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Opinion

  • An apple for the teachers who tried...

    I ran into an old English teacher – and my first journalism teacher – at the grocery store recently. She was buying milk, and I was the nosy reporter asking her about prices.

    She answered my question and then said, “You don’t remember me, do you?”

    I admitted she looked familiar, and then Mary Ann Clemmons, English teacher my junior year at Shelby County High School, introduced herself to me.

    “I remember you wouldn’t read much of anything but sports,” she said.

  •
    EARLIER: What we think: We must...

    A year ago this week, Shelby County buried one of its finest heroes and favorite sons, former basketball star Mike Casey.

    In the 52 weeks since, our leaders have done little to honor a man who established not only a legacy of great athleticism but also one of inspiration to many and friendship to all.

  • EARLIER: We congratulate: The...

    We like what we hear about the county’s plans – joining the city’s earlier discussions – to improve the sidewalk corridor along 7th Street and Burks Branch Road toward Clear Creek Park.

    We have advocated the concept that this pathway should become much smoother for walkers, runners and stroller-pushers.

  • An old, familiar voice can awaken...

     Like many of my ilk, I am a manic radio listener when I’m in my car.

  • The educational institution of the...

    There is something woven deep into the texture of my soul that cooks up calmness from the simple recipe of sitting outside at night, listening to the croaks and screeches, feeling the cooling air and watching the lightning bugs dance in front of me. I can stand on the deck behind my house, peering out into the hickory and maple trees that descend beyond our wooden fence into a gully – we called it a “holler” before I was educated – and feel as close to being at one with nature as I can get. I’m no son of Audubon, no Mark Trail or ev

  • What we think: Attacking dog...

    If you read the account on the front page of today’s newspaper about a dog running from a house and severely biting a 2-year-old girl, you probably were as horrified as we were.

    But were you as equally horrified to read that the dog remained in its home, quarantined by game officials rather than taken into custody?

    Yes, we understand that this is within the limits of the law, but we are at a loss to understand why this would be appropriate.

  • We congratulate: Shelbyville Horse...

    The Shelbyville Horse Show will celebrate its 21st year this summer, but now it has a reason for the horses to step a little more lively and for their riders to sit just a bit more erect.

    The Kentucky Tourism Council this week announced that it had rated the horse show as one of the 10 best events in Kentucky.

  • During election season, balance...

    Atop a shelf in my office sits a trophy I treasure. It’s a replica of the “Lady Justice,” an image many of you oldtimers may recall from the closing credits of the original Perry Mason TV series.

    She’s the blindfolded woman holding balanced scales in one hand and a sword in the other, a symbol of the presumed blind justice and fairness of our legal system.

  • Here’s a long shot you...

    The road to the Kentucky Derby has been something that I’ve followed rather closely from these past few decades.

    From the day of nomination in January, when hundreds of 3-year-olds have been named as potential Derby entrants, I have examined with quiet amazement the experts’ lists of the best horses in that group and those most likely to wear roses one glorious Saturday in May at Churchill Downs.

  • What we think: Drivers should use...

    There’s a public safety concern out there, and you can do something about it.

    You don’t need the help of law enforcement, legislation or the courts to handle this potential problem, because the solution is right at your fingertips.

    When the weather is rainy, the light dim or the fog rolling, simply turn on your headlights.

    Don’t wait for your automatic system to decide when illumination is needed.

    Don’t rely on your parking lights to do the trick.

    Those don’t work, and you’re causing a hazard to other motorists.

  • We congratulate: Breast cancer...

    Wasn’t the story of Lynn Whitehouse one of Shelby County’s feel-good stories of the year?

    Ms. Whitehouse is our neighbor who ran in the Derby Festival mini-marathon in 2009, found she had an aggressive form of breast cancer, was treated radically for it and came back to run the mini again two weeks ago.

    On Friday she participated in the walk of breast cancer survivors just before post time for the Kentucky Oaks, a celebration to raise awareness for the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the need for research in breast cancer.

  • SOUDER: This is your life,...

    I heard that several years ago when President George H.W. Bush was on the campaign trail, he stopped in to visit some residents in a nursing home.

    He walked up to one elderly woman in a wheelchair and said, “Hello there, ma’am, what’s your name?” 

  • We congratulate: The lasting...

    Magnanimous public gifts can be hard to qualify. Everyone’s contribution to the greater good is like the Widow’s Mite of the old Biblical parable – its beauty lying in the completeness of the donation, even if its scope seems small when compared to others.

    So the intent here is not to offer a loud and prolonged thank you to Roger and Diane Shott for the size of their gift to Shelby County but for what that gift represents.

  • In my lifetime, this one was the...

    This is a story about a cat, but it’s not about one of those strays running around Zaring Mill Road.

    This one came from a nice, traditional cat family, though road-dropped relatives may have been in the gene pool.

    This cat didn’t live in a box in someone’s corner, wasn’t fed anything out of a can or box, didn’t know litter from a ladder and was responsible for her own grooming.

    We didn’t know her pedigree. She never saw a cage or a doctor.

    But she did know love, survival and the place that was her home.

  • What we think: Question of...

    There was a long debate Tuesday at Shelby County Fiscal Court about the salaries that constables should be paid in Shelby County in the coming fiscal year.

    This was an important and timely discussion because those pay scales should be in place for the candidates who are running in the seven districts next month and next fall.

  • EARLIER: What we think: This deadly...

    We knew the worst was going to happen sooner rather than later.

    We knew, tragically, that nothing would be done about the problem until it was brought to the forefront by damage to human flesh.

  • Our heroes often have a lot more...

    Tiger Woods returned to golf last week, and though you may say that’s a sports story that happened far away, we now know, of course, that this more accurately was a morality play acted out primarily on a golf course.

    My role here is not to condemn Tiger or to affirm the choices he has made at this very delicate and important crossroads of his life.

  • SOUDER: When it comes to men and...

    A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word. An earlier discussion had led to an argument, and neither of them wanted to concede their position.

    As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats and pigs, the husband couldn’t remain silent. He glanced at his wife and asked sarcastically, "Relatives of yours?"

  • What we think: Fire investigation...

    We were inspired to learn last week that the state fire marshal and the Kentucky State Police are looking into the fire on Golden Rod court that nearly became a tragedy, were it not for the heroics of nanny Alyson Myatt.

    The strange circumstances surrounding this fire are so unusual that an investigation can do nothing but help to bring closure to an awful event.

  • String music becomes a symphony on...

    Joe Dean called it “string music.”

    Cawood Ledford – and I humbly apologize for juxtaposing those two names – described it by many melodic monikers, such as “rambling the ropes,” “tickling the twine” or “nothing but nylon.”

    Wannabe athletes have for decades created catchy calls, but ultimately they wind up with a simple, elegant word: “pure.”