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Opinion

  • Legislative Update by Damon Thayer...

    The Senate had a full week of legislation and committee meetings, in addition to logging in long hours working on the state’s biannual budget. With 10 days remaining, you will see a flurry of bills voted through the chambers and updates on the budget and state’s road plan these last few working days.
    This week, the Senate considered and approved many important measures. Two in particular propose constitutional amendments.

  •
    County Clerk’s Corner: Clearing up...

    I have had several inquires lately concerning farm tags. In this article I will try my best to answer some of your questions.
    On March 16, 2011 SB79 took effect. It created a weight class for farm vehicles to ensure that Kentucky farmers are not improperly ticketed and taxed when operating their vehicles across state lines. SB79 created weight classification of a 26,000 lbs. for farm tags.

  • Republican candidates for House...

    Republican U.S. House candidates Gary Moore and Marcus Carey of Owen County addressed the Owen County Republican Party meeting at the Smith House Restaurant March 1.
    Boone County Judge-executive Moore said he expected most people from Owen County would vote for one of their own, Marcus Carey, but he hoped they would vote for him.
    Moore said he is a conservative, and very conservative Boone County has elected him many times, and he’s conservative on both fiscal and social issues.

  •
    Superintendent's notes:...

    By David Raleigh - For the News-Herald

  • Thayer was dedicated to Owen County

    It’s time to say goodbye to Damon Thayer.
    But it’s not him who’s moving.
    It’s us.
    Last week, the Kentucky General Assembly passed and Kentucky Gov. Steve Bashear signed into a law a new map of state senate districts. The changes were made necessary by the 2010 U.S. Census that indicated the several state senate districts had either lost or gained population.
    The old Senate District 17, which contained Grant, Owen, Scott and part of Kenton counties, was now about 13,000 residents over the ideal number for a senate district.

  •
    Safety is priority No. 1 when...

    Have you ever wondered how school officials go about determining whether or not Owen County schools are in session on bad weather days?  
    With the chill of the January air upon us and the threat of wintry weather ahead, I thought you might be interested in learning how we go about making that very tough decision.
    Getting our students to and from school safely each day is the number one priority of Owen County Schools Transportation Director Jimmy Sutherland and the many bus drivers responsible for transporting your children.  

  •
    What is the shelf life of a...

    I’m not much a New Year’s resolution kinda person.
    I feel that if you are going to make a commitment to something, why wait until the calendar changes when you should probably start as soon as possible.
    I’ve made a few resolutions over the years but I’m still overweight and still carry most of my vices.
    But this year will be different.
    • I turn 47 in a few days. That’s when things that used to hold no concern for me start becoming a concern.
    It’s time to get everything checked out.

  • Guest columnist: How I came to...

    In October of 2010, I was out of work as a truck driver. Nothing on my part was keeping from going to work but one of the companies that I used to work for several years ago had placed the wrong information down on a national data base. This was resolved after nearly two months of sitting at home.
    I began to pray for I did not know if God was blocking my employment to place me in the ministry in a more full-time fashion.

  •
    We love basketball, but I can’t see...

    If Joe B. Hall, Denny Crum or Rick Pitino had any role in protecting a child molester, I can’t believe there would be many people in Kentucky willing to stand up and defend them.
    Over the past few days, former players, fans and students at Penn. State have come out in support of legendary coach Joe Paterno after he was fired after 48 successful years at the university.

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    Amazing 11-1 season seems like one...

    Have you ever had one of those days that you just didn’t want to end? You know the kind. It’s the day when everything is perfect, so perfect that you almost dread the sun going down because you fear that you may never have another day quite like it.
    This was the 2011 Owen County football season.
    It began in the summer when players and coaches took the field. They spilled sweat and blood in an effort to get ready for that first night when they could see just how much all that work might pay off.

  •
    Occupy movement could bring some...

    It’s taken a  while to organize my thoughts on the “Occupy” protests.
    One phrase keeps running through my head.
    “DON’T BLOW THIS.”
    Who is that exclamation pointed at?
    Everyone.
    To the protesters:
    The right-wing media is already trying to portray you as latter-day hippies — lazy malcontents unwilling to work hard and get ahead.

  • Letter to the editor: Sisters will...

    As fall arrives, it is also time to start planning and praying for shoebox collection through Operation Christmas Child. Collection Week this year is Nov. 14-21, and Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church will once again serve as your “relay center” to accept your shoeboxes during that week.

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    Opry and Dylan still picking at...

    When country music’s most notable figure, Hank Williams, died in the back of his Cadillac en route to a show in Canton, Ohio, on Jan. 1, 1953, America’s rural people had lost their first superstar. Three days later, the legendary singer-songwriter was buried in Montgomery, Ala., his funeral drawing a record crowd — the largest since Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as president of the Confederacy in 1861.

  • Aunt Opal's touch will last a...

    I’ve written about my Aunt Lucy many times because she’s been such an important and influential person in my life, but one of the other special women who had a profound impact on me never got much ink.
    Two weeks ago, our family had to say goodbye to Opal Smoot Hawkins. Opal was also my aunt; one of my mom’s older sisters.  Since my mom is the baby of the 12 Smoot children, all of them are older.

  •
    It’s the end of the world as I know...

    In the great, grand scheme of the universe, it’s really not that big of a deal.
    Last week, the members of R.E.M. announced they will “call it a day” after a 31-year career.
    The decision registered as a blip on most of the national news outlets.
    But for me and a lot of my friends, it’s the end of something more than a band. It’s pretty much the end of something else. I won’t call it “youth” because, at 46 years old, I think that ship has pretty much sailed and beached itself on the rocky shores of middle age.

  • Letter to the editor: Take a moment...

    Constitution Week, Sept. 17-23, commemorates the signing of the Constitution of the United States. The U.S. Constitution is the oldest and shortest written constitution of any government in the world. Drafted in less than 100 working days, it contains only 4, 543 words, including signatures and takes about 30 minutes to read. It is the basic document of our republic, which protects individual liberties of all citizens through written law.

  • Remembering Sept. 11, 2001

    In the moments before the first plane hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, officials from 18 states had gathered for the annual Southern Governors’ Association conference in Lexington. As Governor of Kentucky and chairman of the association, I was hosting the event.

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    The healing power of sports

    It was a dark day, maybe the darkest.
    Ten years have passed since Sept. 11, 2001. Ten years have come and gone since planes flew into three buildings and one crashed in an open field. People have lived now for a decade without a loved one who was either on a plane or in a building just minding their own business. They did not choose their fate and neither did the country. It happened anyway.   

  •
    Tough times for a tomato bum

    I have a confession to make.
    My name is John and I am a tomato bum.
    For most of my adult life, I have been able to slip through the summer rarely spending money on the most wonderful of summer fruit — the vine-ripened, but still carrying flecks of dirt, homegrown Kentucky tomato.
    For me, homegrown tomatoes are the crystal meth of agriculture. Usually, the first taste is free but after that, they start charging. And as soon as you’re are done with the first one, you crave more.

  • Pro-Israel voters support Johnson

    Secretary of State candidate Bill Johnson was in Owen County Thursday. After a hard day’s work from the time he unhooked his pickup from his travel trailer at Kentucky Horse Park, to loading up the yard signs, to asking for votes and endorsements from the home of Paul Smith in south Owen County to the enterprises along Owenton’s Seminary Street, Johnson spoke that evening at the very first event sponsored by Pro-Israel Voters for Bill Johnson.