Arkansas Reporter

Arkansas Reporterhttp://www.arktimes.comen-US60A boy and his flaghttp://www.arktimes.com/Articles/ArticleViewer.aspx?ArticleID=2f5d7a3b-c72a-446b-8d20-3823aa79c021Will Phillips isn?t like other boys his age. Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMTdavid@arktimes.com (David Koon)Will Phillips isn't like other boys his age. For one thing, he's smart. Scary smart. A student in the West Fork School District in Washington County, he skipped a grade this year, going directly from the third to the fifth. When his family goes for a drive, discussions are much more apt to be about Teddy Roosevelt and terraforming Mars than they are about Spongebob Squarepants and what's playing on Radio Disney. It was during one of those drives that the discussion turned to the pledge of allegiance and what it means. Laura Phillips is Will's mother. ?Yes, my son is 10,? she said. ?But he's probably more aware of the meaning of the pledge than a lot of adults. He's not just doing it rote recitation. We raised him to be aware of what's right, what's wrong, and what's fair.? Will's family has a number of gay friends. In recent years, Laura Phillips said, they've been trying to be a straight ally to the gay community, going to the pride parades and standing up for the rights of their gay and lesbian neighbors. They've been especially dismayed by the effort to take away the rights of homosexuals ? the right to marry, and the right to adopt. Given that, Will immediately saw a problem with the pledge of allegiance. ?I've always tried to analyze things because I want to be lawyer,? Will said. ?I really don't feel that there's currently liberty and justice for all.? After asking his parents whether it was against the law not to stand for the pledge, Will decided to do something. On Monday, Oct. 5, when the other kids in his class stood up to recite the pledge of allegiance, he remained sitting down. The class had a substitute teacher that week, a retired educator from the district, who knew Will's mother and grandmother. Though the substitute tried to make him stand up, he respectfully refused. He did it again the next day, and the next day. Each day, the substitute got a little more cross with him. On Thursday, it finally came to a head. The teacher, Will said, told him that she knew his mother and grandmother, and they would want him to stand and say the pledge. ?She got a lot more angry and raised her voice and brought my mom and my grandma up,? Will said. ?I was fuming and was too furious to really pay attention to what she was saying. After a few minutes, I said, ?With all due respect, ma'am, you can go jump off a bridge.' ? Will was sent to the office, where he was given an assignment to look up information about the flag and what it represents. Meanwhile, the principal called his mother.? ?She said we have to talk about Will, because he told a sub to jump off a bridge,? Laura Phillips said. ?My first response was: Why? He's not just going to say this because he doesn't want to do his math work.?? Eventually, Phillips said, the principal told her that the altercation was over Will's refusal to stand for the pledge of allegiance, and admitted that it was Will's right not to stand. Given that, Laura Phillips asked the principal when they could expect an apology from the teacher. ?She said, ?Well I don't think that's necessary at this point,' ? Phillips said. After Phillips put a post on the instant-blogging site twitter.com about the incident, several of her friends got angry and alerted the news media. Meanwhile, Will Phillips still refuses to stand during the pledge of allegiance. Though many of his friends at school have told him they support his decision, those who don't have been unkind, and louder. ?They [the kids who don't support him] are much more crazy, and out of control and vocal about it than supporters are.? Given that his protest is over the rights of gays and lesbians, the taunts have taken a predictable bent. ?In the lunchroom and in the hallway, they've been making comments and doing pranks, and calling me gay,? he said. ?It's always the same people, walking up and calling me a gaywad.? Even so, Will said that he can't foresee anything in the near future that will make him stand for the pledge. To help him deal with the peer pressure, his parents have printed off posts in his support on blogs and websites. ?We've told him that people here might not support you, but we've shown him there are people all over that support you,? Phillips said. ?It's really frustrating to him that people are being so immature.? At the end of our interview, I ask young Will a question that might be a civics test nightmare for your average 10-year-old. Will's answer, though, is good enough ? simple enough, true enough ? to give me a little rush of goose pimples.? What does being an American mean? ?Freedom of speech,? Will says, without even stopping to think. ?The freedom to disagree. That's what I think pretty much being an American represents.? Somewhere, Thomas Jefferson smiles. Company townshttp://www.arktimes.com/Articles/ArticleViewer.aspx?ArticleID=7fe6b71a-7a88-40de-bb9e-51ef0320418bThe author of a new book on the impact of Wal-Mart on Bentonville claims she had offers for two appearances at libraries in Northwest Arkansas rescinded after library trustees expressed concern over how the book portrays Wal-Mart. Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMTdavid@arktimes.com (David Koon)The author of a new book on the impact of Wal-Mart on Bentonville claims she had offers for two appearances at libraries in Northwest Arkansas rescinded after library trustees expressed concern over how the book portrays Wal-Mart. Marjorie Rosen is the author of the new book ?Boom Town: How Wal-Mart Transformed an All-American Town into an International Community,? recently published by Chicago Review Press. The book features interviews with Bentonville residents who have seen their lives touched by the rise of Sam Walton's mega-corporation, including a black man who revolutionized the company's human resources department, a Muslim contractor who built the city's first synagogue, a Latino family that migrated to the area, and a trucker whose fortunes rose with the coming of industrial chicken production.? Rosen said that after reading the book, librarians at both the Bentonville Public Library and the Rogers Public Library were excited about the prospect of having her come to speak. A librarian at the Bentonville Public Library suggested ?Boom Town? might be a candidate for the month when everyone in the area reads the same book. In Rogers, negotiations for her appearance got far enough along that librarians made plans to pick her up at the airport.? Then, unexpectedly, both appearances were called off. When she pressed library officials as to why, Rosen said, she was told that trustees of the libraries had expressed concerns about how it would play at Wal-Mart. ?[The Bentonville librarian] said, the trustee thought your book was quote-unquote ?inflammatory,' and everything is off,? Rosen remembers. ?I said that's a very serious charge to make an academic.?? Even after Rosen offered to appear for free, to allow the library to pick the passage she would read, and to offer a chance for the public to ask her questions or challenge her about the content of the book after the reading, Bentonville library officials still refused. Rosen said a similar thing happened in Rogers. Rosen said her contact there told her they were planning a big reception and a reading. The afternoon Rosen made her flight reservations, however, the librarian called back ?panicked,? saying the trustees of the library had read her book. ?She was like a different person, like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,? Rosen said. ?It was like, ?I'm sorry, but we have to cancel your lecture, we don't have enough money in the budget.' I said, ?I'll do it for free. Don't worry about it.' ?[The library official said] No, no, no. We can't. There's some political situation.' ? Rosen has since approached the Bentonville Chamber of Commerce about hosting a reading of the book when she comes to Northwest Arkansas the first week of November, but hasn't heard anything from them at this writing. There are currently no readings scheduled in Bentonville. A reading at the Fayetteville Public Library on the evening of Nov. 3 and some appearances before college classes there are the only readings she has scheduled in Northwest Arkansas so far.? Judy Casey, director of the Rogers Public Library, said that the cancellation of Rosen's appearance there had nothing to do with Wal-Mart. She said that she had ?tentatively confirmed? Rosen's reading at the library, but called back to cancel later the same day after speaking with trustees. The library was hosting a reading by the novelist James Patterson in October, Casey said, and it was decided that they shouldn't hold two author events so close together. Casey said that the ?political situation? she mentioned to Rosen was in reference to local issues, not Wal-Mart. ?We decided we were in budget hearings, things were being scrutinized about what we were doing and who we were having come in.? she said. ?It had nothing to do with Wal-Mart. It was just some dynamics of where we were at right now with our library.??? Hattie Dudley, the director of the Bentonville Public Library, disputed the claim that Wal-Mart had anything to do with the cancellation of Rosen's reading there. Though Dudley said there is one Wal-Mart employee on the library board, she said the board knew nothing about the effort to schedule a reading for Rosen's book. She? said the decision to not host a reading by Rosen was hers alone, and that the librarian who had spoken to Rosen about an appearance didn't have the authority to make programming decisions.? ?This person wasn't involved in doing the programs for adults,? Dudley said. ?That was kind of an informal chat with her about, this might be a good thing. Then, whenever we looked at our programming slate and our budget, we thought it wouldn't be something the library wanted to participate in.? For her part, Rosen disputes the idea that the book is inflammatory. She said she believes it holds Bentonville up as a template for small town America when it comes to multicultural issues. ?I do talk about some vendors who went bankrupt as a result of Wal-Mart,? Rosen said. ?But in general, it's a very positive book about Wal-Mart; what a good neighbor it is, and how Wal-Mart has created this comfortable, wealthy town that people want to stay in now.? Rosen said she has no reason to suspect that Wal-Mart was directly involved in the cancellations of her readings, saying it was more likely the work of those who were ?scared or protective? of the company. The experience has made her rethink what she had believed about Bentonville.? ?It makes me think I was an easy mark, actually ? that I didn't actually understand something about the long arm of Wal-Mart,? Rosen said. ?These are libraries. They're supposed to be dealing with free speech, free expression, free thought and fact.?? Bearing the Market http://www.arktimes.com/Articles/ArticleViewer.aspx?ArticleID=ddeb01f2-8a45-46dc-b095-cb34c2b850ecWhy does it cost $1.3 million to run the River Market? ?That was my question,? Mayor Mark Stodola said.Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMTleslie@arktimes.com (Leslie Newell Peacock)Why does it cost $1.3 million to run the River Market? ?That was my question,? Mayor Mark Stodola said in advance of the City Board of Directors vote to approve a one-year agreement that would turn the market's operations over to the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau. River Market rents and parking fees produced only $268,593 in 2008. But that was only $62,486 less than was budgeted. The entire 2008 budget for the River Market ? which the LRCVB contributed $242,472 to ? was $887,659. For 2009, it's $946,703, with expected revenues of $390,518. The LRCVB is to contribute $250,000. The city will have to make up the rest. But the River Market shouldn't be expected to pay for itself, assistant city manager Bryan Day said, anymore than other parks in Little Rock ? or nationally ? do. The River Market is a public service. Are the vendors in the Ottenheimer Hall paying enough in rent? The parks perspective is yes, Day said. Most of the vendors ?are small business, minority, one-person shops.? A businessman might think differently, but the River Market isn't a business. The Riverfest Amphitheatre ? which in its heyday produced up to $150,000 a year, Day said, but is used less now ? is the obvious vehicle to bring in more money. Over the past 10 years, the River Market has had to borrow $2,253,939 from the general fund, Finance Director Sara Lenehan said. With total spending of $1.29 million, the River Market was over budget by $601,077 in 2008. It's over the year-to-date budget by $188,041 this year. The most striking budget-busting was in the area of public relations. Thanks to some confusion, the River Market and the LRCVB were paying invoices against the same budget, spending $345,467, nearly double the $180,000 that was budgeted, Lenehan said. The PR budget is part of the ?services? category, which includes utilities. Utilities went over budget by $52,000.? A fire at the market accounted for a large part of the nearly $185,000 in overspending in the maintenance and repair budget. But Dan O'Byrne, CEO of the convention bureau, says there will be no overspending while his agency runs the market, which starts Nov. 1. ?We intend to take the revenues whatever they are and manage from that point,? he said. ?We use a more explicit business model.? Turning things over to the LRCVB should produce savings by eliminating redundancies. The current staff of the River Market may apply for jobs with the LRCVB, but there will no doubt be casualties. (Director Shannon Light declined to be interviewed for this article.) ?We already have people who clean facilities, deal with staging, set up functions. We can deploy those resources,? O'Byrne said. ?We paid $1,000 to have someone come change the filters in the air conditioners,? Day said. ?The Bureau has an HVAC person. We hire construction people to paint and fix; the bureau has its own crew.? The LRCVB, with its ample marketing staff, will also be able to direct business to the River Market and amphitheater. Its salesmen can now offer conventioneers the meeting space without having to coordinate with the city Parks and Recreation Department. The city and the LRCVB will each contribute $250,000 to operations in 2010. If revenues don't grow, that gives LRCVB some $750,000 with which to run the market. ?If the revenues are only $750,000, then we'll do our best to operate the business at $750,000,? O'Byrne said. At a recent City Board meeting, some directors questioned whether other, private outfits, had been considered to run the River Market. City Manager Bruce Moore said they had, but that a trial one-year contract with the LRCVB seemed like the best solution. City Director Dean Kumpuris, who has made Riverfront Park his pet project, said he believed the new agreement in 2010 will ?look very different? from this year's, approval of which was unanimous. ?It will morph into something better, with more opportunities to come,? he said. ?I think it's going to be a positive thing that's going to happen.? It's not easy to give up running the River Market, Day said. ?We birthed it, managed it, grew it.? But the city will still maintain control by defining the ?long-term vision? for the facility, which Day said should be ?a farmer's market first and foremost.? Riverfront Park will still be managed by city parks.? One more time aroundhttp://www.arktimes.com/Articles/ArticleViewer.aspx?ArticleID=1f0be041-fb41-4f43-8568-fb045294f3d8You may remember the huge Freedom From Religion Foundation-sponsored billboard that stood over the Main Street Bridge in North Little Rock last winter.Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:00:00 GMTgerard@arktimes.com (Gerard Matthews)You may remember the huge Freedom From Religion Foundation-sponsored billboard that stood over the Main Street Bridge in North Little Rock last winter. The board said, ?Beware of Dogma? and was sponsored by the Arkansas Society of Freethinkers (ASF), a group made up of the Freethinkers of Central Arkansas and Arkansas Atheists. The general impression was that the billboard was somewhat of a retaliation. ASF had asked the Secretary of State's office for permission to put up a ?Winter Solstice Holiday Display? at the state Capitol building near the nativity scene and was rejected. This year, they're trying again. Last year, the group sent two letters to Secretary of State Charlie Daniels describing the display and asking for permission to set it up. After follow-up phone calls went unanswered, the group received a written response that said, ?At this time we are unable to fully determine the appearance or qualities of your proposed display.? ASF had submitted a written description but no pictures. This year, though, the group came prepared, submitting a written proposal complete with a website that shows exactly what the structure will look like. Rita Sklar, executive director of ACLU Arkansas, has taken an interest in the case. ?We're taking a look at the regulations, just in terms of what it needs to look like and what they need to do,? Sklar says. ?If they're in compliance, we would hope that they would be treated like the people who sponsor the Christian nativity scene that's been there for years.? The display looks like a miniature house. It is four-sided, four feet wide, four feet deep and eight feet tall. It is covered with a plywood roof. Each side has a different display. One side describes the history of winter solstice festivities. Another describes what a ?freethinker? is. The third side, or the ?Wall of Knowledge,? is a collage of the covers of books written by freethinkers. The final side describes human history and the origins of the universe. According to Natasha Naragon, spokesperson for Charlie Daniels, state law charges the office with preserving and maintaining ?proper order and decorum on the State Capitol grounds.? The state displays a creche on the Capitol grounds every year. Naragon cites a 1989 Supreme Court decision that says the crucial determination in evaluating the constitutionality of a particular display is whether the display has the appearance or effect of endorsing religion. ?In making this determination,? Naragon said in an e-mail, ?the particular setting is critical, and must be judged on its own facts. The office maintains that the [nativity] display does not have the effect of endorsing religion since it is located on the periphery of the Capitol grounds (not in the Capitol building itself).? Sklar says the court rulings on these types of displays are ?ridiculously complicated.? ?So we got into it with them a little bit,? Sklar says, ?maybe about 16 years ago. And they have since tried to comply with the incredibly complicated and confusing decisions coming out of the Supreme Court on this issue. One of the key questions, Sklar says, is what kind of forum the Capitol creates. ?Are they creating an open forum? An open forum means that they are creating a place, where everyone has a fair shot if they follow the rules and they can't discriminate based on content or viewpoint.? LeeWood Thomas, one of the founding members of ASF, says the display they are proposing could hardly be considered offensive. ?A lot of the constituents that Daniels serves probably aren't going to agree with what we're doing,? Thomas says. But it's exercising the same freedom that the people who put up the nativity scene are exercising. Any time you have two different viewpoints there's the possibility for conflict.? Thomas said the group tried its best to get their request in early this year, so it would have plenty of time to prepare and build a display. ASF sent its request to the SOS office in mid-October. Naragon says they have received the request, it is currently under review and the group will have a response soon. For Thomas, he says it really just comes down to the adage ?the more the merrier.? ?I think the rest of the community, like the Jewish community could participate. And maybe that would encourage other groups to come out and we could all celebrate the holidays together.?