Tuesday 14 May 2024 09:42:25 1715697745

For such a small place Hoxie sure does see a lot of action. After the funeral attendee robberies (that seems to have been perpetrated by malefactors from Jonesboro) now they got a couple of cops being busted for drug trafficking. How many cops does a city the size of Hoxie have anyway? At least there haven't been any calf-rustling of goat-decapitations over there lately. No political news either.

Jonestown paper has a reasonably balanced editorial page as national affairs go. Good column by Josh Hammer yesterday, they might want to get some better cartoons. Branco or Garrison maybe? Nah, probably cost too much and way above the intelligence of most of their readers anyway. They had this, which I probably won't buy - especially at thirty clams - because I kind of witnessed it happening. Actually it was more about the David Pryor whatever having a speaker talking about the book. Is Pryor the guy that died a while ago? I get Pryor and Bumpers mixed up because they were both got elected governor in order to get to the U.S. Senate where they could do some serious damage to the entire country. It was Pryor, just googled it. Bumpers has been deceased for a while. As for how Arkansas went from blue to red it was because we got tired of people like them and Slick Willie. OK?

Dunno if the telly website randomly selects the stuff from the state-run media or if there is a madness to the method. This one is from CNN, that's worse than the Dissociated Press. Anyhow expanded access means that even more people who didn't pay any Social Security well be able to get money from it. Remember the crazy checks? I do.

I seem to have mentioned discovering another local news site recently. Looks like part of the NEA broadcasting outfit that owns a bunch of radio stations. I no longer believe when I see a project like this start up that it's anything other than a quest for additional revenue. I suppose if I ever saw one of them do something other than dish out the same stuff as the others, maybe do something innovative and actually engage the audience in a constructive way.... nah, that's crazy talk. Just put up a site and sell some ads. Funny thing is if they would think outside the box they could make a lot of money but I learned a long time ago few people will take even a small risk for a big reward when the small one is almost guaranteed. Depends on what you're willing to settle for whether in terms of financial enrichment or self-actualization. Sometimes you can get both. Who dares wins.

The editor-in-chief looks like the former police-person from Jonesboro that got retaliated against for displaying some integrity. I wonder if she would be inclined to do it again. Probably not - possible big payoff for courage versus keeping a relatively lucrative job by being quiet. Maybe I'll share something that would test their advertised code of ethics and see if they respond. Notice I said if they respond, ain't holding my breath.

I will comment on a bit of fluff all the news folks do. Theirs is called BEST OF NEA. I'll just comment on the local hospitals since I can figure out the rest on my own. Here's what they had on hospitals:

 Health & Beauty   Assisted Living   St. Bernards Villa and St. Bernards Village     GOLD
 Health & Beauty   Cosmetic Surgery   St. Bernard's Dermatology Procedure Center     GOLD
 Health & Beauty   Dermatologist   St. Bernards Dermatology Clinic     GOLD
 Health & Beauty   Doctor   Colton B. Nielson, MD - St. Bernards Dermatology...     GOLD
 Health & Beauty   Hospital   St. Bernards Medical Center     GOLD
 Health & Beauty   Place to Have a Baby   St. Bernards Medical Center     GOLD
 Health & Beauty   Women's Health   St. Bernards OB-GYN Associates     GOLD
 Home & Garden   Retirement Community   St. Bernards Villa and St. Bernards Village     GOLD
 Health & Beauty   Medical Facility   St. Bernards Medical Center     SILVER
 Health & Beauty   Medical Facility   NEA Baptist Clinic     GOLD
 Health & Beauty   Hospital   NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital     SILVER
 Health & Beauty   Place to Have a Baby   NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital     SILVER
 Health & Beauty   Walk-In Healthcare   NEA Baptist Clinic     SILVER
 Health & Beauty   Women's Health   NEA Baptist Clinic     SILVER

I have a fair knowledge of hospitals in the area, the big ones anyway. Leaving aside my personal experience (that alone is worth a book or two) St. Bernards should only rate silver in any important category (life and death) and that only because AMMC in Paragould is worse than either NEA or St. Barnyards and the other hospital in Jonestown needs to be shut down. I have two credible accounts of deaths caused by the clowns there and they came within a red possum's hair of killing me. Experience of friends and family at NEA have been impeccable or some similar superlative. Now NEA is a new hospital, state-of-the-art everything and St. Bernies is an ancient patchwork built up over a hundred years or so. Maybe some of the energy and expense of expansion should have been directed inward before growing more. Not that the expense of expansion wasn't rewarded with increased revenue.