Opinion

 ACT scores above the national level. The district and 11 of 17 schools above the state’s 2014 goal of 100 – certainly a clear signal that Oldham County students continue to demonstrate strong academic success as seen in recent national and state assessment results. 

A brief look at two sets of recent test reports absolutely give students, parents, teachers and administrators reasons to celebrate. 

In my 20 years as a chaplain and as vice president of development at Hosparus, there are two important lessons I’ve learned.

Back in the early 1990’s I was in a training session for hospice workers where I learned my first vital lesson. Each of us was given 16 index cards and asked to write on each the names of people, abilities, things and values we hold dear. In the course of our imagined life-limiting illness, we had to surrender cards or somewhat abruptly have them taken from us.

To the editor:

The 10th annual Westport River Daze festival was a huge success.  We couldn’t have asked for better weather and a prettier day.  

Friends of Westport would like to publicly thank this year’s sponsors for their support: Baptist Hospital Northeast, Farm Bureau Insurance and Tri-County Ford.  

Field hockey team deserves coverage 

To the editor:

I’d like to take this opportunity to let your readers know, South Oldham High School has a field hockey team. This program began six years ago at the high school. 

You may not know this because The Oldham Era, for reasons unknown, does not report any coverage in their paper for this team. 

Villains get punished and heroes triumph in well-made plays and books. In life it’s not easy to say who’s who. Most of us are heroic sometimes and villainous other times. Our lives are an uneven mixture of triumph, reward, and hanging-in. Unjust events happen: children die, airplanes crash, rivers flood. The world contains starvation and abundance, violence and gentleness in its pattern.

To the editor:

To maintain the city’s quiet zone, we must install median separators at the intersection of First and Main, and either close the south side of Second Street or install crossing gates by June. 

Mayor Carter blames the city council for its plans to close Second Street and maintain the quiet zone. The city council has only voted on a resolution regarding safety improvements at the Second Street crossing to meet CSX regulations. A decision to close Second Street can only be done by ordinance, and a second reading of that ordinance is Nov. 2. 

Nearly 10 years ago it was yearbook time. Faced with the prospect of probably never seeing most of these people again, I struggled to find something meaningful to say to my friends, thinking I was gone from Oldham County forever other than occasional visits to my parents.

But I was drawn back. Call it fate, choice, whatever. I was partly disappointed that, like George Bailey, I never made it out of my hometown; partly excited that I had the chance to be a positive force in the community I’m from.

Learning to ride a bike. Picking blackberries with my sister. My first “big catch” going fishing at grandpa’s. College days. Marrying my college sweetheart. The birth of my daughter. My son losing his first tooth. Assisting my husband as he coached youth soccer. Cookouts and camping with my parents. Church revivals. Family and friends. 

All of these memories are etched into the story of my old Kentucky home.

Have you ever watched a tight-rope walker? Maybe you noticed the performer carries a balance bar. Ever so carefully he moves the bar from side-to-side in order to keep his balance Now life is something like this for us. You and I are negotiating the difficult, if different, courses of our lives. 

Life means action and action means other people. Other people mean that there will be some friction, and friction often results in stress. Some of this stress is helpful and positive. Some of it is negative and harmful. We badly need our balance bars.