Cable-access-television to be closed Monday in keeping with bylaws that mandate closing when Fayetteville public schools are closed

We hope everyone is keeping safe and warm with all of this onslaught of winter weather. Just to give you a heads up, Community Access Television will be closed tomorrow. Per our policies, we reflect the local public schools closings and Fayetteville schools will indeed be closed tomorrow.
We apologize for any inconvenience and are hoping to be open on Tuesday. Thank you all for your support and understanding.
In other news, Free Speech TV is having their winter fundraiser from now until February 21st. Since we can't air anything that is a "call to action," CAT will not be airing FSTV or Democracy Now until the 21st. For more information, you can visit their website at www.democracynow.org.
Everyone be safe and we will see you all soon!
All the Best,
Heather Drain

More of today's bird photos online at Flickr: This headline is a link to it

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7295307@N02

January 31, 2010, birds of World Peace Wetland Prairie searching for bare ground and free seed

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE view of assorted birds. Many more species are around today, such as red-winged blackbirds, bluejays, cardinals and many others whose names and photos are more difficult to collect.

Sparrows and cardinals love the extra corn and assorted seed before a big storm

Jed Clampit can't stay away from Fayettenam

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of Jed Clampit on the Fayetteville Square on June 14, 2008.

Listen live (slight delay) to KUAF NOWWWWWWWWWWWW. Music to go with snow and the COLD MOON, as the native American calendar calls it

http://www.kuaf.org/listenlive.html

OMNI Center for Peace Justice and Ecology dedication of new house postponed to Saturday, February 6

Weather or not

Glen Wheeler, aka Blue Boy Orlis and the Stompers, circa 1994, at River City in Fayetteville, Arkansas

This video clip doesn't really represent the best of the performance that night, but it is all we have to remember it by.

Does having a shopping cart connected to the back end of your SUV prove you are a redneck or is it only a piece of evidence to go along with your Oklahoma license plate?

You might be a redneck if ,,,

Aubrey james | MySpace Video

Apologies to the originator of this phrase: "You might be a redneck if" you are from Oklahoma and have a shopping cart hooked onto the back of your SUV in the parking lot of a new luxury apartment complex built in a dredged and filled Arkansas savanna next to a wet prairie

Stay tuned for the video. Won't be better but maybe slightly different.
Please click on image to ENLARGE view of Oklahoma license plate and shopping cart in parking lot in south Fayetteville, AR., on January 29, 2010.

Back in June 2009, there was never a day, even a Sunday, when our neighborhood was as quiet as today

June 25 view of huge truck and its sound in front of driveway

Aubrey james | MySpace Video

Just got Nikon back from being cleaned and checked out and won't risk getting it wet today!

The big zoom would be nice today but we'll wait until the snow and sleet stop before it gets a workout!
The smaller camera is fine for documenting the action without risking more expensive equipment. Please click on image to go to Flickr site to enlarge and navigate to see other photos. Good day to browse Flickr while you are there and see what hardier souls are posting today.

Doves, cardinals and sparrows out in force now

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of dove on edge of World Peace Wetland Prairie.

Every creature hunkered down and wishing to hibernate through this storm

I put out corn about 8 a.m. but the bird songs and blur of wings wasn't immediately around as on most days. Time to go back and see who has come to check on it. Got to keep turning over boards and other objects to offer to bare iceless ground for foraging. Wish I could afford a heated bird bath for times like this.

Storm coming, everyone prepares in his own way

Shelters will need volunteers during this storm

The potential for severe winter weather has started preparations for emergency shelters in Fayetteville. Once the need has been determined and the shelters have been opened, volunteers will be needed to assist at these facilities.

If you would be interested in volunteering at one of the emergency shelters, if activated, please send me the following information and you will be contacted once those shelters are opened:

1. Name

2. Phone number

3. Cell phone number

4. Email Address

5. Which shelter you will be willing to volunteer at and will be able to get to safely (see list below)

6. Days (between 1/29/10 tomorrow and 2/5/10 Friday) available

7. Hours available (4 hours shift are preferred)

Emergency shelters are being established at the following locations:

Fayetteville Boys and Girls Club (west side shelter)

560 N. Rupple Road

Vandergriff Elementary (east side shelter)

2975 East Township Street

Central United Methodist Church (overflow shelter)

6 East Dickson Street

If you have any questions you can call me at (479) 575-8302 or email me at jmcquade@ci.fayetteville.ar.us

If the emergency shelters are opened and volunteers needed you will be contacted.

Thank you,

Julie

Julie McQuadeCommunity Outreach Coordinator
City of Fayetteville
479-575-8302

www.accessfayetteville.org

TDD (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf) 479-521-1316

 

Mailing Address:

Julie McQuade, Community Outreach Coordinator

City of Fayetteville
113 West Mountain, Suite 320

Fayetteville, AR 72701

 

Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/accessfay/

 

Facebook  http://www.facebook.com/fayetteville.arkansas

 

The U.S. Census takes place during March and April of this year. BE COUNTED! Your community is counting on you!

World Peace Wetland Prairie birds appreciate supplemental corn with uncertain weather for finding food on the horizon

Please click on links to get to full-screen view on Myspace.



dove and sparrow on edge of World Peace Wetland Prairie

Aubrey james | MySpace Video

Government channel schedule today through Saturday available at http://www.accessfayetteville.org/government/city_channel_16/documents/Current_Schedule/January%2022%20-%20January%2030%20Program%20Guide.pdf

Climate Action Day called successful

http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=49263

REMINDER: Please write letters to your Senators urging passage of a strong climate and energy bill this year.

Thanks for your activism and support.

You are amazing. Thanks to you and the rest of our online Action Network community, today's National Climate Action Day has been a huge success.

Thousands of you have already taken action online through Twitter and Facebook. And thousands more have called your Senators, written letters to the editors, and donated to our campaign.

But our work is not done. Please remember to watch President Obama's State of the Union speech tonight and use the opportunity to write letters to your Senators.

Go to our 100,000 Letters for Climate Action page for instructions.

Tonight's Speech

In his speech tonight, President Obama is expected to renew his call for a strong climate and energy bill that will put Americans to work building our clean energy future.

The House has already passed a strong bill. And for now we have a bipartisan majority in the Senate.

But, we need your help to make sure climate stays at the top of the agenda and the Senate gets the job done.

Please use this opportunity to write letters to your Senators tonight during President Obama's speech.

You can also take action through your online social networks.

First, follow EDF on Twitter and Facebook.

Then, post this status update through your Twitter and Facebook feeds:

Help celebrate @EnvDefenseFund's National Day of Climate Action! Tell your Senators to pass a strong #climate bill: http://bit.ly/KzR9A

This is a very critical moment in our fight against global warming. Please help keep our National Climate Action Day momentum going by keeping pressure on your Senators.

Thanks for your activism and support,
Environmental Defense Action Fund

P.S. Looking for more to do? Here are another 3 ways you can support a strong climate and energy bill in the Senate:

Make a donation to support our Operation: Climate Vote Campaign. Your financial support will go directly toward our legislative campaign to pass a strong climate bill.
Write a letter to the editors of your local newspapers. We have a very simple online tool to help you compose and send your letters.
Use our Social Media Toolkit to spread the word.

Environmental Defense Action Fund
1875 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20009
1-800-684-3322

Remembering fine evenings at Antonio's Restaurant

Please click on images to go to Flickr site, enlarge this photo a couple of times and view and read menu pages from Antonio's Restaurant in Johnson in the year 2000.

Cardinals always at World Peace Wetland Prairie but most visible in winter when leaves are gone and the tallgrass seed is scarce

Cardinal loves his corn!

Aubrey james | MySpace Video

Cardinal red dominates winter in Northwest Arkansas

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of male cardinal on January 26, 2010, on the edge of World Peace Wetland Prairie.

OMNI Center for Peace Justice and Ecology opens new house to all this Saturday night!

Office Phone: (479)935-4422
omni.center.for.pje@gmail.com
“OMNI Center for Peace, Justice & Ecology
educates and empowers people to actively
build a non-violent, sustainable and just world.”
Saturday, January 30th 2010
3:00—6:00 PM
3274 N. Lee Ave
OMNI CENTER for PEACE, JUSTICE & ECOLOGY
You are invited to celebrate the dedication of
OMNI Center’s new building! Enjoy music, re-
freshments, good fellowship, speakers, and
tours! Learn more than 35 ways to be involved
in OMNI. Help build a culture of peace in an
earth restored, that includes everyone.
Children
Welcome!

Handicap
Access

Refreshments
Will Be
Served!
Open House!

direct link to 20 photos of Osage orange tree shape shapes

More photos of Bois D'Arc tree stumps and trunks at bottom of Town Branch watershed set of photos linked below

Town Branch watershed in Fayetteville, Arkansas

How old was this Bois D'Arc tree in south Fayetteville when this part of its trunk was cut?

Please click on image to ENLARGE view and try to count the rings. Keep in mind that the center of the tree had rotted out, so you may be seeing only a certain percentage of the actual growth rings. I can't guess the years that were missing.
This species may not be native this far north but was planted to create fence lines hereabouts before barbed-wire was invented.
It is a precious tree wherever it grows, however.
I got to hear testimony on Monday, January 25, 2010, of a value of this sometimes called Osage orange tree I hadn't thought about before. When it is cut, it becomes a very special kind of firewood.
The person who described this phenomenon was unwilling to repeat his comments for video but I will ask him again later to share his experience with the use of bois d'arc firewood.

Cow equals HE? Anyone ever seen a male cow? If one sees a herd of cattle, he can pick out the cows and the bulls by distinctive features

Since when are cows called He? Bulls are male. Cows are female. A group of such animals is referred to as cattle.

An otherwise wonderful children's show from the Fayetteville Public Library has one major fault. A cow is referred to as HE.
Some kids accept such an error as fact at 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or even older and consider it as fact for years afterward.
As a college English teacher I heard students, especially freshmen, argue over words they had mis-undertood for more than a decade. This might be an exception to the rule that government channel should never EDIT its productions.
Any farm child (not talking about someone who has grown up on a monoculture soybeen or cotton or rice farm but about people who grew up on an old-fashioned all-purpose farm) would know better. But kids growing up in Fayetteville today need facts. The city has rules against having either a cow or bull in a yard in the city. A rule that guarantees ignorance in significant areas for our children and creates the need for cute productions on TV and online to teach them about the life they ought to be experiencing on this precious land.

Will this create a demand for waterproof and unfreezeable laptops for walruses, polar bears and whales that may want to log in along the route?

Global warming opens up Arctic for fiber optics
Firm aims to link Tokyo, London via cleared Northwest Passage
By DAN JOLING THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Arctic fiber optic line through Northwest Passage?Monday, January 25, 2010
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Rising temperatures have melted so much Arctic ice that a telecommunication group is moving forward with a project that was unthinkable just a few years ago: laying underwater fiber optic cable between Tokyo and London by way of the Northwest Passage.
The proposed system would nearly cut in half the time it takes to send messages from the United Kingdom to Asia, said Walt Ebell, chief executive officer of Kodiak-Kenai Cable Co. The route is the shortest underwater path between Tokyo and London.

If I had owned all the farmland and precious wildlife habitat that Marion Berry owns, I would have a hard time being involved in congress in my old age. However, I would be leading the charge in congress to support the very strongest possible rules to protect the soil, water, air and habitat such as he owns

Reporter's disclosure:
Yes, I hunted on Berry's property a few times in the 1980s or early 90s as his guest.
Unlike Tommy Robinson when he was in Congress, Berry never threatened me with various and sundry evil outcomes when I wrote honestly about what I witnessed.


Arkansas Rep. Marion Berry to retire
Arkansas Rep. Marion Berry is expected to announce his retirement tomorrow morning, according to three sources briefed on the decision.
Berry will become the sixth Democrat in a competitive seat to leave in the last two months but the first to announce his retirement since the party's special election loss in Massachusetts last Tuesday.
"The message coming out of the Massachusetts special election is clear: No Democrat is safe," said National Republican Congressional Committee communications director Ken Spain.
Berry, first elected in 1996, had been noncommittal about his re-election bid for months although, privately, his allies insisted he was planning to run for re-election.
While Berry had rarely been challenged in the 1st district over the past decade or so, the seat has a clear Republican tilt as Arizona Sen. John McCain (R) won it with 59 percent in 2008.
Arkansas will be a huge focus of Republican efforts in the fall with Berry and Rep. Vic Snyder (D) retiring and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D) in deep trouble as she seek re-election.
The field to replace Berry isn't yet set although Democrats mentioned include state Rep. Keith Ingram, Berry chief of staff Chad Causey and Jason Willett, a former state party chair. On the Republican side, broadcaster Rick Crawford is in the race.
Berry joins Snyder as well as Reps. Dennis Moore (Kans.), John Tanner (Tenn.), Brian Baird (Wash.) and Bart Gordon (Tenn.) as Members sitting in districts either won by McCain or carried narrowly by President Obama to step aside between the end of November and today.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/house/marion-berry-to-retire.html?wprss=thefix

Telecommunication Board sets special meeting for 6 p.m. Wednesday, February 3, 2010, to hear complaints about the functioning of the Cable Access Television Board of Directors

The Telecommunication Advisory Board will hold a special meeting at 6 p.m. February 3 in Room 219 of City Hall to discuss complaints regarding the validity of the Board of Directors of Community Access Television. All interested parties are invited to attend.

For background information on this matter, video of recent related meetings may be purchased during regular business hours at the Fayetteville Television Center, also known as the PEG CENTER on Rock Street downhill south of City Hall. To request documents or video related to the matter, the public may call the Television Center manager at 444-3434 or the CAT manager at 444-3433.

Blanche Lincoln outrages conservationists by co-sponsoring negative legislation that would decrease protection of Arkansas residents and wildlife

CCTF,

Please call Senator Lincoln's office and express outrage at her decision to cosponsor the Murkowski Amendment. This is the very amendment in which 100 calls were made to her office from Arkansas citizens less than 2 weeks ago to express our hope that she not support it. Now she has announced that she will cosponsor it!

I called today and the staff person was surprised by my anger. I hope enough people will call expressing civil anger that staff are no longer surprised.

I am feeling like it is time for civil disobedience. What are your thoughts and feelings? Thank you, Art, for already sharing this with us.

Joanna Pollock
CCTF Facilitator
708.828.5695
Robert McAfee
Hackett, AR 479.462.8834
robertjmca1@gmail.com

Curb and gutter work continues where Greg Avenue and Government Avenue overlap Prairie Street

Please click on images to ENLARGE view.

Mostly people who own or operate businesses or offices on Block Ave. show up early for presentation of three possible plans for gentrifying Block Ave.

Solution simple: Design the street specially for each business on Block Avenue or forget the whole gentrification project. Isn't this a Coody-era plan, anyway? Why would the staff be considering it now? Does gentrification still rate higher than convenience for customers of businesses and the safety of pedestrians and motorists? I listened, there is no consensus plan right now. Mix and match or leave Block Avenue alone! Go fix some broken up sidewalk in south
Fayetteville and try not to cut any tree roots or put any pipes in grassy swales (aka) vegetated ditches.

e

Public showing of three variations of plan to "improve" Block Avenue from Dickson Street to the square ended at 7 p.m. today: More photos to come

Public showing of plans to "improve" Block Avenue from Dickson Street to the square from 4 to 7 p.m. today

Block Avenue Conceptual Improvement Plans

JAN

15

2010

PUBLIC MEETING January 20

Improvements to Block Avenue are planned as part of The City of Fayetteville Transportation Division’s Sidewalk and Overlay Construction Plan for 2010.  The improvements will provide a safer, more pedestrian friendly, aesthetically pleasing link between Dickson Street and the downtown square, while also improving the water, sewer, and drainage infrastructure.  Planned improvements include new sidewalks, street trees, and decorative street lighting.  A new asphalt overlay and striping complete with bicycle "sharrow" symbols is also a part of the project.

A public meeting to review the options will be held on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 from 4 to 7 pm at City Hall Room 111.  This is an open to the public drop in meeting; City staff will be available during those times to discuss the plans and take comments from the public.  Follow the link below to review the proposed concepts.

Two of the concepts presented include angled, back-in parking.  This is a new concept for Fayetteville, but has been used successfully in other communities.  The link below provides additional information about back in parking.

Block Avenue Conceptual Plans

Back In-Head Out Angle Parking Summary

Bruce Shackleford shares history of Woolsey Wet Prairie during watershed-luncheon on January 20, 2010

B

EPA needs Arkansas senators' votes to protect our future

The Senate will vote either today or later this week on HJ Res 45, which will raise the legal federal debt limit. Senator Murkowski of Alaska has attached an amendment that will prevent EPA from carrying out its duty to protect human health and well-being under the Clean Air Act, by stripping it of authority to regulate greenhouse gases. A strong, science-based program by EPA will provide support for carbon markets, for green jobs, and for alternative fuels production in Arkansas while Congress considers a comprehensive policy solution to energy and climate issues. The NY Times printed an op-ed Monday that summarizes the need for maintaining the authority that EPA accrued under its December ruling that greenhouse gases must be regulated to protect our health and well-being.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/opinion/19tue2.html?ref=opinion


You might use some of the talking points as you communicate with our Senators.

Senator Blanche Lincoln, 501.375.2993, staff contact Julie Barkemeyer at julie_barkemeyer@lincoln.senate.gov
Senator Mark Pryor, 501.324.6336, staff contact Steve Lehrman at stephen_lehrman@pryor.senate.gov


I urge you to oppose an amendment by Senator Murkowski to the debt limit bill (H.J.Res. 45) that would undermine the Clean Air Act by preventing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from acting on its science-based finding that global warming endangers public health and welfare.

The Murkowski amendment would improperly reject the sound science that is the basis of the EPA’s findings. In addition, the amendment would undermine our country’s international credibility right after President Obama secured emissions-reduction commitments from China and India, which along with the U.S. account for half of the globes greenhouse gas emissions.

Strong action on climate change will create thousands of clean energy jobs. Over 5,000 families in Arkansas are currently supported by clean energy jobs, and the Pew Charitable Trust estimates that effective federal climate policy would create s Americans are waiting for Congress to establish a strong climate and energy policy that will unlock billions of dollars in job-creating, clean energy investments, but the Murkowski amendment attempts to derail that long-overdue progress.

Instead of standing in the way of climate action, the Senate should move quickly to enact climate and energy legislation that will curb global warming, save consumers money, and create jobs. In the meantime, I urge you to respect the scientific integrity of the EPA’s endangerment finding and ensure that the agency retains its authority to act on global warming.

Thank you for your support of clean air, clean energy, economic opportunity for Arkansas’s landowners, and more green jobs in The Natural State.

Respectfully,

Nicholas R. Brown PhD
Arkansas Field Representative
National Wildlife Federation
479.225.1000

Stimulus money for broadband may be available to urban areas

Broadband stimulus-money rules eased for urban areas

Public officials, area residents, UA students and faculty members gather for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

City, state officials attend MLK Day at UA

Aubrey james | MySpace Video

Martin Luther King Jr. celebration one year ago in Fayetteville, Arkansas, included unveiling signs renaming Sixth Street to honor the civil-rights leader

Please click on images to ENLARGE view of unveiling of Martin Luther King Boulevard Signs at Razorback Road and the former Sixth Street


Fayetteville City Attorney Kit Williams rode up in a lift bucket to remove the cover from the newly installed signs, giving the change his full legal blessing.
In the crowd photo, Ernestine Gibson, president of the Northwest Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr. planning committee is speaking to the group.

Streambed magic

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of special find in Town Branch of the
west Fork of the white river on January 16, 2010.

Please click on image below to Enlarge view and go to Flickr site where view can be Enlarged further and other views are available.
I was shooting with a low light setting because these photos were made after sunset. I ought to have switched to higher resolution and used flash to get better detail. Sorry. But at Flickr one can see several other shots and maybe some are better than the ones on the blog.