Opinion

When I was a child, cars were not equipped with shoulder harnesses, only lap belts, and child safety seats had yet to be invented.

I remember clambering over back seats to take a nap in the rear compartment of the station wagon. I remember sitting literally on the edge of the front seat gazing out the windshield at stars and the roadside scenery whizzing by seemingly inches from my face.

It was fun, and luckily we were never in a wreck.

As Governor Beshear and the General Assembly prepare for the upcoming legislative session, it is becoming increasingly clear that the state’s two-year budget will be the most challenging Kentucky has faced since the Great Depression.

Federal stimulus dollars have helped significantly, but unless Congress provides additional funds, the stimulus dollars will run out by the budget’s second year.  Barring an economic miracle, there will be considerable budget gaps and no painless way to fill them.

One of my gurus, a psychiatrist famous in the 1940s and 1950s for his self-help program, wrote that one could take stress in stride by accepting frustration as an expected occurrence in everyday life. “Life is a business of frustrations,” he taught his patients to recite whenever the inevitable occurred. His was not a negative approach to life but rather a realistic one.

It’s hard to believe that in a county presumably named after Patrick Henry — that great man who declared, “Give me Liberty or give me death!” — that anybody would face the property rights issues the Cooks of New Castle are facing. Patrick Henry, by the way, was the first governor of Virginia in 1776, was also the first governor of what is now Kentucky.

Maybe your county officials could do some reading of a good biography of Henry. Public officials these days are in need of some learning about what Liberty really means.

I know many of you in Henry and surrounding counties have seen or signed a petition to remove Greg Derossett from his current position, or any other position that he may hold in this county. I am concerned that many of you do not know the whole story as to why this petition is being passed around by Mr. Bob Cook who resides on Scobie Lane in New Castle.

For months, members of Congress and the American public have hotly debated the right way to reform our health care system.  We all agree that there are steps that can be taken to improve health care to make it more affordable and accessible, but the devil is in the details.  It is critical that we find the right prescription for reform without adding to our climbing debt and deficit. One of the essential elements to successful reform that will reduce cost within our current health care system is comprehensive medical liability reform “tort reform.”

I would like to invite and encourage everyone to attend the third annual Eminence Halloween Festival. This year it will be taking place on Friday, Oct. 30 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Highland Renaissance Park. The admission is free but I encourage everyone to bring one canned good to be donated to the local food pantry.

Americans are counting on Congress to craft legislation that will effectively and responsibly address critical issues.  Unfortunately, on the most important matters of the day, like the economy, energy and health care, Democrat majority leaders have been consistently unwilling to allow an open process that results in the practical and effective solutions that the people want from their representatives.

I am writing this letter in reference to the uproar over EPD Chief Carey Duncan shooting a dog.

It has always been my belief that actions speak louder than words. I have known Carey Duncan for about 30 years, and his actions have always been that of a professional and courteous officer of the law.