Talking politics and swimming with sharks

A few weeks after the Nov. 6, 2012 general election, I mentioned that the Fourth District voters of Arkansas showed signs of intelligent life by electing Tom Cotton to the U.S. House of Representatives.

In a Dec. 4, 2012 column entitled "Tom Cotton meet Brad Wenstrup," I offered that Mr. Cotton, of Dardanelle in Yell County, Ark., ought to meet Ohio Second District Rep. Brad Wenstrup. After all, both freshman lawmakers are Bronze Star recipients for their respective military service in the Mideast. (By now, I'm sure they've met.)

Mr. Cotton is a Harvard-educated attorney. He's also an Iraq-Afghanistan war veteran and a marathon runner. His military decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Ranger Tab, Combat Infantryman Badge, Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, and Iraq Campaign Medal.

Prior to their oaths of office, both men had more military and private-sector experience than the second-term commander in chief and erstwhile community organizer.

Last week, Congressman Cotton announced that he is running for the U.S. Senate. I hope he wins. 

A friend – who knows that I do not own a cell phone nor do I follow anyone on Twitter – forwarded Cotton's announcement in an email while I was on vacation. (Thanks, Brian.)

An Aug. 10 poll shows the race (between Cotton and Democrat Sen. Mark Pryor) to be a virtual dead heat. Arkansas would make national news by electing Cotton, a conservative, 36-year-old Republican.

Attorney Cliff Smith writes in The Daily Caller (http://dailycaller.com): "A Republican as impressive as Cotton represents a mortal threat to the Democrats' ability to maintain control of the Senate. Polls show Pryor is in deep trouble.

"Cotton has been one of the most assertive voices for a hawkish foreign policy. Running for his current seat in Congress, one of his favorite slogans was 'No matter what the state of the economy, the first responsibility of the federal government is to keep America safe.'"

Indeed.

When the first-term congressman made his senatorial announcement last week, his father, a Vietnam War veteran, introduced him. Cotton also mentioned that his dad has been the voice of the Dardanelle Sand Lizards football team for 25 years and his mother has taught in the school district for 40 years. In other words, he comes from pretty good stock.

"Some say I haven’t been in Washington long enough to run for Senate," Cotton said during the public announcement. "But I’ve been there long enough to know Washington has to change. I don’t have a lot of seniority in Washington. I don’t think that’s a bad thing these days. But I have served you in a different way in faraway places. Because of that, I can see that Washington isn’t serving you today.

"The politicians and bureaucrats there are playing a corrupt game. They take your money and they waste it on big-government programs that empower and enrich them while not serving you. They boss you around and they act like they’re your betters. They hand out special privileges and favors – to whom? To the politically connected and the crony capitalists who bend the power of government for their own private gain. That’s why seven of the 10 wealthiest counties in the country are in the Washington, D.C. area."

Cotton wrapped up his speech by saying: "I’ll put it very simply: Do you agree with Barack Obama 90 percent of the time? If so, Mark Pryor is your man. If not, stand with me in this election and I’ll stand with Arkansas in the United States Senate."

If Cotton is to have any chance of upsetting Pryor in 2014, this is exactly the message he'll need to convey. That, and withstand the inevitable political attacks. But that's politics, whether it's Arkansas or Washington or the Buckeye State.

* * *

Did I mention that I was on vacation last week?

Other than the Cotton for Senate news, I can't think of much in the way of politics that crossed my mind while I wandered aimlessly up and down Atlantic Beach and kayaked around the Beaufort harbor.

All right, I'll admit that I read with interest the news that Dick Donley will serve the remainder of former Hillsboro City Councilman Dave Shoemaker's term. And that Justin Harsha, son of former Mayor Sandy Harsha, will be on the Nov. 5 ballot for city council.

Both are good moves for not only the Republican Party but, more importantly, for the city.

The local GOP made the best of a rather unfortunate situation by moving these two community-minded men forward in local government participation.

* * *

Back to my vacation story. Two things I learned on this trip that I didn't know.

First, there's a Millers Chapel Road in Goldsboro, N.C.

Being familiar with Highland County's Millers Chapel Road for more than 40 years, I found it interesting that when I stopped to buy a copy of the News Argus for one of its former editors, HCP columnist Steve Roush, I was at the intersection of Route 70 and Millers Chapel Road.

Second, some people have no problem swimming and surfing near blacktip sharks around the Bogue Inlet Pier. I am not one of these people.

While we watched Jerry Smith of Maysville, N.C. land a 17-pound, six-ounce king mackerel, (Joe Coats of Hubert, N.C. later caught a 36-pounder), we also watched three or four sharks making their way back and forth below the pier. One fisherman estimated one of the sharks to be around 80 pounds.

No more than 100 yards away, dozens of people were swimming and surfing.

I asked a local angler about this. "The sharks want fish and there's plenty of fish around the pier," he said. "If we run out of fish, I guess they'll look at the swimmers."

That's about as comforting as a stiletto in the lower back on a Saturday night.

In reading about blacktop sharks, I noticed that fish make up 90 percent of their diet. It's that other 10 percent that I'm not so sure about.

Lastly, I'm happy to report that the Monkey Bar and Grill is still alive and well, nestled between a Food Lion grocery store and a local pizzeria, along North Carolina's 300 miles of Atlantic coastline. I always like to try and improve the Monkey Bar's bottom line just a little. This year was no different.

It's good to be home. It's also good to know that the only way Pat Hays gets his photo in our paper is for me to go on vacation!

Rory Ryan is publisher of The Highland County Press.