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Opinion

  • WHAT WE THINK: This is a decision...

    The Shelby County Fiscal Court Legislative Committee’s plan to “step away” from creating curbside garbage and recycling for residents should be trashed.

    This is no time to step away from doing what is right, and there is no mitigating argument that will sway our belief that Shelby Countians should be able to discard trash and recyclables without having to drive somewhere or pay a third party to do so.

  • MY WORD: In support of charter...

    An article published in The Sentinel News (“Public education at a crossroad? Charter schools aren't answer,” My Word, April 10), written by J. Howard Griffith, raised some interesting questions about charter schools and what they could mean for the state of Kentucky, which, as the author notes, is one of only seven states that do not allow the formation of such educational options.

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    MY WORD: A story of life after death

    Eight years ago, Jessica Stivers had a dream, she said, that included a former classmate, Tylan Smither. “We met when we were four years old and attended the old Cropper Elementary,” she said.

    They had similar friends at Shelby County High School but never dated, even lost track of each other – until eight years ago, when she had the dream, mentioned it to her mother and then ran into Smither and his mother at Cracker Barrel.

  • WHAT WE THINK: There is a the true...

    With two important meetings this week among officials trying to develop curbside garbage pickup in Shelby County, the mission statement for this project has emerged from the man whose public meetings gave this concept momentum.

    That would be Rusty Newton, chair of the 109 Board, the entity that is in charge of solid-waste pickup in the county. This is what Mr. Newton told officials last week when they gathered to discuss a joint contract between the Shelbyville City Council and Shelby County Fiscal Court:

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    WE CONGRATULATE: Antonita Slaughter...

    Wasn’t it nice to see a face from Shelbyville playing under the glaring spotlight of the NCAA Tournament’s Final 4?
    We speak, of course, about Antonita Slaughter, the latest of the talented Slaughters from Shelbyville, who spearheaded the University of Louisville to the women’s Final 4 and thus became the first woman from Shelby County to play in that event.

  • The Boston Marathon massacre

    If you’ve ever run a marathon, thought about running a marathon or watched someone you love run one, you understand the pain. You see those faces and those strides mere yards from the finish line. You see happiness and even tears struggling past unrelenting physical torment. You sense the adrenalin that is coursing, grasp that the last possible bits of energy are being summoned. Joy is rising and overtaking pain. The finish line is the joy line. The finish is the ecstasy after the agony.

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    The Final 4 – at last – is the best...

    ATLANTA – Here is what you find during a Final 4: equal parts Mardi Gras, Derby infield and Times Square, mixed with an overture of basketball and warmed slightly by the fervor that only well-funded and sometimes well-oiled fans can generate.

    Here is what you will not find during a Final 4: calm and apathy.

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    WE CONGRATULATE: A legacy of art...

    A key person in the development of the arts in Shelby County has put away her paints and brushes – at least commercially – and we’re sad to see her go.

    Linda Powell made some of the first strokes on the blank easel that became Shelby Artists on Main and then the Gallery at the same consortium, which operates out of 617 Main Street in Shelbyville.

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    WHAT WE THINK: The postal story...

    There seems no simple solution to the economic conundrum that is the United States Postal Service. As a result, sadly, citizens who use community post offices are finding that opportunity to be diminishing on a gradual but steepening incline toward what many would consider to be oblivion.

  • MY WORD: Public education at a...

    My grandfather was a farmer and teamster in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia. Back in 1915 he was asked to move a rural school building from one location to another, about 100 yards.

    He raised up that little one room schoolhouse by about 2 feet and placed several round logs under the building as rollers. He then hooked his fine team of horses to a harness attached to the building and slowly but surely moved the building to its new location.

  • The awful fall of Kevin Ware

    INDIANAPOLIS – Kevin Ware lay on the raised hardwood of a basketball court constructed in a football stadium and feeling far more pain, we would bet, than any padded professional ever had endured on a fall Sunday in that building.

    He was prone, his lower right leg dangling and useless, the shocked victim of a turn-your-head moment so awful that his teammates and coaches and even nearby journalists were left with tears, choked back words and even throats full of bile by what they had seen of this fallen basketball player for the University of Louisville.

  • WHAT WE THINK: We are offended by...

    We were troubled last week to learn that a broad-based sweep to ensure that registered sex offenders were complying with lifetime restrictions had turned up a sex offender on the loose in Shelby County.

    But that disgusting news – to us, any sex offender loose in our neighborhoods is a potential threat to our children – was surpassed when we learned of a Shelbyville man arrested virtually the same day on child sex charges was not even a part of the registry or a target in the sweep.

  • WE CONGRATULATE: A new idea for...

    We don’t mean to endorse one religion over another – in fact, we wouldn’t dare – but we have to give the Methodists their props for what we consider a very good idea.

    That was the organized community effort the Methodist churches in the county convened last Saturday to help those who most need help.

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    MY WORD: We must embrace our change

    I guess it’s the writer in me that notices when words are misspelled, when the incorrect form of a word is used or when the correct pronunciation or spelling is elusive or murky. A case in point is how to spell the word “cancelled.” Or is it “canceled?” I’ve noticed it used both ways, especially on TV news when reporting changes in airline flight schedules.

  • NEIHOF: Shelby teachers model...

    When you hear the word workshop, you might envision a carpenter’s bench, hammer and other tools where products are crafted. I know because I dabble in construction as a hobby.

    However, I do more than dabble when I visit schools in Shelby County on the lookout for a workshop classroom.

    Let me explain.

  •
    MY WORD: Proud of Senator Paul

    For over a dozen hours last week, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul literally took a stand for the Constitution. As a Kentuckian, I am proud to claim the honor of having this statesman serve our commonwealth.

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    WE CONGRATULATE: Mr. Reynolds’...

    Jim Reynolds, the man whose three buildings were destroyed in the fire in Shelbyville three weeks ago, has wasted no time in planning to replace those buildings, and we wish him Godspeed in that endeavor.

    Mr. Reynolds, who expressed tearful devastation in watching the buildings burn and then seeing them swept away into a line of Dumpsters, has been moving around Shelbyville in the past week, not only discussing his ideas but sharing with Historic District Coordinator Fred Rogers sketches of his actual plans, concepts of which Mr. Rogers spoke effusively and hopefully.

  • WHAT WE THINK: Another unnecessary...

    The issue of guaranteeing religious freedom emerged this month in a bill that sailed through the General Assembly and was vetoed last week by Gov. Steve Beshear.

    We certainly are proponents of religious freedom and supporters of those rights as enumerated in the U.S. and state constitutions, but to us this seems sort of like the below-the-radar constitutional amendment on hunting that the voters swallowed last November:

    Why are our elected leaders spending time on something esoteric and unnecessary?

  • Life’s lessons in basketball loyalty

    Among the many lessons of loyalty parents are required to sear into the souls of their children, right up there with God, country, family, the flag and, oh, apple pie, is what would appear to be the loftiest love of all: loyalty to your team. These are lessons that include recognizing primary colors, memorizing pithy songs, grasping base humor and understanding unfettered usages for gerunds and participles.

  • WHAT WE THINK: Recycling must be...

    As the process moves forward toward creating countywide curbside garbage and recycling for residents, we want to be sure that all those responsible for making these decisions are reading from the same and appropriate page.

    Certainly, we are encouraged and buoyed to learn that the members of Shelby County Fiscal Court and the Shelbyville City Council are being proactive and working together on this issue. A joint effort on a contract only could help both bodies effectively represent their constituents by providing the best possible rate.