Opinion

There are two documents of paramount importance to American history: the Declaration of Independence, which forged our national identity, and the United States Constitution, which set forth the framework for the federal government that is still in use today. While Independence Day is a beloved national holiday, fewer people know about Constitution Week, an annual commemoration of the living document that upholds and protects the freedoms central to our American way of life. This year, the annual celebration begins September 17, 2016.

If I remember correctly from my Boy Scout days, one of the first priorities when you come upon a badly injured person who is losing lots of blood, is to stop the bleeding.

So we learned how to apply direct pressure, put on bandages, and if worse came to worse - put on a tourniquet.

Amye Bensenhaver likes to talk. There’s no denying that. She’s talks fast, too, like she’s afraid she won’t be able to give you all the information she has before the next question comes. And Amye has a lot of information.

That is, of course, why I called her.

Then don’t fix it.

There’s wisdom in that logic and it seems to mirror the philosophy the Taylorsville City Commission used when it voted to promote Major Kenny Stewart to the position of Police Chief last week.

Legislation during this year’s General Assembly requiring disclosure of public retirement benefits for all current and former lawmakers, “including their name, status, and projected or actual retirement benefit payments,” passed the Republican-run state Senate with unanimous, bipartisan support from all 38 senators and flew through the Democratically controlled House State Government Committee with 19 of the 21 members who voted approving it.

We are now in the middle of one of the hottest string of high temperatures for our section of the country.

For that reason, we are going to have our non-profit groups sign up for the Roadside Litter Abatement Summer Program the last three days of August and the first two days of September.  Also, the groups will have all of September to clean the roads they draw, in case we also have a September heatwave.    

As the chair of the Taylorsville Levee Trail Committee, I was pleased to see both the article and editorial by Mr. Shindlebower in the August 10, 2016 Spencer Magnet.

As a clarification, our committee is 100 percent committed to complying with the Spencer County Levee, Flood Control and Drainage District No. 1 (Levee Commission) to ensuring that none of our activities create any adverse impacts to the ongoing recertification process. Having said that, we do not see that working with the Levee Commission toward this common goal will delay the levee trail process.

The high hopes of marijuana advocates went up in smoke last week when the Drug Enforcement Administration refused to remove the drug from their list of Schedule 1 controlled substances.

In making the announcement, the DEA said their decision was “tethered to science,” noting that there is no known medical benefit, but a high risk of abuse.

The decision clouds the law, especially in a number of states where recreational marijuana has been legalized, and in even more states where medical use of marijuana is legal.

We’ve championed the idea of a trail around the levee for a while, and now that it’s been identified as a priority project in the city’s strategic plan, excitement is building.

That excitement creates energy and momentum and the last thing needed now is for the wind to be taken out of the sails.

To be clear, that doesn’t appear to be what the Levee Commission is trying to do as they urge the trail committee to hold off on actual work until they can complete the complex task of having the flood wall recertified.