Thanks for celebration If you missed the Freedomfest on June 29 that was given by and at the FIrst Assembly of God, you truly missed a super outing for the community. There were fireworks, food, music, games for kids and a car show. All this did not cost anything to folks who were there. All it took was time for the folks to come and enjoy this event. I was at last year's Freedomfest, and there must have been three to four times as many people this year then last. Good news travels fast. The youth at New Life Fellowship need to have a pat on the back because they sang and played music for the crowd. A thanks needs to be given to some folks that I know gave their time, food and fireworks to make all this come together.
Pastor Edwin Brewer, who furnished fireworks, fellowship and the church and grounds for this event. Alfred Madewell, for hamburgers, chicken, hot dogs and the cooker that cooked all the food. Alfred said he had enough food to feed 600 people and he came close to running out. So that tells me that 600 people came and went to this event. The people, members of the First Assembly, need to get a pat on the back. I saw members and friends of the church all working very hard to make sure people had food, drinks and fixings to help them enjoy themselves.
Off the top of my head, some names which deserve credit are: Barry Scott who was in charge of the car show which had over 60 cars and trucks that were there so people could view them, Danny Madewell who helped with the cooking, all the ladies of the church that kept the food line moving.
There was a super fireworks display that the Freedomfest also provided for all who came. Another big "thank you "to the First Assembly of God for this. Also, thanks to the Pea Ridge High School cheerleaders for the cheerleading stunts they performed. I can't wait until next year's Freedomfest. JOHN BROWN Pea Ridge, Ark. Supportive of school Recently, reading the articles and letter to the editor in regards to decisions made by the superintendent and Board of Education with the new elementary school plans had me a little wound up at the time. I immediately wanted to write a letter to voice my opinion. However, I decided not to voice my thoughts at that time.
Then in the past week or so, I have been hearing on the news and reading in the area newspapers about the turmoil that Greenland and Decatur schools are in and the possibility of those districts being annexed with other districts. This prompted me to follow through with sharing my thoughts.
It doesn't seem like it was too long ago that there was talk about our own district and the possibility of being annexed with a larger school It was a sickening feeling for me personally. I grew up in Pea Ridge and attended school here - I wanted my children to do the same. I did not want them to have to commute and attend a larger school Thankfully, our district overcame their financial problems and has moved on.
I served on the Board of Education for Pea Ridge for six years. I was on the board during the building of the new high school and know firsthand that the members who served always had the students'best interests at heart.
With this said, I want to say that we have a great community and the leadership of our school district has done a fantastic job. In the past 10 years, we have gone from talk of annexing with a larger school district to having a new high school, new junior high school and, now, a new elementary school.
It is definitely our responsibility to question the leaders of the district when things arise and we have concerns, however, looking at the accomplishments that have been made - we should give them credit that they are competent to fulfill their roles.
I feel that it is my responsibility to support them in the decisions that they make. KERRIE SMITH Pea Ridge, Ark. State of the oil industry Amen to Bill Phillips about the state of the oil industry and the situation we are in today. I can tell you as an oil industry brat myself, while my father worked in the oil patch as a petroleum engineer for nearly 40 years and I myself worked in the oil business for nearly 20 years, Mr. Phillips is dead on with his analysis of the current situation. The days of the "Big Oil " (at least American big oil ) have long passed us by and have given way to other foreign-headquartered companies that have governments that are much more civil, realistic and appreciative of the oil industry efforts.
Here in America, if you work or speak up positively for an oil company, chances are you are considered a greedy, mean, profit gouging, polluting, global warming contributor and, most likely, immoral. Explain to me how an atheist, secular, drug abusing, individual Hollywood Star can receive over $ 40 million dollars for casting in a second-rate Hollywood film or a rapper rock star entertainer who promotes cop killing and anti-social behavior in every other word can make millions of dollars during one concert appearance, or a professional athlete can make $ 12 million for a two-year contract and no one thinks twice about the so called windfall / obscene money they are making, but let a big greedy oil company make a 9 percent rate of return on its investment and show billions of dollars in income and the masses and the Washington crowd goes nuts.
The oil industry in America has been grossly restrained and prohibited from reaching their best potential. I take it even a step farther and say that our oil and gas industry in this country has been totally abused and treated worse than a "red headed step child. "American oil explorers have been restricted, restrained, regulated, taxed and punished to the degree that they have had to take a back seat to other foreign- and governmentowned oil entities. In my opinion, Washington is always looking for a scape goat or someone to point the finger at other than themselves and the lack of a good solid long-term energy policy.
Take for instance the speculator furor or the "it will take 10 years to bring new drilling on line "or the big oil companies aren't investing enough back into alternate fuel research, etc. The problem with all those approaches is that they are simply anti -private enterprise, anti-markets, anti-capitalistic anti-competitive and downright anti-American. Telling an oil company that it must now reinvest X amount of its revenues in solar power research is like telling a professional football player that he must now reinvest X amount of his or her income in dog racing tracks.
The market and business economics will kick in on their own soon enough. When the price gets to a level, as it is today, true demand destruction will take place as we are already seeing. It is my contention, that this painfully high price which is causing the current demand destruction and consumer suffering is totally the result of bad longterm American policies and is totally unnecessary, at least to the degree and rapid pace we have seen it over the last year. A more civil attitude and treatment toward our American oil industry and a rapid movement and commitment toward opening up all of America's energy resources (in a totally safe and environmental way, but that is a subject for another day ) would go a long way in bringing prices back to earth so we could more rationally move toward other energy sources without destroying the dollar and without so much consumer pain.
We are definitely in a new emerging global market with huge emerging markets around the world that will compete for all natural resources. To stay competitive, America must stop being so irrational with its vast resources from oil, natural gas, oil shale, coal, ANWR, outer continental shelf and coastal waters, nuclear, hydrogen, technology, wind, solar, hydro, etc.
To all the nay-sayers and negative commenters, I say," Why can't we do it all ?"Let's stop bickering about which is best and do it all. May the best economics win. Kind of like the horse and buggy gave way to the car, when it's time, the combustion car will give way to the new hybrid or hydrogen vehicle. All I'm asking for is a little common sense, civility and the ability to continue to pursue the American dream of capitalism without a rash of social engineering. W. HERB HAWKINS Garfield, Ark.
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