To give or not to give to the guy on the street

This is the part of the calendar – Christmas and the new year’s start – when people try to become better versions of themselves. So what does the better version of yourself do when you pass a person on the street holding a “Hungry and homeless” sign?

There’s not always an easy answer. Begging should not be encouraged. Some panhandlers could find gainful employment if they tried, and some will spend your spare change on booze or drugs. But what about those who wouldn’t? To dismiss every needy person as undeserving of help – that’s a moral shortcut. Sometimes people are down on their luck, or they’re mentally unhealthy, or, for whatever reason, they are suffering from their mistakes more than we are for ours. Many homeless people are veterans.

You can’t know who is whom when waiting at a traffic light. Do you withhold from five who need your help to avoid giving to five you shouldn’t help? OK, what if the ratio is 3:7? Is our better version a cheerful giver, or too smart to be suckered? And didn’t Jesus say something about “the least of these”? Continue reading →

The next University of Arkansas athletic director? Put it on the Fitz

Fitz HillI don’t know who the next Razorback football coach should be, but Dr. Fitz Hill should be the University of Arkansas’ next athletic director.

Hill until last year served as president of Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock. The historically black school, founded in 1884, was in a death spiral when Hill arrived there in February 2006. Its student body had dropped to less than 200. Its facilities were in disrepair, and its centerpiece, Old Main, was a decaying hunk of brick and mortar. It was only a matter of time before the school closed its doors.

That’s when Hill showed the difference one man with a vision, a dream and a lot of passion can make. He determined that ABC would be the college for students other colleges rejected. He recruited people off the street, offering them a chance for an education and redemption. The college’s enrollment grew well past 1,000. He inspired the support of heavy hitters such as former Alltel CEO Scott Ford while taking advantage of the government’s New Markets Tax Credit Program. As a result, Old Main was completely refurbished, and many other improvements were made on campus. Finally, Hill made ABC’s mission about much more than just granting degrees. The school housed a program for prison inmates, offered a GED program, and took over a crime-infested car wash down the street, using the proceeds to purchase nearby rundown homes.

Truly, ABC became not just a college, but an opportunity center. He simply would not accept that some people are fated to fail.  Continue reading →

Be thankful, because it’s not all bad

By Steve Brawner

© 2017 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Problems are not hard to find, but there’s also much good in the world if we look for it. In the spirit of this Thanksgiving season, let’s do that for a change.

In Iraq and Syria, ISIS is all but defeated. After taunting the world with their cruelty and barbarism, the jihadists have lost one city after another. When Iraqi and American-led coalition forces last week retook the city of Rahway, ISIS was left with only isolated rural areas in that country, and Syria is in a similar situation. Remember that black-clad spokesman who would threaten the world and then behead an unfortunate victim, all captured on video? He’s long dead, and the fighters that remain are now surrendering.

The defeat of ISIS is liberating Iraqis and Syrians from that horrible group. Meanwhile, millions worldwide are being freed from another type of bondage. In 1990, 1.9 billion people lived in extreme poverty on less than $1.25 a day, according to MDG Monitor, published by various United Nations agencies. In 2015, that number had been more than cut in half, to 836 million. That’s more than a billion fewer people, even as the world population has grown. In 1990, nearly half of all people in developing nations lived in extreme poverty. By 2015, that figure had been reduced to 14 percent.  Continue reading →

Fans’ too-high expectations mean Jeff Long gone

Jeff Long, War MemorialThe natives were restless. Someone’s head had to be chopped off. And Jeff Long’s was the nearest one.

Long, as you no doubt already know, was fired as University of Arkansas Athletic Director Wednesday. Thanks to his contract, he’ll be paid up to $4.625 million by the Razorback Foundation. The football coach, Bret Bielema, would be owed almost $5.9 million – or maybe more – if he were fired, which might happen by the time you read this.

They must print money up there. Continue reading →

Democrats’ DCCC targeting French Hill

French Hill, Maria

Rep. French Hill represents Arkansas’ 2nd District.

Voters in central Arkansas’ 2nd District might, possibly, maybe experience something that doesn’t happen that much in congressional races – a real, contested campaign. That’s because national Democrats are targeting that race to try to unseat the Republican congressman, Rep. French Hill.

Hill was re-elected easily in 2016 with 58 percent of the vote against an uncompetitive Democrat and a Libertarian. His was one of many Arkansas races where the outcome was never in doubt. Democrats didn’t even field candidates in the other House elections. President Trump was such a shoo-in that Hillary Clinton, Arkansas’ former first lady, didn’t campaign here.

This time, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the House Democrats’ campaign arm, has made the 2nd District one of its targeted races. It already has run radio ads attacking Hill. Continue reading →