Bits & Pieces: Complaints and Grievances

Decisions, decisions

While the issue of which ambulance provider winds up with the local 911 contract makes for excellent news fodder, we’re ready for the issue to be put to bed. It’s evident that the county judge wants Pafford, but the citizens overwhelmingly support Valor. In the selection committee’s scoring of each company’s strengths, the established and widespread Pafford narrowly outscored Valor, the local mom-and-pop ambulance shop. We see no need in the 911 board’s opinion. The 911 board named the selection committee, and in doing so should have placed their faith in its decision. Now the quorum court gets to have a say. If the court votes against the previous recommendations, the judge has the power to veto. Doing so would likely endanger his political career; ditto for any justice of the peace who supports Pafford. The fun part is, the aforementioned scenarios only scratch the surface of the ramifications of how votes are cast. We could go on, but we’ve got news to gather. Besides, we don’t have a dog in the fight (although it has been an interesting match thus far).

Talking trash

We remember a time in Arkadelphia when, once a quarter, sanitation employees doled out rolls of garbage bags to every water customer in the city. The bags were included as part of the sanitation fees paid monthly alongside the water bill. A few years ago, that changed: the bags were no longer delivered, and they were offered twice a year by way of a voucher exchange at either a drive-through event or at one or two local businesses. Over time the latter came to a halt, further hindering the convenience of obtaining the trash bags we paid for in sanitation fees. We personally stopped cashing in our vouchers when they had an expiration date, opting instead to purchase our trash bags from the supermarket. In recent days the city’s administration, citing increasing operation costs for the sanitation department, asked for board approval (and got it) to limit the trash bag vouchers to once a year, all while increasing our monthly sanitation rates by $1.75. To the city we say keep your trash bags and keep our rates the same.

Driving us crazy

The traffic light at 10th and Pine needs a turn-only signal, at least for northbound traffic. (We’d include southbound traffic, but there are currently only two lanes north of the light; another will be added once the Arkadelphia Bypass is complete). The intersection at 8th and Clinton should be a four-way stop. So should 12th and Wilson/Key, but only because college students can’t seem to grasp the concept of right-of-way. How there’s not a car accident every day at Country Club Road and North 15th Street is a mystery. Don’t even get us started on the entrance to McDonald’s at W.P. Malone.

Can you hear me now?

We don’t mind live-streaming the government meetings we attend, but listen: Our iPhone mic isn’t going to pick up what we ourselves can’t hear — tell your elected officials to speak clearly and loud enough for the audience to hear.

No complaints here

Two old houses west of the Captain Henderson House (not the Ross House), as well as the Honeycutt House on Haddock Street, are in the process of being razed. Several trees on that block are also coming down to create green space that will eventually become Henderson State University’s new intramural field. We look forward to seeing students interacting with one another once that project is finished.

Final thought

Strike another match, go start anew. Bob Dylan said that. To Hell with all the rest, you gotta look out for you. I said that.

Joel Phelps is editor of arkadelphian.com. Opinions in this column are his own. Contact him by emailing editor@arkadelphian.com.