During the conference, a full-slate of informative sessions were attended by members of the AMA who represented most of the state’s museums, both large and small, with the theme of “Back to Basics.” The mission of the Association is to recognize and encourage outstanding work within the Arkansas museum community. This year’s conference ended with a festive Awards Banquet, held in the Cooper Center.

Twyla Gill Wright, curator of Old Independence Regional Museum, sat enjoying the beef wellington on her plate when the awards ceremony began. A number of Arkansas museums had been nominated for excellence in several categories. Wright was hoping that Old Independence would win at least an honorable mention for its nominated exhibit. “It was like a small academy award night, with each category’s winner presented with a plaque,” Wright said. “The exhibit award was the culmination of the evening, and I crossed my fingers. But as several other museums received their honorable mentions, my heart sank. It was stiff competition. And then, to my amazement, they announced the winner of the Exhibit of the Year: Old Independence Regional Museum!”

Wright explained that the museum had deliberately planned this exhibit to be integrated in several dimensions. It connects to its rural heritage, connects family members to one another, and connects all programming to the exhibit during its two-year existence. It is directly linked to the museum’s mission.

This winning exhibit was the creation of a team of people committed to the museum. Nelson Barnett donated his time and artistic eye as co-curator of the exhibit, working with Wright. He stated, “It was exciting to be asked to help with the exhibit. It was a group effort and taught me some history, plus I got an extra kick of nostalgia as I remembered the days when I did window displays at Barnett Brothers. Winning the state award just topped off the whole experience!”

The museum’s 12-member Collections/Exhibits/Program Committee generated ideas and loaned items for the exhibit. They assisted the curator in checking for historical accuracy by taking oral interviews, using the museum’s computerized collections management system data, and searching through the 12 counties’ published historical journals, as needed. The curator checked additional facts with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

Linda Wann, museum volunteer, assisted in retrieving artifacts from the museum’s storage and helped to arrange them. Kay Longenbach scouted for artifacts to borrow and then brought them in, plus she baked a fake pie to be used as part of the exhibit. Amanda Nikkel dyed fabric for one display, and Ann Rhodes loaned her precious otter jacket. Anne Moore brought in corn stalks and dry corn on the cob to be shelled by museum visitors, and loaned two tables. Bill Hoskins made homemade pokeberry ink. Dennis Wright built a cabinet for animal sounds and helped in many other ways.

Most of the objects on exhibit are from the museum’s collections. Other items are on loan from local residents who were eager to share their treasures. Tony’s Taxidermy loaned several of his animals for display.

“We hope that even more people in our region will come to see this award-winning exhibit, participate in its hands-on activities, and enjoy what we have brought to life,” Wright said. Old Independence serves a 12-county area: Baxter, Cleburne, Fulton, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Marion, Poinsett, Sharp, Stone, White, and Woodruff. Parts of these present-day counties comprised the original Independence County in 1820s Arkansas territory.

Don Blakley and Marvin Deckard weighed in 13.33 lbs on day one with seven fish. The team was last to weigh in on day two and brought in 9.89 lbs for a two day total of 23.22 lbs. Blakley and Deckard won the 2010 Ultimate Challenge Championship and earned $6000.00.

Second place went to Kent Driscoll and John Harrison. The BnM pro staff team weighed in 9.33 lbs on day one. On day two, they weighed in 9.10 lbs for a final total of 18.43 lbs.

The largest fish was won by Todd Horsley and Mike Simmons. The fish weighed 3.08 lbs and is big fish of the year at this time. They earned $560.00 for big fish. Second big fish was 2.94 lbs. caught by Ryan and Howard German.

The tournament was a first for this area and was a huge success. Over 500 spectators attended the weigh in for the championship, which was held at the Camp Robinson Special Use Area Pavilion.

Kids Outdoors Fishing Rodeo

On Saturday, a Kids Fishing Rodeo was held in conjunction with the Crappie Masters Ultimate Challenge. The Fishing Rodeo had over 200 participants ages 15 and under.

Winners were chosen in three age categories: 1 – 7, 8 – 12 and 13 – 15. One participant was chosen to receive a free entry into an upcoming fishing tournament.

Each participant received a goody bag with items from the following businesses:

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
Bass Pro Shops
Chili’s Bar & Grill
Country Inn and Suites
Crappie Masters
First Security Bank
Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites
McDonald’s
Sonic Drive-In
T.G.I. Friday’s
Wings to Go

Read more about how Bill profited from outsourcing jobs to India and his involvement in shady drug deals and settled lawsuits here and here.   

“Bill said he protected Social Security from Republican privatization schemes,” Patterson said.  “He can’t take credit in his role as a Washington bureaucrat, while at the same time denying culpability of his involvement with corporations that outsourced jobs and hid facts from the public about the effectiveness of their prescription drugs.” 
 
Read more about Senator Lincoln’s record taking action in the United States Senate against privatization efforts, as compared to the rallies Bill attended here. 

“While every Senate candidate will be in Jonesboro Thursday night for a candidate forum, Bill is hosting a fund raiser, ducking another opportunity to answer questions and face voters,” Patterson said.  “He continues to avoid transparency about what he promised unions for their support and he’s ducking out on opportunities to make his views known.” 

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Bill Halter’s Record “Protecting” Social Security. 

Halter Spokesman Couldn’t Provide Details on Halter’s Supposed Fight Against Privatization.  “Campaign spokesman Bud Jackson said that Halter, an administrator at Social Security from 1999-2001, traveled throughout the country opposing privatization but didn’t have details.” [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 3/7/2010] 

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Found Only Four Instances Of Halter Holding Events to Fight Privatization. “A search of news articles reveals: In April 2005, in Iowa City, Iowa, Halter warned against Bush’s plan.  In October 2002, he appeared at a news conference with Arkansas Attorney General Mark Pryor, Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate at the time, to oppose privatization. (Pryor won that Senate race and is supporting Lincoln.) The same month, Halter appeared at a similar news conference with a Democratic Senate candidate in North Carolina.  In October 2000, in an interview with the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News, Halter warned of the potential of senior citizens losing their retirement savings through investment losses and the government having to bail them out.” [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 3/7/2010] 

While Bill Halter attended rallies, Senator Lincoln took action in the United States Senate against privatizing Social Security. 

2007: Lincoln Voted Against “First Step Toward Social Security Privatization.” In 2007, Lincoln voted against an amendment “to stop the practice of Social Security surpluses being spent as part of the federal budget’s general funds.  Although the amendment to S Con Res 21 did not specify how the surpluses would be invested, critics called it the first step toward social security privatization.” [Houston Chronicle, 3/25/2007; Senate Vote #89, 3/22/2007] 

2006: Lincoln Voted Against Raiding Social Security To Create Risky Private Accounts.  In 2006, Lincoln voted against a proposal to shift Social Security’s annual surpluses into a reserve account intended to be turned into risky private accounts.  The amendment would have created the fund “only after the Senate produced legislation allowing younger workers to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal investment accounts.” [Senate Vote #68, 3/16/2006; Roll Call, 3/20/2006] 

As President Bush Prepared to Take His Privatization Plan to the People of Arkansas, Lincoln Stood in Opposition.  Lincoln said of President Bush’s plan to divert tax money into personal accounts, “I’m opposed to what the president presumably wants to do.  It puts in jeopardy a program that is vital to the people of Arkansas and is misleading to the young people about what they’re going to end up with.” [New York Times, 2/1/2005] 

Lincoln Argued That Working Arkansans Would Disproportionately Bear the Risk of Privatizing Social Security. During a Democratic Policy Committee Hearing on President Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security, Sen. Lincoln noted, “50 percent of Arkansans have an adjusted gross income of less than $25,000, and 80 percent of them have an adjusted gross income of less than $50,000…They don’t have the time nor the resources to spend towards investigating and figuring out and becoming economists to invest those dollars…They’re the ones that are going to be subjected to more risk, and they’re the ones that need it the least, in terms of risk.” [Hearing of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, 5/13/2005] 

Lincoln Clearly Outlined Her Opposition to Social Security Privatization. In a statement, Sen. Lincoln said, “We should not cut funding designated to Social Security by diverting trillions of dollars away from the trust fund.” In addition, “Lincoln said there was no chance of her changing her mind.” [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 4/27/2005] 

Lincoln Questioned the Impact of Social Security Privatization on Rural Americans. During a Senate Finance Committee Hearing in 2005, Sen. Lincoln noted, “we know that workers living in rural areas such as my state are more likely to be poor, and they are less likely to be able to contribute to personal savings accounts…I guess my question would be, how will private accounts impact rural Americans? I mean, Americans who are most likely not to have enough savings to make up for any reductions in their Social Security benefit, and those who are least likely to be capable of paying the debt off that much of is going to be created from these accounts, private accounts that the president’s proposing?” [Senate Finance Committee Hearing, 4/26/2005] 

Lincoln Spoke to Arkansans About Her Opposition to Bush’s Social Security Plan. In 2005, as Bush toured the country touting his Social Security privatization plan, Senator Lincoln “used a public forum hosted by the University of Arkansas’ business school…to criticize President Bush’s plan to restructure Social Security.”  She said, “I don’t believe that privatizing Social Security is the answer…If you take a portion of these payroll taxes that are being paid into the Social Security system and put that into the private marketplace, you’re taking money from your grandmother’s Social Security benefit.” [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 3/30/2005] 

Lincoln Praised Arkansas Legislators for Standing Against Privatization of Social Security. In 2005, Sen. Lincoln commended the Arkansas State House of Representatives “for sending a clear message of opposition to the President’s efforts to privatize Social Security.” In a statement, she said, I thank them for sending the clear message to the people they represent that they will not support any efforts to dismantle or privatize our nation’s Social Security system, Senator Lincoln said. I’m proud of this effort by our state House, and I stand with them in opposing any diversion of payroll taxes designated for the Social Security system to create private accounts.” [Lincoln Press Release, 3/3/2005] 

On Anniversary of Social Security, Lincoln Toured Cities in Arkansas to Promote Opposition to Privatization. On the 70^th anniversary of Social Security in 2005, Sen. Lincoln visited four cities in Arkansas where “she criticized President Bush’s plan to partly privatize the pension program…Meaningful reforms to shore up the federal entitlement program won’t advance in Congress until privatization is off the table, Lincoln said.” [Associated Press, 8/2/2005] 

Lincoln Co-Authored Letter to President Bush Expressing Concern Over Privatization Plan. In 2005, Sen. Lincoln, along with 8 other Democratic Women Senators, authored a letter to President Bush expressing “their deep concern over news reports outlining President Bush’s intention to include survivor benefit cuts in his Social Security privatization plan.” [Senator Patty Murray Press Release, 5/12/2005]

Jim Holt added, “Does Senator Baker think Barbara Boxer and John Kerry are friends of the conservative cause.?” In the Senate, Barbara Boxer of California and John Kerry of Massachusetts have proposed another highly controversial climate change bill that Washington Republicans are heatedly fighting.

Boxer, the chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is quoted as saying about the Boxer-Kerry bill, “We know clean energy is the ticket to strong, sustainable economic growth.” John Kerry also said, “This is really about America’s security. It’s about our economic security, our energy security and our national security.” 3

The “climate change” language used by Boxer and Kerry is used in Baker’s SCR12 Resolution in the following excerpts from the bill.

• [T]he issue of global climate change presents a challenge to the welfare and economy of current and future generations in Arkansas and around the world.
• [A]ny approach to address the issue of global climate change should encourage a transition toward a sustainable economy.
• [T]he United States consumes a disproportionate share of the world’s energy supply mutual reductions in greenhouse gases.
• [M]utual reductions in greenhouse gas emissions would be economically beneficial to all states and countries.
• [T]he Arkansas Governor’s Commission on Global Warming has recognized the role of national legislation and coordination in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
• [T]he State of Arkansas and the Arkansas General Assembly should recognize and promote the foregoing policy objectives on a state level.” 4

Contrary to Boxer and Kerry’s “economic growth and security,” Obama, himself said of his climate change, global warming agenda, “Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Because I’m capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it…they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.” 5

According to CBS news, the cost of Obama’s cap and trade will cost American households from $1,761 to $3,100 a year. Jim Holt asks, “How can Senator Baker defend this SCR 12 Resolution on climate change, based on unproven science, as a ‘conservative cause’, and how can skyrocketing electricity costs and a “national tax” on energy benefit Arkansans?” 6 & 7

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1.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/27/us/politics/27climate.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print
“House Passes Bill to Address Threat of Climate Change,” June 27, 2009 Also see # 4 for link to the Resolution Baker co-sponsored.

2. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/27/us/politics/27climate.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print
“House Passes Bill to Address Threat of Climate Change”

3. http://dirt.asla.org/2009/09/30/senators-boxer-kerry-release-ambitious-climate-change-bill/ Connecting the Built and Natural Environments, Senators Boxer, Kerry Release Ambitious Climate Change Bill

4. http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2009/R/Bills/SCR12.pdf
Text of SCR12, 2009 co-sponsored by Gilbert Baker, passed March 30, 2009 and signed by Governor on March 31, 2009.

5. http://eddriscoll.com/archives/014260.php “Obama Tells SF Chronicle He Will Bankrupt Coal Industry”

6. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504383_162-5314040-504383.html “Obama Admin: Cap And Trade Could Cost Families $1,761 A Year” This article said the price would be equivalent to hiking income taxes by about 15%.

7. http://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2009/11/21/hackers-leak-e-mails-stoke-climate-debate.html Hackers Leak E-mails, Stoke Climate Debate November 21, 2009 and http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=9219169 UK Climate Scientists To Temporarily Step Down

“I am supporting Chad because he helped me work on two Farm Bills and to get new programs started at our local colleges that help train workers and get them back to work,” Berry added. “He has fought to make prescription drugs more affordable and to protect Social Security from privatization. He is the next generation who will fight for the Greatest Generation.”

“I am honored to earn the Congressman’s endorsement,” said Causey. “No one knows the people of this district better and no one has helped them in Congress more than Marion Berry has.”

Causey and Berry together toured the district Wednesday, stopping in Stuttgart, Lonoke and West Memphis before concluding the day in Jonesboro.

Causey was born and raised in Jonesboro. He graduated from Jonesboro High School, where his mother, Gussi Causey, is a guidance counselor. He earned a law degree from Catholic University of America at night, while working full-time for Congressman Marion Berry. Causey, a Methodist, is engaged to fiancé Meredith McNeil, a native of Newport.