Taking a stand

The leaders of Scott County aren’t taking a passive approach and hoping for the best when it come to preserving their constitutional rights as Americans.

The county’s nine-member quorum court unanimously have voted for an ordinance to declare their county (with a census-estimated 2018 population of 10,319) as a “Bill of Rights Sanctuary.” I say good for them.

Now which other counties will follow suit in refusing to impede or violate their citizens’ constitutional rights in a contentious era when some are being openly threatened and abused?

The Scott County seat of Waldron is about an hour south of Fort Smith. The county was formed in November 1833, taking its name from Andrew Scott, a Territorial Supreme Court justice.

County Judge James Forbes, cowrote the recently adopted ordinance. He was quoted in a news account saying the ordinance is simple enough, stating that the county will uphold individual rights as Americans. “We’re not targeting any one amendment; we’re encompassing the entire Bill of Rights and Constitution to make sure people are protected,” Forbes said.

“We’re letting people know upfront that we are not going to violate the Constitution,” Forbes added.

GOP state Sen. Terry Rice, a supporter of the ordinance, was at the meeting and told a reporter, “I support the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and [what’s going on in] Virginia and other places [officials/law enforcement] are not following the law. This is a way citizens are trying to let their elected officials know to follow the Bill of Rights … this is a statement, a declaration.”

All righty then, now we all wait to see if Scott County has started a trend. Will others of our state’s 75 counties join in their crusade?

Scott County’s leaders are being proactive, rather than waiting to react to political developments such as the called red-flag laws being implemented or considered in several states and underway today in Virginia’s legislature, which is moving to limit the possession of firearms in certain specific categories.

The ordinance also pertains to citizens’ constitutional rights to unfettered free speech and expression and free association (among others), also being threatened in states such as Virginia.

Since each person who assumes public office or enlists in military service or other agencies swears an oath vowing to uphold the Constitution, what’s happened in Scott County seems anything but radical. I’d call it properly American, as well as a declaration everyone who enjoys and appreciates freedom and liberty should wholeheartedly endorse.

Birds of a feather

Seven of our state’s top 10 ZIP codes containing the largest numbers of residents who have earned post-graduate degrees are located in Little Rock, says UnitedStatesZipCode.org.

Kinda gives new meaning to that old saw about birds of a feather flocking together, I’d say.

The remaining three top 10 ZIPs are in Fayetteville. The rankings are based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The leading ZIP code is Little Rock’s 72207, with 30 percent of its residents having earned advanced degrees. It is followed in order by 72212 (26.5 percent), 72223 (26.2 percent) and 72211 (22.5 percent).

The No. 5 spot is taken by 72703 in Fayetteville (21.7 percent), then back to Little Rock for 72227 (20.3 percent) and 72205 (19.9 percent), in the sixth and seventh positions.

The top 10 rounds out with Fayetteville’s 72701 (19.7 percent), 72201 in Little Rock (19.6 percent) and 72704 (18.9 percent) in Fayetteville.

At the lowest end of post-graduate density in Arkansas is 71861 in Taylor at 9.5 percent, followed in increasing order by 72760 at Saint Paul (9.7 percent), Magnolia’s 71753 (9.8 percent), Washington’s 71862 and Springdale’s 72762 (each 9.9 percent), Centerton’s 72719 and Russellville 72802 (each with 10 percent), Eureka Springs’ 72632 (10.1 percent), Smithville’s 72466 (10.1 percent), and 72527 in Desha (10.2 percent).

So why do these statistics matter in our day-to-day life? Well, the news item that accompanied these findings said neighborhoods full of residents with post-graduate degrees are “increasingly attractive. Well-educated communities—full of leaders in technology, medicine, business and more—can bring new industries and revenue.”

I admit the data are somewhat interesting and I can understand and agree with such reasoning about the purported benefits. We also realize the challenge of co-existing in neighborhoods can be more complex than a ZIP code denoting the benefits of education levels and economics.

I’ve lived and worked in enough Arkansas neighborhoods (and others across seven states) to know the best communities and neighborhoods are those where I’ve known, liked, enjoyed, respected and appreciated my neighbors as decent and responsible people, regardless of their chosen careers and occupations.

In that respect, it would be nice to find a way to measure the level of intangibles such as kindness, thoughtfulness and caring by a ZIP code.

The full measure

I’m a product of the Vietnam generation, who as a 19-year-old upstart served in the U.S. Coast Guard during the late 1960s and fortunately was never deployed to patrol the rivers of that war-torn country.

Others of those I consider brothers from that era weren’t as lucky, and 58,220 died there. That’s but one reason I was so touched by the powerful and poignant film The Last Full Measure, which we watched in one of those posh, be-seated-and-be-served recliner theaters last week.

People can easily drift off in such comfy, naptime theaters that now even serve real food, beer and mixed drinks.

This turned out to be a film I believe every American should see, especially those in high school and college, many of whom sadly have no clue about the reality of fighting, being maimed, and dying for our nation and the brothers and sisters alongside them. Unfortunately, the movie opened in only a limited number of theaters (we all can suspect why). For instance, we had to drive an hour from Harrison to Springfield.

The nearly two-hour film relates the true story of young Vietnam War hero William H. Pitsenbarger, a U.S. Air Force para-rescue medic who personally saved over 60 men in the bloodiest battle day of that controversial war.

During a rescue mission on April 11, 1966 (a year after my high school graduation), an exhausted yet determined Pitsenbarger was offered the chance to escape on the last helicopter out of that hellish combat zone. But he chose to stay in the dense jungle to continuing saving and defending the lives of soldiers from the trapped U.S. Army’s 1st Infantry Division (Big Red One).

He paid for that choice with his life. This story tells of the many men whose lives he saved in those terrible hours and their 32-year-fight to see Pitsenbarger finally receive the Congressional Medal of Honor earned through his heroic actions.

I strongly recommend seeing this film. By the way, so do 94 percent of others who’ve seen it. Take a tissue or two. I suspect you’ll need them.

Now go out into the world and treat everyone you meet exactly how you want them to treat you.

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