Recent editorials published in Indiana newspapers
The (Fort Wayne) Journal Gazette. June 15, 2019
A campaign for the ages (or is it the aged?)
Those of a certain age may remember when Ronald Reagan's opponents said he was too old to run for president. When he was inaugurated in 1981, he was 69, a record until 2016, when Donald Trump was sworn in at 70.
There were those who said John F. Kennedy was too young to run for president. He was the youngest elected president, taking the oath of office at 43 in 1961. Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest person to become president - at 42, after the assassination of William McKinley in 1901.
This election cycle, there are serious candidates who could shatter those records.
Joe Biden will be 78 on Inauguration Day 2021. Bernie Sanders will be 79. And at the other end of the Democratic field, Pete Buttigieg will be 39. Trump, who will be 74, would break Reagan's record as the oldest second-term president.
In a 1984 debate with former Vice President Walter Mondale, Reagan turned the age issue on its ear.
"I will not make age an issue of this campaign," Reagan said. "I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."
Some would argue age is not always just a number. Some say Kennedy might have avoided such early missteps as the Bay of Pigs fiasco and a disastrous summit meeting with Nikita Khrushchev if he had been more seasoned. Some say Reagan's lack of clarity about what was going on during the Iran-Contra scandal was intensified by his age, and note that he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease a few years after leaving office. Now presidential ageists could point to statistics showing Americans living shorter and shorter lives and ask why we are comfortable backing older and older candidates.
This coming election may provide a classic test of whether Americans consider age important in a president. Of course, everything we know about the nation's voting habits suggests at least four out of 10 eligible American voters won't select a candidate based on his or her age, or any other factor. That's the 40% of Americans who won't bother to vote at all.
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Terre Haute Tribune Star. June 16, 2019
Concerns shine light on area's homeless problem
County needs plan to address serious issue
A specific concern raised last week involving Vigo County's homeless people shines a light on a broader issue facing the community.
The county remains in need of a homeless shelter without restrictions to complement the existing network of private, nonprofit and faith-based facilities. Progress to address the problem appears possible, which is a good sign.
Homelessness tends to reach the public conscience in times of extreme weather conditions, such as bitter cold winter temperatures or sweltering summer heat. Each January, Indiana agencies conduct an annual Point In Time Count of the homeless, which makes the news. Also, community-wide efforts in Vigo County provided blankets, food and supplies to people without a home when wind chills plummeted to 30 degrees below zero last winter.
Yet, the word "homeless" made headlines during a cool late-spring stretch last week. A Terre Haute Fire Department official on Thursday called on the City Council to help find a short-term space for the homeless. Norm Loudermilk, the THFD's assistant chief, told the council that people living in "shanty towns" along the Wabash River, railroad tracks and the National Road Heritage Trail have lit illegal fires, leading to fire runs by the department.
The people residing in those wooded areas are also trespassing, Loudermilk told the council.
He suggested the council address the problem with urgency, and recommended using the county-owned former International Paper mill property as a public homeless shelter site. But that suggestion is fraught with complications, given that the site has long been intended for Riverscape development and became a point of contention when county commissioners tried unsuccessfully to put a jail there.
Members of the council, which formerly included Loudermilk, acknowledged his fire concern while aptly questioning his suggested remedy. They questioned whether Loudermilk consulted the local homeless coalition (he had not), and the liabilities the city and county government would absorb in operating such a shelter.
A long-term plan for coordinating the county's homeless relief efforts also came up during the exchange. Such a comprehensive strategy is the best-case response to the overall situation.
First-year county commissioner Brendan Kearns, also an avid outdoorsman, understands the homeless predicament and has been working on a long-term plan to involve other local officials. Kearns has encountered people living in the wilderness for years, and has delivered donated items to protect the homeless during adverse conditions.
In an interview Friday afternoon, Kearns said he appreciates Loudermilk raising an issue related to homelessness. Kearns also emphasized he does not support the idea of using the International Paper property. "That's definitely not the solution," he said.
Instead, the long-range plan could involve a publicly funded homeless shelter. A portion of tax revenue from a prospective Terre Haute casino, if that happens, could be one option, Kearns said. The completion of the comprehensive homeless plan would give the community a wiser answer to the complex problem.
The county needs "a shelter that will take anybody in their time of need," Kearns said, but not as a permanent place to live. Steady progress toward that humane, logical approach should help resolve any other problems
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The (Anderson )Herald Bulletin. June 16, 2019
Father's Day is really about the kids
The statistics are staggering.
More than one-quarter of children in the United States do not have a father in their home, according to U.S. Census findings in 2017. That's nearly 20 million without a dad around.
The impact is far-reaching.
Children without a father at home are at four times the risk of poverty, and twice as likely to suffer obesity and drop out of high school, according to the National Fatherhood Initiative. Daughters without dads are seven times more likely to become pregnant as a teen.
These facts are instructive for fathers and others who can play the role of dad in the life of a child.
Father's Day today isn't truly about the fathers. As any good dad knows, it's really all about the children.
The Herald Bulletin challenges fathers to turn this national holiday into a reaffirmation of their responsibilities.
Your kids not only need you in the home, they need you to be engaged in their lives.
Take an interest in their interests, show up at school events, get to know their friends. And open up to your children by sharing details of your day, and talking about your hopes, concerns and ambitions.
The prototypical American father is often portrayed as stoic and unemotional. But kids need to see the humanity in their fathers.
Children need fathers who meet their problems head on, not ones who pretend problems don't exist. Yes, be solid. Yes, be consistent. But don't forget to be honest and personable.
And you don't have to be a child's biological father to play that role. Stepfathers, grandfathers, uncles and family friends can help provide the fatherly guidance and love that kids need and deserve.
Be a father to a child, and help assure that he or she doesn't end up on the wrong side of the statistics.
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