Opinion

During Monday night’s Fiscal Court meeting, Magistrate Hobert Judd told Judge-Executive Bill Karrer that he wanted to address the court’s “communications from citizens” policy.
Currently, the policy is that citizens are allowed three minutes to address the court as long as the topic they wish to discuss is on the agenda.
We’ve addressed our displeasure with this policy, and for the record, we continue to do so.
Judd recommended the court increase that three-minute window to four or even five minutes.

Rumors in small towns spread like wildfire, and in some ways, it’s the job of the local newspaper to put those fires out.
My first case in point is discussed at length in this week’s newspaper. At its last regularly scheduled meeting, the Spencer County Board of Education voted not to allow students to have the junior-senior prom off campus.
Less than 24 hours after that vote was taken, the word on the street was that the prom had been canceled altogether.

After a visit home to the mountains of Bell County, it’s not unusual for me to come back to work and write a column about the need to value our family members and make an effort to see the ones we love more often.
And trust me, my four-day trip home provided me with plenty of examples to do just that — however, I’ll take a little bit of a different approach this time around.

As Sunday night came to a close, my heart grew a little sad. The 2012 Olympics were over, and now we have to wait another four years to witness the type of greatness we got to see daily for two weeks.
These athletes, from all over the globe, are truly world-class, some might even say they’re heroic, but I contend that what makes them so great — well, most of them — is that they’re human.

This week, I am personally applauding Jack Proctor and Richard Johns, who, you may have seen, are the only two candidates who have filed, thus far, to seek a seat on the Taylorsville City Commission.
Why am I applauding? Because they’re not playing games and waiting until the last possible second to declare their intent.
When I’ve asked different officials in city and county government why they think most everyone is waiting until the final minute, I get the same response — they all want to see who else is running.
Seriously?

A couple of weeks ago, your Historic Taylorsville Main Street Committee shared the exciting news that the long awaited Phase II Streetscape project was about to begin. The section of Main Street from the Courthouse to Jefferson Street is beginning a face-lift effort that will not only increase our pride for our beautiful town, but improve the economic viability of our downtown.

As you may have noticed, we have quite the contest going on right now. The 2012 Pet Idol contest boasts a total of over $875 in prizes — not to mention you get to see your pretty little pets in the paper each week through Aug. 8. And while we enjoy seeing all of your cute critters, I feel it’s necessary to remind you of the seriousness that fuels this contest.
All money raised during this year’s contest goes toward our Newspapers in Education program, which places newspapers in the classrooms in our schools.

What a debacle.
Who would have thought we’d address the lack of a fireworks display in Spencer County on our opinion page for two weeks in a row?
Last week, we sought out to bring you information about some sort of fireworks display in the community. In the end, we went looking for a display that didn’t exist.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Thomas Crain and Becky House for once again providing free KHSAA sport physicals for the student athletes of Spencer County. We had a record 97 participants this year.
I also appreciate that staff members Debbie Hardin and Lisa Walls also gave freely of their time.
Lady Bears volleyball Coach Wendy Elder, Lady Bears basketball coach Lisa Smith, Grizzly basketball coach Logan Dunbar, parents Connie Devine, Paula Cox and Amy Lear also helped to run stations at the clinic.
Teresa Pfeiffer
Spencer County