Opinion

One of the things we like most to do is to congratulate our young people on their success stories, and this is the time of year when that happens most frequently – with graduation, scholarships and the never-ending lists on Awards Night at our high schools.

But on Friday night, in a stadium in Louisville, three Shelby Countians stepped forward and established themselves at the best at what they do against their peers from around the state.

The editorial (“Outlet mall plan will test us all,” May 9) in The Sentinel-News (Shelby County’s local paper) about the proposed outlet mall in Simpsonville (The Outlet Shoppes of Louisville) already seems to support this development as “progress” and implores: “We have to avoid the tragedy of lost opportunity.” How is progress and opportunity defined by building this outlet mall?

There remain many laps in the race for congress in House District 4, but no matter who wins at the polls on May 22, we get the distinct impression that Shelby Countians are going to lose.
There are nine candidates – seven Republicans and two Democrats – vying for the seat held for four terms by Republican Geoff Davis, but even newer than those candidates is the presence of Shelby County in a congressional district that has its seat of power in the Northern Kentucky suburbs of Cincinnati.

Recently a lawyer from the firm Neal & Davis wrote a few short paragraphs “About gun laws,” April 18) ranting about thanking the NRA for a Florida homicide being the "result" of a "stand your ground" law.

Recently I heard the phrase “the new norm” being tossed around. I cannot specifically remember to what it was in reference, but I started thinking about what Shelby County Public Schools will look like when we meet our Big Goals: all fifth-graders going to middle school on grade level, all middle-schoolers going to high school on grade level and all students graduating college and career ready.

Dear Mom:

That’s what I’ll call you here, though many of my friends and family may call you Mother or Mama or Momma or Madre or Ma or even something more formal. They may even call you by your name.

But we all probably should call you angel, because without you, we would not exist.

It’s not that you necessarily gave birth to us, it’s that you embraced us from the instant we met, gave us love, shelter, food and everything else essential to growing our lives.

Shelby County Magistrate Tony Carriss calls the eastbound merge lane from KY 55 onto Interstate 64 “the most dangerous transportation issue in our county.”

And now, in the very near future, this dangerously short strip of asphalt will receive a new and presumably safer design as part of the new state roads budget.

We had hoped this was coming, that the General Assembly would follow through on the hard work by state Rep. Brad Montell (R-Shelbyville), state Sen. Paul Hornback (R-Shelbyville) and retired state Sen. Gary Tapp before them.

Just last week I had a local high school senior tell me how some students – black, white and Hispanic – were angry and dangerous. She said they believed the late Trey Williams had been killed by police officers because he was black. She said the high school administrators were puzzled by the escalation of tensions and misbehaviors. This young woman, teenager of one of our leading families, said adults needed to address the situation or “something bad is going to happen.”

Shelby County Public Schools is facing a rather rare opportunity that has emerged at even a rarer time – a situation so unique that school officials should find it compulsory to use the situation to its best advantage.

We speak of the five openings for principals – at Collins High School, East Middle and three elementary schools – that must be filled before the next school year, nearly half the principals employed by the district.