The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1017524
B-8 Opinion Wednesday, August 22, 2018 The Press-Dispatch Anniversary triggers reminiscences Lucid Moments by Bart Stinson havior and shaming self-de- structive behavior. Support should be given to police to stop criminals from prey- ing on communities. Non- governmental local groups should be encouraged to play greater roles. It's a challenge, but keep in mind that black people had the intestinal fortitude to lead the world's great- est civil rights movement through some very dark days from 1865 to 1965. I believe that we're up to the challenge. If we wait for Washington to solve our problems, we'll be waiting for a long time. Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. Court Report CRIMINAL Pike Circuit Court Paul C. Rousey charged with count I possession of methamphetamine, a level 6 felony, count II possession of marijuana and count III operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Andrew O'Connor charged with count I maintaining a common nui- sance - controlled substances, a lev- el 6 felony, and count II possession of marijuana. Paul C. Rousey charged with count I possession of methamphetamine, a level 6 felony, count II maintaining a common nuisance -controlled sub- stances, count III dealing in marijuana and count IV possession of marijuana. Andrew C. O'Connor charged with count I possession of methamphet- amine, a level 6 felony, count II main- taining a common nuisance - con- trolled substances, count III dealing in marijuana, count IV possession of marijuana and count V habitual of- fender. Gregory L. Armstrong charged with count I strangulation, a level 6 felony, and count II domestic battery. Zakareya I. Shalabi charged with possession of methamphetamine, a level 6 felony. Kelly L. Robinson charged with count I intimidation, a level 6 felony, count II criminal mischief, count III public intoxication and count IV dis- orderly conduct. Marty L. Hall charged with count I operating a vehicle with an ACE of .15 or more, a level 6 felony, count II crim- inal mischief and count III operating a vehicle while intoxicated. In re: search warrant. Clayton D. Sanders petitions for in- trastate probation. In re: search warrant. TRAFFIC AND MISDEMEANORS Pike Circuit Court Silvia Victoria Reyes charged with operating a motor vehicle without ev- er receiving a license. Dylan Lee-Joseph Evans charged with operating a vehicle while intox- icated. Kyle M. Armstrong charged with domestic battery. Angel A. Bartolon charged with op- erating a motor vehicle without ever receiving a license. CIVIL Pike Circuit Court Capital One Bank sues Jennifer Crow aka Jennifer Leigh Jenkins on complaint. Bank of America sues Andrew Co- peland on complaint. Personal Finance Company LLC sues Maggie Shafer and Chris Spra- dlin on complaint. Personal Finance Company LLC sues Joseph B. Long on complaint. Patience L. King sues Jordan King for dissolution of marriage. SMALL CLAIMS Pike Circuit Court Hoosier Accounts Service sues Ja- cob A. Jones on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Ste- ven L. Ball on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Kimberly R. Robinson on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Krystle Rasche on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Wil- liam J. Hart, Sr. on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Ran- dall L. Gist on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Kev- in D. Brenton on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Jac- ey M. Lamb on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Me- lissa R. Davis on complaint. INFRACTIONS Pike Circuit Court Megan Burton charged with count I improper passing, count II following too closely and count III speeding, 63 mph in a 45 zone. Ronnie Carlton charged with stop- ping, standing or parking where pro- hibited. Bryan Hosmer charged with speed- ing, 71 mph in a 55 zone. Clinton Leonard charged with stop- ping, standing or parking where pro- hibited. Colton Mallory charged with speed- ing, 45 mph in a 35 zone. Caleb Martin charged with speed- ing, 79 mph in a 70 zone. Olivia Roettger charged with speed- ing, 39 mph in a 25 zone. John Schnarr charged with speed- ing, 39 mph in a 25 zone. James Sparks charged with stop- ping, standing or parking where pro- hibited. Amanda Tapp charged with driving while suspended. Annmarie Crow charged with speeding, 64 mph in a 50 zone. Melanie Mitchell charged with speeding, 79 mph in a 70 zone. Dane Prevo charged with speeding, 69 mph in a 55 zone. Continued from page 7 CROSS Continued from page 7 ENOUGH Continued from page 7 WHEEL today? " 2. "Who did you have fun with today? " 3. "What surprised you to- day ? " 4. "Who sat next to you at lunch? " 5. "Was anyone absent to- day? "Do you know why? " 6. "What is something you did that you liked a lot? " 7. " Did your teacher teach something you already know? " 8. "What problem did you solve today? " 9. "What one word would you use to describe today? " 10. "Do you have a class- mate you really like? " What's her/his name? " " What makes you like her/ him? " Of course we plan not to ask all these questions in one sitting. Maybe just pick two or three of the questions and see where the child's in- terests seem to be. Before you know it, they will be talking a lot, because they will sense you are really in- terested in what's going on in their life. There is an art to conversing with kids of different ages. One has to pay attention to their inter- ests, or their desire to just have a quieter time, their level of fatigue and energy, their state of hunger, or their level of upset whatever the cause may be. So we hope as we interact with the kids in their jour- ney of learning, we adults who have gone through the same and similar expe- riences will impart to the next generation a wonder- ful sense of joy and satisfac- tion in their education. Let's remember, out of 365 days a year, kids will spend about 180 days in school, about 11-12 years for elementary and high school- ing and many more years in higher education depending on their dreams and drive. • • • Let's listen to some things that make school a fun place to be. Teacher: You missed school yesterday, didn't you? Pupil:Not very much. Son: I can't go to school to- day. Father: Why not? Son: I don't feel well. Father: "Where don't you feel well? " Son: In school. A little girl had just fin- ished her first week in school. She said, "I'm wast- ing my time in school. I can't read, I can't write and they won't let me talk! " Teacher: Class we will have only half a day of school this morning. Class: Hoooray!! Teacher: We will have the other half this afternoon! Father: Son, are you tak- ing any foreign language class this year? Son: " Yes dad...Math. Pupil: Teacher, will I be punished for something I did not do? Teacher: Of course not. Pupil: Well, I did not do my homework." Professor: What inspired you to do this essay? Student: The deadline." Teacher: We will have a surprise quiz this coming Monday! And the list goes on. And on. Have a blessed week! . Continued from page 7 KIDS Continued from page 7 VIOLENCE Of that number, 114 were black. Last year, 987 people were shot and killed by police, of which 223 were black (http://tinyurl.com/ ycn77jkj). To put police shootings in a bit of perspective, in Chica- go alone in 2017, there were 674 homicides, almost 80 percent of whose victims were black. It would appear that if one is truly concerned about black deaths, shootings by police should figure way down on one's list — which is not to excuse bad behavior by some police officers. Would getting more blacks and Democrats in political office help? It turns out that of the Chicago City Council's 50 aldermen, only one is Republican. One is an in- dependent. Forty-eight aldermen are Democrats, and 19 are black. In fact, most of the cities where large segments of their black cit- izenry live under horrible con- ditions have been controlled by Democrats for nearly a half-cen- tury, and there are many blacks on the instruments of control, such as chiefs of police, super- intendents of schools and mem- bers of city councils. If Democrat- ic and black control meant any- thing, these cities would be par- adises. How helpful to these desperate black communities are the efforts of so many black politicians to fo- cus on allegations about Presi- dent Donald Trump's ties to Rus- sia? The leader of the movement to impeach Trump is Rep. Max- ine Waters. Her congressional district suffers from high crime rates and failing schools. She, like most other black politicians, claims that she is helping her con- stituency by doing all she can to fight to get more taxpayer money to her district. More money from taxpayers could not fix the problems of these communities. Over the past 50 years, more than $16 trillion has been spent on poverty programs. The majority of those programs have simply made poverty more comfortable by giving poor peo- ple more food, health care, hous- ing, etc. What's needed most is to get poor people to change their behavior. Chief among the modi- fications is reducing female-head- ed households. Female-headed households produce most of our prison inmates, the highest crime rates and disproportionate num- bers of high school dropouts and suicides. These devastating fac- tors are far beyond the capacity of Washington to fix. The only people who can fix these problems are black people themselves. Black athletes could be far more productive by going to schools and community centers to encourage constructive behav- ior and shaming self-destructive behavior. Support should be giv- en to police to stop criminals from preying on communities. Nongov- ernmental local groups should be encouraged to play greater roles. It's a challenge, but keep in mind that black people had the intestinal fortitude to lead the world's greatest civil rights move- ment through some very dark days from 1865 to 1965. I believe that we're up to the challenge. If we wait for Washington to solve our problems, we'll be wait- ing for a long time. Walter E. Williams is a profes- sor of economics at George Mason University. fact that all die! Death is the result of sin, so proclaim the scriptures. These same scriptures proclaim life ev- erlasting comes through Je- sus Christ. This is a spiritu- al truth and cannot be dis- missed for it is everlasting; nature and all of creation gives witness to this fact. Paul told the church at Rome: "For to be carnal- ly minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." The Christian world is rac- ing to a precipice where the demands of pop culture to be- come relevant and accept the realities of modern life is be- ing embraced by the church. Progressivism is a dam- nable heresy because it ne- gates the Word of God, dis- misses the teaching of the historical church, and in- sinuates that the ancients [and maybe even Jesus] had it wrong. Progressivism has as its core that God reveals Him- self over time. God reveals "more truth" gradually and that promotes change. They argue because at the time of the New Testament, culture was not at a place where it would accept the egalitari- anism of God and new ways of thinking. This is a dangerous prop- osition. This suggests that the cannon, the Word of God, is not closed but open. All things are relative That type of thinking is delusional. The Old Testa- ment prophets had no hesi- tation speaking truth to pow- er. In fact, they challenged the cultural norms that were eroding the dictates of the Law of Moses! Where has this taken the church? If the Word of God is an offense, so must be the cross. Think about it. Next week: The Church without a Cross anyway. "These rules aren't fair," Mary Kate Hopkins and Martin Rodriguez of Amer- icans for Prosperity write in The Hill. "A single mom in Ohio or a day laborer in Texas should not be forced to pay more for their cars just to subsidize a Califor- nian's Tesla." And yet they have been. The Obama administration clearly took a wrong turn on this issue. Freezing the stan- dards is a good first step, but if lawmakers really want to help, they should scrap the standards altogether. It's time to put consumers back in the driver's seat. Ed Feulner is founder of The Heritage Foundation (heritage.org). Forty years ago, a young Panama- nian woman and I drove across the Continental Divide from the Atlantic to the Pacific side of the Isthmus, and met two off-duty military policemen at the courthouse in Balboa. I was a Pri- vate First Class. They were my clos- est friends, there to witness our mar- riage by Canal Zone Magistrate Dar- rell F. Brown. We had to wait in the courtroom while the judge disposed of some le- gal business before he invited us into his judicial chambers for the wedding ceremony. He seemed pleased to take a break from the disputes and conten- tion of his courtroom, and was friend- ly toward us. One of my two friends there was scheduled to return to that same courtroom the following week for his involvement in a donnybrook on a bus. The judge didn't appear to recognize my friend, and was cordial to him. It was a lovely little courthouse ad- jacent to the police station, with Royal Palm trees and manicured lawns out front, just across the street from the YMCA that we young men were fond of. I wish we could go back and visit it, maybe even show it off to our kids or grandkids, but we can't. A fter Jimmy Carter and a compli- ant U.S. Senate turned the Canal Zone over to the Republic of Panama, dicta- tor Manuel Noriega found other pur- poses for the building where we got married. And when the U.S. Army launched its artillery attack against Noriega in 1989, I watched on live television as our little courthouse was obliterated. Only a large crater remained. But the courthouse had already served its purpose for us. Along with the crater, our marriage, too, re- mained. We've been married 40 years this week. That doesn't even sound plausible. I'm not sure I could pass a polygraph test on it. Forty years? Come on, that's 480 months. Nearly half a century. To get some idea of what 40 years means, we're on our seventh presi- dency. Forty years before we got mar- ried, Hitler hadn't invaded Poland yet. Churchill was denouncing the Mu- nich pact. Forty years before I was born, the Panama Canal wasn't fin- ished yet. Woodrow Wilson was pres- ident, and Babe Ruth made his debut with the Boston Red Sox. Forty years is a long time! But here we are. I look across the dining room table at the same person who shared tiny apartments with me, either too hot or too cold. Who caught buses when I couldn't afford to keep a car. Who worked at some hard union jobs to keep our family insured and shod when I was in graduate school. Who managed a house- ful of teenagers when I was driving trailer trucks who-knows-where. My wife was athletic when we married, muscu- lar and a bit of a tomboy. She was a good enough softball player that she had a sponsor. I think it was a dairy or a bakery. And she loved to dance. I never danced, but we played a lot of pitch and catch one summer in the Pa- cific Northwest. It's a fond memory. She has a green thumb. If you drive down our street, you won't have a hard time identifying Diana Stinson's yard. You might catch her stooped over with a machete, but probably will see her with a garden hose. She loves to entertain, loves to cook for company. The more numerous, the better. Not every guy can find a wom- an like that anymore. We had five children. Our first grandchild was so sunny, smart and outgoing that everybody wanted a ba- by. We have a large family partly be- cause that first grandchild was so ap- pealing. Now we have 17 grandchil- dren. Christian psychologist James Dob- son wrote that the mother is the inter- preter of the father to the son. I think that's largely true of daughters, too. My wife taught her little ones that it was exciting when their daddy got home, a moment for celebration. I think that's probably what made me finally and irrevocably a family man. There's no feeling like it, no closer bond. I remember my sense of melan- choly when the youngest of the kids got too grown-up to run shrieking in- to the driveway to mob me when I got home from work. I'm living in the af- terglow of those early years, refreshed occasionally by some affectionate grandchildren. My wife and I have shared a lot in 40 years, some good and some bad, some light-hearted and some pretty dark. I remember at least a couple dozen trips to the emergency room. (True to the Pareto Principle, one kid accounted for about 80 percent of the E.R. trips.) I remember kids swinging from the roll bar in my Ramcharger without their feet touching the floor. One of those kids probably could pick up one end of a Ramcharger now. Diana lost both her parents in the last few years, but she was consoled by the fact that she got back to her home coun- try and spent quality time with them before they died. Now she's devoted to my parents. I never have to talk her into a visit with my mom and dad. What's ahead? Well, certainly not another 40 years. There will be a transition to retirement, but not to a rocking chair or compul- sive, slack-jawed television viewing. We have some far-flung athletic and artistic grandchildren who are going to be fun to watch, and this will oc- casion some travel. We've never been to Europe, and we'd like to travel to U.S. destinations like Yellowstone and Broadway. It's now or never. My mom and dad just celebrat- ed their 65th anniversary in June. A niece asked Mom how in the world you have a 65 -year marriage, and she an- swered: "first, you have to live a long time." Check. She's 86 and Dad's 87. OK, a nephew asked Dad, what's your secret for living so long? "That's easy," Dad quipped. "Breathe." I believe that a marriage is gov- erned by imagination. Do you imag- ine yourself slipping out the back door for flirtation and adultery? It's prob- ably a matter of time before circum- stances accommodate your fantasy. But it works the other way around, too: If you imagine yourself keeping your promises and making a happy home, no matter what, you will tend to do so. In my experience, prayer can tame and re-direct imagination. I have an older friend whose long marriage to a mentally ill woman end- ed unhappily. Eventually he re-en- tered the dating scene and was embar- rassed to find himself gravitating to much younger women. He said wom- en his own age looked so incredibly ancient and decrepit that he couldn't imagine a romantic attraction to them. They were the same age as his ex- wife, and I would say that she looked her age, but he said he never really no- ticed her getting old, bent and wrin- kled. Growing old together, one day at a time, he still imagined her as the young woman he'd pursued and mar- ried. I know what he means. A fter 40 years, I still think of Diana with jet black hair, a salsa bounce in her step, and a baby on her hip. I can't imagine going through life with anybody else. Want to share your news with others? The Press-Dispatch can help deliver it to Pike and the surrounding counties. NEWS! 812-354-8500