Long Weekend?

Are you among those who got today off? It’s Martin Luther King day in the USA. As for me, it was a normal work-day. It’s always nice to see the days start to grow longer. It’s depressing when the 5 pm drive home from work is done mostly in darkness. We’re to the point in the winter (such as it is, here in the South) that the drive is now mostly in daylight. It’s an encouraging sign that spring is just around the corner.

This weekend was cold, though. The coldest couple of days and nights of the winter. Of course, we had booked a Christmas gift of a “Bird Watchers’ Weekend” – a room at a wonderful place on top of a nearby mountain, a pass to the nearby wildlife refuge and several books and pamphlets to help us identify the birds, a breakfast delivered to the room Sunday morning. We had a great time, but it stayed too chilly for us to think that walking through a wildlife refuge was going to be truly enjoyable. So, we saved the pass and promised ourselves to return when the weather is nicer. Still, we thoroughly enjoyed the shorter walks around the campus, a wonderful dinner at a new restaurant that’s part of the facility, and a breakfast that left enough muffins and breakfast bars for several more days. The facility is truly one of those “hidden gems” that makes Arkansas so fascinating. It’s the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, tucked way on top of Petit Jean Mountain. It’s part of the University of Arkansas system, but accomodates individual stays in addition to the educational seminars and courses.

Now, down to business. Our kick off information tonight comes from nearby Missouri. Seems they have a bit of a problem with an executioner.

Missouri Executioner Had a Criminal Past

We’ve written before about the problems in Missouri with executioners — most notably, the dyslexic doctor who administered the fatal cocktail. Now, the New York Times recaps last week’s St. Louis Post Dispatch article about a nurse on the state’s execution team who had a criminal record and [...]

Tags: Executions