Mulling over the election

Last week’s primary election go to suit ya? While there were a couple of surprises for me, I believe the voters took care of business in a way that ought to serve them well.

Tenacious Kelley Cradduck, who never tapped out through two previous grueling attempts at becoming Benton County’s sheriff, finally gets his deserved opportunity to serve the populace. And with a healthy 58 percent of the vote. This fair-mnded and reasonable man is filled with good ideas and should do a fine job in that role.

Git-er-done Bob Clinard earned the right to remain in his job as Benton County judge. He won about 86 percent of the vote, which means lots of folks must feel as I do. Fairminded Washington County Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay deserved to be re-elected as did justice of the peace Butch Pond.

I was frankly surprised that Jon Woods defeated incumbent Bill Pritchard, who’d accumulated lots of seniority in the Senate. And it was equally unexpected to see newcomer Bart Hester of Cave Springs oust veteran state Rep. Tim Summers with 53 percent of the vote in Senate District 1. Summers, who’d served well as House District 99’s representative since 2009 was predictably gracious in defeat. Both winners in those Senate races are considerably younger than their opponents, which may, or may not, have made a difference.

I was pleased to see Bryan King of Green Forest win the Senate District 5 seat, although it was a squeaker. King may be the most conservative lawmaker in Little Rock today and a direct kind of farmer/legislator who says exactly what he means.

Okay, now on to November. Enough of “look at me” politics for the moment.

Catching up

Some readers may recall the struggles of Darren Sisemore of Rogers, who watched an undiagnosed benign tumor within his sinus cavity begin to grow at age 12.

The insidious mass weighed three pounds before it was surgically removed four years later. Numerous surgeries followed, along with chronic infections that deformed one side of his face and robbed him of sight.

Michelle Scott-chiodo and David Chiodo of Fayetteville, who own MDA Central Casting Studios, took up Darren’s cause along with others and helped raise funds to have his nonfunctioning eye surgically replaced with a prosthetic one and close the hole that had opened in his face. That wound had remained a source of constant infection to his head and brain. That was until Darren underwent a recent operation in Dallas that finally resolved the infection and set the stage for his prosthesis and specific facial restoration. He expects that surgery in the relatively near future.

What an exhausting ordeal this young man continues to endure. Sisemore works as an engraver for an awards business in Fayetteville. And thanks to the Chiodos and many others who contributed to his surgical bills, largely through Arvest Cares, Sisemore seems to be on the road to becoming healed and restored. He and his longtime sweetheart, Misty, have married.

Yet another story of the good things that happen when people from across our society choose to become involved in each other’s lives to help those who fall on hard times out of circumstances beyond their control.

Fleeing flasher

Now, I’m not judging here. I’m really not. But: I’ll never understand those among us who feel the need to reveal their private parts to anyone else.

Now we must hear about the Springdale flasher who reportedly lured a boy into a bathroom at Grove Street Park, then exposed himself. The young man exited the restroom and quickly told his father what had happened, say police, whereupon the understandably angry father and others gave chase as the exhibitionist fled in a blue minivan.

So if you’re anywhere with your child who has to use a restroom, keep a close eye out. Local police certainly were last week. Whether I understand them or not, such men in need of help—sadly enough—are out there waiting for victims.

DNA deliberating

For readers who value rational thought over dreams and wishes, a friend recently sent this: “Mike: All living things on earth—including microbes, grass, elephants, blue whales and humans—reproduce using DNA. Although the creatures differ widely, the code that controls many of their characteristics is very stable and has served to maintain the distinction between each of them through the ages.”

So, he continues, if creatures evolve, their DNA must switch between kinds to make an entirely different DNA strain to support a new living thing altogether. “Is there any evidence anywhere to show that’s happened, according to DNA? I’m not aware of it, are you?”

Anyone out there aware of DNA shape-shifting from an amoeba into an elephant or a person?