Thursday’s thumbs

Nature center will be great NW Arkansas addition

NWA DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

It’s time for a new installment of thumbs and this week, it’s all good.

Nov. 2 will be an exciting day for Northwest Arkansas supporters of hunting, fishing and the great outdoors as the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission breaks ground on its nature center on a 61-acre site in Springdale. The state agency plans to spend $18 million on the facility, which will highlight natural elements and ecosystems found in this corner of the state. According to commission officials, the facility will include 36,000 square feet of space dedicated to a high-tech educational building, indoor and outdoor classrooms, education pavilions, traditional and 3-D archery ranges, watchable wildlife walking trails, wildlife habitat areas, a creek boardwalk and overlook, native plant gardens, wildlife-viewing blinds, and other conservation education and outdoor recreation amenities. Funding includes a $5 million donation by the family of the late J.B. Hunt. The center promises to be a great attraction for fish and game enthusiasts and a resource for outdoor education for area educators and students.

There’s learning through education and learning through experience. In the EAST program at Sonora Middle School, students are getting the benefit of both in an intergenerational way. A group of students met with residents of a retirement home, listened to memories the residents cherished, then went to work trying to create immersive 360-degree videos the residents could watch on headsets, allowing them to capture an experience similar to their memories. The project challenged the students, created an opportunity for interaction with an older generation and used technology to promote truly human interaction. Kudos to those students and to all the others working on such creative projects.

Northwest Arkansas’ Jimmie Dykes was known as an ESPN basketball analyst nationwide well before his time as head coach of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, women’s basketball team. It’s unfortunate that gig didn’t work out, but it’s good to hear Dykes will be back on TV sets offering insights on the games, particularly within the Southeastern Conference. Some will say Dykes should have never left the TV position, but we find it commendable that he took a risk to do something he wanted to do and gave it his best shot. There’s something valuable to be taken from that experience. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? The truth is, many people would never have taken the risk and would have missed out.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson has long been a good Republican, watching out for the party in any way he can while still pursuing the goals he sets as Arkansas’ leader. But even he acknowledged President Trump’s apparent strategy regarding repeal of Obamacare is flawed. “His strategy appears to be just repeal it without a solution, and that’s what I’ve never said is a good policy solution,” Hutchinson said Tuesday. “Whenever you’re dealing with 300,000 Arkansans (on the state’s expanded Medicare program), then we have to have a plan for the future. It can’t just be disruption.” Amen, Bro. Hutchinson. Our president is still a rookie when it comes to getting things done through politics. Maybe he should listen to someone like Hutchinson who has a lifetime of political experience.