The Parrot & the Fort Smith Insiders and oh yes, Trail Mania. January 24, 2016

There were days when the Times Record was a respected news outlet, an important dispenser of substantive news & views, a valuable asset aiding citizens in making informed decisions, particularly political. For example, the times when Donald W. Reynolds & Jack Mosely and others before were the editors.

Those days are gone! Due to deaths in all probability, the T.R. was sold to the Stephens Conglomerate and later to Gate-House Media. Before the first sale the editorial section disappeared and continues to be absent to this date. Occasionally the present editor publishes touchy/feely politically correct pieces of Socialist garbage, e.g. “giving back”, & “making a difference” tripe.

The T.R. serves as no more than a Parrot for downtown interests: Civil, Political & Economic. The management and reporters print only what serves city government and downtown economic interests. The tragedy of it all is simply that T.R. reporters never pose meaningful follow up questions in the stories they are reporting on…which is their primary and obligatory function as an alleged news gathering organization.
The present owner—Gate-House Media, own over 500 newspapers, albeit mostly small but is patently obvious they too have shut the doors on investigative reporting and Q & A’s, most particularly political.

Examples: T.R. edition 1/18/16. Frontpage: “Riverfront Park plans to be unveiled.” T.R. –not one question asked by reporter Chad Hunter regarding details of the plan presentation.

I. Crafton Tull (where is it located?) is said to have formulated the plan. At what cost? Why not a city architectural firm?

II. Proposed cost of the Park: $1.5 million—source of the funding? Why the rash of new parks & what are the anticipated total projected numbers? Projected cost of maintenance & numbers of new city government employees required?

III. Aaron Lee, Parks Secretary (? more government bloat), stated “In October residents filled out surveys asking for their preferred park amenities”. (Government’s phony way of giving the impression that there is complete citizen involvement.) There are approximately 150,000 residents in the Fort Smith metroplex, therefore what percentage & how many residents filled out surveys? How many were illegals? What were the specific demographics? What percentage of the 150,000 is projected to use the parks?

IV. Parks Commission Chairwoman, Lorie Robertson, said in October 2015 “In our minds we should be viewing this as a “TOURISM CORRIDOR”, park options also include walking trails & MIRACLE FIELDS”. Robertson appears to be the Chosen to distribute Agenda 21’s (now called 2030) words & phrases designed to impress the citizens, making it easier for the government to fleece “we the people”. A few other Agenda 21 buzzwords & phrases used by Robertson, Diane Morrison & others are “multi-county trail systems, place making, wayfinding signs, sharrows, event nodes, quality of place, sense of place, smart growth & sustainable model”. Does anyone believe these words and phrases were hatched by local bureaucrats & politicians? All of what you are reading is accomplished by U.N. Agenda 21, now called 2030 and their destructive non-governmental organizations called NGO’s. Does Robertson in any way receive taxpayer stipends from the city or any other area source– if so, how much for her participation as Chair for the Parks Commission?

V. Back to Ms. Robertson. As previously noted Robertson is the Parks Commission Chairwoman and also Chaffee Crossing Marketing Director. Is this not double dipping and a huge conflict of interests? Are there not competent genuinely interested citizens, not ensconced in government available for this position?

Trails are designed by Agenda 21 to severely and ultimately alter or erase significantly various modes of transportation, this strategy and others are encompassed in the U.N.’s grand plan—SUSTAINABILITY AND/OR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.

VI. Certainly, not to leave out another of the Trail Hustlers, which would be the Chair of the former, moribund Frontier MPO that suddenly came to life and became an important player in the Trails’ game. Frontier MPO is another NGO. Dianne Morrison is another poster girl for S.D. Morrison claims to have expertise in 34 areas dealing with SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT…all having to do with the reshaping, remodeling, and in some cases removal of private property in every facet of the city and is very comfortable using the term SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. Dianne Morrison can factually be described as a Cultural Marxist.

Question: is Morrison involved in any manner, contractually or otherwise, in the construction of the park previously alluded to, and does she have any material connection with Frontier Construction?

VII. Arkansas State Representative Matt Pitsch is another double dipper. He also serves as CEO of the MPO—RITA (Regional Intermodal Transportation Agency). This immediately brings up the question of another huge conflict of interest

MPO’s (are NGO’s) serve as liaisons between local governments and federal agencies run by appointed (not elected) individuals with vast authority. Thereby eliminating the public from all conversation.

NGO’s are the enemies of “we the people” in that duly elected government officials farm out their various duties to their political bosom accomplices and then the created NGO’s assume full power and are in no way responsible to “we the people”. Regional NGO’s are twice as dangerous as a city NGO. NGO’s are involved in numerous ways of disrupting Americans’ way of life from a local perspective to an international one, e.g. activities such as the U.S. involvement in the overthrow of duly elected governments, e.g. Ukraine.
Recent statistics indicate there are at least 22 NGO’s in Fort Smith—all unelected.

VIII. Hiz Honor, Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders, in a frontpage story appearing in the T.R. crowed that Simmons Poultry and Zero Mountain were allegedly engaged in the act of creating, at some future point, 100 new jobs.

In the article Sanders was so excited that it gave the impression he may have peed his pants, well now forget that, let’s just say the Mayor was ebullient. Questions the TR should have asked: Are these alleged 100 jobs to be filled by Black & White American citizens, or illegal Mestizos (more commonly referred to as Mexicans/Hispanics). Now if the Mestizos capture the jobs, which then could very easily balloon into another 500-600 consisting of their families jumping on the welfare bandwagon? No question that would be a very lucrative deal for Simmons & Zero Mountain, but certainly not the case for we the middleclass American producers.

Another very disturbing set of circumstances laid at the doorstep of the Mayor & City Directors—that would be State Senator Jake Files (R) & Lee Webb (D), the Sebastian County Election Commission chairman—— being awarded a lucrative contract to operate the new 8 field softball complex. A black cloud hangs over this “deal”. Additionally, Files record as a businessman is one of incompetency and failures. He has also been instrumental in securing and awarding huge sums of taxpayer money to a “private endeavor”, i.e. the Marshal’s Museum. Most recently, he has cozied up to a state lobbyist to cover a hot check while at the same time owing thousands of dollars in back taxes. The irony is with all the aforementioned baggage, Senator Files is the Chairman of the Arkansas State Senate’s Revenue & Taxation Committee.

Senator Files introduced SB 757 that gives Arkansas state government power to preempt private property, i.e. expand state government imminent domain capacities. SB 757 contains 15 points that lead to NO RECOVERY FOR CONFISCATED PROPERTY.

The city of Jonesboro, AR is now practicing SB 757 and has expanded Files unconstitutional powers act into what Jonesboro calls Property Code 105-2. Files claims he and his partner are going to fund the softball complex with donations and in-kind services. It is said they have previously used the National Guard to complete dirt work for the fields—that is taxpayer dollars used for purposes not a part of functions for the National Guard. Donations—what are the sources? In-Kind—what is & what kind?

I would say the Mayor, the City Directors & to Ray Gosack—this deal is corrupt to the core and at the very least a quid pro quo. Not to be left out, Files is busily coning the city to involve him & Webb in the Trails Mania.

The transparency of the Fort Smith city government, at the very best, is somewhere between opaque and blacked-out.

The question now is, not for the Times Record Parrot, but to each citizen who resides in Fort Smith, are you going to continue to reelect and put up with this type of government corruption that permeates the whole spectrum?

Joe McCutchen
arkansasfreedom.net