Thursday 1 August 2024 09:18:47 PM CDT

Thursday 1 August

Grace Slick wasn't just an iconic singer (and songwriter) for the ages but a pretty good pianist with an interesting - and to me charming - style. A good example is on the first track on side 2 of Baron von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun. The intro to Hyperdrive is played by Airplane/Starship member Pete Sears, if we are to believe Wickedpedia, which also says he as a co-writer with Grace on that song. Dragon Fly is generally reported as the first Jefferson Starship album - Grace and Paul and some others had collaborated on Tollbooth and some others in between the Airplane and the Starship. One of those introduced a fine young guitarist by the name of Craig Chaquico who would remain through to the final(?) incarnation as just Starship. A collection entitled Gold has a bunch of the most commercially successful JS stuff. I listen to it often.

Where else you gonna get a cultural education from an old geezer with acerbic commentary on events and situations and whatnot in northeast Arkansas? Nowhere I know of, which is why I do this. Well, not the only reason...

Whaddyasay about this stuff? Does anyone have stats on how much criminal activity in Jonestown is out-of-towners? I know there's always been some, back in the '70s it was just drugs mostly, local dealers supplied from Memphis, and from Jonesboro into the small towns. I lived in one of those small towns, knew how it worked, knew some of the folks. Pot and some pills, law came down hard on those that got caught back then. The ones that couldn't pay off the judges that is - reminds me of something... nevermind. Some other time. Maybe if the law came down hard on malefactors now there would be fewer malefactors. Or at least malefactors when they got caught doing malfactoring went away for a while they wouldn't be running at large to continue doing it. Just a thought.

I believe the late Tommy Robinson had a mention in this here blog. His method of settling down the local miscreants that were knocking over convenience stores like it was going out of style was to put deputies armed with shotguns in randomly selected stores and if the malefactors picked the wrong store... Good scene in Magnum Force from about that era. Dunno if you could get away with that anywhere these days. But people won't stand up now are going to find it a lot harder later. If it's even possible.

Dunno what Tommy equipped his deputies with. My favorite for a long time has been a Mossberg 500 with 00 buck. I've done a fair amount of experimenting from double-0 and triple-0 and on down to four and dunno if there's a perfect load. A good hit with double or triple in twelve will stop anything unarmored. Probably even an angel-dusted specimen would drop just from the immediate structural damage.

A girlfriend of slight stature likes a 20-gauge because it's easier to handle. She can shoot a twelve from the hip but they're a little heavy to move fast with. A twenty will do the job if you don't miss and that's the important part. Bonnie Parker was a small gal and she was reported go have used a twenty.

Anyway if there were a few miscreants departed the scene of the crime in an ambulance instead of a Dodge Charger some would probably think two or three times before setting out to predate the civilized population.

What do you think? Am I being unreasonable?

Friday 2 August

The answer to the rhetorical question 'where do I start' is the equally rhetorical 'at the beginning'. I suppose answers can be rhetorical if the question can. Idunno, whatever. Anyway sometimes the beginning can be difficult to spot. Where did the problems in Blytheville begin - the ones under discussion here that is.

As you can see the population is declining and has been for a long time but has been more serious than most small cities. The loss of Eaker AFB had a significantly delerterious effect on the local economy but that is normally when a large military installation near a small city goes away. I flew into (then Blytheville Air Force Base) there exactly once back in the day, and flew out the next day. It was one of several one-day assignments, I probably was on more AF installations than most career men. For 24 hours at a time. Anyway it was a bad deal for the local economy. I won't go into the whole peace dividend scam. The fall of the evil empire was bad for the economies of many small cities.

Going from 23K to 13K population - even over thirty years - is bad. Even a stable population (±2%) isn't good since no growth is not good. It's not awful but it isn't good. Places like Harrisburg, Bay and Brookland sitting close to Jonestown are doing well and not bad places, not much crime. Further out than that the populations of almost all cities are declining. West Memphis is located near a very large city but that city is also circling the drain and Left Memphis is that speck on the outside of the swirl.

Since Blytheville isn't doing well and the prospects for it doing better... well this is about the Arkansas Deparement of Education wanting them to fix things. From what I've seen these things don't get fixed - people put Band-Aids on places that aren't actually bleeding and wait for the situation to improve. Band-Aids don't fix internal bleeding from cancer.

Within the past 10 years, the district has lost over 1,000 students. Members of the Department of Education spoke about how a loss in enrollment over time will lead to fiscal concerns.

According to ADE, the district has lost $250,000 in declining enrollment funds.

Data from ADE also shows 170 of the 193 students lost in the 2023-2024 school year were lost to school choice.

That lost revenue is what has the school administration upset. They lost almost 200 students last year - where did they go? Armorel and Gosnell? Homeschooled? I know homeschooling - boosted by the Plandemic - continues to increase. Anyway school choice - the reason cited here - would make those two available for parents unhappy with the Blytheville schools. Maybe they need to see why the other schools are attractive.

“The parents have the right to choose the best academic option for their families. The reality is, the families are not choosing you,” Arkansas Secretary for the Department of Education, Jacob Oliva said.

The interim superintendent for BSD, Jennifer Blankenship, said the issue goes beyond school choice.

“The population is declining. As far as Mississippi County and our city as well, we’ve dropped dramatically in our population,” Blankenship said. “So, when the population declines, our families leave.”

Okey-dokey. People don't want their kids in your school for some reason. The declining population affects tax revenues. The people who left town aren't the ones taking their kids out of your school - the ones that stay are. The good news is that the state is giving it attention and something might get fixed.

Moore-Parks took her kids out of BSD due to concerns she had, including feeling like her kids weren’t getting the attention they needed.

Now, they’ll be starting back in Blytheville this year.

“I felt like instead of talking bad about what was going wrong, I wanted to be a part of the change instead of speaking out about it,” Moore-Parks said.

You want to put your kids back in? Kids are only kids once and the only go to school once. You might want it to be fixed before you put them back instead of making them guinea pigs. Meanwhile back on Arrakus:

Saturday 3 August

Know what it takes to get even a like or two on X-formerly-known-as-Twitter? Unless you're a superstar with muchos followers obviously - I'm just little old me. X does have a higher-IQ readership. The commies are no smarter than they ever were but since Elon freed it the intelligent life can be seen now.

Wasn't much action in NEA today but Saturday isn't over yet. There was a car chase over in Misery but the silver car driven by an as yet unidentified 18-year-old perp was not a Dodge Charger. Just curious - if the age of the perp is known isn't the name (being careful with pronouns here) also known? Jonesbororightnow is looking for a chief reporter. They could use some regular reporters. And writers. Some people stole stuff at Wal-Mart and put pics on Facebook. I was wondering why they did it at the store over on Parker but maybe the big one on Highland was locked down better. I tried to buy something in electronics there one day and the guy that had the key to unlock the case was off that day and I would have to come back tomorrow. Not a joke man. Next day I was back home and went to the store in Wynne and the stuff wasn't even locked down.

Okey-dokey. Seeya in a few days.





























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I never thought there were corners in time 'Til | was told to stand in one. Grace Slick (Hyperdrive 1974)
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Prime Chuck Norris 51 minutes ago She stole stuff back in May and came back for more? OK, she got away with it why not do it again? You would think the store people would be a little more vigilant. If you could put 10K of merchandise in a trash bag in a few minutes I would be a little more vigilant. Do they have security people in there? When I want your opinion, I'll beat it out of you. Reply 7G Jawbreaker 39 minutes ago Dillard's may be a little sensitive than some. Not just because of the general atmosphere of certain people being immune to accountability but Dillards got nailed on some of those bogus discrimination lawsuits a while back. Maybe they're scared. Target is another matter - it seems there was some kind of racial incident there a while back. And all the pressure that's been building up, For all the years it bore the load, The cracks appear, the frame starts to distort, It's ready to explode. Reply 43(4]-) DePloraBelle 24 minutes ago In Memphis that stuff is all locked up and they can't just go in and grab it. How long before Jonesboro has to do that? What difference, at this point, does it make? Reply 42(4]-) Jessica Atreides Marshall 17 minutes ago I suspect Jonesboro wasn't ready for the influx of low-quality types. Paragould had more of a shock. But the people who run things in both places are unwilling to do what needs to be done. Small cities are no different from big ones - the elites are safe in their neighborhoods and don't want to be the first to say the quiet part out loud. We have entered the time when all will turn against us and seek our lives. Reply 41(4)]-) Chemical Youth 22 minutes ago They didn't say what kind of car the thieves were in. I would expect a Dodge Charger but it would be good to know. © Some people are like Slinkies -- not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs. Reply HGl-) Remo Williams 12 minutes ago That's the biz sweetheart. Reply oGl-)
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2020 census [exit) Blytheville Racial Composition'®! Historical population Race Num. Perc. Caucasian or White 4,175 31.14% Black or African American 8,044 60.0% Alaskan Native or Native American | 27 0.2% Asian 112 0.84% Pacific Islander 3 0.02% Other/Mixed 503 3.75% Hispanic or Latino 542 4.04% As of the 2020 United States Census, there were 13,406 people, 5,674 households, and 3,644 families residing in the city. 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 Census Pop. 302 3,849 6,447 10,098 10,652 16,234 20,797 24,752 23,844 22,906 18,272 15,620 13,406 he 1,174.5% 67.5% 56.6% 5.5% 52.4% 28.1% 19.0% 3.7% 3.9% -20.2% -14.5% -14.2% U.S. Decennial Census(47
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Twisted Mentat 33 minutes ago State Board of Education wants change in Biythevile School District All I know is it's been a long time since I took the Blytheville exit coming home. I used to cut off there and take the scenic route on 18 back to Jonesboro. There used to be some nice places to eat along I-55 and sometimes I'd stop there on the way out of town. That was a long time ago. The last time I did that was probably late '90s and we drove around town some and it had a bad vibe. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. Reply +5(+]-) Mandroid 21 minutes ago Thad to go through there about six or seven years ago. I've been to Forrest City more recently than that and while I never felt safe in Forrest City - between the local ‘law' and the lower class denizens it's had a bad vibe for about a hundred years - but I used to not worry that much in Blytheville. It's definitely deteriorated. Electric eye, in the sky, Feel my stare, always there, There's nothing you can do about it, Develop and expose, I feed upon your every thought, And so my power grows. Reply 42(+]-) Jessica Atreides Marshall 14 minutes ago I won't pretend to be able to tell people in places like that what to do. Get out would be my recommendation but most people can't just get up and go somewhere else, mainly because of that little thing called money. I would hate to be trapped in one of those places, especially with children. I encourage people to homeschool wherever they live, but for some that isn't possible. Unfortunately small towns are no different from big cities in one respect - human nature. Some people want to be in charge and have all the goodies for themselves and don't care what they have to do to get it. Sorry, that's just the way I've experienced it. We have entered the time when all will turn against us and seek our lives. Reply +1(4+]-)
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