10/27/08
This is the final week, and no one could be happier or more satisfied at the way this campaign for the people has ran. It has been a lot of hard work, dedication, and determination from myself and many others. I have spent many hours, and will continue to so so, answering the phone calls, emails, and general in-person questions of all who have asked. I believe that the People and I will come out victorius next week, but we still have a long way to go. I am asking all my friends to call their friends and ask them to support me the way I have supported you in your many tasks and problems. I am very honored at the calls and emails of support of my Neighbor4Neighbor and my monthly Town Hall meeting plans,and look forward to many more original and submitted ideas by you, the public, for making Benton a better place to live, and a better neighbor to our friends that surround us.

I am so very proud of the way the people of Silica Heights, Northlake, Northshore, and Salem banded together for a common cause, and fought the good fight. No matter the outcome in November, I always thought that I was on the right side, and will continue to be.

The future can only be brighter with this new wave that I see comin. Its not a train such as some would say, but a wave that is going to crash down on some, because every day you should work hard for the people you represent, and some may have forgotten who THEY work for. I once again ask for your and your friends vote and support all this week in early voting and on November 4th, and promise you a bright and new beginning in Ward 5 Position 2.

Thank You, Scott Hunter

Name: james. I am: For Annexation. I am in: Bryant.

Comments: I really don't understand all the excitement everyone is doing over being annexed. First, yes there is problems in the city of bryant that needs to be fixed. Second, everyone complains that your taxes are going to go up. well thats probably true also. but do you know that right now your not paying for fire and medical protection. The citizens of bryant are. When springhill and collegeville cannot respond to you call for help, guess who responds. Bryant Fire Department. Having a full time department with insurance rating of a 3 will save you money in the future. Just think how we as tax payers for this city feels when our department goes and helps you when your in need for nothing out of your pockets. I think its great that they do this, but eveyone who is against being annexed should take a minute and realize that it just might make sense if you can think outside the box instead of for yourselfs.

10/28/08
James,

My number one reason for not wanting to be annexed is that we will lose our freedom of choice for how we use our property. We will be under the control of a zoning commission, mayor, and city council. They will be telling us how to conduct our business. Our forefathers came to this country many decades ago to have freedom of choice of many parts of their lives, and we choose to continue to have a small amount of control over our lives.

Arlene Porter

James

You do not care that your taxes will go up and city services suffer if your city expands to double its present size? I think we have taken more than a minute to think about this, and we are thinking of what is best for everyone involved including city residents like you.

We are not the free loaders you think we are. Actually we do pay for fire and rescue service -- it is a condition of having having home insurance. It is true that the Bryant Fire Department has mutual aid agreements with the surrounding fire departments. This includes paid and volunteer fire departments. Mutual aid works both ways. Volunteer fire departments are ready to aid paid fire departments when they need extra help just as paid fire departments are ready to aid volunteer fire departments.

"A Benton spokesman has been quoted as saying that their Fire Department responds to most Salem Fire Department calls during the day -- 30 this year. At a community meeting on July 5th, Assistant Salem Fire Chief, Mike Moravec, said that figure did not sound correct." We figured out later that out of 320 incidents in the Salem area as of August, the Benton Fire Department actually responded to 3 daytime fires in the Salem Fire area -- less than 1% of all calls.

Source: http://arnet.pair.com/bentonannex/salemfire.htm

And you are correct that the Bryant Fire Department also has a mutual aid agreement with Salem and other fire departments. That does not mean that they respond to many of the incidents in neighboring areas.

I do not have figures on Springhill and Collegeville, but I would not be surprised if the same misperception exists in those areas.

I know that some people are not seeing the whole picture, and think that extra income from the annexation areas will help the city. The problem is, that extra income from rural areas will not be nearly enough to pay for the extra services that the city will have to provide to those areas.

Will our insurance rates go down? Only if the city builds fire stations and provides equipment and staffs. Where is all the money going to come from to pay for this? It is likely that some of it will come out of your pocket. Or what if the city builds another fire station or two but cannot afford to buy enough additional fire trucks and hire enough firemen? That means existing fire trucks and firemen will have to be spread out to cover twice the area they are covering now. If that happens, your fire protection will go down and your insurance rates will go up.

Charles Young

10/29/08
charles and Arlene:

I am not one to get involved in things like this, so first i appreciate your stand on this issue. First, concerning our forefathers and control over how we lives our lives and being less controled. I think your a little out of touch. I agree with you about being able to do what we want with our properties, but really its no longer what we want and more like coming to terms that there is a chance to become apart of a city. living in your areas i know its great to be able to have less restrictions, but are you aware that more and more developers are requesting to become apart of the city. With those request come annexation, with annexation comes islands, when islands are made the cities automatically annex it in. Saline county is becomming larger and larger every day, so should the cities. We need to grow and try to think outside the box of a small town concept and look to the future of what the city can accomplish. Your not going to agree with me and that is ok, but the opportunity to grow into a larger city helps everyone, including you in the long run even if now you don't think so. I don't like taxes like everyone, but i feel that in order to grow we all need to do our parts even if that means raising taxes. thats just part of living in america that you and i have to get use to. I hate it just like you. About your concerns of mutual aid agreements. I know a little about it, but i have a close friend that works for the city. Iknow you pay your dues for protection like everyone else and i was not meaning to say that your freeloaders by no means. During the day, volunteers are few and few inbetween. I give it to them, they do it out of there hearts and i commend them. what happens when they are not there. if you have an emergency you want them there fast. I understand that it can take up to 10 minutes or more and its documented, to respond to an emergency or fire. I don't mean arriving, but just getting to the station and picking up a fire truck. you still don't know how many folks is comming. Mutual aid is great and has its positives. Yes i believe byant has mutual aid with other cities and departments. but why would you want to put your family at risk of loosing everything they have and possibly them. I guess what i am trying to say is out of everything with annexation, public safety should be on the top of your priority list, not thinking we don't what city folks telling us what to do. I do know that if you were to get the figures from bryant, that you would become more aware of just how many responses the department goes to. it amazed me. That really isn't a big deal. We have great men and women and it doesnt matter where the call is they do it with pride. Charles, you got me on where the extra income will go, thats a great question. I would hope that they put a plan together and begin the infrastructure. It is true that your insurance rating will go to a 3. I also understand that the fire department has i believe 2 years to get stations and personnal up to par. don't hold me to that That is just what i was told. Maybe it would have been a good idea to find out these thing before making a decision. One other thing, my wifes family was affected by the past flooding and it destroyed parts of there home. It made me angery that the city didnt' do more than what they should have done. but then i realized that it wasn't the cities responsibility to all of it. the developers and the contractors of the areas should be the ones to blame. again there should have been more policing on what and where they should build and potential of problems. but since this i feel that the city has bent over backwards for my family and others to protect there properties. again, don't agree with everything being done, but atleast they have tried. so, yes we both have our differences but i hope that you will understand some of what is being said and take it for what its worth.

respectfully, james

10/30/08
James,

Correction: Arkansas recently (within about 2 years) changed the way the volunteer fire department is funded. It is now part of our property tax. Before, if we did not pay, we had no home insurance. Now if we do not pay, our property is auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Another point about free loading county residents: Every time we shop at Target, Walmart, and other places in Bryant, we pay 3% sales tax to Bryant. We get less benefits from that than city residents receive, so if anyone is free loading, it is city residents. However, we are not complaining about that. I am just pointing out that we are not free loading.

Fire ratings are based on distance to a fire hydrant and fire station -- not whether the house is in the city or county.

It seems that some people do not "take a minute" to read the web pages, so they assume that we are against growth and all annexation. We actually have a section about how Conway is an example of good growth. We are not against that kind of growth and annexation.

We are against the city doubling in geographic size. Bryant is trying to annex over 11,000 acres. I do not believe that is a wise move considering that it is mostly rural area, the city will not be able to afford to provide services to those areas, and the people in those areas do not want to be annexed. Take a minute to consider what has happened in previous smaller annexations. One of the commenters here said that his property was annexed over 20 years ago, and he still does not have city sewer service. So, what the city promised is not what they delivered. If that is true for previous smaller annexations, then why would we believe that it will be any different for these huge annexations?

Your wife's family has experienced flooding because the city grew too fast, and they do not have the money to fix the drainage problems. To me that says that maybe the city needs to slow down and make sure that they have the money to deal with growth. It does not seem wise to start something that you do not have the money to finish or do right.

If the city would limit annexations to voluntary annexations of city type areas where there is high population density, then taxes would not need to be raised. There would be enough people to pay for the services in their area. It is generous of you to be willing to pay more taxes, but not everyone agrees with you on that.

Charles Young

James,

I appreciate your intentions in trying to educate those of us who may be ignorant of the facts, but we have had experience decades ago when people could choose to join the Salem Fire Dept. service. A neighbor's house caught fire, and they were not paid members, nor were they at home. The neighbors took it on themselves to break into their house and save it. None of them were firefighters or family of the victims - just neighbors. That is the old school neighborly way that things were done when people lived by the higher law rather than ordinances. That took care of the problem of no membership as well as slow response and doing a good deed for the day all in one.

In our home we have a problem also with a person who is hypersensitive to fumes such as perfumed laundry products and lighter fluid such as is used in charcoal grills. Have you ever smelled all the caustic odors from a closely developed subdivision as you drive through? We would have to move away if a subdivision were developed around us, anyway - again, out of a closely developed community. You see, we can't stay well and live in a city. It risks our family's health.

Arlene Porter