Arkansas Times - June 15, 2017

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JUNE 15, 2017

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COMMENT

Unaffordable When it comes to pre-existing health conditions, there’s no such thing as the “good ol’ days.” We can’t afford to go back to those fictional harlequin days of the “Great” America.

Before the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), if you had cancer or diabetes or any kind of ailment not covered, insurance companies labeled them preexisting conditions. People with preexisting conditions were told to pay outrageous premiums for health insurance.

Since premiums were unaffordable for most, people with pre-existing conditions had no health insurance.

As newlyweds, before the Affordable Care Act, my wife and I found out the hard way about pre-existing conditions. A tick infected with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever bit her before she could be put on my insurance. Not being wealthy, we couldn’t afford insurance for her and consequently went deeply in debt to pay for life-saving treatments.

The American Health Care Act (AHCA), not to be confused with the Affordable Care Act, is the House of Representatives’ replacement for Obamacare. No surprise: Insurance companies are put back in charge of our health care. They are getting a couple of hundred billion dollars in new tax breaks and are bringing back those bad ol’ days when pre-existing conditions were not covered by regular insurance.

There is little if anything good for you and me in this bill. It is especially punishing for people aged 50-64, who often suffer chronic conditions — preexisting conditions. Nationally, 40 percent of Americans age 50 to 64 have pre-existing conditions. The Natural State would be hit especially hard. Fiftytwo percent of us ages 50 to 64 have pre-existing conditions. More simply put, 280,000 Arkansans could face real financial hardship when health insurance coverage is denied for pre-existing conditions.

The U.S. Senate plans to work on this bad bill in the coming weeks. Treatment of pre-existing conditions as done in Obamacare should not be changed.

The costly treatment under the House bill should be one of the first sections deleted by the Senate.

John Zimpel Mabelvale

As I said over and over again, the city can pass what they want, but if I want to go feed the homeless in a park (somewhere I pay taxes), I’m gonna do it regardless of what anyone says. There isn’t a person in this city with the gonads big enough to stop me. Go ahead and try. See how far they get. Because in the words of Aaron Reddin, the feeding will go on.

Travis Lee Seems to me, Travis, that you do not pay EVERYONE’s taxes for the parks.

From the web In response to last week’s cover story, “Loaves and fishes”:

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JUNE 15, 2017

If a majority of people who ALSO pay taxes do not want the homeless fed in the parks, then the majority rules. You got a problem. Go somewhere else.

Investigator of both sides When the British let all those thousands of Irish people starve to death during the potato famine (because they didn’t want them to become dependent), it not only saved the ruling class from higher taxes, it also sent a lot of poor people to heaven, which is a very good thing.

Ivan the Republican

In response to the June 9 Arkansas Blog post, “Ten Commandments Monument under construction at Arkansas”: Maybe they should make it portable? mountaingirl Maybe some stealthy souls will purchase a life-size model of Han Solo in carbonite and clandestinely affix it to that base. No lawsuit needed, just a cease-and-desist from the intellectual property police. Asa the Hutch would be most impressed.

Hyper I would be all for the installation of a monument dedicated to Xian rules for living, as long it was in each of the chambers of the legislature, since thus far, as evidenced by their actions, they have amply demonstrated that they are the most in need of moral guidance. tsallernarng I think this is the perfect spot in the center of this state to fling your used condoms, old diaphragms, empty bottles of fruit-flavored lube and castoff sex toys.

Deathbyinches All this Ten Commandments stuff is meant to distract us from noticing that Christians of a certain variety are very uncomfortable with the teachings of Jesus regarding the two great commandments, especially the one about loving your neighbor.

Pavel Korchagin In response to an Arkansas Blog post on Legislative Audit’s criticism of Secretary of State Mark Martin’s charging to taxpayers a $8,380 trip to Ghana he made with a deputy: Breathes there a Republican politician anywhere who does not believe himself/herself exempt from all laws?

Kate Ah hell, let the man globe-trot to his heart’s content. He’s already demonstrated that he’s completely incapable of executing the duties of his elected office.

He may want to pick his battles with the Legislature. They might just “forget” to appropriate funds for his office during the next session.

At the very least, they have a track record of cutting budgets by the exact amount (coinky-dink, of course) that

ARKANSAS TIMES

SPB98A AR Times Brave print.indd 1

5/22/17 10:44 AM

they have quibbled over with heads of executive agencies. His office is, of course, one provided by the constitution, but they might still be able to inflict pain. tsallenarng When I think of good things that might benefit Arkansas, the first place I think of is Ghana, the 67th least fragile state in the world, the 5th least fragile state in Africa, the 64th least corrupt and politically corrupt country in the world out of all 174 countries!

Ghana is used as a key narcotics industry transshipment point by traffickers.

Could this be what drew Mark Martin to Ghana? Does he perhaps have a side business or is he making secure retirement plans? It’s known to be an attractive country for the narcotics business.

But homosexual acts are outlawed! Ghana has universal health care, so maybe Mark Martin went there for a hip replacement or a liver transplant? I may be doing that in the future myself.

I hope to get my travel plans paid for by the state, so someone please tell me how I can do this?

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5

EYE ON ARKANSAS

WEEK THAT WAS

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit last week over the hot check division of Sherwood District Court, which attorneys for the plaintiffs said operated as an unconstitutional “debtor’s prison” that trapped poor defendants on a treadmill of debt and incarceration for years — and, in some cases, decades.

The lawsuit had named as defendants the city of Sherwood, Pulaski County, Judge Milas “Butch” Hale III and Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley.

In a four-page order, U.S. District Judge James M. Moody Jr. dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice. In January, Federal Magistrate Joe J. Volpe had recommended the case be dismissed, citing the Younger abstention doctrine.

Named for the 1971 case Younger v. Harris, the Younger doctrine prohibits federal courts from hearing civil suits brought by people who are currently being prosecuted in state court for reasons related to the claims in their federal civil suit. Several of the plaintiffs in the civil suit against Sherwood are still under the supervision of that court for penalties and fines related to their hot checks.

The ACLU of Arkansas, which had been representing the plaintiffs, said it was analyzing the ruling and considering its next step.

State tops in percentage of rural children on Medicaid Almost two-thirds of children in Arkansas’s small towns and rural areas receive health care coverage through Medicaid, the highest percentage of any state in the nation, according to a report by researchers at Georgetown University and the University of North Carolina.

The divide between Medicaid coverage of rural and urban populations is starker in Arkansas than nationally.

Among children in nonmetropolitan counties in Arkansas, 61 percent have Medicaid, compared to 46 percent of children in metropolitan counties.

The findings underscore both Arkansas’s success at insuring a relatively large percentage of its population in recent decades — especially children — and the vulnerability of those gains to proposed cuts to Medicaid.

The American Health Care Act, the Republican-sponsored bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in May to replace the Affordable Care Act, 6

JUNE 15, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

BRIAN CORMACK

Hot check court lawsuit dismissed

FALLS IN SUMMER: The 51-foot Bingham Hollow Falls, in the Ozark National Forest, pours after days of heavy rain.

would cap federal Medicaid spending, and the Trump administration’s proposed budget includes further reductions to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. (This reporting is courtesy of the Arkansas Nonprofit News Network, an independent, nonpartisan news project dedicated to producing journalism that matters to Arkansans.)

FROM THE AUDIT “The duties of the Arkansas Secretary of State are specified in the Arkansas Constitution and other applicable laws and include overseeing election laws, including candidate filings and ballot initiatives; registering businesses; and keeping up the Capitol grounds. The

Martin: ‘Ledge isn’t the boss of me!’

The Legislative Audit released an audit last week that questioned Secretary of State Mark Martin’s charging a 2015 trip he and a deputy, now Washington County Judge Joseph Wood, took to Ghana to state taxpayers. Martin and Wood joined the Arkansas agriculture secretary on a trade mission.

The audit put it succinctly: “The duties of the Arkansas Secretary of State are specified in the Arkansas Constitution and other applicable laws and include overseeing election laws, including candidate filings and ballot initiatives; registering businesses; and keeping up the Capitol grounds. The purpose of the USDA trip, costing $8,380, does not appear to be within the scope of these duties.”

In response, the secretary of state’s office contended that the legislative

purpose of the USDA trip, costing $8,380, does not appear to be within the scope of these duties.”

branch, in auditing the travel of the secretary of state, was violating the Separation of Powers clause in the U.S. Constitution. Frank Arey, counsel for Legislative Audit, said in response, “There is no legitimate question that audit’s travel finding is a valid exercise of legislative oversight, both as a matter of law and a matter of precedent.”

New ABC director Governor Hutchinson named Mary Robin Casteel director of the

state Alcoholic Beverage Control Division, which now has medical marijuana regulation among its duties.

He named Casteel interim director in May after Bud Roberts departed for unannounced reasons (though it was believed to have been at the governor’s encouragement).

Casteel had made $73,000 as staff attorney and Roberts made about $89,000 as ABC director. She received a pay raise on her elevation to interim director and now will move to $88,986.

OPINION

A tax for NLR

N

orth Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith pitched me this week on a city sales tax increase. If still a resident, I’d be favorably inclined.

A garage apartment in Military Heights was my first Arkansas home 44 years ago.

North Little Rock felt right to me, a product of a southwest Louisiana workingclass town with a big unionized industrial workforce, much like that working the Missouri Pacific Railroad shop yards near my first Arkansas home. The mayorcouncil government is close to the people.

My dog got loose one day and, not long after, the North Little Rock mayor (Bob Rosamond) drove up with my errant mutt in his back seat.

Joe Smith, a city government fixture, rose to the mayor’s office overlooking Main Street when Pat Hays finally retired.

He didn’t walk into a bed of roses.

North Little Rock has managed to grow a bit since the last Census in 2010, by about 4,000 people, but it is stressed.

In 10 years, sales tax receipts have grown

How, you might ask, does North LitHe volunteered, too, in response to my tle Rock afford free trash pickup? Word: mention of new residential development Electricity. The city owns its electric downtown, on the river road west of downdepartment. It makes a profit on it, about town and in subdivisions east of town, that by barely $1 milequivalent to the profit Entergy draws “rooftops” don’t necessarily mean a revenue lion, less than threeout of its Arkansas customers. The profit increase for the city. Unlike Little Rock tenths of 1 percent a goes to city services. It’s a hidden and not officials, Smith says that new subdivisions — year. Expenses have particularly good way to operate a govern- welcome though the residents are — come grown by a reasonment. Revenues there have been declin- at a cost of extending city services, includable 3 percent a year, ing, too, as people switch to more efficient ing new fire stations, trash routes, police MAX or more than $17 air conditioners and other energy saving. coverage and street maintenance.

BRANTLEY million So Smith and the city council came up I liked, too, that Smith’s talking points maxbrantley@arktimes.com A tea party folwith this plan. Raise the sales tax by 1 cent, draw comparisons with the “fair-haired” lower has already risen to say the city from the current penny. Spend a half-cent boomtowns of Northwest Arkansas. You could meet expenses by not giving pay on capital needs and levy it only for five won’t find free sanitation there, he notes. raises. Smith figures pay raises are needed years to rebuild police and fire stations And the sales tax rates in the major cities to continue to compete for police and fire- and address street and drainage problems. along the golden corridor from Fort Smith fighters. But pay freezes alone wouldn’t The other half-cent would be permanent. to Bentonville already stand at 2 percent. solve North Little Rock’s problems. It’s Smith sells that by noting that about 40 The new tax, by the way, won’t provide been steadily drawing down reserve funds percent of sales taxes come from shoppers a dollar for Smith’s dream of building a visto balance the budget, a process that can and fun-seekers who live outside the city. itor-attracting plaza in the heart of downlast only two more years. Even a 7.5 perSmith won points with me with unso- town. But the idea is worth a mention. A cent payroll cut would save only $2.8 mil- licited comments on a couple of pet issues. city that’s attractive to millennials could lion a year, while lopping off 13 police He won’t blame lagging sales tax rev- realize a significant economic boost by officers for starters. enue solely on the internet, as Little Rock merely increasing its percentage of college The city could start charging for trash officials try to do. He volunteered that the graduate residents by 1 percent, he says.

Altogether, not a bad pitch. Smith says pickup, a free service unheard of in the rest city also has lost business to suburbanites of the state. That would offset the annual — Conway, Cabot, Searcy and Co. — whose he’ll be making it at least 30 times in every reserve drawdown, but no more. expanded retail options keep them home. neighborhood before the Aug. 8 election.

Ethics upended

E

very week, Donald Trump finds another way to upend conventional ethics in government and politics. Here’s one that has been in the making since the campaign but is reaching maturity in the Russian investigation: He is turning the heroes of government scandals into the villains.

It is manifest in the president’s denunciations of “leakers” (and the press) who ferret out corruption, deception and intrigue from government work and relay them to the American people. The country’s current chief leaker, and thus villain, is former FBI Director James B. Comey, whom Trump suspects of leaking not only their White House conversations, but much of the evidence about Russian disruption of the presidential election.

By Trump’s lights, all of that stuff should be kept from the public, and the leakers should be punished.

You remember a few of our famous leakers: the miffed Wyoming oilman and two senators who outed Albert Fall in the Teapot Dome scandal of the Harding administration; Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein and the FBI leaker Mark Felt, known only as Deep Throat before he was outed in 2005 as the person who leaked evidence of President Nixon’s Watergate corruption;

Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon’s secret history of the Vietnam War to The New York Times and exposed the ERNEST DUMAS Johnson and Nixon administrations’ deception of the American public; Mehdi Hashemi, the Iranian cleric who was executed for sharing with a Lebanese newspaper and the world Iran’s secret (and illegal under U.S. law) dealings with the Reagan administration to swap weapons for hostages and to fund rebels trying to overthrow Nicaragua’s government. Trump was a big admirer of Nixon, though not so much of Reagan, who had raised his taxes.

All those whistleblowers should be lionized no longer but censured for giving away government secrets to unauthorized persons — the American people.

It began innocently last summer when Trump praised WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for leaking the hacked contents of Hillary Clinton’s emails, then the Democratic National Committee’s and finally the Clinton campaign chairman’s. “WikiLeaks!

I love WikiLeaks!” Trump tweeted on Oct. 10. It would turn out that the hackers were Russian Premier Vladimir Putin’s cyber-

spies, whom Trump had publicly implored to hack and leak Clinton’s emails.

But the hacking and leaking turned menacing when a British agent toiling first for Republican and then Democratic foes of Trump, and also droves of cyberspies at U.S. security agencies, including the CIA and FBI, all began spying on Russians and Trump campaign people to figure out if there were joint purposes in the TrumpPutin lovefest. When the British agent’s sordid reports and the security agencies’ evidence that the Russians were deeply involved in the election, including fruitless efforts to manipulate election machinery in several states, were leaked to members of Congress and the media, the equation changed. Leaking was sinister, perhaps illegal, and had to be stopped.

The news media — “the enemy of the American people” — were the chief culprits for reporting leaked information about the Russian investigation, which was supposed to be classified, and also for reporting on conjecture and infighting inside the Trump White House and between his staff and Cabinet agencies. He wanted people leaking the stuff prosecuted.

Trump was suffering what every president endures — reporters’ search for what is going on when government is not obliged to supply it. Bill Clinton, like many before him, was beset weekly by aides tripping over each other to tell the press tales about White House confusion and despair. When

George W. Bush was preparing to invade Iraq to get rid of weapons of mass destruction, an anonymous leaker at the CIA told a Washington Post reporter that neither the CIA nor any of the security agencies had a bit of evidence of WMDs. It ran on page 17. The media, including the Post, largely supported the war.

But Trump’s hostility toward leakers goes further, toward government whistleblowers in general. Days before his inauguration, Trump’s office sent word that he would fire the inspectors general in all government agencies. They wouldn’t be needed.

The inspectors — independent investigators who ferret out waste, corruption and criminality in agencies — are generally hated by the bureaucracy. In 2015 alone, they identified $26 billion in potential savings and recovered another $10 billion for the taxpayers through civil and criminal work. Trump never carried through, but he’s slashing their puny budgets and isn’t replacing those who leave.

The other day he replaced the head of the Office of Special Counsel, which investigates whistleblower complaints throughout the government and had humiliated the Defense Department for its lapses in conduct, including the mistreatment of the corpses of slain soldiers.

It’s hard not to take all this as a green light for self-dealing and misconduct in government. It will not take long to find out.

Follow Arkansas Blog on Twitter: @ArkansasBlog

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7

Brown nosers

I

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f you’ve been wondering what “loyalty” means to President Trump, his most recent Cabinet meeting provides an illustration. Hint: It doesn’t necessarily include loyalty to the United States of America.

Rather, to the assorted Wall Street billionaires, politicians and captains of industry that the president has surrounded himself with, loyalty equates with obsequious, sycophantic praise for Trump himself.

The televised spectacle has to be seen to be believed. And the question is, was it more laughable or more scary? I confess being of two minds.

On the comic side, I couldn’t help but think of the “mighty Emperor of Lilliput, Delight and Terror of the Universe” in Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels.” To determine which of his courtiers gained preference, the Emperor — every bit of 6 inches tall — conducted public exhibitions of “leaping and creeping,” rather like dog agility trials. The winners particularly excelled at groveling.

That would be quite a competition in Trump’s Cabinet. In an obviously scripted moment, Vice President Pence set the tone by piously intoning how serving the great man was the honor of his life. He’s really good at piety, Pence.

White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus then thanked Trump “for the opportunity and blessing that you’ve given us to serve your agenda and the American people.” Around the table it went, each Cabinet secretary striving to outdo the others in expressing devotion to Trump.

Oleaginous Secretary Tom Price may have taken the prize: “What an incredible honor it is to lead the Department of Health and Human Services at this pivotal time under your leadership. I can’t thank you enough for the privileges you’ve given me and the leadership that you’ve shown.”

This isn’t a Cabinet; it’s a fan club.

Where did they find such an assemblage of brown-nosers? And why would a confident chief executive want them?

Good luck anybody at that table ever telling Trump anything he doesn’t want to believe. Not that he ever listens.

Anyway, even with his disapproval rating in Gallup’s daily tracking poll at 60 percent (vs. 36 percent favorable), Trump positively wallowed in the warm bath of his underlings’ praise. I’ve seen cocker spaniels more resistant to petting.

Who’s a good boy? Donald’s a good boy!

The president modestly allowed

that only Franklin Delano Roosevelt had accomplished as much during his first months in office.

GENE Nobody laughed.

LYONS Thankfully, I suppose, only Defense Secretary Gen. James Mattis resisted the urge to flatter the president. Instead, he spoke highly of serving “men and women of the Department of Defense,” as well he should. I actually believe it’s the patriotic duty of Mattis and beleaguered National Security Advisor Gen. H.R. McMaster to remain on duty regardless of the president’s follies. Somebody’s got to man the watch.

Because, on the scary side, you’d have to go somewhere like North Korea or, yes, Russia to find contemporary examples of the “Dear Leader” school of political leadership. Yet, there’s no reason to think the cunning Vladimir Putin is anywhere near as susceptible to flattery as our man-child president.

Nor as vulnerable, ultimately, to public opinion. In Russia, anybody as dangerous to Putin as Gen. Michael Flynn appears to be to President Trump would already be dead. A figure like former FBI Director James Comey would be in prison or exile. He’d be well advised to avoid high balconies and open windows.

But this ain’t Russia.

Trump’s feckless attempts to coopt, then fire, Comey — a cagey, experienced political infighter — track almost exactly with Flynn’s legal perils. He first sought the FBI director’s personal loyalty one day after then-Assistant Attorney General Sally Yates warned the White House that Kremlin operatives had compromised Flynn. Trump then asked Comey to lay off Flynn the day after newspaper accounts forced Flynn’s firing. Why? The president’s attempts at damage control have failed spectacularly. “Do you think Donald Trump colluded with Russia?” Sen. Tom Cotton asked during Comey’s recent Senate testimony.

“That’s a question I don’t think I should answer in an open setting,” Comey answered, definitely not the response Cotton was looking for. He said a final answer would have to come from the ongoing FBI investigation.

Meanwhile, if upward of one-third of American voters appear to have chosen party (in the person of Trump) over country, the rest of us surely have not.

Experiment fails

M

any consequential news events — from local to international — are getting lost in this era of nonstop, overlapping “breaking news” stories regarding all things Donald Trump. Buried on the inside of newspapers across the nation last week was a monster story for followers of state-level politics and policy in the United States: The declarative statement by the Kansas legislature that the “Brownback experiment” in fiscal policy in that state is over.

Sam Brownback made the rare shift from the U.S. Senate to run for Kansas governor at the start of the decade, promising drastic tax cuts if he were elected. Soon after taking office, Brownback persuaded his overwhelmingly Republican state legislature to do just that, cutting income taxes across the board and eliminating some business taxes entirely. More income tax cuts followed in 2013. While critics termed his proposals “voodoo economics” that had been tried and failed at the federal level in the Reagan era, the governor argued that any budget shortfalls would be more than made up by exceptional economic growth in the state. As Brownback said at the time of the first proposal, “We’ll see how it works. We’ll have a real live experiment.”

Late last Tuesday, a bipartisan coalition in the Kansas House of Representatives deemed the experiment a failure, overriding Governor Brownback’s veto of their legislation rolling back the tax cuts. Despite shrinking state government across the Brownback era, during the current fiscal year the state faced an approximately $350 million budget shortfall with projections of even larger deficits in the coming fiscal year.

In addition, the Kansas Supreme Court declared the state’s school funding scheme unconstitutionally inadequate, and Kansas faces a court deadline at the end of this month to boost state spending on education. The new tax revenues resulting from the override will allow the state to shift some new dollars into its public schools, although it is unclear if it will be enough to satisfy the court.

Not only has the Brownback strategy devastated the state budget, it has also cratered his political standing in the state with clear ramifications for his political allies. According to Morning Consult’s April survey of the approval ratings of all 50 U.S. governors, Brownback trails only New Jersey’s Chris Christie in disapproval of state residents

with 27 percent approval of Kansans. In the state, a candidate’s support or opposition to Brownback JAY and his agenda BARTH has become the key issue in state races. No less than 21 moderates who contrasted themselves with Brownback won Republican state legislative primaries last August with 14 of them booting incumbents who had been loyal to the governor’s legislative package. That was followed by 13 Democratic pickups in a general election campaign in which Brownback and his fiscal plan were front and center.

Efforts to recall the Supreme Court justices who had issued the school funding decisions also were soundly rejected in November. Brownback’s shadow over politics in the state extended even to the April special election for a seat in Congress in the Wichita area. While national observers of the special election saw the Democrat’s close loss as a referendum on President Trump’s early months in office, in reality it was the Democrat’s effective linkage of eventual GOP winner Ron Estes to Brownback that helped make the contest so close.

In 1932, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously wrote in arguing that an innovative state policy should be upheld: “It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.” The implementation of the Brownback policies serves as a clear example of using a state as a “laboratory of democracy.” Typically, such experiments lead to results that are fuzzy with advocates and opponents continuing to argue about their efficacy. There is little to debate regarding the result of the recent Kansas experiment: It is a clear failure substantively and politically.

This failure has real implications for policymaking in Arkansas. A chunk of legislators in the new Republican majority are advocates of the Brownback approach and have continually argued for aggressive cuts to personal and business taxes in the state. The Kansas experiment should make the new Tax Reform and Relief Legislative Task Force that will examine wholesale reforms to the tax code in Arkansas be wary of that path.

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ARKANSAS TIMES

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THE OBSERVER NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

Eden Falls

O

n top of Eden Falls at the end of the Lost Valley Trail in the Buffalo National River Wilderness there is a cave where the waterfall’s source has carved the rocks. Below, there is a pool. From the pool, The Observer could look up and see the water trickle over a mossy crag.

Our group helped a family take pictures there. They took pictures of us, The Observer and two friends.

For a while, we talked about struggling with a few looming choices. Not a big deal actually, but they felt big.

We discussed actions and their consequences. Then, we climbed up to the top and the cave.

Here, at the birth of Eden Falls, thin mud is lathered onto the rocks like soap. “Do you want to go see what’s back there?” one friend asked. It had not even occurred to The Observer as an option. The Observer, without this friend, would have seen the cave and turned around. “Maybe there’s something back there,” the friend said, into the darkness. We started edging in.

This friend grew up around the area.

Now, he was just visiting for the weekend. The Observer wondered, looking at his back as we went into the cave, if he was always the type to suggest these things. In our college town, he would often climb the trees along the street and delay a walk home. So this wasn’t new. Nor was it new for The Observer to follow. From the road in college, all of us would enjoy watching him climb.

The first memories though, before then, were actually of another Eden, and exploring with him in a silly, rambling, and half-baked discussion the idea of free will, that one should bite the apple.

Eve freed us. He also said she trapped us, The Observer remembers. The burden of choice. “I want to choose not to choose,” we liked to say.

He told me once that his desire to explore impressed his girlfriend when they were first getting to know one another. She probably liked that he was careless. And he liked, he said, that she

made him careless. The Observer can recall watching her smile a little bigger than the rest of us. She was the other friend on Sunday, going back into the cave. A nice deal, for The Observer, that the two friends were together.

With an iPhone flashlight, The Observer followed the friends back. The cave was cool, even a bit cold. Soon, The Observer could not see. Spaciousness retreated, too. Chatter died. We hit an area where crawling was required and The Observer got on hands and knees, inching forward. A small pack on The Observer’s back containing a bag of pretzels hit the top of the rock, making a crunching sound.

Normally, The Observer does not like tight spaces or heights. The freedom of looking out over a cliff and the lack of choice crammed into a crevice feel similar. If not the same, they are at least in harmony. The Observer gives up a certain something to the world at these points — hopefully no gust pulls me over the edge, hopefully nothing lodges me in this crack. The Observer knows, but cannot compute, that most times things end up fine. In the moment, The Observer just must not fear the unknown. The key is to not struggle, but to be OK with what is happening.

After crawling, we popped up on our feet, dodging eroded stones, and came to a large cavern. Two falls emptied into it. The source of Eden Falls. The Observer’s friend — the one that climbs trees — said we should turn off all our flashlights, to see how it felt.

When they clicked off, a strong sense of vertigo hit. The Observer felt the sensation of falling. It was all black. We clicked the flashlights back on, finding ourselves in the caves again. Looking up, now a whiplash sense of enclosure, fear of being trapped, the two falls and all cave. Don’t freak out. The Observer looked down, shining the light at each friend’s face, and we giggled. “Pretty trippy,” one of them said. We crawled back out and went to a swimming hole, content to waste the day.

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arktimes.com JUNE 15, 2017

11

Arkansas Reporter

THE

No state money for gambling addiction Legislator who led effort to end funding wants to see money restored.

BY JACOB ROSENBERG

I

t does not say under the “Play Responsibly” tab on the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery’s website that Arkansas is one of only six states — along with Idaho, Wyoming, Texas, Alabama and South Carolina — that have a statewide lottery that direct none of its proceeds to problem gambling services.

Instead, the website tells visitors that “the games of the ASL should be played for fun and entertainment, like going to the movies or a sporting event.

If playing interferes with regular activities, responsibilities, relationships, or physical or mental health, it is problem gambling.” For those with gambling problems, the ASL directs people to the National Council on Problem Gambling Hotline at 1-800-522-4700.

But that aid is not state-sponsored or supported. Keith Whyte, director of the NCPG, says his organization is the one “providing coverage for everybody in Arkansas” with the hotline while the state is “raising money on the backs of those they are refusing to help.”

“You have a national group that has to step in to help provide the most basic services for Arkansas residents,” Whyte said.

Beyond the hotline there is Gamblers Anonymous in Arkansas, which the lottery also publicizes online. But, as of December 2015, the NCPG reported only five weekly meetings occurring in the entire state. That means the $80.9 million already raised in this year’s cycle will flow only to funding scholarships, with none directed to offset services for those with gambling addictions.

This was not always the case. When 12

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ARKANSAS TIMES

the lottery was adopted in 2009 the state agreed to set $200,000 aside each year for problem gambling services.

These funds were sent to the Department of Human Services and doled out to support addiction counselors in Arkansas and the NCPG. Bishop Woosley, head of the lottery, estimated that about $17,000 went to support a hotline annually from 2009 until 2015.

But a state law passed in 2015 cut that funding. The NCPG has continued its service despite the lack of cash flow, receiving over 15,000 calls from Arkansas since the halt of state support.

In the legislature, the potential to restore the money — or even study the problem — has been marked by miscommunication, according to Sen. Alan Clark (R-Lonsdale). Clark sponsored a 2015 bill that ended the state’s financing of problem gambling services; but, he says he did not intend for it to be the end of the discussion.

The only reason Clark proposed cutting the funding was because the services were not adequate, he said.

According to Clark, a group of interested parties, including a former lottery commissioner, told him that the money was being used ineffectively. He called the original $200,000 his bill cut from the budget of “a drop in the bucket for what we really need.”

“All I was against was wasting money,” he said. “If the state of Arkansas is going to be in the business of making money, we should be in the business of dealing with the problems that go along with it.” Now, he is a chief proponent for studying and potentially restoring funds to the services.

SEN. ALAN CLARK: His 2015 bill killed state dollars for gambling addiction, but he is now in favor of restoring funds.

In the last legislative session, Clark tried to put forward legislation to survey the amount of money that would be required for the state to seriously deal with gambling addiction. It passed the Senate with ease.

In early April, the bill came to the full House after passing out of the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor committee. An earlier version of the bill was not a simple study, but included a $12 million appropriation for gambling disorder prevention services. The House, Clark said, mistook the appropriation as still part of the bill and shot it down.

“They got confused, to be polite,” Clark said. “If the House leadership had just asked me, they would’ve passed the bill.”

A potential solution may exist outside legislation, though. According to Arkansas statute, the definition of the lottery’s expenses includes “funds for compulsive gambling education and treatment.”

“They could put that in their budget that they bring to legislature every year

and we could approve it,” Clark said, though he has not spoken directly with Woosley about this possibility.

When asked about including problem gambling services in the budget, Jake Bleed, a spokesman for the Department of Finance and Administration, said Woosley and his staff are “very aware” of the provision but have chosen not to utilize it. Bleed said that historically “there simply are not enough local resources to fund to help combat problem gambling.” Instead, the lottery, according to Bleed, has to “rely even more on our national resources.”

This includes membership in the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries, which directs money to problem gambling support, and a newly forming program with lottery consultant Camelot Global, focused on stopping underage players and excessive player behavior.

But the NCPG has been left out in the cold. Whyte says private gambling operations provide more money to his organization than the state. Oaklawn

PICTURE

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AT

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INCONSEQUENTIAL NEWS QUIZ: INQ

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THE

INQ

Tune in to our “Week In Review” podcast each Friday.

INQ

LISTEN UP

1) Big doings at the state Capitol with regard to the proposed Ten Commandments monument scheduled to be installed on the lawn. What’s the news?

A) Sen. Jason Rapert (R-Conway) was struck by an attack of the vapors after a secretary of state press release used the phrase “erection of the monument.”

B) New architectural drawings reveal that the monument will have a creamy nougat center.

C) The concrete base where the monument will sit was recently completed, bringing the monument another step closer to its inevitable and costly removal by the federal courts.

D) Last minute amendments by the Legislature added over a dozen additional commandments, including “Thou Shalt Have No Other Beers Before Bud Light” and “He Who Hath Smelt It, Surely Hath Dealt It.”

2) It’s the end of an era, with the recent announcement that Little Rock’s last outlet of a once-iconic company will soon be closed forever. What is it?

A) Southwest Little Rock’s Could Be Cat BBQ. B) Useless Bullshit Warehouse.

C) Dr. Terwilliger’s Artisan Ice Cube Emporium in SOMA. D) Little Rock’s last remaining K-Mart store, on Rodney Parham Road.

BRIAN CHILSON

3) The office of Secretary of State Mark Martin recently released a statement related to voting.

What did he say?

A) That in 2016, fewer Arkansans than ever voted for the write-in presidential candidate of “Freebird!” though the number is still around 26 percent.

B) That votes cast for “that NASCAR guy” will henceforth be counted in favor of not-NASCAR-driver Mark Martin.

C) That there is no indication that Arkansas election systems were the target of intrusion by hackers prior to the 2016 election, as is suspected in other states.

D) That votes for Trump in 2020 written in “crayon and/or dookie” will be counted as valid.

4) Pulaski County deputies recently arrested a woman at her home near Jacksonville after she allegedly stabbed her husband during an altercation. What, according to investigators, did she say to officers on the scene after being told her husband would survive his injuries?

A) “Nobody gets the last pork rind but Momma.”

B) That her husband’s continued defense of Keynesian economics given current trends proved that he deserved to be stabbed.

C) That the new Wonder Woman movie got her so fired up that she came home and shanked the patriarchy.

D

)

That she “needed to work on her knife skills.”

5) A Northeast Arkansas tobacco store was robbed last week. How did Jonesboro police officers recover the money?

A) They found the suspect at the Hijinx Family Entertainment bowling alley, waving the cash and yelling, “I’m feeling a Lucky Strike coming on!”

B) Officers tracked the source of a rainbow to Bono, where they found the stolen money in a pot.

C) They intercepted a pie being delivered to the casino at Southland Racing and Gaming greyhound track.

D) They asked the suspect to open her mouth, where they found 14 $20 bills, one $5 and four $1s.

ANSWERS: C, D, C, D, D

Racing & Gaming and Southland Park Gaming & Racing each gave $12,500 to his group in 2015. In January, Southland donated another $15,000.

Sue Madison, a justice of the peace in Washington County and a former legislator who was often critical of the lottery, said it is hard to dissociate this lack of attention to the problem with the selling of the lottery by the state through advertisements. “It’s sold to the public. They encourage people all the time,” she said, “and people become addicted.”

This year, Woosley said, the commission’s budget is directing $6 million to advertising.

Particularly frustrating for Madison is the perceived public good of funding scholarships through a lottery. “[The lottery] takes money from low income and uneducated people and gives them to middle-income people in scholarship,” she said. Whyte said data showed that those “who are most at risk for gambling addiction and hit hardest by it are poorer, less educated and older Arkansans.”

arktimes.com JUNE 15, 2017

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Forever, sculpt 14

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ARKANSAS TIMES

pture

VOGEL SCHWARTZ SCULPTURE GARDEN: A cluster of smaller works near the Little Rock Marriott.

Artwork, and a city director, carve out a special place along Little Rock’s riverfront.

BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK PHOTOS BY BRIAN CHILSON

Y

ari Montes, a young woman from North Little Rock, made her annual trip to Riverfront Park last Wednesday so she could have her photograph made next to her favorite sculpture. Her own pretty face framed by long brown hair and a rose tucked behind one ear, Montes leaned in close to “Forever a Rose,” an almost life-size bronze of a kneeling woman with a bowed head, the sweep of her hair mostly obscuring her face, a rose in her hand. Her back is to the Arkansas River; in front is a grassy area partially enclosed by roses.

Montes said the sculpture is both beautiful and a bit sad. “It’s like she was going through a hard time,” Montes said.

It was the sixth year Montes has had her photograph made with “Forever a Rose,” and a reporter just happened to be passing by. “Today was the day!” she laughed. Then she and her brother and three sisters continued their walk in the park.

It was exactly what Dean Kumpuris envisioned when he got the idea that downtown Little Rock’s riverside needed some loving care to attract people to the park. Kumpuris and his brother, Drew, donated “Forever a Rose” to the park in 2009, just a few years after Dean Kumpuris began his Saturday walks through the park with his dog, Boris. “If it weren’t for Boris, bringing him down here, a lot of this wouldn’t have happened. I would take him on walks and I’d think, ‘What can we do?’ ” The French bulldog, now 13, has his own sculpture in the park, in the Vogel Schwartz Sculpture Garden, a cluster of small-scale works east of the Little Rock Marriott Hotel. The bronze Boris is one of an estimated 115 sculptures located (or to be located) in the park and around

On the cover: “Conversation with Myself” by Lori Alcott-Fowler.

Little Rock, all gifts to the city made possible by donations from individuals, family foundations and the Sculpture at the River Market Inc. nonprofit. Since 2004, close to $4 million worth of sculpture has been installed; the replacement value of the works is higher.

Within weeks, the Vogel Schwartz garden will expand into a new area going in up the slope from the original, where a road turnaround was once located.

The garden is itself being sculpted, with curving Corten steel walls creating a boundary and landscaped pathways within.

Robert Vogel said his family foundation gave a donation to make the garden possible after Kumpuris came to him with “his vision.” Kumpuris, who is Vogel’s close friend, has no trouble asking for money to buy sculpture and make other park improvements, Vogel said with a laugh. Kumpuris himself has said that sometimes when people see him coming, they run.

Vogel also said he believes the park, officially Julius Breckling Riverfront Park, named for a former director of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, should be renamed for Kumpuris.

O

n a recent hot Saturday morning, Kumpuris, a gastroenterologist and a Little Rock city director since 1995, was dressed in long sleeves and long pants and spraying weeds from an insecticide container labeled “Dr. DK” when this reporter met up with him in the park. “This is my job,” he said as he sprayed.

You can find Kumpuris at the park every Saturday. He not only keeps the weeds down, he helped design the landscaping, chose many of the plants and has had a hand in the installation of every piece of sculpture. He knows every artist and the name of every work.

The Arkansas Times, it should be noted, has had some critical things to say about the sculpture, particuarktimes.com JUNE 15, 2017

15

Forever, sculpture cont. larly about the scale of the work in the Vogel Schwartz garden. The garden did not originally have the intimate setting that the small sculptures

CITY DIRECTOR, WEED KILLER: Dr. Dean Kumpuris has been the prime mover in putting sculpture in Riverfront Park, where also works keeping up the grounds.

Caricof’s “Beginning Life” is in the background.

‘FOREVER A ROSE’: The Kumpuris brothers donated this to the park.

16

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ARKANSAS TIMES

— many more appropriate for a private garden or indoors — demanded. Now, thanks to the redesign, the placement of boulders that the city hauled down from Petit Jean Mountain and plantings that have matured, the sculptures work better in its big park setting. The garden now has a hidden feel: The Corten steel “waves” that parks department planner Leland Couch designed as partial enclosures mean that “you can never see all the sculptures at one time,” Kumpuris said.

Kumpuris acknowledged that “we,” meaning himself and the parks department, “made a lot of mistakes” with the garden in the beginning. Part of that had to do with the size of the work: The sculptures, some just inches tall, were small enough to make off with. Vandals have been able to remove bolts, grind through bases and simply wrest parts of them away. A total of five sculptures have been stolen since 2011; three were returned by the thieves after the publicity and two were replaced. One piece, Lori Alcott-Fowler’s “Conversation

with Myself,” a sculpture of a person bending over a smaller version of the figure, was repeatedly vandalized; it has been moved into a more visible spot and made more secure.

K

umpuris gave us a tour, starting with “Beginning Life,” a marble sculpture suggesting a seed. It is one of the loveliest sculptures in the park, to this writer’s eye.

“This is by Kathy Caricof,” Kumpuris said.

“She’s probably the craziest woman I’ve ever met,” he added fondly. (Kathleen Caricof also designed the “Stars and Stripes” stainless steel sculpture in front of War Memorial Stadium, a work that the Roy and Christine Sturgis Foundation commissioned for $500,000 and which Kumpuris said gave engineers fits to construct.)

One small sculpture depicts attenuated dancers with their hair on fire (Wayne Salge’s “Sizzling Sisters”) and another tiny work of reclining zaftig siblings (Adam Schultz’s “Sisters”) — are “crazy pieces,” Kumpuris said, meant to bring a smile as much as a chance to appreciate art.

The Vogel garden extension, which Kumpuris said should be complete by July, will feature flagstone paths and river rock beds meant to suggest water. A large sculpture by Jane DeDecker of children

walking across a log will be placed atop boulders straddling the gravel; a crane operator worked with city employees a couple of weeks ago to position the sculpture, “Shortcut.” While all the sculpture is bought by the nonprofit or donated, the city is doing all the landscaping. “We couldn’t do it without city labor,” Kumpuris said.

The first acquisitions for the riverfront were installed in 2004 along the park path that connects it to the Clinton Presidential Center grounds and on President Clinton Avenue. Kumpuris and others who worked to convince Bill Clinton to choose Little Rock for his library told him they would improve the park if he’d locate the library there.

“We needed to start doing something” in the park, which he described as just “big, sloping hills” at the time. “They’re going to think, ‘What the hell is over there?’ ” Kumpuris said.

“So people met on the third floor of the River Market. We said, ‘Here are some sculptures we think we can put in that will make us look like we have some idea of what we’re doing here.’ … We bought $300,000 to $400,000 worth of sculpture in two weeks,” Kumpuris said.

Those first buys were Sandy Scott’s “Presidential Eagle” (donated by Jennings Osborne) and “River Market Pig” (donated by Dean Kumpuris and the parks department); Carol Gold’s “Fiesta” (donated by Dean and Drew Kumpuris, Bobby Tucker and his brother, Rett, and Wally Allen); and DeDecker’s “Harriet Tubman” (donated by Peggy and Haskell Dickinson); “Anglers” (a gift of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Cynthia and Bob East, Richard L. Mays Sr., Richard L. Mays Jr., Gregory Mays, Bruce Moore, Darren Peters and Darrin Williams); and “Touch the Sky” (donated by the late Bill Clark in honor of his grandchildren).

All the artists are members of the National Sculpture Guild associated with Columbine Gallery in Loveland, Colo.

Kumpuris got to know gallery owner John Kinkade when he sought a memorial sculpture for his daughter, Anne, who died tragically in a train accident in Egypt in 1997, to be placed at Kumpuris’ church.

The selection of out-of-state artists, which has continued, prompted some grumbling among Arkansas sculptors and others, including this writer. The Sculpture at the River Market nonprofit, which recently hosted its 11th show and sale in the River Market pavilions, used Kinkade as a paid consultant at one time, so it seemed to local artists that they weren’t considered good enough

by the nonprofit’s sculpture committee.

In 2009, the Arkansas Sculptors Guild set up a competing show and sale the same weekend of the Sculpture in the River Market show, purposely timed as a “heads-up competition,” organizer David Harris said, to put the works of talented Arkansans on exhibit.

But Kumpuris said that NSG membership is not a requirement, and notes that Sculpture at the River Market has invited non-NSG members to submit work to the jurying committee for the show, and has selected several such sculptors. In 2010, the nonprofit, which collects a commission on sales at the annual event and proceeds from a ticketed preview, started buying works by Arkansas artists; now sculptors Kevin Kresse, Michael Warrick, Bryan Massey Sr. and Shelley Buonaiuto are represented there. Missing from the park: Robyn Horn, Pat Musick, Margaret Warren, Stephen Driver, John Ellis, Susan Williams, David and Bre Harris, Terry and Maritza Bean, Harry Loucks, Tod Swiecichowski ... . (Kumpuris said he’d reached out to Fayetteville sculptor Hank Kaminsky, asking him to submit work, but was turned down.)

The Times has been critical of certain works in the park, particularly “Native Knowledge,” which features three mounted stone bas reliefs of Native Americans and is positioned at the Junction Bridge, where the Quapaw Line begins. Denny Haskew’s sculpture is a tribute to the Quapaw, and Kumpuris said the artist consulted with the tribe for the symbols carved into the back of the stones. But an identical sculpture by Haskew is in front of the Barona Resort and Casino in San Diego, where it was said to be dedicated to the elders of the Barona Tribe, and yet another is located at a golf course.

Still, if the Quapaw are happy with “Native Knowledge,” who are others to quibble about its inconstant fealty?

In fact, now that the park is full of sculpture and landscaping that appropriately sets it off, it seems petty to carp about the work. It is public art, and almost by definition that means there’s never consensus about which of it is good and which is not.

Jane Rogers, president of Sculpture in the River Market Inc., said around 400 artists are invited every year to submit art to the selection committee of 23, which meets on a Sunday afternoon to see the work and hear Kumpuris talk about each artist. She said the committee tries to keep the number of artists who will appear to under 50.

For seven years, the group has

‘RETRO TREES’: Sculpture by Dale Rogers in Riverftont Park.

arktimes.com JUNE 15, 2017

17

IN THE NEW VOGEL SCHWARTZ GARDEN: Sandy Scott’s “Las Brisas.” The completed garden should be open in July.

Forever, sculpture cont.

‘BORIS’: Where it all began, Kumpuris says: On his walks in the park with his French bulldog, Boris.

18

JUNE 15, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

awarded a $60,000 commission to one artist in the show. This year, Stephen Schactman of Colorado (but not an NSG member) won the commission for “The Arkansas A,” a monolithic stylized A that will be installed at the new Southwest Little Rock Community Center.

Though it seems the sculpture in the park has reached a critical mass, Rogers said the sculpture committee’s job is not done. She was mildly receptive to the idea of holding back on granting commissions for a few years so the group would have enough money to buy a work by a big-name artist that might bring people to Little Rock. OK, maybe not a multimillion-dollar Claes Oldenburg

“Clothespin” or a Jeff Koons stainless steel balloon dog, but it would only take a couple of years to buy, for example, a George Segal (depending on the work).

But for now, Rogers said, the committee intends to fill in a few gaps in the park and keep buying for the rest of the city, like those placed at the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport, along Chenal Parkway, at the community center and War Memorial Park, in front of the Robinson Center and on Main Street.

Rogers said people do sometimes complain about certain sculptures to her, “and that’s OK.” But most people “see value in what we are doing: making Little Rock a better place to live. It’s been proven that a city with public art is a city that cares about itself.”

L

ate last week, Carla Wilkins of Little Rock and friends were photographing “The Ties that Bind,” a sculpture of a man tying a little boy’s shoe, located in a shady spot just west of the splash pad.

Wilkins brought family and friends to see the sculpture.

The Saturday previous, Kumpuris had pointed to “The Ties that Bind” and said, “This is how things happen in Little Rock.”

In 2012, Kumpuris related, Dale Nicholson donated the funds to buy the sculpture “Patty Cake,” of a woman and child playing the game, in memory of his late wife, Patty. When Nicholson died the following year, Sculpture at the River Market Inc. bought “The Ties that Bind” to memorialize Nicholson and created a minigarden, with a retaining wall, paving and picnic tables. Kumpuris said the garden needed a little girl sculpture, and so the nonprofit added “Hulahoop” in 2014, in what is now named the Dale Nicholson Sculpture Plaza. All the work is by DeDecker.

Wilkins, sporting a sleeveless T-shirt declaring “Too Busy Being Awesome,” continued down the path to Kevin Kresse’s “Breaking the Cycle,” a sculpture of a man being pushed in a wheelbarrow by a young boy. On our tour, Kumpuris had said Kresse would be shocked “by the number of people who come and take a picture” by “Breaking the Cycle.” And there were Wilkins and friends, having their picture made around the sculpture.

P

eople may differ in their taste in art, but all agree that the Peabody Park Splash Pad, just west of the Junction Bridge, is a super addition to the park.

The splash pad, where water shoots up in various patterns, is surrounded by native rocks for climbing and rubberized landing areas, tunnels and slides. To one side is a bowl-like grassy area. A pavilion overlooks the splash pad. The water draining from the splash pad has been directed under the walkway and to the river’s bank, where it flows through a swampy area of cypress and bog plants and sweet spire to a waterfall. The play area, to which Peabody Hotel Group chairman Marty Belz donated $250,000, is a far cry from the splintery pirate ship set on hot sand that once stood there.

Now, kids squeal as they splash, families picnic in a shady area up the hill and people stroll through the park and around the Marriott, and there is sculpture punctuating the way.

Some of it is whimsical, like the monocle-sporting and bumbershoot-carrying turkey “Lord Featherwick” by Herb Mignery, who did cowboy art for most of

his long career but who Kumpuris said turned to quirky stuff in his 80s. Mignery also did “Ellwood,” a weasel in overalls, just up the path from the turkey. Both are just under 4 feet tall. There is figurative work of both humans and animals, like “Breaking the Cycle” and Pati Stajcar’s “Vixen.” There are stylized human images, like Collen Nyanhongo’s “Resting Angel,” the face of an African woman. “Some of the work is hard-edge conceptual work, like Ted Schaal’s “Open Window,” a large work east of the Junction Bridge that features a huge half rectangle balanced on a small ball atop a mirror image of the rectangle above.

Some of this writer’s favorite sculptures: “Ghost at the River,” a carved, abstracted bison detailed with skeletal figures donated by the Rev. Dr. Christoph Keller III and his wife; Dale Rogers’ “Retro Trees,” Corten and stainless steel with an Adolph Gottlieb/1950s look; DeDecker’s “Patty Cake,” the face of the mother reminiscent of the mother’s in Picasso’s “Mother and Child”; Leslie Lehr Daly’s “Camdeboo,” a fantasy animal with horns like tree limbs emerging from a cone-shaped head; Kevin Box’s origami horses and paper airplanes in painted steel.

Dee Clements’ “Cat Tails” and her cranes, “Birds of Happiness,” are perfect outdoor garden pieces.

Mark Leichliter’s 14-foot painted work in steel, “Together,” is the right scale to signal the entrance to the western part of the park and adds a bright splash of color to the splash pad area by which it stands.

Timothy Nimmo’s “Autumn Winds” is lovely (but is one of those small pieces that the artist likely envisioned as an indoor work). Sandy Scott’s pelican, “Las Brisas,” which was hidden by plant growth at the William Clark Wetlands on the Clinton Presidential Park grounds, is better placed in the new Vogel Schwartz area.

Like “Together,” Caricof’s “Infinity,” a 10-foot-tall abstraction of looping steel, is monumental, announcing to visitors that this long ribbon of a park is a place for art.

view and create a feeling of safety.

The city parks department has drawn up plans for a new children’s play area past the hotel (Kumpuris has put the finger on someone for this, no doubt), in a neglected plaza now filled with leaves.

Its outdoor musical instruments — drums and vibraphones and bells — sit forlorn on a concrete pad. A mosaic of the Riverfest logo on one wall reminds visitors of the area’s earlier uses. There was once a “splash pad” here, as well, but it was merely a shallow fountain-like area that Kumpuris said wasn’t connected to water.

“When they wanted to fill it, they took a fire hose,” Kumpuris said.

Kumpuris has his eye on more development along the riverfront, on the spit of sand and jungle just east of the Clinton pedestrian bridge over the Arkansas. A bridge has been built to the island, but it is locked while plans are made to develop the island. Kumpuris is already bushwhacking there, cutting a path through the wetland’s equisetum and vines and cottonwoods. He sees children fishing from its sandy banks, making their way to the other end of the island that Kumpuris said opens up “like a cathedral.”

“It will be a treasure once we get it figured out. Someone will think this is crazy, but if you want to see what life looks like … this is Arkansas.”

Returning to the River Market area and his weed-killing, Kumpuris observed, “We’ll never be Crystal Bridges,” referring to Alice Walton’s grand Bentonville museum, where sculptures by famed artists dot the 100-acre grounds. “But we’ve got museums that are real quality” and Riverfront Park, with cool river breezes, splashing water and sculpture along its length, enough that visitors might stay awhile.

“It’s been proven that a city with public art is a city that cares about itself.”

‘HARRIET TUBMAN’: Jane DeDecker’s sculpture, on the Clinton Presidential Park grounds, was one of the first purchased.

E

ast of the Vogel Schwartz garden expansion, a portion of Riverfront Park lies under the Main Street Bridge.

It’s always cool there, Kumpuris said, and the bridge’s supports create a nice visual as they diminish in the distance across the river. He wants seats on the slope under the bridge and lighting placed on the underside of the bridge to add to the view and create a feeling of safety. That means that one day there will be seats on the slope under the bridge and lighting placed on the underside of the bridge to add to the arktimes.com JUNE 15, 2017

19

Arts Entertainment AND

Read a book Summer recommendations from a few voracious readers.

BY KEVIN BROCKMEIER, KATY HENRIKSEN, GUY CHOATE AND GUY LANCASTER

R

obin Wright says the Trump administration is stealing all the good ideas for “House of Cards.” “Orange Is the New Black” has little chance of being any more bizarro than its “Sesame Street” parody, “Orange Is the New Snack.”

And “American Gods” is closing in on its season finale. So now what? Read a book, we say. It’ll center you from the onslaught of words like “unprecedented” in the news cycle, stimulate your imagination and your sense of empathy, give you reason to hang out in the air conditioning. Plus, you’ll earn mad karmic points with Fred Rogers and Maya Angelou, who we presume are always watching from on high.

But then, maybe you don’t need any of these reasons to pick up a book or 10 this summer. A good book is its own reward, according to English poet and journalist rabble-rouser John Alfred Langford, who said, “The love of books is a love which requires neither justification, apology nor defense.” Here’s to that, and to these picks from a few highly trusted bookworms.

FOR an avid reader, there’s nothing more exciting than when an author you have long admired knocks one out of the park. Science-fiction writer Jeff VanderMeer published his first book in 1989, but he reached his widest audience yet in 2014 with the Southern Reach Tril20

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ARKANSAS TIMES

ogy, the first volume of which, “Annihilation,” is being adapted for the screen

by Alex Garland. VanderMeer is a champion of what he calls “the New Weird,” and his work has often been a model for how far science fiction and fantasy can depart from the norms of narrative

presentation without shedding its audience. His latest novel, though — “Borne” — is more traditionally composed, and also his best yet. A sequel of sorts to his short story “The Situation,” “Borne” is probably best described as a novel about parenting and the apocalypse and the parenting of an apocalypse. It’s the highlight of VanderMeer’s already impressive body of work, and one of the strangest and most moving books of the year.

— Kevin Brockmeier, author of “A Few Seconds of Radiant Filmstrip: A Mem-

oir of Seventh Grade” and “The Brief History of the Dead” THIS fantastical retelling of Joan of Arc is not your mother’s post-apocalyptic lit. Set in the near future, Lidia Yuknavitch’s “The Book of Joan” is a slender page-turner that practically begs to be read in one sitting. It boasts a deceptively simple structure, two narratives told by women navigating a world in which humans have evolved into sexless, nearly cyborg creatures.

One of the women, Christine, is a captive of CIEL, a sci-fi habitat floating

ROCK CANDY

Check out the Times’ A&E blog arktimes.com

A&E NEWS way that is sincere.

— Guy Choate, director of the Argenta Reading Series

above a radioactive Earth ravaged by war that cult leader Jean de Men has turned into a quasi-corporate police state. He’s infatuated with destroying rebel leader Joan, who has an inner mysterious force, manifested as a blue glow. Joan inherits the metaphysical power after a long swim along a beach during a family vacation. Although her father attempts to dismiss the inexplicable glow as bioluminescence, the light never dims. Her parents eventually seek answers from experts. The word “crazy” is uttered. Christine and Joan’s worlds do not collide until the final moments of this novel, but their accounts are presented as parallels, interwoven as each of them battles evil and explores the loves of their lives. A hundred pages in, Christine asks, “What if, for once in history, a woman’s story could be untethered from what we need it to be in order to feel better about ourselves?” Each sentence burns with urgency. Concepts that could easily become heady and abstract unfold in direct, straightforward prose, at once precise and poetic.

Christine answers herself right away.

“I will write it. I will tell the truth. Be the opposite of a disciple. Words and

my body the site of resistance.” In “The Book of Joan,” Yuknavitch eviscerates the binary to explore power, sex, love, art and — ultimately — what it means to be human.

— Katy Henriksen, KUAF-FM 91.3’s arts director and host of “Of Note” TEENAGE love often runs the risk of melodrama, but Nicholas Mainieri’s “The Infinite” places the love between Luz and Jonah into a perspective that extends far beyond the scope of its young characters. Mainieri juxtaposes the authentic beauty of a post-Katrina New Orleans and its complicated dynamic of different populations with a vast and dusty swath of Mexico ruled by drug lords — each a landscape of selfdestruction that yearns for forgiveness and hope. Like most teenagers, Luz and Jonah are eager to come to terms with the events of their lives they had no control over while also attempting to navigate the dodgy waters of young adulthood. “The Infinite” captures that time for its characters in a way that is somehow both believable and astounding in its suspense, but above all, in a

ONE does not typically expect to see Arkansas mentioned in an academic book on the Third Reich, but sure enough, you’ll find the state on page 114 of “Hitler’s American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law” by James Q. Whitman. Whitman’s book illustrates how the Nazis based a great deal of their racial legislation upon American examples, specifically immigration and anti-miscegenation laws. One of the foremost Nazi legal theorists, whose work was referenced extensively in the development of the notorious Nuremberg Laws, was Heinrich Krieger, who spent two semesters at the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville in 1933-34, where he researched American racial codes.

That’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to connections between the Third Reich and a racist United States that served as its model, all explored in Whitman’s brief but revealing book.

Readers interested in history and justice should certainly engage with this volume, which illustrates how America’s history of injustice inspired some of the worst atrocities imaginable.

— Guy Lancaster, editor of the Encyclopedia of Arkansas

A GRAND OPENING date of Sept. 27 was announced this week for the Murphy Arts District (MAD), a $100 million project to revitalize downtown El Dorado. The first phase of the launch includes a complete renovation of the town’s 1928 Griffin Auto Co. Building, once a showroom and factory for Model T Fords and currently on the National Register of Historic Places. The renovated building, MAD representatives say, will house a cabaret lounge, farm-to-table restaurant and a 2,000-seat music hall with a fourstory stage house, an amphitheater with room for 8,000 people and a 2-acre children’s play space and open-air farmer’s market. The second phase of development is slated to include a renovation of the 1929 Rialto Theater, with the addition of a 10,000-square-foot art gallery with artist in-residence quarters; the Murphy Foundation has pledged $5 million to the renovation. Overseeing the project’s development are Terry Stewart, former president of Marvel Comics and of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; Austin Barrow, an El Dorado native who returned to the city to work with MAD; Dan Smith, who managed several House of Blues venues as well as food and beverage for the Cleveland Indians; and Bob Tarren, former head of marketing at The Frick Pittsburgh and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. “We have an opportunity to put El Dorado on the map and change its future,” Barrow said in a press release.

“Remember, we were ‘Arkansas’s Original Boomtown,’ and we want to boom again. ... This is the renaissance of El Dorado, the rebirth of a soulful city.” To launch that rebirth, a five-day entertainment lineup kicks off Sept. 27 with performances from Lyle Lovett, Ludacris, X Ambassadors, ZZ Top, a free concert from Smokey Robinson with the South Arkansas Symphony, John Hiatt, Migos, Robert Earl Keen, Chase Bryant, Brad Paisley, Natasha Bedingfield, Train and Robert Randolph and The Family Band.

For more information or tickets to the grand opening festivities, visit eldomad. com.

JOEL GORDON IS the new director of the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub. Gordon, former director of visitor experience at the Museum of Discovery and director of making at the Hub since 2013, founded the North Little Rock Maker Faire, and acted as the science correspondent for KATV’s Good Morning Arkansas. Gordon replaces Warwick Sabin, now senior director for U.S. Programs at Winrock International.

Follow Rock Candy on Twitter: @RockCandies

arktimes.com JUNE 15, 2017

21

MOVIE REVIEW

FAMILY TIES: Kelvin Harrison Jr. stars as Travis in Trey Edward Shults’ horror thriller “It Comes At Night.”

Blood, smoke and violins ‘It Comes at Night’ haunts.

BY SAM EIFLING

“I

t Comes at Night” begins with a grim scare shot. An old man struggles to sit up and to breathe, some sort of wasting blight covering his bare arms and torso with lesions. A woman in a gas mask explains to him that he can stop fighting now; then a younger man and a teenager in gasmasks and thick gloves wheelbarrow the old man out to a canvas near a shallow grave in the woods. They shoot him in the head through a pillow, wrap him up, roll the body into the hole, douse it with fuel and torch the bloodstained heap.

Billows of black smoke spew into the sky. Whatever the old man had, it’s clear 22

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ARKANSAS TIMES

they don’t want any sniff of it.

For a while, it seems that writer/ director Trey Edward Shults (“Krisha”) is going to keep us suspended in this state of gut-churning dread. We learn almost nothing about why this family of three is holed up in a boarded-over house in the woods except that people in the city — which, exactly, is also kept vague — started getting sick. As the all-business father (Joel Edgerton) and mother (Carmen Ejogo) keep pushing ahead, Shults often comes to rest on the 17-year-old son (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), who mourns quietly, has a tendency toward insomnia, listens to conversa-

tions through the attic floor, and has terrifying dreams of people with all-black eyes leaking sludgy blood from their mouths. Meanwhile the violins in the pulsing score hold infinite, quavering notes, and even before anything much happens, you’re grinding yourself down into your seat.

Having built a perfect vehicle for horror, though, Shults stealthily moves to fill it with a survival thriller. One night an intruder tries to break into the house; the family captures him and ties him to a tree to wait out his possible symptoms. The visitor (Christopher Abbott) explains that he came in search of water for his family and that he has food to trade. Maybe they can broker a deal?

What follows is, in effect, a family drama with heightened stakes across the board. In its use of limited lights to peer into dark woods and down dark hallways, like a thing hovering just out of view, you get the sense that zombies might come kicking in the door at any moment, and it’s one you can never really shake. (The title is assuredly

among the first things you’ll break down with your friends after the final credits roll.) Like other slower-paced postapocalyptic stories — “The Road” comes to mind — the tensions in “It Comes at Night” center not on the world-changing event, but on the fallout. If you fancy yourself the type who would weather the immediate aftermath of a pandemic or a nuclear strike or an alien invasion, a fighter type, then congrats — you’ll see yourself somewhere in the tiny cast here.

“It Comes at Night” forces the immediate question of “what then?” When you can’t leave the house, and the most dangerous people you know are in the house with you, all working to survive this thing?

The answer in “It Comes at Night” is open-ended. It winds up as the rare quasi-horror movie that feels entirely plausible. Fans of cheap jump-scares and bloated CGI might leave the theater disappointed; this isn’t how most creepy movies feel these days. But fans of patient, haunting thrillers will leave deeply spooked. And won’t look at their next nosebleed the same way.

ALSO IN THE ARTS ers and students in schools or after-school and summer programs. The deadline to apply to join the Arts in Education Artist Roster is July 7.

For more information, go to www.arkansasarts. org or call 501-324-9769.

THEATRE

“Godspell.” The Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s production of Stephen Schwartz’s musical, in collaboration with 2 Ring Circus. 7 p.m. Wed.Thu. and Sun., 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sat.-Sun., through June 25. $30-$65. 601 Main St. 501378-0405.

“Rough Night at the Remo Room.” The Main Thing’s two-act musical comedy. 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., through June 17. $24. The Joint Theater & Coffeehouse. 301 Main St., NLR. 501-372-0210.

“Spring Awakening.” The Studio Theater’s production of Duncan Sheik’s Tony Award-winning musical. 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat., 2:30 p.m. Sun., through June 25. $15-$25. 320 W. 7th St. 501374-2615.

“Visible From Four States.” A drama from Barbara Hammond, staged as part of TheaterSquared’s Arkansas New Play Festival. 5:30 p.m. Fri., June 16. $25-$45. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 600 Museum Way, Bentonville. 479-443-5600.

“Comet Town.” Rick Ehrstin’s dark comedy, staged as part of TheaterSquared’s Arkansas New Play Festival. 4:30 p.m. Sat., June 17. $25$45. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 600 Museum Way, Bentonville. 479-443-5600.

“The Furies.” A new play from Pulitzer Prize finalist Lisa D’Amour, staged as part of TheaterSquared’s Arkansas New Play Festival. 2 p.m. Sat., June 17. $25-$45. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 600 Museum Way, Bentonville. 479-443-5600. “(I)sland T(rap).” A take on Homer’s “Odyssey” from Austin Ashford, told in rap, poetry and song. Staged as part of TheaterSquared’s Arkansas New Play Festival. 4:30 p.m. Sun., June 18. $25-$45. Walton Arts Center, Nadine Baum Studios, 505 W. Spring St., Fayetteville. 479-4435600.

“Southern Crossroads.” Murry’s Dinner Playhouse presents the Depression-era revue. 7:30 p.m. Tue.-Sat., dinner at 6 p.m.; 12:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. Sun., dinner at 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., through July 8. $15-$37. 6323 Colonel Glenn Road. 501-562-3131.

“Steel Magnolias.” Five Star Dinner Theatre’s production of Robert Harling’s comedy. 6 p.m. dinner, 7 p.m. curtain time through June 16. $18-$44. 701 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501318-1600.

CALL FOR ARTISTS

The Arkansas Arts Council is accepting applications from artists wishing to work with teach-

FINE ART, HISTORY EXHIBITS MAJOR VENUES ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, MacArthur Park: 59th annual “Delta Exhibition,” through Aug. 27; “56th Young Arkansas Artists Exhibition,” through July 23; “Drawing on History: National Drawing Invitational Retrospective,” works from the permanent collection, through Sept.

24. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. 372-4000.

ARTS & SCIENCE CENTER FOR SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS, 701 S. Main St., Pine Bluff: “Color in Space: The Art of Justin Bryant,” through Sept. 9; “Rhythm, Rhymes and Young Artists of the Delta,” through July 8; “Resilience,” printmaking by Emma Amos, Vivian Browne, Camille Billops, Margaret Burroughs, Elizabeth Catlett, Barbara Jones-Hogu, Samella Lewis, and Rosalind Jeffries, through July 8. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 1-4 p.m. Sat. 870-536-3375.

BUTLER CENTER GALLERIES, Arkansas Studies Institute, 401 President Clinton Ave.: “Sammy Peters: Then and Now,” abstract paintings; “Historic Bridges of Arkansas,” photographs

by Maxine Payne; “The American Red Cross in Arkansas,” artifacts covering 100 years, through July 1; “The American Dream Deferred: Japanese American Incarceration in WWII Arkansas,” objects from the internment camps, Concordia Gallery, through June 24. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 320-5790.

CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL MUSEUM VISITOR CENTER, Bates and Park: Exhibits on the 1957 desegregation of Central and the civil rights movement. 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily.

374-1957.

CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CENTER: “Xtreme Bugs,” animatronic insects, through July 23; permanent exhibits on the Clinton administration. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun., $10 adults, $8 seniors, retired military and college students, $6 youth 6-17, free to active military and children under 6.

CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, One Museum Way, Bentonville: “Chihuly: In the Gallery and in the Forest,” works by the glass artist Dale Chihuly, through Aug. 14, $20, ticket required (tickets.crystal-

bridges.org), “Roy Lichtenstein in Focus,” five large works, through July; American masterworks spanning four centuries in the permanent collection. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon., Thu.; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Wed., Fri.; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat.-Sun., closed Tue. 479-418-5700.

ESSE PURSE MUSEUM & STORE, 1510 S. Main St.: “Take Your Purse With You: The Reimagined Work of Katherine Strause,” paintings, through Aug. 27; “What’s Inside: A Century of Women and Handbags,” permanent exhibit. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

Sun. $10, $8 for students, seniors and military.

916-9022.

FORT SMITH REGIONAL ART MUSEUM, 1601 Rogers Ave.: “K. Nelson Harper: Lasting Impressions,” art of the letterpress, through Sept. 3; “Gloria Garfinkel: Vibrancy of Form,” etchings, painted aluminum and oil on canvas, through June 18. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 479-784-2787.

HISTORIC ARKANSAS MUSEUM, 200 E. 3rd St.: “Gordon and Wenonah Fay Holl: Collecting a Legacy,” through Feb. 4, 2018; “Traces Remain,” installation by Dawn Holder and works on paper by Melissa Cowper-Smith, through Aug. 6; “Portraits of Friends” by Dani Ives, through Aug. 6. Ticketed tours of renovated and replicated 19th century structures from original city, guided Monday and Tuesday on the hour, self-guided Wednesday through Sunday, $2.50 adults, $1 under 18, free to 65 and over. (Galleries free.) 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9351.

MacARTHUR MUSEUM OF ARKANSAS MILITARY HISTORY, 503 E. 9th St. (MacArthur Park): “Work, Fight, Give: American Relief Posters of WWII,” through Aug. 16; “Waging Modern Warfare”; “Gen. Wesley Clark”; “Vietnam, America’s Conflict”; “Undaunted Courage, Proven Loyalty: Japanese American Soldiers in World War II. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.Sat., 1-4 p.m. Sun. 376-4602.

MOSAIC TEMPLARS CULTURAL CENTER, 9th and Broadway: “Not Forgotten: An Arkansas Family Album,” photographs by Nina Robinson, reception with live music 6-8 p.m. June 15; permanent exhibits on AfricanAmerican entrepreneurship in Arkansas. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 683-3593.

MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY, 500 President Clinton Ave.: “Human Plus,” low and high-tech tools that extend human abilities, through Sept. 10; also interactive science exhibits. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun., $10 ages 13 and older, $8 ages 1-12, free to members and children under 1. 396-7050.

OLD STATE HOUSE MUSEUM, 300 W. Markham St.: “Cabinet of Curiosities: Treasures from the University of Arkansas Museum Collection”; “True Faith, True Light: The Devotional Art of Ed Stilley,” musical instruments, through 2017; “First Families: Mingling of Politics and Culture” permanent exhibit including first ladies’ gowns. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9685.

SOUTH ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, 110 E. 5th St.: “Visual Duet — Art by Ann and Dan Thornhill,” “Colorful World — Art by Suzi Dennis,” both through June 29. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. 870-862-5474.

TOLTEC MOUNDS STATE PARK, U.S. Hwy. 165, England: Major prehistoric Indian site with visitors’ center and museum. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., noon-5 p.m. Sun., closed Mon. $4 for adults, $3 for ages 6-12, $14 for family. 961-9442.

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK: “Nasty Woman,” work by 35 women artists from Arkansas and across the nation, including Heather Beckwith, Susan Chambers, Melissa Cowper-Smith, Norwood Creech, Beverly Buys, Nancy Dunaway, Margo Duvall, Melissa Gill, Mia Hall, Louise Halsey, Diane Harper, Tammy Harrington, Heidi Hogden, Robyn Horn, Jeanie Hursley, Catherine Kim, Kimberly Kwee and Jolie Livaudais, through Aug. 25, closing reception 5-7 p.m. Aug. 25.

Weekdays 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 569-8977.

WALTON ARTS CENTER, Fayetteville: “Glacial Shifts, Changing Perspectives,” largescale paintings and photographs documenting glacial melt by Diane Burko, through September, Joy Pratt Markham Gallery. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays, noon-4 p.m. Sat. 479443-5600.

WILLIAM F. LAMAN LIBRARY, 2801 Orange St., NLR: Arkansas League of Artists 2017 “Members Show,” through July 28. 416-4729.

SMALLER VENUES ARTISTS WORKSHOP GALLERY, 610 Central Ave., Hot Springs: Sheliah Halderman, landscapes and florals; Amaryllis J. Ball, expressionist paintings. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat., noon-6 p.m. Sun. 623-6401.

BARRY THOMAS FINE ART & STUDIO, 711 Main St., NLR: Paintings by Thomas. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 349-2383.

BOSWELL-MOUROT, 5815 Kavanaugh Blvd.: “Though False Intended True,” etchings and paintings by Brad Cushman, through July 1.

664-0030.

PHOTOS BY ANDREW ECCLES.

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arktimes.com JUNE 15, 2017

23

THE

TO-DO

LIST

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE AND OMAYA JONES

RUSTED ROOF: Liza Burns stars as Charlie Clark in Juli Jackson’s 2013 film, “45 RPM,” to be screened at Ron Robinson Theater Friday night as part of the Arkansas Sounds series.

THURSDAY 6/15

‘MASSACRE AND MEMORY: ELAINE 1919 IN HISTORY AND FILM’ Noon. Ron Robinson Theater. Free.

An infographic called “Map of 73 Years of Lynching” created in 2015 by The New York Times shows the geographic distribution of lynchings that took place in the U.S. between 1877 and 1950, marking areas of concentration with orange circles. One big orange circle, and only one, indicates that 200 lynchings took place at that point on the map. The circle is atop Phillips County in East Arkansas. On Sept. 30, 1919, around 100 black men gathered at a church in Hoop Spur, three miles outside of the town Elaine. They were sharecroppers, mostly, look-

ing to meet and discuss ways in which they could get fair pay for the cotton crops they sold to white plantation owners. Someone fired a shot, and when headlines like “Vicious Blacks Were Planning Great Uprising” reached the neighboring towns, white mobs mobilized and rioted.

Fueled by postwar paranoia about black communities being tied to “Bolshevism” during what is now called the “Red Summer,” white mobs “stalked blacks like a hunting expedition, chasing them into fields where they were slaughtered,” wrote LeReeca Rucker in the Huffington Post in 2015. “Many were able to escape by taking their families to the swamps where they hid several days before the Arkansas governor ordered

the National Guard to come and restore order in Elaine.” Reports of how many black people were killed vary widely — anywhere between 100 and 800, as well as five white men. In a film called “Elaine,” Natalie Zimmerman and Michael Wilson portray the events surrounding the massacre, with comments from Arkansas historians Guy Lancaster, Brian Mitchell and Grif Stockley. Thursday’s event is a screening of clips from the upcoming film, accompanied by a panel discussion with Stockley, Mitchell, Wilson and Arkansas Historical Association Vice President Story Matkin-Rawn. Admission is free; organizers suggest attendees register at ndipippa@clintonschool.uasys.edu. SS

FRIDAY 6/16

‘45RPM’

6 p.m. Ron Robinson Theater. Free.

Paragould native Juli Jackson returned to Arkansas in 2008 with her attitudes about filmmaking heavily revised, as she recalled in an interview for a blog called “Fast, Cheap Movie Thoughts.” “I’m convinced that filmmaking has become decentralized,” she said. “Why go to L.A. and struggle to work your way up when 24

JUNE 15, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

you can network anywhere, find a group of people you trust, and make the projects you really believe in?” she asked. Jackson did just that, and “45RPM” is her proof that it worked. With assists from a handful of Arkansas-based actors, crewmembers and musicians, a grant from the Arkansas Arts Council and the Ozark Foothills Film Fest, Jackson’s film was released in 2013 and swept film festivals Follow us on Instagram: ArkTimes

across the South the following season.

It’s a catalogue of Arkansas music history, and a testament to the unlikely cinematic potential of towns like Lonoke and Portia.

“45RPM” doesn’t demand that you walk through the theater doors with a noggin full of Arkan-centric music knowledge, but if you’re deep enough into Natural State garage rock to know about the “Lost Souls” compilations and you haven’t

watched this one, CALS’ screening this Friday is a good time to remedy that.

Adam Faucett, Whale Fire and Justin Vinson — all contributors to the film’s soundtrack — perform before the show, and afterward there’s a panel discussion featuring Jackson, lead actor Jason Thompson, co-producer/music supervisor Mike Poe and Arkansas garage rock consultant Harold Ott. SS

IN BRIEF

THURSDAY 6/15

FRIDAY 6/16

ROBERT EARL KEEN

8:30 p.m. Revolution. $26-$30.

“The Road Goes On Forever” is Robert Earl Keen’s anthem, no doubt — the paean to a Bonnie and Clyde lifestyle has been covered by the likes of The Highwaymen and Joe Ely, and Keen’s fans don’t typically let him get back on the tour bus without having played it. If that doesn’t ring a bell, recall “Merry Christmas from the Family,” which begins auspiciously with the line, “Mom got drunk and Dad got drunk at our Christ-

mas party,” and ends with everybody within stumbling distance of you slurring, “Send somebody to the Stop ‘N Go/We need some celery and a can of fake snow.” Keen’s catalogue reaches far beyond those two hits, but like fellow storytellers David Allan Coe or Todd Snider, he’s never precious about it, never afraid to give his lyrics a punchline or a bit that begs for a sloppy singalong. After a recent return to his bluegrass roots for an album of covers called “Happy Prisoner,” Keen recounted to Rolling Stone magazine

that an Austin-based reporter had asked him if a cover album meant he’d run out of songs. “I was worried people would immediately [ask that],” Keen said. “But I’ve also gotten to this age and place in my career where I really don’t give a shit.” That about sums up Keen’s storytelling swagger. That, and the photo on the cover of his album “Picnic,” a single scene from a true story about how, in 1974, after a great period of imbibing, Keen’s car went up in flames at Willie Nelson’s 4th of July picnic. SS

COUSIN MIYAH: Nina Robinson's photography exhibit "Not Forgotten: An Arkansas Family Album" is on display for a Juneteenth celebration at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, where it will stay through September 2.

SATURDAY 6/17

JUNETEENTH

Noon-6 p.m. Mosaic Templars Cultural Center. Free.

Though it was a huge symbolic move in terms of aligning the goals of the Union with the eradication of slavery, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 didn’t do a whole lot of emancipating, unfortunately — at least not immediately. It was two and a half years later, on what we now call “Juneteenth,” when Major Gen. Gordon Granger announced that “all slaves are free” in Texas, and that “this involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and

hired labor.” (Even then, news traveled too slowly in those days to reach communities of enslaved people in any sort of cohesive way, and it was common for plantation owners and masters to withhold the information until after harvest, or until a government representative showed up to spread the word.)

As Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. notes in an essay for The Root, Juneteenth is a day to commemorate “a past that was ‘usable’ as an occasion for gathering lost family members, measuring progress against freedom and inculcating rising generations with the values of self-improvement and racial uplift.” To celebrate, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center has a day of family-friendly activities scheduled: music from gos-

pel singers Anthony Evans and Latice Crawford; sets from V.I.C. (“Wobble”) and iLoveMemphis (“Hit the Quan”); and more from Papa Leo, Artists United Theatrical Troupe, the Big John Miller Band, Big Piph & Tomorrow Maybe, Genine LaTrice Perez, the Mabelvale Middle School Drumline and the Gloryland Pastor’s Choir. At 2 p.m., there’s a screening of AETN’s “Dream Land” documentary and at 4 p.m., a screening of “Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise.” A “Kids Zone” will have laser tag, a rock climbing wall and a video game trailer, and there will be food trucks on site. National Geographic photographer Nina Robinson’s “Not Forgotten: An Arkansas Family Album,” will be on display. SS

National Geographic photographer Nina Robinson’s exhibit “Not Forgotten: An Arkansas Family Album” goes up at Mosaic Templars Cultural Center with a free reception, 6 p.m. French-Canadian fingerstyle guitarist Justin St. Pierre gives a concert at The Joint as part of the Argenta Arts Acoustic Music Series, 7:30 p.m., $25. Chris Parker & Kelley Hurt team up for a jazz-pop set at Central Arkansas Library System’s Oley Rooker Library as part of the Sounds in the Stacks series, 11 Otter Creek Court, 6:30 p.m., free. At Revolution, The Muddlestuds, Hell Camino, Colour Design and Tempus Terra play a heavy rock show to say farewell to one of the venue’s longtime managers, Samantha Allen, 7 p.m., free. Conway’s self-described “groove-fusion” outfit Motherfunkship lands at Stickyz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 10 p.m., $5. Some Guy Named Robb entertains the happy hour crowd at Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m., free, followed later by Tragikly White, 9 p.m., $5. Hot Springs’ Movies at the Market screens “The Jungle Book,” 121 Orange St., sunset, free. Podcaster and comedian Mike Merryfield performs at The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat., 10 p.m. Fri.Sat., $8-$12. Downtown Little Rock Partnership concludes its Alley Party series with a shindig in the alley behind Samantha’s Tap Room, 5:30 p.m., 322 Main St., free. At the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville, comedian Brian Regan goes for laughs, 7:30 p.m., $66. The Arkansas Arts Center hosts “Arkie Pub Trivia” at Stone’s Throw Brewing, 6:30 p.m., free.

FRIDAY 6/16 The Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre presents Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man” 7:30 p.m., Reynolds Performance Hall in Conway, $25-$32. Memphis jam band FreeWorld takes the stage at Four Quarter Bar, Argenta, 10 p.m., $7. Richie Johnson kicks off the weekend with a free performance at Cajun’s, 5:30 p.m., free, or come later to catch Crisis, 9 p.m., $5. Blues artist Lonne G joins Rikki D for a show at the White Water Tavern to benefit the Striving & Surviving Cancer Foundation, 8 p.m. American Lions bring their rock set to King’s Live Music in Conway, with an opening set from Russell Corbin, 8:30 p.m., $5. The Argenta branch of the Laman Library, Greg Thompson Fine Art, Mugs Cafe and other venues will be open late for Argenta ArtWalk, 5-8 p.m. in downtown North Little Rock. Willy D’s Rock & Roll Traveling Show performs at Oaklawn Racing & Gaming’s Silks Bar & Grill, 10 p.m. Fri.-Sat., free.

Bluesboy Jag gives a free happy hour show at EJ’s Eats & Drinks, 6 p.m. Steam Loco gives a free show at Markham Street Grill & Pub, 8:30 p.m. Jerry McCoy and The Hammers perform at Thirst N’ Howl, 8:30 p.m., $5. Papa Leo (known to some as Justin Paul) celebrates the release of a new single at Capitol View Studio, 9 p.m. Hibernia Irish Tavern hosts a tribute to a deceased local comedian, Billy Pirate, 8 p.m. Cadron Creek Outfitters hosts an ecominded festival, “Earthways: A Community Gathering for Everyone Who Cares,” noon Fri.-noon Sun., $10-$40.

SATURDAY 6/17

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arktimes.com JUNE 15, 2017

25

THE

TO-DO

LIST

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE

SUNDAY 6/18

TOMATO FESTIVAL

BRIAN CHILSON

10 a.m. Bernice Garden. Free.

JAM HOUSE: Lo-fi duo Spirit Cuntz shares a bill with Tulsa’s Unsung Alibi and Columbus, Ohio’s Farseek Saturday night at Vino’s.

Vorlons! Cherokee Blacks!

Brandywines! Sungolds! Tomato time is now, and if you’re not lucky enough to have a friend or neighbor coddling some lycopene-laden beauties in the backyard, come try a few at this tomato tasting. Southern Table is creating samples of a caprese with locally made mozzarella and basil from Dunbar Garden, and local farmers will be out in full force to send you home with a few summer tomatoes. If you’re someone who benefits from the SNAP program, your food stamp dollars are doubled for this festival the way they are at many farmers markets. There’s a tomato recipe share, too, so if you’ve got your formula for gazpacho or scalloped tomatoes down pat, bring around 10 small servings and some copies of the recipe to share. SS

MONDAY 6/19

2017 JAZZ CELEBRATION

8 p.m. The Lobby Bar. $20.

SATURDAY 6/17

SPIRIT CUNTZ, FARSEEK, UNSUNG ALIBI

8:30 p.m. Vino’s. $6.

Saturday night at Vino’s is brought to you by the DIY aesthetic of Jam House Collective, a group of promoters who excel at taking local, mostly lo-fi bands you’ve never heard of and giving them a proper forum in which to be appreciated. (Check out the staff picks on their Wordpress blog to breathe some life into that Spotify playlist you abandoned in February.)

The evening will, in all likelihood, involve more confessional punk songs than you can handle and a ditty called “Stranger Anal,” the

26

JUNE 15, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

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lyrics of which are taken nearly verbatim from the “Is this your homework, Larry?” scene in the film “The Big Lebowski.” Spirit Cuntz, a Russellville duo who won the hearts of the audience at the first round of this year’s Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase with lo-fi Riot Grrrl-style heartbreakers like “Two Cents,” shares a bill with Tulsa trio Unsung Alibi and Ohio’s Farseek, a trio fronted by a former fine art student at Florida’s Flagler University who brings life to lyrics like “You’re a misogynistic nerd/... I don’t want to listen to your stupid fucking song that normalizes hating women.” SS

Somewhere in the depths of the orchestra pit at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre around 2012, Banda Cabrito was born.

It means “The Goat Band,” and the jazz combo is comprised of instrumentalists Barry McVinney (flute/bass clarinet/tenor sax), Steve Hudelson (guitar), Brian Wolverton (upright bass) and Pat Lindsey (drums), who ventured from the theater’s pit to perform around town, most regularly at The Lobby Bar’s Third Monday Jazz nights. They’ve taken on tunes like Roland Kirk’s “Serenade to a Cuckoo” and Frank Loesser’s “If I Were a Bell,” and for this event, they’ll join other jazz-minded locals to raise money for the Arkansas Jazz Heritage Foundation’s education program and biennial Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame inductions. Bring cash or check for admission, as AJHF won’t be taking credit card payments. SS

IN BRIEF

TUESDAY 6/20

‘CAMERAPERSON’

7 p.m. Riverdale 10 Cinema. $8.50.

“What’s so fascinating is that I’m not in the film, yet I’m everywhere in the film.” That’s cinematographer Kirsten Johnson talking about her documentary memoir “Cameraperson,” to be screened as part of the Arkansas Times Film Series.

“Cameraperson” is a collection of footage from Johnson’s journeys over her 25-year career and will be presented without narration.

The footage ranges from scenes of Johnson speaking with the subjects of films she shot in Iraq to

documenting her mother’s mental decline, a film that displeased some members of Johnson’s family. There are always ethical questions when it comes to the subject of documentary filmmaking and the way in which editing helps shape and craft a narrative; in “Cameraperson,” those questions are laid bare.

The work of a filmmaker whose primary experience is behind the camera working with directors like Laura Poitras (“Citizenfour”) and Michael Moore (“Fahrenheit 9/11”), “Cameraperson” will be the first documentary in the film series. OJ

WEDNESDAY 6/21-SATURDAY 6/24

‘MOTOWN: THE MUSICAL’

7:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sat., Robinson Center, $25-$55.

Berry Gordy helped build the careers of Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson with Motown Records. A featherweight boxer who’d given up on a fighting career, Gordy founded his future empire with a seed loan of $800 from his family in 1959 and, as Robinson said, “the balls to go after what he wanted. ... Berry Gordy was street.”

That’s a fascinating story — filled with vignettes of intrigue, kickbacks and sex — and if you’re looking for the full history lesson, skip this musical and pick up Gerald Posner’s “Motown: Music, Money, Sex and Power” or Gordy’s 1994 autobiography, “To Be Loved.” If, however, you are in need of a straight, sweet shot of “Please Mr. Postman” chased with “The Tears of a Clown” and 60 or so other Motown gems, this is where you need to be. Chester Gregory plays Gordy and Allison Semmes takes on the role of Diana Ross. SS

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DeFrance takes the stage at Fox & Hound in North Little Rock, 10 p.m. Stephen Neeper & The Wild Hearts turn the electric guitar riffs up to 11 at the White Water Tavern, 9 p.m. The PRINT Clinton Presidential Center kicks off its Super Summer Saturday series with a kid-focused sampling of the museum’s exhibit “Xtreme Bugs,” featuring demonstrations with Madagascar hissing cockroaches, tarantulas and more, 10 a.m. Alex Summerlin performs at Cajun’s, 5:30 p.m., free, before Cadillac Johnson takes the stage, 9 p.m., $5. R&B septet SYNRG performs at 109 & Co., 9 p.m., $10-$20, linen attire suggested but not required. Dauber Hill performs at Prospect Sports Bar, 8 p.m. Intruders brings its blues-rock set to Thirst N’ Howl, 8:30 p.m., $5.

Crisis takes the stage at West End Smokehouse, 10 p.m., $7. Objekt 12 brings its funk-driven party set to Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m., $7.

Tragikly White performs at the Rev Room, 9:30 p.m., $10. Lincoln, Neb., soul quintet Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal give a performance at Fayetteville’s Smoke and Barrel Tavern, 10 p.m., $5. Hot Springs’ Mid-America Science Museum holds its 5th annual Tinkerfest, featuring over 50 “tinkering stations” focused on science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics, 10 a.m., $8-$10. King’s Live Music hosts a dueling piano show with TK Cowboy and Matt Rikard, 9 p.m., $5. Los Angeles sibling pop band R5 lands at Magic Springs Theme and Water Park’s Timberwood Amphitheater, 8 p.m., $48-$65.

Finalists vie for the title of Miss Arkansas and Miss Arkansas Outstanding Teen, Robinson Center Performance Hall, 7 p.m., $32-$36.

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SUNDAY 6/18 The Arkansas Travelers take on the Northwest Arkansas Naturals at DickeyStephens Ballpark, 2:10 p.m. Sun., 7:10 p.m.

Mon.-Wed., $7-$13.

TUESDAY 6/20 Nashville’s two-woman guitar duo Birdcloud brings its R-rated tunes to Stickyz, with Thelma and The Sleaze, 8 p.m., $10-$12. The Central Arkansas Library System screens Sam Newfield’s 1944 horror film “The Monster Maker” as part of its Terror Tuesday series at the Ron Robinson Theater, 6 p.m., $2. Brooks Blevins gives a talk on Charles Wayman Hogue’s “Back Yonder: An Ozark Chronicle” as part of the Pen to Podium: Arkansas Historical Writers’ Lecture Series, 6:30 p.m., Historic Arkansas Museum, free, registration required at events.archives@arkansas.gov or 682-6900.

Call 501-242-4091 today to schedule a tour and a complimentary meal!

WEDNESDAY 6/21 Movies in the Park screens 1984’s “The Karate Kid” at the First Security Amphitheatre, 8:30 p.m., free. Magician Scott Davis begins a series of performances at Hot Springs’ Five Star Theatre, 7 p.m. buffet, 8 p.m. curtain time Wed., Fri-Sat. through Aug. 12, $17$37.50. UA Little Rock’s Sequoyah National Research Center opens an exhibit dedicated to health concerns and wellness among Native Americans, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians titled “Native Voices: Native Peoples’ Concepts of Health and Illness,” 5820 Asher Ave., Suite 500, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. through Aug. 3, free.

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27

Dining WHAT’S COOKIN’

HAVE YOU BEEN screaming for ice cream at Loblolly’s new parlor for a while? If so, soothe your throat: Loblolly’s has opened in the storefront at 1423 Main St. next to its previous location, in the Green Corner Store. It was a while coming, but now the homemade ice cream business owned by Sally Mengel and her mother, Laura Frankenstein, is up and dishing more than 20 flavors of ice cream, ice cream floats, milkshakes, malts, sorbet, toppings and house-made syrups.

Mengel said she’s rolling things out slowly and plans for a July grand opening. On the menu already besides the multiple ice creams are specials like the Mountain Bird Mocha Shake, a coffee, chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream concoction, the Ice Cream Sammie made with two warmed chocolate chip cookies and the Cucumber Mint Mojito Freeze, a nonalcoholic (sorry!) and dairy-free sorbet. For $1.75, you can get your ice cream in a glutenfree, vegan house-made cone; for 75 cents, you can get a cone lined with Nutella. You can also buy the ice cream by the pint.

Hours for June are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, though the parlor may stay open until 8 p.m. if business demands it. Mengel plans to adjust the hours in July to 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

The new space — once home to the StudioMAIN architectural collaborative, now located on Main Street in Argenta — features the ice cream counter on one side, tables down the other and a room in the back for events.

The Loblolly ice cream truck is still operating at special events.

GANDOLFO’S NEW YORK Deli opens at The Promenade at Chenal as this paper hits the streets on Thursday, June 15. The restaurant will celebrate the opening by giving away a Gandolfo’s travel mug and refills of coffee for a year to the first 100 people to come, starting at 7 a.m. From 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Friday, all breakfast items will be half price. On Tuesday, June 20, the men and women in blue will eat for free; firefighters get to chow down gratis on Wednesday, June 21. Kids with their parents can eat for free on Thursday, June 22.

So what’s on the menu, you ask. A lot of cute names. Since this is a deli, you’ll find hero sandwiches like the Dagwood (a whole bunch of meats, cheese, onion, etc.), the Big Apple (cappicola with roast beef, pepper jack, feta, etc.), a Meatball Hero and more. The Knuckle Sandwich features pastrami, cheese and marinated mushrooms; the Rockefeller Reuben is corned beef or pastrami or tucker with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Russian dressing. Bagels and breakfast sandwiches are served all day.

Gandolfo’s also caters. The deli is the first in the Gandolfo chain for Arkansas.

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JUNE 15, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

PANKO FRIED TUNA: The Salmon Lemon Roll is an impressive creation.

Affordable sushi Hanaroo is a go-to.

H

anaroo is not concerned with first impressions. In fact, you may not even notice it there on the corner of West Capitol Avenue and Louisiana Street if you aren’t looking for it. Inside, it’s unassuming.

The booths are a bit worn, the lighting could be softer, and the background music is minimal. The atmosphere is defined by efficiency rather than elegance. But you don’t pick Hanaroo for the ambiance. You go there to eat your weight in sushi without breaking the bank. And you won’t be disappointed.

We arrived around 8 p.m. on a Saturday, after the dinner crowd had started to thin. Service was efficient, which is fine with us when we’re paying $8 for a sushi roll. (When we pay $18 for a roll, we appreciate, and tend

Follow Eat Arkansas on Twitter: @EatArkansas

to expect, a little more conviviality.)

The Age Dashi Tofu ($4.50), fried wedges of tofu served with a special sauce with scallions and shichimi, a Japanese spice mixture, was labeled as a “house favorite.” It wasn’t ours.

The “wedges” of tofu were too big — only the outside was crispy. The inside was mushy and flavorless. We liked the idea of the dish, but the execution fell a little flat.

That is where the disappointment ended. We ordered tuna tataki ($8.95) to hold us over until we could decide on our sushi order. If you’re someone who likes having options, Hanaroo is the place for you. There are over 50 sushi rolls to choose from, most with quirky names, so the detailed descriptions come in handy. The menu takes

some time to get through and reads like a sushi encyclopedia.

The tataki, a generous portion of raw tuna cut into small chunks, was served over a bed of iceberg lettuce covered in a tangy garlic ponzu sauce, which added a nice burst of flavor to the plate. It went well with a house chardonnay and made a lovely appetizer.

Without much delay, out came our platter of sushi, beautifully plated. We ordered the Salmon Lemon Roll ($8.95) based on a friend’s recommendation.

It looked beautiful, topped with avocado, salmon and super-thin slices of lemon. We didn’t know how we were going to feel about lemon-topped sushi, but the taste was crisp and clean. The citrus was a perfect complement to the salmon. We were impressed with this creation.

We are suckers for spicy crab salad in a sushi roll, so the Russian roll ($8.50) was a must. It was stuffed with crab salad, cucumber and avocado and topped with panko-fried tuna, sweet

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chili sauce and eel sauce. The sauces were rich and used sparingly. The fried tuna on top was good, although we usually prefer it raw. It made for a more substantial roll that was as filling as it was tasty.

Spicy tuna lovers should try the Bubble Pop roll ($8.95). It was filled with tuna, cucumber and avocado and topped with crab salad, eel sauce, spicy mayo and tobiko crunch. We loved the contrast in textures of the delicate crabmeat and fried panko flakes on top. Sometimes a roll with this much stuff on top becomes

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ARKANSAS TIMES

Hanaroo Sushi Bar Quick bite If wasabi is your thing, the fried pork shumai is a must ($6.95 for 6 pieces). The big bite-sized pork-and-wasabi dumplings were fried crispy and golden brown. They were hearty and hot.

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unwieldy and difficult to eat. Not the case here. Though packed and topped, pieces of this roll remained manageably bite-sized.

We were impressed with the fishheavy T.N.T. roll ($5.50), featuring chopped tuna, yellowtail and salmon.

Avocado, scallions and wasabi mayo sauce added a burst of texture and flavor. Two pieces of tuna nigiri made for a good side. The chef tucked away a small smattering of wasabi underneath the fish that provided a nice kick.

Every sushi roll we ordered was solid. The fish was fresh, the presentation was beautiful and every bite was well balanced. Probably the most refreshing part of the meal was seeing the check at the end of it. Usually we expect to drop a lot of dough when out for sushi. Hanaroo’s prices are extremely affordable and the quality is high. You might not get all the white-table-cloth pizzazz of some of the other sushi places in town, but you will get a very respectable meal at a good price.

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29

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF OUACHITA COUNTY, ARKANSAS SIXTH DIVISION NELLIE LAMB, ET. AL. On Behalf Of Herself And All Others Similarly Situated PLAINTIFFS VS. GGNSC ARKADELPHIA, LLC, et. al.

DEFENDANTS Case No.: CV-2011-121-6 NOTICE OF SETTLEMENT This is not a lawsuit against you. You are not being sued. This is a notice of a Settlement of a proposed class action against Golden Living nursing homes in Arkansas.

The Circuit Court of Ouachita County, Arkansas authorized this notice.

If you or a family member was a resident at a GOLDEN LIVING NURSING FACILITY IN ARKADELPHIA, CAMDEN, CROSSETT, EL DORADO, HARRISON, HEBER SPRINGS, HILLTOP, HOT SPRINGS, MCGEHEE, MONTICELLO, NORTH LITTLE ROCK, OR ROGERS (“Golden Living Nursing Homes”) AT ANY TIME FROM DECEMBER 2006 THROUGH JULY 1, 2009 (“Class Period”), you may be eligible for a cash payment from a class action settlement.

READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY. YOUR RIGHTS TO A MONETARY AWARD WILL BE AFFECTED WHETHER YOU ACT OR NOT. Your rights and options—and the deadlines to exercise them—are explained in this notice.

SETTLEMENT DETAILS WHAT IS THIS NOTICE ABOUT? This Notice explains a proposed Settlement of a class action lawsuit and all of your options before the Court decides whether to approve the settlement. If the Court approves it and after objections and appeals are resolved, the Claims Administrator appointed by the Court will make the payments that the settlement allows.

This Notice explains the lawsuit, the Settlement, your legal rights, what benefits are available, who is eligible for them, and how to get them.

WHAT IS A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT? A class action is a lawsuit in which one or more individuals sue an individual(s), company or other entity on behalf of all other people who are allegedly in a similar position. Collectively, these people are referred to as a “Class” or “Class Members.”

In a class action, the court resolves certain legal issues, legal claims and defenses for all class members in one lawsuit, except for those who ask to be excluded from the class. (See below for more information about excluding yourself from the Class.)

WHAT IS THIS CASE ABOUT? Plaintiffs allege that Golden Living chronically understaffed its Arkansas nursing homes in violation of the Residents’ statutory and contractual rights. Specifically, Plaintiffs allege that the chronic understaffing of the Golden Living Nursing Homes violated the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, the Residents’ Rights Act and breached the admission agreement between the Residents and the nursing homes. Defendants deny Plaintiffs’ allegations.

Based on the information available to both sides, and the risks involved in a trial, both sides have concluded that the proposed Settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate, 30

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ARKANSAS TIMES

and that it serves the best interests of all parties involved.

WHO ARE THE PARTIES IN THIS CLASS ACTION? Nellie Lamb and forty-three other persons are the Class Representatives and filed this lawsuit as a class action to assert their own individual claims and similar claims on behalf of approximately 3400 residents of Golden Living Nursing Homes in Arkansas during the Class Period. The defendants are GGNSC Arkadelphia, LLC d/b/a Golden Living Center Arkadelphia; GGNSC Camden, LLC d/b/a Golden Living Center-Camden; GGNSC Crossett, LLC d/b/a Golden Living Center-Crossett; GGNSC El Dorado III, LLC d/b/a Golden Living Center-El Dorado; GGNSC Harrison II, LLC d/b/a Golden Living Center-Harrison; GGNSC Heber Springs, LLC d/b/a Golden Living Center-Heber Springs; GGNSC Hilltop, LLC d/b/a Golden Living Center-Hilltop; GGNSC Hot Springs, LLC d/b/a Golden Living Center- Park Avenue; GGNSC Mcgehee, LLC d/b/a Golden Living CenterMcgehee; GGNSC Monticello, LLC d/b/a Golden Living Center-Monticello; GGNSC North Little Rock, LLC d/b/a Golden Living Center-North Little Rock; GGNSC Rogers, LLC d/b/a Golden Living CenterRogers; Golden Gate National Senior Care, LLC; GGNSC Holdings, LLC; GGNSC Administrative Services, LLC; GGNSC Clinical Services, LLC; Golden Gate Ancillary, LLC; GGNSC Equity Holdings, LLC; Leslie Campbell; Cindy Susienka; James Avery; Andrea Clark; Julianne Williams; David Stordy; Larry Mcfadden; Angela Marlar; Billie Palculict; Sybil Adams; Troy Morris; Avie Singleton; Tracey Burlison; Mincie Thomas; Tommy Johnston; John Mcpherson; Laurie Herron; Margaret Green; Norean Bailey; Marsha Parker; and Lisa Hensley, (collectively, “Golden Living”). The lawsuit is pending in the Circuit Court of Ouachita County, Arkansas.

AM I A MEMBER OF THE SETTLEMENT CLASS? The Settlement Class consists of all Residents or Estates of Residents who resided at any of the above Golden Living Nursing Homes in Arkansas at any time from December 2006 through July 1, 2009. If you are a family member of a Resident who is deceased, please read this Notice carefully as you may be entitled to the benefits of this settlement as a beneficiary of the Resident’s estate.

W H AT COMPENSATION OR BENEFITS WILL THE SETTLEMENT PROVIDE? Golden Living agreed to create a Common Fund of over $48 million. The Settlement, if finally approved by the Court, provides that the Common Fund will be used to pay the Resident or the Resident’s Estate $55.00 for each day each Resident stayed at a Golden Living Nursing Home during the Class Period (“Subject Day”), less a pro-rata share of settlement administration expenses, Class Counsels’ litigation expenses and the Class Representative Fees. Golden Living’s records indicate that you or your family member were a resident in a Golden Living Nursing Home during the Class Period.

Cash payments will be made to class members after the Court gives final approval to the proposed settlement and the final approval is no longer subject to appeal.

WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO RECEIVE COMPENSATION OR BENEFITS FROM THE SETTLEMENT? You must timely submit a Status and Benefit Form. Go to www.lambvGGNSC.com or contact the settlement administrator to obtain a Status and Benefit form. This form is necessary for the Settlement Administrator to determine who should receive the settlement benefit. If the Resident is living, the benefit will be made payable to the Resident. However, if the Resident is deceased, the benefit will be disbursed to either (1) the Resident’s Estate upon presentment of evidence that an Estate exists (i.e. Letters Testamentary, Probate Court Order Appointing a Personal Representative, Executor or Administrator etc.) or (2) one or more of the Resident’s heirs or distributees who are the subject of an Affidavit regarding small estates filed

pursuant to Arkansas statute (28-41-101).

If a Resident is deceased, the Status and Benefit Form should be submitted with proof that an estate exists or with a file marked copy of an Affidavit filed pursuant to A.C.A. Sec. 28-41-101.

To be timely, Claim Status and Benefit Forms must be postmarked by October 16, 2017.

WHAT ARE YOUR OPTIONS? If you or a family member were a Resident at a Golden Living Nursing Home in Arkansas during the Class Period, you will have the following options: •file a Status and Benefit Form; •do nothing, thereby foregoing the possibility of receiving any money or relief pursuant to the Settlement; •stay in the Settlement Class and file a timely Objection if you disagree with any part of the Settlement, including the request for attorneys’ fees or expenses or the class representative payments; or •exclude yourself from the Settlement Class, which means you will not participate in any of the financial benefits from the Settlement, will not be bound by the releases made or judgment entered in connection with the Settlement, and will not be permitted to object to any part of the Settlement.

The following sections explain the consequences of pursuing each option.

WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU FILE A CLAIM? If you are a Settlement Class Member and you timely complete and submit a Status and Benefit Form, and if the Status and Benefit Form is approved, you will receive the relief described above once the Settlement has become Final. To be timely, the Status and Benefit Form must be postmarked by October 16, 2017.

Unless you submit a Request for Exclusion as discussed below, you will be prohibited from bringing a lawsuit against Golden Living based on or related to the claims asserted in the lawsuit. A copy of the lawsuit can be obtained by going to www.

LambvGGNSC.com.

The Status and Benefit Form provides direction as to how the Form should be filled out.

If you file a Status and Benefit Form, attorneys for the class will act as your Class Settlement representatives while your benefit is processed, at no cost to you. Attorneys for the class will not represent you regarding Estate or Affidavit matters.

You do not need to attend the fairness hearing in order to participate in the settlement.

WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DO NOT SUBMIT A CLAIM? Under the terms of the Settlement, if you do not submit a Status and Benefit Form, you will not receive a check. If the Court approves the Settlement, and if you do not submit a Status and Benefit Form, you nevertheless will be bound by the Settlement, including the release of your claims against Golden Living, unless you submit a Request for Exclusion.

HOW DO I FILE AN OBJECTION? If you disagree with any part of the Settlement, you may file an objection with the Court. You will still be in the settlement, you will remain a Class Member, and will be eligible to receive benefits if the settlement is approved and you timely submit a qualifying Status and Benefit Form. Even if you object, you must return a Status and Benefit Form to be eligible to receive a cash payment.

If you want to object, you must submit your objection in writing to the Court. Your objection must include: 1. Your name, address, and telephone number; 2. Your signature; 3. The reasons why you object; 4. The case name and number of this lawsuit, which is Lamb v. GGNSC Arkadelphia, LLC, CV-2011-121-6; 5. Identify any other cases where you have filed an objection to a proposed class action

settlement; 6. If you are represented by a lawyer, the name, address and telephone number of that lawyer; and 7. Whether you intend to appear and argue your objection at the Final Approval Hearing.

You must file your written objection with the Court no later than July 31, 2017 at Circuit Court Clerk of Ouachita County, 145 Jefferson Street SW, Camden, Arkansas. You must also send a copy of your objection to Lead Class Counsel and Lead Defendants’ Counsel at: David Marks Marks, Balette, Giessel & Young, P.C. 10000 Memorial Drive, Suite 760 Houston, TX 77024 A. Bradley Bodamer Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP 2555 Grand Blvd.

Kansas City, MO 64108 All objections must be received by the attorneys for the parties and by the Court

by July 31, 2017 or your objection will not be considered.

HOW DO I EXCLUDE MYSELF FROM THE CLASS? You can exclude yourself from the Settlement Class, which means you will not participate in any aspect of the Settlement and you may pursue your own claims, if any, at your own expense against Golden Living or the Released Parties. To exclude yourself, you must submit your request to be excluded in writing to: Lamb v GGNSC Settlement Administrator – 5695 P.O. Box 2599 Faribault, MN 55021-9599 (866) 801-0474 Your request must be signed, include your name, address, and telephone number, and clearly state that you wish to be excluded from the class. Your request must be postmarked by July 31, 2017.

W HEN WILL THE COURT CONDUCT THE FINAL APPROVAL HEARING? On September 15, 2017, the Court will conduct a public Final Approval hearing in the Circuit Court of Ouachita County, Arkansas, 145 Jefferson Street SW, Camden, Arkansas to determine whether to approve the proposed Settlement, and determine the amount of fees and expenses to be awarded to the attorneys for plaintiffs and the class and payment to the class representatives.

Although not anticipated, the Court may postpone the date of the Final Approval hearing. If available, notice of any such postponement will be posted on the settlement website at www.LambvGGNSC.com.

Although the hearing will be open to the public, you will not be permitted to speak at the hearing unless you have filed a timely objection as described above and stated your intention in your filed objection that you intend to address the Court.

WHAT IS THE EFFECT OF COURT APPROVAL OF THE SETTLEMENT AND WHAT CLAIMS AGAINST GOLDEN LIVING ARE BEING RELEASED? If the Court approves the Settlement at the Final Fairness hearing, and you have not filed an objection or excluded yourself from the class as described herein, any claims that you, your heirs, successors and assigns might have against Golden Living will be fully and completely released with respect to any and all claims and damages resulting from or based on the acts or omissions alleged in the Complaint, including without limitation all claims for damages for breach of contract, violation of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act or violation of the Residents’ Rights Act as alleged in the Complaint. (“Released Claims”) However, the Released Claims do not include individual claims for personal physical bodily injury or wrongful death and resulting medical expenses and pain and suffering that may exist under any other cause of action.

WHO REPRESENTS ME? The Court has appointed the Plaintiffs as class representatives. Class Counsel are the

lawyers for the Class. The class representatives and Class Counsel will act as your representatives for this settlement if you do not exclude yourself from the Class. However, Class Counsel will not represent you regarding Estate or Affidavit matters.

The Court has appointed several law firms to represent you, including: H. Gregory Campbell Campbell Law Firm P.A. One Information Way, Ste. 110 Little Rock, AR 72202 Brain Reddick Reddick Moss, PLLC One Information Way, Ste. 105 Little Rock, AR 72202 Gene Ludwig Ludwig Law Firm, PLC 1 Three Rivers Drive Little Rock, AR 72223 David Marks Marks, Balette, Giessel & Youn,g P.C. 10000 Memorial Drive, Ste. 760 Houston, TX 72204 WILL I HAVE TO PAY THE LAWYERS? No. You will not be responsible for any additional costs or attorneys’ fees incurred in this Lawsuit. If the Court approves the proposed settlement, the attorneys for plaintiffs and the class will submit to the Court for approval a request for attorneys’ fees not to exceed 40% of the Common Fund to be paid by Golden Living and expenses not to exceed $4,300,000. The Court will determine the amount of any fees and expenses awarded to class counsel. The amount of money that any individual class member may receive will not depend upon or be reduced by the amount of fees awarded to counsel or the number of Status and Benefit Forms submitted.

HOW MUCH WILL THE INDIVIDUALS WHO PURSUED THIS LAWSUIT ON BEHALF OF THE CLASS RECEIVE IN ADDITION TO THE BENEFITS PROVIDED TO OTHER MEMBERS OF THE CLASS? The 44 named class representatives will ask the Court to award him or her up to $5,000.00 as payment for acting as class representative and for his or her effort and time expended in this litigation. The Court will determine the amount of any such incentive award, which will be paid from the Common Fund.

WHERE CAN YOU GET ADDITIONAL INFORMATION? This notice provides only a summary of matters regarding the lawsuit. The documents, Settlement Agreement, and orders in this case provide greater detail and may clarify matters that are described generally in this notice. Copies of the Settlement Agreement, other documents, court orders, and other information related to the lawsuit may be examined at the settlement website: www.LambvGGNSC.com. Capitalized terms used in this notice have the meanings as defined in the Settlement Agreement.

In case of conflict between the Settlement Agreement and this notice, the Settlement Agreement controls.

You may also examine the Settlement Agreement, the court orders and the other papers filed in the Action at the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Ouachita County, 145 Jefferson Street SW, Camden, Arkansas, during regular business hours.

If you wish, you may seek the advice and guidance of your own attorney, at your own expense.

PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE COURT OR ATTORNEYS FOR GOLDEN LIVING, OR ANY GOLDEN LIVING REPRESENTATIVE FOR INFORMATION. Dated: May 17, 2017 By order of the Circuit Court of Ouachita County, Arkansas.

Judge David Guthrie, Circuit Judge

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