(First, let me clarify: I do not hate the act of people dancing. I hate when the expectation is that I should join them, whether I want to or not. I don’t, because there is nothing I enjoy about participating.) As a kid, I loved to sing. At 5, my Sunday School teacher nicknamed me … Read more
If you ever had the pleasure of watching Judge Jeff Boles at work, you heard him tell every defendant they were entitled to certain rights simply because they were fortunate enough to live in these United States. It was always a great reminder for everyone in the Hendricks Circuit Court’s room, now the province of … Read more
Few people react to a jury summons with excitement. In fact, some people don’t register to vote largely because they’re afraid of being called to serve. Hate to disappoint you, but that’s not the only way prospective jurors are selected. Have a driver’s license? Own property? The state taps into all sorts of data sources … Read more
Much of Indiana’s local government owes its structure to our state’s early days. Hoosiers are a generally conservative bunch (and yes, that includes your neighbors who are Democrats … and there are more of them than you probably realize). As a group, we don’t like to see things we’ve known go away, even when they’ve … Read more
It happens every year when property tax bills appear in mailboxes. If you’re a regular visitor to the Government Center in Danville, you’ll notice a slightly larger police presence … and some remarkably furious folks. They make their way to the Auditor, Assessor, and Treasurer’s offices and wait for their chance to scream at the … Read more
In a past column, I wrote about concerns about school safety and the simple fact that one of most-requested measures – metal detectors – is a fundamentally flawed solution. The same is true for some of the high-tech wizardry you’ve seen on the news, or calls to arm teachers. (Why do I think arming teachers … Read more
I’ve written before about education myths. One of the most persistent is that Indiana schools no longer offer many vocational classes (now referred to as career and technical education, or CTE for short). In reality, our public high schools offer more CTE classes than ever before — far more than when you were in high … Read more
Drive the back roads through most of Indiana’s 92 counties, and you’re bound to encounter dead or dying small towns. You’ll arrive at a crossroads surrounded by a few rundown homes and crumbling storefronts that haven’t offered anything to buy for decades. And in most of these communities, you’ll find brick or limestone buildings that … Read more
It would probably surprise you to know just how much of your daily life is influenced by the amount of time it used to take a farmer with a horse-drawn wagon to get from Stilesville to Danville. If you’ve ever looked at a map of Indiana’s 92 counties, you’ve noticed that while shapes vary, most … Read more
Mrs. Bloom was my first-grade teacher. As she and Dick and Jane helped us discover reading, she also dealt with all the realities associated with six- and seven-year-olds, from accidents to tears to post-recess vomiting to my classmate Chuckie, who ate a lot of crayons. There were no litterboxes in her classroom. Nor were there … Read more