Today's Opinions

One of the more welcoming trends in Kentucky in recent years has been our declining highway fatalities.  Though one is too many, there is greater evidence that increased seatbelt usage and the relatively new graduated driver’s license for teenagers is having the effect we in the General Assembly had hoped.

In 2005, there were 985 people who died in automobile accidents on Kentucky’s roads, the highest total since the early 1970s. Fortunately, we have seen a steady drop since then, with last year’s listed at 822 – a nearly 17 percent reduction.

On Thursday night, Jan. 15, 16 mailboxes on Bates Lane were vandalized – most were smashed on one side by some object and several were knocked completely off their pedestal! I would guess that this vandalism was perpetrated by young people, who were out driving around and thought this would be fun. Someone (or a group) who would do this must have a perverted sense of what is fun. Obviously, they have no respect for other’s property; but, vandalizing U.S. Postal Service mailboxes is a Federal offense!

Late last month, for the eighth time since 1994, the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center issued a far-reaching report that provides perhaps the best overall snapshot of the Commonwealth.

The report comes out at the end of every even-numbered year, and is designed to give more information to policy makers and citizens alike on five broad areas: communities, education, economy, environment and the government.