PAGE 4A
THE DEARBORN COUNTY REGISTER
THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2018
YOUR GIRL FRIDAY Joe Awad, Managing Editor Gene McCann and Dale McCann, Publishers Emeritus CONTACT REGISTER PUBLICATIONS: 126 W. High St. / Lawrenceburg, IN 47025 (812) 537-0063 / USPS 150-580
GUEST COLUMN
Citizenship question on census does no harm to immigrants Plans for the 2020 census questionnaire include one inquiry that should strike reasonable people as straightforward and valid: Are you a U.S. citizen? Some of the nation’s highest-ranking legal officers, however, are calling it offensive. Further, these dignitaries say that including it on the questionnaire would be unconstitutional. Seventeen states, seven cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Census Bureau and Commerce Department demanding that plans to include the question be dropped. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is leading this lawsuit, said the question is intended to frighten foreign-born people and “is really just an effort to punish places like New York that welcome immigrants,” according to NBC News. Intended to frighten? An effort to punish? Perhaps my colleague from New York would prefer to abolish the census all together. Other questions, though pertinent to gathering significant data points for analysis, may be personal or even invasive. Yet this group of defenders of the Constitution is focused on the question of whether one is a U.S. citizen? Well, it doesn’t take a law degree to recognize that this lawsuit is unfounded. Although I am not from New York or one of the other 16 states that filed suit, I firmly believe in the value and great legacy of immigration to our nation. In every generation, immigrants have made America better, stronger, richer, and more productive. Our diverse cultural experiences are owed in large measure to the influence of the immigrant, born on foreign soil but arrived here in search of freedom. The influence of the immigrant is part of our very heart and soul as a nation. On a personal level, my faith teaches me to embrace people from every nation and race. Take Leviticus 19:34: “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. CURTIS Love them as yourself, for you were HILL foreigners in Egypt.” How we treat immigrants in America will define much about our culture, our character and our spirit as we move forward in the 21st century. And yet welcoming legal immigrants and treating them as brothers and sisters does not require us to abandon border security, particularly in an age of increasing terrorist threats. We have the right and even the duty to monitor and regulate who is entering and leaving our country. “A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation,” as President Ronald Reagan correctly told us. Crafting practical solutions to the millions of undocumented immigrants already here does not require that we abandon the collection of data points, such as citizenship status, that can aid us in developing the comprehensive reform that we desperately require to move our nation forward. As Indiana’s attorney general, I fully support the federal government’s constitutional authority to establish and enforce immigration policy. A comprehensive immigration policy must include absolute border security; a straightforward process that encourages legal immigration; and a resolution to properly address the complexities of the millions of undocumented living in America. Gathering data on citizenship undoubtedly could aid the Congress in crafting new and effective immigration policy over the next decade. This latest lawsuit is another in a long line of efforts by various states and municipalities to thwart and ignore existing immigration law. For the good of all citizens and non-citizens alike, local and state law enforcement agencies must always cooperate with federal authorities seeking to enforce our nation’s immigration laws. In fact, they are legally bound to do so. We need not venture any further into the legal weeds to state a simple and obvious conclusion: The federal government is well within its rightful authority to ask census respondents whether they are citizens. In fact, a negative response does not necessarily mean that the respondent is illegal or undocumented. Those with work or student visas are not U.S. citizens but are here lawfully. Moving ahead, let’s have meaningful debates over immigration policy. Let’s work to balance mutual goals. Let’s continue to welcome “the huddled masses” while also safeguarding national security. But let’s do so in a straightforward manner rather than through legal gamesmanship and inflammatory rhetoric. All sides can do better in this regard. Curtis Hill is Indiana’s attorney general.
Submit a guest column ■ As another means of enabling our readers to express themselves, we invite you to submit materials for guest columns. ■ Personal experiences, in the first person, are particularly sought. Topics of personal interest or about another person are
of interest to our readers.
■ Guest columns can be submitted to Register Publications, 126 W. High St., Lawrenceburg, IN 47025; or via e-mail at jawad@registerpublications.com.
Pondering the problems of perfect attendance The other day my youngest son arrived home very happy. School was over for the year. He was free. What was there to worry about? But that night before he went to sleep he started crying. Out of the blue, tears started rapidly streaming down his cheeks. I asked him what was wrong. “Why do I never receive perfect attendance awards?,” he sobbed. Turns out that during the school awards ceremony many of his friends, at the very least, received awards for perfect attendance. He came home empty-handed. Overall, I have told both my sons that you are not always going to win an award. Work hard, be a good person and your time will arrive. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. I have received many awards for writing. But you will never see me win an award for geometry. When it comes to geometry, I am undoubtedly obtuse. (Nice angle, right?) Yet, I have a problem with the overemphasis many schools place on PERFECT attendance. Now to put this opinion in perspective, I am a former perfect attendance obsessive.
I still have the medal I received my senior year of high school for four years of perfect attendance. Of course, attendance is very important. I understand emphasizing not skipping too many school days to leave early on vacation or sleep in because you stayed up too late the night before. DENISE In the case of my FREITAG youngest son, I will BURDETTE admit he is not sad when he has to miss school. There is no weeping when he has to stay home for one, two or three days. Doctors orders! Almost all the times he has stayed home, however, have been due to illness. Just this winter/spring alone my little germ magnet has battled the flu (yes he had a flu shot), pneumonia, an ear infection, and strep throat. Sometimes I wonder if one reason why he has so many problems is kids who are sent to school when they really should be resting at home. I would rather he lose perfect attendance than spread germs to half the kids in town. There are times when the only positive aspect of perfect attendance is a strep test. I have seen some schools through
the years give away prizes, such as tickets to Kings Island, for perfect attendance. Even though the attendance perfectionist lurking inside my psyche loves that idea, the mom who sees her kid get sick over and over must ponder the possible downside. There also are times I have no choice but to take my kids out of school for a doctor appointment. It is not possible for every parent to schedule all the kids’ doctor appointments after school. There are just not enough slots. I always try my best to make sure they miss as little of the school day as possible. I doubt parent duels for afternoon doctor appointments would be very helpful overall. So with tears still streaming down his face, I tell him about the all the riches and fame I received from my perfect attendance in high school. (Or perhaps the lack thereof.) Almost perfect attendance is just fine with me if he is happy and healthy- at least as healthy as a little germ magnet can be in this world. Denise Freitag Burdette is assistant editor for The Dearborn County Register and Journal-Press.
GUEST COLUMN
REMC has its eyes on rights-of-way Southeastern Indiana REMC has a service territory spanning seven counties - Dearborn, Franklin, Jefferson, Jennings, Ohio, Ripley and Switzerland. We have a lot of trees and rugged terrain in these counties, and we are working hard to reclaim the right-ofway’s to improve our reliability. Right now, trees are the number one cause of blinks and outages. The emerald ash borer has caused us a lot of problems over the past couple of years. This invasive REMC beetle is highly destructive to the ash trees in our area. In 2017 alone, we had to cut 1,598 ash trees. Your board of directors always has taken reliability seriously, which is why we have one of the highest and most aggressive right-of-way budgets in the state. As we sat down to discuss and develop our strategic goals and initiatives for the next three to five years, one of the topics that rose to the top was the need to adjust our existing right-of-way program to improve our reliability. Last fall, your REMC changed from “time and material” to “price-permile” bidding. For 2018, we have bid 525 miles between two contractors for “ground-
to-sky” trimming. Asplundh will be completing the work on the Five-Points and Logan substations and Townsend will be completing the work on the Suman substation. Comer contracting will be completing 425 miles of fecon mower work on the Texas and Blue Creek substations. The counties that will be affected by the work by Townsend Tree Service on the Sunman sub include Dearborn and Ripley, with most in Ripley. The counties that will be affected by the work being done by Asplundh on the five-points sub will include Switzerland and Jefferson counties, and on the Logan sub, Dearborn County. The counties that will be affected by the work being done by Comer Contracting on the Texas sub will be southern Dearborn and Ohio counties and on the Blue Creek sub, Franklin and Dearborn counties. Our spraying contractor will work on the Enterprise sub this year, which will affect Switzerland and Ohio counties. Right-of-way easements are 40-foot “ground-to-sky.” Residential and yard trees are bid to be cut 10-foot below the neutral. After this, if it’s safe for members to pay for shaping their own trees, they have that option. If it’s not safe, the only other option is to let our contractor cut it down.
Many times, members forget or don’t pay attention to it, but everyone with service signs a contract that states that no trees are allowed under our lines. We are doing all of this to help cut down on outages caused by trees, which (as I said earlier) is the number one cause of our outages. This will also help get us on a rotation schedule, where members know they will see us again in five years. With the changes we are making; we expect our right-of-way costs to come way down. This will also mean that lights won’t blink as much when a storm goes through. Fewer outages will result in less overtime payed and fewer miles on our fleet vehicles. Our mission is to provide safe, reliable power to you, our members. We are working hard to live up to that promise. We know you depend on us and we take that very seriously. We should be starting about July 2018 and be finished by December 2018. Southeastern Indiana REMC, located in Osgood, is a member owned electric distribution cooperative serving more than 26,000 members in Dearborn, Franklin, Jefferson, Jennings, Ohio, Ripley and Switzerland counties. For more information about the cooperative, visit seiremc.com.
HOOSIER HIGHLIGHTS
1919: Tarkington wins Pulitzer Prize May 27 - June 2 This Week in Indiana History 1820 -Commissioners appointed by Governor Jonathan Jennings traveled into Central Indiana in search of a site for a new state capital. They were guests at the farm of William Conner, whose home is now part of the Conner Prairie Museum complex. ■■■ 1907 - President Theodore Roosevelt was in Indianapolis to dedicate the statue of Major General Henry Lawton in front of the Marion County Courthouse. He also placed flowers on the grave of Former President Benjamin Harrison at Crown Hill Cemetery. ■■■ 1919 - Indiana author Booth Tarkington was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Magnificent Ambersons. Three years later he won another Pulitzer for Alice Adams. ■■■ 1922 - Lillian Gay Berry and Juliette Maxwell became the first women to be named full professors at Indiana University. Berry taught Latin and Maxwell was director of women’s physical education. ■■■ 1934 - The Veterans Civilian Con-
servation Corps began work on improvements to Brown County State Park, which had opened in 1929. The workers constructed many buildings, along with roads and trails. ■■■ INDIANA 1967 - Dedication ceremonies STATE were held for the TOURING Elwood Haynes Museum in the inventor’s home in Kokomo. Haynes was an early manufacturer of automobiles and helped in the development of stainless steel and the metal alloy stellite.
Did you know?
The statue of Maj. Gen. Henry Lawton, was dedicated by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907. The statue now stands in Garfield Park on the south side of Indianapolis. Guided Tours of the Indiana Statehouse are offered six days a week. For more information, go to captours@ idoa.in.gov, or call 1-317-233-5293.