SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2013
Looking Back • Since
Over 100 Years
1911
ing history one day at a time. Writ
100 years ago • Elliot Matthews,
the well known Kendallville horseman, sold five elegant draft horses to Charles Shobe and George Mignery last week. They were shipped to the eastern markets. THE NEWS SUN
25 years ago • Kendallville’s
amateur theater group Gaslight Playhouse will perform six comical skits called “The History of Kendallville” on the Sunday of Apple Festival in Floral Hall at the Noble County Fairgrounds to conclude the festival entertainment. Cast members are Elaine West, Marina Goss, Lana Pulver, Kaye Lampe, Michele Barranda, Rita Calkwell, Hank Seibel, Dave Miller, Ed Davis, Harold Sollenberger, Jack Goss, Jo Drudge and John Riemke. Marianna Reick is the director. THE EVENING STAR
25 years ago • Heidi Knott of
rural LaOtto sold her grand champion 4-H steer for a record $5,000 at the DeKalb County Free Fall Fair livestock auction. Auto dealer Tom Kelley bought the steer as auctioneer Dean Kruse called the bids. HERALD REPUBLICAN
25 years ago • Fremont has
narrowed its candidate list to three for the position of town marshal. On Monday, Fremont staff and town board personnel interviewed nine candidates for the position left vacant by the murder of Marshal Bobby Moore. Larry Gibson, town superintendent, said the process is something the town is not taking lightly.
Letters • Mail letters to: The News Sun 102 N. Main St. P.O. Box 39 Kendallville, IN 46755 Email: dkurtz@kpcmedia.com The Star 118 W. Ninth St. Auburn, IN 46706 Email: dkurtz@kpcmedia.com The Herald Republican 45 S. Public Square Angola, IN 46703 Email: mmarturello@ kpcmedia.com
THE NEWS SUN Established 1859, daily since 1911 The
Star
Established 1871, daily since 1913
HERALD REPUBLICAN THE
Established 1857, daily since 2001 President/Publisher TERRY HOUSHOLDER thousholder@kpcmedia.com
Executive editor DAVE KURTZ dkurtz@kpcmedia.com
THE NEWS SUN
The
Star
THE HERALD REPUBLICAN
kpcnews.com
B5
Our View •
‘Fog’ delay harms nation as a whole This past week fog delays on Monday and Tuesday shortened and sped up the school day for thousands of area students. We have a fog delay of a different sort on the national level. Because of Republicans’ strong opposition to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and the refusal of Democrats to discuss a compromise we have a partial government shutdown. We don’t know how/when it will end but we do know that no matter what the outcome, thousands of people’s lives are being disrupted, there is needless suffering and millions of dollars are being wasted. The partial government shutdown represents foggy thinking by leaders of both parties. Clearly, Obamacare should have been a less complicated, less intrusive bill. But parts of the bill are very popular with the public and good for the nation as a whole. Obamacare needs tweaking and reductions in scope. But a partial government shutdown is not the way to achieve that goal. Our leaders are in a mental fog. As the focus shifts to the need to raise the debt limit by Oct. 17 to avoid a default, we don’t see any break in the clouds. We hope eyes open, the fog lifts, and the average American can have brighter skies ahead.
Fog delays and rose-colored glasses On the local level, weather-related delays are often welcomed by students. Could some good come out of starting school later every day? If all schools started one hour later than they do now, weather-related delays might be significantly reduced, perhaps almost eliminated. In addition, students might begin their school day more awake and focused. Speaking of focused, studies indicate that walking to school can help students function better mentally. For example, a recent survey of more than 2,500 pupils showed that 80 percent of those who walked to school reported feeling calmer and more able to concentrate when they got there. The students also said they felt healthier and looked better. The survey, carried out by Intelligent Health, said that the link between exercise and school performance would also benefit children suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The firm’s founder William Bird said, “Physical activity improves brain elasticity, which allows children to learn. Exercise also releases endorphins, which make you more relaxed.” ADHD, one of the most common childhood disorders, is marked by short attention span, restlessness and difficulty controlling behavior. The New York Times reports that 11 percent of American school children (ages 4-17) are diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. That’s a 41 percent increase over the last decade. The increase in ADHD has occurred at the same time walking to school has decreased. Former Kendallville resident Kim Irwin, the Indiana Safe Routes to School Partnership and Health by Design coordinator, said the percentage of children walking or biking to school has dropped from approximately 50 percent in 1969 to 13 percent in 2009. Perhaps we are wearing rose-colored glasses, but if school started later and more students walked to school maybe overall classroom behavior and academic achievement would rise. OUR VIEW is written on a rotating basis by Grace Housholder, Dave Kurtz, Matt Getts and Michael Marturello. Publisher Terry Housholder is also a member of the editorial board. We welcome readers’ comments.
Letters •
Jesus lived as working teacher, embracing a loving Father To the editor: Eons ago inspired thinkers began building images of who and what the Creator of the Universe might be like. In looking at the complexities of nature, the lands, the seas and the star-dotted heavens, even though they knew nothing of science and believed in magic, they knew that God had to be a vastly superior being to create such wondrous natural complexities. But being accustomed to the dictatorial quirks of THEIR leaders, they assumed God shared many of those same human qualities. As a result they envisioned a God similar to but stretching far beyond the powers of their past rulers. But they still created a God in man’s image. Early people saw God as a Super Human Spiritual Monarch in control of all nature, of all life and death. This Supreme Monarch endowed governing leaders with the right to punish those who disobeyed the laws by subjecting them to various forms of torture: cutting out tongues for lying, cutting off hands for stealing, burning or gouging out eyes for looking lasciviously at others, stoning to death women accused of sexual misconduct, and throwing other serious offenders — such as blasphemers — into nearby lava pits. One of the most important rules they all had to follow was bowing down and praising their Supreme Monarch — thinking God demanded the same worshipful attention demanded by their own egotistical kings and tribal leaders. Early Hebrew tribes lived at one time in what is now the Sinai Dessert. Early on it was a fertile agricultural area. But over several thousand years it gradually lost its fertility, undergoing
lengthy droughts — eventually becoming the sandy desert of today. As life became more difficult, the tribes became more restless, wondering why God was not providing for His Chosen People.’Leaders began sending scouts into surrounding areas. Some returned with reports they had found much more fertile lands, but they were occupied by other tribes. Leaders then taught that if they all obeyed the laws, God would lead them to a Promised Land. But to move thousands of people to an occupied area, a large army had to be trained to slay and/or drive out the “infidel” residents. Many centuries later a young man born in that Promised Land displayed a much different view of God. He didn’t see God as a “Supreme Selfish Being” demanding worship. He saw a kind and loving Father wanting ALL of His children to be kind and get along one another. Jesus realized that learning about our great creation and about one another was crucial to living a good life. The Bible reports even highly-educated leaders were awed by his conceptual understanding and wisdom when he was only 12 years old. Jesus was already more educated and had better understanding of moral principles than most leaders of his day. While Jesus continued to grow in wisdom and stature, he chose to live as a working teacher, remaining in a non-ruling status. How we picture the Supreme Being motivates much of our daily behavior. I have talked to many people about their mental picture of a Supreme Being, but only a few embrace the vision of God that Jesus taught: a kind, forgiving and loving Father of ALL humanity. E. Gene Gorrell Jimmerson Lake Fremont
Hoosiers receive a new level of public service INDIANAPOLIS — You know, I really hate the speed limit on Interstate 65, so instead of going 70 mph, I plan to go 95 mph. And if Mr. Trooper, Sir, stops me, I think I’ll get some of my friends and we’ll block the all the lanes and shoulders until they raise the speed limit. There were two profoundly intertwined stories last week — the shutdown of the federal government and the launching of Obamacare. In Washington, the Republican hatred of the Affordable Care Act has become so intense that lawmakers like Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Indiana U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman were willing to put this nation on the path of a shutdown and default. The reason can be summed up on the Real Clear Politics website which lists 243 polls taken on Obamacare since its passage and 95 percent of those polls (231 of 243) have shown that the American people oppose the ACA. But it’s more nuanced than that. Ball State’s Bowen Center and other polls have broken out components of the ACA — such as whether people with pre-existing conditions should be able to get health insurance — and the support rises, often into the 60th percentile and beyond. The two polls that really mattered occurred in November 2010 and November 2012 when citizens went to the ballot box. In 2010, Republicans retook the House, picking up 66 seats. Two years later, President Obama was reelected and with that, Obamacare was pretty much a reality until Jan. 21, 2017. Reinforcing this was what happened in the U.S. Senate. Populist tea party
candidates who won U.S. Senate nominations in low-turnout primaries essentially propelled safe or heavily leaning Republican seats in Indiana, Delaware, Colorado, Missouri, Nevada and Maine into the Democratic column. What could have easily been a 51-49 Republican Senate majority last November became a 55-45 Democratic one. Joe Donnelly, who voted for the ACA, is now Indiana’s Democratic HOWEY senator. POLITICAL As I sat down to REPORT write this column, Stutzman uttered one of the most quotes: Brian Howey incredible “We’re not going to be disrespected,” he told the Washington Examiner. “We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.” OMG. Indiana’s Congressional Republicans were still drawing their paychecks at this writing while hundreds of thousands of federal workers are furloughed. There were never enough votes to sustain this insurrection. In two weeks, the real danger arises over whether the U.S. debt ceiling is raised. This is a quantum elevation of the stakes because the planet’s financial system foundation rests with U.S. Treasury bonds, where investment finds security. In a default, the safety of these bonds will be eroded. It would dwarf the Lehman Brothers collapse of 2008, with many of us still feeling
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that impact. A default could find the financial foundation relocated to Shanghai. So Stutzman’s notion of “we have to get something out of this” and he doesn’t know what that is should get your alarm bells clanging. The other story is Obamacare launch. What we witnessed last week are federal health exchanges getting such heavy volume that the web servers are overwhelmed. Most Americans don’t know how to navigate this system and the computer glitches only exacerbate this. Normally in this type of situation, our Public Servants are there to help. But this is Indiana. While states like Maryland, according to Gannett News Service, are spending $24 million to help citizens navigate this process, Indiana allocated $2 million. Republicans from Gov. Pence, through the General Assembly and the Congressional delegation appear content to sit on their hands and let folks struggle. Why? Because if the system fails, they hope the ACA collapses. The more folks getting on the exchanges means that success is more likely. On the IN.gov website and its health reform portal, Hoosiers going through the Frequently Asked Questions found propaganda — the controversial Indiana Department of Insurance analysis that insurance rates are going to go up 72 percent with the average Hoosier paying $570 a month. This was a gross simplification of all the data, rounded off into one very troubling number. State Rep. Ed Clere, the New Albany Republican who chairs the House Public Health Committee, told
“People want solutions, not pointless partisanship … Whether we like it or not, it’s the law, and … we should focus on getting the best possible deal for Indiana.”
• my colleague Maureen Hayden of CNHI, “It’s a high visibility issue with mass confusion. Everybody’s heard of Obamacare. Everybody knows something big is going on. What they don’t know are the details.” Clere was at a town hall in Indianapolis last Monday as the fight in Congress over the ACA was shutting down the federal government. He found people seeking help. “It shows the divide between the political elite and the people who most need access to insurance,” he said. “People want solutions, not pointless partisanship. There are plenty of reasons to question the design and sustainability of the ACA, but those are debates for another day. Whether we like it or not, it’s the law, and as state policymakers, we should focus on getting the best possible deal for Indiana.” Folks, we are in a new era of public service and, quite frankly, it has stooped to a new, low, disgusting level. BRIAN HOWEY is publisher of the Howey Political Report, a weekly briefing on Indiana politics. Contact him at 317506-0883 or at: howeypolitics.com.