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This isn't big news to country folks, or even those in the hills and hollows of western Little Rock, but I had small surprise this morning when I walked out my front door -- a doe and fawn were nibbling on my lawn. They eyeballed me briefly before bounding into the woods of Knoop Park, which surrounds the Ozark Point water treatment plant in Hillcrest.

Another Arkie angle in today's newspapers: A feature in the NY Times magazine on reality shows about big families and websites that talk about them feature -- naturally -- Tontitown, Ark.'s, Duggar clan -- mom and pop and 17 kids and one more on the way. It's a friendly piece for the most part.

True, sweet-natured Michelle advocates a program of deference to Jim Bob’s authority, though she’ll draw the line when she sees fit. (When Jim Bob asked her to brandish for the cameras a positive pregnancy test, presumably still stained with her urine, she declined.) Together, it seems, they have built a family like a company. Online, you can find the Duggars’ recipes, marvel at their demanding daily schedule and study their home-schooling curriculum. Furthermore, on the Duggars’ site you can “Welcome Jennifer!” (No. 17), and on the Web site for Discovery Health, which produces the Duggar-related shows and specials, you can propose names for her imminent sibling in a survey called “Pick a Name for Baby No. 18.”

John Brummett, in his national column that is published in Arkansas on Mondays, wasn't too impressed by Mike Huckabee's high-minded appeal in Japan that Republicans not demonize Barack Obama.

The big Conway announcement, says Brummett:

"Great, if not spectacular."

Great's not bad.

I mentioned earlier that Roby Brock of Talk Business had an interview with Alltel CEO Scott Ford -- airing at 10 p.m. tonight -- on Fox 16 about the sale of the Arkansas-based wireless compay to the larger Verizon.

Here's Stephens Media's account of the interview. It recounts how Alltel had tried to grow, but was stymied in acquisitions, and how a failure to gain an additional wireless spectrum and the credit market contributed to the decision to sell.

Re workers' future:

But Ford also said during the interview that employees' careers might not be entirely in Verizon's hands.

He and Gov. Mike Beebe are working on a sequel, Ford said.

"If Verizon doesn't need them over the next 12 and 18 and 24 months, as people rotate out of Verizon, (Little Rock) would be a great place if you are an entrepreneur and you needed talented IT, marketing, finance, engineering people," he said. "This would be a great place to have a shop so you can tap into that resource pool."

Verizon is said to be considering maintaining a call center in Little Rock and possibly locating a regional headquarters, unlike a corporate headquarters, at Alltel's campus overlooking the Arkansas River. Many Arkansans with corporate functions with Alltel could be forced to move or lose their jobs.

After the announcement, Ford took a few days off and met with Beebe to discuss in depth ways to turn the loss of Alltel, a company deeply rooted in the state, into a positive for the community.

Ford's thought is to try to attract venture capital to the state to harness the abilities of Alltel's work force, which owners TPG Capital and GS Capital Partners tabbed the premier company among their portfolios worldwide, Ford said. The possibilities include attracting high-tech, knowledge-based companies from the coasts, he said.

"No promises," Ford said. "I don't know if it will come about or not," noting Arkansas' 7 percent income tax tends to deter venture capital to surrounding states, "but that's one of the things I'm working on."

Ford went on to say that, much as he felt tied to Arkansas, his first obligation was to shareholders (that would include himself, of course.)

"Now a lot of people in this town wish I'd not gotten that right," Ford said. "I understand that and there's part of me, just, you know, private citizen, that looks at it and says, 'You know, this is a terrible loss for Little Rock, if we lose 1,000 jobs or 1,500 jobs and a corporate headquarters.'

"That's a real blow and I hate that," Ford said. "I hate that as much or more than anybody."

A few things: 1) It sounds like the expectation of lost jobs here is every bit as real and dramatic as feared. 2) the state income tax didn't prevent the venture capital investment that put Alltel in the hands of a hedge fund that promptly flipped it 3) the remarks raised the question of whether Ford would establish a residence out of state as his father did to shelter tens of millions in gains from the 4.6 percent state capital gains tax. The tax is a benefit to the state that helped him make millions, a state where 3,000 people are worried -- not about sheltering gains -- but about hanging onto their very existence. Ford may be a canny businessman, but he sure is tone deaf. (I'm informed that my obervation about Ford's tone deafness was not the first: See Gwen Moritz in Arkanas Bsuiness.)

PS -- I now see Ford answered the question about his residency.

"This is not the most capital-friendly state in the union. We have to basically spot most of the states around us 7 percent just off the top of the bat. I'm not complaining, I pay my state taxes, I'm going to pay them, I'm going to stay right here, and I'm going to pay them until the day I die. I'm O.K. with it. But we can't be just blind to the fact that people that aren't from here look at that and go, 'I can live in Tennessee or Texas or Florida and I don't have to pay 7 percent income tax and if I move to Arkansas I do? Mmm, I think I'll take my capital to Dallas.'"

PPS re taxes: Because of generous accounting rules, multistate corporations rarely pay anything approaching 7 percent in corporate income taxes here. Their owners, who generally don't live here, aren't burdened by the rate on personal income. Other states with lower income taxes often are burdened -- as Texas is -- with higher property and franchise taxes that make the overall tax burdens comparable. In days when the income tax here was far more progressive against other states, it didn't prevent the creation of some highly profitable major corporations -- Wal-Mart, Tyson, Dillard's, Alltel, etc. This is a straw man argument by Ford, though it is an article of faith among those jillionaires who have the capital. They never have enough.

This is inside Washington baseball, but it gives you insight to some of the people who set the tone in Washington media and thus drive media nationwide.

The "dean," David Broder, has been caught with his pants down -- reaping tens of thousands for speeches to lobbying groups, despite Washington Post rules against such, and not telling the truth about it either when called to account. Note, particularly, that Broder -- and Bob Woodward, similarly skewered -- refused to take questions from a reporter about this matter, though they make their living asking questions of others.

I don't think journalists (reporters, editors, TV announcers or whatever you want to call them), should take fees for speaking. I think they ought to attempt to be as transparent about their financial interests as they insist politicians should be. And I think it is the height of hypocrisy when newspaper people refuse to be interviewed by other newspaper/TV/radio reporters about themselves for news reports. This phenomenon is not limited to David Broder, needless to say. It has surfaced from time to time locally.

On the jump, find the candidates nominated by the Green Party of Arkansas at its convention at Juanita's restaurant today.

The list includes Richard Carroll for House District 39, where Democratic sex offender Dwayne Dobbins had been unopposed. No further info at the moment.

There are candidates for U.S. Senate and all but the First Congressional District.

UPDATE: A correspondent who correctly indicated last night that the Green Party would field a candidate in District 39 descibed the nominee as a union man who was nominated in absentia because he was working Saturday. Sounds like a good start on a solid candidate.

Both houses of the Louisiana legislature have approved a bill to ban all text messaging while driving and to limit teens to hands-free cell phone use.

Better still would be the model from many European countries -- NO cell phone use while driving by anyone.

A Washington Post article explains a hassle we've talked about before -- limits on credit card purchases at gas pumps. They are now $75 where they had been $50 many places.

The limits are meant to protect gas stations from excessive chargebacks by credit card companies, which may be the greediest commercial force in America today. (Thank them for our punitive bankruptcy laws.)

Home ownership is declining sharply and renting is up. So much for Bush's "ownership society."

Still more than 200 days to go.

... for the possible entry today of a Green Party candidate in the race for House District 39, in which sex offender Dwayne Dobbins, a Democrat (and a special-interest-bound legislator in previous service, never mind his criminal record), is so far the only candidate. I got a note last night indicating a potential candidate was considering taking the nomination at today's Green Party convention.

Jim Lendall, let us know.

The state reported to the legislature yesterday on early returns on the legalization of charity bingo. The tax is coming in ahead of expectations.

But do not be misled by legislators like Rep. Rick Green, who complained that the tax is too high. The tax take was about 6 percent on $10 million in betting. That's about equivalent to the state sales tax. Seems about right to me.

But the takeout by bingo operators for their costs was more than double that, about 13 percent, better than the takeout on wagering at Oaklawn and Southland, which openly operate for profit. What a charity these bingo halls are. They pay back less to players, about 70 percent, than the racinos do, more than 90 percent.

Green suggests charities would get more money if the tax was cut. I'd suggest it would be wiser, first, to analyze those operating costs to be sure these supposed charities aren't paying people to run these games in contravention of the law. (And that 13 percent take doesn't include another 5.5 percent in reserve cash not apportioned to cost or charity. I'm betting it's more likely headed to operators' pockets in some fashion than to charity.)

And whatever the legislature does, it shouldn't follow Green's idiotic suggestion to end state auditing of the operations and just trust the nonprofit groups to operate honestly. These would be the same groups, in many cases, that flouted the law for years. I wouldn't trust recidivist law violators to give an honest accounting.