Where's Fort Smith?

Congratulations to Poteau for being named one of Outdoor Life’s Top 200 Towns for Sportsmen.

Poteau was ranked No. 145. That’s one spot ahead of Stuttgart, the duck hunting capital of the world. Poteau was one of only two Oklahoma cities to make the list and the closest town to Fort Smith.

According to OutdoorLife.com, the towns were chosen because they “offer affordable housing, low unemployment rates and the potential to earn a decent living, all within a short drive of first-rate hunting and fishing.”

And that begs the question — Why wasn’t Fort Smith in the top 200?

We sit smack dab on the Arkansas River, have several lakes, Frog Bayou and Lee Creek a short distance away and have the headquarters of PRADCO, yet Fort Smith isn’t known as a fishing town.

We’ve got Fort Chaffee and the Ozark and Ouachita National Forests, yet Fort Smith isn’t known as a hunting town.

Managing and improving our natural resources should be a higher priority for Fort Smithians. We’ve squandered them for too long.

Of course, that won't matter to city leaders. Not when they can rubber stamp yet another subdivision of McMansions to be built on Chaffee property. (Even during the economic crisis, they keep building spec homes out there. It just takes longer now, which ironically probably means they're built better than the slap-dash ones from two years ago.) And not when they start pushing for Pine Mountain Dam to be built on Lee Creek, one of the few free-flowing streams left in Crawford County.

Rib Room

Pretty cool, huh?

And with that, Jen's jersey is out of date

Matt Jones was cut by the Jaguars today

This means the M. Jones No. 18 jersey I bought for her years ago will be shipped off to Goodwill, I guess. After all, you can't wear a jersey of somebody who was cut by that team.

(Unless, of course, you're a Cowboys fan who bought a TO jersey. Those people should be forced to wear those jerseys 24/7, so the rest of us can point and laugh at them.)

Another Squad vacation ends

Well, OK, it wasn't really a vacation since Jen and I were sleeping in our own bed. But it was still good to see some of the usual suspects.

It was a typical reunion. Lots of laughter and love with some beer and pizza for good measure.

Highlights of the three-day weekend included:

• Peppas rolling into town with a keg of Yuengling (the best American beer you'll ever taste) for the party and several cases to tide us over for a few months.

• Brown's laughter turning into a wheezing fit.

• Dr. Kevin (Sacramento's top-rated relationship expert who is on air from 4-7 p.m.) telling our waitress from Varsity she should dump her boyfriend, and giving solid reasons why she should.

• Watching somebody struggle through a fierce hangover on Saturday.

• The hilarity of CZ's dad and uncle at the shower on Saturday night.

• Staying up late so I could be sure to wake Sean up off the couch, so he could wake Tammy up so she could be at the Tulsa airport by 6 a.m. on Sunday

• The surprise baby shower at Calico County.

• Nash being the first out and me second out in an impromptu poker tournament Sunday night, while Peppito and Mrs. Nash split the $80 pot.

• Sitting up with Brownie and Kevin until 3 a.m. on Sunday night/Monday morning, at which point they and Samantha left for the Tulsa airport. Good talk, fellas. Good talk.

Wish the Martins could have made it. Wish SK could have made it as well. Maybe next time we'll be able to get everybody together.

Borat was in Fort Smith

Seems mixed martial arts will be skewered in his next movie ...

In Fort Smith, the city's convention center hosted "Blue Collar Brawlin"' the next night. Fort Smith police Sgt. Adam Holland said 18 off-duty police officers provided security at the event.

During preparations, Holland said organizers told him a character named "Straight Dave" would goad a planted audience member into the ring for a fight. The two men would then wrestle, rip away some of their clothes and share a brief kiss reminiscent of one between Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell in the film "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby."

Producers said "there would be a romantic embrace," Holland said. "They said it was kind of to essentially make fun, poke fun at wrestling - two guys rolling around on the floor, all sweaty."

Instead, an elaborate array of mounted and handheld videocameras caught the crowd of 1,600's reaction as the two men "went right up to the line" of the city's morality laws, Holland said. The two men stripped down to their underwear, kissed and rubbed on each other, the sergeant said.

The audience, as well as local fighters drawn to take part in the show, became enraged.

"It set the crowd off lobbing beers," Holland said. "They had beers in plastic cups. Those things can get some distance on them actually."

Holland said it took officers about 45 minutes to clear the convention center, as the two actors sprinted away through a specially set-aside tunnel.

Those in attendance were told by several signs on display that they'd be filmed, Holland said, and signed waivers before the event.

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/fake-ark-bouts-showing-men-kissing-draw/n20080707181609990001?ecid=RSS0001

"Fort Smith" coming to your TV

Seems the producer of "24" is working on a western called "Fort Smith" for AMC TV.

It will follow the local sheriff's deputies who patrol Western Arkansas and Indian Territory in the post-Civil War years. Other than that, details are very sketchy. Here's what Ben Boulden, the paper's best columnist, has discovered ...

Hollywood Takes A Look At Fort Smith

That sucked

Big storm hit FS tonight. Golf ball sized hail. Possible tornado. Jen, the cat and I are fine.

Jen and I were at Bella Italia with Dad. Hail ripped three holes in the Jeep's top. Driver side door looks like somebody took a hammer to it. Looks like I will be waiting around for the insurance adjuster.

Six windows at house were knocked out. I'll post photos when the sun comes up. It was probably best that we were gone. Shards of glass blew across the living room. Good thing Charles taught me how to glaze a window. Of course, finding some panes might be a pain tomorrow.

FS schools have been canceled for Friday. TV station reported 10 schools were damaged.

Good thing my surprise party wasn't April 5

Because then we'd been in Papa's on Saturday night when this happened ...

Police Investigate Bar Fight

Of course, I know Craig would have had my back so we'd have been OK facing 15 members of an Asian gang.

Wow

Still trying to recover from the weekend.

No, I don't have a three-day hangover. I'm talking about getting my head around the idea that Jen plotted and planned this spectacular surprise birthday party. And that even though I saw Karen and Nash wearing the tee shirts, I still had no clue what was happening.

The fact so many people took the time and spent the money to come to Fort Smith for it absolutely floored and humbled me. I freely admit I still start to tear up when I think about it. Thank you all for being my friend.

Photos have been uploaded onto our home Mac. I'll post some of them later.

Fort Smith in the news

Those are the old barracks at Fort Chaffee. Last count, 12 were burned completely down thanks to a wind-driven fire.

The area is under something called a "Wind Advisory," which I'd never heard of except in relation to "area lakes and waterways." It's been blowing at a steady 40 mph most of the day, with gusts up to 50.

Fire crews have given up trying to contain the fire, which is now a major grass fire on the Chaffee property.

Closer to home, the wooden privacy fence owned by our across-the-street neighbor has toppled. Some branches are down. I've not looked to see if any shingles have blown off our roof.