Understanding the issues
Presently, Arkansans face two important issues: The private option and Common Core.
Maylon Rice's column last week failed to explain, as no one does, the circumstances which prompted a group of Arkansas legislators to come up with the ingenious private option plan. Dogmatic opponents of the plan would have Arkansans believe their legislature has fully signed on to Obamacare and by accepting huge amounts of government money has given poor people health insurance coverage which will bankrupt the state.
Actually, what Obamacare did was increase income eligibility for Medicaid. Consequently, Arkansas faced adding around 250,000 working poor to the Medicaid rolls, which would have cost the state untold millions for this highly abused, poorly regulated program.
Arkansas legislators devised the private option and secured approval from Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., for those people to secure regular health insurance with premiums paid from Medicaid funds -- putting their health care under the regulations and oversight of insurance companies.
Federal Medicaid funds are fully paying the premiums for three years, then the state will ultimately be required to pay 10 percent of the premium cost -- the same percentage we must pay for health care under Medicaid. Several times it has been reported that the cost of the premiums continues to go down. Will that cost be more than irresponsible people's doctor and hospital care through Medicaid, or the bankruptcy of small hospitals from uncompensated care?
The same closed-minded attitude applies to Common Core. First, the program does not dictate the curriculum -- the school district must build a curriculum for math and language arts which instills the ability for students to meet Common Core standards. The Governor's Council on Common Core Review heard very positive comments from educators at a recent forum in Bentonville. Also, the head of curriculum for Siloam Springs schools speaks highly of the program. Check Google for the pitiful standing of American education among industrialized nations, and you should realize America can't compete in the modern world with the level of ignorance that now prevails among too many of our young people.
Extortion
On April 20, 2015, I presented the Watts (Okla.) town clerk with a FOI request for information about the number of traffic tickets written last year and the amount of revenue generated by it.
On May 20, 2015, I received a letter from town attorney Ralph Keen. It informed me that I may pick up the information I requested any time I am willing to pay $188.25 for research and compilation. They say it took them 12 hours to get it all together. They must be running one of the old 386 computers. Or maybe they keep their records on parchment scrolls. Then again, the squirrels in the town park may have been delegated the task of keeping track of town money by piling acorns and counting them out. Who knows.
I consider $188.25 extortion in light of the following Oklahoma Statute: "In no case shall a search fee be charged when the release of said documents is in the public interest, including, but not limited to, release to the news media, scholars, authors and taxpayers seeking to determine whether those entrusted with the affairs of the government are honestly, faithfully, and competently performing their duties as public servants." OKLA. STAT. tit. 51, § 24A.5(3)
Oklahoma has a statute prohibiting towns from generating more than half their income from traffic fines. I am a taxpayer seeking to find out if Watts falls into this category.
Mr. Keen stated, "In my opinion, your open records requests appears to be a gratuitous attempt to single out and disparage legitimate law enforcement activities in the Town of Watts. I cite your recent letter to the editor in the Herald-Leader in support of this opinion." He further stated "I respectfully disagree that your records request is in the public interest."
I think he misjudges the public interest because I have received many comments from people on this subject. Reasonable people think four police cars in a town of 300 is overkill.
Mr. Keen is himself responsible for my "gratuitous, disparaging," first letter to the editor. If he had been forthcoming and given me the information in a timely manner I would not have become frustrated and written to the editor.
He certainly bears responsibility for this letter for trying to extort nearly 200 dollars from my tight Little fists (pun intended).
Editorial on 05/27/2015