Opinion

 Our 24th District has an opportunity to elect Alex LaRue as state representative. Alex will bring a fresh point of view and needed business and financial experience to the Kentucky General Assembly.

 I would like to reach out to the voters in District 2 before the Nov. 4 election.  

Angela Carter is an intelligent, dedicated teacher and leader who cares deeply for the education of all children and would serve our district best as a member of the school board. 

With recent rain showers and storms rolling through Kentucky as cool and warm weather mix, along with getting into the heart of football season and leaves turning and beginning to fall, autumn is officially here. Along with that, we are very close to an important election day as we go to the polls to choose our next U.S. Senator as well as many local and state officials who will shape policy over the next two to four years. Again, I want to encourage you to exercise your right to vote on Nov. 4 or call your clerk about voting via absentee ballot in the case you will be out of town.

This month, I will begin visiting schools throughout the district as part of the America’s Legislators Back to School Program. My presentation includes teaching our form of government and explaining how our representative democracy works. The program is actually a nationwide event and is made available by the National Council of State Legislatures.

Born, raised in Kentucky
To the people of Kentucky, I am proud to be a fifth or sixth generation Kentuckian. I'm proud to be bred, born and raised a Kentuckian. My father's family, the Perrys, have been in Stamping Ground since the 1790s. My mother's family, the Abrams, has been in Frankfort since the 1800s. I am a Kentuckian from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. So this is how I feel about the politicians.

The wars military men and women fight on America’s behalf are not always on the battlefield, or at least not what most of us envision when we hear the word “battlefield.” I was vividly reminded of that when I heard the news last week that more than 60 airmen and women from Kentucky’s Air National Guard were preparing to depart to Senegal. Their mission is to help establish a cargo-processing hub for Operation United Assistance, the international effort to battle Ebola in West Africa.

Each fall, the National Census of Domestic Violence Services takes a real-time, 24-hour look at the true impact domestic violence has on our country.
Nearly 90 percent of the United States’ care and prevention programs participate, including Kentucky’s. According to the survey’s latest findings, they provided shelter to more than 36,000 victims on Sept. 13, 2013, the latest year in which information is available, and another 30,000 received non-residential help ranging from counseling to legal advocacy.

By Robert M. Williams, Jr.
National Newspaper Association President

What do you care most about in life?
Most of us would put family at, or near, the top of such a list. Friends would be there. So would our jobs or businesses, our livelihoods. Our homes. Maybe our pets. Our hobbies and pastimes. Add in those around us: Neighbors, the community, etc.
That’s our world, our “sphere of influence.” Whatever happens to those who inhabit that place in our hearts and lives means something to us.
We monitor.

 It’s a tradition for this newspaper to write an editorial the week after Marion County Country Ham Days to praise the Chamber of Commerce and the countless volunteers that make the annual fall festival such a huge success.

And, each year, it seems the festival continues to grow.