The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/927609
The Press-Dispatch Opinion Wednesday, Januar y 17, 2018 A- 7 Pursuit of the Cure by Star Parker Trump can take credit for black unemployment drop Court Report CRIMINAL Pike Circuit Court Ronald McGary charged with count I operating a vehicle with a schedule I or II controlled substance or its me- tabolite in the body, a level 6 felony, count II possession of marijuana and count III operating a vehicle while in- toxicated-prior. Jordan Keen charged with count I maintaining a common nuisance - con- trolled substances, a level 6 felony, count II possession of marijuana and count III possession of paraphernalia. Shawn D. Cook charged with count I possession of methamphetamine, a level 5 felony, and count II possession of paraphernalia. Jessica Messmer charged with count I possession of methamphet- amine, a level 5 felony, count II driv- ing while suspended, count III posses- sion of marijuana, count IV possession of paraphernalia and count V operating a vehicle while intoxicated. CIVIL Pike Circuit Court Bryan and Teresa Sorgius sues Craig and Joy Line on complaint. Professional and Business Collec- tions sues Cynthia L. Wells on com- plaint. Name Change of Minor Child, Trev- or Dakoda A. Doron. Thomas A. Dysert sues Jessica Straw-Dysert for dissolution of mar- riage. TRAFFIC AND MISDEMEANOR Pike Circuit Court Bessie L. Taylor charged with count I disorderly conduct and count II pub- lic intoxication. Dakota Woodall charged with count I visiting a common nuisance- con- trolled substances and count II pos- session of paraphernalia. Erika L. Davis charged with count I possession of marijuana and count II possession of paraphernalia. Sabath R. Hall charged with count I possession of marijuana and count II possession of paraphernalia. Alfood Matheus charged with oper- ating a motor vehicle without ever re- ceiving a license. Eric A. Huebner charged with driv- ing while suspended. Tayler J. Pride charged with driving while suspended. SMALL CLAIMS Pike Circuit Court Rob Franklin sues Taylor Cates on complaint. INFRACTIONS Pike Circuit Court Kimberly Schisel charged with oper- ating with expired plates. Matthew Blackgrave charged with speeding, 67 mph in a 55 zone. Jose Cruz-Mora charged with speed- ing, 49 mph in a 35 zone. Rebecca Mundkowsky charged with speeding, 69 mph in a 55 zone. Ryan Neuhoff charged with speeding, 49 mph in a 35 zone. Alan Personett charged with speed- ing, 69 mph in a 55 zone. Geoffrey Phillippe charged with speeding, 69 mph in a 55 zone. Nicholas Hill charged with speeding, 49 mph in a 35 zone. Morgan Thewes charged with speed- ing, 69 mph in a 55 zone. Jeffery Elmore charged with speed- ing, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Sara Knies charged with speeding, 49 mph in a 35 zone. Evan Kissel charged with seatbelt vi- olation. Kyle Couturier charged with speed- ing, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Brent Restall charged with speeding, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Douglas Bachman charged with speeding, 49 mph in a 35 zone. Kelley Barrett charged with speed- ing, 89 mph in a 70 zone. Misty Bechtel charged with speed- ing, 49 mph in a 35 zone. Kyle Dersch charged with speeding, 67 mph in a 35 zone. Olivia Carufel charged with speed- ing, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Blaine Davis charged with learner's permit violation. Gavin Boyd charged with speeding, 49 mph in a 35 zone. Samuel Gibbs charged with speeding, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Clayton Johnson charged with speed- ing, 55 mph in a 35 zone. Aaron Kendall charged with seatbelt violation. Kyle Fleetwood charged with speed- ing, 66 mph in 35 zone. Derek Riker charged with speeding, 48 mph in a 35 zone. Justin Hopf charged with improper or no tail or plate light. Tiffanie Dove charged with speeding, 71 mph in a 55 zone. William D. Rogers charged with tak- ing of a migratory bird above season- al limit. Jacob Day charged with speeding, 53 mph in a 45 zone. Markus Gerber charged with speed- ing, 65 mph in a 55 zone. Katie Jurgens charged with speeding, 49 mph in a 35 zone. Heng Niu charged with speeding, 86 mph in a 70 zone. Brittany Santee charged with speed- ing, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Angela Snodgrass charged with speeding, 95 mph in a 70 zone. Benjamin Tanner charged with speeding, 49 mph in a 35 zone. Joshua Travis charged with speeding, 59 mph in a 45 zone. David Valenciano charged with speeding, 70 mph in a 55 zone. Heather Wirts charged with speed- ing, 49 mph in a 35 zone. Keely Cook charged with speeding, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Alan Dorsey charged with speeding, 79 mph in a 70 zone. Nicholas Dye charged with speeding, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Blake Faus charged with speeding, 79 mph in a 70 zone. Tammy Higgins charged with speed- ing, 92 mph in a 70 zone. Shawntel James charged with speed- ing, 79 mph in a 70 zone. Stephanie Juncker charged with speeding, 98 mph in a 70 zone. Dayne Keller charged with speeding, 95 mph in a 70 zone. Robert Morgan charged with speed- ing, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Robert Query charged with speeding, 89 mph in a 70 zone. Jaquez Samuel charged with speed- ing, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Adam Vonderheide charged with speeding, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Jeffrey Williams charged with speed- ing, 84 mph in a 70 zone. Continued from page 6 COMMENT Continued from page 6 WARMING ments and reappointments for various government positions, I feel a sense of gratitude that there are generous souls who step up to the plate and ac- cept difficult responsibili- ties, given that we are al- ways confronted with ma- ny challenges and different opinions and ideologies. And of course the wise say- ing- you cannot please ev- erybody is always true. We just do the best we can for the common good. Let's not forget people who provide services in the field of education, they mold the minds of our next generation. Let's also not forget the spiritual lead- ers of the various church- es and faiths who give us inspiration, direction and comfort as we journey our lives. For without nour- ishment of our spirit, we can succumb to despair. I should have written this piece on Thanksgiving Day, but in my mind, every- day is a thanksgiving day. • • • Wisdom for the week: Before you criticize some- one, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. And never test the depth of the water with both feet! Have a safe week. Continued from page 6 GRATEFUL to the abyss of depravity. In other words, humans work against their own self- interests; the book of Gen- esis attests to the depravity of the human heart: "Then the Lord saw that the wick- edness of man was great in the earth, and that ev- ery intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." All the human knowl- edge of the world has not changed the heart of man. Solomon in his writings in Ecclesiastes observed, "This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead." The Good News is Je- sus came to set free hu- manity from its depravity. The writer of the Book of Hebrews admonished the faithful, "let us draw near with a true heart in full as- surance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." The combination of book knowledge and wisdom is a precious commodi- ty among men; but those who have found the anti- dote to an evil heart have found Jesus. Think about it! Continued from page 6 CHANGE compromised local po- lice may provide sanctu- ary to foreign gangsters, but there is no sanctu- ary for their victims. MS - 13 wields its machetes and knives against Amer- icans in tree-lined sub- urbs, parks and even the Shenandoah Valley. Teen- age girls are not exempted from the carnage. Where is the American Friends Service Commit- tee, where are the rhapsod- ic defenders of open bor- ders when Salvadorean immigrants hack Ameri- can teenagers and young women to shreds in our own communities? My Salvadorean neph- ew is a good man now as he settles into middle age. Only gang tattoos betray his criminal past. But he doesn't live in America anymore. He was deported long before Barack Obama and Eric Holder rode to the rescue of felons and gang- sters. I care about him, but it was a tragic error for the U.S. to invite him and the murderous, predatory, glue-sniffing Salvadorean youth culture into our com- munities. Is it racist to say so? Don't be ridiculous. Just ask Kevin Tren- berth, a scientist with the National Center for Atmo- spheric Research. "Win- ter storms are a manifes- tation of winter, not cli- mate change," he recently told the Daily Caller. "The Arctic is greatly affected by climate change, and it has a feedback effect — but not in winter." Even if Mr. Gore and Mr. Mann are correct about the link between global warming and cold snaps, the record works against them there, too. "The fre- quency of cold waves have decreased during the past 50 years, not increased," University of Washington climatologist Cliff Mass says. "That alone shows that such claims are base- less." The term "bomb cy- clone" is new to most of us, but it's been around for a while. Climatologist Judith Curry recently told the Caller that it was coined al- most 40 years ago by Fred Sanders of MIT, who spent a lot of time studying such storms. Moreover, there are about 50 or 60 bomb cy- clones every year, but most of them occur too far out to sea for us to notice. Al Gore and his fellow travelers may have trou- ble admitting that they could be wrong. But their never-look-back crusade isn't helping scientific re- search. "It is very disappointing that members of my profes- sion are making such obvi- ously bogus claims," Cliff Mass said. "It hurts the science, it hurts the credi- bility of climate scientists, and weakens our ability to be taken seriously by so- ciety." That's what happens, though, when we bend facts to fit theories — and not the other way around. And remember, Al, as the old song goes, "Baby, it's cold outside." Ed Feulner is founder of The Heritage Foundation (www.heritage.org). There's plenty to celebrate in the De- cember Bureau of Labor Statistics re- port showing black unemployment at 6.8 percent, the lowest ever since they started reporting the data in 1972. President Trump tweeted out his ex- citement and, of course, took credit for the good news. Has there ever been a politician who didn't take credit for good news on his watch (or rational- ize away responsibility for bad news)? The president's detractors, of course, wasted no time in challenging him, pointing out that unemployment rates have been dropping since the economic recovery started, well before Trump took office. Trump, they say, is as responsible for this latest monthly drop as he is for the morning sunrise. It seems to me quite reasonable for Trump to take credit for this. There are, indeed, positive things happening as result of his leadership–deregula- tion, a new tax bill, overall business- friendly policies and rhetoric. These things create a business environment of optimism and confidence, which drives investment and increases de- mand for labor. However, rather than obsessing about what particular politician to praise or excoriate for certain eco- nomic results, our discussion should be about policies and not about person- alities. Let's savor this news but not lose our sobriety regarding the great task before us in this community. The latest 6.8 percent black un- employment figure sounds great for blacks. But not for whites. The white rate for December was 3.7 percent. Why should there be celebrations that the black rate is "only" 3.1 percentage points higher than the white rate? Why should there be a differ- ent economic standard for blacks? Black unemployment rates have averaged twice the white rate since 1972. Black poverty rates are around twice the national average. Black income and household wealth have hardly changed, remaining a fraction of that of whites. This is the conversation we should be having. When do all American citi- zens participate equally in our nation- al economic cornucopia? Donald Trump was onto something when he asked blacks, during the pres- idential campaign, "What do you have to lose? " Trump is offering a mindset that blacks should relish. A completely new and different reality. The cultur- al and political reality that blacks have turned to for years–big government–is the reason these gaps persist. It's time for something new. Black unemployment peaked at 16.8 percent in March 2010 during Presi- dent Obama's efforts to recover from the 2007-2008 economic collapse. But the irony is that the collapse was driven by government policies put in place to help low-income Americans to make housing purchases. Contrary to what Barack Obama pitched to the country–blaming business and claim- ing the problem was insufficient gov- ernment and regulation– American Enterprise Insti- tute scholar Peter Wallison has shown the opposite. Government policies mandating higher quotas of mortgages for low- to mod- erate-income borrowers put an increasing percent- age of subprime mortgag- es on the market. By 2008, according to Wallison, 56 percent of the mortgages acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac–the two massive government-backed mortgage companies–were in this category. Then everything collapsed. An ocean of new regulations on fi- nancial services, enacted as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, was the Democratic Congress' answer to their own misdi- agnosed analysis of what caused the collapse. As a result, we had a slower- than-normal economic recovery. These are the discussions we need today. How do we get out of the big gov- ernment mindset that has been a drag on our economy and has perpetuated economic underperformance in low-in- come communities? In this context, Trump is right to boast. He is bringing badly needed new thinking on issues concerning low-income America. It's already mak- ing a difference. Star Parker is an author and presi- dent of CURE, Center for Urban Renew- al and Education. Contact her atwww. urbancure.org. Puzzled about what to read? ..and you will have your solution. subscribe to 812-354-8500 Neither snow nor even ice Angela Robling stops at a mail box to drop off mail on Friday following an ice storm, which was close- ly followed by a four inch snow on Friday and another snow Saturday morning and another four to six inches on Monday.