Caught between Li

LITTLE ROCK — Entering Arkansas on Interstate 30,
crossing from Texas through the City of Texarkana, the
visitor is soon greeted by a massive billboard, at least 100

feet by 30 feet in size, urging tourists:

VISIT HOPE:

BIRTHPLACE OF BILL CLINTON — 36 MILES.

The imminent installation of
Bill Clinton as president may be
providing “Hope" to many

Americans, but the impoverished

State of Arkansas is hardly
reassuring.

: Clinton's entire political career

has been among the pampered

elite of this depressed society, the
past seven of which as its govern-

or:
In every measurable social

. Statistic — average income, mini-,

/. Mum wage, unemployment, pers
‘capita expenditures on health. /

‘education and welfare and similar.

items —- Arkansas ranks at the
bottom of the list of states.

in some categories, it is 50th,
trailing even similarly backward
West Virginia. .

/ During the presidential cam-
paign, both George Bush and

!

Ross Perot nervously urged voters

to take a hard look at Arkansas.
Unwilling to risk the wrath of

‘insulted Arkansas and southern

citizens, their remarks were

“tempered to the point of im-

potence.

It has been 2B years since |

'walke d the streets of this eapital
* city. It was a squalid mess in
1970,

it is far worse today.

Little Rock’s only previous
moment of infamy was 'in 1957
when the Arkansas government,
‘upheld by the State Supreme
“Court, refused admittance of

- black students to the city's Central
~ High School. |. a,

When the United States.

Supreme Court overruled the state.
“decision; the governor of Arkan-

‘sas defied the order. .”
President Dwight nD.

Gary

| Bannerman

OPEN LINES

Rock to discuss the economy.

All of them would have deen
housed in the modern Excelsior
Hotel, attached to the city’s con-
vention centre, or the refined, ele-
gant, Capital Hotel just across the
street.

The irony here is that these + -
hotels stand like a mirage amid'a
devastated central city area.

Within a radius cf 15 city
‘blocks — all directicas -:- every
storefront is vacant. and abandon-
ed. | hope the financial gurus
took a brief walk.

— self-control
“-—~ self-confidence

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Traditional Japanese Shoto-ryu Karate

~ develop concentration, awareness, discipline
— physical conditioning/eoordination ;

‘tle

itis as if some nuclear alert
forced evacuation of the
downtown core,

Such a ghost city is unprice-
dented in my experience. The
putrid smell of sulphur froma
nearby mill adds atmosphere to
the general depression,

Arkansians ‘will argue that

suburban malls have been a

nightmare for central business
districts everywhere, attempting to
convince themselves chat their sit-
uation is normal.

Oklahoma City is similar, But
the difference is that OKC has
rich suburban centres. Little

_ Rock’s remote neighborhoods are

also pathetic.

‘Bill Clinton has been boss here
for seven years.

The joke making the rounds in
the wake of the presidential elec-
tion concerned Mrs. Ross Perot.

Asked her reaction to the elec-
tion, she said she was relieved.
The puzaled interviewer asked
why.

“Because I didn't want to move
into a smaller house in the middle
of a black neighborhood."'

Bill and Hillary will find the °°
White House somewhat larger
than the governor’s mansion in
Little Rock, but the estate they
are abandoning is in sharp con-
trast (o the poverty of the city,
We poked our nose through the
fence...

The substantial house, a
mock-Gcorgian design with huge
white pillars, sits overlooking.‘
private grounds that could and

Sunday, January 10, 1993 - North Shore News ~ 9

perhaps should serve as a public
park.

Neighboring streets give evi-
dence of the recent cacitement.
One of these, adjacent to the
mansion, has been closed to traf-
fie. .

A line of rented vans, each with
a window sign stating “Staff,”
were parked awaiting a call to du-
ty. Security people were casually -
milling about the environs.

eet

Fortunes are spent around the
world on economic think-tanks
and research institutions. It isa
puzzling aberration of human

“nature. A philosopher once
remarked: ‘100% of economists

are wrong 90% of the time.”

The economic problems and
solutions in any society are self-
evident. Think-tanks are rarely
necessary,

In Canada we have both
massive public debt und taxation
at saturation levels, There is an
unwillingness to impose the ob-
vious solutions, Since no more tax
reventic is possible, we must
severely curtail the growth of
social programs and the size of
government.

‘The problem in the United
States {s substantially different.

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tock and a hard place

Taxation policies ensure vast pools
of wealth in the hands of private
citizens,

Every city has a rich ghetto and
a poor ghetto. These are the twin
obscenities of modern America:
conspicuous consumption on the :
one hand, and a violent war zone
on the other. Onc begets the
other.

America at its best sets stand-
ards for the world. This past
week, we have had the best in
youthful, dynamic Kansas City
and in the stately Texes capital,
Austin,

But the mission we hope Bill :
Clinton accepts can best be seen in’

the downtown core of the city he

is escaping.

Little Rock should be a lesson
to everyone. My guess is that the
economic heavyweights who met’:
with Clinton before Christmas.
went outdoors only en route to

Modern society is directed by © |
people who live in 3 windowless,
mink- lined ¢ cocoon. :

For more Information, pleas se call | ;
|: The North Shore's only fail *
-Sarvice investment firm’

1 roa =u
4 . . an .

«Eisenhower sent in the military. A

-smaill group of black teenagers i; — self-defense. a : "RBC
was escorted by soidiers right inio |. atfiiated with Sport BC, Sport Canada, Karate BC, : DOMINION
“their classrooins, ~~ and the National Karste Association. a SECURITIES .

c's The governor capitulated and
«the crisis passed. , ‘
These thoughts were in my |

financial heavyweights to Little

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