Opinion

I wanted my senior project to mean something. I wanted it to somehow help the community, but I also wanted it to be different. I knew I wanted two things to come out of my project. That was to raise money for juvenile diabetes and to have the Kentucky State University Phi Beta Sigma to perform at our school. I also wanted to feed the volunteers that helped me with my project. I mailed out letters to the surrounding businesses asking for donations for a silent auction or to help feed the volunteers. I made flyers and put them up at different locations.

There is a law of human nature that says at least ten percent of the people in churches, families, clubs, or at work are always "negative" about plans, projects or ideas.

They are the people who say, "Yeah, he can walk on water but that's because he can't swim."

Resistance, rumor and ridicule are what they practice.

But no project or plan, even if it's a positive plan for the children of our community, can be successful if we become distracted by the ten percent.

On March 18, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments for District of Columbia v. Heller, a case which questions whether the District of Columbia's gun ban violates the Second Amendment. This is the first Second Amendment case taken up by the Supreme Court since 1939. As you may know, the rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment have been severely limited in the nation's capital for the last thirty-two years.

I am a vet. technician that has been in the business for 18 years. I feel that pit bull terriers are being targeted. Terriers in general are a breed that need a special kind of owner, someone who will have the upper hand. They can be strong willed, hard headed and will try to be number one in the family pack.

The pool is going to be a great thing for the kids. Hopefully all Eminence kids will be able to enjoy the pool and concession stands this summer. The Eminence City Council and Mayor will probably make the decision as to how much the admission fee will be and the rules of the season passes.

People sometimes ask me where I grew up, where I'm "from."

That can be a tough question to answer. Born in Paris, Illinois, I don't actually remember my "home town." Growing up, I also lived in, in chronological order, Terre Haute, Indiana; Henderson, the city and the county, Kentucky; Tucson, Arizona, Newport News, Virginia, back to Terre Haute, and finally Evansville, Indiana.

I bounced around a bit, almost like a military brat. Only we moved where graduate school for mom was, or where a job offer presented itself.

Plans are currently underway for the 26th Annual New Castle Spring Fling. It is always the second Saturday in June. This years date is Saturday, June 14. The hours are from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The Spring Fling is an annual reunion for many people who only see each other very few times a year. It is also a day that people come from far and near to a county festival.

As a humble third grader, I loved to sing. I cannot begin to express how much I loved it. The problem was, at least according to my sister, I was tone deaf.

I had not yet acquired the Criss family gene, handed down through my mother, for musical aptitude.

That would change when I entered the fourth grade and had my first experience with instruments.

It was then, through school, that I learned to play the violin. Over the years, I was able to lose the tone-deafness, and now can sing my then favorite song - Toto's "Roseanna" without missing a beat ... or a note.