Opinion

A story on this week’s front page reveals efforts by the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce to nudge once and for all the city and county into changing their ridiculous sign ordinances.

Those ordinances are virtually the same, but enforced differently by each, often to the point of ridiculousness.

Take, for example, Eagle Lake. Its owner has tried for years to get a green light to build a marquee-type sign near the Bypass, giving passersby a list of all businesses in the development.

There are little explosions going on right now. Color is coming back.

“Spring has almost sprung and the grass has riz, and I know where the flowers is.”

We have wildflowers popping up every day. As I drive in to work, I watch along the road and in the fields. The long wait is finally over.

If you want to bring a little of that color into the house, then go out and snip a few limbs off the forsythia.

Carlton’s letter missed the mark

To the editor:

Will Carlton missed the point I was trying to make in his letter last week titled ‘Missed opportunity to teach a lesson.’

His letter makes me out to be this father who is ranting and raving over his child not making “whatever team they tried out for.”

It was not my intention on making this personal. I was merely stating a problem, as well as speaking for others that I know share in my thinking.

It’s not often that I respond to a column that appears in another publication, especially a local paper similar to The Anderson News.

After 24 years in the business, I know it can be difficult to put together a factual, yet interesting story. In sports writing, when you are often crossing county lines for game stories, it can be doubly tough.

The Lady Panthers may have been out-scored and out-sized in the 8th Region tournament, but the girls and their Carroll County fans outclassed Anderson County, hands down.

High school sports should bring out the best in competition and good sportsmanship; occasionally it does just the opposite. That was the case Monday night when CCHS played Anderson County at South Oldham High School.

A group of about a dozen Anderson County roughnecks sitting on the Carroll County side of the gym harangued and harassed the Lady Panthers the entire game.

I’m a math nerd. I can’t help it — I absolutely love numbers.

In fact, to this day, my high school calculus teacher has a hard time believing I ended up in a career working with words (of all things). I sometimes find it hard to believe myself.

Gov. Beshear’s visit last week to discuss early childhood education sparked an interesting conversation here in our office.

Granted, no one on either side of this issue pretends to know a fraction of what it really takes to publicly educate a child, and we’re sure this concept certainly would not pass muster with state and federal education czars so deeply invested in the current system.

Instead, the following is more of a “throw it on the wall, see what sticks” sort of scenario, but one that drew raves from some, raspberries from others.

A lot has been said about Eastern Kentucky over the past month or so, and I’ve taken notice. How could I not?

Eastern Kentucky is home to me. More specifically, the mountains of Pineville are home to me.

Pineville has been in the news on several occasions at the state level, but most of the national focus has been on Harlan and Hazard and other towns in between. In a sense, that’s still home to me. My daddy still drives to Harlan every day for work, and I’ve played many a softball game in Hazard.

I know Valentine’s Day is over but love is in the air. You can literally smell it, although, the aroma is not very pleasant.

Pepe’ Le Pew is looking for love now, and that means we need to be alert.

Here on the farm we have to be very alert. Since we currently have eight dogs that roam the hill, we have eight times the chances of getting up close and personal with the all too recognizable skunk.

This very evening, as I typed, we had a too close encounter. Luckily, I got all eight inside in time.