LISTEN UP
WHEEL DEAL: THE SOUTHWEST TRAIL
THE
BIG PICTURE
Here’s an idea that practically everyone is on board with: Creating a bike trail from Little Rock to Hot Springs over old Rock Island Railroad right of way. Pulaski County Judge Buddy Villines, Saline County Judge Lanny Fite, Garland County Judge Rick Davis, and mayors of the towns along the River Market-to-Gulpha Creek trail and others announced the project, on a route they’ve dubbed the Southwest Trail and estimate will cost between $17 million and $25 million to create, last week. Planning got into high gear last year when a group from Bicycle Advocacy of Central Arkansas approached Villines about the idea. Villines estimates the trail will take between five and 10 years to build. BACA vice president Mason Ellis created an interactive map (arktimes.com/southwesttrail) to illustrate the trail, which will roughly parallel, until it veers west toward Hot Springs, the historic Southwest Trail that was once the route to Texas.
LITTLE ROCK
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2 BRYANT SHANNON HILLS
BAUXITE HASKELL
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HOT SPRINGS
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2 Hilaro Springs
3 Hot Springs bridge
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Highway 70 and Kacy Lane
7th Street
INSIDER, CONT. woman taking her husband’s name and forsaking the maiden one, but it helps to advertise the brand.) The American Principles Fund’s mission, according to its website, is an “integrated conservatism” meant to “break the unilateral truce on social issues within the GOP by demonstrating that social issues are winning issues, especially when combined with an economic message that addresses voters’ most urgent concerns.” The former governor is not directly involved, but his daughter said he may yet get involved. It’s right up his alley. Particularly if it comes with a payday.
Crown Mark Martin
BENTON
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Matt Campbell, a lawyer who also runs the Blue Hog Report blog, continues to face a dogged defense from Secretary of State Mark Martin’s office to full compliance with a series of Freedom of Information Act requests Campbell has made. It began more or less around Martin’s practice of hiring outside attorneys — without the legally required approval of the attorney general. Campbell got one expensive outside counsel removed, but now continues to battle Martin’s staff attorney, Martha Adcock, over full access to papers in the office. Martin is fighting the request, charging Campbell for copies and generally making a mockery of open government. But Campbell really got a hoot at a filing last week to further delay the proceeding. In it, the office claimed Martin was entitled to governmental immunity for all acts in his official capacity and entitled to sovereign immunity for all of his acts and the acts of his employees. As Campbell and others have pointed out, the Freedom of Information Act was drafted specifically to give the public a means of suing public employees who don’t follow the law. There’s even an avenue to get attorney fees when successful. You don’t have immunity if you violate the law, because law violation isn’t an official act (even if it is commonplace for some). Campbell probably should mull a frivolous complaint motion against Mark Martin and his legal eagles. A trial lies ahead. Campbell, by the way, is the guy the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette persists in labeling a “liberal blogger,” as opposed to citizen. It doesn’t call Mark Martin a conservative Republican wackjob, which would be fair and balanced. www.arktimes.com
OCTOBER 10, 2013
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