Veto

FRANKFORT - A bill that would increase transparency and accountability for special districts is popular with some Lincoln County officials. House Bill 1 was approved unanimously by the state House and Senate last week and is currently awaiting Gov. Steve Beshear's signature before it becomes law. The legislation, which would place stricter budget-reporting requirements on Kentucky's approximately 1,200 special districts, was pushed by state...

A partnership to promote a new aquatics and recreational center in Danville was not approved Monday night by a majority of Danville city commissioners. Mayor Bernie Hunstad and Commissioner James “J.H.” Atkins were in favor of a memorandum of agreement to create a public-private partnership for the Aquatics and Recreational Center Initiative. City Engineer Earl Coffey said the long-term goal is to build a facility that not only would have an indoor and outdoor pool, but also a gym, to promote swim teams and the general quality of life for local residents.

Dear Editor, Adding more members to Danville's government is not as simple as it seems. State law only allows two basic types of city government: a council or a commission. A commission is limited to four commissioners and the mayor, whether it is the plain city-commission form or Danville's current city-manager form. Expanding membership on Danville's governing body would require the council form, which allows for six to 12 members, plus the mayor. If voters select that type of government, the council determines the number of members.

Dear Editor, It certainly appears that some changes must be made within the Danville city government. Recent debacles include: 1. The Commission rehired the former city engineer, which may be a violation of the Danville Code of Ethics Section 2-274 "Post-employment restriction" that states an employee cannot be rehired within one year of termination. It will be interesting to see if the 3-2 voting block that brought ethics charges against Mayor Coomer and voted to relieve the engineer will ask for an ethics board ruling in this matter.

Dear Editor, It is Obama and Biden's moral fitness we should question. I believe America made up their minds about Sarah Palin's moral fitness when we discovered she decided not to abort a child with down syndrome and face the responsibility of loving and nurturing the child, sold the governor's jet and fired the taxpayers' chef. She immediately started to reform. Let's talk about Joe Biden's mishaps. Any college student can tell you the seriousness of plagiarism. The thought of someone stealing someone else's ideas or writings is unethical.

Dear Editor: I am writing in response to George W. Bush's opening salvo of ads aimed at securing his re-election as President of the United States. When I first saw his spot depicting his great leadership during the 9/11 attacks, I was shocked and disappointed but soon realized it was par for the course. After all, most of his decisions have everything to do with staying in office and not much of anything to do with what is right for this country or the world. George W. Bush has proven himself to be the most fiscally irresponsible president in the history of this country.

Dear Editor: Last Tuesday, your editorial page featured an essay by B. Russell Harper of Christian Care Communities. Harper urged us to protest massive cuts to the Medicaid budget looming in Congress and in the Kentucky legislature. He asked us to "demand that (government) place a top priority on covering basic health care" for those unable to afford it. I noted the word "Christian" in the name of his organization, and thought to myself how appropriate it was for a Christian to make this appeal.

LIBERTY - Casey County will get a new elementary school if Gov. Ernie Fletcher gives final approval to the 2005-2006 budget. "We officially found out Thursday the new school is in the budget," said Linda Hatter, superintendent of the Casey County Board of Education. "The governor has the power to veto, but hopefully nothing will change. " The school will replace Douglas, Phelps and Phillips elementaries. State Sen. Vernie McGaha, R-Columbia, and state Rep. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, delivered the message that $8 million has been placed in the budget for the new school on the western side of the county.

The New York City council recently voted to ban the use of aluminum bats in high school baseball games, sparking a debate between the metal version and the wooden one. New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has threatened to veto the measure, but the council reportedly has enough votes to override Bloomberg. No such bans have been put into place in Kentucky, but Clark baseball coach Larry Allison said he would be in favor of a ban on the metal bat. "I'm all for it," Allison said earlier this week.

At midnight last Tuesday, the 2013 General Assembly came to an end. All the negotiations, all the hand-wringing over what bills would or would not clear the 2013 Kentucky General Assembly ended. After at least 25 hours of talks over two days and earlier discussions over the past few weeks, Senate Bill 2 - the session's public-pension-reform bill - received final passage by a 32-6 vote in the Senate and a 70-28 vote in the House. Also approved was its funding source, House Bill 440, which was given final approval by a vote of 82-17 in the House and 35-3 in the Senate.