Opinion

We have pushed and cajoled many to get both effort and answers about the Shelbyville Bypass. The project is woefully behind, and no one seemed concerned about that except for the Shelby Countians who kept asking the questions.

We voiced those questions and received, in some cases, nebulous responses, until our elected leaders stood up to do as we expect them to do.

Rep. Brad Montell and Sen. Gary Tapp asked questions, too, and now we have some answers. The bypass may not be completed any faster, but at least we have some explanations.

The Shelby County Fair A&M Board is feeling a pinch after its recent Shelby County Fair started reasonably well and then lost all momentum in a deluge of rainstorms and heat. Attendance flagged, and the economic balance of the event has become more fragile than had been expected.

But the deteriorating attendance at the 2009 fair cannot solely be placed at the feet of climatology and public apathy.

The fair simply has gotten too expensive for the average family.

Honorable Brad Montell

Honorable Gary Tapp  

We sure are glad you got those folks from Kay and Kay Contracting to agree to meet with you this week.

Somebody needs to set those guys down and have a quiet word with them about how they took our money -- $26.5 million! – to build us a 4.5 miles of road and so far left us with a lot of dirt and disruption.

If it weren’t so sad, we might think it was funny to call them Highwaymen. It feels like we’re getting held up.

The names Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth will forever be linked in the first-ever assassination of a U.S. President.

Not so well remembered are the eight co-conspirators in the assassination -- one of whom grimly became an historic first herself.

It was 144 years ago Tuesday in Washington that, alongside three of the other conspirators (George Atzerodt, David Herold and Lewis Powell), Mary Surratt became the first woman ever executed by the U.S. government.

Many of you read Scott McDaniel’s recent story on Mary Surratt (“The Story of the First Woman to be Hung by U.S. Government” 7/8/2009) who was found guilty of conspiracy to murder President Lincoln.  I dare say, however, that only a handful of people know of the Shelby County connection to Mrs. Surratt. The connection is my great-great grandmother Emily Barry, but first, you need some history of the Surratts. 

 Bekaert Corporation’s introduction recently of a new processing system that eliminates lead and replaces it with water was a clear example for all local industry and our community as a whole.

Making our county “greener” was on The Sentinel-News’ list of goals for 2009. We challenged our governmental and industrial leaders to take up this challenge and make improvements this year.

Last year, amid the incredible learning moments I observed in classrooms and conversations with parents, teachers and community members, I heard one thing clearly: “We all want to move our students to attain even higher levels of achievement.”

We know this wasn’t the case, but we have to say that we think those original new zoning boundaries for Martha Lane Collins High School looked like they were created using a dartboard from a school board member’s game room.

Those dots that identified specific neighborhoods from which students would be shipped across town to the more remote high school seemed arbitrary and perhaps ill-conceived.

We understand there are many demands on a school district, and geography does not always solve the most routine problems.

How much is a life worth?

I recently contemplated this question as I was considering increasing my life insurance. Many people (especially insurance agents) might say “you can never have too much insurance” or that having a large insurance policy is the best way to protect your wife and kids in the event of some tragedy. But they’re not fooling me.