The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1257677
B-2 Opinion Wednesday, June 10, 2020 The Press-Dispatch ously. When a guest trust- ed his host, he would on- ly touch or clink the host's glass with his own. Now I understand it better why the bride and groom do this when they clink their glasses before they drink the champagne and then cut the cake. • Why are people in the public eye said to be " in the limelight?" An- swer: Because in the 1800s, limelight was used in light- houses and theaters by burning a cylinder of lime which produced a brilliant light. In the theater, a per- former " in the limelight" was the center of attention. • Why is someone who is feeling great " on cloud nine?" Answer: Be- cause types of clouds are numbered according to the altitudes they attain, with nine being the highest cloud. If someone is said to be on cloud nine, that per- son is floating above world- ly cares. • In golf, where did the term "caddie" come from? Answer: When Mary Queen of Scots went to France as a young girl, Louis, King of France, learned that she loved the Scots game golf (gen- tlemen only, ladies for- bidden). He had the first course outside of Scotland built for her enjoyment. To make sure she was proper- ly chaperoned and guard- ed while she played, Lou- is hired cadets to accompa- ny her. Mary liked that a lot and when she returned to Scotland, she took the prac- tice with her. In French, the word cadet is pro- nounced "ca-day" and the Scotts changed it to caddie. • Why are many coin collection jar banks shaped like pigs? An- swer: Long time ago, dish- es and cookware were made of dense orange clay called "pygg." When people saved coins in jars made of this clay, the jars became known as "pygg banks." When and English potter misunderstood the word, he made a container that resembled a pig. And it caught on. • • • Wisdom of the week: I am absolutely saddened by the current state of af- fairs of our nation, a com- bination of COVID and the civil unrest. I have a dear friend who during our reg- ular scripture studies made a comment which made a lot of sense. If everyone, I mean everyone, exercises the virtues of obedience to law and order, and practic- es love and caring for one another, then we won't have the agony of pain and cha- os. Humor of the week: An avid hunter and his guide went on a lion hunting ex- pedition. One day, the hunt- er ventured a little too far away from his guide. Soon enough, a lion appeared in the bushes. He then tried to get away from the lion but he tripped. Now he was in trouble. All he could do was make a gesture of praying while kneeling. Sudden- ly, the lion dropped on it's two hind legs and also ges- tured a posture of praying. The hunter was so relieved, and called on his guide. He asked the guide what was the lion doing, like making a posture of praying. The guide then hollered and said: "That's what they do, say grace before a meal." Have a blessed week. hered to by true believers, protects. Only return to eternal truths will save us. 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." Continued from page 1 BURDEN Court Report FELONY Pike County Circuit Court James C. Hughes charged with un- lawful possession of a firearm by a se- rious violent felon, a level 4 felony. Tabitha R. West charged with count I domestic battery on a person less than 14 years old, a level 6 felony, and count II invasion of privacy. Autumn P. A xe charged with count I resisting law enforcement, a level 6 felony, count II leaving the scene of an accident, count III operating a vehicle while intoxicated and count IV operat- ing a vehicle while intoxicated, prior, a level 6 felony. TRAFFIC AND MISDEMEANOR Pike County Circuit Court Crystal Overton charged with count I public intoxication and count II inhal- ing toxic vapors. Alexis H. Idahosa charged with criminal mischief. CIVIL Pike County Circuit Court Professional and Business Collec- tions, LLC sues Cody Russell on com- plaint. Midland Credit Management, Inc. sues Jason Beadles on complaint. State of Indiana sues Richy Coan, Carl Brenner and Brenda Brenner et al on complaint. Bethani Christine Davis sues Court- ney Logan Davis for dissolution of mar- riage. SMALL CLAIMS Pike County Circuit Court George Terwiske sues Shawn Gilley and Camie Gilley on complaint. INFRACTIONS Pike County Circuit Court Stanley J. DeWeese charged with failure to yield, collision with a pedes- trian or vehicle. Michael P. Stanley charged with failure to wear helmet, individual less than 18 years old operates or rides on an off-road vehicle. Michael P. Stanley charged with fail- ure to register an off-road vehicle. Kameron T. Byers charged with op- erating off-road vehicle on property without property owner's consent. Cory M. Anthony charged with oper- ating off-road vehicle on property with- out property owner's consent. Adam J. White charged with know- ingly authorizing a violation of IC 9 - 18 -.1-14-11 (an individual less than 18 years of age who is operating or rid- ing on an off-road vehicle shall wear a helmet that meets the standards es- tablished by the United States Depart- ment of Transportation). Michael E. Smith charged with knowingly authorizing a violation of IC 9 -18 -.1-14-11 (an individual less than 18 years of age who is operating or rid- ing on an off-road vehicle shall wear a helmet that meets the standards es- tablished by the United States Depart- ment of Transportation). stand why lawlessness is excused? I sympathize with the victim[s] and cer- tainly respect the right to protest and demand that government listen to his/ her grievances. The song we learned in Church as a child is a fit- ting reminder to all, "Jesus loves the little children, all the Children of the world." Jesus reminds us we are the Children of God every time we read the passage "Love thy neighbor as thy- self." Think about it! Continued from page 1 HELP ME fore us now is how to get back on that path. Speaking of the COV- ID-19 pandemic, Just Facts has a couple of interesting takes in an article by its co- founder James D. Agresti and Dr. Andrew Glen titled "Anxiety From Reactions to Covid-19 Will Destroy At Least Seven Times More Years of Life Than Can Be Saved by Lockdowns." Scientific surveys of U.S. residents have found that the mental health of about one-third to one-half of all adults has been sub- stantially compromised by government reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic. There are deaths from non- psychological causes, such as government-mandated and personal decisions to delay medical care, which has postponed tumor re- movals, cancer screenings, heart surgeries and treat- ments for other ailments that could lead to early death if not addressed in a timely manner. Interest- ing and sadly enough, New York state enacted one of the strictest lockdowns in the U.S. but has 22 times the death rate of Florida, which had one of the mild- est lockdowns. As I pointed out in a re- cent column, intelligent de- cision-making requires one to not only pay attention to the benefits of an action but to its costs as well. Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. Continued from page 1 FACTS rate for Hispanics hit a record low of 3.9 percent. The 11.6 million women- owned firms in America represent 39 percent of all private businesses. No other nation comes close to matching this level of female entrepreneurship. Adam Smith's "invisible hand" is ev- erywhere. Capitalism, not socialism, is responsible for a global economic mir- acle: The number of people living in poverty around the world has declined every year since 1990 while the glob- al population has risen. Free-market capitalism, in the words of the Pew Re- search Center, has for the first time "al- lowed [billions of] people to decide for themselves what they value and what type of life they wish to pursue." MYTH: CAPITALISM IS JUST MODERN EXPLOITATION Millennials urgently need some re- medial history to fill the gaps left in their education. Many young Ameri- cans sympathetic to socialism mistak- enly believe that capitalism is a rela- tively modern concept, first seriously examined in Karl Marx's Das Kapital, published in 1867. However, as the Har- vard historian Richard Pipes wrote, private property—an essential ingre- dient of capitalism—has been an inte- gral part of Western civilization since ancient Athens, which had "a highly developed system of private property." In the Politics, Aristotle accepted private property as inevitable and "ul- timately a positive force," asserting that people who hold things in com- mon tend to quarrel more than those who hold them individually. Thomas Aquinas, the most influential theolo- gian of the Middle Ages, emphasized that possession of private property was not just lawful but necessary for peace and order: "Quarrels arise more fre- quently where there is no division of things possessed." In 1776, two documents were pub- lished that shaped America and the rest of the world. In The Wealth of Na- tions, Adam Smith analyzed how a mar- ket system can combine the freedom of individuals to pursue their own ob- jectives with the widespread coopera- tion needed to produce "our food, our clothing, [and] our housing." Smith described how an individual who "in- tends only his own gain" is "led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention… [B]y pur- suing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more ef- fectually." The Declaration of Independence, drafted by Thomas Jefferson, states that all men are endowed by their cre- ator with certain unalienable rights, and among them are "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." As the politi- cal historian Matthew Spalding wrote, the founders understood that life, lib- erty, and property were closely con- nected, as expressed in the 1780 Mas- sachusetts Bill of Rights: All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential and un- alienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and de- fending their lives and liberty; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness. John Adams defined a republic as "a government in which the property of the public, or people, and of every one of them was secured and protect- ed by law." Property "implies liberty," Adams said, "because property cannot be secure unless the man be at liber- ty to acquire, use or part with it, at his discretion." Socialists say that the unequal dis- tribution of property inevitably leads to division and the age-old conflict be- tween the rich and the poor. Karl Marx argued that the only way to overcome class struggle and social warfare was to overthrow capitalism and replace it with socialism—that is, state owner- ship of property. The founders rejected any such con- centration of power. They believed that to ban private property, to put proper- ty in the hands of government, or to enforce the equal distribution of prop- erty would be a denial of liberty itself. The founders, led by Alexander Ham- ilton, believed that America would not remain small and static, but would become a large commercial republic with many peoples and multiple inter- ests. Such a republic would restrain class struggle because it would cre- ate a large prosperous middle class instead of a rich-versus-poor society, and would stimulate market compe- tition and opportunity. And so it has turned out for Americans for nearly two-and-a-half centuries. See part two next week Continued from page 1 CAPITALISM Continued from page 1 ORIGIN Incumbents sweep Republican primary with exception of Montgomery, Bottoms upset By Janice Barniak Incumbents won the county coun- cil race and the commissioners dis- trict 3 race, but with an approximately 62-vote lead commissioner candidate Kenneth Montgomery passed Repub- lican incumbent Stephen Bottoms in Tuesday's election, touting a platform of "no zoning." While Democrats in the county were unopposed in their primary races, Re- publicans gathered at The Palace on the courthouse square in Princeton to watch the results of the rescheduled June 2 primary. "Zoning is what beat Steve. I've had such good results from no zoners and people who don't want zoning in the county, because they know it's going to end up costing more. Without their backing, I couldn't have done it." He said the costs come from hiring people to oversee zoning. He's more appreciative because of how close the race was. "I told the others, win or lose, we did our best," he said. "There are or- dinances that can take care of most of what people are worried about." He said if January comes and zoning hasn't passed, he will be a "no" vote. "I live in the country. There's no rea- son to have zoning out in the sticks." In the county council race, the three at-large incumbents in for another term are Derek McGraw, Mike Stilwell and William "Bill" McConnell. McGraw led with 23 percent of votes. He said this election season was differ- ent than most because there were few ways to campaign. "This is the weirdest one I've ever done because normally there's soup suppers, chicken dinners, parades. This year there was nothing you could go to. I didn't know how it was going to go." He said he ran his campaign on his record in the last eight years. "I put my best foot forward, educate myself on every topic and I listen to the people," he said. Mike Stilwell said he was happy with the turnout for the council race. "I'm really pleased people have the confidence in me," he said. The differ- ence between this election and his pre- vious ones was that he's now fully re- tired, which will allow him to devote much more time to working with the council. "Our biggest job of the year is to do the next year's budget, and we're about to start that. I've been really im- pressed with this council. They dili- gently look line-by-line at the budget and they're aware of the taxpayers' dol- lars," he said. Bill McConnell was at home when his daughter, a schoolteacher named Jenny, called to let him know he won another term. "She said, 'Congratulations, Dad. You're in.' I was certainly well pleased with the trust people have placed in me over the years. I found out I've got a lot of good friends out there. I was pretty certain of that. I tried to make a good run of it, and let people know in no way was I complacent.'" He did weigh whether to try for an- other term, but he feels pressed to keep the council apprised of what he sees as a concerning future for the county budget. "I hadn't decided to run until I saw all these layoffs. We just don't know how those are going to affect our coun- ty and our government," he said. "I just thought I could be a help during that next year or so. I'm interested in re- searching. The other guys have jobs to do. I'm not obligated in any way be- yond what I do for the county. The next two or three budgets are out there, in the sky. We don't know what it will be like, but 2022, as I'm seeing it, could be a rather bleak year." Incumbent Gerald Bledsoe won over candidate Richard Wallace for coun- ty commissioner in the South Gibson district. "I want to thank the citizens of Gib- son County for giving me another four years in office," he said, adding tech- nology has changed how candidates get the word out in elections, and has made them much more costly to com- pete in. "It still ends up taking the same energy and amount of time to go into an election." Bledsoe was able to address voters' concerns on social media. "With technology, it seems like we have quicker questions coming in and responses going out," he said. In the Owensville-specific race for precinct committeeman, Jerry Moore won over John English. Moore said he wanted to be committeeman because he cares about seeing elections done properly—even on Election Day in Owensville, he said he was surprised that a candidate was allowed to work at a polling location where he was on the ballot, (speaking of his opponent). Moore is the same candidate who brought what he called issues with the Owensville town Republican conven- tion to the attention of the state elec- tion authorities last year, after some townspeople said they had been turned away or prevented from voting. He said as committeeman he would work to make sure those issues did not crop up. EAST GIBSON County highway department makes headway, hires two Bdy Janice Barniak Gibson County Commissioners hired David Schmitt and Tom Perry for the County Highway Dept. June 3 to replace employees who have left or plan to leave. According to Highway Supt. Chuck Lewis, the county has hit the busy time for paving, striping and bridge replacement, moving to their 10 -hour shifts four days a week between now and Oct. 1. County Engineer Matt Holden add- ed that the person who was contracted to do the county's Community Cross- ings paving project had an unexpect- ed opening in the schedule, so those projects will start Tuesday.