Thursday’s thumbs

Family’s gift a great addition for NWA

We’re throwing out a few thumbs today, as is our tendency on some Thursdays if for no other reason than affection for a little alliteration. We’ll ask for the readers’ pardon, however, if our thumbs leave a little bit of a sweat stain. All we did was walk outside to the mailbox for a minute or two and the sweat was rolling.

Stay cool out there, folks.

The late John Wasson’s desire to preserve a piece of Northwest Arkansas’ natural beauty has grown from 20 to 87 acres thanks to members of his family who donated the additional acreage to become part of the Flint Creek Headwaters Preserve in Springtown, in western Benton County. The preserve is now in the hands of the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust, an organization dedicated to making sure the best parts of the region — the natural ones — don’t disappear. Now, residents and visitors of today and tomorrow will be able to stroll through the wooded lands around the creek and appreciate the region’s wildlife, plants and geography. The nonprofit land trust ensures the permanent protection of lands through direct donations and through conservation easements with landowners.

City officials in Fayetteville, in a recent news story, appeared to be very understanding of delays in the contracted project to expand the capacity of Zion Road in north Fayetteville, between Vantage Drive and Crossover Road. Motorists and people living or working in the area no doubt find it harder to appreciate the challenges. Closing the major east-west route was necessary and its expansion will eventually be celebrated, but the stretch of road has been closed far longer than anyone expected. City officials say completion of the project could take two to three months, but given its history, is that realistic? The entire stretch was supposed to be completed early this year but work is just getting under way between Old Missouri Road and Crossover Road. The most unfortunate part is all that traffic that necessitated the project has, for far too long, been rerouted to an already hectic Joyce Boulevard and complicated by other construction in the area. The project increased the dangers on Joyce and the lingering detour has lasted enough to test even Job’s patience.

Answers coming out of Uvalde, Texas, continue to confound and anger. The latest is that a Uvalde police officer had the gunman in the sights of his rifle before the assailant entered the school, but the officer paused to seek permission to shoot. When he turned his attention again toward the school, the shooter had entered the building. An assessment of the law enforcement response suggests a reasonable officer, having heard reports of gunfire and observed a man approaching the school armed with a rifle, “would conclude in this case, based upon the totality of the circumstances, that use of deadly force was warranted.”

The Northwest Arkansas Food Bank has announced a $25 million capital campaign to build an 82,425-square-foot Center for Hunger Relief on 15 acres at Pleasant Grove Road and Honeysuckle Street in Lowell. The building will serve as the central distribution facility supporting all Food Bank operations. The food bank will be in a position to increase food distribution by 60%, with a goal to distribute more than 14 million meals by 2025. We certainly wish the Food Bank’s services weren’t needed, but they are meeting a serious situation in Northwest Arkansas head on.