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Home My WebLink AboutHDC1993-005 Newspaper Articale 05/09/1994Arkansas Democrat 76(razette 1j - a • a. V"B"CZ LETTERS �ropertyrights seized iii-historic, district Everyone thinks these battles in the Iiistoric district of Little Rock are to ave history. They are not. These bat- es are over property rights. There have been calls to seize Kramer School from one private citi- zen and give it to other private citizens through a non-profit organization. It is clear which property right is under at- t+a�t� ' now. W., . i preserving the monuments of his- tory, we are destroying the very princi- �Ies and freedoms which enabled our predecessors to build these monu- l�ients. We are determined to keep the tangible and forget the lessons. There are other ways to preserve his- toric structures. The National Historic ]'reservation Society mounts campaigns tp raise funds. No such campaigns have been conducted by the preservationists in Little Rock for Kramer School or our troperty. The city's response to the impossi- ble decisions by the Historic District Commission is an iron fist for owners In the form of an enhanced mainte- nance ordinance due to be passed by the Board of Directors on May 17. If properly enforced, this ordinance puts the city's foot inside our homes. This has internal requirements and our domes can be inspected any time at any- one's request. Most property rights have already been seized in the historic district. These are dangerous precedents. If these rights can be seized for historic purposes today, tomorrow these and others can be seized for any purpose. Then no one's property is safe. ---jaw is much like taking medicine — E0ittle can work wonders, too much can ki•>ll.:. ALISON PATTON ,.,,: Little Rock Public demands results A Second Opinion The art of skirting the issues "They should find a good book to matic, is not an assault weapon until read," Mr. Clinton told the audi- a person dubs it so by using it in a erce, referring to those who take crime. target practice with semi -automat- Can't the same nefarious title is rifles. properly be conveyed upon an oth- My initial reaction to the sound erwise harmless letter opener if it is bite I'd just heard was one of disbe- used improperly? lief. Words do mean things, and obvi- But later I realized that such ously some of our leaders who have pearls can commonly be expected mastered their power think nothing from someone who hasn't yet gradu- about fooling us if it can help them to ated from jockeys to boxers. their goals. Inept comments made by influen- Mr. Legislator, don't cheat us by tial people during a serious dialogue skirting the real issue. and deceptive representations made I know that despite the NRA's by powerful policymakers have me powerful lobby it will still be easier troubled. to control so-called assault weapons I watched the hearings held by the than to control criminals, but take congressional committee studying note: Assault weapons don't create the merits of a ban on the sale and crime, crime creates assault possession of so -classified assault weapons. weapons. I was surprised at the hostility many of the committee members showed toward the witnesses they'd invited to recount their stories of per- sonal tragedy and to proffer their opinions. It all seemed staged. Further, the members kept conveying qualities upon these firearms which they can't inherently possess. The words "assault" and "weapon" are freely tossed about in the current discussion. In my view, a semi -automatic ri- fle, regardless of how vicious it may look, or even one that's fully auto- GREG PETERS Jacksonville in }^vac hir immiarnnfc incfand nffn,inrr lifer Vr,c RTOO rinac nnnl,, hn�n Thn Playing t When all el Even if you can't respect Bill Cli ton for anything else, you have admire his audacity. Under attack around the world f .perceived vacillating on internation issues, Clinton turned to the device th hasresuscitated his public image eve time,he has gotten into trouble over d mestic policy. He held an internation town meeting. Cable News Netwo televised it around the world. The agenda developed just the way does when Clinton uses the town me( ing format to swing disenchanted AmE icans back into his corner. He whined little about how unfair it is for h ornery enemies to criticize the way I handles things when he is trying so hai to do right. He has been criticized, I said, because he has been willing to ri error, although he stopped short of a mitting that he has made mistakes an international arena where the prol lems are "more difficult than (he) imaf ined them to be" as a candidate. Because global problems are so di. ficult, he said, it is unfair to say that h has been unprincipled or vacillatin He testily told a caller from Sarajev the once -embattled Bosnia city, th "there have been no constant flip -flog madam." In another tactic reminiscent of pi vious town meetings, he assured the i ternational audience that someone el was,to blame for anything that has go; wrong. For example, European allii who have failed to follow his lead, a responsible for the failure to end t] civil war in Bosnia, he said. It will be interesting to see if t] world falls for this poorly played blai game the way too many Americans hay Let's hope this is a bluff Even though Ambassador Lawrer. Pezzullo, the recently resigned pre dential adviser on Haitian affairs, s-,