                           By

                      Richard Mason  

 The Coming Deer and Elk Herd Apocalypse

                                 Or

 How to control Chronic Wasting Disease, bring back our quail, and stop the feral hog population explosion.

Chronic Wasting Disease—CWD— will decimate Arkansas's deer and elk herd, if we don't take action to control it. This disease has mushroomed over the last decade, and if it continues to spread, it will sweep through the state reducing deer herds by an astronomical number. That’s a fact. It's a disease that is fatal to deer and elk, and there is no cure.

As far as we know, it hasn't spread to humans—but don't bring me any deer sausage this year. Actually, since Arkansas is ranked near the top of the fattest states in the country, it might be a decade before we recognize that it has spread to humans. You know, we just might figure old Bubba was on that Marie Osborn diet.

Of course, we can scratch our heads and wonder why it's sweeping through our deer and elk herds, and I’m sure there are several guesses as to why, but I believe most folks are barking up the wrong tree. It’s actually an easy question to answer. It’s our fault. Yes, we caused the epidemic of CWD.

The Game and Fish Commission is trying to come up with a plan to stop the spread of the disease, but outside of killing all the deer and elk in North Arkansas, they don't have a plan that would work. Actually, there is a possible way to eliminate most of the sick deer and elk, and slow the spread of the disease, but it’s an out-of-the-box solution. To understand the problem, we must consider some facts: The first and most obvious fact is that CWD has probably been around for centuries, but over the past 100 years it has slowly increased and spread. Consider the infected deer and elk for a moment: They are the weakest and most susceptible animals that would be taken by a predator. When the ecosystems are in balance, the predators remove the sickest and weakest of the herd. That's why the disease was kept under control for centuries, and that's why we are to blame for the epidemic. Yes, we are to blame because we killed off all the predators that were keeping the disease in check.

Of course, when I suggest we restore the predators to our ecosystem, it is always met with a blizzard of opposition. Why?

"The wolves, mountain lions, and bears are dangerous! I don’t want little Jonnie gobbled up by a pack of wolves or a danged panther!"

That my friend is an unsupported fear. More people are killed on Arkansas highways every weekend than have been killed by all the wolves and cougars in North America in the last century. We live in a state full of poisonous snakes, but how many people died from snakebite in Arkansas last year? Zero! Actually, we already have cougars in the state. One was killed last year in southeast Arkansas and game cameras all over the state have dozens of sighting. I have personally talked with several individuals in the El Dorado area about numerous mountain lion sightings. They report almost monthly sighting west of El Dorado around Morning Star Road, and several confirmed sightings of a black “panther” (cougar) east of El Dorado.

Last week a tagged mountain lion from Colorado was spotted in New England. It had traveled 2000 miles from Colorado. Mountain Lions are moving from the Black Hills of South Dakota and along the Arkansas River from Colorado into Arkansas. So except for the wolves, the predators are already here, but in numbers too small to do any good. So let's get over our irrational fear. We need to understand that restocking and increasing the predators in our state is far better than killing off thousands of healthy deer as we try to eliminate the sick ones.

Wolf packs, mountain lions, and even bobcats and bears will, through natural selection, kill a much higher percentage of sick deer than as the Game and Fish Commission proposes, which is simply; “…to reduce the density of deer in the infected area.” That proposal will do more harm than good. As they attempt to eliminate the diseased deer, they will kill thousands of healthy deer. Only after a deer has been killed can you tell if it has CWD. In my opinion, that is not the way to go.

The randomly killing of thousands of deer will just reduce the number of deer in the state. The percentage of infected deer will stay the same. That proposal by the Game and Fish Commission can never solve the problem. For every infected deer or elk that is eliminated, ten or more non-infected ones will be killed. Can you even imagine hundreds of thousands of deer that will be slaughtered needlessly, if we tried to eliminate CWD in that manner?

Their plan to try and kill off the infected deer and elk will result in a much smaller herds, and will be a giant step back to the 50s, when sighting a deer was a big deal, and what’s even worst, the percentages of that smaller herd that have CWD won’t change.

CWD took decades to flourish in our state, and it will take that long to get it under control. Yes, we are suffering the consequences that come from upsetting the balance of nature, and to reverse what we created, it will take decades, but at least we'll be going in the right direction by restocking predators.

Actually, the restocking predators will give a huge boast to our quail population and help control the out-of-control feral hog population. There are estimates of as many as two million feral hogs in the state and they are wreaking havoc on the wildlife population. If we can reduce the feral hog, raccoon, and armadillo population that devour quail eggs, our quail population will soar. Forget habitat; we have plenty of suitable quail habitat, but no quail.

If we would just understand what Chief Seattle said centuries ago, “Man does not weave this web of life. He is merely a strand of it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.” Chief Seattle.

Fifty years into the future, our great grandchildren will look back on the way wildlife was managed today, much as we look back at the destruction of so many species in the 19th century. They will be appalled at the way certain species were targeted for elimination. What justification can we legitimately give that would allow the unregulated killing of numerous species that are important in balancing our environment?

If, in North Arkansas, we restock 150 mountain lions and 15 wolf packs, (Alaska has plenty to send us—and no, they don’t have CWD in their deer herds—I wonder why?) remove coyotes, bobcats, and bears from the list of hunted animals, we will see a steady decrease in infected deer, and our natural ecosystems will start to come in balance.

When we realize that removing predators from Arkansas, has had dire consequences, then maybe our Game and Fish Commission that will seek to balance the ecosystem in our state. Do we have the foresight to restore our ecosystem, or will we continue to use ineffective wildlife management practices that have no chance of success? Maybe we need some women on the Commission—who will think outside-the-box.

Arkansas by Richard Mason : In 5 Years Swimming Will Be Prohibited In The Buff...

Arkansas by Richard Mason : In 5 Years Swimming Will Be Prohibited In The Buff...:        ARKANSAS                                          BY                          Richard Mason       In 5 Years Swimming...

In 5 Years Swimming Will Be Prohibited In The Buffalo National River

       ARKANSAS

                                         BY

                         Richard Mason

     In 5 Years Swimming Will Be Prohibited In

                    The Buffalo National River

Yes, I’m sorry to say, that is my prediction, and it’s really worse than having the river closed to swimming for a short period of time. If the Buffalo becomes contaminated from the waste produced by the Factory Farm (C & H Hog Farm), it means waste from the holding lagoons and the contaminants from the on the ground disposal have traveled into the ground water and through the subsurface Boone Limestone into Big Creek and then to the Buffalo River. After the River is polluted, even if the Factory Farm is shutdown, the amount of waste in the underlying limestone porosity will take years to stop seeping into the river. We could easily lose the Buffalo for a generation if it becomes polluted. In order to understand the gravity of this situation, let me give you my background and some pertain facts about Factory Farms.

I spent six years as a commissioner serving on the Department of Pollution Control and Ecology Board of commissioners and one year as Chairman.  I am a former three term President of the Arkansas Wildlife Federation, and a University of Arkansas graduate with a B. S. and M. S. in geology. I did my Master’s Thesis surfacing mapping a 36 square mile quadrangle where the weathered Boone Limestone is a frequent outcrop. While I was in college, I was a member of the Ozark Hikers. We didn’t hike a lot, but we spent almost every weekend exploring the many caves in Northwest Arkansas. Almost all of those caves are solution caves within the Boone Limestone. They are characterized by dripping water, flowing springs, and even good size streams, which are fed by the rain water seeping into the Boone Formation. I have spent hours with a rock hammer taking samples of the Boone Limestone, and untold hours inside the Boone Limestone caves. I certainly know the nature of the formation.

The Factory Farm has been permitted to have 6500 animals on site. Those pigs will produce the equivalent amount of waste of a town of 30,000. Just consider this: How would you feel if a town of that size decided to follow the example of the Factory Farm, put their sewage in a holding ponds, and then spread it out on a field nearby after it settled? Yes, that is unthinkable, but that is exactly what the Factory Farm proposes to do. However, it’s even worse than that. The farm is located on a geologic formation called the Boone Limestone.

Over millions of years, limestone slowly dissolves much as a lump of sugar does in your coffee. When the limestone dissolves it become something akin to Swiss cheese because the formation isn’t uniform in the composition. In other words some of the limestone in softer than other part. That’s why you end up with holes in the limestone, and those holes connect. Then, as rainwater or sewerage comes into the formation it fills the holes. It’s a lot like taking a sponge and pouring water into it. It will hold water until the holes in the sponge are filled, and then the water will began to come out. That is exactly what happens to the Boone Limestone, and when that water comes out it brings with it whatever has come into the formation along with the water. The landform where the Boone Formation is present on the surface, is called a karst topography, and the definition of a karst is: From a freshman geology book: Karst topography is a landscape formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves.

Multiply sinkholes and caves by a million times a million and you will have an understanding of how Big Creek and the Buffalo River receive their water. In my opinion, there is a near certainty that the Factory Farm sited on the Buffalo River watershed, will sooner or later, pollute the Buffalo River, and considering the destructive global warming trend, where torrential 10 to 15 inch rains are becoming commonplace, I believe, that if the hog farm area were to receive a record rainfall, such as the recent north Louisiana deluge, the hog waste holding pond's levees could be breached, and the resulting contamination would impair the Buffalo River to the point where it would take years to recover. It would make the river a sewer and hundreds of thousands of fish would be killed.

So what are the odds that the lagoons will leak and the manure spread on the fields in that area will penetrate into the ground water? Let look at some examples: *In 1995 Missouri had 9 hog factory spills within just five months. That killed as estimated 250,000 fish and 25 miles of stream habitat was impacted. In North Carolina a study of 11 lagoons that were 7 years or older found that half leaked moderately too severely. In Minnesota their Pollution Control Agency estimates the average rate of leakage in their lagoons that are leaking is 500 gallons per lagoon acre per day. In the first nine months of 1995 four states reported a total of 16 spills. (*Taken from The Environment and Factory Farms in Rural America/ In Motion Magazine.)

The residue from the holding pits will be scattered over 17 application fields. Eleven of these are adjacent to Big Creek, a major tributary to the Buffalo River. As rain falls on Northwest Arkansas, the hog waste that has been spread on the fields will dissolve and be carried into the subsurface by rainwater, and ultimately end up in the Boone Limestone. The flow route downdip to Big Creek and ultimately to the Buffalo River makes it almost a certainty that sooner or later the contaminated water will flow into Big Creek and then to the Buffalo. And even if the Factory Farm is closed down, the seepage into Big Creek and the Buffalo will continue for years.

 In my opinion, as a former Chairman of the Commission, I don't believe the commission will act quickly enough to stop the impending disaster, unless outraged, public opinion makes them reconsider. However,   they do have the power to prevent the unthinkable from happing. The only way to stop the almost certain pollution of our National River is to have the Board of Commissioners rescind the hog farm permit. I don’t have the email of all the board members but I do have the one from El Dorado. His name is Robert Reynolds <robertreynolds@suddenlink.net. If you are concerned about our National River being polluted send him an e-mail and tell him.

Arkansas by Richard Mason : Arkansas by Richard Mason : Arkansas Food

Arkansas by Richard Mason : Arkansas by Richard Mason : Arkansas Food: Arkansas by Richard Mason : Arkansas Food :           ARKANSAS                         BY              Richard Mason               ...

Small Town Values

        Arkansas

                         By

               Richard Mason          

                 Small Town Values

Well, if you live in China, you might think of a small town as being around a half million, but this is not about China, it's about Arkansas, so I'm going to call any town under 25,000, a small town. In a nutshell: I choose to live in a small town because it offers a better all-round quality of life than a large city. That's my take on small town living. Here’s why:

My job and vacations take me to large cities, but when I drive back down my driveway, I take a deep breath, and thank the good Lord I'm home, and home is in a small town.

I decided to write this column after returning from Dallas last week. Yes, I will admit rush hour traffic probably kicked off the column about the values of small town living. That rush hour traffic was actually at three o'clock in the afternoon, and it lasted—get this—for two hours? It probably lasted a lot longer than that, but it took me those two hours to clear Dallas traffic, and it crossed my mind that most of the folks who made up that that zoo of cars were just going about what they do every day.

Well, of course, you can get used to ten lanes of traffic, which will come to a dead halt if there is any blip, such as a fender bender—add another hour to your commute. But I think, the biggest problem in that mess of traffic are the hot-shot drivers who zip across lane after lane and cut in front of cars with inches to spare. That compounds the stressful driving.

As I eased along a 5 sometimes as fast as 15 mph it occurred to me that these commuters are working a 10 hour day, minimum, and on top of that, those two extra hours are the most stressful of a commuter’s workday. If you work a regular eight hour day, just think of how much of family life you would miss by not having those two extra hours a day with your family.

Well, you might say, good restaurants, major league sports teams, great shopping etc. are the pluses in big cities. Sure big cities have a lot, and jobs are easy to find, but are those amenities worth the incessant noise and hassle that automatically comes with big city life?  I don't think so, and here's a few more reasons why. Unless you have a private jet, leaving or traveling in your big city for nearly anything is tough. For instance, you might want to go hunting. Well, in small town Arkansas, many times, that is just a short walk, while trying to go on a similar hunt for a city dweller would be a multi-hour trip just to get there.

But I think raising a family in a small town is a paramount reason for living there. It is a huge advantage over city life. Just consider how many people become your friends when you live in a small town. My aunt lived in New York City until she retired, and she really only knew less than 25 people, most of whose lived in her apartment building. We met a couple on vacation a few years back and our conversation turned to our children. Our son had gotten married a few weeks before we went on vacation, and we remembered the wedding in detail. As my wife described the wedding the other couple—who also just happened to live in New York City—asked, "How many of your friends attended?" Well, we knew how many the church seated, so my wife said, "Oh, around 500." They were astounded. "How do you possibly know that many people?" He asked.

From my perspective having 500 people attend a wedding wasn't a big deal. If you are active in your church, members of any clubs, hunt and fish, you can easily have that many friends attend one of your children's wedding. Now, just think of your circle of friends and think about cutting them down to less than 50. That's small town 500 vs big town 50. Just think of the interactions that you would miss.

Of course having your kids in a sports program is about 10 times as easy and beneficial than trying to navigate across a city to deliver your kids to a football practice.

Yes, I'm for small town values, and my son said it better than I can. He was fourteen, and he left an overnight float trip on the Buffalo River to join us on a vacation trip to New York City. The first day after he arrived, we walked to Fifth Avenue, and as we stood there and looked at that sea of people, he said, "Dad, I think New York is a visiting place, not a living place." I guess that sums it up, and as I get ready to leave the house today, and drive down to the South Arkansas Arts Center to see a play, I know I'm in for at least an 8 minute drive.

Arkansas by Richard Mason : Arkansas Food

Arkansas by Richard Mason : Arkansas Food:           ARKANSAS                         BY              Richard Mason                               Arkansas Food We were...

Arkansas Food

          ARKANSAS

                        BY

             Richard Mason

                              Arkansas Food

We were driving north of Little Rock heading for the Ozarks, when we decided to have lunch. I noticed a nice looking café with plenty of trucks, and I figured, the pickup trucks were voting it was a decent place to have lunch.  We pulled in between two Ford 150s and walked into the cafe.

            “Y’all just have a seat anywhere,” said a lady at the cash register.

            We found a booth and settled in as our waitress came over. It was an immediate uptick. A rather tall, red-haired young lady with a nice figure came over and with an ear to ear smile, purred, “What would y’all like to drink?”

            Course, I was smiling like some Cheshire Cat, that is until my wife kicked me under the table and said, “We’d both like ice tea…unsweetened.”

            The big smile softened a bit as she yelled at the cook in the kitchen, “Tony, fix up a couple of unsweetened ice teas!”

            Well, the kitchen had a big open window, and I watched as “Tony” pulled out a couple of instant tea bags and poured hot water over them. Oh, well, I thought, instant tea is not a big deal.

            Our smiling waitress had left the menus before she took the drink order, and I was eying the chicken-fried steak or the catfish filets.

            “What can I get for y’all?” It was our smiling waitress again, and she had pad in hand to take our order.

            My wife, who of course, orders first said, “I’d like the grilled chicken salad, and that’ll be all.”

            It crossed my mind that never in a million years would I have ever ordered that, but it was my turn now, and I had a question about the chicken fried steak and the mashed potatoes with cream gravy.

            “Are the potatoes instant?”

            Well, our smiling waitress looked as if I had slapped her, took a deep breath, and said, “Well, Tony really fixes up those mashed potatoes, and most people like ‘em better than the real ones.”

            I took that to be a “Yes, the potatoes are instant.” Thinking back, I probably shouldn’t have asked about the other “sides” on the menu.

            “Uh, well hold off on the chicken fried steak…and let’s see; oh, are the peas and snap beans fresh?”

            I guess our waitress was thinking some rather negative things about me, because through some pretty tight lips, she said, “Naw, unless you mean freshly canned or freshly frozen.”

            The ordering was getting a little tense, and my wife was shooting daggers at me for asking nosey questions about the menu. I knew it was time to order and move on.

            “Uh, well, I think I’ll just have the snap beans and cole slaw for my sides, and instead of chicken fried steak, I want the catfish filets and French fires, and make those fresh cut fries.”

            “What? Fresh cut?”

            “Oh, forget it. Just fries, okay?”

            “You got it.”

            She walked away as my wife glared at me.

            “Richard, that was rude. She can’t help what the kitchen does.”

            “I know it, but it does bother me to see a café not use fresh produce just because it’s a little more trouble. Oh, I did see a strawberry shortcake on the desert part of the menu. It’s May and Arkansas strawberries are everywhere, and you can’t miss with catfish filets.”

            But I was wrong.

            About fifteen minutes later our waitress placed our order in front of us, and I took a deep breath; these aren’t catfish filets, quickly zipped through my mind. I’m an old trot-liner from South Arkansas, and I can spot a filet across the room, but I didn’t say anything. Actually, considering everything was either canned, frozen, or misrepresented, it wasn’t that bad of a meal. We were just finishing up, and I still had the strawberry shortcake on my mind when our waitress walked back to our table, “How were those catfish filets?” she asked. I couldn’t resist the comment, “Pretty good, but they aren’t filets.”

            “What?”

            “Nope; filets are the sides of the fish. They aren’t one inch wide and eight inches long. These are what I call a ’belly’ strips.” I didn’t say it, but after I filet a catfish, I throw the remainder of the fish away. I had just eaten the throw –a-ways.

            “Well, the folks that sells ‘em to us calls ‘em filets.”

            “Well,….say, let me have an order of the strawberry shortcake.”

            “Okay.”

            Our waitress headed for the kitchen, as my wife whispered across the table, “Richard, quit giving the girl a hard time. She can’t help it.”

            “I know, but everything on the menu could have been so much better if it had been fresh out of the garden and the catfish filets were really filets.”

            I’d just said that when the strawberry shortcake was set down in front of me. Yes, I know I had promised by wife to not say anything else, but when those baseball size strawberries were placed in front of me I couldn’t resist. They had California written all over them.

            “Oh….” I shook my head as I tasted the bland strawberry. I pushed it away and motioned for the waitress to bring me the check. As she handed me the check, her eyes spotted the strawberry shortcake. “What’s wrong with the strawberry shortcake?”

            “It’s strawberry season in Arkansas, and these strawberries aren’t Arkansas berries.”

            “Well, they’re what the truck brought us.”

            As we got up to leave my wife whispered, “Leave a big tip. She deserves it after putting up with you.”

            I did, and she probably did deserve it.

            Well, it’s sad to say, but this café isn’t a lone outpost of canned, frozen, or inferior food, it’s just the run of the mill Arkansas café fare. But it didn’t have to be. Arkansas food can and is some of the best in the nation, if it’s fresh, real, and properly prepared. A good chicken fried steak with real mashed potatoes, and fresh purple hull peas, and sliced fresh tomatoes is a joy to eat. I know it’s a little more trouble to serve fresh from the farm food, but it’s worth the trouble. If we really want good food, we must insist on it, and if the café or restaurant doesn’t serve it, we should vote with our feet and leave the place.