Radio - Print - Web

1168 Hwy 71S

Mena, AR 71953

Phone: 479-243-9600

Fax: 479-243-9603

Email: news@mypulsenews.com

KENA 104.1 - KQOR 105.3

MyPulseNews.com

Our Team:

Ashley Moore - General Manager

Ethan Nahté - Production Manager/Editor

Patrick Massey - Contributing Reporter

John Russell - Graphic Design

Josh Barker - Account Executive

Alexis James - Account Executive

Curt Teasdale - Programmer / On-Air Personality

Trey Youngdahl - Reporter / Photographer / On-Air Personality

Ariel Varner - Receptionist/On-Air Personality

Distribution & Insertion Staff:

Edward Werkhoven, Bill Duff, Danielle Stewart & Chaz Welch

The Polk County Pulse is the area’s premiere and fastest growing news publication. The Polk County Pulse is FREE and published weekly on Wednesdays, with a distribution of 8,000 and an estimated readership of 10,000. MyPulseNews.com has hundreds of visitors daily and KENA and KQOR have thousands of listeners hourly.

POLICY: The publisher reserves the right to reject or cancel any advertisement at any time. All property rights, including any copyright interest, in any advertisement produced by Pulse Multi-Media and/or The Polk County Pulse using art work and/or typography furnished or arranged by Pulse Multi-Media and/or The Polk County Pulse shall be the property of Pulse Multi-Media and/or The Polk County Pulse. No such advertisement or any part thereof may be reproduced without the prior written consent of Pulse Multi-Media and The Polk County Pulse.

POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENTS: Advertisements of a political nature must be prepaid and must also include the name of the entity paying for the advertisement. If an entity other than the candidate the advertisement is endorsing is paying for the ad, a statement must be signed by the candidate verifying the candidate has seen and approved the advertisement.

Letter To The Editor:

It is hard to watch the news when there is another video of police interaction with another citizen that ends badly. The question is, has it always been this way or has there been an uptick in physical confrontations? Is this all the fault of police or do those citizens share some responsibility?

In police interactions with citizens there is a continuum called escalation of use of force. The first step is the presence of an officer. If this is insufficient, then verbal commands follow. Followed by hands on to effect an arrest or to control the suspect. Next is non-lethal (baton, taser, pepper spray, etc.). The last resort for officers to resort to is the use of deadly force. During interactions the last resort may immediately be the only option.

Ideally, the person officers interact with comply with verbal commands. You need only watch the videos presented on the news to see there are times citizens do not comply, and the question should be, “Are they to share blame when things go poorly?”.

In an ideal interaction, once control is achieved then force stops and does not escalate further, either by the officer or citizen. Currently, most, but not all, officers are wearing body cameras that record all their actions as well as those of the suspect. That unedited video is hard to dispute in examining the determination of fault. As a caution I question the wisdom of releasing body camera footage until trial. How loud would opposing counsel yell if inflammatory footage of the accused was released prior to trial. The question of a fair and impartial trial would be foremost in their arguments. Should be the same for law enforcement officers.

Are officers at fault. At times, yes, they are. In those cases, they face not only investigations by Internal Affairs (also referred to as Professional Standards) but by prosecutors as well.

Discipline can range from unfounded, to reprimands, or criminal prosecution depending on facts. The system is not perfect but from my experience, it is currently the best there is.

Officers receive training and are equipped with the tools to safely do their dangerous jobs. Their safety and those of the public are ever present and in most cases is readily apparent in the times they get reported positively in the news.

It is unfortunate that the lion’s share of reporting is focused on the times things get out of hand. When I see that, I am sickened by it as well. The times officers are hurt or killed often are relegated to the back page of the paper or not reported at all. I am in the camp whose thoughts are that we have good officers who deserve our support and respect as they perform dangerous jobs with our safety in mind. Bad actors will be weeded out. They always are.

As always, thank you for a forum to express my thoughts, though at times we disagree.

With respect and kindest regards, Ronald Goss, retired, Mena

Letter to the Editor

Interesting that the focus of the two responses to my letter were homosexuality and sin. Nothing about a government policy with a determination to cause problems for people in the LGBTQIA+ community. Along with a complete avoidance of the other letters in the LGBTQIA+ community. Or what a sad commentary it is that someone who is gay feels the need to move completely out of a state to avoid what will be coming in more oppression to a few select people mostly due to ignorance and lack of education.

First off extensive, scientific research was done in the 1930’s in America and one aspect of this is The Kinsey Scale. People will fall somewhere in this range and the LGBTQIA+ description is including some of those ranges.

Rating|Description

0|Exclusively heterosexual

1|Predominantly heterosexual, only incidentally homosexual

2|Predominantly heterosexual, but more than incidentally homosexual

3|Equally heterosexual and homosexual

4|Predominantly homosexual, but more than incidentally heterosexual

5|Predominantly homosexual, only incidentally heterosexual

6|Exclusively homosexual

X|No socio-sexual contacts or reactions

In the first month of the year our Arkansas government has chosen to focus on bills that target Drag Performers, Trans kids, and women who seek abortions. While there are real problems that need to be addressed like children going to bed hungry, lack of medical care, a need for an increase in jobs, work on our infrastructure, poor education levels, and more broadband necessary so people can get jobs.

In high school I read The Christine Jorgensen Story. I have understood the battle for people with gender dysphoria ever since (50+ years ago). For a recap of her life:https://www. nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/christine-jorgensen?fbclid=IwAR3bJz6AGeyphI_ f4tA2YNw2UqlsEVi8bPM8EuRd_VsAAF0dwvdeHJbjjqw

Want to share your opinion?

The Polk County Pulse welcomes letters to the Editor addressing any topic of interest to our readers. To be published, letters must not contain obscene or libelous language. Letters do not reflect the viewpoints or opinions of Pulse Multi-Media.

The letter must include a signature to be considered for publication. Signatures will NOT be held out by request. Letters will be restricted to 500 words. Any letters longer than 500 words will require purchase of advertising space.

The following contact information is required when the letter is submitted: NAME, AGE, ADDRESS, PHONE NUMBER.

Letters are published at the discretion of the Editor and Publisher.

Letters may be submitted by e-mail to news@mypulsenews.com; mailed to P.O. Box 1450, Mena, AR 71953 or dropped off at 1168 Hwy. 71 South, Mena, AR. A drop-box is provided by the front door for after-hour convenience. TO

For an understanding of Trans kids “Being Jazz”is a delightfulbook.

We are then left with Intersex and Asexual. Intersex is a person born with a combination of male and female biological traits. Note the word “born”. An Asexual has no feelings or desires of sex along with no attraction to a male or female.

All within the spectrum of the Kinsey Scale. All “Born that Way”. Please spend some of your time reading and researching rather than looking for sin along withoppression of groups it would appear you lack an understanding of.

Cynthia Thanos-Wade, Mena