Opinion

Ten years after I graduated from college, I felt like I had a dual life. On one hand, I was a husband and new father. On the other hand, I was a salesman with a $14 million, 5-state territory.

The two parts of my life battled each other. I performed the job from my car and was the classic "road warrior." It was not uncommon for me to leave on a Monday morning and spend the majority of the week calling the other portion of my life from a hotel telephone.

A communications gap last week among employees of Norfolk Southern Railroad that frustrated residents and officials in Shelby County was testament to a much larger problem than some blocked crossings that railroaded commuters on the first day of the school year.

Now that our students are safely back in their classrooms, parents all over Shelby County can wipe their brows and fall backwards into our recliners in overwhelmed fatigue. That seasonal onslaught is behind us, and we have survived once again the Battle of School Supplies.

Are you one of us, we parents who are assailed annually by requirements that our students must arrive for the first day of school towing a small U-Haul trailer filled with everything from some stratus of computer to a certain color of pencil to be used for a chapter in a one-term geography workbook?

We were glad to hear last week of the plans of real estate broker Lee Webb and his church, Christ Community Church, in the purchase of Governors Square. This can be nothing but good news for Shelbyville.

Although this parcel technically is outside the city’s limits this is a welcome step in developing the city’s long-range plans for a spiffy and inviting East End.

Good job by the Shelbyville City Council last week when it conducted an open meeting to review its plans to adopt a citywide curbside and recycling program.

That was the penultimate appropriate step, to answer questions from and disseminate information to the public about those plans. Next would be the ultimate decision: to pass an ordinance enacting the collection of trash and recyclables from all residences.

Back-to-school time is when parents are frenzied with making sure their students’ clothes for the coming year are the correct size and shape, that the appropriate number and color of folders/notebooks/journals have been acquired and labeled and that pencils – and students – are sharpened and prepared for those first classes next Wednesday.

The little girl with pigtails and big black eyes rushes onto the stage, smiling and even giggling. She pauses at the right moment, confronts the spotlight and sings in duet a short, sweet song in French, ignoring an audience overflowing assigned seats and every other element of her first stage performance except her role.

She is 6 years old. She is fearless. She is calm. She amazes.

How can one so young respond with such aplomb in such a fearsome situation?

We were dismayed last week to hear about Yum! Brands new strategic move with Kentucky Fried Chicken – or KFC, if you prefer.

In case you missed the announcement, Yum! is planning to test a “fast casual” restaurant aimed at a younger audience as a possible spinoff chain, with healthier chicken recipes (even no bones) and side dishes, which we applaud, but with one key item missing from its menu:

Colonel Harland Sanders himself.

The volatile issue of pay for substitute teachers in Shelby County – which has become as big a debate for its emotion as it has for its fiscal prudence – appears to be nearing a reasonable conclusion.

We don’t expect that all sides are perfectly happy with the decision last week by the Shelby County School Board, but we believe the due diligence of the process is encouraging and fulfills a moral obligation to all parties involved: the most experienced substitute teachers and we taxpayers who fund their checks.