Early Voting

City Government election May 14

 Early voting will be held Tuesday, May 7, 8, 9, 10 and 13 at the 

Garland County Election Commission.  Election Day is May 14 and nine sites 

within the city limits will be open.   ONLY  Garland County Registered Voters 

residing within the City Limits of Hot Springs will be allowed to vote.

If you like the current government you must vote AGAINST this ballot initiative. It was proposed by someone that does not live in Hot Springs but resents the city's right to regulate the installation of water and sewer pipes within a 5 mile radius of the city limits. He wants us to go back to the Alderman system that was so corrupt the retirement funds for the police and firemen were absconded. 

We have to keep a professional BUSINESS person in charge of the daily operation of bill paying not some special interest good ol' boys bunch of hoodlums.

Breaking News From Little Rock

The 'Boys' are at it again

The Republicans are trying every dirty trick in the book to get you to not have a voice in our so-called Democracy. The current plan is to eliminate ALL election  commissions and then replace them with appointed commissioners from the Republican districts.  Please call your Representatives ASAP and tell them to vote NO on SB 722.

We do not need an oligarchy or a plutocracy running Arkansas.

SJR 7 is a bill defining Rules and Regulations. It will be used to discriminate against us voters. Vote NO, go to Little Rock and sit in on these committees and watch what happens when we aren't paying attention. Our country is being systematically robbed out from under our feet.

These are the names of all the Senators that voted to fund Planned Parenthood, please call and tell them how much you appreciated their support for this organization that does so much for the poor and indigent in Arkansas.

• Senator David Johnson
• Senator David Burnett
• Senator Eddie Cheatham
• Senator Linda Chesterfield
• Senator Joyce Elliott
• Representative Deborah Ferguson
• Senator Stephanie Flowers
• Senator Keith Ingram
• Representative Greg Leding
• Senator Uvald Lindsey
• Representative Fredrick J. Love
• Representative Reginald Murdock
• Representative Mark Perry
• Senator Bobby Pierce
• Senator Larry Teague
• Representative Butch Wilkins
• Representative Hank Wilkins, IV
• Representative James L. Word
• Senator David Wyatt

The legislature passed the voter ID law and it will go into affect next January. If you know anyone that does not drive offer to take them to get a photo ID. Get as many IDs as you can so in case you lose one you'll have a spare.

I have to look up all the bills being introduced and will report back with more details. We are under seige in Little Rock, make no mistake. The Republicans want us enslaved and on our own without any kind of government support. If this is your idea of what our government should be like, please move to Saudia Arabia.

Breaking News From Hot Springs

We will be voting on what type of government we want to run our fair city. Right now we have a City manager/mayor system. It means that we vote who represents us and hire a manager to run the everyday business of managing the city. Some unhappy contractor got the prerequesite signatures to force an election to change our government BACK to Alderman/mayor type. He lives in the county and yet because he got the signatures we have to pay to keep our form ogf government. That means that we will have I think 12 people deciding what we will do rather than the 8 we now have. Under the system this guy wants to reinstate, the city built more water pipes across the state than we have in the entire city of Hot Springs. 

I would appreciate anyone diving in on this and getting all the details straight as I'm not much of a detail person. I like to paint with broad strokes. Thsi election is coming up the first of May and you need to Vote NO or AGAINST this proposal. We got rid of the corruption under the Alderman form of government, we don't need to go backwards just because this guy doesn't like the idea that Hot Springs can tell him how to put in sewer and water lines. Would you rather let him put them in any old way he wants and then when the city annexes the property, the city has to replace all the existing pipes to bring it up to code? Or when we hook up to his services have to replace all his stuff so we can supply city water to the homes he built and sold without annexation.

Never a dull moment around Arkansas. The national news is full of our fiasco at self determination.

Letter to the Editor

Latest Submission to the Sentinel  Record

Dear Editor,

The last time you published my letter I received an anonymous call from someone who did not identify himself. In the usual cowardly way he told me I was a 'frigging moron'. I would put his phone number here but it would probably be removed.

His name calling didn't bother me because I realize there are a lot of cowards in the world. They don't all live in and around Hot Springs either. 

Yesterday his ilk proved it in the worst possible manner; someone set off 2 bombs with the distinct purpose to wreak havoc amongst the gathering of celebrants and contestants of Boston.

My caller did no real damage to me or my ego. He didn't make me afraid to send my opinions into your newspaper. It just showed me that cowards are everywhere. There are just degrees under which they operate.

Judy Ladd

(address available elsewhere)

I was going to go on about what an idiot he was when I decided to respond to his phone call but Boston happened and put him in a whole new context.

I guess I just don't give a shit whether anyone likes my opinions or not. I lived under threats most of my life and I learned you can't run from them or turn your back on them. You have to face them out in the open and in the light of day.

I hope everyone is doing well and that we can survive this too. Terrorists only succeed when we let them terrorize us. It's a game of cowards.

We're Off to see the Wizard

A Day at the Capitol

This is an observation of my day at the 'legislature'. 

On Monday, April 8, 2013, Barbara Butler, Melinda Nobel and I went to Little Rock to confront our legislators on the latest effort to screw up "Obamacare'. We met with Philip Adams, liaison for Health and Human Services, at the office of Governor Mike Beebe. We had a long discussion about why the health care bill currently under consideration, is a bad idea. It lets the insurance companies 'cherry pick' the healthiest people to insure while the state picked up the uninsurable, disabled, aged and sick. 

He explained that as the situation was today Blue Cross-Blue Shield had a 'monopoly' on health care in Arkansas. You either used their insurance or pretty much went without. As a compromise, it was determined that in the interests of 25,000 Arkansans that are currently NOT insured, it would be best to let other competitors into the market. This plan will be in effect for 3 years only (at which time I'm hoping Arkansans have wised up and voted these imbeciles out of office). Philip said it was better to settle for 'good' rather than hold out for 'perfect'. With that information, we went on the attack. 

I met with Bruce Cozart who has maintained the sleezy personality that he expressed when he first ran for Representative of my district. The NAACP asked both Cozart and Jerry Rephan to debate their positions to those interested in the 2 candidates running in District 24. In the course of questioning I asked him if he was for the ERA. His response was he knew nothing about it but would get back with me. When I could get my jaw off the floor, the 'debate' went pretty much as you would expect. Jerry well informed, Bruce hedging and 'how religious he was' and that his business experience as a contractor gave him the edge when it came to running government. FYI, government is NOT a business. Anybody need help, get out your dictionary.

Meanwhile back at the Capitol, I asked Bruce if he'd figured out what the ERA was. He responded with (as near as I can remember, a direct quote): " I realized I was in a set up situation so I decided it's best to play ignorant and just say I knew nothing about it".

I'm sure that the NAACP would love to know that. They are a non-partisan, non-profit group dedicated to the improvement of race relations and to give its members an opportunity to learn first hand from the candidates the issues and their positions without partisanship or bias. Everyone is welcome to express their opinion and make their case.

Well done, Mr. Cozart. You're a typical Republican who will never understand why minorities don't buy into your ideology.

Back to our reason for approaching Mr. Cozart. I asked him if he was for the health care bill and he said he was still undecided. I think that meant he was not going to discuss it with me. I explained my position and though it had changed after talking to Philip Adams, I hoped he would support it.

Later, after all of us had hit the halls of 'higher echelons of governance', we went to John Boozman's office. He doesn't have a sign saying the door you enter is 'John Boozman's office'. You have to ask unless you've been there before.

We presented our individual cases to his emissary ( I can't find the card he gave me with his name on it. Maybe Barbara or Melinda can update this blog if they like) for what we wanted Boozman to support and asked if his position on gun control was in keeping with the majority of Americans. I told his liaison that if Congress was not going to restrict or limit guns and magazines for them then tax the bullets. He laughed at me. Barbara pointed out to him (which took the smile off his face) that that was how Al Capone was brought down.

We explained that the ERA was an important issue that needed to be resolved, women will always stay under the gun until they reach parity with men. Until that happens, we will always be used as a political football. Each of us gave examples of why it was not government's role to restrict or regulate abortions. He said he was against abortions, period. I asked him how many babies he'd had? Since he hadn't had any I didn't give a damn what his opinion was. Barbara gave him a card to Foster care volunteers since he said he wasn't even involved in the care of those children he insisted women give birth to. It will be interesting to see how many in Boozman's office take up Barbara's offer to foster care these children he feels so attached to. I told him 24,000 children went to bed hungry every day in Arkansas, why wasn't he concerned about that.

All in all, a very interesting day with nothing to show for it except exhaustion and the knowledge that we had done our best to participate in our Republic and its politics; good, bad and very ugly. Damn its hard being a woman sometimes. I realized that after all the hard work, politicking and picketing I had done for most of my adult life, I was further from equal rights with my male counterpart than I was at 20. At 20, I had youth and good looks on my side. It's a bitch being a 2nd class citizen and old.