A few thoughts about a few friends
By
Rory Ryan-hcpress@cinci.rr.com
It pleases me, as I am sure it pleases all of us who were fortunate enough to know and respect Bill Horne, that a memorial scholarship has been established in his honor at the college he served for more than a quarter of a century.
It also pleases me that Southern State Community College Board of Trustees Chair Kay Ayres asked me to read an April resolution which conferred, posthumously, faculty emeritus status for Bill.
And it further pleases me that Bill’s wife, Connie, his mother, Kathryn, his sister, Sr. Mary Jane Williams, and his brother, Jim, were in attendance at the board’s South Campus meeting last month.
While I’m not anywhere near as emotional as Congressman John Boehner, I did struggle just a bit in reading that resolution. As I told Steve Witham a few days ago, I think about Bill Horne at least twice a day, every day, just by passing his family’s old homestead in Jackson Township.
I think longtime educators Ken and Carol Shull feel the same way I do about Bill. In fact, I know they do. Their love and respect for Bill was obvious to all those present at the April presentation.
Thank you to the Southern State family for setting up this scholarship in Bill’s name. This is only a hunch, but I’m wagering that all future scholarships will find their way to students truly deserving and truly in need of a little assistance. Bill wouldn’t have it any other way.
* * *
A state lawmaker remarked to me after the Hillsboro mayoral primary that he wished Bill Horne was around to offer his opinion on the race. That makes two of us.
* * *
Curtis Pegram and Bill Bowman are at it again.
These two Good Samaritans are always up to something. Usually, it involves giving of themselves, and their time and energy.
Both are well-known for their efforts to help those beset by hard times, especially by providing free food to the area’s needy.
Individually, both Bill and Curtis have done a lot for the community. But by joining forces, they plan to do even more.
“We don’t ask questions of the people who show up,” Bill told me. “We just try to help.”
Curtis, who serves as the Hillsboro postmaster when he’s not out looking for local garden space, donations of vegetable seeds and someone willing to cultivate a few acres free of charge, was sitting at the HCP Monday morning when he said: “I’ve always told myself that if I ever have a position where I can make a difference and help others, I’m going to do it.”
And he is. Another effort that Curtis and all the area postal carriers are undertaking is the 19th annual Stamp Out Hunger campaign on Saturday, May 14. The campaign has become the nation’s largest single-day food drive.
Last year, letter carriers collected a record-setting total of more than 77 million pounds of food donations along their postal routes, pushing the 18-year total to more than 1 billion pounds of food.
Again this year, rural residents are encouraged to place a sturdy bag containing non-perishable foods next to their mailboxes prior to their regular mail delivery May 14.
* * *
On a more somber topic, since I’ve been asked by a reader or two about the finality of terrorist Osama bin Laden and the public disclosure of the evidence, let me share the thoughts of the late William F. Buckley on the finality of another monster, Saddam Hussein.
(And, no, I didn’t “Google” this information as many are prone to do these days. I still have many of Mr. Buckley’s great literary magazines, including the Jan. 29, 2007 publication.)
In commenting on Hussein’s ultimate demise (execution by hanging), WFB wrote: “The United States, as a general proposition, does not permit moving pictures of death scenes. Sometimes these are taken for the record, but not for public exhibition. Some of the photos taken of the medical proceedings after the shooting of President Kennedy have not yet been released. The delicate question has to do with prurience. Do we wish to make possible the gratification of that sense?”
Mr. Buckley adds that there “are always those who believe that there should be no censorship of any public event.”
You’ll have that.
So as I’m writing this while enjoying a rare, clear spring sunset, with my wife’s favorite black Labrador at my feet, I ask Mocha: “Are you OK with bin Laden’s eradication as we know it?”
“Woof!,” Mocha answered in the affirmative.
Me, too.
So back to the original question: No, I do not have any innate desire to view the terrorist’s final moments on YouTube or anywhere else. I listened to President Obama’s Sunday night (May 1) address to the nation as well as his interview with Steve Kroft on “60 Minutes” the following Sunday.
The president’s answers made sense to me. The national security team and the U.S. Armed Forces eliminated a known terrorist whose final breaths are of little additional concern.
While there may be any number of issues on which to criticize the president, this isn’t one of them. Mission accomplished.
* * *
Highland County Press columnist and 700 WLW Radio talk show host Eric “The Bulldog” Deters will be the guest speaker at the Monday, Aug. 1 meeting of the Highland County TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party at the Hi-TEC Center on Hillsboro’s North High Street.
In his spare time, Mr. Deters also is an author, lawyer and restaurant owner.
Somehow, he still finds time for public speaking. He doesn’t charge a fee, either.
He does promise his own unique “blend of history, life and humor like no other speaker.”
Highland County TEA Party President Ken Ludwick has scheduled a gifted speaker who’s sure to entertain and inform at the Aug. 1 meeting. We look forward to it.
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]
It also pleases me that Southern State Community College Board of Trustees Chair Kay Ayres asked me to read an April resolution which conferred, posthumously, faculty emeritus status for Bill.
And it further pleases me that Bill’s wife, Connie, his mother, Kathryn, his sister, Sr. Mary Jane Williams, and his brother, Jim, were in attendance at the board’s South Campus meeting last month.
While I’m not anywhere near as emotional as Congressman John Boehner, I did struggle just a bit in reading that resolution. As I told Steve Witham a few days ago, I think about Bill Horne at least twice a day, every day, just by passing his family’s old homestead in Jackson Township.
I think longtime educators Ken and Carol Shull feel the same way I do about Bill. In fact, I know they do. Their love and respect for Bill was obvious to all those present at the April presentation.
Thank you to the Southern State family for setting up this scholarship in Bill’s name. This is only a hunch, but I’m wagering that all future scholarships will find their way to students truly deserving and truly in need of a little assistance. Bill wouldn’t have it any other way.
* * *
A state lawmaker remarked to me after the Hillsboro mayoral primary that he wished Bill Horne was around to offer his opinion on the race. That makes two of us.
* * *
Curtis Pegram and Bill Bowman are at it again.
These two Good Samaritans are always up to something. Usually, it involves giving of themselves, and their time and energy.
Both are well-known for their efforts to help those beset by hard times, especially by providing free food to the area’s needy.
Individually, both Bill and Curtis have done a lot for the community. But by joining forces, they plan to do even more.
“We don’t ask questions of the people who show up,” Bill told me. “We just try to help.”
Curtis, who serves as the Hillsboro postmaster when he’s not out looking for local garden space, donations of vegetable seeds and someone willing to cultivate a few acres free of charge, was sitting at the HCP Monday morning when he said: “I’ve always told myself that if I ever have a position where I can make a difference and help others, I’m going to do it.”
And he is. Another effort that Curtis and all the area postal carriers are undertaking is the 19th annual Stamp Out Hunger campaign on Saturday, May 14. The campaign has become the nation’s largest single-day food drive.
Last year, letter carriers collected a record-setting total of more than 77 million pounds of food donations along their postal routes, pushing the 18-year total to more than 1 billion pounds of food.
Again this year, rural residents are encouraged to place a sturdy bag containing non-perishable foods next to their mailboxes prior to their regular mail delivery May 14.
* * *
On a more somber topic, since I’ve been asked by a reader or two about the finality of terrorist Osama bin Laden and the public disclosure of the evidence, let me share the thoughts of the late William F. Buckley on the finality of another monster, Saddam Hussein.
(And, no, I didn’t “Google” this information as many are prone to do these days. I still have many of Mr. Buckley’s great literary magazines, including the Jan. 29, 2007 publication.)
In commenting on Hussein’s ultimate demise (execution by hanging), WFB wrote: “The United States, as a general proposition, does not permit moving pictures of death scenes. Sometimes these are taken for the record, but not for public exhibition. Some of the photos taken of the medical proceedings after the shooting of President Kennedy have not yet been released. The delicate question has to do with prurience. Do we wish to make possible the gratification of that sense?”
Mr. Buckley adds that there “are always those who believe that there should be no censorship of any public event.”
You’ll have that.
So as I’m writing this while enjoying a rare, clear spring sunset, with my wife’s favorite black Labrador at my feet, I ask Mocha: “Are you OK with bin Laden’s eradication as we know it?”
“Woof!,” Mocha answered in the affirmative.
Me, too.
So back to the original question: No, I do not have any innate desire to view the terrorist’s final moments on YouTube or anywhere else. I listened to President Obama’s Sunday night (May 1) address to the nation as well as his interview with Steve Kroft on “60 Minutes” the following Sunday.
The president’s answers made sense to me. The national security team and the U.S. Armed Forces eliminated a known terrorist whose final breaths are of little additional concern.
While there may be any number of issues on which to criticize the president, this isn’t one of them. Mission accomplished.
* * *
Highland County Press columnist and 700 WLW Radio talk show host Eric “The Bulldog” Deters will be the guest speaker at the Monday, Aug. 1 meeting of the Highland County TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party at the Hi-TEC Center on Hillsboro’s North High Street.
In his spare time, Mr. Deters also is an author, lawyer and restaurant owner.
Somehow, he still finds time for public speaking. He doesn’t charge a fee, either.
He does promise his own unique “blend of history, life and humor like no other speaker.”
Highland County TEA Party President Ken Ludwick has scheduled a gifted speaker who’s sure to entertain and inform at the Aug. 1 meeting. We look forward to it.
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]