Warning: This is the most confusing bit of information I have been given in years. Before reading, these are a few quick facts.

• State Law mandates that JP District lines be reviewed and adjusted every 10 years.
• The plan for drawing these maps is the responsibility of the Election Commission Chairman
• A plan was submitted for commissioners approval on JANUARY 18th 2012 (late).
• The County Clerk is responsible for producing the maps from the plan approved by the Board of Commissioners.  
• The new maps were published DECEMBER of 2011.

The County Board of Election Commissioners, under the leadership of the new chair Democrat Pat Henderson, failed to comply with the provisions of Arkansas Code Annotated section 14-14-405(a). Specifically, they failed to file a reapportionment plan for county quorum court districts by the 2 January deadline. What is supposed to have occurred is the CBEC was required to file the plan (A.C.A. 14-14-403(a) "before the first Monday after January 1". Then the County Clerk is required to publish the new district boundary's and population in each in a newspaper of general circulation within 15 days of the plan being filed (A.C.A. 14-14-405(b). Then, if after 30 days no one filed a law suit in circuit court, the County Clerk is required to certify the plan to the Secretary of State within 7 days(14-14-407). By the CBEC not meeting their deadline, everything is delayed and the County Clerk cannot begin assigning voters to their new voting precincts.

I took it upon myself to call this morning (01.23.2012) and check. I was told by the person on the phone that the JP District map had already been published. She was polite enough too suggest calling "the paper (?)" and asking if they would be kind enough to email it to me. In an official correspondence, a document with the vague geographical description of JP District boundaries which are part of the "Plan" required to be filed with the County Clerk, the election commission chair . You can plainly see she is asking for validation signatures after the deadline. It is marked January 18th from the Election Commission Chair.

I have attached to document for your review and will leave a copy of it on the desk in the commission office.

If each of you could please drop by and sign by Friday, I will get it filed with the County Clerk.

Thanks
Pat

(January 18th 2012) 

BUT!.... The JP District maps were PUBLISHED! In December of 2011. Well BEFORE the plan with geographical boundaries had been submitted. 

In all fairness it must be noted that a plan has now been submitted. An intentionally vague, incoherent, "pass the buck" type document that outlines JP districts with misleading wording such as "and some parts of" with little in the way of legal boundary definitions.

If I were editorializing, I would offer up the standard... "That's the way it has always been done"......and yes, it probably (allegedly) has. Laying the ground work for more (alleged) fraud, (alleged) corruption, (alleged) gerrymandering of district lines is (allegedly) the norm for Crittenden County. Entering into (allegedly) fraudulent contracts is not stopped. Failing to comply (allegedly) with State Statutes is becoming the new norm.

THE PASTOR'S OFFICE by Jason Stark

“I am a firm believer that every picture tells a story, and should, as the work of every artist, evoke emotion. There is neither lens wide enough nor film vivid enough to capture the true beauty of God’s presentation of nature. For me, this is the reason that we as artists will die unfulfilled and longing to take one more shot.”
 

Beginning his self-education the summer of 1981, Stark focused his thirty-five dollar Zeiss-Ikon on the ordinary and mundane scenes surrounding him. Never achieving the razor-sharp,

Are you a perfectionist?

I have struggled with this for years. Everything had to be ‘just so,’ and no one could ‘do it as good as I could’ so I ended up wearing myself out doing everything.

One day I heard speaker Joyce Meyer talking about perfectionism and how it can be an undue stress upon our lives. The perfectionist within me disagreed…my life was just perfect as it was. However, she suggested that we could give ourselves a break by remembering it is all about Purpose….not Perfection. As long as the intended purpose is being met, the means to get it done should not matter.

It took a couple of days for this message to sink in. I finally got what she was talking about  – while sitting on the toilet. I had been raised to put the toilet paper roll on the holder with the paper coming out from the top. This kept the paper sanitary because if you put it on ‘upside down’ you would have to roll it with your dirty hands to get the paper instead of simply pulling it toward you. Besides, pulling the paper toward you is more efficient than rolling it from under the roll.

I don’t know how many times I've had to 'fix' the toilet paper at my home and office because others loaded it wrong!  It was irritating to take the roll off, turn it around the right way and put it back on the holder before I could use it. One day I figured out that both ways give you the paper! And that is what its purpose is in the first place. You may have to work a little harder if it is put on ‘backwards,’ but you can still get it!

Remember 'toilet paper' the next time you stress over something in your life.

Is the Purpose being served even if it COULD be done better your way?

Purpose over Perfection – it took toilet paper to teach me a lesson!

Perfection is not necessary because the Purpose is being fulfilled whichever way the paper rolls!

Ingram Announces Campaign for State Senate

Says jobs, education, healthcare are keys to believing in the Delta again

WEST MEMPHIS, ARKANSAS – State Representative Keith M. Ingram will announce his candidacy for the Arkansas State Senate Tuesday. Ingram, a lifelong resident of Crittenden County in East Arkansas, has committed his life to community service. As a businessman, citizen and public servant, he has worked diligently to improve the Arkansas Delta.

 “There is still much workto be done, but it’s time to believe in the Delta again,” Ingram said.

“It’s time to believe, with hard work and the right policies, we can create new jobs.  We can continue to makeimprovements to our educational system so that our children and grandchildren will have the tools they need to succeed.  I strongly believewe can also provide better healthcare.  And,it’stime to believe that it will take new leadership with a new way of thinking to accomplish these goals.”

Ingram is vice president of Razorback Concrete, a family business that has created jobs in 15 Arkansas cities.  As a small business owner, he has long dealt with the responsibility of having to sign the front of a check – not just the back. Ingram took his knowledge of balancing a business budget to the state capitol, where he has helped to balance the state’s budget, as well.

For more than 30 years, Ingram has devoted much of his time and energy to improving the lives of those who call the Arkansas Delta home. As a former mayor of West Memphis and in the state legislature, Ingram has earned a reputation for his ability to cut through government red tape to provide his constituents with better results.

During his service in the legislature, Ingram voted to cut the grocery tax twice and co-sponsored the first back-to-school sales tax holiday to help hardworking families keep more of their money.

 Ingram took the lead in creating and sponsoring the Keep Arkansas Competitive Act, which encourages economic development so more good-paying jobs would be available in the Delta. 

“Jobs, jobs, jobs is the battle cry that I hear from so many people throughout the Delta,” Ingram said. “That’s why I’ve kept my focus on finding ways to attract new jobs and new opportunities to communities across our region. As our next state senator, I’ll continue fighting toget the Delta back to work.”

In 2009, Ingram was a co-sponsor of legislation to create statewide trauma system.  In 2011, Ingram received the Statesmanship Award from the Arkansas Hospital Association in recognition of his efforts to secure additional funding for hospitals throughout Arkansas, which in some instances made the difference in some rural hospitals keeping their doors open.

As a strong advocate of improving education in Arkansas, Ingram co-sponsored legislation increasing funding amounts for public school children and helped to provide additional funding for teacher health insurance programs. As chairman of the Athletic Training Taskforce in Arkansas, Ingram also sponsored legislation to ensure public schools would have policies in place to adequately address student athlete safety.  He was recognized for his efforts by The National Athletic Trainer’s Association at its Youth Sports Summit.

 “From our Pre-K programs to our two- and four-year colleges, I believe students attending schools in the Delta are just as important, just as deserving and just as promising as those attending any school in our state,” Ingram said.

Ingram concluded,

“You deserve a dedicated advocate in the Arkansas Senate – a public servant who listens to your needs, helps cut through government red tape – someone who will be accountable to you. These are the reasons that I believe, with your help, we can continue our work and bring hope and opportunity back to the Delta again.”

City Channel 17, serving West Memphis with local, state and national government-sponsored or government-originated programming, has gone live on ustream.tv.  City Channel 17 also has a YouTube channel and is developing its own website.  Stay tuned!

Watch Live!

I have been breaking the rules and bucking the system practically all my life.

A high school teacher told me I needed to get married right after high school because I was not smart enough to take care of myself. I run my own business today. I take care of myself.

I have a debilitating health condition. The doctor told me to settle for an easy career. I disregarded her advice.  I wanted to be a dentist.

A college professor told me that girls could not understand organic chemistry. I got a perfect score on his final exam and earned an 'A' in every science course after that class. This same professor wanted me to continue my studies once he realized that I could, indeed understand chemistry.  They offered me a job after graduation, but I wanted to be a dentist. I did not want to work for him; I wanted to work for myself.

I attempted to obtain early acceptance to dental school even though my college adviser warned me that no postgraduate school would accept a student without a college degree. I was accepted to the University of Tennessee, College of Dentistry three hours short of a degree.  I am the only dentist I know without undergraduate degree.

In dental school, pregnant women were expected to drop out and join the following class after the birth of their baby.  Of course, I got pregnant, but I fought to stay in school and graduated on time with my class.

After graduation, I found that conventional lenders refused to finance a poor girl with no collateral. After exhausting every avenue, I opened the doors to my practice $260,000 in debt with only $100.00 in my checking account.

Most of my business advisers said I would go broke if I limited my practice to children and accepted Medicaid. Today, my office collects over one million dollars annually.

Against the better judgment of some of our friends, my husband and I fostered an illiterate, rowdy little seven-year old black girl whose mother had a drug problem. Today, she is at the top of her class, and works summers in my dental practice.

Most of the things I achieved in life were accomplished because someone at sometime told me it could not be done. Instead of giving in, I got my back up.

Have you ever been rejected or told you could not achieve something?  Did it motivate you or did it knock you on your back?  Do you question the rules or do you follow them blindly?  Let the people who discourage you propel you to achieve your goals.

This year, decide to break out of the conventional way of doing things and forge your own path.  Determine your  future. Be a rebel.