The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1102906
B-10 Opinion Wednesday, April 10, 2019 The Press-Dispatch Court Report FELONY Pike Circuit Court Jerry O. Uppencamp charged with child solicitation, a level 4 felony. Bryan S. Marret charged with sex- ual misconduct with a minor, a level 5 felony. TRAFFIC AND MISDEMEANOR Pike Circuit Court Eddie L. Gerber charged with crim- inal mischief. Kayelon C. Dejarnett charged with illegal consumption of an alcoholic beverage. Hunter Wesley Brown charged with public intoxication. Clyde Dennis Lankford, Jr. charged with driving while suspended. CIVIL Pike Circuit Court One Main Financial Group, LLC sues Elizabeth Wedding on complaint. Personal Finance Company sues Josh Harvey and Miranda Harvey on complaint. Portfolio Recovery Associates sues Katie Tempel on complaint. Bridget M. Cannon sues Joseph Allen Cannon for dissolution of mar- riage. Zachary C. Stevens sues Heather N. Stevens for dissolution of marriage. Marcial Wood sues Staci Wood for dissolution of marriage. Larry Greener sues Janell Greener for dissolution of marriage. SMALL CLAIMS Pike Circuit Court Central Investments, Inc. sues Aar- on Richardson on complaint. INFRACTIONS Pike Circuit Court Gracelyn D. Young charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Jaycie L. Hooten charged with speeding. Kenold Mistilien charged with speeding. Lillian G. Jones charged with child restraint violation. Alana M. Goepfrich charged with speeding. Eli Jacobson charged with speed- ing, exceeding 70 mph. Misty M. Cummings charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Adam J. Siebarth charged with speeding. Jeanna R. Parsons charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. William L. Dunn, Jr. charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Zachery S. Eckert charged with seatbelt violation. Casey L. Thorne charged with seat- belt violation. Jimmy L. Warner charged with seat- belt violation. Zachary A. Garrett charged with seatbelt violation. Kylan C. Arndt charged with no val- id driver's license. Jerry W. Wheat charged with speeding. Isaac D. Utley charged with speed- ing, exceeding 70 mph limit. Cassie L. Thomas charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Shane D. Bitter charged with Boat Equip - USCG Type I, II, III or V Float Device per Person Req in Boat. Gregory A. Genco charged with speeding, exceeding 55 mph speed limit. Cyrus W. Breeden charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Ricky R. Harris charged with speed- ing, exceeding 70 mph limit. Rachel M. Gallenbach charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Ever A. Cartagena Serrano charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph lim- it. Jessica L. Wilbur charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Timothy C. Kindelin charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Coreyonna T. Jackson charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Stacy M. Fullenkamp charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Taylor E. Smith charged with speed- ing, exceeding 70 mph limit. Micah L. Dodson charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Peter A. Jeske charged with speed- ing, exceeding 70 mph limit. Edwin Cisneros charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. John E. Biggerstaff charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Christopher U. Funkhouser charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Ebony D. Parker charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Emily L. Grzeskowiak charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Holly A. Kleiber charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Suzanne W. Johnson charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Tina K. Byrd charged with speed- ing, exceeding 55 mph limit. Daniel V. Eisdorfer charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Payton L. Hulfachor charged with speeding, exceeding 55 mph limit. Stacie A. Smith charged with speed- ing, exceeding 70 mph limit. Abagail C. Maroney charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Christina M. Hart charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph limit. Michael A. Thompson charged with driving while suspended. Joe W. Dillon charged with driving while suspended. Continued from page 9 SOCIAL SECURITY Continued from page 9 CHARITY of the festival. I'm starting to hear the roar of the yard mowers in our neighborhood. I hope you all had your mow- ers prepared and serviced for the challenges coming ahead. I'm also beginning to see lots of ads about mowers, yard im- plements, garden tools and the like. Strangely enough, I had hardly used any of my winter gadgets such as ice and snow scrapers, and can't seem to remember having to use my supply of ice melt- ing pellets. Hmm, sometimes I'd like to believe our weath- er has indeed changed, and climate change is indeed be- coming an issue. • • • One of my sons-in-law has several yard mowers and trac- tors and tinkers with them for a hobby. He likes to fix them and service them. So he of- fered to tune up and prepare my mower because he said he just loves to do that. So one afternoon in our garage, he rolled up his sleeves and started doing a oil change, filter change, checking fu- el lines, changing air filter, checking the belts and then sharpening the blades. He al- so checked all the tires and aired them up. I did not real- ize how challenging it can be especially if you did not have the proper tools and fortu- nately he had all the gizmos. Most of all, he had good help. He had me supplying and holding the cold drinks, and giving him words of en- couragement. I know little about mowers and tractors but I sure do know anatomy and body mechanics and fix- ing booboos as my grandkids would say. I'm well versed and good at it. Humility aside. A f- ter about a couple of hours… bingo, my mower is ready for the task ahead. I surely appre- ciated his work and told him to send the bill to my wife Rose, but Rose does not know it yet. That's a joke. I hope he does not take it seriously as well. We'll see. If he does, he'll get a bill for the drinks and my assistance. • • • Since it is still Lent, let me share Matthew 6:25 -34. It's still about the birds and flow- ers. "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than cloth- ing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more val- ue than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to one's span of life? And why are you anx- ious about clothing? Consid- er the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Please remember to keep se- rene during this holy days. A reminder: The Pike County Ministerial Associa- tion and the Monday Morning Bible Study Group will pres- ent a "Follow Jesus Carrying the Cross Alive" beginning 3 p.m. EDT on Good Friday April 19 and the Sunrise Ser- vice on Easter Sunday April 21 at 6:30 a.m. both to be held at Hornady Park. Continued from page 9 FLOWERS constitutional, changed the landscape of America regarding our sense of the role of government. Prior to this, the welfare state, so much a part of our lives today, where government taxes one set of citizens and redistributes to another, was not understood to be among the powers the constitution grants to the feder- al government. Helvering v. Davis changed all that and opened the door to any federal program that could be deemed in the "general welfare." Once, the lion's share of federal spending was defense. Today, defense comprises only 15 percent of the fed- eral budget, with most of the $4.2 tril- lion of federal spending going to enti- tlement and welfare programs, which are key drivers of our massive federal deficits and debt accumulation. Invariably, when I convey that So- cial Security is an entitlement pro- gram, I get indignant letters from people saying they paid taxes all their working life to qualify for this benefit. Some 62 million are now collecting Social Security benefits. According to Gallup, 57 percent of retirees say Social Security is a "major source" of their retirement income. But none of these tens of millions are in the system by choice. Government forces them to pay in. Government determines what they will get. And government determines the conditions under which they will get it. And government has changed the rules innumerable times, and now it is about to change them again — if we allow it. The extent to which Americans have conceded the moral dignity and economic benefits of ownership, al- lowing government to take control of their lives, has hurt our country. Countless studies have shown that investing the equivalent of one's pay- roll tax in a personal retirement ac- count over a 45 -year working life would produce far higher returns than Social Security now delivers. Now those Social Security returns are about to get worse with the changes necessary to get the system back in balance. Equally important, you own your personal account. It's your personal wealth that you control and watch ac- cumulate, and that you can pass on to heirs. This is particularly important to low-income Americans who have no other platform for accumulating and bequeathing wealth. According to Gallup, 36 percent of A frican Americans compared with 60 percent of white Americans own stock in some form. Bringing a culture of ownership to low-income Americans can be trans- formational. Nothing could be more American than to reform and transform our bro- ken Social Security system to a sys- tem of personal ownership, saving and wealth accumulation. Star Parker is an author and presi- dent of CURE, Center for Urban Renew- al and Education. Contact her at www. urbancure.org. Continued from page 9 REASON 1940 – Katyn Forest Mas- sacre of 22,000 Poles mur- dered by the Russians. 1932-1933 – Ukrainian Holodomor where Commu- nist policy led to the deaths of 6 to 11 million people. 1915 -1917 - The Turks massacred 1 million Arme- nians, and they are not about to apologize. 1845 -1849 - Irish Pota- to Famine where Britain's grain policies led to 1.5 mil- lion deaths. 1839 – 1950 – European dominance of China and East Asia 1788 – 1962 – Aborigines genocide in Australia 1610 - 1889 – Government Policy to Relocate or Exter- minate Natives of North America. 1519 – 1572 - Spanish Con- quest and plunder of Central and South America How does one begin to make the crooked straight? When the guilty repent, then what? The realities of life force all to recognize that it is not within the power of sci- ence to resurrect the dead, nor is there enough wealth in the world to recompense all who are deemed to have been injured. Furthermore, if by chance we can make amends to those who are identified as victims, what about events and thoughts that have yet to be classified as oppres- sive? Are we granted con- ditional absolution or a full pardon? How will we know that we have been set free from our forefather's sins? Holding the children guilty for sins of the fathers is contrary to international, federal, state and the Old Testament Law. Western morality flows from the ethical principle of the Bible: "Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; ev- eryone shall be put to death for his own sin" [Deuteron- omy 24:16]. Martin Luther King, Jr., who is still revered as a spokesperson for the op- pressed, remarked in a 1964 speech, that he dreamed for a time when men and wom- en, boys and girls would be "judged by the content of their character, and not the color of their skin." Our current crop of SJW has found the color of my skin and by association with fellow Caucasians offensive without examining my char- acter! I realize there is no amount of contrition that will satisfy the demands of the SJW. Confiscation of as- sets is not enough. Public ridicule is not enough. Loss of career and family is not enough. I ponder if the ul- timate goal is submission through death. John in his first Gener- al Epistle writes, "And this commandment we have from Jesus: that he who loves God must love his brother also." Concern for one another once was the foundation of Western ethics. The Church still stands for love and takes to heart the words of the prophet Isaiah, "Come now, and let us reason togeth- er," says the Lord, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." To the offended I say, come let us reason together, and repair our broken bonds of brotherhood. I am willing, are you? Think about it! ed the call center of electronic compo- nents and sold them for cash in nearby towns. Feed the Children board min- utes noted that the company's only list- ed contact was Larry Jones. Watchdogs were not difficult to com- promise. For years, the Better Busi- ness Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance granted Feed the Children its "Wise Giving Seal" for a $15,000 annual fee. Marcus Owens, Wise Giving Alli- ance treasurer, was the former direc- tor of the IRS Exempt Organizations Division. Jones hired Owens to help him attempt the ouster of the chari- ty's board of directors, to replace them with hand-picked directors personally loyal to him. MinistryWatch gave Feed the Chil- dren a four-star overall efficiency rat- ing and a five-star resource allocation rating. Charity Navigator gave its high- est rating to Feed the Children, and vouched that it was "one of those char- ities that has their financial health in order." The fawning monitors took Feed the Children statements at face value until the Daily Oklahoman newspaper and CBS television news broke stories of financial plunder. It was a scandal not only for Feed the Children, but for the watchdogs who should have sounded the alarm much sooner. There were abundant indications that something was rotten at the char- ity. Two years earlier, it was spending less than a quarter of its cash bud- get on program services. Nearly two thirds of each dollar contributed to the charity went to fundraising costs in- stead of children. Only CharityWatch at the American Institute of Philanthropy was critical of Jones before the media exposed the larceny. ECFA was untouched by the scandal since Feed the Children was not an ECFA member. Even at the squeaky-clean ECFA, though, changes were brewing that would later de-emphasize vigilance and verification. I remember when the ECFA Stan- dards Review Committee emerged from a quarterly meeting more than 20 years ago and suspended Gospel Rescue Mission for using misleading stories and false statistics in its fund- raising appeals. It's difficult to imag- ine ECFA doing that now. The Evangelicals' accountability or- ganization appears to have turned the process over to its lawyers, and that inevitably means playing defense, not offense. Priority number one becomes "not buying a lawsuit," avoiding legal li- ability for ECFA itself. That dethrones the ambition to protect Christians who ought to be able to contribute to Evan- gelical nonprofits with confidence. Nowadays, ECFA does not comment on the compliance of member chari- ties, but treats it as a private matter be- tween the ECFA and the charity. Nothing gets disclosed to the public unless and until the charity is suspend- ed or expelled. How could that policy not lead to abuses? Missions-minded donors are espe- cially vulnerable to opaque account- ing. ECFA member Mars Hill Church asked for and received donations to fund church-planting in Ethiopia and India, but tapped those millions for U.S. operations after domestic contri- butions fell off. It was an obvious violation of EC- FA standards, but ECFA took no ac- tion against the Seattle church. That church no longer exists, due in part to its lack of accountability. Last month, ECFA suspended the membership of Chicago-area Harvest Bible Chapel for violating four of sev- en "standards of responsible steward- ship." But once again, ECFA acted with apparent reluctance, only after the evangelical World magazine ran free- lance writer Julie Roy's account of the church's "ongoing pattern of relation- al and financial abuse, lack of transpar- ency and outright deception." Founding pastor James MacDonald admitted taking over $ 300,000 per year from a separately funded church- planting network to balance the books at his home church, where he was ex- travagant. He also wrote a $50,000 check to his friend Mars Hill pastor Mark Driscoll in 2017. It was first drawn on the church-planting account, then re- imbursed from the church's account. That became public, and still ECFA took no action against Harvest Bible Chapel, and imposed no heightened re- porting requirements. Last year, the church's leaders ac- cused their computer technology chief of embezzling $270,000 beginning in 2017. The church's financials are audited annually by CapinCrouse, a certified public accountant and consulting firm described in Wondering Eagle blog as Evangelical nonprofits' BFF ("best friends forever"). But how did some- body embezzle more than a quarter million dollars over a two-year period without the auditor or ECFA noticing? "The fact that ECFA didn't discov- er these violations is bad enough," Ju- lie Roys wrote in her eponymous blog. "But the fact that the group failed to act even after I reported these glaring vio- lations is inexcusable." ECFA finally suspended Harvest Bible Church last month after Roys reported that MacDonald had used church money to fund Florida vaca- tions, A frican safaris and other lux- ury purchases. The Elephant's Debt blog reported the suspension in an ar- ticle entitled "ECFA Closes Barn Door Years A fter the Horses Ran Out." It appears that we can't count on the diligence and integrity of auditors and voluntary accountability organizations anymore. Financial statements may or may not reflect the true state of affairs. From Oklahoma City to Seattle to Chi- cago, too many of them have been com- promised by their clients. And so the Christian benefactor will have to cast wide nets, examine mul- tiple rating and review publications, keep an ear to the ground, and read between the lines. The good news is that Christian journalism has stepped up to the plate, in the form of print pub- lications and online blogs. I hope Christian university facul- ties and theorists will recognize the crisis in philanthropy and accountabil- ity. They have a strong incentive, after all, to imagine, devise and advocate ac- countability reforms that can refresh confidence in the financial integrity of institutions that depend on the gener- osity of believers. Like churches, missions and chari- ties, they're going to see their resourc- es dry up if donors stop believing in their faithful stewardship. Continued from page 9 DIRECT HIT Strategic Defense Initia- tive program. The Ground- Based Midcourse Defense system is currently the only system protecting the Unit- ed States against long-range ballistic missiles, such as those that North Korea pe- riodically threatens to use against us." It's a good thing Rea- gan ignored his critics and pushed ahead. It took time to get to this point — more time than it likely would have in the past. Perhaps that's because we've become so risk-averse as a society. As Air Force Gen. John Hyten, command- er of the U.S. Strategic Com- mand, put it: "I don't know how it happened, but this country lost the ability to go fast." That's unfortunate. As Ms. Dodge points out, we sometimes learn more from failure than from success. "It is better to design mis- sile defense tests in a way that pushes the system's envelope, even if it means a higher likelihood of a fail- ure," she writes. "It is better that a system fails during a test, rather than in a real-life situation when it's too late to improve upon it." But we're working to- ward success, of course, so when those moments come — when we stage a test that works — we deserve to en- joy that victory. "My fellow Americans, tonight we're launching an effort which holds the promise of chang- ing the course of human history," President Reagan said. "There will be risks, and results take time. But I believe we can do it." We can. We are. So let's press on — and continue building on the incredible success that Ronald Reagan and other early advocates of missile defense left us as our bedrock legacy. Ed Feulner is founder of The Heritage Foundation (heritage.org).