Natural State News

The numbers just don’t add up.

That is the view of Jacque Martin, Arkansas' Convention of States director. She said the modest number of people infected with COVID-19, the impressive rate of recovery and the relatively small number of deaths just don’t justify the shutdown.

There have been 33,986 coronavirus tests administered in Arkansas, a state legislator told her on Friday. Of that total, 2,829 people tested positive and 46 people died.

Jacque Martin | Arkansas Convention of States

She said there are 101 people hospitalized and 24 on ventilators. There is no waiting list for care, no overcrowded hospitals. In fact, the hospitals are furloughing workers and delaying medical procedures.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson has not issued a shelter-in-place order. He ordered the closure of some businesses deemed nonessential and allowed mayors and other local officials to make stricter rules.

Martin said she appreciates that.

“I am currently working on an email blast to our Arkansas COS members to email and thank Gov. Asa Hutchinson for using restraint on the restrictions he placed on the citizens of the state during the COVID-19 crisis," she told Natural State News. “We are also encouraging him to open the state up for business on May 1. He is suggesting a timid approach.”

That approach includes allowing restaurant dine-in service on April 29, opening gyms/exercise facilities on April 30, beauty salons and barber shops on May 1 and places of worship and larger indoor venues on May 4.

“Texas Gov. Abbott is opening Texas on May 1,” Martin said. “Most of the states surrounding Arkansas have no state income tax making it very difficult for Arkansas to compete for business. We need to open the same day as Texas to remain competitive. We will be urging the governor to open up the state so that our small business owners have a fighting chance to survive.”

She has other concerns as well.

“Who’s feeding the children?” Martin asked. “We’ve shut down all the schools.”

Assisted by volunteers, the schools have stepped up, Martin said, and are providing weekday meals for kids along with backpacks filled with food to get them through. She said the fast-food coupons being made available are not not ideal, but they are better than nothing at all.

She said that is very much the Arkansas way.

“We are very service-oriented people here in Arkansas,” she said. “We help each other out.”

But it’s also a state with widespread economic problems.

“We’ve always been a very economically oppressed state,” Martin said. “I blame the Democrats, who ruled us for more than a century after Reconstruction.”

Now, with people huddled at home and very little economic activity, she worries about the future for businesses. She is concerned many stores in her community will not reopen.

Martin lives in Heber Springs, which like many Arkansas communities, relies on tourism to boost its economy. But tourists might not come this year, especially if the Greers Ferry Lake campgrounds remain closed.

A popular recreation spot for locals and tourists, the lake has more than 30,000 acres of water surface and 18 parks. All campgrounds are closed until at least May 31.

Martin said she knows people are frightened and apprehensive.

“Are there people here scared to death and afraid to peep out of their house?” she asked rhetorically. “Absolutely.”

But she strongly feels it is time to emerge from homes and resume normal activity. It will help build herd immunity and actually save lives.

Martin said people need to work and make money to survive.

“Poverty will kill more than the virus will,” she said. “I think this whole thing has been totally mishandled. I don’t think the government’s going to get away with this for very much longer.”

Former state director Randy Alexander, who now serves as the COS legislative liaison, concurs with her assessment.

“The only other way to fix Washington, D.C., apart from a revolution, which is completely unnecessary, is a Convention of States,” Alexander said.

He has been with COS for six years, and also represented District 88 in the state legislature from 2013-14. He sought the Republican nomination for a senate seat in 2010.

“Mr. Alexander and I believe that the only way to fix what is wrong with Washington, D.C., is to use the tool provided to us in Article V of the U.S. Constitution, a convention of states,” Martin said. “DC is not going to fix itself.”

Martin has been involved in grassroots organizations for many years. She joined COS two years ago and was named state director a year ago, as she played a key role in persuading the Arkansas Legislature to adopt a resolution supporting Convention of States.

Martin, 64, worked for 17 years as a human resource generalist and 28 years as a systems analyst and project manager. She is now retired.

A widow with three children and 10 grandchildren, Martin said her family is one reason she joined COS.

“I am very concerned with the debt and now even more so,” she said. “I'm concerned that the liberties that I've always enjoyed won't be available for my grandchildren and that they will be overwhelmed by the debt our country is burdened with.”

Alexander, 68, married with a son and three grandchildren, is also retired. He worked as a consultant, was a small business owner and was director of housing at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.