Opinion

I am not a Kentuckian.

I hail from little Crozet, Va., just outside of Charlottesville, Va., at the foot of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.

I came to Kentucky to get a journalism degree at the University of Kentucky and have enjoyed the experience along the way. After being awarded the opportunity to intern here at The Anderson News I was really excited, but also quite nervous.

After all, I was going to be spending my first summer away from my home in Virginia, I was going to be working in a foreign town, and I didn’t want to mess anything up.

America is caught up in ‘out-of-kilter’ times

To the editor:

Lindsay Lohan’s probationary violations received live television coverage and made the front pages in New York.

Thousands of words were devoted to her, but little attention was paid to the three American soldiers killed in Afghanistan the day she appeared in court.

Drury’s deeds a lesson on what to do

To the editor:

I have to admit I bought The Anderson News [last week] because of the outrageous quote on the front page attributed to Ms. Drury, candidate for Anderson County judge-executive.

I am amazed a candidate would refer to her would-be constituents as being without sense or intellectual ability.

Then I read your article about your interview with her and the plagiarism found on her website.

I’m smiling. As I write, it’s Thursday night and I’m listening to thunder boomers and a nice steady rain. It’s been two weeks of dry, hot weather and hand watering to keep things alive. You can almost hear the earth sighing with relief. Some native plants, that are our most hardy lawn weeds, were even curling up.

Oh my, it’s July. The Old Farmer’s Almanac is calling for two degrees below normal temperatures and four inches of rain for the month. Now, if we can just split that rain into one inch a week, we’ll be set.

These cool nights, while wonderful for our energy bills, can set us up for some vegetable problems in the garden. Keeping in mind that offense is our best defense, I’m recommending that we all break out the chamomile tea.

Column as I see ’em ...

I promise that every word in this column was typed by my fingers in concert with the organic word processor I store beneath my hair.

It’s a shame the same can’t be said about some information on judge-executive hopeful Donna Drury’s campaign website, where she claims to have gained permission to post, without any attribution whatsoever, the words of other writers.

I call it a shame because some of what’s written there is solid material upon which a candidate could base a good election campaign.

I’m no UK basketball historian.

I’ll put that out there in the very first line of this column because it needs to be noted.

I am, however, a sports geek who believes he can put things in perspective fairly well while not carrying a bias in one way or another.

With that said, the incoming men’s basketball freshman class at Kentucky will have a tough time reaching the lofty expectations their brethren from one year prior have now created. But they may go further when the calendar turns to March.

Missed chance to protect dogs

To the editor:

As a man involved in promoting the protection of dogs in my own community and elsewhere, I have followed with interest the controversy surrounding the defeated proposal in Anderson County Fiscal Court which, if enacted, would have improved the quality of life for dogs in your locality.

I agree with Stan Petry’s letter in the June 16 edition that the ordinance would “thrust Anderson County into a leadership position as a forward-thinking, humane community.”

Sometimes, I just want to sit outside and watch the farm. There is so much going on without me lifting a finger. Wildlife love my farm. I keep making new living places for them. When I cut tree limbs, I toss them into areas that provide plenty of cover for raising young. A walk around gives me a glimpse into life going on under my nose.

Less than 80 feet from the house I spy a bedding area for deer, just 10 feet from a garden bed. Of the 17 acres, most are left wild. Tracks and droppings provide even more evidence of life. They must think of it as an organic Mall of America.