Hamilton Herald Masthead

Editorial


Front Page - Friday, September 12, 2014

Goodbye, Betty Ann


View From The Cheap Seats



William O. "Bill" James, Jr.

She’s so nice. Every thing about her seems to highlight the additional fact that she’s also as genuine as she is nice. Betty Ann Robertson left her position as the “Voice” of the Pulaski County Prosecutor’s office last week. After years answering the phones at the state’s largest prosecuting attorney’s office, “Betty Ann” answered and then hung up the phone for the last time. She will be missed greatly.

Knowing she was leaving prosecutor’s office, I spent the last couple of months trying to get her to come to work for me. She has the voice of a southern belle and great phone skills. Best I could tell, she always came to work and, as I said, she’s always friendly. She would have been a great addition to the James Law Firm. Surprisingly, she was not really interested. Definitely my loss.

Betty Ann, thank you for the years of service to our community and making my days a little bit brighter. I will miss you. When you get bored with retirement, just give me a call.

No tie breaker = stupid

It’s come to my attention that there are no tie breakers in non-conference high school football games in Arkansas. How stupid is that? Who wants a tie? This makes no sense to me. If it’s a function of time, why not make the two biggest lineman run a hundred yard race, flip a coin, or see which coach can throw the football the farthest? Do something; just leave the teams a way to bring about an outcome one way or another. If you really want to make it interesting, have the “tie breaker” before the game starts. This needs to be fixed. Do it for the kids.

Where’s my Diet Coke?

I went to Dallas to watch my son play football this weekend. I was very unhappy when I realized the only drinks available to purchase were the drinks sold under the Dr. Pepper banner. Needless to say, that group of carbonated drinks made by that company is even worse than those offered by Pepsi. Actually, my loyalty to Coke is more in the line of a harmless hobby. That being said, I truly dislike Dr. Pepper, and I spent the whole game suffering with Diet Dr. Pepper and wishing I could have a Diet Pepsi. My life is a little needlessly complicated.

Still a good week

Notwithstanding the contents of this column, I had a pretty good week. Set aside the exit of Betty Ann from my life, and the other two issues are pretty minor. I’ll miss her voice on the other end of the phone, and it’s hard to imagine the prosecutor’s office will ever be able to completely replace her. That’s the way it is with one-of-a-kind people like Betty Ann. You can never really replace them in your life, but you can certainly be thankful you were lucky enough to have even known them. I count myself as one of the lucky ones to have gotten to know Betty Ann.

They say it’s better to be lucky than it is to be good. In this case, “they” are correct. It’s something we should all remember, especially those of us way up in the CHEAP SEATS!

Bill James is a co-founder of the James Law Firm with offices in Little Rock, Conway and Fayetteville, Arkansas. His primary area of practice is criminal defense.  He can be contacted at  Bill@JamesFirm.com