The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Opinion Wednesday, Februar y 20, 2019 C- 9 Something newsworthy? Give us a call— 812-354-8500 How can we learn from this today? In a speech marking the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth, former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese observed: "I believe, following Lin- coln's example, that the Con- gress can be much more ac- tive and much more asser- tive in its role in relation to the judiciary. There are a number of ways in which this can happen. The Senate can more carefully fulfill its role in the selection of feder- al judges." We should also, at a time when some politicians open- ly embrace socialism, re- member Lincoln's thoughts on liberty: "I believe each individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruit of his labor, so far as it in no wise interferes with any other man's rights and that the general govern- ment, upon principle, has no right to interfere with any- thing other than that gener- al class of things that does concern the whole." There's another thing we can learn from Lincoln today, according to Mr. Meese: The importance of national unity. "Lincoln was compelled to unify the nation by force of arms, and he also sought to unify the people themselves emotionally, by patience, compassion, and persua- sion. I would suggest that, today, we must unify the na- tion by the force of our ideas, by the validity of our princi- ples, and by the persuasive- ness of our rhetoric." When President Reagan called America "a shining city on a hill," he echoed Lincoln: "My dream is of a place and time where Ameri- ca will once again be seen as the last, best hope on earth." May it always be our dream as well. Ed Feulner is founder of The Heritage Foundation (heritage.org). Court Report CRIMINAL Pike Circuit Court Joseph W. Gosciniak charged with count I operating a vehicle while in- toxicated, a level 6 felony, and count II operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Roger Schwenk petitions for intra- state probation transfer. Logan R. Vest petitions for intra- state probation transfer. TRAFFIC AND MISDEMEANOR Pike Circuit Court Devon E. Fawks charged with ille- gal possession of an alcoholic bever- age. Shantell Hibbs charged with oper- ating a motor vehicle without ever re- ceiving a license. Jesse M. Willis charged with count I possession of marijuana and count II possession of paraphernalia. Cody Xavier Schieve charged with count I possession of marijuana and count II possession of paraphernalia. Spencer K. Walker charged with op- erating a vehicle with an ACE of .15 or more. Tracy M. Spicuzza charged with count I possession of marijuana, count II operating a vehicle with a schedule I or II controlled substance or its me- tabolite in the body. Harley James Wade charged with battery resulting in bodily injury. Lisa R. King charged with driving while suspended. CIVIL Pike Circuit Court Credit Acceptance Corp sues Chan- tal Hulfachor and Caleb Hulfachor on complaint. United Farm Family Mutual Insur- ance, DBA Indiana Farm Bureau In- surance sues Marty Beck, Daniel W. Warren, Dean K. Schmitt and Jerry Fowler on complaint. Personal Finance Company LLC sues Mary L. Crume on complaint. SMALL CLAIMS Pike Circuit Court Hoosier Accounts Service sues Shlena K. Loveless on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Jo- seph Greer on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Am- ber Leehe on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Wil- lie L. Montgomery on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Keith E. Perkins on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Bar- bara J. Clore on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Brendan A. Ronk on complaint. Hoosier Accounts Service sues Bri- an D. Mounts on complaint. INFRACTIONS Pike Circuit Court Zachary Carlson charged with driv- ing while suspended. Alex Dilger charged with speeding, 70 mph in a 55 zone. Richard Haggard charged with speeding, 72 mph in a 55 zone. Marcus Loar charged with speed- ing, 86 mph in a 70 zone. Nathan Small charged with speed- ing, 69 mph in a 55 zone. Matthew Sturgeon charged with driving while suspended. Trey Breeding charged with unlaw- ful possession of tobacco. Continued from page 8 UNIFIED Continued from page 8 HIGH PRICE active faith has been etched in stone, May 24, 1738. Wes- ley walked from St. Paul's Cathedral after evensong to a Moravian gathering on Al- dersgate Street where a lay- man was reading from Mar- tin Luther's preface to Ro- mans. It is no coincidence that Luther's doubts were swept away by his reading of Romans [Romans 1:17], which he had taught to oth- ers for years. Wesley's conversion came with assurance. As the lay- man read Luther's intro- duction, "The Spirit makes the heart glad and free. . . . Faith is a living, daring con- fidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man would stake his life on it a thousand times." With these words, Wesley realized and accepted that God's love was reaching out to him. Wesley wrote of this expe- rience in his journal: "About a quarter before nine, while [the reader] was describ- ing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed." John Wesley's confes- sion of faith reads, "I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death." Faith had claimed the life, soul, and essence of John Wesley; he would never be the same. The modern church is beguiled by the pressures of the world to be relevant. That has been the challenge for centuries. The modern church may seem stuffy, schismatic, and antiquated, but the message remains as Paul wrote to Timothy his protégé, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." To do good and become a light to a world, we must embrace Jesus as the savior of the soul. Then we will be- come a fire to the lost, and they will watch us burn to the glory of God. Hopefully, they will ask, "How do I re- ceive what you have? " Think about it! Continued from page 8 AFIRE Continued from page 8 MARIJUANA Continued from page 7 nia rail grant. In the long run, we should finance the fence and all the necessary manpower and technology at the border by a tax on foreign remittanc- es to the sources of illegal immigration. That's a tax on Western Union, Money- gram, bank transfers and money orders originating in the U.S. and destined for any of the countries that benefits from their citizens extract- ing wealth from our country and sending it home. This is a fair tax because it burdens the groups that make immigration enforce- ment expensive. It doesn't focus unfairly on Mexicans, but also on Central Ameri- can sources of illegal immi- gration. It also burdens il- legal immigrants who have not come across the south- ern border, but have over- stayed student and tourist vi- sas. There are more illegal immigrants here from India, for example, than from Ni- caragua. It's less fair that the tax on foreign remittances can't distinguish between le- gal and illegal immigrants. Even U.S. citizens would have to pay the tax to send money to friends and family in countries that are sourc- es of large numbers of illegal immigrants. But the fact re- mains that they are remov- ing wealth from our econ- omy and our communities, on a one-way trip. We're en- titled to take that into ac- count. tential risks. Something else that's not given much attention is that cannabis today is much more potent than it was in the 1970s, when most mar- ijuana contained less than 2 percent THC. Today mar- ijuana routinely contains 20 to 25 percent THC, as a re- sult of sophisticated farming and cloning techniques. As such, it produces a stronger and quicker high. Berenson said that the difference be- tween yesterday's marijua- na and today's is like the dif- ference between "near beer and a martini." Berenson cited several studies and other findings showing a relationship be- tween marijuana use and vi- olence and crime. According to a 2007 paper in The Medi- cal Journal of Australia on 88 felons who had committed homicide during psychotic episodes, almost two-thirds reported misusing cannabis. A 2012 paper in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence examined a federal survey of more than 9,000 adolescents and found that marijuana use was associated with a doubling of domestic vio- lence. The first four states to legalize marijuana for rec- reational use were Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Or- egon. In 2013, those states combined had about 450 murders and 30,300 aggra- vated assaults. In 2017, they had almost 620 murders and 38,000 aggravated assaults — an increase of 37 percent for murders and 25 percent for aggravated assaults, far greater than the national in- crease, even after account- ing for differences in popu- lation growth. One of the problems with legalization of marijuana is that it gives social sanction to its use. A preferable strat- egy would be simple decrim- inalization, which does not imply social sanction. More- over, where there is no crim- inal activity associated with any drug usage, it should be treated as a medical prob- lem, as opposed to a crim- inal problem. Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. Continued from page 8 SOCIALISM When Democrats say "socialism," says Krugman, they really mean "so- cial democracy" — a market economy with a social safety net and use of the tax system as an equalizer. The issue really isn't how we tech- nically define socialism. The issue is really the extent to which we are free. What difference is it really if a firm is privately owned, but the govern- ment has vast latitude to regulate what it does? Or if a private firm pays me but government taxes away a large chunk of what I earn? Venezuela is, of course, the extreme case. Total collapse as result of polit- ical despots taking over everything. But socialism is not like good wine, which, in moderation, might not hurt and might even be beneficial. Every step in which economic free- dom is cut back bears costs. We see what is happening now, as the U.S. economy surges back to life as a result of cutting back regulation and taxes. But our nation has not totally es- caped the Venezuelan phenomenon. America has entire communities in distress for the same reasons that Venezuela has fallen apart — political control over economic affairs. Life in our poor communities is in the grip of socialism, not capitalism. Government housing, government health care, government schools, gov- ernment welfare programs. There are 31 million people living in areas of high economic distress, now designated as "opportunity zones." The average poverty rate in these zones is 28.7 percent. The average household income is 40 percent below the national average, and 36.5 percent of prime-age adults are not working. Fifty-six percent of these 31 million are non-white minorities. The president's new opportunity zone initiative, providing tax incen- tives to direct investment capital into these neighborhoods, aims to change realities with the same passion that the president spoke against socialism for the rest of the country in his State of the Union address. How do countries wind up going in the wrong direction? British playwright George Bernard Shaw captured it when he said, "A gov- ernment that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul." Political demagogues tap into the frustrations of those who are strug- gling, or tap into the ambitions of those who long for power, and sell them Hollywood dreams — and lies — of a better life. Once they convince them to turn over power, the night- mare begins. Life has no shortcuts. Freedom, hard work and personal responsibil- ity are the one and only path to pros- perity. 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 8 SHARING hood years. I suspect my grandkids will be amazed at the number of kids they saw in the picture. My grandkids have no idea how our grandparents and uncles and aunts looked like. Now they will. My daughter in-law said she will create an album for these letters and the pictures so their children can look at them once in a while. Good idea. • • • Another good offshoot of my en- deavor is that my grandkids read these letters and they likely will widen their vocabulary. Studies have shown reading books and letters and litera- ture give an opportunity for the brain to digest ideas better, because it cre- ates an opportunity to have the read- er time to pause, stretch the imagina- tion, and retain data. When compared to watching T V programs or movies or documen- taries, data goes too fast for those kinds of media and the opportunity to digest or analyze items can be lost. I also know there is something special about holding a book or a letter as one goes through them at a leisurely pace. Now I am not saying we should aban- don enjoying other forms of entertain- ment, but we should strive to balance materials we see, hear, and read. Does that make sense? I almost forgot to mention. My writ- ing letters hopefully will be a way to slow down oldtimers or Alzheimer's disorder which I dread can creep in fast if I get inactive challenging my brain. My next project is to tell my wife Rose's story of her growing up years and her family. Fortunately I have a big collection of their family pictures from yesteryears and I plan to copy some of them and include them in my next letters. My total investment for these three letters was $1.50 for the three postage stamps. That is a good investment. • • • Humor of the week: The Sunday school teacher asks one of her stu- dents, "Now Johnny, tell me frank- ly, do you say prayers before eating? " The kid replies, "No ma'am. I don't have to, cause my mom is a good cook." Here's another one: A young son asks his father, " Dad, is it true that in some parts of the world, a man does not know his wife until he marries her? " Dad had to think and says, " You know son, that happens in every coun- try." Have a great week! GREGORY A. "GREG" SCOT T Gregory A. "Greg" Scott, 45, of Jasper, formerly of Tell City, passed away February 15, 2019, at Memorial Hos- pital and Health Care in Jas- per. He was born in Tell City on July 16, 1973. He was united in marriage on June 30, 2009, to the former Amanda Brooks. He had worked at Greif Brothers in Ferdinand. He enjoyed working on cars, motorcycles and anything with wheels, music, be- ing outdoors and he loved spending time with his chil- dren, family and his dogs. He was known for his gener- osity in helping others, even after his death, as he was an organ donor. Surviving are his wife, Amanda Scott, of Jasper; children, Jacob Scott, of Tell City, Joshua Allen Lee Scott, of Adeline, Australia, Jade Johnson, of Petersburg, and Jeremiah and Joshua Johnson, both of Jasper; his mother, Linda (Leimgruber) Clark, of Jasper; sisters, Mi- randa Hess, Sandy James and Vicki Blake, all of Tell Obituaries at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019, at Goodwin-Sievers Funeral Home in Washing- ton, with Pastor Jewell Gil- ley officiating. Interment fol- lowed in Sugarland Memory Gardens. Visitation was from 11 a.m. until service time on Saturday at the funer- al home. Online memories may be shared at www.good- winsieversfh.com. Good- win-Sievers Funeral Home was honored to assist the Jenne family with arrange- ments. City, Rose Scott, of Jasper, and April Neal, of Hardins- burg, Ky.; brothers, James and Ronnie Scott, both of Cannelton, and Steve Scott, of Bristow. Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. CST on Wednesday, February 20, 2019, at Hu- ber Funeral Home, Tell City Chapel. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. until service time on Wednesday at the funeral home. Memorial contributions may be made to help with fu- neral expenses. Condolenc- es can be left at www.huer- funeralhome.net. ROSEMARY HOPF Rosemary Hopf, 74, of Ot- well, passed away at 12:08 p.m. on Monday, February 18, 2019, at The Timbers of Jasper. She was born in Jasper on March 25, 1944, to Al- bert and Frances (Haus- er) Fehribach. She married Kenneth Hopf on April 18, 1963, at Holy Family Catho- lic Church in Jasper. He pre- ceded her in death on Au- gust 14, 2009. She was a homemaker and a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Ireland. She enjoyed spending time with her family, espe- cially her grandchildren, reading and playing games on the computer. Surviving are four daughters, Brenda ( Jeff ) Traylor, of Rockport, Con- nie Goebel, of Evansville, Sharon (Lou) Fort, of Ot- well, and Patty (Richard) Schwartz, of St. Henry; three sons, Kerry Hopf, of Otwell, David (Teresa) Hopf, of Dubois, and Rog- er (Tracy) Hopf, of Jas- pe; 23 grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; four sisters, Rita Gress, of Ire- land, Jean Eck, of Jasper, Patsy Dunkel, of Jasper, and Dolores Johnson, of Swiss City; four brothers, Johnny Fehribach, of Flor- ida, Joseph (Sandy) Fehri- bach and Thomas Fehri- bach, both of Jasper, and Jimmy Fehribach, of Loo- gootee. Preceding her in death besides her husband was one granddaughter, Pay- ton Hopf; two sisters, Lu- cille Crockett and Viola Fehribach; and one broth- er, Karl Fehribach. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Febru- ary 21, 2019, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Ireland, with burial to follow in the church cemetery. A visitation will be from 3-8 p.m. on Wednesday at the Becher-Kluesner Downtown Chapel in Jas- per. Memorial contributions may be made to St. Mary's Catholic Church, or to a fa- vorite charity. Condolenc- es may be made at www. becherkluesner.com.