ALL THUMBS

Appearing each Saturday, "All Thumbs" is The Benton County Daily Record's
take on the people and events deserving a "thumbs up" for a noteworthy
accomplishment or good deed, or a "thumbs down" for damaging conduct or
boneheaded buffoonery:

Thumbs down to the city of Bentonville for its lack of planning ahead for
fireworks for the city's Independence Day celebration.

Make no mistake, the night sky over Memorial Park will be aglow come July
4. With the help of donat tions from the Walton Foundation and the
Bentonville Advertising and Promotion Commission, the city purchased
$22,000 worth of fireworks from Arkansas Pyrotechnic Products.

This action only came, however, after the ordinance authorizing the
purchase waived competitive bidding and declared an emergency. The state
fire marshal, it seems, needed the fireworks proposal immediately.

Hence, Bentonville taxpayers were denied the possible fiscal benefits of
competitive bidding because the city procrastinated in its Independence Day
planning. It's hard to figure out how the holiday snuck up on them. After
all, the Fourth of July lands on July 4 every year -- even in leap years.

Thumbs up to the students, troop members and business people who honored
Earth Week by picking up trash, promoting or initiating recycling programs,
planting trees or performing some other form of environmental stewardship.

From the second annual Northwest Arkansas Community College Cleanup Day
held Monday to the Bag-A-Thon scheduled to be held in Rogers today, Benton
County men and women, boys and girls, have honored Earth Week by caring for
the environment. This has been particularly true of students in area
schools. We are pleased our educators are teaching about the importance of
being environmentally conscious. Carrying this spirit throughout the year
was made easier by another event this week: the opening of the new Bella
Vista recycling center Wednesday at 400 Pinion Bluff Road. We hope many
residents of nearby communities will take advantage of the facility.

Thumbs down to the lack of younger, stronger folks willing to volunteer
their time at Helping Hands.

This isn't anything new. The Daily Record has reported on numerous
occasions the need for volunteers able to unload the heavier donations. Yet
the problem persists. The organization is blessed with numerous older
volunteers, but could really use a boost from the younger community on a
regular basis. Whether it's a one-time youth group or churchwide activity
by an area congregation, or a committed volunteer willing to regularly
pitch in, we encourage people to call Vicki Rivera at 273-2511 to arrange
to help meet this need.

Thumbs up to the success of many area prep teams and individuals in spring
sports -- like the Bentonville Tigers baseball team, which swept a
doubleheader on Wednesday against the state's top-ranked team,
Russellville. When the new rankings are released Sunday, the Tigers should
find themselves a deserving No. 1.

Tiger teams also performed well on the tennis courts. The Lady Tigers set
themselves apart at the state tournament after winning their conference
championships, while the boys team also went to state after sharing the
conference championship. Across I-540, Rogers sports a number of postseason
contenders. The Mounties baseball team is fifth in the state, and the Lady
Mounties softball squad is closing in on another conference championship.
Meanwhile, the Lady Mounties soccer team is competing in regionals.

In golf, the Rogers team and individuals John Ross Holt and Alexia Smith of
Rogers and Chris Dale of Bentonville all made it to state, with Holt
earning AAAAA West conference champion honors along the way. Elsewhere in
the county, Gentry's baseball team is headed to regionals, as is Gravette's
softball team -- in only its second year of existence -- for the second
year in a row. In Pea Ridge, both the baseball and softball teams are
headed to regionals, as No. 4 and No. 2 seeds, respectively.
Congratulations and best of luck to all of Benton County's postseason
contenders.

Thumbs down to the limited scope of the Bentonville School District Policy
Committee's drug-testing debate on Monday. At issue was "shalls," "mays"
and "nopes" -- all classifications placed on groups of employees gauging
whether they would be drug tested.

"We need to say 'shall' for bus drivers and say that we 'may' test someone
if we need to," Superintendent Gary Compton said at the meeting, adding the
"may" provision for other district employees who drive school vehicles.

We wonder why the district doesn't expand the "shalls" to include every
single employee of the district. Sure, the law only requires the testing of
bus drivers, but why not drug test everyone when they are first hired and
then employ random drug screening from that point forward. Such a policy is
nearly standard in private industry. Private employees working with
everything from chimichangas to chickens are required to undergo drug
screening. Why don't we mandate the same for those working with our kids.