- Issue Archive for
- Oct 7-13, 2004
- Vol. 2, No. 38
News
Letters, Oct. 7, 2004
Legal questions
In much of the world and throughout recorded history, marriage has been substantially a contractual, economic institution.
In Arkansas, it is possible by contract for unmarried couples (of either sex) to structure many of their respective property rights to approximate those of married couples.
Since 1948, racially based real estate covenants have been unenforceable in the courts because that would mean an arm of the state was enforcing discrimination, contrary to constitutional mandates.
Would an Arkansas court have to refuse to enforce agreements as to property rights made by unmarried couples (straight or otherwise) because it would thereby recognize a “legal status” that was “substantially similar” to marriage?
Just what does that proposed “marriage” amendment mean?
W. Christopher Barrier
Little Rock
Observer Oct. 7, 2004
The year Ruth Lincoln was born, William McKinley took office as the 25th president of the United States. On her birthday last Saturday, Oct. 2, Mrs. Lincoln celebrated by touring the building that will honor the 42nd president of the United States, the William J. Clinton Presidential Center. She came with a busload of friends, none of whom had made their way around the sun as many times as Mrs. Lincoln. On Saturday, Ruth Lincoln turned 107.
Complete fabrication
A crucial witness says her testimony in the West Memphis Three case wasn't true, but a product of police pressure to get results in the death of three children.
A Starr lawyer
In case you missed it, the New York Sun (a right-wing daily) broke the news last week that the New York Times had hired former special persecutor Kenneth Starr in its effort to quash subpoenas of reporters’ phone records.
Test Letters
asdf
Insiders Oct. 7, 2004
Home-grown media blitz
Brent Bumpers, son of former U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers, convened a “Who’s Who” list of Democratic politicos at Doe’s Eat Place on Oct. 1 to raise money for an independent media campaign supporting John Kerry’s presidential bid.
According to an e-mail Bumpers sent to friends after the meeting, he was motivated to launch the effort because the Kerry campaign indicated it wouldn’t spend a meaningful amount of money on Arkansas media this year.
“We Arkansans, however, are not willing to ‘roll over’ and concede the state — nor is the Kerry campaign — and our mission and intent is to do everything within our power to carry Arkansas for John Kerry,” Bumpers wrote. “Consequently, we have organized a committee to raise as much money as we can, over a short period of time, for Arkansas media.”
Bumpers added that a “very impressive” amount of money was collected at the lunch meeting.
The Wright stuff
Last week, the MacArthur Foundation announced that the Arkansas-born poet C.D. Wright was one of 23 recipients of its 2004 fellowships, the so-called “genius grants.” Like the rest of the MacArthur fellows — a group ranging all over the scientific, artistic, and humanitarian spectrum — Wright will receive $500,000 over the next five years, no strings attached (though many past fellows have used the award to set up fellowships and foundations of their own). We catch up with her for a chat
Justice Scalia comes to town
A man known for the forceful expression of opinion, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was oddly shy about media coverage of his appearance Friday at the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Possibly, he has only one speech and is striving to keep it fresh. At any rate, the speech he gave at UALR, the first in a new lecture series at the law school, and given, Scalia said, in memory of the late Judge Richard S. Arnold of Little Rock, was the same one he’d given a couple of nights earlier at Harvard Law School, where he and Arnold were once classmates.
Racial profiling
The 2003 General Assembly enacted a law forbidding racial profiling by police officers, but only after stripping most of the provisions that would have given the law teeth, including one that would have required police to collect data on the number of people stopped for investigation, the reason for the stop, and the race of those stopped.
Preach it, Bro. Bumpers
Word filtered down to the Times about a recent speech Dale Bumpers delivered to about 300 people in Arkadelphia.
‘They messed with my words’
Aaron Hutcheson has suffered from nightmares for most of the 11 years that have passed since his two best friends were killed in West Memphis. He recently joined the Army and hopes this will help him get his life on track.
‘What I did was wrong’
Vicki Hutcheson began backtracking from her testimony within months after the trials’ conclusion.
Her accounts have changed over time.
Hutcheson made her first conflicting statement five months after the trials, when she still faced possible charges of perjury.
Columns
Smoke and activism
A young lady inquired the other day about the meaning of the expression "smoking mirrors" that she’d heard relatives use. We explained that it’s really "smoke and mirrors" and it refers to the devices magicians use to pull off their tricks.
Cluttering up our Constitution — as usual
Proposed Amendment 2 comes down to a basic choice. Will you opt in the interest of desperately needed economic development to vote to put another horribly written article into our state Constitution? Or will you vote “no” to insist we wait two years for the legislature to do a rewrite? At times I lean to waiting, since two years is hardly forever and it seems the responsible course. But at other times I find myself unable to become terribly alarmed about putting gibberish in our state Constitution.
Sllim funds, fat children
There it was, right on the front page of the Sept. 8 Wall Street Journal: Arkansas school children are more overweight than any other kids in the country. About 32 percent of those in kindergarten are overweight, and by the time they get to the fifth grade, 42 percent are obese, or nearly so.
Ridin’ in the Rocks
Max Brantley is on vacation. Keith Jones, executive director of the Central Arkansas Transit System, is writing in his place.
Words Oct. 7, 2004
Strong renter: "Without question, good family values comprise the backbone of successful communities," said a letter from the governor. "My administration is built upon this tenant."
In the red
What improvident leader offers the best metaphor for the fantasy world in which the current president of the United States imagines himself? Hoover? Coolidge? Neville Chamberlain? Nero? It doesn’t matter. With President Bush it is not a single blind spot like Coolidge’s faith that happy bankers and traders insured the nation’s well being.
Survey says?
Political campaign polling always has had its problems.
Entertainment
Blues in Helena
Blues in Helena Some of the biggest names in blues music will be featured Thursday through Saturday, Oct. 7-9, in Helena at the free, 19th annual King Biscuit Blues Festival.
Burning to rock
It figures that a band in which three of the four members were high school prom kings might have a little grungy angst to shake off. Socialburn, a post-grunge-influenced group made up of four friends from the hamlet of Blountstown, Fla., will bring its rock to Juanita’s Cantina Ballroom on Friday, Oct. 15.
TV Highlights, Oct. 7-13
Everything that's fit to squander an hour or two of your life on this week, including the Sci Fi Channel's new reality spooker: "Ghost Hunters"
FAIR Forecast
The main gates swing open Friday, Oct. 8, to the 65th Arkansas State Fair, featuring the monstrous midway, free concerts (well, free with a fair admission), livestock show and auction and the PRCA-sanctioned rodeo, which means something to participants who are eyeing spots in the National Rodeo Finals next month.
Texas two-step
Texas troubadour Charlie Robison, who always draws a big crowd whenever he comes through town, performs Friday, Oct. 8, at Sticky Fingerz in the River Market district.
Rupert Holmes makes ‘Escape’ to Broadway
Credited with writing one of the silliest songs of the ’70s, "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)," Rupert Holmes found far more admirers with his recent work in theater. His "Say Goodnight, Gracie," which opens with Jamie Farr for a three-night run at Robinson Center Music Hall on Monday, Oct. 11, was the 2003 Tony Award nominee for Best Play.
Scaling new heights
I knew there was a good chance I was going to spend a large portion of the new firefighter flick "Ladder 49" with the lower two-thirds of my face looking like a glazed doughnut. On the other hand, given Hollywood’s attempts at canonizing the brave, I also knew there was a good chance "Ladder 49" would be an overblown, grandstanding, smoldering piece of crud, the latest big-budget effort to convince me that watching John Travolta’s slowly expanding head is still worth my $7.50.
The bad news is, Option No. 1 came to pass, though I was able to mostly keep my dignity intact. The good news is, the cheesefest I expected wasn’t on the menu. Instead, "Ladder 49" turns out to be a carefully wrought and utterly human story about friendship, courage and the lengths people will go to save others.
Rolling on the river
A full house welcomed the first performance for the 2004-05 season of the River City Men’s Chorus last Sunday, and the only thing better than the weather on that fine early-autumn day was the music inside the sanctuary.
A year of sipping
The Arkansas Times-sponsored Shop ’n’ Sip in Hillcrest (also known as First Thursday) celebrated its first year anniversary in September. In that year, the event, held on the first Thursday of every month, has grown from late hours at a few Hillcrest stores and drink specials at area restaurants to a convivial minor Mardi Gras, with outdoor entertainment, snacks and free beverages. “It’s definitely grown,” said Dr. Dennis Burrow, president of the Hillcrest Merchants’ Association. “We’ve had people from out of state come out.” A Riverdale Shop ’n’ Sip is expected to debut later in the year.
Picks, Oct. 7-13
One of the traditions of fall is now 10 years old. Little Rock Parkview Arts and Science Magnet School students will again present their historical, educational and not-near-as-spooky-as-you’d-think "Tales of the Crypt" on Tuesday, Oct. 12, at Mount Holly Cemetery.
Returning beauty
It is fitting that student artwork be hung in schools. So the University of Arkansas at Little Rock is the apt place for the current exhibit “Lasting Beauty: Miss Jamison and the Student Muralists,” paintings created by Japanese-American teen-agers interned at Rohwer during World War II.
Advice Goddess, Oct. 7, 2004
Hot to not
I’ve been with my girlfriend for two years. At first, things were amazing, but after six months she said she didn’t want to have sex anymore because she was afraid of getting pregnant. Being the understanding guy, I said OK, and for the last 15 months we haven’t made love. Now, despite what she tells me, she doesn’t seem to have any interest in me physically. We cuddle while watching TV, but basically, our only sex life is kissing; and not the passionate kind, but the kind of peck a guy would give his mother. I’m extremely unhappy, but every time I try to talk to her she starts to cry and tells me she couldn’t live without me. I do believe she would do something drastic, as do all our friends. Should I stay with her and hope things get better, or should I leave her and hope she’s bluffing?
—Dismayed
Dining
Caribbean pleasure from Studio 69
Let’s get this out the way at the start. Studio 69 gets its name from the jersey number of the owner, Victor Allotey, who played professional football for the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs. Don’t feel bad — we were wondering, too. From its name you would never know that this restaurant and nightclub offers authentic Caribbean cuisine, along with soul food and a few other dishes that straddle several cultures (Jamaican Jerk Chicken Alfredo?).
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