Opinion

Jesus’ preaching ministry is winding down. He has healed the sick, the lame and the blind, has raised people from the dead, walked on water, calmed the storm, fed thousands with a few loaves and fish and taught them about God’s never ending love. He also embarrassed the religious elite repeatedly, while threatening their system of power with all their laws and sacrifices. They want him dead. He told his disciples they would get their wish over and over again before they got there.

Derby Day is approaching and you are going to have some friends over for a party; what to serve? Maybe you don’t want to grill because it is still snowing outside. So, how about a real Kentucky tradition: Burgoo. It probably started as a hunters stew originally containing squirrel, rabbit, venison, turkey or any wild game with a combination of vegetables.

FOP Forum

I saw an ad in the Oldham Era recently about an open meeting and attended the Fraternal Order of Police question and answer forum at the community center on the evening of Feb. 10.

The meeting I attended must have been different for the one described in a letter to the paper by Bobbie Nelson. She said Judge Voegele acted like a bully. I didn’t see anything of the kind. He acted fine, but did object when the FOP leader said there would be no television cameras allowed, which I thought was the right thing to do.

Several years ago I vacationed in southern Florida. Thousands of people were there relaxing and seeking a good time. One night, while walking down one of the brightly lit streets in Naples, I passed a Western Union office. It was deserted except for the clerk and a woman. She had a telegram in her hand and was crying her heart out. It reminded me that even in the land of good times and seas breezes, hearts can still be broken.

Since long before I was elected Mayor, the City of LaGrange has required that every business purchase a business license if they transact business in the city limits. The revenue generated from this fee helps pay for the services that residents and businesses rely upon. It isn’t contingent upon whether a business maintains an office here or whether the business was conducted in the city on a single day or every single day of the year. No one is singled out, no one pays a higher or lower rate because of the particular business they are in.

A friend of mine used to constantly mumble to herself, “Fret not”. We tend to blame our troubles and our worries on the circumstances of life,on what someone else has done to us. The truth of the matter is that most of our inner unhappiness results from our fretting ourselves.

On the 45th day of the legislative session, the House finally passed its budget bill. This leaves us in the Senate only 13 days to work on the budget, present it in a committee, and vote on a Senate version. Thirteen days, less than two weeks, and if we take 13, our power to veto is lost.

At the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meeting, virtually every Republican of any stature stepped to the microphone to regurgitate their conservative credentials.

One cannot be too conservative for the CPAC. Try as they might, I doubt that any candidate is actually conservative enough for this group. In spite of every speaker banging the drum of conservative rhetoric, none are truly worthy.

No one likes to be controlled. Do you know anyone who likes it? Do your children, employees, spouse or friends thank you for trying to be totally in charge of their lives? Striving for control does not endear you to anyone. In fact, it usually gets the opposite reaction. The harder you push, the more they rebel. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In your face or behind your back, you receive a big dose of “you can’t make me.”