Monday, August 15, 2011

The Lost Moon Rock


Seems that some past employees of the Natural State have got a lot of 'splaining' to do as to how and why they lost one of our national treasures. The "Goodwill Moon Rock," a 1,142 gram stone encased in a Lucite ball and presented to Arkansas in the 70s, has not been seen since about that time. Governor Pryor's special assistant, Richard Howell says he has no clue at to what happened to the rock after he turned it over to the governor's office way back then. Howell does remember borrowing it for some family and local school show and tells, but he always returned it. In fact, he can't imagine anyone asking him to please search his home for the prized moon rock brought back from the 1972 Apollo 11 Mission. It also appears that Pryor and other members of his past staff can't even recollect anything to do with the rock. Well, I remember it. I didn't get to see it or touch it or show and tell it, but I do remember reading about this national treasure coming to our state. Sad to see our national treasures treated so haphazardly by state stewards.

Betcha I could have kept up with the Moon Rock... like I've kept up with the bottle of volcanic ash from the monumental eruption of Mount St. Helens that killed 57 people and spewed chaos over 11 states way back in 1980. But, I give a 'hill of beans' about stately, historical stuff...and that's saying it nicely.