Opinion

"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.

Since the late 1800s the world has come together every two years in the spirit of athletic competition. The best of the best pitting strength, agility and speed against each other during the Olympic games. During these games athletes of all nations, races, religions and cultures put differences aside to test not only their own abilities, but to bring glory to their home countries.

Stay out of the kitchen. I'm reminded of that old adage while catching hell for something in the paper. My backside has been warmed lately for a pair of stories. But that's nothing new really. I still hear complaints about stories published years ago, old grudges some people wear like chips on their shoulders.

I received two calls about the front-page story on last month's story on the D-Boys, the alleged gang blamed for beating up a Kentucky man. Police carted a few D-Boys to jail and the youth detention center and the cases are working their way through the justice system.

In 2007 it came to the attention of the Humane Society of Perry County that there is a growing problem in Cannelton, Tell City and Troy, with feral alley cats. These feral cats that are not claimed are living all over the county and breeding beyond control.

We have had numerous discussions with some officials concerning this problem and it is now time for those who are in power to act. No one seems to have the perfect solution.

Every morning and night, leaving from and returning to home, I roll down my car's driver's-side window half way and listen for the goose on the lake below my house. The big white-plumed bird never fails to offer a honk or two, either welcoming me home or saying goodbye.

While Indiana's property-tax system continues to be highly scrutinized at the Statehouse, leaders must remember that true tax transformation requires that government spending decrease. Every government process should be inspected for efficiency, and our local-election process should be no different. To lower local taxes, local government should be allowed to choose vote-center elections as a substitute for precinct-based elections.

Editor's Note: This guest column by Tell City Electric Department Superintendent Marlow Smethurst is in response to Jack Joyce's column published in Monday's News concerning the Tell City Electric Department's request for an increase in rates and charges. Smethurst responds to Joyce's comments, point by point.

Headlines running across the pages of the newspaper haven't been all that blissful the past several months, with weekly reports of methamphetamine labs busted by police. And just last week we reported on the arrests of four people, two adults and two juveniles, on criminal-gang activity.

Scattered amid that news have been stories about the impact of proposed local-government reform and its possible impact on tax rates, frequent home foreclosures and sheriff's sales, proposed utility-rate increases and efforts last year by Tell City to annex outlying areas.

Feb. 29, as most of us know, rolls around only once each four years. Friday is the big day and while most of us will go about our daily routine without much thought to the extra day the calendar has given us, we shouldn't let it pass without trying to do something a little special. After all, four years is a long time to wait for the next Feb. 29.