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Columns

  • Everyone needs forgiveness

    Vince Luecke

    Editor

    editor@perry countynews.com

    Editor’s Note: This column first appeared in January 2003.

    If rain could wash away sins, most umbrellas would go unused. A cold drizzle fell on a middle-aged man’s head as he trotted into a brightly-lit church one Sunday evening in upstate New York. I was on a short vacation and had ventured off the throughway looking for supper and a hotel.

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  • Income redistribution won’t help middle class in long run

    DONALD NEWELL

    GUEST COLUMNIST

     

    Two of the traditional hallmarks of the middle class are that they work hard and save their money. Even the White House praises the middle class for having those virtues and claims to want to help them prosper.

    But on Jan. 13, U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland proposed a new federal initiative that abandons any pretense of trying to promote opportunities for the middle class. Instead, it seeks to turn them into a whole new group of beneficiaries of government-mandated income redistribution.

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  • Succulents for the best indoor winter blooms

    Jeneen Wiche

    Weekend Gardener

    Plant collectors have long appreciated orchids and African violets for their winter bloom cycle. I have amassed a collection of both and they help me get through the winter with their colorful interest. But violets and orchids are not the only classes of plants that can deliver in the winter. Think succulents.

    Succulents are plants that have adapted to environments that receive very little rainfall. They can store moisture using small amounts when needed.

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  • Personalities who left us in 2014

    Vince Luecke

    As we bid farewell to one year and welcome another, it’s tradition to remember the people to whom we said goodbye to in the past year. In looking over the obituaries the News published in 2014, I thought of several people whom I knew to some degree or another. This list is in no way exhaustive. Each of us holds our own collection of loved ones, friends and community leaders we admired who are no longer with us. This list is mine.

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  • COLUMN: Pages sought for Indiana House

    By LLOYD ARNOLD
    District 74 State Representative

    I always love the calm after the holidays. Spending quality time with family, kids playing with their presents and a new year, which brings new opportunities, is officially underway. For state lawmakers, this time of year is spent preparing for the upcoming legislative session, and I look forward to all the work we can accomplish to benefit families in southwest Indiana.

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  • COLUMN: Bill offers Pence a safety net if he runs for president. Why?

    By DAVE BANGERT
    Guest Columnist

    Somehow, Gov. Mike Pence must have a string in his back, the way certain action figures once did, specially designed in this case to handle one question, playing on a loop in Indiana and beyond.

    Are you running for president in 2016?

    Pull the string, and hear Pence’s sincere inflection: “My focus is Indiana. (click) My focus is Indiana. (click) My focus is …”

    Click. Click. Click.

    You’ve heard it enough by now to know.

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  • COLUMN: 2015’s arrival brings transitions, headlines

    By VINCE LUECKE
    Editor

    The News just finished recapping the major stories of 2014 and while it’s still the first week of the new year, there’s no doubt the coming 12 months will be filled with news. From upcoming city elections and downtown redevelopment to a new hospital on the cusp of completion, we have a lot of report on in 2015.

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  • COLUMN: Let’s focus on the economy

    By LEE HAMILTON
    Center for Congress

    Recent economic news has been broadly reassuring. Retail sales are strong, November saw the best job gains in three years, the federal deficit is shrinking, the stock market is robust, and the Fed is expressing enough faith in the economy that an interest rate bump next year is considered a certainty.

    Yet the public remains unconvinced. This is partly because perceptions haven’t caught up to reality. For many middle- and lower-class families, economic circumstances have not changed very much.

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  • COLUMN: Don’t miss Silvesternacht

    By VINCE LUECKE
    Editor

    Are you ready to celebrate New Year’s Eve? Look no further than downtown Tell City and the third annual Silvesternacht.

    This year’s New Year’s Eve celebration offers something for everyone in the family. Sponsored by the Perry County Quality of Life Committee, Silvesternacht has become a community celebration of New Year’s Eve. A list of activities appears in this edition.

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  • Christmas: No time for public expression of faith?

    By Travis Weber
    guest columnist

    Around this time of the year, the “War on Christmas” and the “War on the War on Christmas” once again enter the public discourse, with each side claiming support from assorted statistics and anecdotes.

    Though there are certainly some who inexcusably exaggerate threats to public religious expression and others who claim there is no hostility to Christianity, we must ask the obvious: If there is no hostility to public religious expression, what has prompted fears that Christmas is being stamped out?

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