[marmac]

Izard county is not Little Rock nor is it Pine Bluff.

Those are the areas txdave was blasting.

( heck, he even said good things about NWA)

[strumpeace]

For the record txdave, I agree with a few of your friend's points particularly with regard to Pine Bluff and Benton.

[justmyopinion1976]

I can agree with lots of things txdave has said. Having been born and raised in Arkansas, I can say that state needs alot of work. No money is invested back into the state. The roads are terrible, run down buildings, the crime rate is high, and as you can tell from the comments and threats made because someones opinion differes from yours, the people are not the nicest. Arkansas will never grow to be a better state if the same closed-minded people are never open to suggestion. Although these are my opinions, that doesnt mean there are some good things about Arkansas or that I am calling every person who lives in Arkasas closed minded....but I think someone's opinion coming in looking for an outside perspective should be awake call for Arkansas. I gladly no longer live there..so please dont seem me 100 messages telling me to move also. There are lots of comments made about how beautiful the state is, please point these places out to me, as I would love to know where they are. Dont be offended because someone has a different opinion than you. Instead, try to educate yourself on the points he did make as they can be backed up with facts if you just take time to research!

[gthog61]

I don't get the roads being terrible, other than needing more lanes between LR and Conway. I know I-30 is just fine and I-40 west of LR is just fine. I ride around recreationally on a lot of others when I visit and I don't remember them being bad. I also live in TX now so in particular I don't remember thinking they were worse than what I am used to. If you want to ride on truly terrible roads go to Louisiana.

If the poster thinks the parts of Arkansas he complains about are bad he ought to ride on over to Helena-West Helena or Marianna or McGehee or someplace like that sometime.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by justmyopinion1976

I can agree with lots of things txdave has said. Having been born and raised in Arkansas, I can say that state needs alot of work. No money is invested back into the state. The roads are terrible, run down buildings, the crime rate is high, and as you can tell from the comments and threats made because someones opinion differes from yours, the people are not the nicest. Arkansas will never grow to be a better state if the same closed-minded people are never open to suggestion. Although these are my opinions, that doesnt mean there are some good things about Arkansas or that I am calling every person who lives in Arkasas closed minded....but I think someone's opinion coming in looking for an outside perspective should be awake call for Arkansas. I gladly no longer live there..so please dont seem me 100 messages telling me to move also. There are lots of comments made about how beautiful the state is, please point these places out to me, as I would love to know where they are. Dont be offended because someone has a different opinion than you. Instead, try to educate yourself on the points he did make as they can be backed up with facts if you just take time to research!

wow, I guess we understand why you left, I do wonder what part of the state you lived in, as it seems some places are nicer than others. We have spent only a few days in Little Rock and Ft Smith as well, never have me net people who were not friendly. Of course not everyone is going to be the shining example of kindness, we are human and have bad days, but polite most people here are. I guess you are from that part of the state most of us have never visited. YOu and Dave sound like you need to become friends, I did notice your screen names seem to both contain numbers at the end, any relationship?

As for the roads, again, I guess you have to drive our entire country to see how they compare with other states. We do not have a lot of inter-states or freeways as many of us call them, why? Because we don't have the population or traffic. We do have conjestion sometimes, just like anyplace in the country, but as for bad, I think we do better than say, OK? Even California, with its high gas tax and wonderful road system has many roads in the farming areas that are less than ideal.

You don't see the beauty in AR, that is a shame, but no one can change you. If you do not think driving from Dallas north isn't pretty, I don't know don't understand, or how about Hot Springs, what about the NW part of our state? We have greenery year around, we have mountains (well hills as far as I am concerned) we have water and wildlife. There are lakes and small rural towns, reminding many of us of the years our parents worked and slaved to put food on the table. What about the area around the river in Ft Smith. Just the old town itself is delightful. We love to visit the area. Would I want to live there? No, and I do hope it doesn't totally turn into a ghetto or something, but for now, we happen to like it. Again, this is opinion, which we all have a right to.

Are there problems within the state? There sure are: it is a poor state, lacking in opportunities for many. Certain parts of the state suffer from poor educaational systems and families that either don't care about education or don't know enough to help the kids. We are not an industrial state so our problems are those that affect most rural states.

For you , it wasn' the place you wanted to spend your life and that is fine, but totally disagree with you when you make statements like: it isn't a pretty state or people are not friendly.. I have lived in 8 states in my life (a coupld for a short time as a child or while in college) but certainly have experienced life in other places. Ar is as pretty as any state and friendlier than most.

As for run down buildings? I would assume you are talking about in the major inner cities, I don't know of many others, I do know you will see this in most inner cities, in fact in some small towns, like Belen, NM you will see far too many.
NIta

[Capt. Dan]

Originally Posted by justmyopinion1976

I can agree with lots of things txdave has said. Having been born and raised in Arkansas, I can say that state needs alot of work. No money is invested back into the state. The roads are terrible, run down buildings, the crime rate is high, and as you can tell from the comments and threats made because someones opinion differes from yours, the people are not the nicest. Arkansas will never grow to be a better state if the same closed-minded people are never open to suggestion. Although these are my opinions, that doesnt mean there are some good things about Arkansas or that I am calling every person who lives in Arkasas closed minded....but I think someone's opinion coming in looking for an outside perspective should be awake call for Arkansas. I gladly no longer live there..so please dont seem me 100 messages telling me to move also. There are lots of comments made about how beautiful the state is, please point these places out to me, as I would love to know where they are. Dont be offended because someone has a different opinion than you. Instead, try to educate yourself on the points he did make as they can be backed up with facts if you just take time to research!

Point out the beautiful places in Arkansas? How much time do you have? Mena-Mammoth Springs-Hardy-Mt. Ida-Hot Springs-Waldron-Mt. Magazine-Rich Mtn.-Eureka Springs-The entire area between Ft. Smith and Fayetteville. But you type quite well for being BLIND!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bagelw]

Originally Posted by justmyopinion1976

I can agree with lots of things txdave has said. Having been born and raised in Arkansas, I can say that state needs alot of work. No money is invested back into the state. The roads are terrible, run down buildings, the crime rate is high, and as you can tell from the comments and threats made because someones opinion differes from yours, the people are not the nicest. Arkansas will never grow to be a better state if the same closed-minded people are never open to suggestion. Although these are my opinions, that doesnt mean there are some good things about Arkansas or that I am calling every person who lives in Arkasas closed minded....but I think someone's opinion coming in looking for an outside perspective should be awake call for Arkansas. I gladly no longer live there..so please dont seem me 100 messages telling me to move also. There are lots of comments made about how beautiful the state is, please point these places out to me, as I would love to know where they are. Dont be offended because someone has a different opinion than you. Instead, try to educate yourself on the points he did make as they can be backed up with facts if you just take time to research!

You must be from Pine Bluff and apparently didn't get out much.

[LibertysFate]

One local person's perception doesn't speak for the entire state.

I have family up in Bentonville, Fayetteville and Springdale and it's not bad.

Ft. Smith on the other hand...well, it's not the prettiest and can definitely use a makeover but there are some decent parts. I think.
Racism does worry me a bit. I was born and raised in Texas and have rarely ever come across racism, at least towards me (I'm Asian-American).
I went to Ft. Smith with my dad to set things up for our move and although my dad speaks and understand English, he's not a native speaker so I still have to translate and explain things to him to make sure he fully understands it. I've never once come across anyone that's told us to speak English but it's happened a few times in the four days that we were there.

[CESpeed]

What I find most offensive is the implication that the poorer areas of Arkansas have higher crime simply because there is a higher Black population. It couldn't have anything to do with a depressed economy. I'm quite sure that there are cities with high unemployment and high crime that don't have a majority Black population. Oh wait, I live there it's a called LA and it's Black population is 12% and it still has one of the hghest crime rates in the country.

btw OP, congradulations on finding another member of the KKK to agree with you.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by CESpeed

What I find most offensive is the implication that the poorer areas of Arkansas have higher crime simply because there is a higher Black population. It couldn't have anything to do with a depressed economy. I'm quite sure that there are cities with high unemployment and high crime that don't have a majority Black population. Oh wait, I live there it's a called LA and it's Black population is 12% and it still has one of the hghest crime rates in the country.

btw OP, congradulations on finding another member of the KKK to agree with you.

I agree, poverty, single parent homes, etc does breed crime I think, color has nothing to do with it..

Nita