A mass group home for pregnant teens? Never made much sense in this day and time.
Now, thanks to fine reporting by Claudia Lauer and Chad Day in today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette we know the idea makes even less sense.
A plan to convert the former Job Corps center on I-30 into such a facility we now know is engineered by a man with a felony record. There's no readily demonstrable financial support. The neighborhood opposes it. The state Human Services Department doesn't look favorably on sending public support for teen mothers to group facilities. The Little Rock Planning Commission can and should put an end to this particular iteration of the promoter's plan Thursday. The promoter, Julius James Larry III, a Houston, Texas, casket company owner, however, seems to have focused on Little Rock — and its stock of derelict buildings — as a prime target for his "vision" and says he has other locations in mind if this one doesn't work out.
Would it be too much to ask him to look closer to home for opportunities?