Friday, October 31, 2008

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Fayetteville police and firefighters urging people to vote for Lioneld Jordan for mayor

Please click on image to ENLARGE Firefighters and Police officers' endorsement of Lioneld Jordan for mayor.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Fayetteville police organization endorses Lioneld Jordan for mayor

Please click on image to ENLARGE for easy reading of the Fayetteville, Arkansas, chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police's endorsement of Lioneld Jordan for mayor.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Firefighters endorse Lioneld Jordan for mayor

Fayetteville Fire Fighters Association endorses Jordan
Northwest Arkansas Times
Posted on Tuesday, October 14, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/70088

The Fayetteville Fire Fighters Association IAFF Local 2866 has endorsed Lioneld Jordan for mayor of Fayetteville in the Nov. 4 general election.
Other endorsements by the association:
• Don Conner — Ward 1, Position 2
• Mark Kinion — Ward 2, Position 2
• Craig Honchell — Ward 4, Position 2
Copyright © 2001-2008 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved. Contact: webmaster@nwanews.com

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Good idea only if using waste material from agriculture and timber production and without decreasing wildlife habitat. Clearing land pollutes air

Summit promotes growing high-energy plants
BY DUSTIN TRACY
Posted on Saturday, October 11, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/69979/
Northwest Arkansas Times Fayetteville’s first ever Sustainability Summit brought more than 300 people to the city’s center to talk about ways organizations can become more environmentally friendly. One way discussed was a switch from conventional diesel fuel to the use of bioenergybased fuel. Jim Wimberly with BioEnergy System LLC in Fayetteville talked about the energy-efficient idea at a small breakout session during the summit. “ Agriculture and energy are so intertwined, ” Wimberly said.
He said the idea is to start promoting the growth of high-energy yielding plants that can be processed and manufactured into a full spectrum of energy projects, including fuel for automobiles.
“ In essence, plants are batteries, ” he said. “ They store energy through photosynthesis. ”
Arkansas provides a large amount of natural resources to make bioenergy manufacturing a reality, Wimberly said, and if the state takes an active interest in the concept, it could cut in half its yearly 1 billion gallons of petroleum used each year.
“ It would take just under a million acres of herbaceous energy crops (crops high in energy ) to displace half of that diesel used, ” he said.
Wimberly said a lot of research is being done on soybeans to create biodiesel, and that it’s a good fuel. However, he said fuel users need to broaden their horizons.
“ We need to quit being worried about planting a future around traditional approaches to biofuel, ” he said.
The state has the forest and farmland to support biofuel operations, which makes it already an attractive location to bioenergy companies, Wimberly said, but Arkansas and its cities need to work towards sealing the deal with the green fuel producers.
“ We are in competition with neighboring states, ” Wimberly said.
Financial incentives as well as getting state landowners and far mers on board with the idea could be the key, Wimberly said.
“ It’s not going to happen unless (farmers ) can make at least as much money as they do growing traditional crops, ” he said.
Copyright © 2001-2008 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved. Contact: webmaster@nwanews.com

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

NOBODY has suggested turning the Government Channel into a community-access station. Read the policy document created by the Telecom policy committee

Policy document prepared during a series of meetings in July, August and September 2008 by the Telecom Board's policy committee
The Morning News

Local News for Northwest Arkansas
Televised Forums Spark Debate
By Skip Descant
The Morning News
FAYETTEVILLE - It's still not clear if issue and candidate forums will make their way to the Fayetteville Government Channel's prime time.
But after months of study, the topic is expected to be hotly debated at tonight's Fayetteville City Council meeting. The item was briskly yanked from last week's council consent agenda session, when practically every council member pushed the issue to open debate.
Moderated public forums involving candidates and ballot issues would be recorded and broadcast by the government channel, according to the proposed new policy. The moderator must be a nonpartisan group such as the League of Women Voters, "and will be overseen by a public forum committee, responsible for considering the issue representation with regard to participants, content and format."
Nancy Allen, a council member from Ward 2 who is not seeking re-election, raised the question of having the government channel record and broadcast a Ward 2 candidate forum. The request came from a citizen group, Allen said.
The request was denied because the group did not fall under the umbrella of city government. Allen asked last week how this topic differed from some of the more innocuous programming she's seen on the channel.
In the past, Allen has requested that issue forums about the future of Fayetteville High School or the Walton Arts Center be broadcast. Those requests were denied by the city because the discussion was not directly related to the workings of the city.
"How does that differ from showing animals in need of adoption?" Allen said. "Anyone could make an argument that walking around looking at flowers, shaking hands, that's not 'government.'"
Without directly naming him, Allen was referencing news conferences and other events called by Fayetteville Mayor Dan Coody, who has received much criticism alleging he's used the government channel as his own personal publicity agency.
"I see much more reason to debate those issues - Fayetteville High School and Walton Arts Center - than to show video of the mayor walking around the square," wrote Allen in an e-mail. "That borders on propaganda in my view."
Susan Thomas, public information officer for the city, and one of the architects of the proposed policy, has maintained that the channel can only be used by government and for government-related programming.
Thomas said a Fayetteville Council of Neighborhoods mayoral debate aired because the council is comprised of city-appointed members, meets at city hall and has city staff assigned to the group, therefore, it operates under the umbrella of the city.
"Any other organization, they don't get city staff, and they're not covered on a regular basis," Thomas told the council.
Citizen groups like the one Allen mentioned would be better served by Community Access Television, say officials. Allen admitted she had not contacted CAT.
The mayor has said repeatedly that the city council has the discretion to create the government channel in nearly any image it wishes. It only needs to write the appropriate policy and carry it out.
"If you want to turn the government channel into a community access television station, then just do that," Coody told the board last week.
Policy document prepared during a series of meetings in July, August and September 2008 by the Telecom Board's policy committee
MEETING INFORMATION

Fayetteville City Council

When: 6 p.m. today

Where: Room 219, City Hall, 113 W. Mountain St.

Also on the agenda: Urban Design Associates, the Pittsburgh design firm responsible for the conceptual plan for SouthPass, will give a presentation.

Be sure to vote today. My choice is Jim Halsell in the Fayetteville School Board Race. Put your choice on a ballot!

Why do I support Jim Halsell? Jim Halsell's campaign Web site says it all

Friday, October 3, 2008