Letter to the Editor

If you havent read it, please go to the library or online and do so. Some direct quotes from the editorial follow:

‘The Texarkana Gazette as well as other print and broadcast media, libraries, schools, civic and other groups, conservative, liberal and in-between, are committed to the publics right to know as much as possible about what their government is doing.

‘An informed public is a powerful public. The more a government must disclose, the more accountable and responsible that government must be.

‘Without free access to government information, important questions cant be raised and answers demanded. An open government is the difference between democracy and tyranny.

This is exactly the purpose of the crowds at recent Ashdown City Council meetings, the speakers at those meetings and Letters to the Editor. All comments have been to seek information, asking questions about the actions/inactions of some of our elected leaders and/or offering constructive comments to help our city. How can any of this be wrong?

As the editorial says, the public has a right and responsibility to know and ask questions of their elected leaders.

K.K. Priest

Ashdown, Ark.

Be thankful for doctors

TO THE EDITOR:

I would like to congratulate the Gazette on their recent article on Dr. Hiram Ward. What an uplifting story of dedication and tireless effort. Here is a physician who, after caring for patients for more than fifty years, has continued to work in an attempt to keep Pike County Memorial Hospitals doors open. There are many issues within our society that plague the field of medicine and despite the hurdles this man charges onward.

Cheers to his dedication to his profession and the people he serves. He is one of many physicians in our area who can shed light on what days were like when an office call was merely $3. My, how things have changed! Many healthcare professionals outside of their own practices dedicate countless hours to tend to the underserved of our area.

March 30th is National Doctors Day. Let us say ‘thanks to our Texarkana area physicians, their staff and the medical centers that enable these men and women to provide quality care day in and day out. Our medical community is a precious commodity and men like Dr. Ward are prime examples of how professionals go out of their way to preserve what is good for the people that they care for.

Lindsey McMillan

Texarkana, Texas

Landlords: Get tough

TO THE EDITOR:

I have been a landlord in Texarkana since 1981. I have seen a lot of changes in those 26 years. The most obvious thing I have observed is the increase in the usage of drugs, especially in depressed area of Texarkana. I attribute a lot of the increase in drug use to a lot of the area landlords who just plain dont give a crap! If a tenant knows a landlord will look the other way, thats a green light to ‘drug-on dude!

I am the only landlord, I am aware of, who has a ‘drug free policy and promotes such! Most dont care! Money is king to them! Recently I called one landlord and advised him of a druggie I had evicted. He asked me what the drug use was. I said crack. ‘Joe, a little dope aint going to hurt anyone, so if you kick out anymore send them to me! What a dummy!

Most of the drug use in Texarkana is in poor areas, not Pleasant Grove! I know landlords who knowingly rent to drug users, drug dealers, hookers and illegals! Not this ol boy! Im old school! Some months I can hardly pay my bills, but I sleep good every night. I guess the almighty $ today is more important to some landlords than seeing ‘the Almighty at some future time!

At times I feel I am the only one who cares. Im sure there are other landlords out there who constantly fight to keep drugs out of their rentals like I do, but Im sure were in the minority! All you have to do is listen to the tenants who move around from landlord to landlord. Most avoid me because of my reputation and Im glad. It saves me a lot of work.

If youre apartment hunting and do drugs, a dealer, an illegal, a hooker, a woman beater, a child molester, etc., please pass me by! Im sure the landlord down the road will take you, no questions asked! Money over morals!

Well I got to close for now. I just got a call that one of my tenants is on crack. Got to get my drug sniffing dogs and get my shotgun in the truck and go check it out! I pay my tenants to snitch on each other! It works! I pay them in ‘Joe dollars! They can exchange them for free rent!

P.S. It will be interesting when I get to heaven as to how many of my fellow landlords made it! I hope they all do!

Joe Kilgore

Texarkana, Texas