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Guest Columns

  • Crouching kitties at the door

    For the past few months we’ve been taking care of our youngest daughter’s two cats, Mohawk and Target, while our daughter spends some time with my sister in California.
    They’re both gray tabby cats, each about 10 years old.
    My husband calls Mohawk “Hawkeye” or “Hawk” and I’ve nicknamed Target “the weasel” because he’s long and he slinks through the house like I imagine a weasel would.
    Lately, we’ve noticed another cat hanging around, white with butterscotch coloring.

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  • Electronic voter registration

    Last week I made the historic announcement that all eligible Kentuckians will soon be able to register to vote online. I am proud to lead the charge to bring voter registration in Kentucky into the 21st Century.

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  • Aviation industry big in Kentucky

    Most Kentuckians know that the commonwealth plays a major role in the auto industry – in fact, only two states produce more cars and trucks than we do – but far fewer are likely aware that our work in aerospace and aviation has overtaken it.
    Last year, that industry accounted for nearly $8 billion in exports, topping the $5.9 billion generated by our auto parts and assembly factories. Overall, about half of everything that Kentucky ships beyond our borders ultimately goes toward moving people and products over the ground and in the air.

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  • Free/reduced lunch and Title I

    This week I would like to take the time to express to our parents and community the importance of the free and reduced (F/R) lunch program that exists in our schools. This a vital program in so many ways but I feel the numbers for Trimble County are inaccurately reported due to applications not being filed. I hope that knowing how F/R lunch rates impact students and schools we will begin to see more parents taking the time apply for the program.

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  • WWJD? You might be surprised

    By Nancy Kennedy
    A few weeks ago, a woman called me with an idea for my column.
    She had just read “In His Steps,” a book written in 1896 that sparked the “WWJD” (What Would Jesus Do?) phenomena in the 1990s, the WWJD bracelets, bumper stickers, refrigerator magnets, et al.
    The book, written by Charles Sheldon, is a fictional story about a pastor who challenges his congregation not to do anything for an entire year without first asking, “What would Jesus do?” and then do that.

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  • Stumbo, KSP hope for increased officer safety

    When it comes to keeping us safe, it can be easy to take for granted those who protect us – until tragedy re-reminds us that their job can carry a steep price.
    That was very much on everyone’s mind last week, when House Speaker Greg Stumbo joined with the father of Kentucky State Police Trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder – who was killed in the line of duty on Sept. 13 – to pledge their support for actions that would help reduce the dangers frontline officers all too often face. It is a cause I support as well.

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  • Superintendent’s Corner

    Dear Readers,

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  • ‘Good stuff, Harry’

    I’ve mentioned my friend Harry before.
    He’s 86ish and used to golf every day, but one day several years ago he decided he’d had enough and hung up his clubs, or whatever it is you do when you stop golfing.
    Harry and his wife, Charlotte, have sat behind me in church for as long as I can remember.
    When we built the sanctuary 12 years ago, Harry and Charlotte scoped the place out and chose their spot on the second row, second section on the left, Saturday night service.
    I chose my spot on the first row, right in front of Harry.

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  • Legislature tracking education reforms

    It may still be early in the school year, but some of the “report cards” the state uses to measure academic progress have already begun to arrive.
    In general, the news for Kentucky is good, although there is still much room for improvement.
    Perhaps the best example of that can be found in the growing number of high school students taking and passing Advanced Placement tests, which provide college credit if the score is high enough.

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  • Mumbo jumbo, odds and ends -- and mercy

    Once again it’s time for a mumbo jumbo, bits of odds and ends column filled with random thoughts and various things I’ve found and have been saving that are too short for a full-length column yet too good not to use. I hope there will be something helpful to you.
    * In a sermon at the church in Tampa we often visit, the pastor talked about fear, a subject I am well acquainted with, although I’m much better than I was.

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