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September 2, 2004

Vol 2 • No 33

Prized recruits

The world of private high schools is, at least on the surface, a decorous one. There are theoretically plenty of students to go around, and rules that are supposed to keep schools from actively poaching especially desirable kids from each other. Which isn’t to say it doesn’t happen anyway. Little Rock Christian Academy principal Boyd Chitwood takes the unusually candid step of recounting a specific incident, although he won’t name the student or the other school involved.

Bush targets churches

"100,000 swarm/ streets of NYC/ denounce Bush" said the front page of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in big type Monday morning. That sort of confirms what the pundits and the Wall Street Journal have been saying about the president's new strategy to win a second term. His handlers have convinced him to concentrate on evangelicals because while his opposition to gay marriages irritates many people, it pleases many conservative church people.

Campaign diary

As I write this, I am on a small private plane with Gen. Wesley Clark en route to Wilmington, N.C., where Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards will deliver a major foreign policy address.

Arkansas gets wordy on gays

Missouri is a state of a fewer words than Arkansas, at least when it comes to outlawing marriages of people of certain body parts to people of the same body parts.

Kerry’s gunner

A few veterans may have uncertain memories of their days on the muddy rivers of Vietnam, but Fred Short of North Little Rock is not one of them. Short remembers each day like it was this morning.

Observer Sept. 2 2004

The River Rail trolley took a trial run the other morning south over the Main Street Bridge and east on Markham to the River Market. The Observatory, in the Heritage West Building at Markham and Scott Street, got a happy message later in the morning from the Central Arkansas Transit Authority that it would not have to move the Heritage West Building south to make room for the nose of the trolley car as it makes the turn east.

The wreck of Ol’ 527

If political advertising by presidential candidates these days can be described as dirty fighting, then ads from 527 groups like the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are the equivalent of a brick lobbed from a dark alleyway.

Football in Fayetteville

Three times during the month of September, thousands of Arkansans will make their pilgrimage to Fayetteville to partake in what many have deemed a religious experience: University of Arkansas Razorback football. The UA season kicks off Saturday, Sept. 4, with a game against New Mexico State University in Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

Picks Sept. 2-8

Bloodworth Thomason signs book at benefit n TV producer Linda Bloodworth Thomason, wife of Arkansas native Harry Thomason, will make her first stop on a national booksigning tour the Central Arkansas Main Library.

Insiders September 2, 2004

Play ball
The Insider stumbled on a closed-door meeting at the Little Rock Hilton last week and did a double take at the mixed political backgrounds of those present — from Gov. Mike Huckabee’s main man Rex Nelson to Huckabee’s former political opponent, Nate Coulter, with people like former Hog David Bazzel and Republican operator/talk show host Bill Vickery in between. It wasn’t a coup in the making. What it was was football.

Take us down to Paradise City

** We’re well aware of the number of tribute bands for KISS and AC/DC; this is the first time we’ve heard of one for Guns N’ Roses. Paradise City, hailing from Cleveland, will cover everyone’s favorite GNR tunes, from the band’s “Appetite for Destruction” though “Use Your Illusion” heyday, and band members strive to look and act the part of the late ’80s and early ’90s hair band. The show starts 10 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 3, at Sticky Fingerz. The cover is $7.

Freedom upheld

Freedom upheld Religious freedom is under heavy attack — from fundamentalist preachers, Catholic bishops, even Arkansas school administrators. Thank heaven, there are still federal judges who’ll defend it. If this is judicial activism, keep it coming.

Editorial Cartoon September 2, 2004

Keep your eyes on your plate

You know what, let's cut to the chase. The food at Vino's Brewpub is great. The place — it's not gorgeous. The building's stability and the interior's sanitation are iffy. The clientele, while diverse (a U.S. congressman is a frequent guest), can make a middle-aged person wanting for facial or body metal, someone who's not a walking lightning rod, feel old and out of place

James tells it like it is

Arkansas Times readers are in for a treat this football season: Bruce James, who appears on “SportsWeek” at 10:30 p.m. Sundays on KATV, Ch. 7, is providing weekly commentary in the Times about the upcoming Razorback games.

School choice

"Nobody can question my commitment to public education." That's what Gov. Mike Huckabee said when he vetoed legislation that would have barred public bond financing for private schools, such as Pulaski Academy.

‘Hero’ is great

I know what I’m supposed to say about “Hero” That it’s a masterpiece. That it’s a visual feast. That I loved it ever-so-many thousand times better than “Cats.” That is, after all, what every other movie critic in the universe has been saying for a week.

Serenity now

I’ve been squinting around here trying to read the handwriting on the wall, and what I’ve seen isn’t encouraging, but I take quadrennial courage if not comfort from a truth that I learned by living a long time and following elections since Harry Truman: it doesn’t really matter who’s elected president.

Rough waters

When Drew Whitlow of Huntsville and Fred Short of North Little Rock came home from Vietnam more than 30 years ago, they thought they had left behind what happened in the murky canals of the Mekong Delta.
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