Make the most of each day

An old Jesuit priest once told me during a 30-day retreat about the value of getting out of bed each morning and acknowledging the possibility that the coming day may be your last.

"Sooner or later, you'll be right," he quipped.

For me, the saying is a reminder of the dangers of putting things off, saying what I could do today, I'll wait and do tomorrow. Sooner or later, we run out of tomorrows.

That's why I try not to procrastinate, although working a job in which staying caught up is difficult and the list of things to do piles up quickly makes that hard at times.

I remember that saying from time to time, especially when someone I know dies suddenly. That happened last week, when Ron Filkins, the former publisher of The Perry County News, died suddenly at his home in Bardstown, Ky. He was 57. Ron, who worked here from 1996 to 2002, still had a number of friends in the community and news of his death was a shock.

I owe Ron credit for a lot of things, namely this job. He hired me as a reporter back in 1997 and promoted me to editor a few years later. After I'd left for nearly a year in 2001, he brought me back.

He supported me as I learned and matured as a community journalist and taught me the value of being firm but fair when dealing with difficult or controversial stories.

Ron also encouraged me to write a weekly column, turning an occasional opinion piece into an effort that now appears nearly every week on this page and allows me to be a weekly visitor to thousands in the county and beyond.

It's not easy losing family, friends or co-workers. Death, especially sudden losses, reminds us that we're not fully in charge of our lives.

We'd like to keep those we love with us as long as possible, but the amount of time they're with us isn't up to us. Accepting that is hard. It's much easier, however, to use the time we have as best we can, working jobs we enjoy, caring for family and friends and enjoying one another.

Time is perhaps the most precious of commodities. We are only allotted so much of it, so it's up to us to spend it wisely.

Figure Your Property-Tax Bill and Peek at Others'

I have yet to receive property-tax bills from Perry or Spencer county though I suspect they will be in the mailbox soon. Local officials are encouraging people to prepay bills but I prefer to hang on to my money for a while longer.

I ran across a notice from the Department of Local Government Finance about a new online property-tax calculator for taxpayers.

It allows taxpayers to enter their property's assessed value, taxing district and possible deductions to see tax bill estimates for bills due in 2008. Taxpayers can access the tool from the Department's Web site at www.in. gov/dlgf.

"The estimates provided by this tool are projections that taxpayers can use to determine how recent legislation will affect them," Commissioner Cheryl Musgrave said.

The release was in conjunction with the approval of Perry County's 2008 budget and certification of tax rates on June 11, 2008.

The estimates provided by this tool are projections only and should not be taken as a statement of true tax liability, which is determined by the county.

The same site lets users search tax records for other property owners in Spencer County by typing in last names or addresses.

All of the information is public record so it's OK to be a little nosy about the size of your neighbor's tax bill. I was able to search Spencer County records but could not find the same data for Perry County.