Opinion

Column as I see ’em …
Library trustees Amy Kennedy and Katie Hutton need to take a deep breath and calm down.
Or at least log onto this newspaper’s website and read what I’ve actually written instead of what they apparently think I have.
Their histrionics during last Tuesday night’s library board meeting about getting “slayed” in the newspaper after voting to give library employees a pay increase was, to be kind, unfortunate. To be not so kind, ridiculous.

A philosophical debate is shaping up as class action lawsuits against public libraries continue to spread across Kentucky.
The overarching question is fairly simple, and goes something like this: Should taxpayers, with an assist from fiscal courts, have the power to control library tax rates, or should that be left to those smart enough to actually understand how important libraries actually are?

Column as I see ’em …
I’ve never been happier to be wrong in my life.
I screwed up royally several weeks go when I wrote an article about potential health department tax increases.
I wasn’t alone in thinking health department taxes are governed under the convoluted “compensating rate” system; even the county attorney wasn’t aware of an old statute that actually covers health taxes.
She is now, and I’m absolutely thrilled.

When the Commons 4 Kids charity delivers its second million baseball cards this year, Jerry Milburn knows exactly which baseball card he’ll choose to mark the occasion.
A 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey, Jr., rookie card.
The baseball card that sparked decades of collecting.
The good-luck charm Milburn’s mother brought to Bingo nights.
The card that inspired the beginnings of Milburn’s trading card charity, Commons 4 Kids.

Stepping off the plane in Haiti, David Montgomery first smelled the trash.
“I’d been through some poor countries before, but when I hit Haiti, just the smell, the trash was everywhere, just like a tour of the landfill out here,” Montgomery said.
The Anderson County magistrate’s memories of all he’s done, seen and heard on the Caribbean island run together.
After 12 trips to Haiti in 14 years, it can be difficult to keep his timeline straight.

The Anderson Public library’s board of trustees will apparently wait until a court orders it to comply with the statute that governs how it’s supposed to set tax rates before doing so on its own.
And that’s a shame because by doing so the board is missing out on a great chance to reinvent its image and survive what will otherwise be a devastating financial blow.
The order to lower its tax rate has already come for a library in northern Kentucky and, trust me on this, a similar order will eventually be issued here.

Column as I see ’em …
It’s fairly surprising that the health department director is pushing for a 33 percent revenue increase in the agency’s next budget. (See A1 for details).
I get why he’s doing it; the department took a major revenue blow this year thanks to a Medicaid insurer that is refusing to pay its bills, and he’s right that those who work there should not have to endure another year of furlough days.

In a German town about 4,000 miles away, Chelsea Schedler analyzes Lawrenceburg cul-de-sacs.
Researches the county’s curved roads (iconic design unique to subdivisions, Chelsea says) that double back to marked entrances.
Studies American suburban home floor plans essentially worshiping, in Chelsea’s words, “the sanctity of the automobile.”
They say write what you know.
Chelsea, an architecture student and intern living in Germany, dissected what she knew — Lawrenceburg.

I probably ask more questions than I get answers.
Because I’m sympathetic to those who want answers, I’m fairly good at answering questions.
Except for one.
“Do you like being a newspaper reporter?”
Pause.
Sometimes I really need to think about that one.
Not that I dislike my job. I definitely don’t.
But it feels wrong to talk about my job in a manner of liking.
Liking is something you do on Facebook photos.
I like eggplant lasagna.