Guest Columns

Earlier this month, and continuing a trend dating back to the late 1980s, the Kentucky State Police issued its annual report on crime in Kentucky, giving us a much clearer picture of the impact these actions have had on our citizens.

In one sense, the numbers from 2011 are positive when compared to earlier crime reports. When measured against 1995, there were 50 fewer homicides, 6,000 fewer burglaries and almost 5,000 fewer DUIs last year even in the face of population gains, while auto thefts and robberies were almost half of what they had been.

This has been a full week in Frankfort. I had three major meetings with the Transportation Committee that I chair, the Joint Committee on Labor and Industry, and the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Tourism.

The other morning my friend and co-worker Cristy and I devised a solution for all the major problems of the universe.

Everybody stop.

Just stop. Take a breath. Step back. Chill out.

Politicians, stop politicking. Forget about focus groups and pork spending and back room deals and war room strategies. Democrats aren’t evil and neither are Republicans, so stop treating people with whom you disagree as enemies. We’re all Americans, so stop!

Like the rest of the nation, Kentucky is seeing a definite graying trend as more and more Baby Boomers move past their 65th birthday and a growing number of citizens reach their nineties and beyond.