Text The Times.

Text The Times.

I agree with peaceful protest but not illegal locations! All lives matter we here in AR may need to get to the hospital & truck drivers & other going places where you need to cross the bridge so don’t tell people WDIA radio station that you don’t agree but you understand why protesters did what a did is like also saying it is ok to block a bridge, love for all people please! [ Editor’s Note: Here is the entirety of the First Amendment to the U. S. Constituion: “ Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the free-dom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” Here is the entirety of the Cornell University of Law’s Plain-English Law Dictionary of the term “ Unlawful Assembly”: “ When three or more people meet with the intention of carrying out an unlawful act to deliberately disturb the peace.” Now you tell me… which of those best describes what happened Sunday night?]

*** The people who blocked the bridge say they won. Won what? All I saw was that it proved point that they don’t respect themselves or anyone and have a total disregard for the law. And that they are teaching their children to do the same. That is why the jails are so full. [ Editor’s Note: Barry Schwartz, a psychologist and author of “ The Paradox of Choice,” once cautioned against fighting the system of power because the system is how real change takes place. He said, “ When you discover that you actually need people who want to do the right thing, those people don't exist because you've crushed anyone's desire to do the right thing.”]

*** I have something to say that’s extremely important for the citizens of Crittenden County to know. Now this information did not originate with myself but instead, from a friend of mine who I attended college with. He told me that the hospital closed not because of bankruptcy, but because of theft. He told me that the Board of Directors, and some other key individuals whose names I will not mention all had a part in the embezzlement scandal. $38 MILLION in funds were stolen from the hospital’s accounts. It may not have happened all at once, but more than likely over a period of time. Something similar to that happened at the Regional Medical Center (the Med) where a lady who worked in payroll or bookkeeping went down with a little over $7 MILLION and she bought herself a big house and luxury car, among other things. I intend to discuss this a little further in a letter to the Editor, but I will not mention anyone’s name. [ Editor’s Note: I have heard several versions of this story from sources of wildly varying degrees of reliability. And I think deep down, most folks almost want to believe it’s true. It’s somehow easier for them to accept that someone stole all of the hospital’s money rather than the hospital falling victim to decades of over- spending, over- staffing, poor management, failure to take action sooner, and becoming a de factor “ free” clinic for the uninsured who didn’t ( or couldn’t) pay their bills. The embezzlement idea, for whatever reason, is just easier to swallow. I assure you, if anyone had even a little proof that millions of dollars were stolen, it would have come out in the bankruptcy, or at least come out once the lawsuits started being filed. There’s always a paper trail, and like “ All the President’s Men” taught us, “ Follow the money.”]

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