Suspend STR permits
Dear editor:
With the controversy over short-term rentals (STR) invading otherwise peaceful neighborhoods -- essentially "Hotel Houses" springing up unexpectedly -- and the upcoming Hot Springs city board and mayoral elections, I urge all concerned citizens to determine their candidate's position on this thorny but most important issue.
Our collection of friends and neighbors on our peninsula suffered such a recent invasion. And it happened without us even knowing such a thing would be, or had been permitted by the city. It was a done deal before all of us even knew about it.
A few years ago, against the will of many, our neighborhood had been forced to join the city. But at least we had the solace that the increased burden of regulations would be balanced by the protection of neighborhood integrity zoning laws. This has now proved to be a misguided assurance. We now suffer the disruption of weekend tourist revelers running up and down our street at breakneck speeds, loud party music, and some have even gone to the wrong addresses, disturbing the peace and tranquillity of adjoining homeowners. All of this, combined with the threat to our property values and even the ability to sell our homes has incensed very many good folks. Such irresponsibility on the part of city authorities and such disregard for the quality of life issues to those neighborhoods affected is truly sad to see.
Would you and your neighbors want this in your future?
I think it important to immediately suspend any and all STR permits until an appropriate due process can be established by the city. Perhaps a separate board or committee could be established to give prior notice to neighbors of any such permits being issued. And if there is too much opposition, such a permit would not be granted.
So please, for the sake of your quality of life, ask your board or mayoral candidate their thoughts on this extremely important issue.
John R. Bomar
Hot Springs
GOP irony
Dear editor:
The missile by Marcia Albaugh, chairman of the Republican Party of Garland County, in the Oct. 2 issue, is a puzzling one. Most of her seven paragraphs are about apathy. She begins with a paper of a brother written in the late 1960s for a high school assignment concluding that apathy was the cause of much "moral decline and poor work ethics."
Albaugh agreed that apathy is still a great cause of so many current problems. Few of any political persuasion would disagree that apathy has been and still is a serious deterrent to "getting important things done."
However, Albaugh's solution is for the readers to "support Godly, Bible-believing, moral candidates." Yet, her party, the GOP, has been a strong supporter of one of the most immoral presidents of my voting lifetime, 62 years -- if not the most immoral -- Donald Trump. And many of that party are still strongly supportive of him.
To point out the irony even more strongly, that party has chosen Sarah Sanders as their candidate to be our next governor. Sanders has no true political experience other than spending time in D.C. serving Trump and regurgitating his lie after lie, with disdain for any accurate reporting. She promises as governor to reduce taxes (she doesn't say how) that would result in cuts to many needed services, meaning that some other tax would have to be initiated.
Sarah was a Huckabee, the same Springhill Huckabee of my maternal great-grandmother. I'm certain that those great-great-grandparents of mine buried in our Huckabee cemetery a few miles from Hope are turning in their graves.
John W. "Doc" Crawford
Hot Springs
Gun misconceptions
Dear editor:
As a veteran, I am tired of hearing the argument from people who are against some common sense gun reforms about raising the legal age limit to 21. Time after time I've heard "Old enough to serve, old enough to own."
This is an argument that simply does not hold water. For those who have never been in the military, allow me to explain some major differences. First, you are screened and background checked in a much more stringent fashion before you're ever accepted. Then, when you enter basic training, depending on the service, you generally don't ever fire your weapon until midway through basic training, only after going through one to two weeks of firearm safety training. At no point in basic training are you ever allowed to possess live ammo outside the firing range. Every night, your weapon is locked and secured.
After boot camp, when you have been assigned a unit, you are issued your firearm. It is secured in an armory. Outside of combat deployment or supervised field training, that is where it stays at all times. At no time can you just throw it in the back of your vehicle and carry it off base. Every round of ammo you're ever issued is logged and scrutinized.
In short, an 18-year-old in the military is issued a firearm. They do not own it, and the security and measures taken are a lot different from an 18-year-old walking into a pawnshop and leaving within an hour with a semi-automatic weapon and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
I respect our Second Amendment, but at some time we are going to have to admit we have a firearm problem that other civilized nations do not have and take steps to reduce the violence. I seriously doubt we can count on Congress or our Arkansas representatives who are beholden to the gun lobby and the NRA to solve this, but at some point we are going to have to.
Staff Sgt. George Zeigler
U.S. Army, retired
Hot Springs
Opposed to Issue 4
Dear editor:
Arkansas' attempt to begin the legalization for the use of what is currently identified as an illegal drug is beginning with an amendment to authorize the possession, personal use and consumption of cannabis by adults and to authorize the cultivation and sale of cannabis to Arkansas Citizens! This is on the Arkansas 2022 ballot in November as Issue 4.
For Arkansas citizens who love and respect the state of Arkansas and who want to keep our roads safe to drive on, please vote no on Issue No. 4 in this November 2022 election!
William FitzGerald
Hot Springs Village