PAGE A2 • JULY 12, 2011
THE POSEY COUNTY NEWS • SERVING THE COUNTY SINCE 1882 • WWW.POSEYCOUNTYNEWS.COM
OPINION
Healthcare in America is wonderful, until you need it The insurance companies have gone too far. I can remember a time not so long ago when surgeries were considered serious and you went to TRUTH... the hospital and usually spent STRANGER some time there. You could THAN be watched to make sure ev- FICTION erything was OK before you BY DAVE PEARCE were allowed to go home. But over recent years, time has changed things…and not for the better in many instances. There’s a certain amount of healing involved with major surgery that has nothing to do with the wound or the scar or the procedure. Usually a person needs to heal psychologically. It used to be nice to be able to at least stay overnight at the hospital and at least feel like someone cared what happened to you instead of trying to boot you off the gurney and hearing “next” ringing in your ear before you can get your britches back on. I haven’t had that many surgeries in my life. I had pneumonia when I was in high school and spent a few days in the hospital. Now, you are lucky if you can get an antibiotic for pneumonia. What’s up with that anyhow? So when did someone decide that taking an antibiotic was harmful and destructive to the body? Unless history has changed, I can remember how many lives antibiotics have saved down through the years. I’m grateful for the discoveries made and the lives that
have been saved. Who is it to say that I cannot have a round of antibiotics if I have an infection of some kind, particularly the ones caused by allergies almost annually? The excuse I often hear is that “we are getting to a point to where we have used antibiotics so long they are becoming ineffective in treating infections.” Excuse me, I am 54 years old and not likely to reproduce so if I need a round of antibiotics, please give it to me. I promise not to pass any of the immunity on to anyone else. On Saturday night, I was talking to my niece online. She is going in for a complete hysterectomy on July 19. So I am thinking she will be hospitalized for a few days and can come around slowly and regroup both mentally and physically. But, to my surprise, she gets a whole seven to 24 hours in the hospital. Wow, are the insurance companies sure they can spare the money for her to be there all that time? As I hop on my soapbox, I find it disgusting that healthcare has joined the drivethrough era. I commented ever so sarcastically to her that perhaps someone could just come to the house and cut her insides out and save a whole lot of money. She feared there would be a sterility problem. I told her there would be a sterility problem anyhow, after a hysterectomy! As anger overtook me, I thought sarcasti-
THE POSEY COUNTY NEWS (USPS 439500) is published weekly for $30 per year ($34 for all non-Posey County zip codes) by Pearmor Publishing LLC, P.O. Box 397, New Harmony, IN 47631. Periodicals postage paid at Mount Vernon, Indiana. Editor: David Pearce Postmaster: Donna Hoheimer (Interim) Send address changes to: The Posey County News P.O. Box 397 New Harmony, IN 47631
As the hummingbirds attack the feeder outside
GAVEL GAMUT BY JUDGE JIM REDWINE our window I note certain interesting patterns of avian behavior that somehow remind me of other organisms. We have an eight hole feeder and each hole provides direct access to the same pool of nectar. However, as soon as one bird alights on a particular hole, even with seven others available, one or more other birds will descend on the first bird with beaks and wings and drive it away. Now, I get it. If we have, as we sometimes do, more than eight birds at a time come to the feeder, survival of the fittest is the law. But why do these avaricious little terrorists spend more energy trying to prevent others from eating than eating themselves? Whatever happened to
My husband Jim and I celebrate our 22nd wedding FOR THE anniversary this Thursday. RECORD Seven years ago, we renewed our vows—something Jim BY PAM had said he would never do. ROBINSON He reasoned he married me once and for always, and he said he saw no need to repeat the ceremony. When he realized how much the event meant to me, however, he relented and even wore a suit for the occasion.
Around that time, for some totally unwarranted (and unwise) reason, I decided to pen a few poems. Fortunately, USI English Professor Betty Hart saved me from public embarrassment with her characteristic blunt honesty, a quality I’ve come to appreciate about her during our long friendship. After all, real friends don’t tell lies. She utterly destroyed any of my delusions about calling myself a poet. She told me in no uncertain terms to stick to prose. Only one poem ever made her take (respectful) notice. I titled it simply “For Jim.” I meant to read it during our renewal of vows, but developed a case of stage fright and dismissed the idea. Afterwards, I even deleted the poem from my computer files and kept no hard copy. I figured its shelf life had expired. Once again, Betty proved a friend indeed. Just last week, she emailed me a copy of the forgotten poem, in time for my anniversary celebration with Jim, and underscored it as my only decent verses worth sharing. So today, in honor of my husband, my most loyal and devoted friend ever, I share the poem publicly—for Jim—and release the public from any resulting negative judgments at my expense. For years now, a safe harbor I’ve found in your strong arms, In all weather welcome, but most Sheltered during raging storm. Life’s seas often pulled me under, But over and over your sure hand Lifted me to firm ground until the Dark waves subsided, tossed no more. Solid, your love was never spent Though bitter was the pain of Too much remembering of sea surge And salt tears, burden of the journey. But now I see bright Sun on the horizon, The promise of golden memories for gentle Drifting into golden years, calm waters, For My Only Love, My Heart of Gold. Jim, this renewal of vows is for you, and you don’t even need to dress up for it. We may prefer sipping morning coffee on our front porch now to spooning at the Old Dam, but we never face a dull moment. Happy Anniversary, Honey! Here’s to 22 more.
Letter to the Editor “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs”? At JPeg Ranch we have other more natural hummingbird feeders. We have Rose of Sharon bushes and Bachelor Buttons and Indian Paint Brush flowers filled with wholesome fare. I note that the birds are much less likely to resent sharing nature’s bounty. Also, they do not appear to be nearly as aggressive and selfish when flitting from bush to flower to Trumpeter Vine. Another curiosity I have observed is the manner in which the society of ravenous hummingbirds treat certain individual members. Much as some groups of teenagers, certain birds are always on the outside looking in, some combine against birds of a different feather, the lone green hued one for example, and some demand homage to allow others to join. We sometimes think of nature as a perfect society. It appears that hummingbirds high on sugar water may be more of a perfect mirror.
PUBLISHER/EDITOR/GMGR. DAVID PEARCE dpearce263@aol.com
812-682-3950 • 641 3rd St. • New Harmony, IN 47631 812-838-9920 • 607 E 4th St. • Mount Vernon, IN 47620 FAX 812-682-3944 • www.PoseyCountyNews.com
ger than I absolutely have to. I can remember having my gall bladder removed on a Monday morning a few years ago and going back to the newspaper office to finish that week’s edition before the pain medication wore off. I might have missed one full day of work but I probably worked from home. Then on Sept. 8, 2004, when my heart decided to “short out” and stop beating, I was at Deaconess Hospital for another procedure when it happened. Fortunately for me, they were able to shock me back to life with four shocks. I was in a coma for some days but I remember coming out of the coma and wanting to go home. I realized I wasn’t able because I was attached to a ventilator. But when all was said and done, I had had no heartbeat and no blood pressure on Sept. 8 and returned to work on Sept. 21 with a defibrillator/pacemaker firmly implanted in my chest. And, yes, I still play tennis tournaments. I am able to do just about everything I did before I “died.” I’m certainly not one to take advantage of the insurance companies. But for crying out loud, I asked last week if common sense had taken a long-term hiatus. I am convinced now more than ever that it has. If people need an antibiotic, please see that they get it. They have and will continue to pay for it. And if people need hospital care, let’s find a way to make sure they get it. Having something as traumatic as a complete hysterectomy and trying to make it home in time to see the nightly news simply doesn’t make any sense.
Anniversary reminder of spouse’s role, place in life
Gavel Gamut’s “An Allergory” Peg has discovered a fail-safe method of attracting hummingbirds. She fills their feeder with highly concentrated sugar water. Very quickly the small frenetic birds overdose on the high energy nectar. Occasionally Peg does not refill the feeder as rapidly as the feathered society deems appropriate and one or more of them will face the back porch window and stare until the drug is resupplied. These rare periods of drought are my favorite as the hummingbirds turn their attention to Buffalo Gnats and other insects when their drug of choice is unavailable. In other words, they become useful and productive while making themselves and their offspring healthier. Of course, when I gently approach this issue with Peg she explains that without the sugar water “our” hummingbirds will find other suppliers and their insect population will be the ones decimated. I do not know if she is correct, but I do know it is wiser to assume so.
cally that perhaps she could just go through the drive-through medical window and order a hamburger, large drink, and a complete hysterectomy. “Would you like fries with that?” would probably be the answer. I know that medicine has come a long way down through the years but I am afraid that healthcare in America is headed in the wrong direction. I can remember two or three surgeries in my life and I am probably a doctor’s worst nightmare. I am hard to put under anesthesia. I remember my first surgery, a tonsillectomy, and the anesthesiologist sitting at my head. After starting at 100 and counting backwards, apparently I counted too far. Everything stopped and the man in the blue mask at my head began frantically turning pages in a book that was on his lap. I commented to him that I hoped he hadn’t waited until now to read up on how to do this. He didn’t see the humor and it wasn’t long until I was out. I had my tonsils removed at the ripe old age of 26. Guess I really wasn’t too smart because I had them taken out on Monday and played doubles in a tennis tournament on Thursday. I didn’t realize until later the high risk of bleeding associated with a tonsillectomy. Thanks to Tony Aylsworth, my doubles partner at the time, I didn’t have to run down a lot of balls during the first couple of rounds. We ended up winning the tournament on Saturday. I don’t want to be down and out any lon-
SPORTS EDITOR STEVE JOOS sports801@sbcglobal.net
To the Editor: Several recent events have converged into a singular idea which I believe could benefit the City of Mt Vernon and its citizens. First, I noticed that the barn swallows which have graced and adorned my Posey County porch for several years did not arrive this year. I have no idea why. Were they blown off course by the awful spring storms across the South? Did they decide to stay in Capistrano this year? Secondly, my neighborhood was beset by a plague of voracious black flies that aimed for the ears and neck and left flaming welts. Did the swallows usually control them? Do swallows eat them? Have people sprayed the bugs and poisoned my swallows? Do the loathsome gnats even have any natural enemies? Then, one evening about the 25th of June, I took my dog to the park on the riverfront in Mt Vernon, to watch the river and enjoy the breeze and the flowers. As I sat on a bench, I noticed a familiar motion: graceful birds swooping over the ASSISTANT EDITOR, MV OFFICE PAM ROBINSON PamelaWrite@sbcglobal.net
water, gliding and darting to catch the insects that hover in the air. Swallows, martins, swifts, I'm not sure of the species or if they were all the same. Later, on my way home, I wondered if they lived in the silo. The fourth event came a few days later: I saw an article in a newspaper about Eagle Scouts and the projects they develop in order to earn the highest honor in Scouting. One young man had rebuilt a floating dock at Wesselman Woods, to the delight of everyone who visits there. They raise the funds and design and execute the whole thing, after obtaining the necessary permits and approvals. The fifth happening, which brought all these unrelated things together in my mind, was the arrival of the July - August 2011 edition of Audubon Magazine. There, on pages 44 to 49, is an article about swift towers. There is a couple in Pennsylvania who have written a book about these freestanding chimneys which attract chimney swifts, the remarkable birds that like to nest inside vertical hollow WRITER / REPORTER VALERIE WERKMEISTER
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STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS THE DAVE & TERRI KOCH FAMILY
INTERN / WRITER/PHOTOGRAPHER HOLLY HEERDINK
M.V. OFFICE MANAGER TAMARA BERGSTROM
heerdink@poseycountynews.com.
news2@poseycountynews.com
GRAPHIC DESIGN / WEBMASTER ZACH STRAW
spaces – like chimneys and silos. The swifts fly about during the day, catching flying insects. In the old days, when people had chimneys and heated their homes with stoves and fireplaces, the swifts nested in their chimneys in the summer. Now, however, most people have covered or removed the chimneys and blocked the birds' access. Swift populations have dwindled and a wonderful natural pest control is being lost. Well, there you have it. The towers are tiny, compared to the silo. They are the size of a chimney, but they stand on the ground, on four legs, and they needn't block anyone's view of the river. They can be wood or brick or just about any building material. They could be removed in the fall, after migration. The birds they attract and shelter would pay for their accomodations by keeping the downtown bugfree, and they wouldn't bother people the way pigeons and spatsies can. In fact, they might even become an attraction themselves! Think about it, Alice Hertli N.H. OFFICE MANAGER MICHELLE GIBSON news1@poseycountynews.com
BOOKKEEPING CONNIE PEARCE Pocobooks@aol.com
VAN DRIVER MARTIN RAY REDMAN