Song of Nature

Long-time resident Henri David Thorough, sleeping in after a late night of pond gazing, jerked awake in the bedroom of his Bella Vista home. Bleary-eyed, he wondered what roused him from such a hard sleep.

A burglar?

The cat?

The bean burrito he had at midnight?

Then he heard it: The roar of a chainsaw. Thorough bolted from the room, clumsily trying to hold his nightcap on his tousle of hair, threw open the French doors to his deck, and stepped outside. To his horror, he saw a giant pine tree begin to lean.

"Timber!" came the cry as the sawyer stepped back to proudly watch the tree fall, the tip coming within six inches of the soda can he'd placed a few minutes earlier to mark the spot where he thought the tree tip would land. "Everybody's gonna buy my supper tonight, boys!" he proclaimed to the rest of the crew. "Nobody'll get closer than that."

"What's going on?!?" Thorough yelled down into the hollow.

The sawyer's reply shocked Thorough to the core. Rattled his bones.

"What do you mean the POA is cutting down all the trees on common property???!!!!????" Thorough bellowed.

"They been talking about it for months, from what I hear," the sawyer replied. "My boss told me the POA's new general manager -- what's his name, Paul? -- Ah, let's see -- Paul, can you remember it?"

"Tom, I think it's Møt Nøsdüj -- a Norwegian guy," Bunion said as he rubbed his left foot.

"Yeah! Nøsdüj! The board approved his plan to cut down all the trees on common property," Tom, the sawyer, said.

Thorough, for the first time in his life, was speechless. Not the sound-of-silence type of speechless. The speechless that happens when every word in the English language tries to come out of a budding poet's mouth at the same exact instant. There's sound, but it's not speech.

Thorough, still in his nightclothes, hopped on his bike and pedaled furiously to the Country Club to track down this Nøsdüj. Just as Thorough entered the building and demanded to see Nøsdüj, the man walked around the corner.

"What's the problem?" Nøsdüj asked.

"You're cutting down all the trees!" Thorough blasted.

Nøsdüj, pondered the situation, asked Thorough if he ever attends the POA meetings, reads the weekly e-mail blasts, or even subscribes to the old-school method of keeping up with what's going on in Bella Vista -- The Weekly Vista.

"What does that matter?" Thorough asked.

"We've discussed this for six months. Why, we've not been able to get an assessment increase passed since 2001. That's 30 years. We've sold all but one golf course, Riordan Hall collapsed this spring like those buildings on Pine Bluff's Main Street did back in 2014, the Kingsdale milk herd's drunk the swimming pool dry.

"We've got to have some money, so we figured all those trees on common property have a lot of value. We're cutting them down and selling them for lumber," Nøsdüj said. "The board thought it was a brilliant idea to keep the POA afloat."

Thorough's eyes darted left, then right, then left again.

His eyes popped open and he stared at the ceiling. Was he even breathing?

He shook his head, his loose cheeks making that goofy cartoon sound.

He sat straight up in bed, listening for a chainsaw. All he heard was the sound of a blue jay at the bird feeder.

He bolted for the back deck, ignoring his night cap as it fell to the floor. Flinging open the door, he stepped out into the beautiful sunrise and looked up. The towering pine tree stood proudly where it's been growing since before the Battle of Pea Ridge. A slight movement below startled him -- surely it was one of those two guys, Tom the sawyer or Bunion the skid-loader operator. Two deer calmly snacked on white oak acorns in the yard.

Slapping his face a couple times, Thorough went back inside, amazed at the vividness of his dream. Or, he asked himself, was it a nightmare?

"Must have been the midnight burrito," he said to himself as he scratched his long, wispy dark beard.

Sitting down at the kitchen table, Thorough spied the envelope he'd tossed in the trash the day before. Thankful it had not been hauled away, he reached down. Pulling it out, his rough, weathered fingers felt the paper as his eyes scanned the words. Grabbing a pen and dipping it into an ink well, Thorough checked both "Yes" boxes on the POA's assessment increase ballot.

• • •

Thankfully, that scenario is fiction.

But we write it to point out those against the assessment increase might get what they want. Start closing amenities to save money -- amenities you're not interested in -- and one day your ox may be the one being gored.

There are more opinions on the proposed assessment increase than there are people in Bella Vista.

Some reasons are valid, while others, well, let's just say are grasping at straws at best, and delusions at worst.

It is a highly charged, emotional issue.

Watching Facebook posts, we've been amazed at the level of misinformation and mistrust. Most shocking of all is the number of people who say they didn't know they had to pay POA assessments as part of buying a house here. People need to pay attention to all those documents they're signing at closing.

We believe there are two big issues driving the againsters -- distrust of the POA Board of Directors and ignorance/apathy about the POA.

Because you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink, both issues are difficult to change.

One thing the POA board CAN change is to stop meeting in secret so much. Yes, the POA is a private corporation, but -- come on, guys and gals -- this is not the Walmart board, with trade secrets to protect. To win over the membership, meet in secret only when it's necessary -- for contract negotiations, lawsuit strategy and employee issues. Get everything else out in the open. Doing so might make it a bit hard to govern, but it might make it easier for the members to be governed.

The one thing the board cannot change, we fear, is the ignorance and apathy aspect. We have no solid suggestions to offer, other than to over communicate everything.

• • •

Where does this discussion lead?

To one of three conclusions: Our suggestion to vote "Yes," our suggestion to vote "No," or our suggestion to simply toss the ballot in the trash.

The Rejuvenation Plan developed by chief operation officer Tom Judson's staff is a solid one. Our one criticism is that the redevelopment of Riordan Hall complete with a water park (not a swimming pool) should move to the front of the list. Yes, it's expensive, but we'll venture that nearly every house in the village was purchased by borrowing money. So, too, should the POA recognize that developing amenities more attractive to young families is much like a house -- borrow the money and build it.

We believe that the Rejuvenation Plan is solid, that the numbers are good projections of cost, and the ideas put forth are well researched and planned.

The money is an investment in the future, just like painting your house and replacing the roof.

We encourage property owners to vote "Yes" on both issues.

Editorial on 09/21/2016