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Opinion

  • Traveling fast, eating on the go

    Salami in Stuttgart, pork cutlets in Pforzheim and cucumbers and fish in Freiburg. Another German town, another fast meal. It's my travel-food tradition and last week was no different as I touched down in Munich and spent my first hard-saved euro on a meaty sandwich of lettuce, tomatoes and bacon.

    Just about every German train station has at least one sandwich kiosk - most have several - and I've been hooked on them for years. Traveling alone, I seldom sit down for lunch or supper and since I want to do and see as much as possible, I almost always eat on the go.

  • Remember veterans this Memorial Day...

    Today is Memorial Day, a day set aside since 1868 to honor and remember our nation's veterans.

    Then it was called Decoration Day and was established by an organization of Union veterans called the Grand Army of the Republic.

    The first observance was held at Arlington National Cemetery, where officials including Gen. Ulysses S. Grant presided over ceremonies. Children from the Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphan Home and members of GAR made their way through the cemetery reciting prayers and singing hymns while putting flowers on Union and Confederate graves.

  • Foreclosure pain hits home

    My colleagues in Congress and I spent a majority of last week working on, debating and passing bills focused on stabilizing the housing market and strengthening our economy. The faltering housing market has affected all aspects of our economic state. Folks only need to drive around their neighborhoods or down the street to see its devastating effects. Odds are that one in 13 families is currently behind on their mortgage payments.

  • Graduation brings changes for...

    As each Perry County senior receives their diploma this week and next, changes are going to happen. No longer are you high-school students confined to an 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. schedule, a structured life of clubs, sports, school work and other obligations tied to school.

    Now is the time to really use what you've learned in those walls to make your decisions count even more than what they have. Experience new things. Go out, do things you never would have thought about doing.

  • Looking back and learning

    Perry County's fourth-graders received quite an education Wednesday while taking part in the annual Old-Fashioned Day at the county fairgrounds.

    Several groups, including Purdue University's extension services in the county and Lincoln Hills Resource Conservation and Development Area help organize volunteers for a day of hands-on learning on what life in the past was like.

  • Animal-welfare efforts commendable...

    Perry County's response to animal-abandonment, -neglect and -cruelty problems, woefully inadequate not too long ago, has been developed over recent years into what can be described as a solid foundation. We have a state-of-the-art shelter, an animal-control-officer position and regulations he or she can cite in doing the job.

  • We suffer while oil companies profit

    One of the biggest topics in Spencer County news for the past few weeks has been the future of the North Spencer Alternative Education Center, which provides, among other services, opportunities for adults to finish their high-school education and move onto post-secondary education.

    The North Spencer Alternative Center recently learned that it has the best director and the best adult learner in the state for 2007, and those are just a couple of the higher-profile accomplishments of the center.

  • Folks who deserve our thanks

    I think the newspaper does a good job of extending thanks and congratulations to individuals and businesses who are recognized for their work, hard work and commitment to community.

    Many of the letters to the editor we publish each week voice thanks to our neighbors who lend their time, talent and treasure to various projects. Our Hometown Heroes feature published approximately every two weeks offers an opportunity to thank individuals who might not otherwise receive the thanks they deserve. But, sometimes, good works go unnoticed.

  • Let voters decide if a candidate...

    Voters should decide how much a candidate's age matters.

    Lately considerable attention has been focused on Sen. John McCain's age, with some saying he is too old to be president.

    If elected, McCain would be 72 at his inauguration, making him the oldest man to become president. If elected to a second term, he would be 80 at the end of it - also the oldest ever. Ronald Reagan, who was almost 78 when he finished his second term, is the oldest to serve as president so far.

  • Spring ponderings ... sights, smells

    How wonderful the earth is springing back to life in bloom, with more to come. Of course, all of the planted bulbs have bloomed, now the perennials and the flowering almond, with its wonderful full-pink flowers. Forsythia with its bright yellow blossoms with its green leaves is starting to encroach on the yellow, the airy white clusters of blossoms on the sarvis tree.

    Now, the redbud trees have joined the display with their purplish-pink blooms, with the dogwood and lilacs following. These are all beautiful while in bloom, but seem to be gone in a flash.

  • Help needed to preserve St. Luke...

    I'm again writing in hopes of saving our church building. St. Luke's Episcopal Church is located in the historic district of Cannelton. Courthouse records indicate the first deed on the two lots now held by the church was recorded Oct. 1, 1849.

    Predating the Civil War by a decade, this historic church stands today as the oldest public building in Cannelton.

    Beneath the church floors are tunnels, once leading toward the Ohio River but now sealed off, which enabled slaves to move via the Underground Railroad toward freedom.

  • Little tree has bright future

    I watched nursery workers plant an oak tree in front of the newspaper office Thursday. I had hoped it would go directly in front of my office window but it sits slightly to the south, easy to see when I'm sitting at my desk but out of sight when I'm front of my computer.

    I often watched robins and other birds that loved to eat berries and chat in the old tree that grew for years right outside my window.

  • Fight against eyesores justified

    Cities and towns have dealt with run-down homes, trashy yards and other neighborhood eyesores since people first started living next to one another.

  • Olympics always tied to politics

    America has suffered tremendous setbacks within the nightmare, train-wreck presidency of George Bush. Our dollar seems almost worthless and our government owes trillions of dollars, mostly to foreigners, for the first time in our history.

    Our economy is in shambles and we have almost no influence in the world past the reach of military, currently bogged down in an expensive and endless war.

  • Hey, Benedict, visit the Midwest

    I wish the pope had made his way farther west during last week's visit to the United States. Washington, D.C. and New York are both fine cities with lots to see and do and the pope was certainly given the royal treatment while here. Who else could get the presidential family to meet them at the foot of his plane or gather thousands of people on the White House lawn just to hear a few words?

  • Commissioners should be able to...

    We understand county commissioners' reluctance at getting involved in a family's land dispute, but the basic question posed to them by a Birdseye man this month should have been answerable.

    As reported in today's issue, Herb Huff asked commissioners for information about a roadway in Oil Township that may or may not be a county road. Huff and his wife are in a long-running disagreement with other family members about whether access to the roadway just off Indiana 62 can be restricted or, if it is still county owned, has to be left open.

  • Nation needs fundamental change

    Hoosiers have been presented with a historic opportunity this year. For the first time in four decades, we will have a voice in choosing a presidential candidate.

    We will have a voice in who will guide our nation as we move into a post-Bush world. This election is historic, and we must choose our candidate wisely. I am supporting Barack Obama, and I want to tell you why.

  • Hammack, others true heroes

    I was sound asleep in a Louisville hotel room April 3 when my cell phone rang with news of a nearly fatal house fire.

    "Where are you?" asked the caller, a Tell City fireman who knows I'm usually Johnny-on-the-spot with a camera at fires. But I was at an annual newspaper meeting and at 3 in the morning, could only relay information about the blaze on 12th Street to the newsroom. We had a story online later that day and a print story in last Monday's edition. A follow-up piece appeared in Thursday's News.

  • Prison escape brings horrible...

    "Unacceptable" is the best adjective to describe the escape of two prisoners from Branchville Correctional Facility. To put that another way, we will not tolerate killers and other violent criminals wandering freely in our community.

    Also unacceptable is the failure of a prison-escape-alert system to do its job.

  • Enjoy spring while you can

    Spring has arrived and while all the rain has made it a chore to enjoy the outdoors, the warmer weather has perked up my spirits over the past few days.

    Driving last week after a shower, the spring frogs living in pools of water along Indiana 545 were going mad with their croakings, either celebrating spring or looking for mates.