Today's Opinions

An estimated 200 people turned out for the Sisters Act Relay for Life Fish Fry that was held Friday night April 26, at the Owen County Fairgrounds.  
I was pleased to see that this many came out on a somewhat chilly evening.  
I thank all who came.  It was good to see folks that I have not seen for awhile and it was good to make some new acquaintances – all who want to fight cancer and to demonstrate their compassion and their support for the cause.

Every community in the United States typically has a drug problem to one extent or another.
Typically, the people who make up the community turn a blind eye and hope drug addiction doesn’t touch their family.
Owen County isn’t a typical community.
Thursday night, local law enforcement, medical professionals and local government will reach out to the community for help from the people who make up this community.

After finishing my first legislative session as majority floor leader, I am proud to look back at the significant accomplishments of the 2013 Regular Session of the General Assembly.  Most importantly, we successfully established a new spirit of bipartisan collaboration which allowed us to move the state forward in a meaningful fashion on substantive issues such as comprehensive public employee pension system reform, university bonding, a regulatory framework for hemp production, and added transparency for special taxing districts.