Last week my wife and I were in Eureka Springs, Ark., for the annual Rust Communications publishers' retreat. It was an opportunity to learn a few things.

We first started making this trip six years ago. At that time once you got past Paragould the road was almost all a two-lane highway. The exception being a stretch around the Mountain Home and Cherokee Village areas. The Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department has done a good job of upgrading U.S. Highway 412 which runs across northern Arkansas after it leaves the Bootheel.

The road isn't all four-lane, but what isn't has a lot of passing lanes on the hills and a new bypass around Hardy and Mountain Home provide some relief from bottlenecks.

ASHTD, they're probably working on some sort of fancy acronym like MoDot, is working feverishly on both sides of Paragould. Highway 412 will be a four-lane road all the way through Greene County soon. Then, perhaps, we can open up the bridge at the stateline.

Just another reminder since we've already had a story on this, but MoDot will be changing over the lanes on 412 east of town sometime within the next couple of weeks.

Last week, Jan McElwrath and I met with MoDot officials about planning a ceremony of some sort for this fall when the entire project between Kennett and Interstate 55 is open to traffic on all four lanes. MoDot is working with the chamber pretty well and is agreeable to just about anything that doesn't create a safety problem. There will be more details coming out later.

Resident Engineer Brian Holt has all but guaranteed good weather for the construction work yet to be done as well as the weather for whenever we plan the ceremony. Well, maybe guarantee is a little strong for what he said, but when you're as anxious as we are to see this project completed, "hope" and "guarantee" sound a lot alike.

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Eyes wide shut

I just read where the state Democratic Party has decided to file a suit in opposition to the new state law requiring a photo identification in order to vote. The suit was filed in Cole County, which I thought was interesting because it would have made more sense to me had it been filed in St. Louis. But, since Cole County is home to the state capitol issues challenging state government are filed in the capitol city.

Another interesting note is that the attorney who filed the suit on behalf of several elderly and disabled residents is Bragg City's own Don Downing. Don, known for his golfing ability as well as his legal talent, was once a deputy attorney general under current AG Jay Nixon. Downing now practices law in St. Louis and presumably one of his clients is the state Democratic Party.

I've got to admit the lawsuit doesn't surprise me a bit, although the idea of a local boy leading the charge to overturn the law is disappointing.

It was only six short years ago that voters in St. Louis not only turned over in their graves, but also got up and went to the polls to cast a vote. I think in a couple of cases those voters even took their pet along for a twisted lesson in civic responsibility.

The state is offering free voter IDs to anyone who does not already have a photo ID. The lawsuit concedes that point, but says it may cost up to $15 for a supporting document, such as a birth certificate, to obtain the free ID.

Sounds like a stretch to me for the Democrats to protect a portion of their base.

Someone who has a little insight into such matters put the question to me in this manner:

"Which is greater, a photo ID to protect the voting franchise or the inconvenience and $15 some people might have to pay to acquire a photo ID?"

I think the Democrats are all up in arms about nothing and probably shouldn't have even bothered filing suit. They can still use the undead to cast votes.

Of course the photo ID will probably show someone with their eyes shut, but hey, we've all taken bad photographs.

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A long winter

We're told that one sign of a long, cold winter is how much squirrels store up during the fall. If that be the case, one story which came my way last week may be a warning of bad things to come this winter.

David Lynn related a story J.C. Staggs told him about a round of golf last Saturday. The group was playing hole number 12 when someone in the group hit an errant shot into the trees.

Well that was the first surprise, because I know that bunch and can't imagine any of them hitting a ball into the trees.

The entire foursome goes over to help their fellow duffer find the ball. They looked and looked to no avail. After several minutes they noticed a noise coming from above. They looked up and saw a furry little squirrel gnawing away, but not on a nut.

The squirrel was doing its best to devour the golf ball.

They threw something up in the tree to frighten the rodent and it dropped the ball. According to the story, a good portion of the cover was eaten away.

Golfers are sticklers for rules. It's part of what makes the game a gentleman's game. I know, but that's what I'm told.

The rules require a player to finish the hole with the same ball he tees off with. What I don't know is whether or not J.C. allowed his playing partner to replace the partially eaten ball or make him play out the hole.