Artist Donnie Pitchford had an idea to make the idea of sponsorships more appealing — sponsors who give at least $50 will receive some original artwork from the series. That’s right — even a small donation of $50 will net you some of the original gorgeous artwork which has made the comic strip so appealing. If you’re a Lum and Abner fan that’s looking for a unique keepsake, here’s your chance to pick up something that’s authentic and more than a bit rare.

Enticing? We hope so. Ah, but wait — there’s more. All sponsors will get either a text link or banner ad on both the sponsorship page and the main comic strip page. That’s right — if you want to get in front of old time radio fans in general and Lum and Abner fans in particular, that’s an effective way to do it.

What kind of artwork are we talking about? Check out the comic strips to see what donors can receive. Bear in mind, we’re not talking about the full-color artwork, but the black and white originals. However, sponsors can pick any strip they want on a first-come, first-served basis. So, reserve your favorite today. As for the sponsorships, click here to see the different donation levels and what is available for each one.

Any questions? Send an email to ethan@firstarkansasnews.net and you’ll find the PayPal link for donations here.

Why is this series important? Because Lum and Abner is an Arkansas institution. Those two boys from Mena have had a major impact on the Natural State and we’re proud to run a comic strip that we hope honors them suitably.The artist on the series is Donald Pitchford, who is both a fan of the team and the president of the National Lum and Abner Society. He’s been submitting one comic per week since the first of June and, fortunately, has agreed to give another year of his time to this project.

If you don’t know about those old time radio stars and their impact on the Natural State, just click here and you can learn all about them. If you’ve not seen our comic strips, just click here and have a look.

Now, here’s the deal. We simply can’t continue this series if we don’t pay for the rights to use the characters. The copyright on the characters is held by the family of Chester Lauck (a.k.a. Lum) and First Arkansas News has agreed to compensate the family for permission to run the strip. The bulk of that money is raised through sponsorships — without those contributions, we’ll not be able to keep the strip going.

So, yes, we’re asking for sponsorships. We got quite a few of those last year and they made the difference — without them, we’d have no comic strip. What does a sponsor get? A dandy ad on this site that will be seen by Lum and Abner fans around the world. We’ll have the same sponsorship page that we’ve had all along and, this year, will add banner ads to the most current comic strip page so they will impossible to miss.

For more details about sponsorships, click here. You’ll find out more about the various levels and what benefits come with each. If you’re ready to make a donation, the PayPal link is open and you can click here to send that money on over.

Again, if you want to see the strip continue, we do hope you’ll consider a donation. It doesn’t have to be a large one, either, so please consider giving what you can afford.

We’ve seen the federal government bail out banks and attempt to remedy bogus foreclosure practices. We’ve watched the government put tax credits in place for home buyers and regulate the appraisal process in an attempt to make sure home values aren’t exaggerated. There have also been some attempts to help out home owners who are at risk of going into default.

Still, U.S. News and World Report said in April that 4 million home owners have lost their homes through foreclosure over the past few years and that 11 million Americans now owe more than their homes are worth.

How can those home owners be helped? The federal government has taken a look at the issue of principal reduction over the past few years. The notion, of course, is that reducing how much a person owes on a house will result in more affordable payments, thus leading to fewer defaults and less foreclosures.

There are, of course, some federal programs in place designed to achieve the goal of principal reduction. Take the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), which is available to people owing more than their homes are worth and is available only to people with loans backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

What about the 40 percent of Americans without mortgages underwritten by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac? The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), which is different from HARP in that it doesn’t allow for principal reduction. It can, however, lead to lower interest rates for even home owners without loans backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

The end result of those programs? Foreclosure rates are still high and there are 11 million home owners who owe more than their homes are worth. The programs, then, have fallen short of the goal of significantly reversing the trend which finds home owners paying more than their homes are worth and getting in over their heads on mortgages.

Principal reduction is a straightforward concept, but putting it in place is difficult. The problem, of course, is that the institutions holding loans are asked to accept less money than they would if underwater home buyers pay what they owe under the mortgages.

Is the federal government supposed to compensate those lenders? If so, are taxpayers supposed to come up with that cash at a time when the government is heavily in debt and feeling pressured to slash costs?

Another problem has to do with who is helped. One can argue that there are two groups of home owners in trouble – those who were able to handle their mortgages just fine until they hit an economic roadblock such as losing a job and those who simply took out risky loans and should have known they’d run in trouble down the road. Do both groups deserve help?

The point of all this is that risk reduction is a sticky subject and it has been for a few years now. That issue might not get the most attention, but it’s an important one that could potentially impact millions of home owners.

Home Sweet Home is written by Ethan C. Nobles and is sent weekly to publications throughout the Natural State on behalf of the Mortgage Bankers Association of Arkansas.

With that language firmly in place, what followed was predictable — the Church resisted efforts to allow pastors to marry homosexual couples and consent to ordination of gay clergy. For the record, the Book of Discipline contains the rules and regulations for the United Methodist Church. The denomination has about 8 million members worldwide and is the largest mainline protestant denomination in the United States. Every four yeas, the United Methodists hold a General Conference to discuss changing the book of discipline, and the most recent conference wrapped up on May 4 in Tampa, Fla.

The aforementioned language in the Book of Discipline has been debated by Methodists since it was put in place in 1972. Challenges to it are nothing new, but demands from groups against that language were stronger this year than in the past, perhaps because of an increased acceptance of homosexuality around the nation.

Bear in mind that United Methodists are trending more conservative, and that has been blamed on Africa. Yes, it seems that the denomination is declining in the U.S. and growing in Africa — African Methodists have been described as more conservative (some might claim they adhere strictly to Biblical tenets). Those African Methodists, it is argued, are gaining more influence within the denomination and, thus, are voting against embracing homosexuality.

The lines in this battle, then, are clearly drawn and the sad fact is the Church is in a terrible position. There was no decision it could have made at the General Conference that wouldn’t have offended one group or another at a fundamental level.

The fight on this issue centers on both social norms and scripture. The scriptures on this point are clear enough — 1 Corinthians 6:9, Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, and Romans 1:24-32, for example, do condemn homosexuality. Reformers, however, point out flaws in translation, the Church’s willingness to accept divorce and adultery and other ways the Church has deviated from a strict interpretation as scripture as proof that the United Methodists should change their stance on homosexuality. Indeed, some have gone so far that using the Bible to condemn homosexuality is akin to the past practice of using scripture to justify slavery and racism.

The problem the Church faces is a potential split regardless of what view it holds on homosexuality. Should it accept homosexuality, will we see conservatives leave for other denominations? Or will conservative Methodist churches break from the denomination and form their own conference? Remember, the Presbyterians voted last year to remove their prohibition against gay clergy, and the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians was put together by conservative Presbyterians as a result. That group has been picking up conservative churches since then, thus splitting the denomination and arguably weakening its impact.

The Episcopalians have been going through the same painful process, and one might argue that the United Methodists are gearing up for a split regardless of how the Church views homosexuality. You’ve got the conservative Confessing Movement out to preserve what it views as traditional Biblical tenets on one side of the aisle while the Reconciling Ministries Network is on the other and openly accepting homosexuals.

It seems there is no such thing as a workable compromise on this issue. Both sides are convinced that they know the Biblical truth about homosexuality and won’t be convinced otherwise. Quite simply, you won’t convince people who are so convinced they are right to back down from their positions one whit.

Methodists will continue to brawl over this issue and the unity of the denomination will suffer for it. That’s a shame.

For those who haven’t been following the 2012 United Methodist General Conference, proposals have been made for the worldwide group to change its stances on, specifically, homosexual clergy members and gay marriage. Central to the conflict is the Book of Discipline, the document which provides the rules and regulations to United Methodist churches. In 1972, language was added to the Book of Discipline that declares homosexuality to be incompatible with Christian doctrine and church policies have been molded in that light.

Every four years, the United Methodists meet to discuss changes to the Book of Discipline and related issues. This year, the General Conference started on April 24 in Tampa, Fla., and committee reports will be discussed this week.

The Confessing Movement Within the United Methodist Church — a decidedly conservative group — has been keeping up with the day-t0-day goings on during the conference. Click here to track issues as reported by the Confessing Movement.

Saturday (April 28) was a noteworthy day in the General Conference as committee reports were presented. Those recommendations will be discussed by the General Conference this week, but the reports do lean conservative. Some of the more notable reports are as follows:

* A resolution to withdraw the United Methodist Church from the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice has passed and is headed for discussion at the conference.

* A petition cleared committee that, if passed, will only allow active bishops on the Council of Bishops. Why? It seems there are some who claim retired bishops have been disruptive, pushing for reforms such as a change in the Church’s stance on homosexuality.

* Speaking of homosexuality, a petition to remove language from the Book of Discipline declaring homosexuality to be incompatible with Christian teachings failed to pass committee. A fight is brewing over this issue as that policy is instrumental in the Church’s stance on same-sex marriage, gay clergy, etc.

* The definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman has been affirmed.

These issues, and more, will be debated through Friday. Regardless, it does appear conservative movements are prevailing thus far. Stay tuned…

The 2012 General Conference started on April 24 in Tampa, Fla., and there are available some early reports on the issues surrounding the conference. Perhaps the most controversial issues in this conference (and, indeed, the last one, the one before that, etc.) has to do with the Church’s stance on homosexuality. The United Methodist Church views homosexuality as incompatible with Christian doctrine, meaning gay marriages are not endorsed, gay clergy that are not celibate are excluded from the ministry and groups such as Reconciling Ministries Network have charged the policy runs counter to the Church’s stance as an inclusive organization.

There are, then, attempts to change the Church’s stance on homosexuality. Committee reports started coming in Saturday and the Confessing Movement reports that early attempts at reform look none to promising. Bear in mind that all committee reports will be debated in plenary sections starting Monday before the General Conference votes on them.

However, committees so far have not approved petitions to change the definition of marriage as anything but a union between a man and a woman and legislation that would allow each Annual Conference to decide whether to allow its churches to perform same sex marriages was defeated in committee. That policy, if adopted, would allow for regional churches to determine whether same sex marriages were acceptable, thus freeing individual conferences from worldwide Church doctrine.

Meanwhile, it is uncertain at this point whether a petition removing the phrase declaring homosexuality to be incompatible with Christian doctrine from the Book of Discipline (the document which provides the rules and structure to the Church) will gain any traction in the 2012 Conference. Also, both a petition calling for a study of transgenderism and one removing a prohibition against using church money to advance homosexual charges failed.

To keep up with the issues in the conference, go here for the Confessing Movement’s take on things, here for the official Conference site or here for updates from The United Methodist reporter.

The CFPB plans to finalize those rules in January. To get an idea of the extent of those rules and what the CFPB hopes to achieve by implementing them, point your favorite Internet browser to tinyurl.com/7dgym6p.

A mortgage servicer, of course, collects payments from a borrower on behalf of the original owner of the loan. If you took out a mortgage at a local bank but make payments to another institution, you are dealing with a mortgage servicer. Over the past few years, questions about practices of servicers, concerns over high foreclosure rates and the general shakiness of mortgage markets have led to the development of the proposed rules.

“The mortgage servicing rules we are considering reflect two basic, common-sense principles – no surprises and no runarounds,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray in a news release. “For too long, mortgage servicers have not been held accountable to their customers, and the result has been profoundly punishing to homeowners in distress. It’s time to put the ‘service’ back in mortgage servicing.”

The national Mortgage Bankers Association had some input on the proposed rules and the group will stay involved in the process.

“National standards that apply to all residential loan servicers have the potential to create more confidence and certainty in the real estate market for both borrowers and servicers alike,” Mortgage Bankers Association President David H. Stevens said in statement. “Borrowers would be protected by a single standard regardless of where they live and servicers would have one set of rules to comply with everywhere they operate.

“The reforms that Director Cordray outlined appear to closely track the issues we have talked to him and the CFPB staff about and MBA looks forward to working with the CFPB and other policymakers and stakeholders to ensure that the process used to develop the standards includes servicers of different sizes and business models.

What are some of the new rules? A partial list follows:

? Clear monthly mortgage statements. The CFPB has proposed statements that tell borrowers how much they are paying in principal and interest, late fee warnings, options for borrowers who are delinquent, etc.

? Warning of future interest rate increases. Under this rule, borrowers would learn of changes to interest rates in advance and estimates of how much their future mortgage payments should be.

? Alternatives to foreclosure. If a borrower is at risk of losing a home through foreclosure, a servicer will be obliged to provide information about the foreclosure process and alternatives to it.

There are also proposed rules requiring servicers to deal with errors quickly, apply payments to accounts immediately and keep records accessible to borrowers and any staffers working on assisting people behind in their loan payments.

It remains to be seen what final rules will come out of the process and, indeed, if they achieve the stated goals of helping borrowers keep informed about their mortgages. The CFPB has been working on a standard set of rules for some time now, and those will continue to evolve. It’s well worth keeping an eye on how the process develops in the months to come.

Home Sweet Home is written by Ethan C. Nobles and is sent weekly to publications throughout the Natural State on behalf of the Mortgage Bankers Association of Arkansas.

Yes, the photo to the left identifies Smith as the new head coach for Weber State. We’ll get to that in a minute.

For those who aren’t familiar with Arkansas or have been living under a rock since the first of the month, here’s a recap of what led to this hire. Petrino — head coach of the Razorbacks since he replaced Houston Nutt in December 2007 — got into a motorcycle wreck on April Fool’s Day.

Petrino said he was alone on that motorcycle, but that turned out to not be the case. No, he was motoring through Madison County with his alleged paramour, Jessica Dorrell. It turned out the 51-year-old coach was instrumental in securing a job with the UA football program for his 25-year-old girlfriend just a few days prior to the accident and had done a number of inappropriate things, too. He was fired on April 10 and Dorrell left her job a few days later. You can read about the whole sordid mess here and marvel a bit over what Petrino accomplished with the UA football program, too.

So, that brings us to today when UA Athletic Director Jeff Long confirmed that Smith has been hired as interim head coach on a 10-month contract. So, who is this cat? He has been a head coach at Idaho, Utah, Louisville and Michigan State and was in charge of special teams at Arkansas from 2009-2011.

In December, he left Arkansas and accepted the job as head coach of Weber State — his alma mater. That job didn’t last long, of course, as Smith has accepted the interim head coach post at Arkansas. Long, in the aforementioned statement, said the coaching search will continue and the UA expects to name a head coach after the 2012 season.

Got an opinion on the Smith hire? Head on over to the forums at Hogville.net, register for a free account and jump right into the fray.

For the purposes of this report, the major markets are located in the 14 counties of central Arkansas, the Fort Smith area, the Jonesboro area and northwest Arkansas. About 70 to 75 percent of the homes sold in Arkansas are in those combined four areas.

Through March, sales closed on 3,675 homes in those areas — up from 3,521 in the first quarter last year. The first quarter sales are also ahead of those in 2010 and 2009, but 11 percent down from sales in 2008. The first quarter, then, falls right in line with a projection by State Economic Forecaster Michael Pakko, who predicted that real estate markets in Arkansas will improve this year compared to 2011. He pointed out, however, that 2011 is one of the worst years on record for real estate sales.

The full report appears at The City Wire in Fort Smith. Click here to see it.

On Tuesday night, University of Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long fired Bobby Petrino, the man who succeeded Houston Nutt as head football coach in 2007. Petrino built the UA football program into a competitive Southeaster Conference (SEC) team over the past four seasons. The team compiled a 21-5 record over the past two seasons and, last year, lost to only LSU and Alabama — the two top teams in the nation which went on to duke it out for the national championship. The Hogs beat Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl last year and finished the season ranked fifth in the nation.

What led to Petrino’s downfall? You can read the sordid details here. It is, however, worth mentioning a few high points in this story which Arkansans have followed intently over the past couple of weeks.

Dorrell

The whole mess started on April Fool’s day when Petrino was injured in a motorcycle accident in Madison County. At the time, Petrino said he was alone in the wreck, but that turned out to not be the case. No, the 51-year-old Petrino was tooling around Madison County with his mistress, 25-year-old Jessica Dorrell. Yes, it is appropriate to call Dorrell the mistress of the 51-year-old, married father of four because, well, it turns out that is accurate.

Yes, Petrino said he was alone in that motorcycle accident, but a police report says different and that fact was revealed after the coach made a public statement swearing he was by himself. Some other facts have come out over the past week or so. Here’s a fun fact worth mentioning — when Petrino was hired in December 2007, Dorrell was still in her senior year at the UA (she was a star volleyball player). Here are some more intriguing facts — Dorrell was named football student-athlete development coordinator on March 28. She was hired by Petrino to the position and the former coach, at one point, gave her $20,000.

In short, it seems Petrino was giving cash and a job to his girlfriend and refused to come clean about his conflict of interest in hiring Dorrell or even his affair with her. Long said he canned Petrino “for cause” under the former coach’s contract, and that means Petrino won’t receive his $18 million buyout. He was, by the way, making $3.56 million a year at the UA.

"Oh no! We suck again!"

To sum all of this up, Arkansas is without a winning head football coach, the UA is embarrassed, Petrino is releasing statements about the need to “heal his family” and one can only guess what will happen to Dorrell. Razorbacks fans, of course, are wondering what will happen to a beloved program for which the university rightly has high hopes in the coming season.

To understand how bad things are, one must realize that Arkansas had struggled in football since joining the SEC in 1992. Fans put up with a consistent cellar dwelling team which improved to fair-to-middling in 10 seasons under Nutt. The team  became a legitimate contender in the league under Petrino and few Arkansans — if any — are overly interested in watching the team revert to what it was before Petrino came to town.

One can only hope the UA has a solid plan to replace Petrino. I wonder how happy Gus Malzahn is at Arkansas State University?