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Arkansas is a wonderful
state and has wonderful people as do all states and it has its share of
slick thinking too. Some of it surfaced not too long ago in the little
town of Rose Bud at the western edge of White County. The background for
the slick thought is that they want to begin a football program with all
the amenities of a field, bleachers, and whatever else goes with it.
That is their right to do so and if the people of that district want to
pay for it that is their business. The cost has been reported to be
$500,000 dollars for starters, including salaries for coaches.
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As a resident of the
state, but not that district, I have no problem with whatever they want
to do so long as it doesn’t cost the people of the state outside that
district any hard earned moolah to pay for it. But now comes the slick
idea and it will cost the people of the whole state if it is allowed by
the legislature or the gurus in Little Rock that run the state school
show known as The State Department of Education; and from what I know
about that place, the word education might be a misnomer having had to
put up with their idiocy for the 10 years I taught high school in the
district where I live.
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The Rose Bud School
District wants the people to extend a tax for another 15 years so they
can build a new cafeteria, classrooms, and the much needed football
complex. That is fine if the people want to extend the tax to pay for
all of their plans. But we still haven’t hit the crux of the matter
concerning the slick thinking.
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Now here it comes. The
superintendent was interviewed the week of March 14th on a
local radio station in Searcy about the improvement plans. He gave a
brief outline of what he and the school board were proposing and then
said, and I assume he said it with a straight face, that they wouldn’t
have enough money to cover all the cost so they were going to ask the
state to help with the cost of the academic building project.
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Let’s put this in
perspective and dissect what he said to find the slick thinking. They
are going to raise money for a building project, but the money raised
won’t cover the cost so they want the state to help pay for the academic
part of the plan. Who in their right mind would believe that the money
they are asking for isn’t to cover the shortfall caused by the half
million proposed for the football program? Do you see the slick
thinking? We will get the state to help pay for the academic part and
that will allow us to have football. As a result all the state will be
charged the cost of the football project under the guise of helping
academics with no one the wiser for it. If the powers that be fall for
this request in the name of education, I know where you can get a good
deal on the ocean front property in the desert a few miles west of
Little Rock.
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As most in Arkansas
know, “Slick” is a well known term and isn’t always followed by
“Willie.” The proposal above shows that slick isn’t reserved for the
“Chief Slickster” since there are some real practitioners of the art of
everywhere, some of which are now revealed in Rose Bud. The state is
looking for money to pay for things it can’t afford and has been ordered
by the Supreme Court to cough up the funds or else; and now Rose Bud
wants a cash strapped state to help with their academic plans, which in
effect is a subsidy to them to cover the cost of the football program in
a very, yes, slick way. Since they want a football program let them pay
for it or else drop the grand plans and use the football money on the
academic part, so the rest of us don’t have to help them grandstand with
a football program. If the state falls for this one, the word slick
will have a new definition.
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© 03-21-2005 DEC |
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