Town Branch Neighborhood meeting begins on August 30, 2011

More video clips from the meeting linked at Town Branch Neighborhood Web log.
More are being added to You Tube and will be available maybe by morning and over coming days.

David Whitaker announces candidacy for Arkansas House of Representatives District 85

Press Release: Whitaker Announces for House District 85

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas – Democrat David Whitaker announced on Monday that he is running for the Arkansas House of Representatives in the 2012 election.

Whitaker, 50, announced his intention to seek the Democratic nomination for the newly created House District 85, which consists of the city of Farmington and several precincts in Fayetteville.

“I am proud to stand up for working families in Fayetteville and Farmington, and I will carry their voice to the state legislature in Little Rock,” Whitaker said on Monday.

Whitaker pledged to fight for good-paying jobs, better support for public school districts, and a responsive government that will put the middle class first.

“It’s time for Arkansas to claim our place at the top when it comes to educating our people, building our economy and ensuring the well-being of our children,” Whitaker said in his announcement.

He also pledged to stand beside Governor Mike Beebe when it comes to putting Arkansas families first, and rejecting the divisive politics of Washington.

“I am proud to have supported Mike Beebe, a governor who cut taxes and created jobs in one of the worst economic downturns since the Great Depression. If you send me to Little Rock, I will stand beside Governor Beebe as we lead our state to even greater successes,” Whitaker said.

Whitaker first entered public service in 1983, when he joined the United States Air Force as a Cryptologic Linguist, and was honorably discharged at the rank of Staff Sergeant in 1989. He attended the University Of Arkansas School of Law and graduated in 1999. He clerked for the 4th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney in Fayetteville, before coordinating the Washington County Domestic Violence Task Force from 1999-2000.

In 2001, Whitaker was appointed Assistant City Attorney for the City of Fayetteville, where he worked until 2009, when he ran for US Congress. He was unopposed in the Democratic primary and gathered over 56,000 votes in November’s general election.  He is a member of the Arkansas Bar Association and past Chair of the Association’s Law School Committee. He was named Outstanding Government Attorney by the Association’s Government Practice Section in 2007. Whitaker is currently an adjunct faculty member at Northwest Arkansas Community College.

The District 85 seat is currently held by Representative Uvalde Lindsey (D – HD88), who announced on Saturday that he would be seeking the State Senate seat being vacated by Senator Sue Madison (D-SD7).

To find out which House District you live in, please visit www.arkansasredistricting.org
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7 p.m. Monday, August 29, 2011, Mayor's Town Hall meeting at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks at 7 p.m. substitutes for monthly Ward 4 meeting. Town Branch Neighborhood meeting Tuesday, August 30, at 6 p.m. welcomes everyone to the S. Hill Avenue Church of Christ at 11th St. and S Hill Ave.

 Council member Sarah Elaine Lewis wrote:
Rather than hold a Ward 4 meeting this month (August 2011), Rhonda and I invite you to attend the Mayor's Town Hall Meeting at the Botanical Gardens.  The Mayor, City Council Members, and City staff will be in attendance to answer questions. 
Hope you can make it! 

Short video to run to run on Fayetteville public-access television (Cox 218 and ATT U-verse 99) two or three times daily August 29, 2011, through September 2 preview linked below with spot to click on to make full screen from You Tube: See it first here

City street crew uses vacuum truck to remove limestone base material spilled by mistake in July WITHOUT allowing any of it to fall in the Town Branch

Please click on image to ENLARGE. Click on enlargement for even closer view.

Two members of city crew use vacuum tube to remove spilled base material from streamside

Clear-wing moths and swallowtail butterflies love ironweed on Pinnacle Foods Inc. wet prairie on August 23, 2011

Hemaris thysbe clearwing moth

Monday at World Peace Wetland Prairie nature takes its course

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE. Click on enlargements for even closer view.

Robber fly captures dragonfly

Robber fly grabs dragon fly

Did you go to the Fayetteville Public Access Television facility (aka PEG CENTER) to take advantage of the free, 5-minute speak-your-mind sessions this week? If not, you missed another significant opportunity to share your views on anything or everything: My shortakes to run next week are linked below; free recording hours at 5 to 6 p.m. Mondays and 11 a.m. to noon Thursdays. Surely you have a message you believe is as important as I believe mine is, so get out next week and just utilize the FREE service of Your Media, the new nonprofit that runs the former CAT channel in Fayetteville AR

Today's meetings and Saturday meetings of interest

Environmental Action Committee meeting at 5:30 p.m. today in city hall room 111.
Telecommunication Board meeting at 5:30 p.m. today in city hall room 326.

A meeting of the Flower, Garden and Nature Society begins at 9:30 a.m. in Springdale.

Monarchs show up on World Peace Wetland Prairie on August 15, 2011

Photos of a couple of creatures that want continuous wildlife corridors in Northwest Arkansas cities and rural areas: Free program at 6 p.m. today at Fayetteville Public Library to offer how and why to make plan reality Free to public

Clearwing moth on native thistle at World Peace Wetland Prairie on August 15, 2011

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE. Click on enlargement for closer view.

Female black form tiger swallowtail and male share a thistle on August 12, 2011, at World Peace Wetland Prairie. Photo by Aubrey James Shepherd

Monday, August 15, 6-7:30pm –“Critical Links; Wildlife Corridor Strategies for Northwest Arkansas”

Representatives of the Fayetteville Community Wildlife Habitat™ Project partnership, including the Environmental Action Committee and the Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association, will discuss the regional green infrastructure map and the importance of individual pieces of property in wildlife-corridor preservation.

For information on the Fayetteville Community Wildlife Habitat™ Project, go to http://habitat.accessfayetteville.org or contact Terri Lane at treehuggerlane@cox.net.

Tiny insect can't hide on native thistle flower

Please click on image to ENLARGE. Click on enlargement for closer view.

Next week's shortakes on public-access television previewed on You Tube: See link below

Oenothera biennis a special native plant at World Peace Wetland Prairie

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE. Click on enlargement for closer view of Evening primrose at World Peace Wetland Prairie on August 12, 2011.

Surprise lilies bloom at right time to supplement nectar sources for butterflies and other insects just before rain comes to give late-blooming native plants a chance to flower and seed

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Fritillaries and swallowtails enjoying swamp milkweed, Asclepias incarnata

Please click on image of swamp milkweed in bloom on August 10, 2011. Click on the enlargement to enlarge further.

Photo by Lauren D. Hawkins

Tiny creature lurks on Rudbeckia black-eyed susan on August 9, 2011, at World Peace Wetland Prairie

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Take the guilt out of keeping your property natural by learning about the life that depends on your benign neglect

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE. Click on enlargement to get even closer of view of Antheraea polyphemus, the giant Polyphemus moth, at World Peace Wetland Prairie on August 7, 2011.
For more about the life cycle of the Polyphemus moth, please see Fairfax, Virginia, public-school Web site.

Antheraea polyphemus a short-lived but giant moth whose caterpillars mostly feed on various oaks and many other trees: One magnificent reason never to rip off dead leaves or spray anything on your trees just because caterpillars are eating the foliage, and don't destroy crumpled leaves hanging or on the ground because they may be a beautiful moth's caterpillar in its chrysalis

For information about Antheraea polyphemus, the Polyphemus moth, see Wiki
Please click on individual images to ENLARGE. Click on enlargement for closer view.

Males have bushier antenae than females have

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Offering fruit to Polyphemus moth futile. Their caterpillars store up the food and the moth lives only a short time with the goal of mating and laying eggs on a suitable host tree

Mouth parts don't allow such moths to feed

Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan presents certificate of recognition to Pinnacle Foods' plant manager, Doug Bryson

For thousands more photos from Pinnacle Wet Prairie, including some from this event at the bottom, please click Flickr link.
For more than 800 photos made July 4, 2011, at Pinnacle wet prairie, please see Flick set.
For direct links to You Tube videos from Aug. 5, 2011, at Pinnacle Foods, please click on You Tube link.

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE. Click on enlargement for even closer view.

Doug Bryson and Lioneld Jordan

Recognition of Pinnacle Foods Inc's. significance to Fayetteville

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Swamp milkweed trying to bloom on August 3, 2011, no surprise because I have been watering this one; but there were surprises today

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Asclepias incarnata

Lycoris squamigera

'Have You Got Gas? The Van Buren County Gas Advisory Board wants your opinion of Frackin' in the Fayetteville Shale area

Dear All.
We have received a large volume of responses to the
Public Input Survey inserted in the V.B. County
Democrat last month.
We also displayed the survey titled "Have You Got Gas?"
in banks, senior centers, quick picks, etc.
But we need more, many more to get a better reading
of public sentiment (pro and con) around the issue
of gas drilling in the Fayetteville Shale Play.
If you don't have a survey you can download it
or fill out online at jeff@VBCGAB.org.
The Van Buren County Gas Advisory Board wants your
input on the pro's and con's of gas drilling if you
live in the Fayetteville Shale Play. Your opinion matters
to us, your elected officials and to the
entire community. Speak out.

Thanks. tom e. kimmons, member VBCGAB.

stoparkansasfracking.org

Watering at night keeps a few things blooming at World Peace Wetland Prairie

Wasps enjoy blue fennel on August, 2, 2011

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE. Click on enlargement for even closer view.

Wasp on Blue Fennel at World Peace Wetland Prairie peace circle

Swallowtail on Flox

Two species of skipper moths on basketflower

Swallow on Flox

Clearwing moth resting before beginning day's work