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Columns

  • COLUMN: Remembering our debt to the American farmer

    By JULIA WICKARD
    Guest Columnist

    I have the tremendous opportunity to work with some of the greatest employees in the federal government and we have the pleasure to serve and work for the American farmer.
    On behalf of Indiana Farm Service Agency employees, we all are proud to be partners with the men and women who farm in the great state of Indiana. Agriculture is an honorable profession and we are privileged to do our part to help.

    We salute you – the American Farmer – on Ag Day, Tuesday.

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  • COLUMN: Ready to hit the bowling lanes? Big Brothers-Big Sisters needs you

    By SAM RAMSEY
    Guest Columnist

    Big Brothers-Big Sisters is growing in our community. We’re reaching more children and community awareness is growing, but we need our community’s help in order to serve even more children and families in our county.

    We need you. Our children need you.
Our annual, and currently only, fundraiser to support these one-on-one mentoring programs is taking place right now. There are many ways you can help as an individual and numerous ways our community’s businesses can help make a difference, too.

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  • COLUMN: Three cheers for Francis

    By VINCE LUECKE
    Editor

    Of all the images from last week’s papal conclave, the one likely to stay with me the longest is a seagull perched atop the chimney above the Sistine Chapel.

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  • COLUMN: ‘Killing Lincoln’ a must-read

    By DICK HEDRICK
    By the Side of the Road

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  • COLUMN: A run-in with the man who called the president the Devil

    By VINCE LUECKE
    Editor

    I met Hugo Chávez once. Well, I didn’t as much meet him as quickly shake his hand while he walked down a wide plaza.

    It was one of those sudden encounters we sometimes have with celebrities that didn’t mean much to me then but certainly came to mind after the Venezuelan leader’s death last week.

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  • COLUMN: The amazing property-tax reassessment of 2013

    By LARRY DeBOER
    Guest Columnist

    Every six to 10 years Indiana has a statewide reassessment to update property values for property tax bills. We remeasure the characteristics of real property – square footage, building materials, home improvements and so forth.

    We apply new data on prices and costs to these characteristics. Since we waited so long between reassessments, we would update for six to 10 years of inflation all at once. Assessed values would jump.

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  • COLUMN: The issue with entitlements

    By MARYANN KEATING
    Guest Columnist

    “Can I take a federal tax deduction for mortgage interest?” (Yes.)

    “For state income and local property taxes?” (Yes.)

    “How about municipal bond interest?” (That, too.)

    “On earned income from wages?” (That’s a tax credit and it depends.)

    What about employer-provided health insurance?” (Sure.)

    “Charitable deductions?” (Yup.)

    “Dinner out and a show?” (Sorry, no.)

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  • COLUMN: A budget focused on education

    By LLOYD ARNOLD
    District 74 State Representative

    As a freshman, it has been exciting for me to see the process a state budget goes through to be crafted. Last week, House Bill 1001, Indiana’s biennial budget, passed out of the House with bipartisan support and will be heard in the upcoming weeks by the Indiana Senate.

    This is an important time for the legislature to decide the direction we will take as we distribute and designate funds for Indiana’s future.

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  • COLUMN: No hobo chic with a Buick

    By VINCE LUECKE
    Editor

    I finally purchased a pair of replacement wheel covers last week, a long-delayed move that I hope will remove a bit of the down-and-out look of my old car.

    People might pull off hobo chic with old clothes, but it’s a lot harder with a car, especially a 2001 Buick with two tires missing their shiny center covers.

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  • COLUMN: A fond farewell to a friend

    Dick Hedrick

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