The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1193961
The Press-Dispatch Opinion Wednesday, December 11, 2019 B- 9 Something newsworthy? 812-354-8500 will also fall disproportion- ately on those who most need economic growth — A frican Americans and His- panics. As I have been saying for many years, Republi- cans need to communi- cate more effectively with our minority communities about public policy ideas. If they don't, our entire coun- try could wind up paying a great price in 2020. Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renew- al and Education and au- thor of the new book "Nec- essary Noise: How Donald Trump Inflames the Culture War and Why This is Good News for America," avail- able now at starparker.com Continued from page 8 VOTE Court Report FELONY Pike County Circuit Court Wesley Donald Neukam charged with count I confinement, a level 6 fel- ony, and count II possession of meth- amphetamine, a level 6 felony. Jason Kermit Wildt charged with count I obstruction of justice, a level 6 felony, count II resisting law enforce- ment, a level 6 felony, and count III pos- session of a controlled substance. TRAFFIC AND MISDEMEANOR Pike County Circuit Court Patrick Gregory Carlisle charged with possession of marijuana. Jessica Fisher charged with posses- sion of marijuana. Kevin Richardson charged with dis- orderly conduct. Bem Bunglick charged with oper- ating a vehicle with a schedule I or II controlled substance in person's body. David A. Salmon charged with do- mestic battery. Wesley Donald Neukam charged with invasion of privacy. Kevin Richardson charged with ha- rassment by means of a telephone call. CIVIL Pike County Circuit Court Discover Bank C/O Discover Prod- ucts, Inc. sues Anthony Loveless on complaint. Mitchell Dunn sues Mike Ison, Bet- ty Ison, and Jordan Ison et al on com- plaint. Energy Plus Credit Union sues Dustin Willis on complaint. Lisa K. Brewster sues Stanley E. Brewster for dissolution of marriage. INFRACTIONS Pike County Circuit Court Donna S. King charged with speed- ing, exceeding 55 mph. Brayden M. Powers charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Violeta B. Zly charged with speed- ing, exceeding 55 mph. Angelino I. Dubon charged with speeding, exceeding 55 mph. Colin J. Cooper charged with speed- ing, exceeding 55 mph. Robin L. Cornelius charged with speeding, exceeding 55 mph. Courtney P. Griffith charged with speeding, exceeding 55 mph. Moriah G. Deane charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Chukiat Kanphian charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Kyle D. Fleetwood charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. James L. Morrison charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Van D. Thawng charged with seat- belt violation. Jamarcus L. Carter charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Caroline I. Wright charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Amanda J. Smith charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Reuban Thang charged with speed- ing, exceeding 70 mph. Hector B. Barco Ochoa charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Lillian W. Cummins charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Joseph Thang charged with seatbelt violation. Bawi Hmung charged with seatbelt violation. Daniel B. Chancellor charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Jacob M. Stieneker charged with speeding. Angelica S. Merkley charged with no valid driver's license. Star M. Tesdahl charged with speed- ing, exceeding 70 mph. Harley N. Brinkman charged with driving while suspended. Paul R. Clark charged with speed- ing, exceeding 70 mph. Mauricio A. Vasquez charged with count I no valid driver's license and count II speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Rachel M. Rollison charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Jeffrey P. Anderson charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Trevor K. Henke charged with speeding, exceeding 55 mph. Kraig D. West charged with speed- ing, exceeding 70 mph. Dustin D. Johnson charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Javon M. Wilkerson charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Luke D. Melloh charged with speed- ing, exceeding 70 mph. Tyler S. Fansler charged with speed- ing, exceeding 30 mph in an urban dis- trict. Tamara L. Rascoe charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Monya S. Lewis charged with speed- ing, exceeding 70 mph. Gary L. Zagaros charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Latoya M. Jagoe charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Freddy R. Disk charged with speed- ing, exceeding 30 mph in an urban dis- trict. William A. Wells charged with speeding, exceeding 55 mph. Alfonso R. Roblero charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Samuel L. Curtis charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Mark D. Elia charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Samuel L. Jones charged with un- lawful possession of tobacco. Draven M. Harrison charged with unlawful possession of tobacco. Jesse White charged with unlawful possession of tobacco. beth and Mary saluting one another, and the power of God and His promised re- demption, exclaims forever more the joy that was soon to appear in real time for His people: "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has re- joiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidser- vant; for behold, hence- forth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. The joy we read of here is not from a material gift or achievement, but the real- ization that God has made an appearance in Mary's and Elizabeth's life and will perform a wonderful thing! The things of God are eternal and spiritual and will stand the test of time! Again, consider the question Job was asked as he pondered his calami- ties: "To what were its [the earth's] foundations fas- tened? Or who laid its cor- nerstone when the morn- ing stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy? " Job was confronted with the mighty acts of God as they were unveiled to the angles-and they rejoiced in the wonderment of His power. The question begs as we pass through Advent, "do we have the peace and joy that Jesus offers? " If we conclude that we lack the Joy of His birth, should we not also ask our- selves "What do we need to do to find it, so that we can truly be ready to celebrate Christmas? " Advent reminds all of us of our need for Jesus, the light of the world. As the prophet Isaiah foretold, "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned" The Light is the birth of a savior-for all mankind! Think about it! Continued from page 8 JOY quiet meditation. And yes, praying for our elected of- ficials, that they may do the right and honorable thing. Since Christmas is about to be celebrated, I find it en- tertaining to do some shop- ping just to go somewhere and change my environ- ment. And then load up my credit card. Real carefully and prudently, I hope. I'll find out next month if I was wise in my judgements. I also have some Christ- mas gatherings and parties lined up for our family and some friends. I'm looking forward to our Church ser- vices to celebrate this up- lifting event. That is the magic of Christmas. You see, God is so smart. As the cold and less sunny days creep in, the atmo- sphere of the holiday activ- ities are surely a great re- lief to ward off gloomy feel- ings. So He gave us Christ- mas and the New Year. • • • I keep reminding my- self life is brief, and so it is important to spend time spreading inspiring and uplifting thoughts, loving those who are dear to us, loving ourselves, forgiv - ing hurts, and reconciling differences. Hard to do at times. But the alternatives are not so good. Gosh, sev- en more days and the Big Event will come upon us. Humor of the week: A lady went to the post of- fice to buy some Christ- mas stamps. The post- master asked her what de- nominations she needed. A fter thinking for a min- ute, she said, "I needed to send 10 cards for my Bap- tist friends, 10 for my Cath- olic friends, 10 for my Pen- tecostal friends and 10 to my Methodist friends. Have a great week! Continued from page 8 PERSUADE mum price paid for through tax dollars and higher prices for consumers, regulations that limit entry into vari- ous professions and occupa- tions, regulations that limit consumer choice, and corpo- rate handouts and bailouts. In a word or so, our pro- test should not be against capitalism. People should protest crony capitalism, where people use the politi- cal arena to buy government favors. If millennials and oth- ers want to wage war against government favors and cro- ny capitalism, I'm with them 100 percent. But I'm all too afraid that anti-capitalists just want their share of the government loot. Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. Continued from page 8 MARKETS dilemma over China to put our own hot-button debates into perspective: "While we may disagree on exactly where to draw the line on specific issues, we at least can disagree. That's what free expres- sion is." The Facebook founder correctly observed that "the fact that we can even have this conversation means that we're at least debating from some com- mon values. If another na- tion's platforms set the rules, our discourse will be defined by a complete- ly different set of values." Someone else who is fighting back is filmmak- er Quentin Tarantino, who just revealed that China had asked him to make changes to his latest re- lease, "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." While most other studio heads buckle under, Tarantino told Bei- jing to take a hike. China has not released his film, but Tarantino's defiance earned him the backing of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. He tweeted "I applaud Quen- tin Tarantino's refusal to recut his film to appease China's censorship. Un- alienable rights such as free speech should not be for sale." Pompeo himself has been active on the Holly- wood front. In a September speech to the Motion Pic- ture Association of Ameri- ca, Pompeo told Hollywood moguls that President Donald Trump sought rec- iprocity in accessing Chi- na's lucrative movie mar- ket, the second largest af- ter the United States. But he asked them in return to stop bowing to China's censors. Zuckerberg, Pompeo, Tarantino and Silver all come from different walks to life, but their run-up against Chinese restric- tions is a welcome awak- ening. Vladimir Putin's Russia is important, but we need to focus on Chi- na, too. Mike Gonzalez is a se- nior fellow at the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundation. Continued from page 8 SPLINTER Sunny, crisp morning for a bike ride Despite temperatures in the 30s on Saturday, Dec. 7, Xzadria Ferguson and Nevaeh Ferguson were out riding their bikes around downtown Winslow. Information on hemp growing and regulations act a lot like injuries on the football field. Everyone seems healthy and optimistic for a time, then half your fantasy football team is out right dur- ing league playoffs. The optimism for a commercial hemp crop in Indiana erod- ed quite a bit at the end of November. The timeline for USDA rule approval on hemp forced the State Seed Com- missioners hand. What will hemp pro- duction look like in 2020? We know it will not look like a high production, high acreage, greatly mar- keted crop. USDA rules for hemp pro- duction released around Halloween had a 60 day comment period, mean- ing the year ends before a final rule is established. Once national policy is set, states then establish systems to con- form with federal policy. For Indiana, the timeline would have meant paper- work and applications procedures that may not have allowed seed accession to plant until the 2020 planting season would be underway. We know that it will be another re- search year in 2020 for hemp in Indiana. Rather than the 100 application limit set in 2019, 300 licenses will be accepted for 2020. According to the Indy Star, licensed acres for hemp production in 2019 totaled 5,300. Not all applications were licensed in 2019, so 300 licenses probably quadruples or more the 2020 acreage totals, to 20,000 or more. For comparison, corn acres planted in In- diana in 2019 totaled 5.1 million. Soy- bean acres totaled 5.4 million. Soy- beans have dethroned corn as king in Indiana. Hemp is more of a court jest- er at the moment. We know the application window will open very late this year or in early Janu- ary. The application process will be rig- orous. A National Criminal Fingerprint Background Check will be required for every applicant. Some unusually strict agronomic restrictions will be in place, like minimum plant stand densities. Being a research year, the applicant will have to find a researcher and part- ner to grow for research purposes. Re- search purposes do not include grow- ing for the sake of getting experience. The licensee will have to register any acreage with the Farm Service Agen- cy. The grower and/or researcher will have to fill out reports along the way, documenting crop use and research re- sults. Indiana is considering requiring at- tendance at an educational meeting pri- or to the 2020 season as prerequisite to an application being processed. Purdue Extension is working with hemp spe- cialists to hold local educational meet- ings this winter. On Jan. 16, Mount Ver- non High School will welcome Jamie Campbell Petty with the Midwest Hemp Council and Marguerite Bolt, Purdue Extension Hemp Specialist, for an ed- ucational session beginning at 6 p.m. Central. On Feb 3, Addie Thornley with Gibson County Purdue Extension and Valerie Clingerman with Knox County Purdue Extension will speak at Gibson Southern High School beginning at 7 p.m. Central. On Dec. 19, Dubois Coun- ty Purdue Extension will hold a meet- ing at their fairgrounds beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern. Once again, hemp is not marijuana. They look the same, but the uses for hemp are much more diverse. When hemp markets are established in Indiana, that crop may be the high- est regulated legal crop local farmers have ever seen. For more information, contact Hans at hschmitz@purdue.edu or 812-838 -1331. Purdue Extension Pike County News New developments for hemp in 2020