The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1012571
C-12 Opinion Wednesday, August 8, 2018 The Press-Dispatch Court Report CRIMINAL Pike Circuit Court Zachary Scott Besing charged with count I theft, a level 6 felony, and count II criminal trespass. Joseph L. Robinson charged with count I theft, a level 6 felony, and count II criminal trespass. Crystal Ann Young charged with count I possession of methamphet- amine, a level 6 felony, and count II possession of marijuana. Janessa N. Moore charged with count I possession of methamphet- amine, a level 6 felony, count II unlaw- ful possession of syringe and count III possession of marijuana. Zachery D. McEllhiney charged with count I possession of metham- phetamine, a level 6 felony, count II unlawful possession of syringe and count III possession of marijuana. Maxwell E. Church charged with count I possession of methamphet- amine, a level 6 felony, count II main- taining a common nuisance - con- trolled substances, count III unlaw- ful possession of syringe and count IV possession of marijuana. In re: search warrant. In re: search warrant. In re: search warrant. In re: Michael C. Norman petitions for intrastate probation transfer. In re: search warrant. TRAFFIC AND MISDEMEANORS Pike Circuit Court Jose Obdulio Miranda charged with operating a motor vehicle without ev- er receiving a license. Deanna G. Wilson charged with driving while suspended. Daisy Velazquez charged with oper- ating a motor vehicle without ever re- ceiving a license. David J. Dunn charged with disor- derly conduct. Scott Kunkel charged with posses- sion of marijuana. Jacob Paul Meadows charged with count I operating a vehicle while in- toxicated and count II driving while suspended. CIVIL Pike Circuit Court First Financial Bank sues Ashley Wilson aka Ashley Roach on com- plaint. Unifund CCR, LLC sues Virginia F. Seifrig on complaint. Onemain Financial Services sues Michael E. Hedge on complaint. Melvin Hansel sues Tarri Hansel for dissolution of marriage. SMALL CLAIMS Pike Circuit Court Petersburg Hardware sues Brian and Dana Moyes on complaint. Virgil Hornby sues Kenneth E. Hornby on complaint. INFRACTIONS Pike Circuit Court Noe Calderon, Jr. charged with speeding, 89 mph in a 70 zone. Adam Cornelius charged with speeding, 49 mph in a 35 zone. Lindie Dunn charged with speed- ing, 91 mph in a 70 zone. Ashley Gingerich charged with speeding, 91 mph in a 70 zone. Ryan Grammer charged with speeding, 49 mph in a 35 zone. Patience King charged with speed- ing, 69 mph in a 55 zone. Minerva Lebron charged with 84 mph in a 70 zone. Samantha Malone charged with speeding, 94 mph in a 70 zone. Ryan Merkel charged with speed- ing, 49 mph in a 35 zone. Weston Tenbarge charged with speeding, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Trevon Brown charged with speed- ing, 100 mph in a 70 zone. Kyle Burnett charged with speed- ing, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Richard Downey charged with speeding, 49 mph in a 35 zone. Douglas Heidenreich charged with failure to change lanes for authorized emergency vehicle. Brock Lofton charged with speed- ing, 101 mph in a 70 zone. Philius Philippe charged with count I no valid driver's license, count II driving while suspended, and count III speeding, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Jessica Rodriguez charged with fail- ure to yield right-of-way to emergen- cy vehicle. Alyssa Smolsky charged with speeding, 80 mph in a 70 zone. Gustavo Soto charged with no val- id driver's license. Claudia Weiman charged with speeding, 86 mph in a 70 zone. enced in countries such as the USSR, China, most A frican nations and, most recently, Venezuela. When these di- sasters are pointed out, the excuse is inadequacies of socialist leaders rath- er than socialism itself. For the ordi- nary person, free market capitalism, with all of its warts, is superior to any system yet devised to deal with our ev! eryday needs and desires. Here are a couple of questions: Does an act clearly immoral when do- ne privately become moral when done collectively? Does legality or majority consensus establish morality? Before you answer, consider that slavery was legal; South A frican apartheid was le- gal; the horrendous Stalinist, Nazi and Maoist purges were legal. Clearly, the fact of legality or a majority consensus cannot establish morality. You might ask, "If you're so smart, Williams, what establishes morality? " That's easy, and you tell me when I make the wrong step. My initial prem- ise is that we own ourselves. You are your private property, and I am mine. Self-ownership reveals what's mor- al and immoral. Rape is immoral be- cause it violates private property. So is murder and any other initiation of violence. Most people probably agree with me that rape and murder are im- moral, but what about theft? Some Americans would have a problem de- ciding whether theft is moral or im- moral. Let's first define what theft is. A fair- ly good working definition of theft is the taking by force of one person's property and the giving of it to anoth- er to whom it does not belong. Most Americans think that doing that is OK as long as it's done by government. We think that it is OK for Congress to take the earnings of one American to give to another American in the form of agricultural subsidies, business bail- outs, aid for higher education, food stamps, welfare and other such activ- ities that make up at least two-thirds of the federal budget. If I took some of your earnings to give to a poor person, I'd go to jail. If a congressman did the same thing, he'd be praised. People tend to love a powerful gov- ernment. Quite naturally, a big, pow- erful government tends to draw into it people with bloated egos, people who think they know more than everyone else and have little hesitance in coerc- ing their fellow man. Nobel laureate Friedrich Hayek explained why cor- ruption is rife in government: "In gov- ernment, the scum rises to the top." Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. Continued from page 11 THINK Continued from page 11 BATTLE Continued from page 11 Continued from page 11 love or love from or for God. John 3:16 takes on a deep spiritual meaning when read "for God so agape humani- ty…." This short word study is vitally important to the church because the writers of the New Testament when using the word love with few exceptions used the word agape. Think about what appli- cation this has. Passages of scriptures too numerous to mention take on a spiri- tual life with multiple di- mensions. For example: "A new commandment I give to you, that you agápe, one another; Agápe, your neigh- bor as yourself; For God so agápe, the world; God is agá- pe; Let brotherly agápe, con- tinue; Husbands agápe, your wives as Christ agápe, the church; Perfect agápe, cast out fear; Agápe, the breth- ren; Who shall separate us from the agape of Christ? " There is no wiggle room or spinning what type of love Christians are to have toward one another, and to those outside the faith. The significance of the Parable of the Good Sa- maritan is the foundational message of showing love to those whom one may dislike or despise. The Parable is the result of a conversation between Jesus and a teacher of the Law of Moses: "On one oc- casion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. 'Teacher,' he asked, 'what must I do to inherit eternal life? ' Jesus replied, 'What is written in the Law; How do you read it? ' The man answered Jesus, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and Love your neighbor as your- self.'" Notice the teacher of the law used the word love twice. He understood the ap- plication of the act of loving. God meant for you to demon- strate the same love towards all people. Jesus commended the man for this interpretation saying, "You have answered correctly, do this and you will live." However, the teacher of the law wanted to qualify or to identify whom he did not have to show love towards by asking, "And who is my neighbor? " This answer to this very question is the foundation of Christianity. God loved hu- manity without reservation and sent Christ to bring sal- vation to all. Paul wrote to the saints at Rome, "But God demonstrates his own agápe for us in this: "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Love must be a core value of the local church, the par- ish, and the individual. Paul likewise told the church at Rome, "Love must be with- out hypocrisy." Christians wrestle with whom to love and how to demonstrate that love daily. But love as an act is defined by what has been called the Golden Rule: "Do to others what you would have them do to you." Consider loving the unlov- able today. God loved you in that very same condition without reservation. To dem- onstrate divine love [agápe] to another signifies that you know God! Think about it! LOVE JUNGLE Continued from page 11 RAISE down a mortgage, cover day- care expenses, or increase college savings. Only "limousine liberals" could look down their noses at this. And if you doubt it, ask any Americans who've seen their paychecks grow if they'd like to return their "crumbs." Ask those in Mrs. Pelosi's district (CA-12), which gets the 12th largest 2018 aver- age tax cut: $2,326. They'll see average take-home pay increase by $40,982 over the next 10 years. Sure, we're not talking lottery-level winnings, but these amounts provide some honest-to-goodness relief for working Americans. Unfortunately, there's a caveat. The TCJA expires in 2025, so the Heritage ex- perts had to roll this into their calculations. They also had to assume Washington will continue running large and unsustainable deficits. Both of these factors con- stitute a large drag on an economy that is otherwise growing at an impressive clip. So why would Pelosi hint that she and other mem- bers of her party want to re- peal the TCJA? When Politico reporter Jake Sherman asked Mrs. Pelosi in May to respond to a Republican claim that she wants to "roll back the tax cuts they passed this year," she labeled this "accurate." Who could possibly want to repeal a tax cut that's helping so many Ameri- cans? Who could want to un- do the economic gains we're seeing now and will contin- ue to see as long as the tax cut remains law? Far from repealing it, we need to make it permanent. Doing so would improve any economic benefits even more dramatically. Imagine how well our economy would perform if the money cur- rently being wasted in Wash- ington was saved, spent and invested by the people who produce it. Mrs. Pelosi wants to "re- visit the tax legislation." Agreed. Let's drop the ex- piration date. Ed Feulner is founder of The Heritage Foundation (heritage.org). "Wait till you get a bunch of bills when you are on your own, and you will then know how education can be very im- portant." So I did a little bit more reading on the value of education. Here's some bits of information worth mentioning. According to a research group called Global Partnership for Education, ed- ucation equips individuals of all ages with the skills and knowledge need- ed to be productive and successful citizens. • • • Continuing on with the research, "Girls and boys who learn to read, write and count will provide a bet- ter future for their families and coun- tries. With improved education, so many other areas are positively affect- ed. In short, education has the power to make the world a better place. Ed- ucation…..reduces poverty, increas- es income, makes people healthier, boosts economic growth, saves chil- dren's lives, fosters peace, prevents disaster related deaths, reduces ma- ternal deaths, and so many more ben- efits." According to another research by Borgen Magazine, there are sever- al benefits of education that combats global poverty. 1. Education raises lit- eracy levels. 2. Education increases income and wealth creation. 3. Educa- tion helps reduce instability and cor- ruption in every aspect of human ac- tivity especially in governing. 4. Ed- ucation empowers females who are unfortunately given disadvantaged roles in society. 5. Education pro- motes healthier lives. 6. Education im- proves food security and nutrition. 7. Education improves technical skills. 8. Education boosts economic growth. • • • Having thus mentioned these pearls of wisdom, I wanted to add…these things do not come easy unless cer- tain virtues are incorporated into the learning process - such as patience, discipline, determination, a joyful pos- itive attitude about broadening ones knowledge, a curious mind that al- ways seeks truth and a desire to nev- er stop learning something new every- day. So to the next generation who is on the path to higher learning - good luck and have faith. • • • Humor of the week: A certain neigh- boring state wanted to raise the mini- mum age for marriage to 30…hoping the couple could finish high school first. I'll leave it up to you to guess which state that is. Have a blessed week. Continued from page 11 SCHOOL'S IN Continued from page 11 RECOVERY cent of entry-level jobs require three or more years of work experience. This is down from 29 percent in 2012. The drop in work requirements puts 1.2 million jobs "in closer reach to more applicants," per The Wall Street Journal story. Now this same Krugman wrote a piece a few weeks back in The New York Times: "The G.O.P.'s War on the Poor." Krugman is unhappy about Repub- lican proposals to add work require- ments to welfare programs like Med- icaid. Which, I think, is a great idea. But the point here is that the best answer for those on welfare who can work is a job. And that the best anti- poverty program is a growing, robust economy. More jobs and opportunity is the "nothingburger" that is now being served up to millions of Americans. Now there's the question about how much credit Trump and the Republi- can Congress can take for this. We know what Krugman thinks. But there are also distinguished econ- omists who share with Trump the con- viction that the economy is recover- ing because of the tax cuts and dereg- ulation measures that have been put in place over the last year and a half. It is worth looking at the Econom- ic Freedom of the World Index, pub- lished annually by the Fraser Institute in Vancouver, Canada. The index mea- sures economic freedom in 159 coun- tries around the world, using 42 dif- ferent parameters. The index is important because it correlates extremely strongly with economic growth. Countries that score the best grow the fastest. In 2000, the U.S. was No. 4 out of 159 countries. By 2014, the U.S. dropped to No. 14. Scores regarding the size of our government, our legal system and business regulation all deteriorat- ed. This correlated with the slowdown in growth and the very slow econom- ic recovery. These are all the areas that Trump is fixing. So it's no surprise that the economy is recovering. I don't have a Nobel Prize in eco- nomics. But I'm ready to give Pres- ident Trump and Republicans the credit. Contrary to a GOP "war on the poor," I'd say, with an abundance of new jobs, and historically low un- employment rates for blacks and His- panics, the GOP is leading a new eco- nomic renaissance for the poor and all working Americans. Star Parker is an author and presi- dent of CURE, Center for Urban Renew- al and Education. Contact her at www. urbancure.org. distinguish certain parts of the spectrum. Being red/green color blind didn't necessarily mean that he couldn't tell red from green. He could distinguish the green and red on traffic signals, for exam- ple. But he couldn't see the red el- ement in purple, so he confused purple with blue. I know this be- cause it's genetic. I wish Grand- daddy Potter had passed down some of his mathematical aptitude or his full head of hair, but —no, he sent me his color blindness. This is pretty basic stuff for you farmers but, for the benefit of the town kids, here's a brief summa- ry of the genetics of color blind- ness: it's passed from mother to son on the 23rd chromosome, the same one that determines wheth- er you're a girl or boy (subject to a psychotherapist's ratification). This consists of an X and Y chro- mosome if you're a male, two X chromosomes if you're a female. The color blindness trait only rides the X chromosome. If a female receives the color blindness trait on both her X chro- mosomes, she'll be color blind. That's only about 1 in 200 females. If she receives it on just one of her X chromosomes, she won't be col- or blind, but she'll be a carrier for the trait, and can pass it on to her son by his single X chromosome. That's about 1 in 12 males. So my mom isn't color blind, but she was a carrier for the trait that she in- herited from her father, Preston Potter, on one half of her 23rd chromosome. If your kid went to Purdue, they might tell you that's the difference between phenotype and genotype. I, too, was doomed to a show- down with Dr. Ishihara in the U.S. Army. I already knew I was color vision deficient after some child- hood encounters with crayons and unripe berries, but nothing rubs it in with more finality than an Ishi- hara test: What's this number? Twenty four. What's this number? Sixty three. What's this number? What number? Color blindness presented ob- vious problems in the agricultur- al economy, and it certainly took some artistic options off the ta- ble. And it might abbreviate your life expectancy if you were a craps dealer for Meyer Lansky. But it ve- toes even more human potential in the modern technological fields, including electronics, aviation and the maritime industry. You can't have an electrician confusing the color-coded wires. My cousin Tom Klipsch was a talented and trusted costume de- signer for a big-city dinner the- ater, but after an outlandish fabric purchase, management realized they'd need to assign a clerk spe- cifically to supervise his color se- lections. (Nobody ever offered to assign me a clerk. They just moved on to the next candidate.) I was making a purchase with my debit card in a drug store this summer when the cashier told me to just press the green button. For the 83 thousandth time, I had to tell a perfect stranger that I am color blind. She came around the counter to help me finish, then struck up a conversation about col- or blindness, and told me about an optometrist in her town who has eyeglasses that cure color blind- ness. She pulled out a phone book and wrote his name and phone number down for me. I'm still pro- crastinating, but I do want to call the guy some day. It's too late to re- deem my career prospects which, to be honest, were sabotaged more by poor judgment than by color vi- sion deficiency. But I am intense- ly curious about what everybody makes such a fuss about, what the world really looks like. can't accept this wild child who lives by the Law of the Jungle. A group of them de- ceive and humiliate his care- taker, and in return, an en- raged Mowghli calls on Hati, the leader of the ele- phants, to trample the en- tire village into rubble, re- claiming it from mankind and making it part of the jungle again. I could go on for days about this silly musical and its talking animals, but I'll save some material for an- other column. Rest assured you haven't heard the last of the Jungle Book, since I haven't said anything about how Bagheera and Baloo are a mother and father duo, or the controversy sur- rounding King Louie's voice actor, or, well, you see what I mean? I could go on for days! Have a great week!