Out of Canada: A man riding on a Greyhound bus there was beheaded, yes, beheaded, by his seat-mate. Click here for more.
Archive for July, 2008
File this one under bizarre
Thursday, July 31st, 2008Dinner for eight on Fifth Street
Thursday, July 31st, 2008
I couldn’t help but share this New York Times piece today about residents in the Big Apple who are taking dinner to the streets.
They’re setting up tables on sidewalks and at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge. As you can imagine, the al fresco feasts gain a lot of attention from passersby.
I move that we start something like this in El Dorado. Perhaps I’ll have my birthday dinner in front of the courthouse. That would be fun, don’t you think?
Click here for more.
The day a bomber hit the Empire State Building
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
The impact happened on the 79th floor.
National Public Radio reports this week about the day a B-25 bomber flew directly into the side of the Empire State Building in New York City. The audio portion of this piece is 12 minutes long, but well worth your time.
A chilling section includes a dictation tape made by a man in a building near the ESB. On it, you can hear the dull whirring of the B-25’s engines grow louder until they finally drown out his voice. Then, a thud — the impact.
Click here for access.
New monument part of El Dorado Forward plan
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008The El Dorado Economic Development Board announced Wednesday plans for a “grand new monument” to help beautify the city as part of the El Dorado Forward plan.
Dubbed Mount Gushmore, the 60-foot, $2.8 million granite structure will be built to resemble the famous Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, said El Dorado Mayor Mike Dumas, who called the idea “bloody brilliant.”
Appearing on Mount Gushmore will be Dumas, Murphy Oil CEO Claiborne Deming, and local business owners and do-gooders Richard and Vertis Mason. Vertis Mason is also an El Dorado alderman.
An independent panel, hired at a cost of $400,000, was brought in to choose local figures who might look appealing in granite, and who have “done good things for the city,” EEDB members said.
Everything is being funded by the El Dorado Forward 1 cent sales tax.
“We really do feel like this is money well spent, and I’m not just saying that because my moustache will be 6 feet long and visible from Norphlet,” Dumas said. “I really think this city needs more monuments.”
Vertis Mason called the idea “odd,” but agreed that she would like to be able to see herself from the window of her husband’s plane, Red Scarf 1, as they fly into and out of El Dorado.
“Sure, it will be a little weird at first, but I think I can get used to it,” Vertis Mason said. “After all that Richard and I have done for El Dorado, this is the least they could do to pay us back.”
Deming was unavailable for comment.
The monument will be built on the old County Market site on North West Avenue. Construction is expected to begin in September.
This artist’s rendering (although crude) was issued to give the public an idea about how the monument will look.
Duck!
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008Thanks go to local artist, and fellow satirist, “Speck,” for this cartoon.
As promised, EEDB full budget details
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
For your perusing pleasure: The full reports from the El Dorado Economic Development Commission for 2008 and the 2007-08 budget comparison documents.
Revenues so far this year from the 1 cent sales tax and incurred bank interest total more than $2.4 million, according to the documents below. So far this year, nearly $1 million of that money has been spent. As of June 30, the total balance of the EEDB’s coffers stands at just over $3.5 million.
Note: The line item in the 2008 budget marked “land purchase, $1.5 milllion” relates to the new conference center. Also, the below documents do not indicate the waste of funds allocation of $250,000 for the golf ball washing business.
2008 EEDB Revenues Page 1
2008 EEDB Revenues Page 2
EEDB Revenue Yearly Comparison
EEDB 2008 Budget Page 1
EEDB 2008 Budget Page 2
New PD station a great asset to community
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
After touring the EPD’s new station on Tuesday afternoon, it’s clear that the $3 million was well spent. The department has much more room and can better serve the city now, thanks to the new facilities. I’d like to thank Captain David Smith for his elaborate walking tour yesterday, and thanks to all of the other officers who put on smiles and pressed uniforms to greet the public.
We will have photos of the new station on the blog very soon — photos you did not see in today’s News-Times.
EPD grand opening today at 3 p.m.
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008I’ll be there covering the event for the News-Times. I haven’t had a chance to see the new building yet, so I’m rather pleased to be going. It’s a good chance to see where tax dollars went. The grand opening wraps up at 7 p.m.
Ashes to burgers
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008
So I’m at Sonic during lunch, wedged into one of those tight little car corrals waiting for my burger, when the lady in the car one stall over lights up a cig and starts pipping it in my direction. My windows are down, so the smoke is wafting slowing into my ride.
I would say that my personal space was invaded by this woman’s craving for a Marlboro.
Here’s what the city’s smoking ordinance says:
“Smoking is prohibited within a reasonable distance of an enclosed area where smoking is prohibited, so as to insure that tobacco smoke does not enter the area through entrances, windows, ventilation systems, or other means.
“This shall be at minimum defined by an arc measured from the center point of any public doorway or usual employee doorway or entrance utilized by the public or employees or ventilation intake regulated by this ordinance. The arc shall be 25 feet for all facilities unless the entrance is from a public thoroughfare such as a sidewalk or ally at which the arc shall be 10 feet.”
Nothing about “personal space,” but her car was definitely less than 25 feet away from a window at Sonic.
Note to smokers: Don’t light up at Sonic. Others can smell it, and it isn’t appetizing.
Another heat advisory today
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008
Be cool, man. Be cool.
Gas prices ease…in some areas
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008Last week I wrote about how the Chinese government is cracking down on fuel usage during the Olympics, and how that would bring down gas prices here.
Well, the prices at the pump are already easing considerably in Arkansas, as seen in the graphic below.
My question? When will we see the trickle down in South Arkansas? Probably a day before fuel shoots back up to $4 per gallon.
The highest prices in the state are still more than $4 a gallon. Here, we’re averaging about $3.89.
Missouri currently has some of the cheapest fuel in the country right now at $3.32 per gallon in Springfield.
El Dorado Forward budget outline
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008One of our readers asked to see the budget for El Dorado Forward. Here is what’s available. The document is in PDF format.
el-dorado-forward-budget-outline
I’m working on getting the numbers from the city to show you how much money has actually been spent, and where it’s going.
Another helpful page is available by clicking here. It contains more documents relating to El Dorado Forward.
**UPDATE** The above PDF document is the proposed budget, not the one approved by city leaders. I will hopefully have a copy of the approved budget very soon to post. I’m not sure that they differ all that much.
N. Louisiana streets may soon be paved in gold
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008What if, overnight, you became a millionaire? It’s happened to quite a few people not too far from here in De Soto Parish, La., thanks to the large natural gas deposits that sit beneath the earth in northern Louisiana and in parts of north Arkansas.
The New York Times wrote a piece about how newly minted millionaires are coping with their hard-earned cash.
Click here for more.
One has to wonder, though, if this “boom” will soon go bust, much as the South Arkansas oil days did. Let’s just say that no one is expecting the financial center of the United States to be relocated to north Louisiana just yet. Still, there are many millions to be made there, and the economies of small towns that had little hope of surviving much further into the 21st century have been revived.
El Dorado kids dialing up ‘Sweet Connie’ for kicks
Monday, July 28th, 2008
This 2003 picture of “Sweet Connie” is courtesy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s archives.
If you don’t know who “Sweet Connie” is, I can’t possible tell you in terms that would be suitable for a G-rated audience. I can say that she is perhaps the most famous rock groupie of all time and has made that fact well known in publications like Rolling Stone.
An article in today’s Arkansas Democrat Gazette says that Connie Hamzy, aka Sweet Connie, has been receiving harassing phone calls from youths who allegedly ring her from El Dorado-based phone numbers.
Hamzy, of Little Rock, has turned information over to the Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, which has sent cease and desist letters to the little troublemakers.
By the way, Sweet Connie is 53, so one has to wonder why these kids are harassing her.
You may or may not remember the Grand Funk Railroad song “American Band,” in which Sweet Connie gets her most famous acknowledgment. I’ve posted the video below for your entertainment.
The song begins:
“On the road for forty days,
Last night in Little Rock put me in a haze.
Sweet, sweet connie — doin her act,
She had the whole show and thats a natural fact.”
No surprise
Monday, July 28th, 2008
The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for most of the area today, including Union County. You know the drill, or at least you should: Drink plenty of fluids, limit outdoor activity, check on the elderly, and be sure to provide plenty of water for outdoor pets.
Pass the iced tea, please.
