Arkansas Blog

Halter is asking to have his neck stretched. How did he get to be anything?

Looks like Dustin isn't too keen on Halter putting together a statewide campaign and network in advance of those two running against each other for the governorship.

I was so hoping we'd get a decent crack at an Arkansas lottery, especially one like this that would benefit those seeking a higher education. Let's hope Halter will give 'er another try. As for the initiated act to ban gay foster parents and adoption, it will probably pass, and what can one say? Except this: Will it be another 50 years before Arkansas crawls on its knees into the 21st century?

How did he get to be anything?"

charlie, it's a long story. He attended Ark high school and did real good. Then he attended college and agin did real good. Then he applied for a gubbermint job and got it. He did real good there too. Then President Clinton #1 appointed him acting head of Social Security Administration. Bill Halter did real good at that place too. Then he come back to Arkansas and run for Lt. Gov and done real good.

"While 58 percent of Arkansans indicated that a state lottery should be adopted to benefit education, Ritter pointed out that lottery proceeds would fall far short of the money Arkansas needs to raise."
http://dailyheadlines.uark.edu/3017.htm
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Respondents back proposed lottery by 4-to-1 vote
Participants in The Baxter Bulletin Online Poll want a state lottery in Arkansas. By a 4-to-1 ratio, they voted in favor of a lottery as proposed by Lt. Gov. Bill Halter.

Last week, Mr. Halter offered a constitutional amendment to set up a state lottery that he contends can raise $100 million a year for college scholarships and keep money from going outside Arkansas.
http://m.baxterbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070927/OPINION01/709270337/1014/OPINION&template=wapart
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Online Poll Results, Lottery Gets Favorable Nod
ARKANSAS, USA (February 5, 2007) -- Respondents to an Online Poll say they'd like to take a chance on a state lottery in Arkansas. They did, however, think revenue from a lottery should be used beyond college scholarships and teacher bonuses....
http://www.lotteryinsider.com/lottery/arkansas.htm

Oh, I forgot to add, he whupped Jim Holt's ass real good too.
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eLwood...? seriously?

My yeller dog coulda won against Jim and wouldn't have had to spend near as much money doing so. How much did Bill spend again? You seem to have all that info at the ready, just thought I'd ask...

Still, comments from state owned computers aside, it's a sad day for all Arkansans. Guess, I'm going back to Memphis this weekend to fund THEIR educations...

I really don't give a damn how much Halter spent. I could certainly find out pretty quickly if I needed to know. He did spare us the embarrassment of Jim Holt holding statewide office. Don't forget Holt's one-car telephone campaign in '04 done on a shoestring got him 44% against Miss Blanche.
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Hey eLwood-

Halter was head of Social Security under Bush. Never was #1 under Clinton.

As a 32 year old student trying to better himself by going to college, I sure have lost my like for Dustin. But hell this is Arkansas and the religous wing gets their way.

Hey eLwood-
Halter was head of Social Security under Bush. Never was #1 under Clinton.<<
Doe-Doh

It was tongue-in-cheek for the first Clinton presidency. Hillary will be President Clinton #2, much to my dismay.

No no, eLwood...

What I was saying was that Halter was never Social Security's #1 guy under Clinton. It was Bush that made him social security's top guy.

Look it up.

Can't say that I'm surprised. It's no wonder that Arkansas is such a haven for wing-nut supremacist groups, with people like the State's Attorney General in their corner. And what do you bet that Dusty won't scrutinize the Bigot Council's signatures too closely before certifying them? 50 years later, it is still Faubus' Arkansas.

Whether or not you like the lottery, It'd be bad news to have a pro-lottery issue AND an anti-gay adoption issue on the '08 ballot. Wingnuts would come outta the woodwork to protect us all from gambling and gays--and while they're at the polls, they might as well vote for every wingnut R on the ballot. Beware.

Joe Pyrah - DAILY HERALD
Loving couple. Loving home. Steady jobs. No criminal history. Kids like them and the birth mother wants it.

Despite all that, Michael Gregg Valdez and Michael Oberg are wading upriver through the state child protection system to be able to take care of four kids belonging to Valdez's niece. The two Salem men say it's because they're gay.

"They'd rather pull them out of a loving, caring home and put them into a foster home," Valdez said. "You walk into our house without anybody here and it's going to be like any other house."

To the state, it's a simple matter of the law, which says that to adopt or be a foster parent, you must be legally married or single and not cohabitating. Officials asked for clarification of a judge's directive that Valdez have custody of the children, requesting that the court take custody or grant custody to the state's Division of Child and Family Services. On Friday, the courts took custody, then turned around and granted Valez temporary custody of the children.

"The judge said, 'I see absolutely no reason why the kids can't stay where they're at,'" Valdez said.

The two men, both natives of Utah County, said they would love to get married, but voters passed a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

The two were surprised three weeks ago when the children's birth mother asked them to take care of her children while she dealt with drug-related criminal matters. It was no small task, but they wanted to help, said Oberg. The kids are ages 11, 6 and 2 years, and 10 months. The children's fathers aren't able to take them, at least not now.

"It was very difficult to get it going. But we've got the kids situated now. They're comfortable. They're happy," Oberg said.

The children aren't strangers to DCFS, as the mother has a history of drug problems. But DCFS has worked to keep the kids with their mother when possible, Valdez said, and was even supportive of the men's efforts, until one of the division lawyers said the men had to sign over the children.

"They've been through enough without having been split up," Valdez said. "That's the major thing, the reason I've agreed to do this for her."

Finding a foster family to take in four kids isn't easy, though the state's goal is to always keep siblings together, said Martie Shannon, DCFS adoption program manager, adding that DCFS doesn't speak about specific cases because of privacy issues.

"It just depends on the timing of who is available," she said.

For now Valdez and Oberg are available and willing.

"I guess we let DCFS and the drug court decide if the mother follows the orders of the court or not," Valdez said.

If she doesn't, then the adoption/foster issue comes back into play, and the roller coaster begins afresh.

"I guess we'll just cross that bridge if and when it comes," he said.

There are only three states that have outright bans on homosexual parents: Florida, Mississippi and Utah, though Utah's is tied to the cohabitation rule and not expressly against homosexuals. In fact, people who are gay could adopt or be a foster parent, as long as they aren't living with a partner, Shannon said.

Gabrielle Valdez, Michael's 17-year-old biological daughter, said Friday that their home is like any other, complete with family dinners, concerns over school work and regular jobs.

"I'm not really too worried. They're doing it for the kids. They're not doing it for anything else."

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/238993/1/