The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/668770
D-2 Opinion Wednesday, April 20, 2016 The Press-Dispatch SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY? Let us know at 812-354-8500! didate Donald Trump has made enough un-politically correct statements to get a lessor candidate banished from the party. However, Trump has the actions of the Energizer Bunny and just keeps going, going, and going. He, along with Bernie Sanders [as I have noted in earlier columns] have struck a chord with the rank-and- file voter. College students and working class voters can readily see the future is not bright for good paying jobs. Is the establishment afraid of class warfare, or the rise of populism? Trump dares to address topics that matter too ma- ny voters: immigration, ter- rorism, bloated military, and lack of good paying jobs. Many Americans [of all parties, genders, and ideolo- gies] are anxious and afraid. I am mindful of a story in John's gospel where there were some who followed Je- sus from a distance, because they were afraid. We read "Now Joseph [of Arimathea] was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish lead- ers." Note here that Joseph was a secret disciple, who stood away from active involve- ment and identification with Jesus due to fear. But what did he [Joseph] fear? The key is "he feared the Jewish leaders." Fear is a natural emotion that does not need to be learned. It is a signal to a person that danger is eminent and a plan of action is needed-now! Fear can be paralyzing and can morph into panic when logical and rational thinking is seldom possible. Joseph feared the Jewish leaders just as many Amer- icans fear supporting a can- didate or a cause. A person could lose his/ her position and respect among pears and commu- nity. It could lead to a reversal of life fortunes. That is where America is today religiously, spiritually, and politically. America needs moral leadership which cannot be found in the political process of the last several decades. The next six weeks is go- ing to be interesting but I re- mind the reader we are not electing a pope or patriarch. Be mindful that politicians are fallible and will never live up to the claims and promis- es they make during a cam- paign. It is your privilege to sup- port a candidate whomever that will be. Think about it as you ponder the candidates for all elected offices. BUNNY Continued from page 1 if I said that basketball of- ficials call fouls on black players out of all propor- tion to the share of blacks in the general population? You might well say, "Wait a minute! The proportion of black players is far higher in the NBA than in the pop- ulation." Yet that simple differ- ence between the propor- tion of blacks in the gener- al population and blacks in- volved in whatever activity is being measured statistically is repeatedly ignored, both by politicians and the media. The success of campaign lies depends ultimately on how willing the public is to be stampeded without both- ering to stop and think. Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institu- tion, Stanford University. His website is www.tsowell.com. LIES Continued from page 1 freedom is supposed to be about and what it means to enhance rather than impede living in a free country. According to the 14th Amendment, "nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." Our constitution exists to protect individual freedom and define and limit the role of government. It does not exist to use government power to force the set of val- ues of one private citizen on other. Governor Deal is right that today "the world is changing." But he has drawn the wrong conclusion. The fact that today many citizens embrace values that our par- ents and grandparents nev- er would have dreamed of means we should be even more vigilant now in protect- ing individual freedom and religious liberty. Govern- ment power should be used to ensure that citizens can follow their own consciences in conducting their religious and business affairs on their own private property. We should also think about why things have changed so much. A major reason is the monopoly of public schools teaching left- wing values to our children. How can we expect a free country when there is little freedom regarding what is conveyed to young minds? According to the Fried- man Foundation, there are now almost 400,000 stu- dents in school choice pro- grams nationwide, up from almost none 20 years ago. In a country where our values and sense of moral- ity has become as diverse as they are today, we should not have a government mo- nopoly on education. School choice programs have grown, but not enough. If we care about our freedom, we need school choice na- tionwide. Continued from page 1 BATTLE cal level. Any cuts proposed now can be significantly more pro-growth because they can lower rates further and reduce taxes on saving and investment more than revenue-neutral plans. To really unleash the economy, any tax reform should: • Lower individual and business tax rates. It's es- pecially important to cut the top marginal rates, which would strengthen the econo- my by improving incentives to work, save and invest. • Establish the right tax base. Defining the tax base (that is, what the tax code taxes) is as important as low- ering the tax rate. The right tax base is consumption, rather than the hybrid in- come-consumption tax base the current system uses. • Eliminate tax prefer- ences. More work is neces- sary to ensure that the base is neutral and does not pick winners and losers, as it does now. • Simplify the tax sys- tem and make it more trans- parent so taxpayers under- stand how much they pay to fund the federal govern- ment. The sheer complexity of the system makes it diffi- cult to understand the true impact of the tax system, in- cluding how much taxpay- ers are paying to the feder- al government. Tax reform should strive to make that cost explicit to taxpayers. Once taxpayers know how much of their hard-earned income goes to the feder - al government, they will be more willing to reduce the size of government since they will better understand how it negatively affects them. A transparent code would be simpler than the current system. Whether we actually can achieve true tax reform in the near future is a big "if." But there's no denying that the conditions are ripe for our elected leaders to make the kind of changes our economy needs. Conserva- tives should take heart. Ed Feulner is the founder of the Heritage Foundation (heritage.org). Continued from page 1 UNLEASH Court Report CRIMINAL Pike Circuit Court Cassidy E. Engleman charged with theft, a level 6 felony. Gregory A. Watson charged with count I obstruction of justice, a level 6 felony; and count II possession of par- aphernalia. TRAFFIC AND MISDEMEANOR Pike Circuit Court George E. Norrington charged with criminal mischief. German Martinez charged with op- erating a vehicle without ever receiv- ing a license. Nitasha Lemond charged with leav- ing the scene of an accident. Elena L. Hanshaw charged with pos- session of paraphernalia. Gayla D. Durden charged with driv- ing while suspended. Casey Lyn Boyle charged with pos- session of paraphernalia. Clayton L. DeCoursey charged with count I possession of marijuana; count II possession of paraphernalia; and count III possession of marijuana. Justin Michael Ellis charged with carrying a handgun without a license. Tracy Snow petitions for intrastate probation transfer. CIVIL DOCKET Pike Circuit Court Sterling Jewelers, Inc. (DBA Kay Jewelers) sues Edward L. Perry on complaint. William J. Beier sues Rebecca A. Braglin, Adam A. Mullins and Free- dom Bank on complaint. Mark A. Coleman petitions State of Indiana to waive reinstatement fees. Tommy R. Hayes sues Tarrah J. Hub- belle for dissolution of marriage. David K. Henson sues Gail R. Hen- son for dissolution of marriage. Steven R. Aldridge sues Traci E. Al- dridge for dissolution of marriage. INFRACTIONS Pike Circuit Court Jonathan Mandel charged with speeding, 95 mph in a 70 zone. Juliette Mercadante charged with speeding, 92 mph in a 70 zone. Matthew Mursten charged with speeding, 89 mph in a 70 zone. Tyler Onyett charged with driving while suspended. David Padgett charged with speed- ing, 68 mph in a 45 zone. Justin Sedgh charged with speed- ing, 91 mph in a 70 zone. Kenneth Shamblen charged with speeding, 92 mph in a 70 zone. Andrew Smith charged with speed- ing, 75 mph in a 55 zone. Margaret Stilwell charged with count I speeding, 68 mph in a 50 zone; and count II driving while suspended. Jenna Thompson charged with speeding, 64 mph in a 55 zone. Catherine Wagler charged with ex- pired plates. Danielle Wheatley charged with driving while suspended. Jamie Williams charged with speed- ing, 70 mph in a 55 zone. John Yager charged with speeding, 65 mph in a 55 zone. Ryan Smith charged with speeding, 79 mph in a 55 zone. Omar Al-Asbahi charged with speeding, 80 mph in a 55 zone. Benton Baglan charged with speed- ing, 49 mph in a 35 zone. Alonzo Barnes charged with speed- ing, 62 mph in a 40 zone. Kelsey Blaylock charged with speed- ing, 79 mph in a 70 zone. Christian Clark charged with speed- ing, 86 mph in a 70 zone. Ivy Davis charged with speeding, 74 mph in a 55 zone. Michael Dereu charged with speed- ing, 79 mph in a 70 zone. Andrew Dick charged with speed- ing, 95 mph in a 70 zone. Michael England charged with speeding, 81 mph in a 55 zone. Alice Gardner charged with speed- ing, 50 mph in a 35 zone. Tyler Garland charged with speed- ing, 86 mph in a 55 zone. Maverick Henson charged with seat- belt violation. John Hunt charged with speeding, 67 mph in a 55 zone. Sean Klingle charged with speed- ing, 49 mph in a 35 zone. Klint Luebbehusen charged with speeding, 69 mph in a 55 zone. Roger Miller charged with speed- ing, 69 mph in a 55 zone. Melody Montgomery charged with speeding, 65 mph in a 45 zone. Mark Ridgley charged with speed- ing, 39 mph in a 25 zone. Eric Rogge charged with speeding, 70 mph in a 55 zone. Nichole Ross charged with speed- ing, 69 mph in a 55 zone. Tressa Satterfield charged with seat- belt violation. Jeffrey Sisk charged with speeding, 69 mph in a 55 zone. Monty Sloan charged with speeding, 69 mph in a 55 zone. Bernard Theising charged with speeding, 75 mph in a 55 zone. Thomas Wolf charged with speed- ing, 79 mph in a 70 zone. Tony Woodyard charged with speed- ing, 70 mph in a 55 zone. Mary Workman charged with seat- belt violation. Wallace Wright charged with speed- ing, 49 mph in a 40 zone. Katiedid vs... by Katiedid Langrock The mystery Ray-Ban sunglasses I'm a scatterbrain. And that was be- fore I got mommybrain. Now I'm scat- tommybrained. It's dangerous. There are the typical dangers: acci- dentally putting the dog in your Baby- Bjorn instead of your kid, making the kids Sunday morning pancakes with maple bourbon instead of syrup, put- ting the toothpaste in the freezer and then brushing your teeth with face cream – ya know, the usual. My scat- tommybrainedness most often mani- fests itself in absent-mindedness. That is, if I'm remembering right. I am forgetful – oh-so-very forget- ful. I am the person who leaves the ov- en on. I am the person who leaves the door open. And more recently, I am the person who leaves the keys on the roof of her car. This has become an almost week- ly occurrence. Somewhere in the cha- os of parking my car and removing my bags and children, I leave the keys on the roof – in plain sight for anyone walking his or her dog down my side- walk, which, luckily, only happens about a handful of times. Every hour. Lately, my key ring has had two sets of car keys, after my dad handed me the set he'd borrowed and I neglected to put them away properly. On Tues- day morning, the keys to my car were discovered, once again, on the roof of my car. Leaving the keys on the roof of my car overnight is bad for a number of obvious reasons, such as car theft. But when it comes to strangers' interac- tions with my vehicles, I seem to have a weird string of luck. Back when I lived in Baltimore, a homeless man used to unzip my soft-top Jeep and sleep in it for the night. The first time I found him in my street- parked car, nervous words were spoken. We got off to a rocky start, but every time I found him sleeping after that, he was gracious. We had a very amicable relation- ship – often seeing each other on the streets of the Baltimore neighborhood we shared, giving each other a slight nod and smile. I saw this as a win-win relationship. Having a soft-top Jeep in any city can be a risk, but this man always respected the space. It was never dirty. It was al- ways locked and zipped back up. Most of the time, the only way I knew he had been in there was that some money would be missing from the cup holder. On the plus side, I had a nice guy tak- ing shelter in my car, marking it as his space. If he hadn't been there, perhaps another, less considerate person would have found his or her way into my Jeep. Perhaps the Jeep wouldn't have even still been there come morning. This morning, days after last leav- ing my keys on the roof, I got into my Subaru, looked down on the passen- ger seat and found a pair of prescrip- tion Ray-Ban sunglasses. Now, I may not be very observant, and I may be suffering from scattom- mybrainedness, but I am pretty dang sure I didn't suddenly have a change in my vision and purchase an expen- sive pair of sunnies. In fact, I refuse to ever spend more than $10 on sunglasses be- cause I always lose them – often by leaving them on the roof of my car. So how did they get here? I looked around my vehicle for clues. There weren't many. But the glasses did sit atop script pages, some- thing I had been going over with my writing group late into the previous night. And the script pages were in a different order. That's when I noticed, for the very first time, that my key ring was missing a key and beep-beep. Huh, they (SET ITAL) had (END ITAL) felt lighter when I found them on the roof of my car Tuesday morning. My guess is it was the teenager who lives across the street; he's always out late. He probably saw the keys and removed the extra set so he'd have a place to hang out or make out with his girlfriend after hours. Either way, no biggie. The car was still there in the morning when it came time to drive to work, just as my Jeep always was. My co-workers are mystified that I am so nonchalant about my car's mid- night visitor, but when you suffer from scattommybrainedness, you become grateful for being found out by the good guys. Like Katiedid Langrock on Facebook, at http://www.facebook.com/katiedid- humor. 2501 Newton St (HWY 231 N) Jasper, IN 47546 www.obcycle.com 866-yamaha-6 Obermeyer H O N D A - YA M A H A - S U Z U K I 2501 Newton St (HWY 231 N) Jasper, IN 47546 www.obcycle.com 866-yamaha-6 Great SelectiOn! Great SelectiOn! Wednesday, April 20 • Massacre at Columbine High School (1999) • Curies isolate radium (1902) Thursday, April 21 • Rome founded (753 B.C.) • Red Baron killed in action (1918) Friday, April 22 • The first Earth Day (1970) • Germans introduce poison gas (1915) Saturday, April 23 • William Shakespeare born (1564) • Hank Aaron hits first home run of his MLB career (1954) Sunday April 24 • Easter Rebellion begins (1916) • Library of Congress established (1800) Monday, April 25 • Ground broken for Suez Canal (1859) • Ginger Rogers dies (1995) Tuesday, April 26 • Polio vaccine trials begin (1954) • Geneva Conference begins (1954) Source: History.com