Commentary

By Donna Smith Ammons

I nearly walked my legs off in New Orleans last month, while on a trip with friends.

We parked in a parking garage by Harrah’s at the end of Canal Street and then hopped on the trolley to the French Market.

We walked through the open air market, looking at all kinds of trinkets, carvings, silly hats and more. And then we walked through the stores in the French Market. I had to step in all the shops and look around. I found lots that I could buy, but refrained myself, since I knew I had a long way to carry my purchases.

I stayed in the toy store a while, looking at all the puppets and trying them out; pointing out books that my grandson would like; and reminiscing about all the old games we played as children.

By Pete Abington

WHERE’S THE LINE? Listening to our politicians talk, education is by far the priority. Looking at what is actually happening, it is nothing to be proud of. The overall well-being of children in Louisiana ranks next to last in the nation. This is based on the annual Kid’s Count report from the Annie B. Casey Foundation and it shows that things just might get worse. The report also showed the percentage of children who could be “under-counted” in the next census. This would make matters even worse as it would negate those people receiving funding for health, education and other assistance.

According to the study, 36% of the children under the age of five in Louisiana live in “hard to count” census tracts because of poverty, broken homes and other factors. The national average in that category is 23%.

By donna smith ammons

On a recent camping trip, we traveled in our camper to Cave Springs, Arkansas, to Memphis, with an overnight stop in Toad Suck, and then on to Nashville. On the way back, we left Nashville and were headed to Moro State Park, 40 minutes northeast of El Dorado, Arkansas.

Our destination was to meet good friends, Les and Susan Crowson, former Many residents, who now live in Ruston, and Dean and Amanda Lambert. The weekend was going to be the restful end of a long trip for us.

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By donna smith ammons

Sometimes, one just runs into really nice people. Such was the case when we were attending a recent seminar in downtown Nashville.

We were in the camper on a lovely lake, but the ride into the city was going to be 20 minutes. We left at 6:30 a.m. so we wouldn’t be late for the 7:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast.

Being country folks, we didn’t think about early morning traffic. Smitty, our cranberry colored Jeep, zipped in and out of traffic, but we still got caught in the long lines. Forty-five minutes later we arrived and parked Smitty in the parking lot across from the hotel where our seminar was taking place.

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By Donna Smith Ammons

I loved my Gramma Ankrom. She was a short lady who was always buzzing around the kitchen, stitching clothes or measuring me for patterns she drew on newspaper.

It was not unusual for her to stir up pudding on the stove, if I needed a late night snack.

I didn’t get to spend near enough time with my Gramma, because we were always moving. I did get to spend an entire summer one year and looked forward to seeing her with regularity when we lived in Arizona and they were in Garden Grove, California.

I reminded myself of my dear Gramma on a recent trip to north Arkansas, to see my oldest granddaughter, Riley Kate. I had promised her I would take her school clothes shopping since she would be starting 7th grade in a new school.

By Pete Abington

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION?

It has been 45 years since the 1973 Constitutional Convention. Politicians have stated many times that we need to redo our constitution, only that statement always seems to go nowhere. This became more prevalent in this last regular session, yet it has been almost three months and nothing has been said since. One thing is for sure, they had better think it through before we do. Our state is so complex that we have several hundred amendments to our present constitution and something needs to be done. In the event they do have a constitution convention, everything needs to be looked at, even topics like - do we need to elect a Lt. Governor, for instance. We could ask the same question about the insurance and agriculture commissioners.

Helicopter ride checked off my bucket list!!

Thanks Life-Air-Rescue-Louisiana!!

Thursday, August 9 turned out to be a very exciting day!

Sabine Parish Chamber of Commerce student worker Amanda Tedder and I thought we were covering a ribbon-cutting for the Chamber’s newest member, Life- Air-Rescue Louisiana. It was a clear and sunny Thursday morning, August 9 at the helicopter pad behind Sabine Medical Center where we all gathered for the event. Little did we know it would end up in the air!!

We went through the ritual, cutting the ribbon, having business leaders and our Mayor Ken Freeman speak, along with Chamber Director Kenneth Ammons welcoming the newest members. We took pictures and did quick interviews…..and then much to our surprise, they responded to Chamber Board member Shanna Gaspard, who wanted to fly in a chopper. Amanda and I were next in line and for several flights, those who were adventurous were treated to flying over Many.

The social media teaser for a recent New York Times article paints a grim portrait of the economic prospects for aging Baby Boomers: “Vanishing pensions. Soaring medical expenses. Inadequate savings. The rate of older Americans filing for bankruptcy has tripled since 1991.” A study by the Consumer Bankruptcy Project shows that, for people aged 65 to 74, annual bankruptcy filings have increased from 1.2 per 1,000 people in 1991 to 3.6 in recent years.

“There is no question that more and more seniors are facing financial hardships,” said Libertarian National Committee Chair Nicholas Sarwark. “The New York Times story and the Consumer Bankruptcy Project study that inspired it both fail to mention the three causes of bankruptcy cited in the story’s headline: vanishing pensions, inadequate savings, and soaring medical expenses. These are all problems caused largely by government policy.”

By Donna Smith Ammons

Braeden and PaPaw feeding the giraffe!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!!

While visiting our oldest son, Davy and wife, Kt and our three wonderful grandchildren, Riley, Braeden and Darby, we were able to visit and spend the morning at Wild Wilderness Drive Through Zoo. The four-mile, 400 acre zoo, located in Gentry, Arkansas, was really neat. Needless to say the kids had a great time!

We traveled from their new home in Cave Springs, northwest of Bentonville, through country roads to Gentry. Upon entering Gentry, which was one of my destination spots, I jumped out of the van and had my picture taken with the Gentry sign. Guess who I sent it to? (My boss of 39 years!)

UPSETTING THE WORKS

It was revealed this past week that Jim Bernhard might be buying into the race for governor in 2019. With his enormous business skills and wealth this would upset the applecart if he ran in the Democrat or Republican party. He mentioned running before several times but declined to do so. The last thing Governor Edward’s force wants is a Fortune 500 darling jumping into the race with his own money and splitting up the Democrat vote. It has been said he could toss in $20 million. He is presently a Democrat and is not very likely to change parties.

In 1987 he and two other investors founded the Shaw Group, a corporation providing construction and maintenance services to energy companies. By the time he sold the Shaw Group in 2013 it was worth $3 billion and was on the Fortune 500 list.