Opinion

One of the country’s most persistent challenges is finding ways to help those struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues beyond their control.
Federal figures show the number to be significant.  In 2008, it was estimated that 30 million Americans had received treatment for a mental health issue in the previous year, and about 22 million were believed to be addicted to drugs or alcohol.

Bullying is one of the most common forms of violence seen in schools. A national survey conducted by the federal government in 2007-08 found that more than 55 million school-aged children have reported being a victim of bullying.

There are many different ways a child can be bullied. Bullying can range from simple name calling to physical altercations.  Today cyber-bullying has grown in popularity. Children can experience bullying while online and their offenders often remain anonymous.

Greetings from the Henry County Planning and Zoning Office. I am Jody Rucker, Planning and Zoning Coordinator and Solid Waste Manager for Henry County I have been on the job about 9 months now. I will be writing a article about every 6 weeks in an effort to answer some questions regarding planning and zoning, solid waste ordinances, and other areas that our office is involved with. This article will be set up like a question and answer session. Our office and the Henry County Local will be reviewing questions/suggestions for future articles.

When the General Assembly opens the 2012 Regular Session in early January, there is no doubt what the top issue will be: enacting the state’s budget for the next two years.  Redrawing state House, Senate and congressional districts, something done after each census, will likely be prominent as well, especially in the session’s opening weeks.

Kentucky families and businesses plan and prioritize their spending by making and following a responsible budget.  Congress is required to do the same by passing an annual budget, a blueprint for all federal spending. 

While the House of Representatives passed a fiscally responsible budget on April 11, 2011, the Senate has not passed a budget since April 29, 2009, more than 900 days ago.

Not only is this fiscally irresponsible, it is a failure of leadership and a breakdown of one of the most basic functions of government.

Soon after our marriage in 1987, Lyndon mentioned that “Some day I would like to move back home to Henry County.” Being a Lexington girl, reared in the suburbs, I thought to myself “Over my dead body we’ll move ‘back home to Henry County!’ ”

But, as fate would have it, in 1998 we came to Henry County. I immediately felt the loving welcome showered on me by all. I was comfortable from the beginning. Henry County felt like a warm and caring community in which to raise a family.

Kentucky families continue to work hard to make ends meet in an uncertain economy while unemployment remains unacceptably high. That is why one of my top priorities is advancing positive, commonsense economic policies that will help the private sector grow and hire.  Congress made progress last week by passing trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea with broad bipartisan support.

Today I would like to talk about the state Tire Amnesty Program put on by the Kentucky Department of Waste Management.

The program began in the county in 1999 and continued every four years. The program is set up to accept and dispose of most tires, in an effort to eliminate unwanted tires from our streams, roadsides and other locations at no charge to the public. The program will be offered to Henry County residents Oct. 20-22 at the state road barn located on Kentucky-193, north of New Castle.