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The swimsuit issue
Ah, the middle of February. We all know what that means: Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue has arrived.
And that means some folks, such as those in the American Decency Association (ADA), will voice concerns about exploitation of women.
“Sports Illustrated DISRESPECTS women by displaying demeaning stereotypes of female sexuality,” says the ADA’s website. “The swimsuit issue features women models posed not as athletes of strength, skill, and endurance but as playthings … .”
That may be true, but here’s what is also true: We men are also being exploited here. -
Cutting my losses
I had the great idea to get a haircut last weekend and what a mistake it would turn out to be. This was not some last-minute idea. I have been debating for weeks on exactly what I wanted done. No drastic changes, just a shorter version of what I had. Maybe add some layers to add more body to my tired looking hairdo.
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Letters to the Editor
Saddened by negativity toward homeless shelter
Dear editor: -
War now less of vague concept, more real
One hundred fifty years ago, the American Civil War was no longer a vague and distant abstract concept of great armies fighting glorious battles in far off lands; quite the opposite was true for Arkansas.
As federal troops steadily inched their way in a southerly direction, the people of Arkansas continued preparation for the imminent invasion. The proverbial “Clouds of War” were looming at a not-so-very-distant point of no return for the citizens of Arkansas and their army. -
Should students be paid to go to school?
Could pocket change have persuaded Ferris Bueller to forego his day off?
That’s what I wondered when I read about a bold experiment by Dohn Community High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, this alternative school (serving mostly at-risk low-income and minority students) gives seniors a $25 Visa gift card each week they have perfect attendance, show up for class on time and stay out of trouble. Underclassmen receive a $10 gift card. -
Little-known facts about … stuff
The movie “Jeremiah Johnson,” based on the life of the most famous mountain man of all, certainly whitewashed the details of Johnson’s life. Oh, it included the vendetta between he and the Crow Indians in which the Crow nation sent its top 20 warriors after him, one by one, to kill him in hand-to-hand combat. None succeeded.
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Batesville in 1954: ‘Sum of perfection’
(Editor’s note: Jerome Davidson of Austin, Texas, recently wrote the following while corresponding with his aunt, Clara Bufford of Batesville.)
I was born in 1943 and spent the first eight years of my life in Batesville. My mother was Beatrice Bufford of Batesville and my father Jerome Davidson Sr. of Paris, Tenn. After I completed the second grade at West Elementary School in 1951, our family left Batesville and my father pursued a career in the military that lasted 30 years.
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Tornado doesn’t break roots
She was just a young girl when her mother died leaving her father, Joseph Washington Hively, to raise six children.
The 1916 tornado in Hendrix, Okla. took the life of my great-great-grandmother, leaving a young husband who would also die one year later.
Along with my grandmother, Lona Malinda Hively (Sanders), was her older brother Noel, her three younger sisters Clyda Mae (1909), Nova (1913) and baby Nellie (1915). She also had another brother named Earl (1911-1918) who died a couple years after their mother. -
Letters to the Editor
Public needs accessible methods of exercise
Dear editor:
As director of a local agency with a stated mission to improve the health of area residents, I’m taking this opportunity to make some comments concerning the importance of exercise on health. My position is not a political one, but as a health educator. -
It all began with a love note
Forty-one years ago, I was a naïve 19-year-old just beginning life’s journey. I do not like to brag but I was the poster child for naïveté.
I had a few ideas about life but too few to make me a contributing member of the human society. What I knew about life could fit nicely in my trouser pocket with plenty of room for a country boy’s pocketknife. -
Reasons why I love my Valentine
How I got lucky enough to marry a guy like Gary escapes me to this day. He’s good to me in ways I probably don’t deserve. Usually in this space, if I am writing about Gary it’s about the things that drive me crazy, like his recklessness in standing on the hood of his truck cab to cut tree limbs, his lack of culinary skills or his yelling at the TV during a football game or NASCAR race.
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Officials: No ‘invasion’ by Union forces
After members of the Batesville Area Civil War Round Table recently received startling reports of a possible Union invasion here, the Batesville Daily Guard contacted Mayor Rick Elumbaugh, and he wants to assure the citizens of Batesville that there is absolutely no chance of an “invasion of Batesville” by Union forces in the spring.
Elumbaugh has received word from state officials, local militia and military leaders that Batesville will be entirely safe. Union advances will be along the Mississippi and fighting will be east of the Mississippi.
