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Environment
Escaping traffic in America: The remotest place in Arkansas
From up East comes a link from a former Arkie about a website, Remote Footprints. What is it?
Remote Footprints is an idea rooted in our concern that the remoteness of the natural landscape is still continually diminishing despite America’s best efforts to preserve its public wildlands. We have discovered that the U.S. road network fills the national landscape so fully, that it is no longer possible to be more than 5 miles from a road within the vast majority of the conterminous 48 United States. The number of roads continually increases, even within many conservation lands. Opportunities for humans to “get away from it all” are all but gone outside Alaska. The roaring sound of roads, light pollution on the horizon, or line of sight views of civilization are next to impossible to avoid. The mental and physical health of a culture farther and farther removed from the natural world is at stake and worth saving. We have developed a unique and exciting approach to preserving remote and roadless areas, called Project Remote, and we invite you to browse our website to learn more about the problem and solutions for preserving America’s famed remoteness.
OK, that's all touchy feely. Here's the specific angle. Project Remote is aimed at identifying the most remote spot in each of the 50 states. Arkansas has already been visited. The remote spot is in the Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge in South Arkansas. (My cousin Jewell, late of Huttig, Ark., would be thrilled. He loved to take any and all fishing down in the wetlands.)
In addition to the YouTube of a trip to the spot, there's an extensive post with more photos, including this from a visit by canoe to the putative remotest Arkansas spot in November 2011:
The river floodplain swamp forest comes alive at night. Barred owls ”who-aw” back and forth. A coyote pack yelps wildly. A few arboreal insects are still calling despite the onset of winter. All night, we enjoy the sounds of Southeastern wildness. However, there is one unwelcome sound. US 82 roars constantly through the night, and dominates the other sounds, despite being nearly 3 miles away. This blows our minds. We had no idea that one could hear a road, and quite loudly, from such a distance. This is an eye-opener for us and provides further motivation for conducting Project Remote.
I'm thinking the website's standard for remoteness, distance from a road, doesn't fairly take into account some spots in the vast timbered stretches of both the Ouachitas and Ozarks. They may be right by a forest road, but traffic doesn't come along too often. Still, food for thought. Quietest place I ever traveled by road was the vast desert along the so-called Extraterrestrial Highway (for its proximity to Area 54) between Las Vegas and Carson City. You could hear nothing but wind. Below is their road coverage map of the state.
Arkansas Politics
Simple Simon, the Pieman: A poem for Martha Shoffner
A forner aide to Martha Shoffner, the resigned state treasurer, sends a poem inspired by worklife in the office:
"Sing a song of sixpence
Pocketful of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie!
When the pie was opened
The birds began to sing,
Wasn't this a dainty dish
To set before the king?"
The king was in the counting house
Counting out his money,
His wife was in the kitchen
Eating bread and honey.
The maid was in the garden
Hanging out the clothes
When along came a blackbird
Who pecked off her nose.'
Sing a song of kickbacks
Pocketful of lies,
Six thousand dollars
Baked in a pie!
When the pie was opened
The bucks began to sing,
Wasn't this a lovely treat
For that Sweet, Southern Thing?
The Thing was in the treasury
Counting out her money,
The courier in the parking lot
Waiting for his honey.
The aide was at the front desk
Answering the phone,
When along came The Southern Thing
Who threw the poor aide a bone.
Extra crispy.
—-Anonymous
You'll have to have read earlier posts about Shoffner sending aides out for bacon biscuits for her ungainly, poorly housebroken hound Fred, to fully appreciate.
Arkansas Politics
Martha Shoffner resigns as Arkansas state treasurer
She had not returned to work today following her appearance in federal court to answer a charge that she'd extorted money through public office by taking kickbacks from a securities salesman who did business with the state.
Banks had said yesterday that he'd recommend Shoffner resign given what faced her. According to the FBI, she admitted her improper activities to agents who arrested her Saturday at her home in Newport after the salesman, acting as a confidential informant, recorded her accepting $6,000 in $100 bills hidden in a pie as one in a series of payments for a huge increase he'd enjoyed in selling bonds to Shoffner's office for state investments.
Shoffner's letter, copied to the attorney general, said she could no longer perform the duties and responsibilities owed the public. There'd been unanimous calls for her immediate resignation from political figures and a push for Beebe to call a special session to impeach her or otherwise remove her if she did not. Beebe had said this morning he wanted to give her a little more time before plunging into some uncharted removal waters. Given circumstances and Banks' advice, her resignation can't be called a surprise.
Beebe will appoint a successor to complete her term, which runs through 2014. Former Treasurer Jimmie Lou Fisher is one of several names mentioned as a potential appointee.
The resignation lances a boil that would have grown into a huge political squabble before too many more hours had passed.
I've sought a comment from Beebe on his plans and have asked Banks if this signals any change in how Shoffner plans to proceed on the charge. UPDATE: Banks said there'd been no change in the earlier statement that Shoffner planned to enter an innocent plea. "Still more work to do," he commented in an e-mail.
BEEBE OFFICE UPDATE:
He’s glad to see it happen with the immediacy that it did. His attention now turns to the appointment, he will work to have someone in place as soon as possible. He did not reach out to anybody prior to the resignation, will begin that process now that the letter is in hand.
Shoffner faces a sentence of up to 20 years on a conviction. A criminal defense attorney, using some estimates on the amount of alleged bribery and money lost to the state in the transactions, has estimated for me that she could face a minimum of four to six years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines. Downward departures are unusual for public officials in corruption cases. Shoffner is 68 and in her second term as treasurer. She'd previously served in the House of Representatives.
This is only the end of the beginning, of course. Charges arising from this case could go beyond the single charge filed against Shoffner so far, depending on whether prosecutors at the state and federal level think more investigation is required. State prosecutors, for example, could pursue state bribery charges as well as charges related to improper campaign contributions. Securities regulators at the state and federal level are reviewing activities of the securities dealer. Inevitably, that review could consider others with whom Shoffner has dealt, including in some previously reported campaign finance discrepancies. Shoffner fell, too, because of tips from disaffected former employees whose variety of stories might bear another look. State legislators will want to look at whether sufficient protection is available to encourage whistleblowing by employees who think they know of misdeeds by officials. Also, people who had knowledge of Shoffner's alleged activities might be deserving of some attention as well. I've written a column this week expressing a widely held belief that a securities investment professional shouldn't be chosen by popular election, certainly not in a race in which the campaign finance money has always come from people with an interest in doing business with the treasurer.
Here's the original story on the charge.
Here also is our exclusive story in which three sources, including his boss, identify salesman Steele Stephens of the St. Bernard Financial Services company as the salesman who participated in the investigation.
Is a note of sadness allowed for this debacle? Or only anger of the self-righteous and political triumphalism?
Rock Candy
Music / Coming soon / Theater / Contests
Got a great cocktail recipe? It could win you tickets to 'Jersey Boys'
- Jeremy Daniel
- The Times is giving away a pair of tickets to "Jersey Boys."
Who doesn't love a good cocktail, right? And who doesn't love "Jersey Boys," the Tony- and Grammy-winning jukebox musical that tells the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons?
Say, here's an idea: what if the Arkansas Times was to have a contest for the best "Jersey Boys"-inspired cocktail, and give the winner a pair of tickets to see the musical June 19 at Robinson Center Music Hall, plus entry to the official after-party at Boscos, where that person's winning cocktail would be served? Sound keen? Bet.
Here's the deal: email your cocktail recipe to tiffany@arktimes.com and put "JERSEY BOYS COCKTAIL" in the subject line. We'll select the most promising recipes, then your trusty and (very) seasoned Times cocktail experts will try them out and anoint a winner. The contest is open from through June 6, and the usual caveats apply (no Times employees, don't scalp the tickets, etc.).
Feel free to get all crazy and "mixologist" with this thing, but know that if your recipe is too out-there, calling for emulsified durian oil or pulverized fresh loganberries or something else that no self-respecting bartender has ever heard of, then you might not win. Cool? OK. Aaaand... go!
Music Videos
Johnny Cash mashed with Jackson 5, Steve Miller
Here's what you get when you combine "Rockin' Robin" with "Folsom Prison Blues" and "The Joker." What say you — abomination or finger-snapping good time?
The mash comes courtesy of DJ Faroff.
H/T: egotripland
LRFF
Little Rock Film Festival 2013 award winners
I'll have more on my impressions on this year's festival tomorrow. In the meantime, here are this year's prize winners.
Oxford American Best Southern Film Award ($10,000 prize money): "Bayou Maharajah"
Heifer International Social Impact Film Award ($10,000 prize money): "These Birds Walk"
Golden Rock Narrative Film: "Short Term 12"
Golden Rock Documentary Film: "Dirty Wars"
Extraordinary Courage in Filmmaking: Jeremy Scahill ("Dirty Wars")
Arkansas Times Audience Award: "Bridegroom"
Made in Arkansas Best Feature: "45 RPM"
Made in Arkansas Best Short: "The Discontentment of Ed Telfair"
Made in Arkansas Best Director: Mark Thiedeman for "Last Summer"
Made in Arkansas Best Actor: Liza Burns in "45 RPM"
World Shorts: "When We Lived in Miami"
A previous version of this post incorrectly listed the World Shorts winner as "When We Live in Miami."
Cover Story
A guide to the 2013 Little Rock Film Festival
Event Calendar
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Arkansas Reporter
Efficiency program from Entergy Arkansas could save you money
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