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Opinion

  • A call to action for all Kentuckians

    More than 8,600 children in our commonwealth currently reside in foster care. That is more than the population of 16 of our Kentucky counties.

    Think about that.

    Many of these children are awaiting adoption; others remain in foster care, since parental rights have not been terminated. They need our help – the children, and the families who foster them.

  • Plastic strategies

    Martha Young

    New Pioneers Voices

    In all the seasons of the year, our cattle and sheep rotate over the farm, grazing new growth grass for a few days, then moving to the next pasture. They have become so familiar with this routine that they anticipate the next move and gather at the gap, waiting; when the tractor motor sounds down the valley, they begin to talk to the farmer. “It’s time.” they say. When the gates are open, the exodus begins. After a few hours, the move is complete, stragglers gathered in, and the fences are back in place.

  • God's hope for our churches

    “For where two or three meet in my name, I am there among them.”

    Jesus Christ

    The bible verse from Matthew 18:20 is a pretty powerful statement.

    It is God’s promise that if two or more persons gather in good faith in his name and search for God’s will, then he will be there to guide them.

    St. Dominic Church is trying to renew our ministry to our own congregation and to the lives of those about us by falling back on this Bible verse.

  • AR-15s must be bannned

    Dear Editor,

  • Gun ad was unfortuante timing

    You probably noticed the advertisement wrapped around the front page of the Feb. 21 issue of The Springfield Sun.

    If you didn’t, it’s what we in the newspaper business call a spadea, and it wrapped around the front portion of the newspaper’s front page, and completely enclosed the back page of the paper.

  • Beware of paper mache answers

     

    President Trump’s solution of arming teachers in schools to take on crazed killers is a paper mache answer to a very serious problem.

    Let me explain what I mean.

    I was serving on active duty with an army reserve engineer company about 33 years ago. We built panel bridges. Our unit was having a very extensive annual inspection from higher command, which also included security of unit assets from theft.

    My new commander pulled out our prior inspection report results to see what areas had been listed as discrepancies.

  •
    The clumsy fox jumped over the...

    The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

    Anyone who’s learned to type should know that sentence well.

    For some of you who may not know it, that sentence is taught because it contains every letter in the alphabet.

    I’m a terrible typist. I flunked it in school, and I have learned to type with mainly my index fingers.

    Thankfully, we had computers to learn to type on in school, but I tried something a little more old school over the weekend.

  • The American warzone

    Class is in session.

    Today we have a pop quiz.

    Ready? Here it goes.

    Question 1: How many American military personnel were killed in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan for the whole year of 2017?

    Question 2: How many school children were shot to death in the past month in the United States of America.

    Question 3: How many people were killed and wounded in the Las Vegas mass shooting on Oct. 1, 2017.

    OK. Put your pens down.

    Here are the answers.

  • Guns aren't the problem

    Guns aren’t the problem, no matter how hard you cherry pick the numbers.

    As a gun owner, it pains me to hear folks blame the lack of gun control as the problem for mass shootings in the United States.

    No matter what you believe, the gun didn’t sprout legs, a consciousness, and decide to kill everyone in sight.

    It was a person behind the trigger that did that.

    “But if guns were banned, then we wouldn’t have this problem…”

  • It's time for commonsense laws

    Sr. Claire McGowan

    Guest Editorial

     

    Done!

    I. am. done.

    Done with cheesy slogans. Done with stupid memes: “Guns don’t kill; people do”; “Nobody’s going to take away my freedom to bear arms, any kind of arms I want”; “The left won’t be happy until they take away all our guns and only the criminals have them.”

  • A trip worth taking

    As we observe Black History Month, I find myself reflecting on a recent trip that taught me more about the history of our nation, including some of the cruelest times imaginable. It was a visit to Memphis, Tennessee, to the National Civil Rights Museum, and it was a trip well worth taking.

    The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spent his life fighting for equality. He did so until his death on April 4, 1968, in Memphis.

  •
    Journalism at its finest

    Journalism is a tough profession.

    You hear a lot about what you did wrong – even if you did nothing wrong at all – and rarely hear about what you got right.

    But I got an email Monday morning telling me that one of my articles had an impact on Washington County.

    Which one, you ask? It was the article about the road signs being stolen around the county.

  •
    I'm a careful man

    I’m a careful man.

    I always take my time when I’m making a big decision. I weigh the pros and cons. Do some research and background checking. Make sure that I’m right, then I move ahead.

    The kids asked me the other day when did I know their mother was “The One” that would bear my children and share my life.

    I told them: “30 days after I met her.”

    Renee said “You mean that after only knowing momma for 30 days you were sure she was “The One”.

  •
    Misconduct can go both ways

    Sexual misconduct.

    It’s a phrase we hear in the news almost daily, and it’s getting to the point that there’s a new, high-profile name attached to the words each time we hear them.

    Personally, I have no toleration for people who abuse others in any way, and sexual abuse is a particularly disturbing accusation. If a person is found guilty of such a crime, I feel the full extent of the law should be applied when it comes to doling out punishment.

  •
    The Lord is with you

    “The Lord is with you.”

    Angel Gabriel to Mary

    The quote you see above was spoken by the angel, Gabriel, to Mary announcing the coming of Jesus Christ. Mary was about to conceive a child without ever knowing a man. God knew, as good a woman as Mary was, she would still need his help, his divine protection, for the road that was ahead of her.

    Divine protection.

  •
    Good guy finishes first

    It’s one that makes you proud to stand up and say, “Yes, I come from Washington County, where we have good people that make a difference.”

    Today I want to talk about one such young man that is making a difference. His name is Michael Hilton Mann.

  •
    Smokers are going to smoke

    I’m a former smoker. I smoked a pack-and-a-half a day for 11 years before finally kicking the habit in January 2013.

    That makes this January my fifth year as being smoke free.

    Despite this, I still get cravings; especially when I smell someone else’s cigarettes. When I’m stressed, it sends my “I need a cigarette” craving to DEFCON 1. I literally hear missile alarms and see quick flashes of red sirens pulsating in my brain as my fingers twitter around, longing for that familiar feeling of a cigarette in my hands.

  •
    It's done

    By the time you read this I will have officially retired from the Army Reserve after a total of 42 years, 7 months and 29 days. I had nine years of active service and the rest as a weekend drilling Army reservist. I never, ever planned on staying this long.

    I believe that I set a record as the longest-serving enlisted man that Washington County has ever had. But I’m sure that local citizen Roger Milburn is the longest serving person overall as a warrant officer with more than 43 years of service.

    Dang that Roger!

  •
    'In God we trust'

    Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, 

    And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.” 

    And The Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave 

    O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave! 

    From The National Anthem of the United States of America.  “In God is our trust.”

     

    Powerful words. 

    Words that shouldn’t be said lightly. 

  •
    They're older, wiser

    We look at our parents and grandparents, and often, we see them as people who have somehow been eternally old. It’s not a matter of disrespect, it’s just hard to see them as someone who was once our age, and even younger, with a life of their own, filled with activities similar to those we enjoy.

    As an adult, I know my grandparents weren’t always old, but in my memories, that’s pretty much been the case. Until you start to do the math.