Arkansas Times - January 12, 2017 by Arkansas Times

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COMMENT

Ride it out Before the JFK assassination and the dawn of conspiracy theories, we trusted our government to tell us what was what. Ike might hold back a few facts in the interest of national security, but he would never flat-out lie to us. The 1960s changed everything. Lyndon Johnson misled us to cover up mistakes and failure in Vietnam. Nixon conducted secret raids against Laos, Cambodia and the DNC. Ever since that time, we have been witness to a parade of misinformation emanating from our leaders. Acid flashbacks: The government put out PSAs warning that they would be coming our way. Many spent 1970s in fear. Today, with old age upon us, we might welcome one or two just to break up the monotony. As it turned out, those flashbacks were just another empty promise. Y2K: Need I say more. It took me years to get rid of the cans of tuna fish and evaporated milk I’d stockpiled for that dud. Weapons of mass destruction: Last

month my fourth-grader came home and told me his math class was trying to find the common denominator. I felt sorry for the lad. We were looking for that denominator when I was a kid and I truly believe it will never be found. It may be time to put weapons of mass destruction in the same category. For decades, the public has been fed misinformation on a regular basis, but 2016 took the art to astounding new heights. We are through the looking glass now. In the words of Grace Slick, “logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead.” I’m afraid there is nothing to be done for a bad trip ... err, so I’ve been told … but to ride it out. David Rose Hot Springs

Prey It is the nature of living things to prey on each other. Carnivores prey on herbivores and other carnivores, herbivores prey on plants, and, in some cases, plants are the predator. Just

consider the Venus Fly Trap. It’s that whole “circle of life” thing. Humans are also not exempt from this predator/prey relationship. While instances of humans actually eating other humans in a literal sense are rare, or at least antiquated, we are the predators and prey of each other nonetheless. I mean, here we are just a few days into the new year and there have already been six homicides in the state, at least as reported in the news at the time of this writing. Also, consider the fact that we are the only animals that, as the saying goes, “pay to live on the planet.” This cost of living too often comes in the form of a predator/prey relationship. People need and want things, and other people prey on those needs and wants. The prey in this situation may not experience a literal death, such as a sheep devoured by a hungry wolf, but a death in the form of a loss of freedom. The prey in this scenario succumbs to a form of slavery. There is loss when a person’s wellbeing is at the mercy of a predatory system designed to make them pay to live

for the entire span of their life. This is the “circle of life” for humans. We pay to be born, we pay to live, and we pay to die. Modern humans have lived on the earth for either 200,000 years or 6,000 years, depending on whether one subscribes to the theory of evolution or believes in a literal interpretation of the Bible. Either way, you would think in both instances we would have had the time to rise above the level of plants and animals. Guess not. Rich Hutson Cabot

From the web In response to the Jan. 9 Arkansas Blog post “Legislature opens, House speaker calls for collaboration, civility”: It sounds like a good idea, and I have made a promise to myself to try to hold my tongue about the legislature this session. Let’s see how long I can keep this promise. plainjim I’m trying to remember if Sessue Hayakawa, in his role of Col. Saito, the commandant of the Japanese Prison Camp in Burma during World War II in the movie “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” ever spoke to the inmates about “collaboration and civility.” I don’t believe he ever used those words. Since Democrats in the Arkansas legislature hold not even a quarter of the seats, there will be no “collaboration and civility” in the legislative session starting today. We’ll see a giant steamroller rolling over a little group of ants. Probably wordlessly except for the faint screams coming from the little pile of crumpled ants. Let’s be supportive of our tiny ant army in the legislature, but all they’ll be able to do in this session is throw roadblocks at bad bills. They’ll never stop them from becoming law because the votes aren’t there. Deathbyinches Shorter translation is: Democrats should sit down and shut up. And we can all get along just fine. wannabe conservative Civility? Collaboration? Where did this come from? Has he been talking to some well-qualified public school educators? Maxifer

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BRIAN CHILSON

EYE ON ARKANSAS

READY TO GO: Governor Hutchinson addresses the joint session of the 91st General Assembly on Tuesday, the day after it convened.

WEEK THAT WAS

Quote of the Week: “I think if Robert E. Lee were here today, he would say ‘Move my birthday, and Dr. King deserves the recognition.’” — Governor Hutchinson on his push to end Arkansas’s practice of recognizing Lee along with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the national King holiday. The governor wants to recognize the Confederate general on a date in October that would not constitute a new state holiday. Giving King his own day is “the right thing to do,” the governor declared, adding later that Lee “was on the wrong side of history.”

Legislator pleads guilty to bribery scheme Days before the legislative session began, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a plea agreement by state Rep. Micah Neal (R-Springdale) in which he admitted that he “conspired with an Arkansas state senator to use their official positions to appropriate government money known as General Improvement Funds to a pair of nonprofit entities in exchange for bribes.” Neal, who abruptly dropped out of a race for Washington County judge last year, conspired to direct a total of $600,000 to the entities 6

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in exchange for about $38,000 in kickbacks, the federal authorities said. The DOJ did not name the state senator or the nonprofits, but Neal’s plea agreement gives some identifying details. “Senator A” appears likely to be Sen. Jon Woods, a Springdale Republican who declined to run for re-election last year. Woods has not commented. “Entity A” identified by the documents seems likely to be Decision Point, a behavioral health organization that received $400,000 in General Improvement Fund money, while “Entity B was a nonprofit corporation operating a college located in Springdale.” Ecclesia College, a tiny Christian school in Springdale, received almost $600,000 in GIF money during the time specified in the plea agreement; the college has denied directing money to Neal or any other legislator in exchange for receiving those funds. The legislative GIF consists of surplus funds that lawmakers distribute to regional economic development districts around the state. Then, spending by those districts — including the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District, which provided the payments to Ecclesia and Decision Point — is typically guided by legislators. It’s a practice

that has long been criticized as a loophole for pork spending, and the governor has hopes to end the GIF entirely.

High times, high fees The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission established the annual cost of a license to run one of the state’s five soon-to-be-established cultivation facilities at $100,000 (that’s distinct from the initial application fee for growers, which the panel set at $15,000 during its last meeting). In addition, the five-member commission will require any cultivation facility applicant to show a $1 million surety bond or assets worth $1 million and $500,000 in cash on hand before its application will be accepted. Commissioner Travis Story — who’d pushed for even higher financial hurdles to entry — said it was necessary to make sure potentially cultivators were “well-capitalized,” considering marijuana growers can’t access credit through banks due to the substance’s federal prohibition.

Cotton on Obamacare: Replace law first Congressional Republicans’ plan for

undoing the Affordable Care Act is to repeal the law now but wait for at least two years before replacing it, since the repeal wouldn’t kick in immediately. U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton objected to the “repeal and delay” strategy last week, telling MSNBC’s Chuck Todd, “I think when we repeal Obamacare we need to have the solution in place moving forward.” Unfortunately, Cotton, like every other Republican in Congress, has failed to provide a solution for how to provide health insurance to the millions of Americans now covered by the ACA.

Judge resigns after misconduct allegations Carroll County District Judge Timothy Parker resigned in the last days of his term and agreed to never serve on the bench again after an investigation by the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission into misconduct. Parker admitted to extending favors to defendants in his court who he knows through various connections, but disputed allegations that he traded preferential treatment in return for sexual favors from over a dozen women. He’d served by appointment since 2013.

OPINION

Praising Asa

Christmas party this year at a home just a few steps from the Governor’s Mansion was something of a group therapy session for the several hundred liberals who dropped by. Striking, amid the political gloom, was how often people pointed down the block and remarked how the occupant, Republican Asa Hutchinson, had been a bright light. Yes. Let us now praise the governor for a starkly moderate record, at least in comparison with other red-state executives: • If taxes must be cut again, the governor at least has asked to focus this year on people at the bottom of the • income ladder, left out of his first income tax cut. • He fought the ballot initiative on medical marijuana, but now says the voters must be respected and the regulatory process is moving ahead. He also prefers the efficiency of executive rule-making to cope with inevitable glitches, not exces• sive legislative meddling. • Speaking of legislative meddling:

He took state command of Youth Services when lobbyists stopped his MAX effort to conBRANTLEY tract with a maxbrantley@arktimes.com new private operator of lockups. He threatens to ask a court to decide whether the legislature has usurped the executive’s power to contract for executive agency services. (I fear a terrible 2014 constitutional amendment may have done just that.) He’s promised greater state attention and even money to the state’s ailing foster care system. He’s also been careful to withhold judgment so far on some legislative efforts, perhaps well-intentioned, to curb the powers of neutral courts in child placement decisions. The legislation seems overly influenced by a single case, a bad start for law-making. Time and again, he’s been careful on hot-button social issues.

Glass houses

aving gotten a deep security briefing and probably a confidential glimpse of our own vast cyberspying operation, Donald Trump is no longer pretty sure that the Kremlin didn’t hack Democratic computers or employ other tactics to help his election. But he’s still sure it didn’t actually affect the election and, besides, the country should move on. Do Trump and his defenders have a point, or points? They do, but it has to be observed that the old showman proved again that he has the propagandist’s gift for radically changing people’s ideas — to admire things they once hated and to loathe things they once liked, or at least not to care any more. The most remarkable thing about the zany strife over the Russian hacking is the outpouring of support not just for Trump but also for Vladimir Putin and Russia and for the notion that America should cozy up to them, as the president-elect says he will do. Even a few Republican members of Congress have softened on Russia. Six months ago, you couldn’t have packed a taxi stand with all the Americans

who thought Putin would make a reliable friend, even after the two men exchanged glowing hymns. ERNEST Trump didn’t DUMAS always trust Russian leaders — only Putin. In 1987, Mikhail Gorbachev, who was dismantling the Soviet empire and leaving the satellites to choose their own destinies, visited the United States to seal his friendship with President Reagan. Trump said Reagan should not trust the leader of the Evil Empire. He warmed a little when the Russians invited him to build a hotel like Trump Tower in Moscow. A year later, when Gorbachev arrived in New York for a three-day visit with President Reagan and Vice President Bush, Trump heard that the Russian was shaking hands outside Trump Tower, rushed into the street to greet him and told him how honored he was the premier came to his tower. It was a Gorbachev impersonator from New Jersey, birthmark and all, named Ronald Knapp and a video of the event went viral.

Republican Rep. Charlie Collins wants to force colleges to allow staff to be able to have concealed weapons on campus. Hutchinson, who’s been a spokesman for the NRA, said he prefers the current system in which college governing bodies make those decisions. There’s support in the legislature for a bathroom bill to require people to use the restroom that matches their birth gender? Said Hutchinson: “I think the compelling arguments are: One, we don’t have a problem. Secondly, we’re awaiting more information from the courts and the Trump administration, and I do not believe that we ought to be engaged in legislation when there’s not a problem. ... From the solutions I’ve seen in other states, they can be counterproductive.” He’s forthright about the need to end the state’s dual observance of the birthdays of civil rights hero Martin Luther King and Robert E. Lee, who fought to preserve slavery. Said Hutchinson: “I’ve read biographies of Robert E. Lee … and he was on the wrong side of history. He was on the wrong side of that war. But I think you also have to look at how he tried to join in healing the nation afterwards. I think if Robert E Lee were here today, he would say ‘move my birthday, and Dr. King deserves the recognition.’”

He declines to stir the anti-immigrant pot in the brush fire over the potential use of a rural facility in Garland County as a temporary home for displaced immigrant children without documents. He’s worked in Homeland Security. He knows these are primarily Central American children fleeing desperate situations. He doesn’t see them as a safety risk, any more than the troubled U.S. kids who once used the facility for job training. He also said he looked dimly on legislation to dictate what municipal policies must be in immigrant matters. He said he favors local control. There’s plenty more big stuff, not the least his fight to continue the Obamacare Medicaid expansion here, his promotion of computer education and his fight to end the criminally abused General Improvement Fund allotment of “surplus” money for local pork barrel projects. I could qualify several of these items. For example, there’s some self-interest for the governor budgetarily in keeping expanded health coverage for Arkansas and in doing away with GIF pork barreling. And I expect no moderation on some issues, women’s health care, particularly. But the list of pluses is remarkable, particularly in these dark political days.

But they do have a couple of points about the piety of everyone who expressed horror at news the Russians were trying to influence the election, mainly the glasshouse syndrome. Interfering in elections and leadership struggles of other countries, friendly and inimical, is a modern American strategy. It isn’t in the charter of the Central Intelligence Agency, but it is what the CIA does. One of the agency’s first missions was to see that Christian Democrats in Italy maintained power over the insurgent Communist Party in the 1948 election and it funneled more than $10 million into the election to move voters to Democrats. The agency was off and running. Most infamous was the 1973 overthrow of the democratically elected government of Chile and the installation of a brutal dictatorship, all arranged by President Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The Pinochet regime was more brutal even than Putin’s, where critics who were poisoned, shot, jailed, ruined or “disappeared” numbers only in the hundreds, not hundreds of thousands. A tea party Republican congressman, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, had the chutzpah to lecture his colleagues about getting upset over Russian meddling in U.S. elections when we have meddled in 81 foreign elec-

tions since World War II — a Carnegie Mellon professor’s statistic. Then there is Putin’s point: turnabout is fair play. Hillary Clinton tried to overthrow him, calling him a tyrant who was rigging his re-election and encouraging anti-Putin protesters in the 2012 election. He blamed Clinton for Pussy Riot, the female punk-rock band that razzed the old KGB thug at concerts. Putin had three of the women imprisoned after a church appearance. Clinton met one of them at the Women in the World Summit in New York in 2014 and tweeted a picture of the two posing. It has been retweeted 10,000 times. What could she expect Putin to do? Congress should thoroughly expose the Russian scheming and it should demand the new president’s tax records to see if there are sinister business connections. The intelligence report of the security agencies last week noted that Putin had worked well with past Western leaders whose personal business interests made them amenable to Russian dealing, like Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi and Germany’s Gerhard Schroeder. But skip the piety and stop trying to assess whether it elected Trump. Clinton lost to a thousand cuts, as Shakespeare would say.

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Hillbillies

nybody who can sing the lyrics to David Allan Coe’s “You Never Even Called Me by My Name” probably won’t find a whole lot in J.D. Vance’s hotly debated, bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” that’s real surprising. Fans of Jeff Foxworthy’s painfully funny “You Might Be a Redneck” comedy act will also find Vance’s action-packed childhood familiar. Like this: “If your grandma poured gasoline on grandpa, and lit him on fire for coming home drunk … you might be a redneck.” These things actually happened. Early in life, Vance writes, “I recognized that though many of my peers lacked the traditional American family, mine was more nontraditional than most.” No kidding. That said, Erskine Caldwell’s “Tobacco Road” covered much of the same territory in the 1930s, along with William Faulkner’s Snopes trilogy, Larry Brown’s “Joe,” and a host of Southern novelists and memoirists too numerous to list. None of which is to diminish Vance’s achievement, nor to minimize his success in focusing affectionate, yet unsparing, attention on the ongoing plight of the poor white Appalachian immigrants he calls his people. American Conservative columnist Rod Dreher has written that “Hillbilly Elegy” “does for poor white people what Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book ‘Between the World and Me’ did for poor black people: give them voice and presence in the public square.” Some even think Vance helps explain the election of Donald Trump, although his political message is distinctly mixed. Either way, “Hillbilly Elegy” is deservedly No. 2 on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list. Born in rural eastern Kentucky, Vance was mostly raised by his doting, albeit violent grandparents in the decaying mill town of Middletown, Ohio — one of those “rust-belt” communities that lured Southern country folk to factory jobs that have since moved away, often to nonunion Southern states like Arkansas. I kept thinking of Bobby Bare’s homesick lament “Detroit City”: “I think I’ll take my foolish pride/and put it on a southbound freight and ride.” Vance took a less sentimental escape route: the U.S. Marines, Ohio State University, and Yale Law School. Today he lives in San Francisco with his AsianAmerican wife and works at a Silicon Valley investment firm. His memoir shows him to be the king of mixed feelings: proud and relieved to have escaped the 8

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drug- and boozeaddicted turmoil of his youth, yet determined to evoke respect for the “loyalty, honor, GENE toughness” and LYONS fierce patriotism of the hillbilly culture back home. Like many cross-cultural migrants, Vance has a thin skin — seeing condescension everywhere he looks. Of course nobody with a Southern accent needs to search hard in New Haven. Back in the day, was asked by a haughty academician if she was an anthropologist after she said she’d been visiting her parents in Arkansas. She kept a lot of it from me for fear I might do something crazy. In the long run, it’s best to laugh these things off. The world is full of fools. At 31, Vance isn’t there yet. Even so, the portrait he draws of his people is frequently less than admiring. What they hate about President Obama, he writes, isn’t his race as much as the perception that “Nothing about him bears any resemblance to the people I admired growing up: His accent — clean, perfect, neutral — is foreign; his credentials are so impressive that they’re frightening.” As such, Obama’s a standing rebuke to people like Vance’s hometown friend who bragged that he quit his job “because he was sick of waking up early,” but spends time bashing the “Obama economy” on Facebook. Hence, too, “birtherism,” a mythological construct explaining away the unacceptable truth: Maybe a lot of your problems are your own damn fault. Vance thinks that hillbilly clannishness and self-pitying pessimism are personally and politically crippling. “We can’t trust the evening news. We can’t trust our politicians. Our universities, the gateway to a better life, are rigged against us. We can’t get jobs. You can’t believe these things and participate meaningfully in society.” Exactly. Having spent the last decade living on a gravel road in a backwoods Arkansas county with even more cows than hillbillies, I can affirm that at their best, there are no finer neighbors. That said, not getting wasted every day definitely helps. However, Vance’s mother was an addict. “An important question for hillbillies like me,” he writes, is “how much is Mom’s life her own fault? Where does blame stop and sympathy begin?” Good question.

Senate challenge

recently wandered back to “Master of the Senate,” the third volume of Robert A. Caro’s massive history of Lyndon Johnson. The book, on Johnson’s years in the U.S. Senate, highlights the lingering power of the Senate to meet the challenges facing the country and to stand up to existential threats facing American democratic institutions. Considering the national political dynamics as the Trump era arrives, it’s important to remind ourselves of the capability of the U.S. Senate — no matter its partisan composition — to live up to its potential at key moments in American history. Caro’s book focuses on Johnson’s rise to power in national politics through the lens of the 1957 Civil Rights Act that he shepherded through the body that had fended off civil rights legislation for over three-quarters of a century. As longtime New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis wrote in a review of the book: “Wheedling, threatening, stroking large egos, explaining why his goal was essential for the country’s good, [LBJ] ran an institution that had never before been run by anyone.” While some historians dispute elements of the Johnson portrayed by Caro in his series (and in “Master of the Senate” in particular), undeniably satisfying — and most timely — is the first 100 or so pages of the 1,100page tome. There, Caro contextualizes LBJ’s rise to power by tracing the history of the U.S. Senate, emphasizing its distinctive power tracing back to the Founders (take a look at James Madison’s The Federalist No. 62) and the moments of the institution’s glory (its refusal to impeach Justice Samuel Chase simply for opinions with which Jeffersonians disagreed, Daniel Webster’s soaring rhetoric against Southern colleagues’ arguments for nullification and its resistance to Franklin Roosevelt’s “court-packing” plan in 1937). Just as important, as Caro argues, such exceptionalism by the Senate is not inevitable: Across many decades an atrophied Senate also failed to use its great power to respond to the economic, social and foreign policy crises facing the nation. Johnson’s activation of the Senate — mostly for his own ambitions — marks a moment of the Senate coming to life for the good of the nation. Ira Shapiro’s more recent book, “The Last Great Senate: Courage and Statesmanship in Times of Crisis,” serves as something of an extension of Caro’s thesis regarding the Senate’s potential power for good. Shapiro argues that the Senate of the 1960s and 1970s over-

came partisanship to extend the civil rights work begun with the meager 1957 legislation, to create JAY the infrastructure BARTH for environmental regulation, and to shift the nation’s decades-long policy on China. Even more important, the Senate stood up to the executive branch’s overreach and criminality on Vietnam and Watergate, taking its duty of holding the executive accountable seriously on matters large and small. In more recent years, the Senate has retreated into inaction and partisan pettiness. (Shapiro dates it to the early 1980s when “gotcha” votes began being used in political campaigns, procedural rules began being used to stop the work of the body rather than getting things done for the American public, and long weekends away from Washington undermined the socializing that allowed problems to be solved across partisan divides). The Trump era creates a new test for the Senate. As Caro writes, “… America’s Founding Fathers had created the Senate … to stand against the President and the people, to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority.” Despite his electoral success across the majority of states, relatively few Republican senators owe their seats to Trump’s popularity. Moreover, his disparagement of GOP leaders such as John McCain and Lindsey Graham means that they are further liberated from Trump and his agenda. In the lead-up to Trump’s inauguration next week, there are both positive and negative signals about the Senate’s playing its distinctive constitutional role. The assertiveness of senators from both parties during last week’s initial hearings into the role of the Russian government in attempting to impact the 2016 elections and the responsible action by a significant chunk of senators to demand a replacement for the Affordable Care Act before “repeal” of Obamacare occurs provide great promise. On the other hand, the refusal of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (a poster child of the more petty partisan modern era of the Senate) to slow down hearings on Cabinet appointees until traditional ethics investigations are completed bodes ill. For the future of democracy, America needs the Senate to be at its best in the months and years ahead.

A better now

he Boys and Men Opportunity Success Team (BMOST), an initiative led by a coalition of local stakeholders that includes the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, city of Little Rock, Arkansas Baptist College, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Pulaski Technical College and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arkansas, is determined to show you that what you see and hear about black and brown boys and men isn’t the whole story. And by dissing our classmates, co-workers and colleagues, we’re all paying the price. How are we dissing folks? Let’s start with visibility. Boys and men of color are invisible until they aren’t in Central Arkansas. Think about it. How many students living south of Interstate 630 in Little Rock do you hear about who are graduating summa cum laude? How often do you see restaurant owners and chefs from Little Rock’s African-American and Latino communities provide cooking lessons on local morning talk shows? How many entrepreneurs getting their start on 12th Street have you met on an evening newscast? They’re there, I promise you, but they might as well be invisible. Don’t believe me? Look up Russell Roosevelt Williams III, a sophomore at Philander Smith College who was recently recognized by the White House as an academic All-Star for his scholastic performance, community leadership and civic engagement. You can also look up Treston Hawkins, a senior at UAPB who, despite being a double-amputee, traveled a half mile in Washington, D.C., at 5 a.m. every morning last summer to complete his internship at the USDA Rural Development Office. While you’re on Google, check out Apptegy, a startup company launched in Little Rock by an Indian immigrant determined to transform how schools engage families and communities. In fact, there are so many stories like these that BMOST partners hosted the Arkansas Summit on African-American Males last October, an event that highlighted how these males we so seldom hear about are excelling in education, leading their communities, and transforming industries through entrepreneurship. Now, how often do you read about violence in Southwest Little Rock? How often do you see young, black male faces on the nightly news because they’ve been arrested and convicted? You know they’re there because you hear and see them all over the local news. The story people begin telling themselves, because it’s the only story they see, hear and read, is that our fellow residents are lazy, vio-

lent and criminal. But where are the stories about scholars, community leaders and entrepreneurs of BRAD color? CAMERONBMOST is COOPER committed to creating a #BetterNow for our classmates, co-workers and colleagues. Their vision is that boys and men of color, empowered to succeed in their schools and careers, strengthen the Central Arkansas community. Together, BMOST partners are doing their part to continuously improve how their organizations serve our neighbors in Central Arkansas using data about how they are supporting the success of historically marginalized males in school and the workplace. Partners know they can’t do this work alone, which is why they are reshaping the narrative through advocacy and online storytelling to build a community of individuals and organizations committed to creating a #BetterNow for boys and men of color. The story we’re telling ourselves about our classmates, co-workers and colleagues — a false story that keeps getting told on the radio, on TV across the Internet, and in our newspapers — is creating how we think about them. And that’s a problem. When our teachers tell themselves this story about our classmates, they see students who don’t apply themselves and misbehave. When our coworkers and employers in Little Rock tell themselves this story, they inaccurately see potential employees and co-workers as unqualified or lazy. Ultimately, that costs us because we’re not preparing our future workforce, we’re not providing folks the jobs they need to build our community, and we’re creating unnecessary obstacles in front of brilliant innovators and entrepreneurs who can drive our shared economic progress forward. So do your part to make boys and men of color visible more for what they’re achieving and accomplishing within our community than for what a few of them aren’t. When all of us tell a better story and encourage one another to do the same, we’re not just improving how we view many dismissed members of our community, we’re also supporting our classmates, co-workers and colleagues by acknowledging how valuable they are to our future.

OF INESS” “LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT HAIR

F I FTH A N N UA L

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Brad Cameron-Cooper is a communications and knowledge management associate at the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. arktimes.com JANUARY 12, 2017, 2016

PEARLS ABOUT SWINE

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ARKANSAS VOICES FOR THE CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND

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is seeking a sponsor for a bill to support ad litem attorneys to represent the best interests of a child of a parent who is being sentenced. Currently, children of defendants have no standing in the criminal case of their parents.

Please support this agenda on behalf of the 70,000 minors who are affected. Contact Dee Ann Newell at

501-367-3647

to help protect these children.

SINCE 1994 10

JANUARY 12, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

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t only makes sense that in this numbing era of Razorback slipand-falls, the Hogs could really put vaunted Kentucky to the test at Rupp Arena for a good 30 minutes of action … and end up losing by 26 points. The 97-71 loss last Saturday was on the heels of the Hogs capturing a critical road win against Tennessee, and there was a gossamer-thin layer of hope for something special happening in Lexington. After all, this is Mike Anderson’s most balanced and disciplined team from top to bottom, and there was that added motivation of showing the state’s Public Enemy No. 1, defector and likely AllAmerican Malik Monk, that he made an egregious error heading east for glory and exposure. Monk was a nonfactor, which may have been by design. He got off to a quick start but ended up with a near-seasonlow 12 points and didn’t make a single three-point try. Of course, Kentucky has such a stable of rangy, quick and agile teenagers that it’s basically inconsequential when a 22-point scorer with lottery pick moxie is a tad off his game. De’Aaron Fox was the primary stabilizer Saturday night, knifing to the basket basically at will for a game- and career-high 27 points. He keyed the second-half burst that set Kentucky free from the fleeting and strange grasp of a competitive home game. Where Arkansas faltered was on the defensive end. Jaylen Barford had a terrific first half and was arguably the best player on the court for the first 20 minutes, but once he soaked up a little foul trouble, his night was more or less over. Daryl Macon was productive again, too, but the Hogs desperately needed Dusty Hannahs to show out, and the senior who has been so damned dependable just could not locate a shooting rhythm. He didn’t fail to hit double figures in the first 12 games, but has now posted two six-point duds in the last four outings, clanging nine of 10 three-point tries in those season-worst games. When Hannahs can’t find the touch, the team is going to suffer. Macon has a nice enough stroke but is genuinely the only other long-range threat on the roster, with Anton Beard, Barford and CJ Jones simply being too sporadic with their perimeter production. The team is, of course, somewhere

between average and good at this point, with a 12-3 overall mark and 1-2 in SEC games. The early FloridaBEAU Kentucky gauntWILCOX let was a known challenge from the moment the schedule was generated, so there’s really no shock value in the record or the team’s performance. Moses Kingsley’s been a shade disappointing for a preseason SEC player of the year choice, lacking first-half aggression too often, but usually making up for that with stellar play around the rim. That said, he’s hitting free throws and blocking shots at a career-best clip, and others seem to be making up for his scoring deficiencies thus far. Macon and Barford have been about as productive as expected; Beard’s easily playing the best of his tumultuous three-year run, and Dustin Thomas has contributed nicely. The bench scoring is wildly erratic. The long and short of Arkansas basketball is that it stands shoulder to shoulder with its football compatriots: stuck many layers below the league’s ostentatious frontrunner, but still capable of having successes in fits and starts. That’s not going to be enough for many people who still harbor hopes that this program can renew its long-expired membership in the national hardcourt pantheon. That’s also a dying breed of fan, to be frank. When the Hogs won 27 games two seasons ago, with Bobby Portis at the forefront, it still felt all very much like the peak for the program in its current iteration, and that season ended before the Sweet 16 thanks to North Carolina. The Hogs have a fine nucleus now, and it promises to be enhanced by the influx of amateur talent from within the state’s borders in 2017-18, but to what end? As long as Calipari continues to prowl the ESPN 150 for elite talent, he’s going to secure it and make it work to his advantage for the five months he’s got it in competitive action. This is not to suggest that you can’t be supportive of a second-tier team, but try not to delude yourself into thinking the echelon above is attainable, because right now there’s simply no going into Rupp and taking that kind of talent all the way to the wire.

Presented by by Presented

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THE OBSERVER

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NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

Weird trivia

hen completed, the Ten Commandments monument on the state Capitol lawn will be the exact size, shape and weight of the vaguely humming black monolith that appeared at the foot of Conway Sen. Jason Rapertâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bed in June 2010 and later elevated his consciousness from apelike semi-sentience to incrementally less apelike semi-sentience. Arkansas Times entertainment editor and singer Stephanie Smittle can hit a note so high that â&#x20AC;&#x201D; solely using the sound of her voice â&#x20AC;&#x201D; she can spontaneously shatter anyone who asks her to sing a cover of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mustang Sallyâ&#x20AC;? during bar gigs. As proven at an event held during their annual Merkinfest Days festival in 2014, the entire population of the tiny town of Merkin Fork in Newton County can simultaneously fit inside a single cousin. If you search for the term â&#x20AC;&#x153;Do a barrel rollâ&#x20AC;? on Google, the page will actually flip, imitating a barrel roll. Also, if you search for the term â&#x20AC;&#x153;Can I get pregnant at 14?â&#x20AC;? on Google, you will soon find yourself frantically donating to Planned Parenthood. During this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legislative session, members of the Arkansas General Assembly doing that â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll just shift in my chair and clear my throat so nobody will noticeâ&#x20AC;? thing will collectively expel enough methane gas to fill 11 full-size hot-air balloons. If a Little Rock-born Gen-Xer says â&#x20AC;&#x153;1994â&#x20AC;? three times into the mirror of the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s room at Vinoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s at exactly midnight on a Friday in July, that person will be instantly whisked back to the carefree days of youth, before the drudgery of existence and crushing responsibility made every day blur into nothing more than a dishwater gray shadow of the life full of music, sex and fun they once knew. Just kidding. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re stuck here, dude. Get back to work. In all of recorded medical history,

there has never been a case of a person who was born blind who later developed schizophrenia, which would suggest there is either something about not being able to see the world that insulates peoplesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; minds from the disease, or something about being able to see the world that brings it on. No, seriously. This oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s real. You can look it up. Also, if you can see this, you might get schizophrenia. According to data collected in 2016 by the popular online pornography site pornhub.com, the term Arkansans searched for most often on that website last year was: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Pine Bluff Clutch.â&#x20AC;? Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Google that. Following a massive 2015 research project drawing on a detailed analysis of over 23,000 human/canine pairs, scientists at the University of Michigan at Flint determined that the reason your dog hangs his head out the car window while youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re driving is because your taste in music is so bad heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s considering suicide. Also, you stink. In the time youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll spend reading this sentence, former Razorback and 103.7 The Buzz radio host David Bazzelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sense of his own attractiveness will have grown by between 4 and 7 percent, depending on his level of access to hair care products. The weird, whistling-poppy noise your lungs make when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re trying to fall asleep? Probably cancer. If lined up end-to-end, Little Rockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s many cupcakeries, pre-popped popcorn stores and franchised frozen yogurt shops would stretch all the way to bankruptcy court. Drawing on clues found in ancient Aramaic scrolls housed at the University of Tel Aviv, theologians now believe that Jesus Christ will return on Friday, May 19, 2017, to the White Water Tavern, where He and His band will play a sludge metal set thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s OK, but nothing to really write home about. Tickets $10 in advance, $12 day of show.

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| |

facebook.com/ACforRJ bit.ly/rjrally2017 facebook.com/ACforRJ bit.ly/rjrally2017 @ACforRJ ACforRJ@gmail.com @ACforRJ ACforRJ@gmail.com

Michael Stewart Allen (Macbeth) in Macbeth. Photo by John David Pittman.

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SEPTEMBER 11-27, 2015 (501) 378-0405 | TheRep.org

BEER NIGHT

ARKANSAS REPERTORY THEATRE

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ARKANSAS TIMES arktimes.com JANUARY 12, 2017, 2016

Some legislation to look for, and how to speak your mind.

he 91st General Assembly convened on Monday, and the next two months will bring all sorts of new laws to Arkansas. With a supermajority in both houses, the Republican agenda will prevail. What we describe here are bills already introduced or likely to find their way into the hopper. Perhaps you would like to add your voice to the decision-making at the state Capitol. State Rep. Greg Leding (D-Fayetteville) has published on his Facebook page the “2017 Determined Constituent Guide to the Arkansas State Capitol,” which provides phone numbers to reach legislators (682-2902 for the Senate, 682-6211 for the House) and the governor (682-2345), names of the leadership in both houses, when the houses convene (1:30 p.m.), how to communicate with your legislator, and where Capitol offices are located and where committees meet. House committee meetings are live-streamed, and you can send a note asking to meet with a legislator via Red Coat assistants. Find the schedule of committee meetings at arkleg.state.ar.us. The upcoming legislation we address here includes bills to prohibit transgender people from using the bathroom of the gender they identify with; cut taxes; make it harder for women to get abortions; allow guns on college campuses; make it harder for people without specific forms of photo identification to vote; punish “sanctuary” cities and campuses that adopt policies of tolerance toward undocumented immigrants; and make it easier to fire teachers. What the legislature will do about Medicaid expansion remains to be seen.

Bathroom bill In a state with a long history of legislative train wrecks, it’s hard to imagine one more easily avoidable than the prospect that the legislature may pass an anti-LGBT “bathroom bill” that forces a transgender person to use the public restroom that corresponds to the sex on his or her birth certificate. 12

JANUARY 12, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

The potential economic hit the state could take over such legislation is already writ large in North Carolina. North Carolina House Bill 2, passed in March 2016 and signed into law by now-former Gov. Pat McCrory, led to boycotts and scaling back of hundreds of millions of dollars in business invest-

ment in the state, along with public condemnation by inclusive, 21st century employers like PayPal, Apple and Yelp. That’s in addition to the $100 million impact estimated by the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority when the National Basketball Association decided to pull the 2017 NBA All-Star Game out of North Carolina in reaction to HB 2. And the September announcement that the NCAA would yank seven NCAA tournament games from Greensboro (an estimated $51 million impact). And rock legend Bruce Springsteen’s April 2016 decision to cancel a Greensboro show (to the tune of another estimated $700,000 impact). All told, Forbes estimates the economic impact of HB 2 to the Tar Heel State at somewhere in the neighborhood of $600 million so far. It’s a number that seems destined to keep climbing as obstinate legislators there continue to resist and foot-drag on efforts at repeal, even in the wake of the ouster of McCrory in November. Nonetheless, the economic hurt laid on North Carolina since the coming of HB 2 appears to be an object lesson that’s going unheeded across the nation. So far, legislators in Alabama, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington have introduced similar bills. Next door in Texas, legislators introduced a bill similar to North Carolina’s HB 2 soon after the

new year, even though the Texas Association of Business issued a warning last year that the passage of a “bathroom bill” could create a backlash that costs the Texas economy up to $8.5 billion and 185,000 jobs. With far-right legislators in Arkansas undoubtedly considering playing a round of Raleigh Roulette by filing an HB 2-style bill of their own, one of those who appears to be heeding the lessons of North Carolina is Governor Hutchinson. At a Jan. 4 press conference to discuss his legislative agenda in the coming session, Hutchinson said that he believes the issue of transgender people using the restroom of their choice is not “a problem” in Arkansas, and made it clear that a bathroom bill is not something he would support. While Hutchinson didn’t say he’d veto such a bill, he did say he had been in touch with “legislators of interest” who might file legislation on the issue. “I would choose to judge the issue on its merits and what’s needed in the state,” Hutchinson said. “I think the compelling arguments are: One, we don’t have a problem. Secondly, we’re awaiting more information from the courts and the Trump administration, and I do not believe that we ought to be engaged in legislation when there’s not a problem.” House Speaker Jeremy Gillam (R-Judsonia), who appeared with

ILLUSTRATIONS BY BRYAN MOATS

They’re baaaack

ILLUSTRATIONS BY BRYAN MOATS

Hutchinson and Senate Majority Leader Jim Hendren (R-Gravette) at the press conference, said that he’d want to see “quantifiable data,” before he could reach a conclusion on whether a bathroom bill was needed. Hendren added that if people do something obscene in a public restroom, they deserve to be harshly punished, especially if children are involved, but said of a bathroom bill: “Now if we need a bathroom bill to prevent something like that from occurring, I don’t know. ... If it’s punitive, if it’s something completely unreasonable, then probably not.” Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Randy Zook agrees with the governor that an antitrans bathroom bill is unneeded in the state. “There doesn’t appear to be a problem,” Zook said on the first day of the 2017 legislative session. “If one materializes, then we’d probably want to try to deal with it.” Asked if his agreement with the governor on the issue is based on the economic fallout seen in North Carolina, Zook said the potential for a similar scenario in Arkansas certainly exists. “We would like to try to avoid any unfavorable publicity for the state,” Zook said. “Lots of economic activity could be negatively affected with unnecessary or unwarranted legislation. Again, until there’s a problem, we just think there’s no problem.” —David Koon

Tax cuts Since Republicans gained majorities in the state House of Representatives and Senate in 2012, they’ve made slashing taxes on the rich a priority. In the last two general legislative sessions, GOP legislators pushed through a massive cut on taxes on capital gains, a benefit overwhelmingly enjoyed by the wealthiest Arkansans, and they reduced the income tax burden on all but the working poor. To his credit, Governor Hutchinson wants a $50 million tax cut, as part of his proposed $5.5 billion budget, directed at the people who were left out of previous cuts — those with taxable income of less than $21,000. That’s laudable in spirit. Arkansas has one of the more regressive tax environments in the country. Households making more than $330,000 (i.e. the 1 percent) pay less than 6 percent of their income in local and state taxes, while those making less than $16,000 pay 12 percent of theirs in local and state taxes, according to Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. Much of

that disparity is the result of the state’s relatively high sales tax. Low-income workers do pay income tax — in 2013, some 540,000 Arkansas families with net income of less than $21,000 paid $115 million in state income tax — but they pay a greater share of their income in sales taxes. Low-income workers would be helped more by a state Earned Income Tax Credit, tied to the federal EITC, which takes into account workers’ income and number of dependents. It should have bipartisan appeal. It rewards work. It’s a proven ladder out of poverty. And, because most low and middle-income taxpayers spend their tax refunds, it’s money that’s quickly cycled back into the state economy. If only that was the limit of the coming debate. Instead, a number of legislators want to see a significantly larger tax cut. Sen. Bart Hester (R-Cave Springs) has proposed a $105 million tax cut. It would eliminate income taxes for people making

less than $21,000 and adjust the tax tables to benefit middle and upper income families. There’s been additional talk of $200 million and $300 million tax cuts. Rep. Charlie Collins (R-Fayetteville) has floated the idea of repealing a law passed in 2013 that reduces the sales tax on groceries from 1.5 percent to 0.125 percent once the state is no longer obligated to make $65 million annual desegregation payments to Pulaski County schools. That’s scheduled to happen after the end of fiscal year 2018. Collins wants instead to use that money to further cut taxes on those maki n g

more than $75,000 per year. The governor has said (rightly, again) that such a repeal would be viewed as a tax increase. There are two problems to consider simultaneously when it comes these sorts of tax cut proposals, said Bill Kopsky, executive director of the Arkansas Public Policy Panel. There’s ensuring that an already regressive tax system doesn’t become more so, and then there’s working to prevent further cuts to state services and infrastructure. “We’ve really slashed revenue in the last several sessions,” Kopsky said. “That’s left a lot of priority needs for the state’s future underfunded — whether you look at [K-12 education], higher ed, the legitimate needs of the highway system, increased funding for pre-K, or after-school programs proven to help all kids. … We’re not investing in the types of things that make families stronger and makes kids succeed and would make Arkansas attractive to economic development.” In a state where the constitution requires a balanced budget and that K-12 education be “adequately” funded, there isn’t much wiggle room in the budget. Educa-

MAYBERRY: His unconstitutional bill would effectively ban abortion in the second trimester.

arktimes.com JANUARY 12, 2017, 2016

THANK YOU

PRESIDENT

OBAMA FOR EIGHT AMAZING YEARS The following Arkansans would like to express their appreciation to you, the First Lady and family for your outstanding service to our Nation during the past 8 years and for the dignity with which that service has been rendered. 14

JANUARY 12, 2017

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Follow X X X X X X on Twitter: @X X X X

Abraham, Lucy

Brinkley, Mike

Dahlgren, Skip

Abson, Alice Fogle

Brinkley, Nancy

Dailey, Wanda Rae

Abson, Willie

Britton, Phyllis

Dass, Vandana

Adams, John

Brown, Linda

Davies, David L.

Ahlen, John

Brown, Linda W.

Davis, Shannon

Akes, Charles

Brown, William D.

Dean, Lori Williamson

Alexander, Connie Harris

Bruton, Dennis

Allen, Carolyn Henderson

Buonaiuto, Michael

DeBerry, Jessica

Anderson, L.J.

Buonaiuto, Shelley

DeJong, Tracy

Anschultz, Robin McIlvoy

Bush, Tori

Dekay, Carol

Anson, Sarah

Butcher, Shawn

Dekay, Dave

Arendale, Christina E.

Buzbee, Margie Goss

DeLamar, Jerri

Arendale, Patty M.

Cafferty, Dorothy McLendon

DeRossitte, Pamela

Atkinson, Dustin

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Devone, Bernadette

Austin, Aaron

Canizales, Christian

Dickens, Elquita M.

Austin, Becca

Carey, Rebecca

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Austin, Calvin

Carle, Martha Hampton

Donoven, Amanda

Austin, Leigh

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Dorris, Brandon

Austin, Nate

Carroll, Alexis

Dorris, Laura Williams

Austin, Sloan

Carroll, Richard L.

Drake, Richard S.

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Driggers, Kim Dan

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Elane, Judith

Barbeire-Bruton, Kathy

Chou, Ann F.

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Barton, Kim Hollis

Clyburn, Alyson

Emmert, Mike

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Cobb, Tandy G.

Engel, Edie

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Beck, Martha C.

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Bell, Patti Riggs

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Compton, Jordan

Estes, Wayne

Bennett, Susan Wood

Cooper, Glenda

Evans, Jane D.

Berry, Traci

Cooper, Hannah

Faulkner, Olivia Bowen

Bishop, Kyla

Coulter, Nathalie Anne

Favors, Alicia

Blakeman, Mike

Covey, John

Figarsky, Joy

Blevins, Michelle

Covey, Johnnie

Fisher, Jimmie Lou

Bodiak, Tina

Cowan, Rachel

Flanagin, Sheryl Isom

Bolin, Jerry

Cox, Jordan

Flowers, Vivian L.

Boswell, Bess

Craddock, Jennifer

Fly, Ann Jackson

Boswell, Britt and family

Crawford, Shelly

Ford, Erin

Botwinick, Frances Kay

Creed, Susanna Leigh

Fowler, Rex

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Frankenstein, Laura

Bowen, Jan

Crisp, Lea Ann Maestri

Ganson, Judy

Bowie, Tonya

Crone, Christopher

Garcia, Karen

Bozeman, Marsha Lynn Argue

Crone, Elizabeth M.

Gardner, David

Bradford, Essie

Crone, Rhonda

Geier, Lauren Weatherly

Bradshaw, Kirk Meyer

Croy, Amy

Gibson, J.J.

Brewster, Chloe

Curd, Alara

Gilbert, Todd E.

Brice, Linda

Dahl, Faithy

Gosnell, Justin

Claar

Kruse

Graham, Wilma

Horton, Darell

Ledger, Natasha Lynn

Moore, Shirl

Ryan, Marie J.

Thwing, Valerie

Green, Roy

Howard, Heather

Leveritt, Alan

Moore, Susan

Ryan, Mary L.

Toncray, Tammy

Greenberg, Lynn Axler

Howard, Mark

Lindsey, William D.

Moreland, Brenda

Sackschewsky, Leisl

Towbin, Lucy

Greene, Courtney Clark

Huber, Karen

Linn, Allison

Morgan, Caz

Sanchez, Estevan

Townsend, Lori Heird

Greer, Jenna

Huebsch, Janet Jacobs

Linn, Amanda

Morgan, John

Sanders, Ashley

Tucker, Becky

Griffen, Pat

Huenefeld, Kathryn

Linsley, Jim

Morrow, Kayla

Sauser, Tony

Tucker, Mary Maestri

Griffen, Wendell

Huff, Patricia

Lipppincott, Marget

Mullinax, Christina

Sawyer, James

Turner, Justin

Grimes, Ben

Hughes, April

Murphy, Dawna Burton

Schäfer, Joseph D.

Van Blaricom, Michelle Bell

Grimes, Laura

Hughes, Harold

Litaker, Katherine

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Schäfer, Stephen J.

Vest, Emilie

Grotewold, Cherie

Hughes, Mona

Lomerson, Charles R.

Neely, Fanny

Schluterman, Ivy

Villaseñor, Geeraldyne

Guerra, Sabrina

Hunt, Roger

Lomerson, Deborah A.

Newbern, Carolyn L.

Schroeder, Megan DeLamar

Vines, Phillip L.

Gunter, Timothy

Hunter, Risa

Long, C. Marie

Newbern, Wm. David

Scott, Jamie

Vinson, BiBi

Gursky, Laura

Hupp, Dillon

Lovelace, Caitlin

Nieser-Muse, Melissa

Scott, Marsha

Vinson, Lynette

Hale, Tiffany

Hutchens, Donnie

Lusk, Meredith

Nutt, Tim

Seatts, Christi

Vinson, Sydney Caroline

Hamon, Halley

Imboden, Kim

Lynn, Amber

O’Brien, Pat

Inman, Susan Keith

Major, Lee

Odekirk, David

Sells, Stacy Sessoms, Dan

Walker, Brent

Handfinger, Alex

Walker, Michael

Breckner

Walker, Linda

Hanson, Paula

Insalaco, Vincent

Margulies, Pat

Odekirk, Veronique

Sessoms, Nancy

Hardy, Laura Cartwright

Jackson, Missy Judd

Martin, Henry

Oliver, Ron

Shaw, Betty

Walker, Noah Wallace, Brooke

Harguess, Tanya

Janis, Jennifer Taylor

Martin, Jerry

Padgett, Mary

Shears-Heard, Keneshia

Harper, Bill

Jarvis, Barbara

Martin, Lucy

Palumbo, Michelle A.

Shiell, Debbie

Wallace, Darby Wallace, Larry

Harper, George

Jenkins-Chadick, Judy

Massanelli, Jeffrey Daniel

Panasiuk, Pam Epperson

Shirkavand, Kristie

Harper, Jean

Jobe, Jasmine

Masters, Tyler

Parham, Johnette D.

Shock, John

Walter, Donnal Ward, S’cie

Harris, Rutha

Joblin, Jeanie

Matlock, John

Parson, Katie

Shock, Nancy

Harrison, Beth Berry

Johnson, Dot

McAfee, Robert

Parson, Ryan

Shroff, Madhav

Watkins, Brenda Watkins, Cleo

Harrison, Elton

Johnson, Eddie

McBurnett, Betty

Peacock, Loverd M.

Signorelli, Aly

Hart, Jan

Johnson-Henderson, Janet

McBurnett, Searcy

Peacock, Tricia

Simon, Kyle

Webb, Kathy Weber, Chris

Hart, Tom Hartman, Christine

Keeton

McClendon, Rosalind

Pearce, Jennifer

Simpkins, Jennifer

Jones, Chad

McClure, Gaye Presley

Pettibone, Debbie

Simpson, Cathy

Wells, Kelsey West, Terri Parker

Hatta, Mariah

Jones, Dallas

McCollum, James

Peyton, Fred

Sims, Susan Orton

Hawkes, Sally

Jones, Donisha

McCord, Stacey

Peyton, Mary

Smith, Ezra

Wewers, Alice Whitaker, David

Hawkins, Duane

Jones, Joyce

McCoy, Stephanie

Phillips, Keeli Raye

Smith, Kristie McDonough

Hayes, Erica

Jones, Maria Heringer

McCullough, Tippi

Pickering, Vicki McNatt

Smith, Nancy L.

Whitaker, Lisa White, Holly Elizabeth

Haynes, Michelle Bailey

Jones, Terri

McCune, Carolyn Darr

Pierce, Jennifer

Smith, Ray

Hazel, Cheryl

Jones, Vance

McDonald, Sue

Plunkett, Diane

Smith, Traci Vignery

Williams, Joshua Neal Willis, James F.

Henderson, Kiersten

Judah-Donovan, Sharon

McDowell, Jamie

Polk, Mary Spears

Snipes, Jonathan

Henry, Bill C.

Kauffman, Sam

McGee, Marie

Porter, Sharon Lewis

Southerland, Ali Gail

Wilson, Abbie Wilson, Gary

Henry, Constance E.

Keaton, Kathy

McGeorge, Bess

Purvis, Joseph H.

Spaulding, Nancy

Henry, Samantha Marie

Keene, Christine

Meadows, Donell

Qualls, Rick

Stanza, Donald

Wilson, Katie Wilson, Kim

Heringer, Sarah

Keene, Mike

Mendez, Lizbëth

Rathbun, Ethan

Stark, Marc

Hernandez, Nancy Ferguson

Kelley, Kim

Meriwether, Joy Beal

Rawlings, Leslie Morgenthau

Steck, Jennifer

Wilson, Robbie Womble, Felisa

Hestir, Susan

King, Debbie

Messer, Mary E. Perry

Rawlings, Paul

Steed, Laura Faith

Heuston, Margaret

King, Laura

Mian, Nosheen

Razer, Bob

Stephens, Teresa

Wood, Clark B. Wood Jr., Robert H.

Hickman Jr., Adolph

King, Rob

Michael, Darren

Rector, James Kenneth

Stone, Natali

Hickman, Anita

King, Sarah E.

Milantoni, George M.

Remmel, Pratt

Strickland, Teresa Rogers

Wood-Terry, Trenell Wooden, Wes

Hickman, Kyla

Knight, Travis

Milantoni, Helen Arendale

Riggs, Marci

Stroman, Justin

Hicks, Kennie M.

Ladd, Judy

Miller, Beth A.

Roberts, Kathy

Summerville, William

Woodhead, Kathy Woodyard, Betsy

Hill, Joe

Lamm, Mark

Miller, Shannon

Rodriguez, Josue

Sylvia, Nicole

Hipp, Catherine

Lane, Bob

Mills, JoAnne

Rogers, Bob

Tackett, Ben

Woodyear, Barbara

Hodges, N.L.

Lane, JoAnn

Mobley, Glen

Rogers, Hunter

Taylor, Andrew

Worley, Kaitlin

Hogan, Rick D.

Lankford, Michelle

Moffit, Suzi Hart

Rogers, Rita Pearl

Taylor, Hannah Mae

Wright, James

Hollifield, Tanya

Lauer, Jo Hardison

Montgomery, Louise

Romo, Randi

Taylor, Mary Dee

Wright, Randy

Hollis, Garrett

Lauer, Quentin

Moon, Dotty

Roosth, Toni

Taylor, Zac

Yoder, R. Paul

Holly, Maureen

Lavionne, Joy

Moore, Brenda K.

Russell, Bill

Tencleve, Susan Kleck

Young, John

Hooks, Glen

Lawhon, Christi

Moore, Brooke Davis

Russell, Mary

Tew, Jack

Young, Juana

Hopkins, Brent

LeBlanc, Frank

Moore, Harry

Ryan, Andrew

Thomas, Robert I.

Young, Toni

arktimes.com JANUARY 12, 2017, 2016

STUBBLEFIELD: He’s filed a bill that would strip state funds from cities that demonstrate tolerance toward undocumented immigrants.

tion, health and human services and prisons account for more than 90 percent of general revenue expenditures. After $242 million in tax cuts in recent years and with rev-

enue collections in fiscal year 2017 currently down $8 million and the future of Medicaid expansion in doubt, legislators may begin to eye things like pre-K funding, parks and tourism, natural and cultural heritage programs and rural economic development for cuts, Kopsky said. The nonpartisan nonprofit he leads, the Arkansas Public Policy Panel (arpanel.org), is focused on health care, civil rights, economic and social justice and the environment. Staffers read every bill, flag those that are problematic and send an email update to members every Monday with action plans for combatting troublesome bills. Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (aradvocates.org) does similar policy analysis on legislation that impacts Arkansas families. —Lindsey Millar

Abortion Legislation sponsored by State Rep. Andy Mayberry (R-Hensley), whose 2013 bill made it illegal for women 20 weeks or more pregnant to have an abortion, would reduce that limit to 13 or 14 weeks with a bill that apparently bans the safest procedure for abortion at that gestational stage. House Bill 1032, modeled after National Right to Life Committee legislation and the first in the hopper for the General Assembly, would outlaw what it calls “dismemberment abortions.” The bill would make it illegal to cause an abortion by the “use of clamps, grasping forceps, tongs, scissors, or similar instruments that, through the convergence of two rigid levers, slice, crush or grasp a portion of the body of the unborn child to cut out or tear off a portion of the body of the unborn child.” “Dismemberment” is not a medical term, and medical professionals say it does not accurately represent the procedure it is apparently targeting, dilation and evacuation, and would be difficult to enforce. The bill does not make exceptions for pregnancies that are the result of incest or rape. 16

JANUARY 12, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

The legal community says such a law would be unconstitutional in that it would create an intrusion on best medical practices, cause an undue burden on the doctor and patient seeking a legal procedure and ignore the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on viability. Six states have introduced “dismemberment legislation,” but it has been enjoined from taking effect by the courts in three of those states — Alabama, Kansas and Oklahoma — and is not being enforced during a legal challenge in Louisiana. There were no challenges to the law in Mississippi and West Virginia; those laws take effect this year. If the bill passes and survives a court challenge, it could mean women in Arkansas who are past the nine-week medical abortion window and whose doctors believe that the safest way for them to exercise their legal right to abortion would be dilation and evacuation would be forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term. Giving birth is risker than abortion, so not only would the bill take away a legal right, it would involve health risks for women. Dilation and evacuation, a procedure used after 14 weeks until viability (after 21 weeks), involves using a seaweed extract to soften the cervix and a cannula to suction the fetal tissue from the womb. To guard against infection, doctors use instruments to make sure there is no fetal tissue remaining in the womb. The World Health Organization and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend the procedure as the safest for women more than 12 or 13 weeks pregnant. (Another procedure, dilation and suction curettage, is commonly used earlier in pregnancy, or to treat the patient after a miscarriage or a uterine disease.) Mayberry believes abortion is an “immoral” act based on his interpretation of the Bible, he said during hearings in 2013 on his earlier abortion bill. In an email, the Times asked Mayberry, among other questions, if he would personally block the door of an abortion clinic to a woman desiring an abortion by explaining that he, as her legislator, could not permit her to enter. He did not respond, but in a phone interview, co-sponsor Sen. David Sanders (R-Little Rock), said he wouldn’t. However, Sanders said he would tell a woman who was feeling “hopeless or alone” that she did not have to feel that way. He also said he did not believe the bill would be considered unconstitutional, despite the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that states can’t ban abortion

until a fetus is viable, somewhere at the beginning of the third trimester, or 12 or 14 weeks later than the period this bill targets, because he believes there are alternatives, including the injection of a substance into the uterus that would terminate the pregnancy. “On the technical aspects, the bill would not prevent an abortion where there was an injection that terminated the life, the pregnancy,” Sanders said. But this reporter’s research could find no evidence of such a procedure and a medical professional would only exclaim disbelief at the suggestion. Sanders also said that rape victims usually seek abortion at an earlier stage, but medical statistics show that nearly a third of pregnancies resulting from rape are not discovered until the second trimester. In answer to a press conference question about whether anti-abortion bills of questionable constitutionality should go forward given the possibility of a pro-life Supreme Court under President Trump, Governor Hutchinson said last week that pro-life legislation presented an opportunity “to move the court, to move the debate and to move another case to the Supreme Court.” The bill was referred to the Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor on Monday. The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas will no doubt lobby against the law. Opponents of the bill may wish to participate in the seventh Rally for Reproductive Justice at 1 p.m. Jan. 28 on the state Capitol steps. The Women’s March for Arkansas, while not specifically a pro-choice rally, was organized in response to the misogyny demonstrated in the 2016 elections; it will start at 11 a.m. Jan. 21 at the corner of Pulaski Street and Capitol Avenue.  —Leslie Newell Peacock

Campus carry Though Governor Hutchinson has said he does not see a need for it, Rep. Charlie Collins (R-Fayetteville) says he will introduce a bill to require college and university campuses to allow faculty and employees with concealed carry permits to bring their guns to campus. That would amend state law, which now allows campuses to opt out of a provision in a law Collins introduced in 2013 to allow what’s called campus carry. All Arkansas colleges and universities have repeatedly voted to opt out. Collins tried in 2015 to amend the law to remove the opt-out provision, but the Senate referred the bill to com-

mittee, where it died. The governor said at a December press conference that the opt-out provision was “very workable” for campuses. Collins said he has a “good working relationship” with Hutchinson and is “obviously open to the governor’s opinion.” Collins believes that allowing campus faculty and employees to carry guns would deter what he calls “rampage killers.” Should such killers discover that faculty members were armed, they would think twice before attacking, Collins said. “They’re going to avoid where they’re going to be interdicted.” In 2015, Collins told the Times that “mass murderers in gun-free zones like college campuses are a real problem that’s not going away on its own.” There has never been a mass shooting on a college campus in Arkansas. The last shooting with multiple fatalities in the United States was at Umpqua Community College in Oregon in 2015; 10 died, including the shooter. However, under Oregon law, persons with concealed carry permits may carry on campus. The college’s rule that no guns were allowed on campus was in conflict with state law. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, in the wake of the 2007 Virginia Tech University shooting, in which 32 people were killed, legislation has been introduced in several states to allow some form of concealed carry on campus. Eight states now allow or have laws coming into effect that require colleges to allow permit holders to carry concealed weapons on campuses. Campus carry has been something of a crusade for Collins. He introduced his first campus carry bill in 2011; it was defeated then. Austin Bailey, of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense, said guns on campus are a threat to safety, not a deterrent, and the dollars that will be needed to train personnel in case of a campus shooting should be invested in campus police, not professors. “If the House has brand-new metal detectors and beefed up security to keep guns out, can they really force guns on to Arkansas campuses?” Bailey asked. Arkansans Against Guns on Campus, which is not a formal organization but has a Facebook page, has opposed campus carry since 2013. Steve Boss, a member of the group, called the issue an “obsession” with Collins. “Nobody asked for this bill,” he said. “The police don’t want it, the campus officials don’t

want it and have expressed their desire not to have it.” The head of campus police at the University of Arkansas declined to express an opinion on campus carry, referring a reporter to the administration. Calls to the University of Arkansas for comment had not been returned by press time Tuesday. Boss said guns on campus would be vulnerable to theft. He said the prospect that professors could be carrying guns might discourage applications to the UA and that some students might be wary of talking to a professor about school issues if they thought he or she might have a gun on them. Boss also noted instances of accidental shootings on campuses, including a professor at Idaho State University who accidentally shot himself in the foot during class. Nevertheless, Boss said “the odds are stacked” against defeating the bill, given the Republican supermajorities in both houses. Collins said he may tweak the bill from the version introduced in 2015, HB 1077. Collins said he does not think students should be allowed to carry weapons on campus. “The idea of drunk 18-year-olds in a dorm room … .” He did not need to finish the sentence. Leading the fight against the campus carry bill will be Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, whose members have scheduled a lobby event at the legislature from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Feb. 1. The lobby day is not just for mothers, but all who want to hinder gun violence. The group is also making phone calls, emailing, tweeting and using social media to get the word out about gun legislation. The group’s Facebook COZART: Wants to chip away at the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act.

page, Moms Demand Action - AR, provides ideas on how to let your legislator know your stand on the bill, including a sample letter, and links to news on Collins’ bill. The group will also have a table set up at the Women’s March on Jan. 21 to provide information on the legislation. Fayetteville-based Arkansans Against Guns on Campus, which describes itself on its Facebook page as a “coalition of students, faculty, alumni, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers,” also provides links to articles about the gun lobby and campus safety. —Leslie Newell Peacock

Voter ID As of Election Day 2016, 31 states require some form of governmentissued identification in order to vote. Ostensibly about preventing the scourge of in-person voter fraud — a crime so rare outside the hellscape of Donald Trump’s head that a 2014 study by Loyola (Los Angeles) Law School Professor Justin Levitt found just 241 possible incidents of in-person voter fraud in over 1 billion U.S. votes cast — the real value of voter ID laws to Republicans is that they tend to disenfranchise those groups that often vote Democratic, including the young, the disabled, the poor and minority groups. Voter ID laws surely paid dividends for the GOP in Election 2016. In Wisconsin, for example, where Trump won the presidential election by fewer than 23,000 votes, The Nation reported that with the election looming, an estimated 300,000 registered voters were without a form of ID required by the state’s strict 2014 voter ID law. Understandably, Arkansas Republicans have been bully on the boogeyman of “voter fraud” for years (for example, a 15-page “Arkansas

arktimes.com JANUARY 12, 2017, 2016

BENTLEY: No more junk food for food stamp recipients if her bill passes.

JANUARY 12, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

Voter Fraud Prevention Handbook” available from the secretary of state’s website features a discussion of what to do if you notice a neighbor’s cat is listed on the rolls as a registered voter). The legislature passed a voter ID bill in 2013, then overrode a veto by Gov. Mike Beebe to make it law. The law was subsequently struck down by the Arkansas Supreme Court in October 2014, with an opinion by the late Justice Donald Corbin saying the law would disenfranchise voters and was in violation of the state Constitution because it created new requirements for voting. Like an undead horror, however, voter ID has shambled back from the grave for the 2017 legislative session, with State Rep. Mark Lowery (R-Maumelle) filing House Bill 1047 in December. The bill, which would amend the state Constitution’s Amendment 51, would require voters to present a document that shows the voter’s name, or a government issued ID or photo ID when they come to vote. If the voter is unable to show one of those forms of ID at the time of voting, poll workers will be required to list that the person didn’t show the ID before allowing the voter to cast a provisional ballot. Asked about voter ID laws just before the start of the legislative session, Governor Hutchinson said he has historically supported voter ID laws, and doesn’t see them as a burden on citizens. “I do believe you have to look at the specific language of any voter ID law to make sure that it doesn’t place a burden on the citizens and access to the ballot box,” Hutchinson said. “So while I’ve

generally supported a voter ID initiative, I want to look at the specific language of any bill to make sure it doesn’t unduly burden our citizens … because there is a segment of the population that does give up their own driver’s license, but they still want to vote. We want to make sure they have that access.” Tom Masseau, executive director of Disability Rights Arkansas, said his group is monitoring Lowery’s bill closely, and will be opposing it and other bills this session that might present an impediment to voting. “We feel that IDs are still very hard to come by for people,” he said. “Yes, an individual can vote through a provisional ballot, but you and I both know: Will it ever get counted?” Masseau said voter ID laws disproportionately disenfranchise the disabled because of the physical barriers they face getting to and from a place that issues ID, along with difficulties in obtaining the necessary documents. As an example, Masseau said that a person who may have spent years in a state institution might have a hard time securing their birth certificate and other documents proving citizenship and residency required to receive a state ID. Asked how Arkansans can help the group push back against HB1047, Masseau invited people with disabilities or other impairments to share their stories of problems while voting in the last election — including polling places that weren’t accessible to the handicapped — on the group’s Facebook page, facebook. com/DisabilityRightsAR, or by calling its toll free number at 1-800-482-1174. —David Koon

Undocumented immigrants Since those on the right are traditionally suspicious of overreach from Washington, it may sound odd that staunchly conservative legislators would seek to punish local governments and institutions for insufficient compliance with federal law enforcement. But that’s just what two bills from Sen. Gary Stubblefield (R-Branch) and Rep. Brandt Smith (R-Jonesboro) seek to do. Stubblefield’s Senate Bill 14 would strip state funds from Arkansas cities if they enact “sanctuary policies,” meaning ordinances or law enforcement policies that demonstrate tolerance toward individuals who immigrated to the country illegally — for example, a policy preventing local police officers from interrogating people about their citizenship/immigration status. Smith’s House Bill 1042, which con-

tains substantially the same language as Stubblefield’s, would do the same for public colleges or universities. Both define a “sanctuary policy” to include informal practices that (in the words of Smith’s bill) “grant to illegal immigrants the right to lawful presence or status on the campus of the state-supported institution of higher education in violation of federal law.” Smith told the Arkansas Times in December that he filed the legislation in response to a group of faculty and students at Arkansas State University that were petitioning ASU to declare itself a “sanctuary campus.” He said he’d been later assured by an ASU system representative that “that’s not going to happen at ASU” but said his bill was still needed “in the event that these petitions get traction.” Similar petition efforts sprang up at colleges across the country in the wake of a presidential election in which the winning candidate campaigned on inflammatory anti-immigrant rhetoric and promised to establish a “deportation force” and build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Stubblefield said he was unaware of any municipalities in Arkansas that fit his definition of “sanctuary cities,” and added “this is more of a preemptive bill, to prevent that from happening.” Smith indicated he was mostly concerned about the idea of Arkansas campuses harboring criminals who were in the country illegally. But although both sponsors said their legislation was preemptive, the bills are so broadly worded they could conceivably impact existing policies and resident families. For example, the student bodies of universities in Arkansas include some students who were brought across the border as children, grew up in the state and graduated from Arkansas high schools, yet do not have legal status. Should those young people be turned over to federal authorities for deportation? Smith said that issue was “really challenging and really difficult … . We don’t want to be heartless about this, but there is a process. Some of these children had no choice. They were brought along with their families. But they need to make a very quick move to get legal before someone or some law forces them out.” (However, there is no way for such students to “get legal,” since there exists no pathway to legal status for immigrants who are here illegally.) Neither bill may gain any traction, since immigration sharply divides two key constituencies within the GOP — business interests and nativists — and the governor has expressed skepticism

toward the measures. When asked about sanctuary legislation recently, Hutchinson said, “I believe in the fundamental principle of allowing local governments to work, and so I have a resistance to those types of mandates,” although he said he had not read the specific bills. Should the sanctuary bills gain ground, expect loud opposition to come from the Arkansas United Community Coalition, a nonprofit that advocates for immigrants. Mireya Reith, the AUCC’s executive director, said the organization was “taking nothing for granted” and was watching the bills closely. (She also expressed concern about Smith’s House Bill 1041, which could prevent the state from recognizing identification issued by foreign governments, such as the IDs provided by some consulates to their nationals.) “We think one of the strengths of Arkansas has always been for local communities and colleges to come to decisions that make sense for them,” Reith said. “This would negate the ability of every community to consider all the options in terms of its relationship with newcomers to our state.” —Benjamin Hardy

Education policy When Governor Hutchinson laid out his agenda for the 2017 session, education was one of three categories he prioritized (the others being “economic development” and a grab bag of reforms dubbed “efficiencies”). Yet most of the initiatives the governor listed were modest, wonky and uncontroversial: invest $5 million more in computer science, improve phonics instruction for teachers, rework scholarships targeted toward community college students, and deliver a welcome $3 million boost in pre-K funding to improve teacher quality. He made no mention of hotbutton items like charter schools or vouchers. This is notable both because education is the largest item in the state budget — K-12 and higher ed together comprise almost two-thirds of general revenue spending — and is the subject of intense policy debates. Expect more substantial (and contentious) proposals to emerge from the General Assembly in the coming weeks. The most significant school-related legislation filed so far concerns the labor law that establishes due process for firing certain school employees, the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act. Reps. Bruce Cozart (R-Hot Springs) and Mark Lowery (R-Maumelle) filed a pair of bills in early December that would chip away

at the law. Cozart’s House Bill 1017 would allow the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act to be waived in a public school or school district that has been taken over by the state Education Department; the Little Rock School District is the most prominent example of such a district. House Bill 1029, authored by Lowery, would exclude principals, assistant principals and central office staff with multi-year contracts from protection under the law. In December, Cozart, who chairs the House Education Committee, told the Times his bill was necessary to help the state improve academic outcomes at troubled schools. “It doesn’t have to be used, but it would give [the State Board of Education, which authorizes state takeovers] an opportunity to use that tool,” Cozart said. “I’m not against teachers, don’t get me wrong ... but sometimes when a state takes over a school, there are issues with teachers.” He said the bill was not targeting the LRSD in particular. Brenda Robinson, president of the Arkansas Education Association, said, “the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act simply outlines the process by which a school may remove a teacher from employment for a valid reason. … This bill ignores that fact and chooses to blame and shame teachers.” Robinson said legislators “need to focus on what helps students the most: recruiting the right people into teaching, providing ongoing training, compensating teachers appropriately, developing reliable ways to measure teacher effectiveness and giving teachers the resources to help every child succeed.” Cozart introduced a similar proposal in 2015 as part of a larger bill to establish “achievement districts” in Arkansas, which would allow the state to privatize districts or schools under state takeover by assigning their operations to nonprofit charter management organizations. He pulled the legislation after opposition emerged from groups like the Arkansas School Boards Association and the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators, which represents school superintendents. Many education advocates are anticipating the return of an “achievement district” bill this session. Mike Mertens, assistant executive director at the AAEA, said his organization “would have concerns” if such legislation reemerged, though he cautioned that “we would have to see exactly what was in the bill.” Mertens said the AAEA opposed Cozart’s 2015 legislation because it “took away local

control” and included no appeal process for a local school board. Should a privatization measure be filed, the AAEA and the teachers union (the AEA) will likely be critical in opposing it, as will grassroots opposition organized by the Arkansas Citizens First Congress. As for the governor’s initiatives, there is one in particular that bears a closer look. Hutchinson is pushing a new “outcomes-based funding formula” for higher education, which will tie college and university funding to graduation rates and other metrics. Rather than simply subsidizing institutions based on student enrollment, the state would (theoretically) hold them more accountable for delivering measurable results. There are reasons to be skeptical of such a plan — it potentially creates an incentive to inflate grades and a disincentive to enroll more academically disadvantaged students — but the state’s colleges and universities are solidly lined up in support of the proposal, in part because Hutchinson has pledged a $10 million increase to higher ed funding if his model is adopted. —Benjamin Hardy

Health care The fight over Medicaid expansion — a.k.a., the private option or Arkansas Works — has dominated the ledge since 2013, when Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe and a group of moderate Republicans created the program. Because the appropriation for the program must be re-authorized every year, the health spending showdown between the GOP’s pragmatists (including Governor Hutchinson) and its hardline conservatives has become a perennial feature of every legislative session. This time around, though, the Obamacare appropriation debate may be circumscribed by drama in D.C. Conventional wisdom says congressional Republicans and President-elect Trump are leaning toward a “repeal and delay” strategy to undo Obamacare: Defund it now and replace it later. This would mean the program as we know it would remain in place for at least another year or two. Meanwhile, Republicans will likely try to shift federal spending on traditional, preACA Medicaid to block grants, meaning states will have greater freedom to spend health care money how they see fit (and will have less of it over time). All of that spells huge changes to health policy in Arkansas — at some point. Right now, all is uncertain, and Congress probably won’t deliver clarity in time for the

Arkansas legislature to act before the session’s end. House Speaker Jeremy Gillam (R-Judsonia) told reporters recently that it would be “prudent right now to have a little patience to see what’s going to come out of Washington.” Senate Majority Leader Jim Hendren (R-Gravette) predicted that “there will be perhaps some legislation” to make the existing Arkansas Works program more conservative, such as work requirements and an effort to lower the income cap for eligibility. As for long-term, systemic changes, though, “I think it’s very likely that will be done at some future point in a special session,” Hendren said. The 300,000-plus Arkansans who now have insurance thanks to the Medicaid expansion — about a tenth of the state’s population — probably won’t lose their coverage right away. But if Republicans make good on the campaign promises of the past six years, they will in the future. —Benjamin Hardy

Food stamps and junk food Conservatives typically oppose the nanny state, but some seem invested in creating additional layers of bureaucracy in the lives of poor people. Take Rep. Mary Bentley (R-Perryville). She’s filed a bill to restrict Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to buy candy and soft drinks and other items deemed insufficiently nutritious. The state’s Department of Human Services would be charged with determining what products qualify as having sufficient nutritional value based upon the standards for another food aid program, the Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC). SNAP can be currently be used to buy any food item, with exceptions for alcohol and hot food or food that would be eaten in-store. The state would have to acquire a waiver from the federal government to enact the strict limitations it envisions. Republicans in the West Virginia legislature unsuccessfully tried to pass a similar bill last year. Among other problems, strict limitations would be devastating to Arkansans living in so-called “food deserts.” The bill would create a massive access problem in rural areas and low-income neighborhoods in Arkansas, where some food stamp beneficiaries might find themselves unable to use food stamps because of a lack of retailers offering eligible items. —David Ramsey arktimes.com JANUARY 12, 2017, 2016

Arts Entertainment AND

In bloom

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE

A Q&A with bLAck pARty.

I want to ask about the video for “Best View.” I can say pretty confidently that I’ve never seen a love story played out while a taxidermist was sewing eyeballs into a dead fox, but apart from that, it could be construed as a pretty straightforward love song. What went into the decision to keep things weird? Personally, I feel like because it’s such a sweet straightforward love 20

JANUARY 12, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

BIBRA AKE

he image on the cover of bLAck pARty’s EP “Mango” shows its creator — Malik Flint, a quiet 24-year-old raised in Little Rock in a military family — suspended over a lily pond somewhere in California. His eyes are closed, and the word “Mango” is written in English and again in Japanese above his head. As photographer and creative director Ibra Ake told Greenlabel magazine, it’s part homage to Flint’s lush, green home state, and part homage to an Instagram account Ake and Flint favored, a collection of images of fruit stickers. Flint left Little Rock for L.A. in 2014 with friend and collaborator Kari Faux, and the two are now the youngest members of Royalty, the creative collective that surrounds Childish Gambino (a.k.a. Donald Glover), the Golden Globe-winning creator of FX’s comedy series “Atlanta” and a musician who made waves last month with his third album, a funk throwback called “Awaken, My Love!” With a carefully managed gestation in a “factory” in Los Angeles’ Glassell Park and a boost from Gambino’s high-profile Twitter account, bLAck pARty (a stylized reference to Flint’s ties to L.A. and Arkansas) released “Mango” in November 2016, and I spoke with him shortly afterward.

ROYALTY: With creative guidance from Ibra Ake and Childish Gambino, Little Rock expat Malik Flint (bLAck pARty) released the lush, delirious “Mango” last November.

song, I wanted it to have some sort of edge, some sort of twist to it. Anything that feels too sweet feels kinda weird to me. Because of the trippy production, you don’t go into, like, Maxwell territory. Seal territory. Sugary. Yeah. At the end of the day, I don’t consider myself an R&B singer. People kind of put that label on me, but I don’t want to be that type of artist. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just not my personality. Maybe part of it is the romance on tracks like “Wanderlust,” and the implied reverence for the women to whom the songs are addressed. It’s sort of a keynote for the album. “Bloom,” in particular, could be about a friend or a lover, but it sort of floats above the baggage that sometimes we as adults tend to carry into relationships with us. It’s just a benevolent sentiment, like “I

want all good things for you.” So, the first three songs I did for the album were “Low End,” Bloom” and “Best View.” My dad actually wrote “Best View.” He’s written poetry my whole life, and he was taking a songwriting class at that time. A few days before I was leaving for L.A., he gave me the lyrics and said, “See if you can do something with it.” So, I ended up finding melodies, mixing it with music that worked for me, and it was such a sweet song. “Low End” felt much more like a drug trip to me. “Bloom” is for my little sister. She’s 11. We have a strong connection, because we’re 12 years apart, and I was there when she was born. She’s missed me a lot — like, she did not want me to leave. So that’s my song for her. This sounds kinda

dark, but I wanted — if, God forbid, I ever died or something — I wanted to leave her something. “Feel Good” is subtitled “Amindi’s interlude.” Who’s Amindi? Amindi K. Frost. She’s like 16 or 17, and she’s a singer I stumbled across from being on Twitter. She has a sort of Ella Fitzgerald voice. I like really weird voices, so like, I was just drawn to it immediately, and I love how it turned out. You turned in the song “You” to Justin Bieber, and although I’m sure it would have been a great thing for you, I’m glad Justin Bieber didn’t end up doing that song. Yeah. When I moved to L.A. I didn’t really have intentions of mak-

A&E NEWS

ROCK CANDY

Check out the Times’ A&E blog arktimes.com

ing my own project. ... I’m not really a project finisher. I usually take a year of doing my own music, and a year of not doing my own music, but I got an opportunity with a publisher through a friend of ours, and one of the people she told me about was Justin Bieber. I was like, “I can make a Justin Bieber record.” So, I played “You” for her, and we submitted it and never heard back about it. Then the album came out. And that’s your rejection letter. (Laughs.) Yeah, so I was like, “OK, cool.” I ended up keeping it. Ibra Ake, the photographer and creative director you’ve worked with closely on this project, has a real eye for making you guys look unique. He lends this beauty and this bizarre quality to your aesthetic, and Kari’s. He has a really well-rounded view of art in itself, and an understanding of our individual personalities, so he understands how to convey our personalities through pictures or art. He comes from a fashion photography background, and he’s originally from Nigeria, so I feel like he takes what he sees in the world and brings that to an American realm. With us, everybody comes from different backgrounds, so having those different perspectives kinda rounds us out. The outro to “Mango” is a thankyou note to the people who helped you put this together. Could you talk about a couple of those people? I’m one of those people that feels weird about people helping me. So, it was a shout-out to everyone who helped me work on music up to this project. Ludwig [Goransson] and a lot of people from Donald’s band: Lynette [Williams] plays keys for the outro, Chris [Hartz], Donald’s drummer. Doc [Allison] does a lot of production on Kari’s project and also my project. He’s also a cellist, so all the strings you hear on “Lost en Los Angeles” — that’s him. I feel like saying thank you is important, especially for people who might not hear “thank you” enough — like a musician.

WORK OUT WITH AN EXPERT

LITTLE ROCK DOOM metal band Pallbearer announced the March 24 release of “Heartless,” a seven-song longplayer tracked in analog at Fellowship Sound Studios and mixed by Joe Barresi, whose production and engineering credits include albums by the Melvins, Weezer, Tool, Kelly Clarkson and Queens of the Stone Age. The album cover features an oil painting by Michael Lierly (brother of Pallbearer drummer Mark Lierly). Pallbearer will play at the Rev Room on March 22, to be followed by an April tour of Europe and the U.K.

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REGENERATION FITNESS

THE CENTRAL ARKANSAS Library System is scheduling free, personalized 30-minute sessions on how to use its digital media services like Hoopla, Freegal, OneClickDigital, Overdrive and Flipster. The sessions will be at the Terry Library branch (2015 Napa Valley Drive) beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 14. To schedule a session, call 228-0129. CIRCUIT JUDGE AND NEW Millennium Baptist Church pastor Wendell Griffen is taking pre-orders for his first book, “The Fierce Urgency of Prophetic Hope,” which Griffen says is his attempt to help persons of faith “ponder one question: How are we to be committed to the cause of Jesus during and after the presidency of Donald J. Trump?” Griffen also kicks off “Faith in Black and White: The Church and Race in ‘Colorblind’ America,” a new public speaker series co-hosted by Hendrix and Philander Smith colleges, with a talk titled “The Fierce Urgency of Prophetic Citizenship” at Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church Monday at 7 p.m. Jan. 16.

KATHLEEN L. REA, PH.D.

(501) 324-1414 117 East Broadway, North Little Rock www.regenerationfitnessar.com Email: regfit@att.net

Discovery Nightclub Presents the

DI S COV E R MUS IC COM PET IT ION 7 weeks of music with 8 bands competing Grand Prize: $2000 cash and 4 hours of studio time at Blue Chair Studios

ROUND 1: INDIE ROCK PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CASIOTONES VS. DIRTY FUSS JANUARY 14 Doors at 9pm, Show at 10pm Cover is $10 (includes entry to Discovery Lobby and Disco-Tech after the show) Visit Discover Music’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/DiscoveryMusic79 1021 Jessie Rd, Little Rock • 501-666-6900 • www.latenightdisco.com

KELLEY DEAL (OF THE BREEDERS), Joey Kneiser and Kelly Smith (formerly of Glossary), Amyjo Savannah, Open Fields, Randall Shreve and John Burnette are among the musicians who provided music to accompany “What the Hellbender Salamander!” an Arts & Letters program on KUAR-FM, 89.1, about University of Central Arkansas writing professor Mark Spitzer’s new book, “Glurk! A Hellbender Odyssey.” The program, which explores Spitzer’s Pushcart Prize-nominated book, a self-described “avant-garde epic poem” about the hellbender salamander, native to Ozark streams and rivers, airs at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20, on the NPR affiliate. ARTS & THE PARK, Hot Springs’ annual juried art showcase, is soliciting entries for a logo design for this year’s 10-day festival. A $250 prize will be awarded for the winning design. Deadline is Jan. 19. Entry details are at hotspringsarts. org.

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arktimes.com JANUARY 12, 2017, 2016

THE

TO-DO

LIST

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE AND LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK

THURSDAY 1/12-SUNDAY 1/15, THURSDAY 1/19SUNDAY 1/22

FRIDAY 1/13

2ND FRIDAY ART NIGHT

5-8 p.m. Downtown galleries. Free.

‘NOVEMBER’

Various times. Studio Theater. $14$16.

David Mamet’s “November” is set in the Oval Office just prior to a presidential election, and for that reason alone, Community Theater of Little Rock’s decision to include the play in its 20162017 season must have seemed like a predictable choice. If ever there were a time to put aside the dank psychological despair of the more-often-performed “Glengarry Glen Ross” in favor of political laughs, Inauguration 2017 would be the time, right? Given the upheaval of the 2016 election season, though — and the uncertainty in which an impending Trump presidency is shrouded, it might not come across so predictably. The jokes Nathan Lane lobbed at the audience in the play’s 2008 premiere have taken on an unforeseen absurdity now that the play’s nine years old. Take, for example, the moment when unpopular incumbent Charles Smith (played by Marcus Vowell, in CTLR’s production) asks his lawyer why he can’t build a fence to keep out illegal immigrants: His lawyer replies, “You need the illegal immigrants to build the fence.” That line rings a little differently than it did in 2008, as do the bits of the play in which Smith’s speechwriter, Clarice Bernstein, a lesbian (played by Patrice Phillips in CTLR’s production), petitions the president to legalize gay marriage. CTLR’s production of the play, which the New York Times’ Ben Brantley called “a David Mamet play for people who don’t like David Mamet,” is bound by sheer virtue of its timing to elicit a more complex response from its audience than a one-note laugh; ideally, the production will allow for momentary escape into an alternate presidential reality. If it can do that meaningfully, perhaps ticketholders will uncover something new about real life post-inauguration, and hey, isn’t that what community theater’s for? The show runs for two consecutive weekends, and you’ll get $1 off admission if you bring along a pair of gently used running shoes. Sunday performances are at 1:30 p.m.; all others begin at 7:30 p.m. SS 22

JANUARY 12, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

BLOCK PARTY: Rodney Block brings his Edwards Generation X-series trumpet to Cajun’s Wharf Friday night for a dance party and social featuring guest vocalist Bijoux, 9 p.m., $5.

FRIDAY 1/13

‘LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL’ DANCE PARTY 9 p.m. Cajun’s Wharf. $5.

Rodney Block plays an Edwards Generation X-series trumpet, an adaptation of the famous Monette model, and the same mode played by Trombone Shorty — when he’s not playing trombone, that is. “The horn is heavy, which contributes to the nice warm sound,” Block told us last week. “Hopefully people recognize my sound like one would a person’s voice.” Despite working a full-time day gig in the field of medical equipment sales, which he says is “a great contrast and

complement to my musical side,” Block’s one of the most prolific performers in town. He and his band — Jonathan Burks on drums, Joel Crutcher on bass and, as of the New Year, Khaleel Tyus on keyboards — play enough to warrant making a barber, Andre Talbert, as an essential crew member. “He always makes sure I look fresh,” Block said. The band mixes originals from albums like their latest EP, “Eyes Haven’t Seen/Ears Haven’t Heard” with danceable, singalong-inducing covers, and incorporates guests like vocalist Bijoux Pighee, who joins the Rodney Block Collective for this show. SS

The Historic Arkansas Museum (200 E. Third St.) is breaking the Art Night mold on a Friday the 13th by offering a curator’s tour of its exhibition “A Diamond in the Rough: 75 Years of Historic Arkansas Museum,” which features art and objects from the permanent collection. Interim Director and Chief Curator Swannee Bennett will talk about such things as the symbolism crafted into Gov. James Sevier Conway’s rifle and tell stories of collecting by the first Arkansas Made team (Bennett and retired Director Bill Worthen). After you’ve taken the tour, have a Winter Warmer beer by Stone’s Throw Brewing and hear music by Charles Woods. At the Butler Center Galleries (401 President Clinton Ave.), two new exhibitions, “The American Dream Deferred: Japanese American Incarceration in WWII Arkansas,” objects from the Rosalie Santine Gould-Mabel Jamison Vogel collection from the internment camps, and “Arkansas Committee Scholars Exhibition,” work by Beverly Buys, Maxine Payne and Robin Miller-Bookhout, open, and the duo Das Loop will provide music. The Cox Creative Center (120 River Market Ave.) is hosting an Arkansas Pastel Society show, and Arkansas Capital Corp. (200 River Market Ave.) features “Subtle and Bold,” artworks by Susan Chambers and Sofia Gonzalez. Matt McLeod Fine Art Gallery (108 W. Sixth St.) will feature works by gallery artists. At the Old State House Museum (300 W. Markham), where “True Faith, True Light: The Devotional Art of Ed Stilley” continues, hear the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Community Orchestra perform selections by Haydn and Holst.

IN BRIEF

THURSDAY 1/12

FRIDAY 1/13

‘THE REAL REASON BEHIND THE REFUGEE CRISIS’

6 p.m. Clinton School of Public Service, Sturgis Hall. Free.

Chances are good that you’ve seen the photo of 3-year-old Alan Kurdi, his body washed up on the beach shore near Bodrum, Turkey, or that you saw the photo of 5-year-old Omran Daqneesh, covered in dust and blood, sitting in the back of an ambulance after being pulled from the rubble following an airstrike in Aleppo. We probably learned more about the nature of the humanitarian crisis in Syria — at least in terms of emotional intelligence — from those photos than we have from listening to

experts explain the convoluted web of factions involved in the violence, and there are thousands more images where those came from. In July of 2014, a military photographer code-named Caesar who’d been tasked with photographing war victims — most of their bodies showing signs of torture or starvation — defected, reportedly after he spotted people from his own village among the dead. He testified before Congress that same summer, and a video made by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum titled “I Had the Job of Taking Pictures of the Dead” shows a sampling of what the museum cites as over 55,000 images taken between 2011 and 2013. In this photography exhibi-

tion and panel discussion, the Clinton School’s guests examine the nature of the conflict that the U.N. now estimates has killed 400,000 people and displaced over 11 million. The panel members are Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force and political director for United for a Free Syria; Stephen Rapp, former U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues; and Jim Hooper, former managing director of the Public International Law and Policy Group. Reserve a seat by calling 6835239 or by emailing publicprograms@ clintonschool.uasys.edu, or watch the Clinton School livestream of the event on its website. SS

SATURDAY 1/14

50-CENT CORNED BEEF DAY

11 a.m., post time 1 p.m. Oaklawn Racing & Gaming, Hot Springs. Free admission.

TEACHING TOLERANCE: Club Sway holds a community fundraiser Friday night to remember LGBT rights leader John Schenck (on the right, pictured next to his late husband of over 40 years, Robert Loyd) who passed away in December.

FRIDAY 1/13

REMEMBERING JOHN SCHENCK

8 p.m. Club Sway.

LGBT rights leader and hairdresser John Schenck passed away in December, almost exactly a year after his partner of over 40 years, Robert Loyd (a Damascus native and Vietnam vet) died of a heart attack. The couple, who met in West Palm Beach and moved to Arkansas in 1978 to care for Loyd’s ailing mother and to Conway in 1986, where their bright pink house served as the starting point for the annual Pride Parade, as the locus for the couple’s hairdressing business and as a safe space for LGBT youth who found themselves in cri-

sis as a result of their sexual identity. Schenck and Loyd were married in Canada in 2004 and were vocal in the struggle for gay marriage to become legal in Arkansas, challenging the ban on gay marriage that Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ultimately ruled was unconstitutional. Later, they became one of the first couples to obtain a marriage license in the state of Arkansas following the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges. To help raise funds for Schenck’s funeral, Sway is holding a community fundraiser celebrating his life and the impact he and Loyd had on LGBT youth in Conway, and on the community at large. SS

Singer-songwriter A.J. Croce performs at the Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville, 7:30 p.m., $30. Bonnie Montgomery plays a show at the White Water Tavern just ahead of her trio The Wildflower Revue’s debut release, 9 p.m. Author and Appalachian farmer Anthony Flaccavento gives a lecture on sustainable food systems, “Building a Healthy Economy from the Bottom Up: Harnessing Real-World Experience for Transformative Change,” at the Clinton School of Public Service’s Sturgis Hall with a book-signing afterward, 7:30 p.m., free. Over at Cajun’s, Trey Johnson plays for happy hour, 5:30 p.m., free. Todd “T-Rexx” Rexx brings his standup shtick to The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sun., 10 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Also in Fayetteville, George’s Majestic Lounge hosts an evening of comedy with “Beards Across America” comedian and “Squidbillies” guest Dave Stone, 8 p.m., $9. Jay Jackson hosts a Songwriter’s Showcase featuring Flight of Crows at The Joint in Argenta, 7:30 p.m., $5.

FRIDAY 1/13 Amasa Hines returns to White Water, 9:30 p.m., $10. Artist and writer Lap CONTINUED ON PAGE 25

When food writer Kat Robinson spoke with Chef Bill Graham around this time in 2010, before the opening weekend of horse racing at Oaklawn, his projections for an estimated Saturday crowd of over 70,000 people required a quantity of corned beef weighing between 3 and 4 tons. That’s roughly the weight of a blue whale calf. Or two Toyota Camrys. They ship the stuff in from a place called the Kelly Eisenberg Co. in Chicago, slice it, boil it up in huge cauldrons, pile it high on a light, untoasted rye and sell it for 50 cents a sandwich. The corned beef — technically more pickled than corned — has been served there since 1904, when Windy City tastes made their way down to Hot Springs along with the visiting tourists. For this second day of the racing season, it’s served at the 1904 price point, alongside 10 cent sodas. You’ll wait in line, sure, but there are nearly two dozen concession stands cranking out these sandwiches along the concourse, and you won’t care anyway, because you were smart enough to multitask with a friend in another adjacent line, and the beer she brought over is so, so cold. Also, you’ve been entertaining yourself with a booklet full of racehorse names: “Majestic Megan.” “Ready to Confess.” “Academic Break.” The first of nine races is at 1 p.m., one with a $125,000 purse: the Pippin Stakes. SS

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arktimes.com JANUARY 12, 2017, 2016

THE

TO-DO

LIST, cont.

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE AND LESLIE NE

TUESDAY 1/17 -WEDNESDAY 1/18

‘HARRY BENSON: SHOOT FIRST’

6 p.m. Ron Robinson Theater. $5.

‘THE INFINITE’: Nicholas Mainieri reads from his debut novel, “The Infinite,” to kick off the monthly Argenta Reading Series at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14, at The Joint 421 Main St., North Little Rock. Anushah Jiwani will give the opening reading and Phillip Rex Huddleston and Daniel Moody will provide music at the free event.

SATURDAY 1/14

ARGENTA READING SERIES: NICHOLAS MAINIERI

7 p.m. 421 Main St., North Little Rock. Free.

Little Rock’s newest reading series opens with a visit from New Orleans author Nicholas Mainieri, who will read from “The Infinite,” a teenage love story set against the backdrop of Mexico’s drug war and a postKatrina New Orleans. It’s been praised by The New York Times as a “propulsive debut, a double coming-of-age story that spans the border … Mainieri is ever sincere, eager to show how borders carve up land and families, and how the dislocated can be tempted

by any semblance of human connection.” Anushah Jiwani opens the reading with her essay “Birthday Cake,” and early birds can catch music from Phillip Rex Huddleston and Daniel Moody before the readings begin. Argenta Reading Series hopes to continue the series on a monthly basis, with the mission to “connect writers directly with their audience, to appreciate the written word, and understand better the person behind those words.” The reading takes place in the meeting space in the Argenta United Methodist Church, but organizers emphasize on the event’s Facebook page that the readings series is not affiliated with the church. SS

SUNDAY 1/15

WRITE OUR WAY OUT

3 p.m. Vino’s. Free.

If the erection of religious monuments on the Capitol grounds or the proposed changes to Medicare really chap your hide, this one’s for you. Our Arkansas, a PAC that seeks to elect Democrats to office, is holding a public letter-writing session, so if you’d like to voice

your opinion to a federal or state representative, they’ll give you the envelopes, paper and pen with which to do it. Our Arkansas states that “information and issue briefings” will be available, and emphasizes the power of a handwritten letter to government representatives (as opposed to an email or text) in affecting public policy. SS

MONDAY 1/16

MLK CHALLENGE

8 a.m. Mosaic Templars Cultural Center. Free.

If you’re a kid between 12 and 18 and want to serve the community, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center has made it easy for you. Just show up at the museum, at Ninth and Broadway streets, at 8 a.m. and group leaders will take you to one of several service sites, including the Arkansas Foodbank and the Pulaski County Humane Society. After projects are completed, staff 24

JANUARY 12, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

will bring volunteers back to the museum for lunch and other activities, including a closing ceremony. The yearly event was created to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, whose birthday is celebrated Monday and who encouraged service. The challenge answers King’s words, “Everybody can be great … because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace.” LNP

Harry Benson is an 87-yearold Scottish photographer, and whether or not you know his name, he’s probably impacted the way you imagine The Beatles, and maybe how you visualize iconic moments in the last few decades in general. He took the famous photos of the Fab Four having a pillow fight in their hotel room shortly before they went gangbusters in America, and of the group clowning around with Muhammad Ali in a gym in Miami. He’s photographed every president since Dwight Eisenhower. He took shots at the refugee camps in Somalia and in the poor neighborhoods of his birthplace, Glasgow. He took that intimate 1992 shot of Hillary Clinton leaning over her husband’s face as he reclined in a hammock. He photographed Bobby Fischer nude in the shower. He photographed Donald Trump throughout his career — on the roof of one of his buildings when he was a real-estate upstart on the rise; again in the money cage of the Atlantic City Taj Mahal, cradling a million dollars in his arms; again at Trump’s wedding to Melania. Benson admits to suggesting to Trump a couple of years ago that he consider running for president. (Thanks.) He was with Robert F. Kennedy the night of Kennedy’s assassination, and Sharon Stone once admitted to being “about half a bump away from being in love” with the photographer. In this documentary, screened two consecutive nights at the Ron Robinson Theater, Benson speaks retrospectively about his own work, and about the beginnings of his career, when his father — the director of the Glasgow Zoo at the time — gave him a camera to keep him out of trouble when he was expelled from school at age 13. SS

IN BRIEF, CONT.

ESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK

MATRIARCHY AND MIGRATION: Arkansas Times Film Series presents the 25th anniversary restoration of Julie Dash’s 1991 film “Daughters of the Dust” at Riverdale 10 Cinema, 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, $8.50.

TUESDAY 1/17

‘DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST’

7 p.m. Riverdale 10 Cinema. $8.50.

It may have taken a quarter century and a thematic homage from Beyoncé herself, but Julie Dash’s pan-generational indie film “Daughters of the Dust” is finally earning the recognition it wasn’t afforded — from mainstream Hollywood, anyway — when it was released in 1991. Narrated by a character called Unborn Child, Dash’s film tells the story of the Peazant family, former West African slaves on St. Simon’s Island off the coast of Georgia who are pulled toward the U.S. mainland in 1902, tugged along by two urbanized members of their extended family who want to organize the northern migration. Over the course of a

WEDNESDAY 1/18

series of non-linear vignettes with rich imagery, conversations in Gullah creole expose the gravity of each character’s decision to leave the island or to stay behind. “I really wanted to see an African-American historical drama that took me places that I had never been to before, just like I was taken places when I was watching foreign films or even some American epics,” Dash told Rolling Stone in November. “Films I was seeing at the time weren’t really made for African-Americans — they were made to explain our history to others.” In partnership with Riverdale 10 Cinema and Film Quotes Film, this 25th anniversary restoration of “Daughters of the Dust” is the first in 2017’s Arkansas Times Film Series. SS

posture. He reminds this listener of a “Green”-era Michael Stipe in a perpetuSouth on Main. 7 p.m. $13-$20. ally minor key, or a moodier Greg SpraDylan Leblanc’s debut album feadlin, and his third album “Cautionary tured a duet with Emmylou Harris on Tale,” released almost exactly a year ago, a languid tune called is drawing his distinc“If the Creek Don’t tive voice out of its Rise,” and it’s about shell. “I wanted this as rainy-day as it record to move a little gets. He comes by his more than my earlier sound honestly; after records,” he told NPR. his parents divorced, “I was tired of writing CAUTIONARY TALE: Muscle Shoals his father — a coun- singer-songwriter Dylan LeBlanc brings his ‘sad bastard songs.’ I try music song- melancholy sound to South on Main 7 p.m. wanted to write writer — relocated Wednesday. about what’s going him to Muscle Shoals on in the world today, where, as a pre-teen, instead of lamenting he shadowed his dad’s club gigs, hung out on the past, and I thought, ‘A groove and with the likes of Spooner Oldham and cola powerful message go a long way.’ So we lected new material for that first record, focused on our rhythm section and added “Pauper’s Field.” Since 2010, LeBlanc’s a lot of strings, and we wound up with a pretty honest record.” Smokey and the been touring with Lucinda Williams and Mirror, the duo comprised of former 3 Bruce Springsteen, quietly earning comparisons to Neil Young — whether by dint Penny Acre members Bryan and Bernice of his vocal timbre or his hunched-over Hembree, opens the show. SS

DYLAN LEBLANC

Le will give a talk at UALR in conjunction with the exhibition “Sigh-Fi,” 6 p.m., and a reception follows for that show as well as Carey Roberson’s “I wish I would have hugged them more” and Bruce Reed’s “Burlesque Show” in other galleries. Locals Sychosys, Judgmental and Moment of Fierce Determination share a bill at Vino’s, 9 p.m. Raising Grey plays at Cajun’s Wharf, 9 p.m. In Conway, The Squarshers bring their jams with Caleb Ryan Martin to King’s Live Music, 8:30 p.m., $5, and The Great Whiskey Rendezvous plays TC’s Midtown Grill, 9 p.m. The UALR Trojans women’s basketball team plays the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Jack Stephens Center, 6:30 p.m. Joshua Stafford plays works by Bach, Vivaldi and Dvorak on the Nichols & Simpson pipe organ at Christ Episcopal Church, 8 p.m. Charlotte Taylor plays a free show at the Tavern Sports Bar & Grill, 7:30 p.m. Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” comes to Robinson Center Performance Hall, 7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sat.-Sun., $30-$70.

Liberty Bridge, 8 p.m., free.

MONDAY 1/16 The Hon. Wendell Griffen, circuit judge, pastor at New Millenium Baptist Church and author of the forthcoming book “The Fierce Urgency of Prophetic Hope,” kicks off a public speaker series cohosted by Hendrix College and Philander Smith College, “Faith in Black and White: The Church and Race in ‘Colorblind’ America,” 7 p.m., Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church, Philander Smith College, free. The stars of WWE Monday Night Raw take over Verizon Arena, 6:30 p.m., $18-$103. Central High School hosts “Mega Kingfest: A Day of Service — A Day On, Not a Day Off,” featuring an appearance from rapper Slick Rick, noon, free. Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church also hosts a Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, 9 a.m., 1601 S. Louisiana St. Stone’s Throw Brewing hosts a two-hour Beginner Sushi Class, 7 p.m., $40.

SATURDAY 1/14 The Ron Robinson Theater screens Rob Reiner’s fairytale classic “The Princess Bride,” 1 p.m., $5. Teardrop City of Oxford, Miss., joins Jim Mize and Bark at the White Water, 9 p.m. The Central Arkansas Nature Center’s “Lil Wild Ones” series gives kids a chance to craft their own “antlers,” 2 p.m., free. Boosie Badazz headlines the “Dirty South Throwdown” at the Clear Channel Metroplex with guests DJ Deja Blu, Project Pat, Sade Shine and Shy Class, 10 p.m., $32$125. Northwest Arkansas reggae outfit The Irie Lions plays at Stickyz, 9:30 p.m., $6. Over at Vino’s, Sherwood’s Consumers join Texas’ Mona Boreland and The News Can Wait, 9 p.m., $7. New Orleans duo Roar! comes to Maxine’s with Landrest, 9 p.m. Sleepy keeps the tunes going in Discovery Nightclub’s Disco Tech, and G-Force is in the Lobby, 9 p.m. King’s Live Music hosts a dueling piano show with TK Cowboy and Matt Rikard, 8:30 p.m., $5. Mike Mayberry and the Slow Hands play at Boogie’s Bar & Grill, Hot Springs, 9 p.m. Go hear aspiring opera stars compete for a chance to advance in Arkansas’s division of the annual Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, UALR’s Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall, 1 p.m., free. The Little Rock Racial & Cultural Diversity Commission hosts “Rights After Wrongs: A Day of Service, a Lifetime of Change” in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day at St. Mark’s Baptist Church, 9 a.m., 5722 W. 12th St. Hibernia Irish Tavern hosts “Too Late to Die Young,” a show from

TUESDAY 1/17 New Motto, Isaac Alexander and The Hacking share an eclectic bill at White Water, 9 p.m. Ken Barnes gives the first lecture in the Arkansas Historical Writers’ “Pen to Podium” series at the Historic Arkansas Museum, “Anti-Catholicism in Arkansas: How Politicians, the Press, the Klan and Religious Leaders Imagined an Enemy,” 7 p.m., free, with a reception sponsored by the Friends of the Arkansas State Archives, 6:30 p.m. Murry’s Dinner Playhouse opens its production of Larry Shue’s “The Nerd,” 7:30 p.m. Tue.-Sat., dinner at 6 p.m., 12:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. Sun., dinner at 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., $15$37. The Joint hosts its weekly Punch Line, an open mic for standup comics, 8 p.m., $5. Gallery 360, a venue for emerging Arkansas artists, opens its third annual “IceBox” show with a reception 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., 900 S. Rodney Parham Road.

WEDNESDAY 1/18 The Little Rock Citizens Climate Lobby holds its first chapter meeting at the First Presbyterian Church, 800 Scott St., 7 p.m., free. Ben Byers plays a free show at the Tavern Sports Bar & Grill, 7:30 p.m., free. Steven Suter is the featured artist for the Spa City Blues Society jam at The Big Chill, 8 p.m.

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arktimes.com JANUARY 12, 2017, 2016

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SUFFERING IN ‘SILENCE’: Adam Driver portrays one of two Portugese Jesuit priests on a dangerous journey to find their mentor in this three-hour movie.

Apostasy Scorsese’s longform saga of faith, ‘Silence,’ aims to endure. BY SAM EIFLING

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ARKANSAS TIMES

artin Scorsese’s latest, “Silence,” is a nearly threehour epic set in 17th century Japan — perhaps an unlikely but long-awaited directorial follow-up to “The Wolf of Wall Street.” And it’s a slog. Two Portuguese Jesuit priests travel in search of their mentor, who rumor holds has forsaken Christianity to live among the Japanese. The stakes could scarcely be higher; at a time when Christians were being tortured and murdered for their beliefs by the Shogunate, the punishment for being discovered — or for being caught harboring Christians — will be brutal and final. The two priests implore their superior to be allowed to make the journey on only a thin basis of missionary work. More insistently, they hope to rescue their former mentor (Liam Neeson) from the ranks of the damned. With theirs among untold numbers of lives on the line, they take the grave risk hoping to rescue one friend’s soul. That calculus — the weight of a soul against that of a life — drives the tension of “Silence” in what is, essentially, an adventure travelogue with two priests: Andrew Garfield as

Rodrigues and Adam Driver as Garrpe. They’re relentlessly serious, alas; the screenplay by Scorsese and Jay Cocks, adapting Shusaku Endo’s novel, has them ducking and hiding on their way into and around Japan. There’s no room for any but the most gentle of respites — a drink of water, a moment spent out of a spider hole and lolling in the sunshine. Suffering and martyrdom run as twin threads throughout. They bear hardships as they struggle to understand and minister to the few Japanese who, under pain of torture and death, hold to Christianity. Those who are caught who do not renounce Christ — symbolized by their stepping on an icon — are killed in ways that recall the torments of European inquisitions. One standout among several: the men strapped to crosses and planted chestdeep in the ocean, such that the waveline breaks over their heads, left for days till they slump off and die. Scorsese, a Catholic himself, does not gild the religion. He offers a version of Catholicism that veers between a fairy tale salve for uneducated peasants who welcome death as their ticket to paradise, and a gateway to madness.

THEATER

THEATER “A Fertle Holiday.” The Main Thing’s holiday production. 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat. through Jan. 14. $22. 301 Main St., NLR. 501-3720210. thejointargenta.com “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.” The touring production of Robert L. Freedman’s Tony Award-winning musical comedy. 7 p.m. Jan. 10-12, 8 p.m. Jan. 13-14, 2 p.m. Jan. 14-15. Walton Arts Center’s Baum Walker Hall, 495 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-443-5600. $21-65. “The Nerd.” Murry’s Dinner Playhouse presents the Larry Shue comedy. 7:30 p.m. Tue.-Sat., dinner at 6 p.m., 12:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. Sun., dinner at 11 a.m. and

5:30 p.m. 6323 Col. Glenn Road. 501-5623131. $15-$37. “Intimate Apparel.” The Weekend Theater’s production of Lynn Nottage’s

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Garfield’s Rodrigues, held in capture and urged toward apostasy by Japanese officials, turns repeatedly to God to guide him through the crisis and hears, as the film’s title would imply, nothing in reply. He is left with only his love and his teachings to guide him, and pays for his faith with misery heaped upon misery, not the least of which is a sense of abandonment. Yet a startling enough transformation takes place in the final chapters of the epic, and as it pulls its protagonist out of his depths, a fuller vision of faith emerges. The temptation would be to call this passion project overindulgent by half, too long and too cruel for the good of itself or for what will largely be secular audiences. But one would do well to remember the power that Christianity has always found in stories of pain and isolation and, indeed, torture. (What other major religion takes as its very symbol an implement of barbaric execution?) “Silence” must be considered a fine story, powerfully and disturbingly told, that seeks to enter a more enduring pantheon of art than whatever else may be coming through the cineplex this weekend. Versions of this story have been told on tapestries and in oil paintings and in stained glass since at least the Middle Ages, and now we have Scorsese telling it from 1640 Japan in 2017 America. This style of Christian story endures because it works. And it works because its characters endure.

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Dining

WHAT’S COOKIN’

BRUNO’S DELI AT 308 Main St., open for only a few months, has closed, but it’s not exactly going away. Owner Gio Bruno said he underestimated diners desire to eat in instead of take out, and decided to add a lunch menu to his restaurant, Bruno’s Little Italy, next door. That will require moving an 800-pound dough mixer to the deli space and other business rearrangements, Bruno said. When all is complete, Bruno’s Little Italy will serve the deli menu of sandwiches and perhaps a fettucine alfredo at lunch. BLUE CANOE BREWING CO. at 425 E. Third St. has discontinued its Taco Beer Burrito offshoot that served lunch and dinner next door. Now the space at 419 E. Third is being operated by Blue Canoe as a taproom, with bar food and Tex-Mex a la carte (and no lunch service). You can get any beer at the taproom available at the microbrewery Blue Canoe 1.0, which is separated from the new taproom, a spokesman said, by an unfortunate elevator. Along with the menu, the hours have changed at Blue Canoe 2.0: It’s open 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. The taproom also has a shuffleboard and dart board.

HAVE A MARGHERITA: And a margarita, too, at The Pizzeria.

Not yet the pizzeria Tweaks needed at Heights hot spot.

MOSAIC TEMPLARS CULTURAL Center is inviting folks to submit recipes to its upcoming cookbook that will celebrate the sweet potato in AfricanAmerican food and culture in Arkansas. All Arkansans are invited to share their sweet-potato-based recipes and the memories they evoke. To submit, go to mosaictemplarscenter. com/recipes before Feb. 28. For more information, call 663-3593. 28

JANUARY 12, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

here are lots of rules for those who create true Neapolitan pizzas: The crust can contain only flour, yeast, salt and water; the sauce must be created using San Marzano tomatoes; only certain types of mozzarella are allowed. It’s a purist’s pizza, just as the majority of craft beers being created today adhere to the ancient laws of brewing. Today we count three Neapolitan pizzerias among our favorite restaurants: ZAZA Fine Salad & Wood Oven Pizza Co. and Raduno Brick Oven and Barroom locally and DeLuca’s Pizzeria in Hot Springs. We just tried a fourth Neapolitan spot — The Pizzeria, which, judging by the size of crowds, has been all the rage since opening Dec. 2 near the intersection of Kavanaugh Boulevard and Cantrell Road.

“Reopening” is really more like it, as The Pizzeria migrated — very slowly — from just down the street at Terry’s Finer Foods. Before that, it operated as Pizzeria Santa Lucia, a renowned food truck. Three cocktails, one appetizer, one pizza and two desserts into our Pizzeria experience, it did not yet rival the other three. We had a pleasant experience, appreciated our waiter’s kind demeanor, appreciated the dedication to craft cocktails as well as authentic pizza and found the vibe of the place fun and cool. But we had quibbles: The “cheese dip” appetizer ($15) featured a thin round of Camembert, fired off in the pizza oven. It was perfectly gooey, and melting softened the pretty-ripe whang the room-temp cheese can have. But it was served with the

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most pedestrian of baguette rounds, only slightly toasted white bread. The shame is that the best baguette in the state is just around the curve at Boulevard Bread. And this ate like an $8 to $10 appetizer, not $15. The pizzas were small, 10 inches, 11 inches tops — cut into six slices. (That’s a critical bit of information to know before ordering, especially if you have a crowd of hungry diners. We didn’t.) They were priced about like the larger versions (13 inches or so) at the local competitors. We opted for the supreme ($16), which featured highquality house-made Italian sausage, highgrade pepperoni, mushrooms, onions and a gooey blanket of mozzarella. The quick cook in the very hot oven — a Mario Acunto wood model, imported from Italy — crisped up the crust’s outer reaches, but the center was still pretty soft, leaving the slices limp at their tips. Note: Math isn’t usually a factor in dining reviews, but considering the price, realize that while the number 10 is 77 percent of 13, a 10-inch pizza offers only 59 percent as much pizza as a 13-inch pie. (Pi x R2, you know.) We appreciated the owner’s dedication to making a variety of desserts, but our coconut cream pie ($5) was tasteless; the only

BELLY UP

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coconut flavor we could discern came from what was toasted and sprinkled on top. The light filling could have used a coconut dose, too, or at least a larger one. The “pecan ball” ($9) sounded good in its description — “a ball of ice cream, covered with pecans and then a layer of chocolate sauce.” But in its execution, the huge ball of ice cream — probably four scoops worth of Haagen Dazs vanilla — overwhelmed the other flavors. We also appreciated the dedication

THE PIZZERIA

4910 Kavanaugh Blvd. 551-1388

QUICK BITE The restaurant can seat only about 40, plus about 10 more at the bar. So if you want to get in and get out in a reasonable amount of time, we suggest being there as soon after 5 p.m. as you can. We were the first diners in at 5:05 p.m. on a recent Sunday, but by 6:30 p.m. there were about 10 folks waiting for a table. HOURS 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 5 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday. OTHER INFO Full bar, credit cards accepted.

to craft cocktails — with 17 choices priced between $9 and $15 — but our Moro Martini ($12) came without the advertised sugar rim. The Perfect Margarita ($12) was more than a bit tart for our taste. As earlier noted, we enjoyed the atmosphere at The Pizzeria. Dark blue walls are offset by a blond-wood ceiling, and the to-the-ceiling shelving evokes the space’s history as a grocery store. The brick oven and pizza prep area are surrounded with a bar and stools so you can dine or wait on a table or a to-go order. The actual bar area has a silent bigscreen TV if you want to keep up with the game. A dropped ceiling and bar stool benches, yes, actual bar-height benches that seat two, are an interesting feature of the bar. They look substantial and comfy. The bar stools and booth seats are upholstered in blue striped mattress-ticking style fabric that, along with the blue-and-white striped cloth napkins, helps soften the slight industrial vibe of the place. An overflow and semi-private dining area is in the back, and behind it is a mini arcade to entertain the kids. Overall, the space is warm and welcoming.

January 13 - Nightflying 36th

Anniversary Party w/ Amy Garland, Ryan Nahlen Band, Joe Pitts Band,Weakness for Blonds, and many more.... 14 - Mountain Sprout 20 - FreeWorld from Memphis,TN 21 - Flatland Funk Donors 27 - Black Oak Arkansas ($20 tickets or $25 Day of show)

Open until 2am every night! 415 Main St North Little Rock • (501) 313-4704 • fourquarterbar.com arktimes.com JANUARY 12, 2017, 2016

JAN. 20 IN THE

7 P.M. TUESDAY, JANUARY 17 5-8PM THE THIRD FRIDAY EACH MONTH

$ 8 . 50

RIVERDALE 10 VIP CINEMA 2600 CANTRELL RD

ARGENTA DISTRICT

ARGENTA ARTWALK PRESENTED BY

Rated Four Stars By Arkansas Democrat Gazette And The Arkansas Times! KATV “Rated #1 Steakhouse In Arkansas”

SPONSORED BY 2 Riverfront Place North Little Rock • 501.375.7825

DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST 501.296.9955 | RIVERDALE10.COM ELECTRIC RECLINER SEATS AND RESERVED SEATING A beer & bourbon tasting to benefit UALR Public Radio — featuring entertainment from The Rodney Block Collective

BLOCK, BEER & BOURBON ! PRE SEN TED BY:

Thursday, January 19th at 7pm

Curran Hall

MORE INFO & TICKETS AT UALRPUBLICRADIO.ORG 30

JANUARY 12, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

Thank you!

2 Riverfront Place North Little Rock 501.374.8081 • Benihana.com

Tweet shop LOCAL ARKANSAS TIMES

Intimate Apparel

By Lynn Nottage

January 13, 14, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28, 2017 Thursday, Friday and Saturday 7:30 pm Sunday 2:30 pm $16 Adults $12 Students & Seniors THURSDAY DISCOUNT: $2 off “Date Night Discount” For more information contact us at 501.374.3761 or www. weekendtheater.org

1001 W. 7th St. Little Rock, AR 72201

MANAGEMENT ANALYST - Provide advice and technical assistance with cost analysis, fiscal allocation, and budget preparation. Perform costbenefit analysis to develop operational policies to improve project performance and efficiencies. Prepare annual and special reports and evaluate budget proposals. Analyze data to determine the costs and benefits of various projects and recommend funding levels based on findings. Utilize costbenefit analysis to review financial requests, assess program tradeoffs, and explore alternative funding methods. Analyze financial and other data, including revenue, expenditure, and employment reports by building and using sophisticated mathematical models. Examine historical data and research economic and financial developments for acquisition and green field plans. Assist top managers analyze the proposed plan and recommend new systems, procedures, strategy, implementation or organizational changes. Master’s degree in Business Administration. Experience in and/ or knowledge of corporate financial planning, decision making accounting, managerial economics, marketing strategy, organizational behavior, corporate strategy, human resource management, information system management, quantitative methods, business statistics, business finance, business strategy, and consumer analysis/behavior. RESUMES TO JOB LOC: MCLARTY COMPANY ATTN: SANDRA BRADLEY 425 W. CAPITOL AVE SUITE 3600 LITTLE ROCK, AR 72201

Delivery Lead SAP CRM (Little Rock, AR) Facilitate the implementation and support of SAP CRM modules. Define business requirements. Develop and deliver final SAP CRM solutions based on clients’ specific business requirements. Develop business process, configuration, testing and operational documentation for implemented solution. Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Computer Science, engineering or related field with 5 years of experience OR Master’s degree or equivalent in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field required. Required skills: SAP CRM 7.0 (Sales), SAP CRM ECC Middleware integration, ERMS, Fax & CTI integration. SAP CRM 7.0 certification required. Knowledge of Hybris integration with ERP system. Mail resume to: Internext Corporation, 900 S Shackleford Rd, Ste 300, Little Rock, AR 72211

ARKANSAS TIMES

MARKETPLACE TO ADVERTISE IN THIS SECTION, CALL LUIS AT 501.375.2985

WAREHOUSE PERSON/DELIVERY DRIVER

Full-Time. No experience necessary, will train. Must be dependable, handy, self-motivated, good attitude, clean driving record, and be able to lift 100 lbs. Pre-employment drug screening required. Apply in person at Ken Rash’s Outdoor Furniture in West LR. 11220 N. Rodney Parham, Ste. 14.

sip LOCAL

CHI ST VINCENT

seeks four (4) Medical Technologists in Little Rock. Job duties include collecting specimens and analyzing fluid and tissue samples. Requires bachelor’s in Medical Technology or alternatively bachelor’s in Chemistry, Biology, or Physical Science and 1 yr experience in a clinical, analytical, or environmental laboratory. Send resume to Will Diggins at williamdiggins@catholichealth.net.

ARKANSAS TIMES

PASTURED OLD BREED PORK Our hogs are a cross between Large Black and Berkshire, old 19th century breeds. They are raised on our pasture and forage in the forest that adjoins our fields. They are never confined like industrial hogs. We do not use any kind of routine antibiotics. Our hogs live ARKANSAS GRASS were FED LAMB like they meant to. PRICE LIST FRESH RAW HAM $7 lb.

PORK LOIN $8 lb

HAM BREAKFAST STEAKS $7 lb

BREAKFAST SAUSAGE $9 lb

We offer first quality one-year-old lamb raised on our farm in North Pulaski County. Our meat is free of steroids or any other chemicals. The only time we use antibiotics is if the animal has been injured which is extremely rare. All meat is USDA inspected.

PORK BRATWURST $10 One pound package

You can pick up your meat at our farm off Hwy 107 in North Pulaski County (about 25 miles north of downtown Little Rock) or we can meet you in downtown Little Rock weekdays. All meat is aged and then frozen.

PORK STEAKS $10 lb PRICE LIST: RIB ROAST TESTICLES contains about eight ribs (lamb chops) $17 lb.

$10 lb

WHOLE LEG OF LAMBPORK BUTTS TANNED SHEEPSKINS, $10 lb SHOULDER (about 4 to 5 lbs) $12 lb.

(bone in, cook this slow, like a pot roast. Meat falls off the bone). $11 lb.

HEARTS, LIVERS, KIDNEYS, $5 lb

$100-$150

(Our sheepskins are tanned in a Quaker Town, Pa. tannery that has specialized in sheepskins for generations.)

PORK TENDERLOIN BONELESS LOIN $12 lb TENDERLOIN $8 lb

$20 lb

LAMB BRATWURST LINK SAUSAGE

(one-lb package) $10 lb

NECKBONES

(for stew or soup) $5 lb

SPARE RIBS $9 lb BABYBACK RIBS $12 lb

India Blue F a r m

12407 Davis Ranch Rd. | Cabot, AR 72023 Call Kaytee Wright 501-607-3100 alan@arktimes.com

12407 Davis Ranch Rd. | Cabot, AR 72023 Call Kaytee Wright 501-607-3100 alan@arktimes.com arktimes.com JANUARY 12, 2017, 2016

Ladies Night Wine Down Wednesday

Jan 18, 2017 from 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM

LA TERRAZA RUM & LOUNGE LADIES NIGHT! Come wine and dine with us for $12 per person ($17 at the door) and enjoy bottomless chef choice appetizers. Serving half-priced bottles and $5 glasses. Supporting Centers for Youth and Families. Collecting new and gently used backpacks, suitcases and duffle bags.

3000 KAVANAUGH BLVD, LITTLE ROCK, AR • (501) 251-8261 TICKET AVAILABLE AT CENTRALARKANSASTICKETS.COM

FIGHTING FOR LGBTQ EQUALITY IN ARKANSAS BY BATTLING ANTI-LGBTQ BILLS. Tell your elected officials to stop introducing unnecessary, discriminatory bills in Arkansas! WE DON’T WANT HATE IN OUR STATE!

HRC.org/Arkansas