LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

He disagrees with friend on user fees Periodically some unthinking person suggests that all Bella Vista amenities be fully paid by user fees. Now a personal friend and one that I have a great deal of respect for seems to support those mislead ideas. "Sorry Charlie." I disagree and here is why. Conceptually, Bella Vista was created as a residential /recreational community to be run by a Property Owners Association and supported by a owner-assessment program. The POA has provided the basic municipal services and has acted as a "park district" using assessment dollars ( like taxes) and user fees to support local amenities. It would be a very rare "park district" that operated without tax support. It would also be rare to see one with our population base that lists 31 sites on its' - Wednesday, August 6, 2008

POA is adapting to keep up with changing times

Roberta Dale

I debated a long time before addressing this topic, as I realize I am probably inviting many valid comebacks to anything I might write. However, I finally decided the topic was too important to the ongoing workings of the Bella Vista Property Owners Association not to try and offer another perspective. Anytime it is announced a new position is added to the POA, there are some letters and a certain amount of grumbling regarding the need for the position — usually correlating the new position with fat in the structure that could be cut out and judged totally unnecessary. The next statement that follows is, “If the POA needs revenue, where does the money come from to add positions ?” I would like to offer another view of these decisions. I believe a static organizational structure describes a nonprogressive, declining organization. If positions and organizational structures don’t change to meet the demands of the organization, it dooms the organization to failure. It could be helpful if we could compare current - Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Donate and give somebody a second chance at life

Douglas Grant

What do you know about human organ and tissue donation ? Perhaps you are a donor, or maybe somebody you know — a member of your family, or even you — is a recipient. My wife and I are organ donors. It says so on our Arkansas driver’s licenses. In this state, if you are old enough to make that decision, having it appear on that official document is all you need. I have been told it cannot be contested. That information, and more, comes from Mary Huss, an education specialist with the Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency, or ARORA, as it is more commonly called. She was the recent speaker at the Bella Vista Kiwanis Club, and I had the pleasure of hearing her talk that morning. - Wednesday, August 6, 2008