Opinion

When I was a young girl growing up on a farm in upstate New York, my folks had a hired man named Shel Aikley. Given the custom in those days and the fact that he was probably 40 years older than I was, I always politely addressed him as “Mr. Aikley.” He gave me the feeling that he was fond of me, and, sure enough, years later at my wedding, he wept openly, as if he’d been my uncle.

I was enjoying a nice ho-hum drive to work Feb. 3,when the rear end of an SUV caught my eye, and I had to turn around to get another look.

Parked at the intersection of  Main and Cross Main in New Castle, the SUV had a campaign sticker for Bob Cook for Judge-Executive on the back window.

The top of the sticker, of which I caught just a couple of words at first, was the part that made me turn my car around to take a second look.

“The candidate the newspaper doesn’t want you to know about. Shhh!”

For the past 18 months I believe most will agree that times have been tough, everything from bills, to job security, or just trying to keep their heads above water. Throughout all the day-to-day struggles one thing stands out to me more than anything. We have some really great people in our community, people who volunteer their time to our children. People who spend hours on end to ensure our children are given the opportunity to be a part of something good. People who care and put forth a lot of time and energy to see that our children are able to be involved with positive good clean fun.

With more than half of our state tax dollars going to our schools and universities, it’s no surprise that the General Assembly spends a fair amount of time during legislative sessions focusing on education.

Already, for example, we have approved a new law designed to make Kentucky more competitive in the federal “Race to the Top” grants being awarded this spring and summer to states that show the most commitment to improving schools.

When the General Assembly returns to the Capitol each January in even-numbered years, its top priority is never in doubt: Enact a budget to run state government for the next two years.

The task begins when the governor submits his or her proposal during the opening days of the legislative session.  At that point, the House of Representatives decides what changes it might like to make, with the Senate then doing the same.  Leaders from both chambers then seek a compromise that is voted on in the session’s final days.

The President of the United States must think we’re stupid.

First, he gives bailout money to large “too big to fail” banks. Some of them didn’t want the money, but he forced them to accept our tax dollars anyway. Next, the banks pay back the bailout money, with interest, but that’s evidently not good enough. Now the President wants to tax banks approximately $90 billion. Wow, how wonderful, we’ll show those big, mean, banks.

It’s safe to say that local elected leaders have seldom faced a year like 2009 and the outlook for 2010 is equally challenging. The members of the Henry County Public and Eminence Independent Boards of Education have worked to preserve the district’s ability to educate our children in the face of a massive state budget shortfall and tough economic times at the local level.

In addition to the physical injuries sustained in conflict, countless servicemen and women have experienced psychological symptoms directly related to their deployment.

On behalf of the officers and employees of PBI Bank, I would like to thank our many contributors who helped make our 2009 “Christmas for Kids” party at Eastern Elementary possible.

With your generous contributions, we were able to provide toys, goodie bags, hats and gloves, pizza and Santa Claus for 72 children who might not have had a wonderful Christmas otherwise.