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May 26, 2009

In Your View — 05/27/09

Anonymous The Daily Independent Tue May 26, 2009, 03:44 PM EDT

Obama is trying to save the planet

Thank you, Mr. President, for attempting to slow the human race’s determined charge to drive themselves and every other species on the planet to extinction!

On behalf of the planet and the future generations that will be forced to grow up on it, Mahalo for trying to save us from ourselves. Although I am concerned that it will be too little, too late, at least it’s refreshing to see that some people care about the future, instead of going like hogs to the trough and slurping up everything they can get for themselves with utter disregard for the welfare of others.

We can change policies and restrict the “takers” from doing as much damage, but the way is to change minds as well as policies. Good luck with that!

I don't think most people give anything much thought! The key is reaching future generations, so they can start to undo all the damages done by their predecessors, many of whom either don’t believe (or don’t care) that we have dire environmental problems.

Thanks for trying, President Obama.

Barbara Abels, Gallipolis, Ohio

Jury duty should be encouraged

Americans have the power to exercise one of our nation’s paramount democratic responsibilities. They can serve on a jury.

Each year, millions of Americans receive the call to serve — and they do. According to the National Center for State Courts, about a million people serve on some 80,000 jury trials per year in the United States.

The ABA wants to make it as easy as possible for more Americans to serve their country in this way. To that end, the ABA’s Commission on the American Jury Project developed dozens of guiding principles for juries and jury trials. The Commission is encouraging courts across the country to adopt new jury practices and standards.

To make it easier for Americans to serve as jurors, we advocate for the shortest possible jury service as long as the needs of the courts are being met; for the preservation of juror privacy through juror-screening inquiries that are relevant only to the trial and by allowing jurors to answer sensitive questions privately; and for the protection of employees, by prohibiting employers from penalizing those who miss work because of jury service.

We want to help jurors do the best job they can for our nation’s courts. For example, our principles call for specific juror instruction and orientation so that jurors will have an increased understanding of the judicial system. We also recommend that jurors be allowed to take notes during the trial and, in certain cases, be allowed to submit written questions for witnesses.

When a trial is over, we believe courts should give jurors legally permissible post-verdict advice.

We hope that these principles foster a better understanding of, and keener interest in, jury duty as we work on improving jury practice and preserving the right to trial by jury.

H. Thomas Wells Jr., president, American Bar Association

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Editorials

Charles Chattin
Before it merged with Ashland Community College to form Ashland Community and Technical College as a result of the 1997 Higher Education Reform Act, the Ashland Area Vocational-Technical School compiled an impressive record for teaching job skills to young adults and placing more than 85 percent in jobs for which they were trained.

February 10, 2012
Try again
It is time for Kentucky Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, and Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, to cease playing political games and redraw district lines that are compact and are based far more on population changes during the first decade of this century than on partisan politics.

February 9, 2012
'Asset poor'
More than one in four Kentucky households are “asset poor,” meaning that they are living from paycheck to paycheck with little or no financial cushion to fall back on should they suddenly lose their jobs or have another emergency resulting in a temporary loss of or delcine in income.

February 7, 2012
Safer mines
The head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) says coal operators throughout the country are improving their operations and, as a result, mines are becoming safer. However, MSHA chief Joe Main said too many coal operators still “don’t get it” and are continuing to cut costs by ignoring safety. That’s why MSHA plans to continue targeting mines with a history of repeated violations for additional inspections.

February 7, 2012
Not far enough
For the past three sessions of the Kentucky General Assembly, bills that would raise the minimum dropout age from 16 to 18 have been approved by the Kentucky House of Representatives by wide bipartisan margins only to die in the Senate without even a vote.
Now the Senate Education Committee has unanimously approved a dropout bill hailed as an alternative to the House bill, but it does not go nearly far enough. It is a halfway measure that would have only a limited effect on preventing teenagers from quitting high school before graduation and virtually assuring themselves of lives on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder.

February 6, 2012
Not their job
The local government committee of the Kentucky House of Representatives has wisely killed a bill — dubbed “Cooper’s Law” — that would have allowed the family of the Lexington toddler with cerebral palsy to have a playhouse on their property despite a deed restriction that apparently prohibits such structures.

February 6, 2012
Keeping FADE
Despite an increase in cost to the department, Carter County Sheriff Casey Brammell told the Carter County Fiscal Court that his department will continue to be active in the FIVCO Area Development Drug Enforcement (FADE) Task Force — at least for now.

February 4, 2012
Needed changes
The soaring enrollment that Kentucky’s community and technical colleges have experienced in recent years could come to a sudden end — or at least be slowed — as about 5,500 students in the statewide system that includes Ashalnd Community and Technical College are expected to lose their financial aid under new rules being implemented by the federal government.

February 3, 2012
Released early
While it is disappointing that 75 of the 952 prisoners granted early release in January have violated the terms of their releases, the good news is that none of the former inmates have been charged with new felonies. That’s an early, but positive, indication that the nonviolent felons released before their sentences were up have been carefully selected and are among those least likely to return to a life of crime.

February 2, 2012
Obese children
Almost a decade after former Gov. Ernie Fletcher called childhood obesity an “epidemic” in Kentucky, a majority of Kentucky adults still think that there are too many overweight children in the state and they place the bulk of the blame squarely on the shoulders of their parents.

February 1, 2012
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