Thursday’s thumbs

Buffalo River getting little love at Capitol

It’s Thursday and another chance to fire off a few thumbs about some of news developments in our neck of the worlds and elsewhere:

The horrible circumstances surrounding the inebriated pathologist who wrongly diagnosed patients at the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks marked a needed milestone the other day. The pathologist, 53-year-old Robert Morris Levy, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in connection with making a wrong cancer diagnosis in 2014 and lying that another pathologist agreed. The patient died while being treated for cancer he did not have, according to prosecutors. Investigators who reviewed thousands of Levy’s cases found 30 in which he got the diagnosis wrong. It is certainly satisfying to see some accountability, but it is especially heartbreaking that this episode involves our United States veterans of the military. They deserve the best care, not the care they received at the hands of this pathologist or the system that kept him on the job for so long after problems were discovered. We can only hope that those in charge today have learned some useful lessons in the process of uncovering this medical tragedy so that others can be protected and properly treated in the years ahead.

It is unfortunate that some of our state lawmakers sitting on the House and Senate Interim Public Health, Welfare and Labor committees declined to review a ban on medium- and large-scale hog farms within the Buffalo River watershed. The move, according to one of the co-chairmen, is tacit disapproval of the moratorium. Gov. Asa Hutchinson and groups concerned about the environmental health of the nation’s first national river support the moratorium. The Arkansas Farm Bureau opposes it.

Then, just yesterday, the Legislative Council’s Administrative Rules Subcommittee voted against approving the changes needed to put the moratorium into effect. Some lawmakers, such as Waldron’s Terry Rice, said a limit on farming could produce a “chilling effect” on agriculture. They’re worried the unique protection for the Buffalo River might spread to other waterways in the state.

Well, we’d sure be the last to suggest a measure that might start a moratorium rolling downhill toward the rest of the state, but it was the prospect of more than that rolling down hills into tributaries of the national river that sparked calls for a moratorium and the state’s buyout of a largescale hog farm that should have never been permitted. Surely Arkansas lawmakers can recognize that the Buffalo River isn’t just any ol’ river. It is the premier waterway of the state, having received the federal designation in the early 1970s. It deserves to be protected

above and beyond the state’s other waterways.

It’s important to note that calls for certain Confederate statues to come down or be relocated are not, as some suggest, a rewriting of the nation’s history. That history needs to be told and understood by generation after generation, even better than today. So it was good news this week that Pea Ridge National Military Park, which shut down many activities as the result of coronavirus measures, will soon restart interpretive services for visitors with roving employees available to answer people’s questions, ranger-guided automobile caravan tours and demonstrations. Some facilities remain closed for public safety, but at national parks across the country, it’s vital that visitors can get insights into the many aspects of the nation’s history by people trained to deliver it.

Occasionally, we hear people say “Once a Hog, always a Hog,” usually in reference to some athlete or coach who has gone on to do other great things. It might be few Arkansas fans are saying that these days about Bret Bielema, the former head football coach who produced a 29-34 record between 2013 and 2017 before he was canned. The University of Arkansas, using Razorback Foundation money, agreed to pay Bielema an $11 million buyout on certain conditions. Now Bielema has filed a lawsuit against the foundation seeking $7 million remaining on his buyout. The foundation stopped paying Bielema in January 2019. Both sides claim the other breached the agreement. We’ll let the judge or jury figure all this out, but it’s a sad state of affairs for the UA, which has suffered back-to-back 2-10 seasons and a 4-8 season in 2017. It’s been nearly a decade since the Hogs posted what would be called an outstanding season, with most since being mediocre or losing. And the coronavirus looks to complicate the 2020 campaign for team and fans alike.

If you’re a Donald Trump fan from Northwest Arkansas heading over to Tulsa, Okla., for his Saturday rally, at which there will be no requirement to wear masks or to observe social distancing, do everyone a favor: Wear a mask anyway. Northwest Arkansas is a hot spot of cases for the moment. Wearing masks helps to prevent infected people from spreading the disease to others. Don’t wait for a requirement and don’t make it political. Just observe wise counsel from public health officials.