Kentucky needs to priortize 2008 resolutions

Kentucky is facing a budgetary shortfall of $289 million, according to newly elected Gov. Steve Beshear.

Words like “dire” and “extreme” are being used to describe the financial situation and cuts at the state level will work their way all the way down to local institutions, like schools and colleges.

All of which will be used by Beshear and his supporters to make his pitch for legalized casino gambling all the more appealing.

Beshear pushed for this pot-o-gold solution to Kentucky’s problems throughout his successful campaign to unseat Republican Ernie Fletcher in November. He claims casinos would generate $500 million a year in additional tax revenue. A claim that deserves some close scrutiny.

The General Assembly is due to reconvene Jan. 8, so you would expect “close scrutiny” would be high up on the agenda.

Well, maybe they will get to it after they finish with some of the more than 200 bills on other subjects that have been pre-filed for the legislative session. Such as:

*Criminalizing consensual sex between teachers and older teens, offered by Rep. Kathy Stein, D-Lexington. A teachers having consensual sex with high school kids already is a firing offense in pretty much any school district.

*Jack Westwood, R-Erlanger, has a bill to require physicians do ultrasounds on pregnant women and then require the women to look at the pictures before they could have an abortion.

*A proposal to allow active-duty soldiers who are at least 18 to be able to legally buy and drink alcohol, being offered by David Floyd, R-Bardstown.

What we need here are a few priorities. How about requiring legislators to figure out ways to adequately fund the state’s schools and colleges, to pay for needed health care and public improvements, and otherwise balance the state’s budget before they do anything else. Only after these basic chores are accomplished should they be allowed to introduce pet bills sex, alcohol and other issues.

Davis not frank on franking

Proving once again that politics and hypocrisy often are partners in the same dance, U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Hebron, turned up on a list as one of the biggest users of mass mailings to constituents. The Associated Press reports that Davis sent out 716,803 pieces of mail in 2006 at a cost of $165,316 to taxpayers.

Only four other House members out of 435 outspent Davis, who just happened to have a tough re-election campaign against Democrat Ken Lucas, who formerly held the seat.

While there may be some modest value in these mailings to inform people -- after all, not every constituent is flying down the information superhighway -- it was particularly glaring for Davis to be flooding district mailboxes. Consider this excerpt from a story The Enquirer's Pat Crowley reported in 2005:

During the 2002 campaign, Davis said Lucas abused the so-called "franking" privilege by sending a glossy piece of campaign material under the guise that he was communicating with constituents.

"Ken Lucas has abused the trust of Kentucky's hardworking families by using taxpayer dollars to fund his congressional campaign," Davis, who lost the 2002 race to Lucas, said at the time.

I also refer you to a longer Associated Press story related to the Davis tale. Here's an excerpt:

The House Democratic Caucus encourages members to use the mailings to communicate with constituents, spokeswoman Sarah Feinberg said.

That argument doesn't persuade Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., who said he has never used the mailings in 13 years in Congress. "It's a waste of taxpayers' money," he said. "I don't believe in this self-promotion."

LaHood argues that franking should be used only to answer constituent mail. He has repeatedly introduced bills to ban mass mailings, but the legislation usually dies in committee.

You'd think Davis and the four other Republican congressmen who spent even more would stand with LaHood on this subject; not the Democratic leadership of the House.

Current laws can enforce 'driving while chatting'

Before he was a Kentucky state representative, Sal Santoro, R-Florence, was a state trooper, so he knows a little bit about police work and bad driving.

Santoro thinks Kentucky doesn't need a law to ban talking on hand-held cell phones. Such a measure has been filed by Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville. This type of law is alluring. We've all seen distracted drivers gabbing on the phone or read stories about bad accidents caused by cell phone use.

But this is government by anecdote, a practice that politicians love but often leads to bad policy.

Count me as just such a bad driver. I once rear-ended a motorcyclist as I reached down to pick up a ringing cell phone. Thankfully, we were moving very slowly to a stop sign and his injuries were minor. In the split second in which I took my eyes off the road, the cyclist had to stop for the car in front of him.

But that's Santoro's point. No new law was needed to ticket me. I could have been found guilty of inattentive driving or following too close.

"When I was a trooper, I would pull motorists over for reckless driving and find out they were putting on makeup or reading a road map," Santoro said in our story. "I didn't need a special law to charge them."

Burch's proposal only would give police more work. (And, to me, this is a different issue than the strong case for mandatory seat belts and motorcycle helmets.) They don't have time to enforce the laws we already have. For example, when was the last time you saw someone get a ticket for failing to use a turn signal, even when oncoming drivers could have no idea of the motorist's intention? Lack of enforcement breeds contempt, which is pretty obvious when you see the number of drivers who view the turn signal as a decorative stalk.

Farewell Post

This coming Monday the Cincinnati Post, our afternoon rival for your attention, will publish its final edition.

Those of us in the news business mourn the loss of a competitor – a strong and dependable voice that reported on the events in our community for almost 127 years.

But what about you readers? What do you remember about the Post and its coverage over the years? Was there a favorite story or a by-line you remember? Did it mark forever some important moment in your life?

Send your comments to Letters@Enquirer.Com, or post a comment to our online message board at Cincinnati.Com Search: conversation. We will include a selection of comments in this Sunday’s Forum.

Giver beware

Sigh!

Do we really need laws to govern the spirit of giving? I guess so, which is why Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann's office was circulating this missive on Christmas Eve. HoHoHo!


Ohio’s Attorney General Has Tips For Returning Holiday Gifts

COLUMBUS – Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann says consumers have rights when it comes to exchanging holiday gifts but retailers can establish their own policies. The Attorney General also has some advice for people who receive gift cards this year.

In Ohio, businesses can create their own return policies as long as they don’t violate existing law and they clearly are posted for shoppers to see. Some businesses will give a store credit while others will give a cash refund. Some businesses only grant merchandise exchanges, and some stores have a no-return or "all sales final" policy. The Attorney General says it’s best to make sure you understand a store’s individual policy before you try to return gifts.

“Store exchange and return policies have become stricter,” said Attorney General Dann. “If you know where the gift was purchased, call the store and ask about the return policy. You also may be able to find return and exchange policies online,” he said. “It’s always best if you have a receipt.”

Attorney General Dann said that gift cards are more popular than ever and consumers have certain rights:
· A business cannot sell a gift card with an expiration date that is less than two years from the date the gift card was issued.
· No service charges or fees are allowed within two years of purchase, if they reduce the total value of the card when it was purchased.
· A gift card sold without an expiration date is valid until redeemed or replaced with a new gift card.

The Attorney general said there are many exceptions to gift card laws, especially if they are sold by a charity for fundraising or given by the store as a promotion.
“Just to be sure, check with the store,” said Dann.

If you have questions about your rights when returning merchandise or feel you have not been given a proper refund, call Attorney General Dann’s Help center at 1-877-AG4OHIO (l-877-244-6446) to ask questions or file a complaint.

Study should settle Spence truck debate

Should big rigs be banned from the Brent Spence Bridge during rush hours? It was an interesting idea when Covington Mayor Butch Callery, among others, suggested it. The idea was worth studying.

Well, a study done by the Ohio-KY-Indiana Regional Council of Government concludes the ban would eliminate few accidents, move traffic congestion to Int. 471, do nothing to improve air quality and cost truckers a lot of money because, in the trucking industry, time is money.

On top of that, it would be difficult to enforce. Realistically, when you see the number of violations that don't get enforced now, it could become little more than a joke. Click here to see the data in detail. Here is our story.

So, now we know. Let's move on. If nothing else, the study underscores the importance of getting Int. 471 ready for a big traffic increase once work starts to replace the Spence.

The issue really is a symptom of a national problem with transportation and infrastructure, where all answers seem to lead to roads and highways. If we're serious about saving energy, lowering pollution and reducing truck congestion -- all excellent things to take seriously -- we could take a fresh look at having a world-class system for rail freight.

Williamstown Lake project should happen

U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Hebron, has his priorities in order in making the Williamstown Lake project in Grant County one of his funding goals.

The latest Congressional spending bill, passed Thursday, includes $500,000 for planning and design of the project.

I've heard several presentations on this during the past few years, and the pitch is compelling on both the need to expand the size of the lake and the expected payback. The lake already is a weekend playground for boaters from throughout the region. The enlarged lake that a new dam will create will spur significant development that shouldn't require tax subsidies and put more money into treasuries through increased property values.

Grant and Pendleton county officials say that something has to be done to repair or replace the existing dam, which will fail at some point and is the source of drinking water for a large part of that area, which only will grow in coming years. Total project cost is estimated at $30 million.

Here's a link to our story from Friday. To learn more about the project, click here.

Bad Santa. Bad, bad Santa.

The kids will be disappointed, but maybe we shouldn’t be too surprised if Santa just doesn’t feel like making his traditional Christmas Eve rounds. It’s been pretty rough lately for the jolly old elf. Just look at this list of related news-item headlines from MSNBC.com:

Naughty list growing after Santa ‘cold-cocked’
Woman on crutches accused of groping Santa
Santa’s chopper shot over Rio slum
Canada seeks author of nasty letters from Santa
Store Santa gets the heave-ho-ho-ho
Microsoft shuts down Santa for talking dirty
Charges filed after Santa left with pie on his face

What’s next? A sleigh recall? Mrs. Claus embroiled in an embezzelment scandal? A fine for excessive carbon emissions at the North Pole?

As far as I can tell, Santa’s round of problems began early this month with Microsoft (don’t most problems these days?), which set up an artificial intelligence application several weeks ago on its MSN Messenger software that would allow children to “talk” to Santa, who would message back appropriate-sounding responses based on what the kids typed in. But some of the responses weren’t so appropriate. In fact, they were highly inappropriate, as two British girls, ages 11 and 13, found out when they tried to offer Santa some pizza. After first downplaying the problem, then taking steps to “mitigate the issue,” then trying to attribute it to user error (does any of this sound familiar, Windows users?), Microsoft pulled the plug on its St. Cyber-Nick “automated agent.”

But that’s not Santa’s only potty-mouth problem. In Ottowa, at least 10 boys and girls received nasty letters from Santa after they had written to him with their wish lists. This turned out to be an inside job. Canada postal workers and volunteers write the responses to kids’ letters that are sent to the special Canadian postal code of H0H 0H0 (really), so they may be closing in on the offending elf. Hope it’s resolved by the 24th. The last thing Santa needs before a long winter’s sleigh ride is more bad PR.

Who will take on McConnell?

First Kentucky State Auditor Crit Luallen announced she won't take on Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell next year.

Now outgoing Attorney General Greg Stumbo says his political ambitions are pulling him back to a nice safe seat in the state legislature rather than into a match up with McConnell. Stumbo, a Democrat, leaves office in January and had been hinting around at a run against McConnell for months. But then he announced Wednesday he is heading back to the legislature.

McConnell, the Senate minority leader, has been talked of as a vulnerable target by some national Democrats. But that may just be wishful thinking given the refusal of two of the strongest-named Dems in the state to take him on.

There are three Democrats who have declared for the race - Iraq war veteran Andrew Horne, Louisville-area doctor Michael Cassaro and David L. Williams, a retired businessman -- none of them with the name recognition of Luallen or Stumbo.

U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Ky., another well-known possibility, said Wednesday he was sure the Democrats will field a strong challenger to McConnell. "He's the number one supporter of President Bush in the country, and President Bush is not terribly popular," Chandler said. But Chandler also said it won't be him who picks up the challenge.

So say again, why do people think McConnell is vulnerable?

What if we can't afford to pay the piper?

One quote by Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper stood out in Wednesday’s story by the Enquirer’s Jessica Brown (“For Hamilton County, time to pay the piper”) about the tough financial choices the county faces. Pepper’s words bear repeating – and considering:

“I think over the decades when there was more money, the county took on services and activities that aren't required and at the time didn't cost much. But they cost more now and don't benefit all the taxpayers. It's the trend of taking on things and instead of asking the users to pay for it, having the taxpayers as a whole pay for it through the general fund.”

Pepper’s saying a whole spicy mouthful here – and it doesn’t just apply to Hamilton County. It pertains to all levels of government, whichever party is in control. The city of Cincinnati has long wrestled with budget priorities and what programs are appropriate for it to undertake. In the 1990s the state of Ohio, like other states flush with cash, created program after program to spend that cash (at three times the rate of inflation) and is still regretting – and paying for – those decisions.

And the federal government – well, its budget transgressions now register in the trillions. Congress’ wild spending orgy during the past several years under GOP control hasn’t abated now that the Democrats have taken over this year. The just-passed omnibus bill is cut from the same cloth as previous ones, stuffed with billions in often-nonsensical earmarks (and this after a supposed “reform” of the process). More ominously, the recent creation of entitlements such as the Medicare prescription benefit holds implications for decades to come: How do our children and grandchildren manage a now-projected $45 trillion entitlement shortfall?

We know why governments do this, of course – to please various interest groups, voting blocs, constituents. It’s a downside of our electoral system. But more than that, it comes from the tendency of that parasitic organism known as government bureaucracy to find more reasons for its existence and continuous growth.

As Pepper and his colleagues acknowledge, Hamilton County spent money it didn’t have on assumption that tax revenues would keep rolling in. But the real world doesn’t work like that. Most families know that – or should. Pepper noted the county’s “bad habit” of creating new programs during good times without considering how it would pay for them in bad times. That’s a stellar argument for keeping taxes low in general, and for cutting them wherever and whenever possible, especially when times are good. Besides keeping money in the private sector, which is far more capable of producing economic growth, jobs and innovation than government, it forces public officials to constantly evaluate where they allocate tax dollars.

They shouldn’t just make tough choices during hard times. They ought to be making tough choices during good times, too. That’s the real point.

Here’s what officials on all levels of government should be asking – and voters and taxpayers should be demanding: Does this program make sense for government to do? Is there another entity that can do it more efficiently? Should the actual users be paying for it instead of taxpayers at large? Should it be done in the public sector at all? More fundamentally, what is government’s real purpose? Are we straying from it?

Of course, if you follow what Dennis Hetzel is saying in his posting below, you know we’ve long since strayed far, far away from that purpose. There’s no sense of reality regarding what we can and can’t afford. We’ll all be paying the piper – not just Hamilton County.

Rose interview about steroids

For a moment in today’s story about the steroid scandal, Pete Rose almost sounded as though he understood the concept of “integrity of the game.”

But then in the closing paragraph he had to revert to the old Pete we have come to expect:
“If steroids had been prevalent in his day?
‘I would have got 5,000 hits.’ ”

Why couldn’t he have just said he would never touch the stuff?

And please, why does Rose, or anybody else, think that Clemens, Bonds or any other player using drugs to pump up their performance has the slightest relevance to Rose’s own brand of rule-breaking?

Rose’s disgrace belongs to him and his punishment was suitable to his offense. It has nothing to do with other scandals, which should be considered on their own.

There's never enough dough to go around

It's not unusual to thumb through the newspaper and read story after story after story about different groups wanting government to pay for things that need to be done. Then, because it's the nature of my job, I go to meetings and events in which I listen to more people talk about more things the government needs to fund. I often agree with them.

In Wednesday's Kentucky Enquirer, here is a sampling of what was in the news:

-- Kentucky spending on Medicaid rose $56 million to $4.6 billion annually.
-- The U.S. House passed a $516 billion budget bill. Oh, that didn't include funding for Iraq, where we don't have a clue as to what happened to billions we've spent already.
-- Latest projections show a $45 trillion shortfall in government benefit programs, including Social Security and Medicare, over the next 75 years.
-- World leaders pledged $7.4 billion in aid to the Palestinian government. We're in for $555 million.
-- Ohio found $500,000 so General Motors would build a parts warehouse in West Chester to employ 186 people.
-- Closer to home for those of us in NKY, reporter Pat Crowley wrote about $100 million needed for Gateway Community and Technical College, a road in Newport and an expanded Northern Kentucky Convention Center. A drug facility to treat NKY teens needs more than $3 million.
-- Boone County's $11 million new library will open next month.

I suspect most of us support a lot of these things. I know I do. But what's lacking is a comprehensive assessment of what we can afford to do, when and how -- just like you have to do in your own home.

Can America really afford to impose its will on the world? Can we really afford to educate and give benefits to people here illegally? We're going to have to start saying "no" to some things or our our children may inherit a nation with the world's most expensive health care, an infrastructure in collapse and governments unable to do anything but emergency triage. Some days that feels pretty close.

Media blackout on mass shootings?

Patrolman Walter Emerick of the Cleveland Police did a couple of foolish things after responding to an Oct. 10 school shooting: He used his personal cell-phone camera to take a photo of the dead gunman, 14-year-old Asa Coon. Then he sent the photo to some other people, one of whom posted it on the Internet. Emerick was hit with an eight-day suspension Monday after a hearing.

Emerick’s story comes as, in the wake of the Omaha mall shooting, Americans take a more critical eye to media coverage of mass shooters such as Coon in Cleveland and Robert Hawkins in Omaha. A news analysis by Jocelyn Noveck of the Associated Press poses the question: “Should the media have denied Robert Hawkins the odious fame he coveted, by refusing to identify him by name?”

It’s tempting to join Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn’s call for “a media blackout – an agreement among responsible publications and broadcasters to use the name and image of such killers as sparingly as possible.” You wonder if all the attention given these killers does help push would-be copycats over the edge. And the more sensational aspects of the coverage – like the security camera shots of the Omaha killer firing his AK-47 – bring legitimate questions of what’s really necessary to tell the story.

But copycats, experts say, are inspired by the actual deed, not the doer. And as the Emerick incident shows, a media blackout just wouldn’t work. Someone, somewhere, is going to post photos, videos or narratives on the Web – and those likely would be far more sensational, less accurate, full of rumors and misidentifications. Better to let the media do what it does best, setting the record straight – in a responsible manner, if not always to everyone’s taste.

'Tis the season

It’s December so it must be time to start a fight over nativity scenes in public places.

This year’s disruption of Peace on Earth pits Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland against the Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, over the governor’s decision to allow manger scenes in state parks.

“Once the governor of Ohio enters into the religion business, conferring endorsement and preference for one religion over others, he strikes a blow at religious liberty by forcing taxpay-ers of all faiths and of no religion to support a particular expression of worship,” Annie Laurie Gaylor, foundation co-president, wrote last week in a letter to Ohio Inspector General Tom Charles.

That may be true – except that it is not what Strickland did.

The “religion business” Gaylor refers to was Strickland’s decision earlier last week to allow nativities in Shawnee State Park in Scioto County, and at Malabar Farm in Richland County. Both scenes have been displayed at the parks during the holiday seasons for years. This year they had been taken down on orders from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources because a vis-itor to Shawnee had filed a complaint, arguing that in the interest of not endorsing a particular religion, the park should have erected large figures representing Hinduism and Zorastrianism along with Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

I’d be all for that if any Hindus or Zorastrians made such a request, but they didn’t. Strickland said nativities were traditional holiday fare, just like Frosty and Santa Claus.
Well hardly, but that’s not really the point either.

This Wisconsin group not withstanding, the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.

Allowing a nativity scene in a public place is not an endorse-ment of religion. It is an ac-knowledgement that some peo-ple celebrate Christmas as the birth of Jesus. It only becomes a problem if the government forces people to follow that line of worship.

If the state is asked, it should allow Hindus, Zorastrians or anyone else to put up holiday displays in the parks as well. If the folks complaining from Madison really want freedom from religion, they should avert theire eyes.

A great school stat, but more must be done

There has been nearly a 71 percent increase in the number of degrees awarded by Kentucky's public colleges and universities since 2000, according to the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. That translates to nearly 44,000 degrees and credentials awarded to the 2006-2007 graduating class.

Ponder that for a moment. It's a pretty astounding number.

But it's not enough. The council has the ambitious goal of doubling the number of Kentucky residents with a bachelor's degree.

How humbling to learn that this is what it will take for Kentucky to be at national averages for standard of living. The council's "Double the Numbers" plan points out that it could take 154 years for Kentucky to reach the national average in per capita income unless these already impressive trends accelerate.

The rationale couldn't be clearer. On average, people with post-secondary degrees make more money, are more involved in volunteerism, are more likely to vote, generally have a higher quality of life and are less likely to need taxpayer-funded assistance. States with more college grads have stronger, more diverse economies.

Neither of my parents had a college degree -- my dad was a ninth-grade dropout -- but neither needed a degree to sense the truth of that decades ago. There was never a doubt in our house that I would continue formal education after high school. For that I always will be grateful.

Should ministers pay local taxes?

There was an interesting story in The Enquirer's Kentucky edition today on whether ministers should be exempt from paying local payroll taxes. Boone County is removing the exemption to its .8 percent tax. Campbell County still has it.

This gets into the whole fuzzy issue of separation of church and state. But a recent state law seems clear that ministers should pay the same taxes and fees for work they do and services they perform as everyone else. And that makes sense. After all, ministers live in the community and use the same public services that others do.

What doesn't make sense is Campbell County's attitude that the county is keeping ministers exempt from the county's payroll tax because "nobody is going to sue us to make us tax them." That's according to Linda Eads, the county's occupational tax manager.

Well, Boone County did get sued, by an atheist. Besides, an attitude to ignore a law because no one is likely to complain seems like an odd position for a public servant to take.

Lesson in candor

The Cincinnati Board of Education has resolved to be more candid – without actually saying anything.

Board member Melanie Bates pushed for a candor resolution Monday night, in obvious response to criticism from the Enquirer over the district’s (mis-)handling of the John Carlisle’s two month absence from his post at principal at the School for Creative and Performing Arts.

The district has said Carlisle is on “sick leave,” although Fort Mitchell Police confirmed he is under investigation for rape, involving a former student.

Bates’ resolution passed unanimously, although Carlisle’s name was never mentioned. Police said they received a report of the alleged rape complaint from school officials. Yet in all “candor” the district still says he is on sick leave.

Lesson for the school board: candor means openness. Don’t expect the public to offer the schools support until you commit that definition to memory.

Kenton jail decision feels right

Sometimes the process works. The people speak and the politicians listen.

That was my first reaction today when I read that the new Kenton County Detention Center will be built on a site off Mary Laidley Drive in south Covington, instead of a controversial site at new KY 17 and Pelly Road near subdivisions and schools in Independence.

Kenton County Judge Executive Ralph Drees and the Fiscal Court got plenty of criticism with the original plan, not only for the suitability of the site itself but also for the way they handled the process. Officials skirted the state's open meetings law. And not nearly enough was done to prepare nearby residents for a decision sure to raise questions and alarm them.

Maybe, probably, some of the concerns were overblown, but the reaction was understandable and broad enough to move the decision makers. What's important is that Drees and other Kenton County officials went back to work, starting a year-long process to research alternatives.

It's not a done deal yet, but this site could be a winner. Actually, its proximity to the center of the county and major thoroughfares make it more logical than the Independence site ever was. Drees and other Kenton officials deserve credit for listening, learning and moving forward.

Addendum: I'm glad people are sharing their views, but the amount of stereotyping and Covington-bashing on our comment board is a depressing reminder of the big rifts that divide us -- not just in Kenton County but everywhere.

Pardonable sins

What is it about mercy that makes politicians afraid to show it until the very last minute?

Over the past weekend Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher granted a number of pardons for convicted criminals, among them, five women from prison who had been convicted of killing men who abused them.

The legal system “is not perfect,” said Fletcher, explaining why he chose to use his executive power to commute the sentences of the women. “I have decided to grant relief to these women based on their individual circumstances,” he said.

The governor is right. The system is far from perfect, which is why chief executives are given the power to pardon and commute.

Of course, sometimes the mercy hits a little close to home. The last time Fletcher granted pardons was last year when he gave passes to anyone in the administration except himself who might be connected to the merit employee scandal that became the hallmark of his administration.

Still it seems obvious that voters don’t usually like hearing that their governors or presidents are deciding to let people out of jail. Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee is now being closely scrutinized in the national press over the 1,033 pardons he granted while governor of Arkansas. They ranged from convicted killers to Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, who had a 1975 traffic offense hanging over his head.

I have no objection to the pardons Fletcher granted over the weekend, but I do wonder at the cynicism of waiting until the last minute to grant them. Fletcher’s term ended at midnight Monday. That means for him there can be no political consequences of the act. It’s why pardons are something of an end-of-term tradition with chief executives. But if these women deserved their freedom Sunday, they deserved it months or even years ago.

Politicians grant such pardons when it’s expedient. What does it say about society that the most powerful of our elected officials are afraid to show mercy except when they are beyond the reach of the voters?

Walton-Verona shows way to stop dropouts

I've been banging on education issues a lot in this space, so let me share some positive news that shows what can be accomplished.

Check out reporter Bill Croyle's story today about the Walton-Verona school district in Boone County. W-V is consistently one of Kentucky's highest performing school districts. The reasons are strengths in three areas: community commitment, leadership and staff. (While money can't solve all problems, it's also worth noting that the district's residents pay some of the highest local taxes in the state to fund their schools.)

Bill's story describes how W-V hasn't had a single dropout for nine years -- an amazing feat. Much of the credit goes to Larry Davis, a former principal who has the innovative title of "Schools And Families Empowered Agent" for the district. What it means is that he's a wise and caring man who can give personal attention to every student who is at risk. He deals with all manner of personal and academic problems. The dropout record is unmatched by any other high school in the state. But Davis points out he focuses on kids -- not statistics or awards.

The higher incomes and contributions of those who avoid dropping out of school will more than pay Davis' salary. Thumbs up to Larry Davis and Walton-Verona.

Call CIA to account

The CIA’s contention that it destroyed videotaped interrogation of two terrorism suspects to protect the identities of the interrogators is an audacious challenge to Congress, which theoretically provides a check and balance on administrative excess.

The CIA knew there were questions about the interrogation techniques used. The administration describes them as “enhanced interrogation.” Others call it torture. Now it turns out somebody decided to destroy evidence of those techniques.

CIA Director Michael Hayden’s contention that the tapes were destroyed to protect agents’ identities doesn’t hold up. If you are concerned about keeping an agent’s face unknown, you don’t make movies of him waterboarding a suspect.

Members of Congress are calling for investigation by Attorney General Michael Mukasey, as they should. They should also call in Hayden and demand the identity of the official who decided to put the evidence in a burn bag.

Something's wrong in high school: Part II

More scary evidence emerged this week that U.S. students are falling behind other countries. The Program for Student Assessment was a test taken by 15-year-olds in the developed world.

Americans should be asking how many wake-up calls we need. U.S. students did bad in science and even worse in math, where our average score was beaten by 23 other industrialized nations. To learn more, click here.

I hearken back to an earlier post from Northern Kentucky's recent education summit. Attendees heard persuasive research that shows gains made with younger kids are disappearing when students hit high-school years.

I'm speaking as much as a parent here than as a policy wonk. Something just isn't working for enough kids in too many schools. The money pouring into early childhood programs is going to go to waste if we don't start thinking more about teens -- for their good and the good of this country. Our kids deserve to achieve as much as kids in Estonia and Finland.

Foreclosure mess about greed and ignorance

The latest coverage of this foreclosure mess reminds us that both Kentucky and Ohio are in the Top 10 nationally as states with the highest foreclosure rates. KY has more than 2% of loans in foreclosure, and Ohio leads the nation with nearly 4%.

I'm no expert on foreclosure, but I know about home ownership debt, having owned four homes in three different states since the inflation days of the late 1970s when bankers acted like they were doing you a favor by giving you a 15% loan with a prepayment penalty.

Most of what I read causes me to conclude that two words describe about 98% of the problem: "greed" and "ignorance."

For example, on our discussion board on the subject, meet Jane from Lincoln Heights, who offers this: "I purchased a home in Lincoln Heights three years ago and the home will be foreclosed on soon. I took out a 2nd mortgage and used the money for gambling, vacations, and the like. I can't refinance because I am upside down in my mortgages. This is my fault but I am so disgusted with myself."

Jane has learned the hard way that borrowing money to buy a home is the largest debt most of us will ever have, and that creates an obligation to ourselves and our families to ask some questions. And, really, they're not tough questions. What will my payments be? What will my payments be in the worst-case scenario under the terms of this loan? What can I really afford based on what I have and how I want to spend it?

If you don't like the answers, or if the terms seem too complicated to comprehend, get up and walk away. Or run away. At least find someone who can make sure you have clear answers.

Greed plays into the equation, too. Many mortgage sellers and borrowers thought they could play games, betting on appreciation and low interest rates -- a carnival ride that wouldn't end. Some lenders crafted products that were purposefully complex and clearly would put a lot of people in the position of losing their homes.

What I haven't seen are many stories about investigations or prosecutions against those mortgage sellers that defrauded buyers. You just know some of that was happening -- it always does when people think there's easy money to be made by preying on others. Let's go after that crowd. Sue them into oblivion, too.

But the public policy question is whether the government (as in "the taxpayers") should bail out corporate greed or consumer ignorance.

I think not. It's no different than buying a stock that loses value or investing in a business that doesn't make money. Why would I expect government help as long as I wasn't misled or defrauded? Despite her plight, Jane from Lincoln Heights seems willing to take personal responsibility for her unfortunate situation. That's an important lesson that bailouts only dilute.

A civil discussion

Light, heat or fireworks. Those are the effects that could be generated Saturday afternoon at Lakota Local Schools central office when the local NAACP chapter hosts a wide-open community forum on race.

The forum comes on the heels of an ugly controversy over the staging of the play, Ten Little Indians, which contained a racial slur in its original title. The district cancelled the performance then reinstated it, alienating people with each decision.

So a forum is needed -- a carefully moderated forum. The same care must be taken with any public-engagement efforts the district undertakes.

Our complex, diverse society generates more and more need for open dialogue on sensitive issues. Unfortunately, we not only have few opportunities and venues in which to conduct them, we often lack the skills for civilized debate. These are tough issues. Most of the time, we'd rather ignore them or postpone the discussion. And now we have the delicious, dangerous option of blogs and emails and talk radio where we can weigh in anonymously -- and viciously.

Good luck to any group brave enough to open the door to honest conversation. But be advised: Do it cavalierly and you'll jump from mess to total disaster.

A difference between fame and infamy

Robert A. Hawkins, the 19-year-old who killed eight people in an Omaha shopping mall Wednesday before killing himself, said in his suicide note that he went on the rampage to “be famous.”

Instead he will be remembered, briefly, as pathetic. He was a disturbed, depressed and alienated young man who apparently thought he could make people care about his existence by committing an act of violence. He got noticed. But that notoriety is just going to be a brief flash, soon cooled and forgotten.

The victims of sudden, unprovoked violence are the ones we remember, honor and mourn. The perpetrators, with their anger or misplaced sense of glory are not faces that stay with us.
Friday is the 66th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The images you see in the news-paper and on television today are those of valiant sailors on burning ships or innocent civilians whose lives were forever changed by the attack. The Arizona Memorial is a shrine to victims, to bravery and to loss.

Robert Hawkins had it all wrong; we don’t memorialize those who pull the triggers.

Which storm shall we weather?

My mind makes weird connections sometimes -- like the one I made Tuesday between terrorism and the breathless local weather forecasting viewers get if there's a whisper of a possibility of a snowflake anywhere between Toledo and Lexington.

First, don't blame the TV weather persons for spending hours talking about a snowfall that appears most likely to bring an inch or two of fluffy stuff that will last half the day. Alas, it's like the old Pogo cartoon: "We have met the enemy and he is us." It's fashionable to make fun of television's obsession with boosting minor weather events into major stories, but the TV people have learned that viewers will watch and watch and watch. The same is true online.

So then I'm seeing President Bush explain in a news conference that even though the latest intelligence estimate about Iran seems to be the opposite of the last intelligence estimate about Iran, we should have confidence in his administration, and that nothing has really changed in his mind.

After processing the mind-numbing logic of that assertion, I begin thinking about terrorism. I recall how the 911 hijackers spent a lot of time in America, watching our television programs, observing how we live our lives and drawing conclusions about our society.

And I imagine them watching the reaction to mildly annoying weather in Cincinnati -- or any number of other places around the country. They might conclude that Americans are soft, that we've lost perspective about what's important, and that if we freak out over an inch of snow, we won't have the stomach to fight a real war.

Fortunately, it turns out we're tougher than that. But sometimes you wonder.

You better watch out

If you are one of those who leave milk and cookies out for Santa on Christmas Eve, don’t make the mistake of leaving a carrot for his reindeer. At least not if you live in Fort Thomas.

Fort Thomas City Council voted Monday to make feeding deer illegal in that city and may soon allow bow hunting of the animals on private property.

I’m sure the council has nothing against Christmas, or the jolly old elf and his flying coursers. It’s just that Fort Thomas is a residential community and the deer population just keeps growing and growing, causing numerous car crashes and damage to landscaping.

So its $100 for the first offense, $250 for a second and $500 for a third and more. That could add up to $3,350 for all eight hitched to Santa’s sleigh. $3,850 if you include a nibble for Rudolph.

RIAA: It's not nice to share

Few people would dispute the notion that freely sharing copyright-protected digital music files is unethical and, yes, downright illegal. But that doesn’t excuse the kind of tactics being used by the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) to stem the practice – intimidation, online data mining and threats of massive fines, often against teenagers who shared a few files without thinking it through. The RIAA has gone after about 30,000 Americans so far, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, sending “pre-litigation settlement letters” to extract a few thousand dollars from each accused file-sharer, usually a teenager or college kid. Even if you’re innocent, defending against a suit could cost way more than the “settlement,” so nearly everybody pays up. A single mother of two in Minnesota who refused to settle was the first person in America taken to court, where a jury in October socked her with a $222,000 penalty for sharing 24 songs.

The industry's focus has been on college campuses, those hotbeds of file-sharing, where it has coerced school administrations into turning in students whose computers it claimed were doing the dirty deed. Ohio University, targeted by the RIAA early this year, even overreacted by banning all peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing, even though most of it is legal – not to mention vital to many academic pursuits these days.

But finally, somebody with some legal muscle is fighting back. Last month, the University of Oregon said it would fight an RIAA subpoena demanding it release the identities of 17 students RIAA accuses of file-sharing. Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers last week joined in, saying RIAA investigative tactics may be illegal – including alleged uploading of individuals’ credit card numbers and other personal information from their computers – and argues that the firm it hired to do its dirty work isn’t even licensed in Oregon.

RIAA’s effort is needless nonsense, not to mention awful PR for the recording industry, because it isn’t really being hurt financially by file-sharing. A study by economists from Harvard and University of Kansas concludes that sharing has “an effect on sales that is statistically indistinguishable from zero.” What the industry should be doing is figuring out ways to use this kind of technology to its advantage.

Myers’ office said in a brief that while copyright holders certainly have the right to pursue cases of infringement, that pursuit should “be tempered by basic notions of privacy and due process.”
Privacy and due process. What radical concepts. Maybe if somebody sets them to music, the folks at RIAA could remember them.

Beets beat ice and snow

Kudos to the Columbus Public Service Department for finding a green way to clear the streets of winter’s snowfall. The Columbus Dispatch reports the city paid $4.16 a gallon for 1,080 gallons of beet juice to mix with brine for a de-icing experiment this winter.

The juice, marketed as Geomelt, lowers the freezing point of the brine to about 30 degrees below zero, making it a better ice-melting agent than standard road salt mixed with calcium chloride, according to the report. An unidentified stretch of city streets will be tested this winter to see how it works out. Akron also is participating in this vegetable movement, having tested it last year, that city is buying 12,000 to 16,000 gallons for this season. And the Ohio Department of Transportation has plans to try it out in parts of Summit, Lake and Cuyahoga Counties.

Beet juice is biodegradable and apparently doesn’t have the corrosive properties of calcium chloride mixed with road salt. The juice is left over from sugar beets after the sugar has been processed out. It loses its purple hue as well as its sweetness during the processing, so there won’t be any unsightly mauve staining in the wake of the de-icing trucks. The stuff actually turns the brine brown, so the melting snow should be a nice, natural muddy-looking slush.

Columbus doesn’t want to try it out until they get at least an inch of snow, but with 1-3 inches predicted across the southern half of Ohio on Tuesday night, we may soon learn if the highway crews have found a way to beet the weather.

I wonder if they can come up with something useful to do with cauliflower.

Asking about guns in the house

The mayor of Portland, Ore., is encouraging parents to put aside social niceties when their children are invited to play at another child's house, and ask if the inviting family keeps a gun in the house.

I remember the time I sent out invitations to my child's birthday party and a mom, who had just moved here from Miami, called to ask just that. I was shocked and initially somewhat offended. She told me it was a common question among families in her old community.

Now I think, awkward as the question is, that it makes sense -- for this reason: It reminds parents who do own weapons to take every precaution to keep them far from children.

The right to own a weapon comes is a private matter, but other families should have the right to be forewarned before they send a child to play in a home with weapons. The majority of unintentional shootings involve children who come upon easy-to-find, loaded weapons.

Wanting to be forewarned about the possible risks your child may face -- or having the opportunity to talk to your child about what to do if he ever encountered a weapon -- is a fair expectation.

So would you ever ask -- or tell?