Theater absurdity
Editor, The Commercial,
Wow! Kids, did ya hear? They’re gonna re-roof the Saenger Theater again! Soon we can grab a couple of empty bottles and head downtown to catch another Coke show!
Only there ain’t no projector there no more, or speakers. The screen was hanging in tatters the last we saw it. For that matter, all of us “kids” are now in our 70s, or in our graves (or, increasingly, urns).
Nobody will come, ’cause there’s nobody to come, and there’s nothin’ to see, but that don’t matter, cause the Saenger is getting another new roof — only the fourth, or fifth, time in the last score of years. (I wonder if anybody actually did any work the last couple times it was “re-roofed” — did anyone actually go up to see?)
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Instead of a big old building filled with many fond memories, and lots of cobwebs, how about we restore a smaller one, with just a few nice memories? I suggest Mae’s (formerly Roy Rogers) Army/Navy Store, just west of the Hood Building; it carried an assortment of Army/Navy surplus items like caps, machetes and them big metal trunks and such. It was like a mini-museum of modern military history.
Or there was my personal hangout, The Newsstand. (I think it had a more formal name, but only a handful of folks knew what it was.)
The Newsstand stood at the southeast corner of 4th and Main, beside the railroad tracks and against the north wall of the J.C. Penney building. It was just a couple of metal buildings (possibly obtained from Mae’s) hinged on one side, divided by a decommissioned telephone booth as an office. Shelves and racks offered a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, with carousels of comics and paperback books.
Plus, The Newsstand never had to be re-roofed!!
Ahh, heck! Let’s just face it: Downtown is dead, and it ain’t coming back, and nothing we can do will bring it back. We don’t have the proper tools, incentives… or leaders. Forget the darn Saenger; give it to Mr. Brick; he’s done more to improve the downtown area than any official or agency.
While we’re at it, give that eyesore Hotel Pines to Simmons to use as a parking deck. That could free a couple acres of lots to be reconstructed with actual shops and offices, returning variety to the area, and eventually even giving people a reason to go downtown.
* * *
Sheriff Lafayette Woods Jr. did a disservice to the public recently when he announced that his deputies had joined with other agencies to intercept a cocaine delivery and arrest the intended recipient. He named the drug and date, then slipped into high praise for all the law enforcement agencies involved.
Dandy. He could just as easily have claimed that they had successfully fended off a parade of drug mules from South America, or a full-scale invasion of little green men from Mars.
The press release failed to say how the drugs were detected, who was arrested or where any of this took place. It sounded like a weak excuse to sing the praises of the lawmen and remind the public of how good a job they are doing.
By the same token, the Pine Bluff Commercial did a non-service to its readers by publishing a barely there account of this crime that may or may not have been committed by a person who may or may not even exist. If Woods will not provide the minimum information needed to answer the “5 Ws” of proper journalism, the paper should not enable him by publishing it.
I am reminded of the Deltaplex reporter who drove past a toppled log truck, then filed a skimpy eyeball report, with no further details or followup. Such egregious clickbait benefits no one.
D.H. Ridgway,
Pine Bluff