RIP: Sharon Raymond

My Jr. High school choir director, and my high school choreographer, Sharon Raymond, passed away recently. Sharon and her husband Gene, who was the high school director, had founded the Mooresville Spotlighter show choir back in the mid '70s. It was one of the very first show choirs in the Midwest, and has gone on to become one of the premiere show choirs in the country over the past 40 years, and is still nationally known today.

I was a member of the Spotlighters for 3 years in high school, as both a guitarist and a performer. And I have had the privilege of serving as the emcee for the annual Spotlighter Invitational since its inception in 1993, an event they had dreamed of starting, and was ultimately launched a few years after they left Mooresville.

They had lived out of state for many years, but upon her passing, her family had decided to hold a memorial service for her back here in Indiana. They were kind enough to allow me to say a few words, as one of her former students. Here is what I offered at the service:

Like many of you, I met Sharon Raymond in 7th Grade. Initially, in my under-developed, adolescent mind, if you had asked me what I thought about her then, I would have told you that she wasn’t my favorite teacher in the world. She was loud, and brash, a little bit scary, and not in any way afraid to let you have it when you weren’t doing things as she would like them done.

But it didn’t take long, even at that young age, to begin to appreciate her love and passion for her job, and for her students. And for some reason, she saw a talent in me that I’m not sure I even knew I had at the time. By the next year, she had placed me in the select choir in 8th Grade at Paul Hadley — PH Factor. She gave me my first solo, a number during which I was supposed to sing and shimmy, like Elvis.

Prior to performing our first show for our parents, we performed that show for the rest of the students at school during lunch. I was ready — I shimmied up to the microphone stand, grabbed the mic like Elvis would do, and promptly smacked myself right in the teeth with it, causing the sound system to screech as though it had frapped out. I don’t know how many of you here today might remember that, but as I do not embarrass easily anymore, I can assure you I remember it well.

My freshman year, I met Gene for the first time. I was in the Freshman choir and found out soon enough that not only did Sharon teach at the Jr. High, but she choreographed all the choirs at the high school. Like most Freshman, after I saw the Spotlighters for the first time, I knew I wanted to be in that group.

My sophomore year, I joined the group as the guitar player. Some of you might not remember that, because I wasn’t very good at it. But I was the only Sophomore male to make the group that year. I felt pretty cool. Until, that is, I had to go to my first Spotlighter class and sit next to Tony West and Mike Bridgewater. THOSE guys were cool, and I was instantly humbled.

The next 3 years were some of the best years of my life. Being in Spotlighters, and spending my junior year in Gene’s music theory class provided me with some of the best memories of my teenage years. And as I’ve continued to earn at least a portion of my income over the years as a musician and entertainer, the lessons I learned from Gene and Sharon during that time have been invaluable to me as an adult.

Being in high school, we obviously spent more time with Gene than we did Sharon over those years, seeing her only on the few days she would come to class during the day to teach us our choreography, and again at our evening practices and our performances themselves.

Most of my memories from that time center around the interaction I had with my friends and fellow Spotlighters. I could probably share with you 20 or 30 stories about Sharon, and probably have forgotten 20 or 30 more. But here’s something I think we all remember:

She was a crier.

Not a wailer, or a bawler, mostly just tears and sniffles. But she would cry at the drop of a hat. She’d cry when we did a particularly good performance, and she’d cry when we stunk up the place. She’d cry when she had to yell at us for something, or she’d cry when we nailed our ballad. She’d cry when she talked about her kids. She’d cry telling us about a song she’d heard, or a movie she’d watched that moved her to tears. I can still remember the day after she’d seen the movie Dirty Dancing for the first time. She came to class raving about the dancing and choreography in the film. She told us all to go see it right away. And she cried the entire time she told us about it.

You could carry on an entire conversation with her, with tears streaming down her face, and her sniffling away.

Most often, we, as students, have to grow up, graduate and move on before we are able to see our teachers as the humans they are, before we realize the love and the passion they have for what they do, and to see how cool they really are.

I was fortunate to have a close relationship with several of my teachers, that was able to reach beyond the barriers of the normal parent-teacher relationship. Gene and Sharon weren’t just my choir teachers. They were my friends. But many of you in this room today had that same type of relationship with Gene and Sharon that I did. Because it is what they allowed us to do. They invited us into their lives and shared with us that passion they had for the perfect song, the perfect move, the perfect performance.

We CALLED them Gene and Sharon, for crying out loud. How many teachers did you address by their first name? I don’t remember many of us at all calling them Mr. and Mrs. Raymond. But then, maybe we should have after all.

All those tears Sharon used to cry… we all saw it pretty quickly. It was her passion. That’s really what we’re all here to celebrate today. A life FULL of passion. And she passed that on to all of us. Look around you. We’re not here because of some great dance move she came up with. We’re all here because she placed something into each of us that we’ve never been able to shake.

I’ve seen Gene and Sharon maybe 3 times since they moved away. Only the few times they’ve come back to serve as judges for the Spotlighter Invitational, an event I’m so thankful I get to be involved in every year. I bet some of you haven’t seen them for 30 years or more.

And yet, here you are. Why? Because she means something to you. She means something to all of us. She instilled something in us — her passion and her love for what she did — and that will be with us forever. We will never forget it, and we will never forget her.

I’m thankful they were my teachers. I learned and trained under the absolute best. But I’m even more proud to call her and Gene my friends. To all her family, I’m so sorry for your loss, and my wife and I offer you our deepest sympathies. Thank you all for allowing me a few minutes to honor such a wonderful person. Like you, I will miss her.

Donald Trump: Yea or Nay?

First, I want to say clearly that this is not my endorsement of Donald Trump. My goal with this is to first explain why he is winning and continues to resonate with so many voters, and second to suggest what we, as Conservative voters, should do when and if Trump wins the nomination.

To begin, I believe the best two candidates for the Presidency were the first two men to drop out of the race -- Gov. Scott Walker from Wisconsin and Gov. Rick Perry from Texas. Those two men had the most experience -- and the most success -- doing the things in their state that so badly needs to be done on the federal level. And one of the bottom dwellers still -- Dr. Ben Carson -- would make a fantastic President.

Moreover, I believe fully that any of the Republican candidates so far -- including Trump, Rand Paul and Chris Christie -- would have made fine Presidents, despite any individual faults, and certainly would have been far better than Obama, or Hillary or Sanders could ever hope to be. I believe this to be one of the best crops of Republican candidates we've had in some time, as an overall group.

The reasons for Donald Trump's ascension in the polls, and his position atop the GOP ladder right now are very simple. So simple, in fact, that I've been shocked at even the media dope's inability to figure it out.

He's not one of them. Nothing more, and nothing less.

He doesn't fit in the box. He's an outsider. He's not a political insider, and he's not a media darling, at least not in the sense that they control him. Never has been. He plays by his own rules, even if those rules change on a daily basis. If they do, Trump himself decides the changes, not anyone else.

Rush Limbaugh has been saying for years that there is an extreme disconnect between the Washington elites and the rest of us "out there." And he's right. The Washington establishment -- Democrat and Republican included -- have simply lost touch with he people. As a collective group, they truly do not know what's going on out in the real world. They spend their election cycles bashing each other, and when they get elected, they quickly forget that they work for the people. They are not elected to go further their own agenda; they are elected to further their constituents' agenda.

Which is why all the talk about "getting along" and "reaching across the aisle" and "compromising for the greater good" is all horse-puckey. We all, no matter who we are, elect our representatives to go do what we want them to do. Not to compromise with the other side. I don't want my representative, Todd Rokita, to "work" with Obama. I want him to defeat Obama's agenda, because I think it's bad for America. And if we can all be honest, that's what we all want our reps to do; defeat the other side. It's been that way forever.

But the problem increasingly has been that once our representatives get to Washington, they seem to have a brain fart and forget what we sent them there to do. Once they become a part of the establishment, they begin acting and voting the way they think THEY ought to, rather than the way their constituents mandated them to. (See: GOP landslide win in November, and Obamacare.) And without Congressional term-limits, they're pretty much left to their own devices, because most voters don't see the problem in their own guy or gal, but rather believe it to be a problem with all the others.

And there's an additional issue at play as well. Voters, especially Conservative voters, are simply fed up with all the political-correctness, the dumbing down of society, the absolute bone-headedness of the left (See: A washed-up, old, transgender whacko who hasn't competed in anything in nearly 40 years wins a sportsman courage award) and the entitlement-mentality that has permeated and denigrated our society almost to the point of no return. Cops can't do their jobs, illegal immigrants get free and better healthcare than our veterans, and you can't say or do ANYTHING that doesn't offend someone else. We're sick and tired of it all.

Enter Donald Trump. FINALLY, someone saying the things, and often DOING the things, we all really want to say and do and yet don't have the guts to pull off. Trump doesn't care. He simply does not care who he offends, who he ticks off, and who doesn't like him. He may often be wrong, but he's gonna say what's on his mind and what he believes. And that is resonating with the vast majority of the Conservative voters "out there" who have come to believe that no one in Washington speaks for them anymore.

That's why they ignore all his faults and slip-ups. Because the truth is, ALL the candidates have faults -- some more than others -- but they are willing to overlook those with the one guy who seems to be telling it like it is, and not speaking in the same old tired Washington-ease. The voters are fed-up with the Establishment, and they're letting it be known.

You may say he doesn't speak for you, and that's OK. But in a way, he does indeed. You see, before he was a viable Presidential candidate, you made him into the billionaire he is. You bought his products, you stayed in his hotels, you gambled at his casinos, and mostly, you watched his TV shows, and fed the advertising that fueled every media outlet who covered his every move. You did all this because you were OK with him being a sideshow. You never thought that sideshow would someday try to run the country.

And it is now that sideshow that is fueling his campaign bid. He's played the whole thing like a genius. He boasts about how he has spent the least amount of money of any candidate. That's because the media has whored out his every move, his every word. He doesn't HAVE to spend money on advertising because the media splashes every little thing he says or does across the front page every day. And moreover, they've turned every campaign issue into a battle between the candidates. They don't care about the candidates' position on an issue. They care about what Trump has to SAY about the issue, and what the other candidates reaction to his statements will be. They don't care about a wall; they care about what kind of wall Trump wants to build, and they care about what the other candidates think about Trump's wall. It's reality TV at its finest. Trump knows it, and has played it to the hilt, far better than all the other candidates.

That's why I stopped watching the Republican debates. Not one of them -- NOT ONE -- has been about the issues. They have all been about whatever Trump has said about the issues, and the other candidates' reaction to Trump's thoughts and words. Never did a moderator ask, "Mr Bush, what do you think about immigration?" Instead, they asked, "Mr Bush, Donald Trump said {this} about immigration. What do you think about that?"

And Jeb Bush took the bait, to his detriment. And so have all the others. They all spent all their time fighting with Trump, just like the media set it up, to the point that they never got their own message out. I like Jeb Bush. But he cut his own throat but worrying WAY too much about Trump.

Does anybody REALLY care about what Donald Trump thinks about David Duke? (I bet half of YOU don't know who David Duke is.) No, they don't. But it makes great TV.

I quit watching after the third debate because I saw what it was all about. There's been 10 or so now because they're the best Reality TV on the air, and the networks know it. And so does Donald Trump. Unfortunately, the rest of the candidates still haven't figured it out.

So, where does all this leave us? Well, as I write this, it is Super Tuesday, and Trump is more or less lapping the rest of the field. It's a pretty sure bet that at this point, he is going to be the GOP nominee. (There still could be some shenanigans behind the Republican scene that will try to pull the rug out from under him, and if that happens, there's a good chance Trump will go independent, but lets ignore that for now.)

If Donald Trump is the GOP nominee, I will vote for him hands down.

Let me be clear, he's not my first choice, not from the beginning, and not now among the remaining candidates. Given the chance, I will vote for Ted Cruz, for many reasons. But being from Indiana, our late-in-the-season primary will likely ensure that I won't get that chance, or at least that chance won't matter much, as the nomination will likely be locked up before I get to cast a primary vote.

But if it is indeed Trump, I will vote for him.

No, not because I'm a die-hard, tow-the-line, Republican. I will do so because I believe, despite all his faults, that he is considerably smarter, and far more qualified for the job that needs to be done at the federal level than Hillary or Bernie Sanders.

Trump is infinitely more qualified now for the job than was Obama when he was elected in 2008. Obama was as clueless about things as Trump is on many subjects, AND had far less experience in running a business and global finance issues than does Trump. In fact, Obama had no experience in ANYTHING -- at all.

And remains clueless about most things almost eight years later. Hillary is Hillary. She's no different today -- aside from adding criminal, felonious activities to her resume -- than she was eight years ago when she couldn't beat a nobody from Illinois with zero experience. And Bernie Sanders? Please. Did you ever dream that we would actually be considering an admitted socialist as the President of the United States? Ever? I have to re-read that sentence just to remind myself that its actually really happening. A socialist! Yeah, like the one in Germany some years back.

The truth is that this election really might come down to the lesser of two evils, if indeed you see Trump as evil. But here's the problem: I've had friends -- good, intelligent friends, who are smart -- tell me that they cannot and will not vote for Donald Trump. Christian friends of mine have shared the fact that we can't vote for a Godless man like Trump. (Which, of course, presumably means they cannot vote for Clinton or Sanders either.)

And so the question is, who do you believe will do the least damage? A good friend of mine stated, "The choice seems to be slow poison or the electric chair," which, at the end of the day, may sum up our options. Then again, what if Trump is for real? Because the truth at this point is not so much that he's saying the wrong things, as far as Conservatives are concerned, but rather what he's saying doesn't jive with the things he's said in the past.

The basis for his non-Conservative support seems to swirl around the idea that he's not really a Conservative at all, and we're all falling for his schtick, which is just a ploy to get elected. Tickle the itching ears, as it were. But my answer to that is this: If he just wanted to get elected, he could just as easily have run as a Democrat. You don't think Trump would be slaughtering Hillary or Sanders right now? He'd win the Democrat vote in a heartbeat, because 1) Liberals LOVE guys like Trump usually, and 2) Liberals will vote for whoever you put in front of them.

Trump would never have had to deal with what he's dealing with now on the Democrat side. So why travel that road? Is there a chance he's sincere in his beliefs, and his "conversion," as it were? Is it possible he has seen the light and truly believes in the Conservative tenets he's so earnestly trying to adhere to now? Reagan used to be a Democrat, you know. (Please, don't plaster me with the stupidity of trying to compare Trump to Reagan. I'm not.) I'm just saying that it does happen. People do switch sides, and often times for very good reasons. Maybe Trump believes in what he says after all. We can look at past behavior all we want. If choosing him is thrust upon us, what else can we do but hope he is being sincere now?

I'd rather take my chances with someone who, though he has some question marks (as do all the other candidates), has so far has been willing to fight on my side, rather than someone who I KNOW stands against everything I believe in, and who's stated policies, beliefs, and intentions have NEVER done anything but topple nations. Hillary and Bernie have both had their chances in Washington. Has either of them done one thing to help the country?

Not voting at all is simply not an option. (I'm of the opinion that everyone of voting age should be required to vote.) Because not voting at all is casting a vote for the other side. (5 million registered Republican voters did not vote in 2012 because they didn't like Romney. Obama's win in the general election was barely over 3 million votes. You do the math.)

And for all his faults, Trump does indeed bring some things to the table that Hillary and Sanders do not. And as a Christian, I vote my morality as much as I possibly can, but I've also long believed that our government should get out of the business of trying legislate our morality. (Our founding fathers did a nice job of establishing moral principles for us. Most everyone else along the way has screwed it up.) If I can't vote for someone who shares my Christian values, all things being equal, I'm going to vote for the person most qualified for the job. I can't fathom that anyone could truly believe that Sanders or Hillary is any more qualified than is Trump.

So yes, I will vote for Donald Trump if he is the choice I have.

The Park in Downtown Mooresville

Until now, I have chosen to stay out of the debate regarding the “beautification” of Mooresville, and kept my opinions to myself regarding the proposed downtown park at Indiana and Main Streets.

Until now.

I should preface this by disclosing that it would be easy for me to keep quiet and ignore the issue because, as many now know, we are planning to relocate out of state in the near future. It would be easy to simply turn my head and say, “In a few months, it’s not my problem.”

As my wife and I prepare to move to warmer climes and sandier earth, we do so with a twinge of melancholy. Mooresville is our home. We are born and raised here. We grew up here, graduated school here, fell in love here, married here, worked and raised our family here. Mooresville is all I’ve ever known. It is my hometown, and forever will be, no matter where our house is located. I love this town, and always will. And I love it’s people even more.

Which is why it saddens me to see and hear the infighting going on right now. Usually, I jump right in. But this is one that goes deeper than having some flighty opinion about it on Facebook. I would hope that at some point, we can all see that really all any of us want is a better Mooresville, a town that is inviting and open to new families, and we can all find some common ground on seeing that happen.

First, the facts, put as simply as possible.

Many years ago, Mooresville was given the opportunity to annex the entire development of Heartland Crossing. For a variety of reasons — some that were just dumb, and others that had a hint of logic — the decision to do so was rejected.

Flash forward a few years. A ballot measure was introduced in an attempt to raise taxes to build a new high school. It too was rejected.

Those two decisions did more to harm and stunt the growth of the Town of Mooresville over the past decade and a half than any other single decision.

The reasons are simple. First, Heartland Crossing was a huge boom in terms of population and tax revenue over the past 15 years. Unfortunately, because Mooresville chose not to annex the development, most of that boom went to neighboring towns and counties. Most of the children in Heartland Crossing went to other schools, and the tax money went to other towns. Indeed, it was hard to envision what Heartland would become all the way back in 1999 and 2000, but the short-sightedness is evident today.

As Plainfield and Avon in Hendricks County, and Center Grove and Franklin in Johnson County spent huge sums of money to either build new, or make huge additions to their high schools, Mooresville refused to do so. (To be fair, we have recently made a significant improvement to our high school without raising taxes, but it did little to increase its size and capacity, and was much more of a makeover than an addition.)

What did this mean? Census numbers show that from 2000-2010, population numbers boomed in Hendricks and Johnson counties, particularly in families wth school-aged children, while Morgan County numbers remained flat. Moreover, were it not for the additions Morgan County DID receive from Heartland Crossing during that time, our census numbers would have plummeted.

Which means, simply, “if you build it, they will come.” Many in Mooresville ridiculed Plainfield at the time as they were spending millions of dollars to build a new school complex. We mocked the idea of spending $8 million — or whatever it was — on a new football stadium. But it drew — and continues to draw — families to that community. It’s a sad reality we live in, I’ll admit, but if most school administrators were honest, they would tell you, spending more money on teachers doesn’t draw people. Building a new football stadium does. In the end, they have more than made up for what they spent with the addition of so many taxpayers to their town, and the resulting businesses that followed to gladly sell their wares to the town folk.

When I asked the county official who shared those census numbers with me if he thought the numbers reflected the new schools in Hendricks and Johnson counties, and our refusal to build our own, his reply was, “Absolutely.”

So, what does all this have to do with a downtown park in the middle of Mooresville today?

Quite a bit, actually.

First, as any business owner will tell you in Mooresville, Heartland Crossing has pretty much become the place for Mooresvillians to shop and eat. The center of commerce has shifted away from Downtown, away from the Kroger parking lot, away from the Bridge St. complex on 67, all the way out to Heartland. Which wouldn’t be so bad in and of itself if Mooresville was actually reaping the revenue benefits of that shift, which, by and large, it does not.

While there are, to be sure, many viable and profitable businesses within the town limits, even those that are legitimate destination spots, the reality is that the shopping and dining focus for many in Mooresville lies in Heartland Crossing, (and neighboring towns) and the town reaps very little of the benefit of those dollars.

As for the school, that ballot measure was defeated for one simple reason: Mooresville is, by and large, an old town. A great deal of its inhabitants have lived here for decades. And many of them no longer have kids in the school system. And many of them, unfortunately, are short-sighted enough to essentially say, “I no longer have a dog in that fight, so why should I vote to have my tax dollars raised?” It’s a vicious cycle. The fewer families you have with school-aged children, the less voters you have willing to raise taxes to pay for a school. And the sad truth is that more people WITHOUT children voted no because they didn’t want their taxes raised, than did people WITH children who supported a new school. As families who have children saw that reluctance in the town, more of them relocated to other towns that were spending the money. And the decline continues.

So what’s left? For years, town officials have lived by the mantra that if we keep our property taxes low, people will come to live here. While that seems logical — and Mooresville indeed has some of the lowest property taxes around — it isn’t working, as we’ve seen by the aforementioned census numbers. And hasn’t worked for some time, as it turns out.

Attracting more business to within the town limits has shown some promise. And the town and the Economic Development Commission have made strides in that regard. But that remains a daunting task, especially when those same short-sighted townsfolk give so much pushback on the tax breaks and incentives that are virtually required to attract such business.

So, in the absence of a new school, and with the difficulty in attracting new business, beautification projects become more and more important. Simply put, you’ve got to find a way to make the town visually inviting enough to make people who wouldn’t otherwise come into town WANT to, to visit the businesses that ARE there.

I’ve felt for years that Mooresville should aspire to do what Nashville, IN has done. And that is, to make it more of a tourist destination. And there’s no reason that couldn’t happen. Nashville doesn’t really offer anything Mooresville doesn’t have.

And that starts with beautification. But therein lies the rub, and the crux of the debate we have going on right now.

Just to be clear, I have seen and heard and read many viable arguments and concerns on both sides of the issue. The truth is that both sides make reasonable points that should be considered. And while I think it would be wise to touch on some of those issues, I want to try to stay focused on the bigger picture.

First, the dollars. While it is true that the town has secured what can essentially be called loans to fund some of these projects, what is also true is that a good deal of the funding has come from tax dollars that have not only already been collected, but that are also exclusively earmarked for projects such as these. They CANNOT be used otherwise, and are essentially forfeited if they are not spent. So in essence, we CAN’T spend those dollars on, say, more teachers. They HAVE to be spent on beautification projects.

What is also true is that some of the funding has come from both state and federal grants. So, while there is a genuine concern about the town acquiring debt to fund these projects, and there is also a genuine concern over what funds will be used to maintain these projects in the long term, the reality is that a good deal of these funds were already available exclusively for projects like these, and must be used as such, or lost to the town. Essentially, the town would be leaving money on the table if it DIDN’T spend it to spruce things up.

Second, the park. And the parking it would replace. I’m sorry, but I have to admit that this one issue on which I fall to the side of the town.

I know virtually every argument has been made in this regard, but I’ll go ahead and make mine. If you visit other towns similar in size and scope to ours (and Nashville is another good example here) you will be hard pressed to find a parking lot smack dab in the middle of town. It is not at all uncommon to find parking lots a block, and sometimes several blocks away. While street parking remains — as it would here — in a town like Nashville, most parking lots are blocks away from the main hub of town. It does not deter people from visiting downtown.

What are we talking about? 18-20 spaces or so? First, RARELY is that parking lot full, at anytime of the day, at anytime of the week. And I’ve been watching for this very reason. Second, virtually every business downtown that has patrons who use that lot is a business who’s patrons are not REQUIRED to be there. What I mean is this: It’s not like a BMV, or a Dr.’s office where you HAVE to go occasionally even if you don’t want to.

No, instead they are businesses essentially where people only visit if they want to. Go up and down the street. Insurance agents, salons and boutiques, knick-knack shops, restaurants, mortgage offices, a flower shop, private service businesses, etc. They’re all businesses people only go to WHEN THEY WANT TO. What does that mean? It means that if you want to go to eat at Zydeco’s, or buy flowers from Bud and Bloom, or get your hair cut at Beauty Call, or buy jewelry at Iconic Brilliance, you’re probably going to, even if you can’t park right next door.

Think about it this way: When you want to go to the Greenwood Mall, you go, even if you have to park at the very end of the parking lot. You don’t just leave if you can’t get into one of the first two or three spots. And think about this: Parking at the end of the lot of Greenwood Mall is actually a farther distance from the mall than, say, parking a block or even two away from Zydeco’s.

All I’m saying is, looking at it as a consumer myself, and despite the cries of doom otherwise, I find it very hard to believe that the loss of that downtown lot’s 18 or 20 spaces will signal the end of the line for any business down there. Given the availability of parking that will remain on the street, next to both Citizens bank locations, and next to the Town Center, I would be hard-pressed to think that the loss of those spaces will cause that much trouble. I’m no engineer, of course, I’m just trying to look at it logically.

As for the Park itself, what is so bad? I mean, would there be this much hoopla about it if it WASN’T replacing a parking lot? What is so terrible about having a nice little park where people can sit and relax, or go to watch a summer concert, right in the middle of downtown? It is a destination spot. Perhaps someone might like to sit and enjoy a summer evening outside after having just eaten at Ralph and Ava’s. Or better yet, what if someone went to the park to enjoy a show, and then said, “Hey, while we’re here, let’s have a bite at Ralph and Ava’s.”

I’m sorry, I just don’t see the problem, and I don’t understand the sheer hatred I’ve seen about it. It’s a Park! So what if you think it’s silly. So what if you won’t visit. It’s a Park! What is so terrible?

The signs, and the torch, at both ends of the entrances to the town are nice. Have you seen them? They look good. And so does the landscaping. (Although they’re going to have to figure out a better drainage system.) Have you ever driven through downtown Plainfield, or Carmel, or Westfield, and thought, “Wow, this looks good.”

Why can’t Mooresville look good? (As an aside.... think what you want, but isn't the torch cool looking?)

And in the end, whether we like it or not, it’s one of the only ways we’re going to be able to attract people into downtown, whether to visit or shop, or even move their family here. Beautification, for better or worse, is one of the few tools we have left to attract people to Mooresville.

There are legitimate concerns as to the long-term maintenance of these projects, and the funding for that maintenance. And there are good, upstanding Mooresville people who care deeply about this town who have rightly been asking for proper answers to those concerns. But that concern alone isn’t worth killing the whole thing off and leaving things unchanged. If properly thought out and planned, this could indeed be a first step into transforming Mooresville into a true destination location, and possibly a cool little tourist stop.

How to Win the War.

You realize, of course, that there is only one way to defeat ISIS? You know what it is, right?

It's the one thing we wouldn't do in Korea, in Vietnam, and so far, in the Middle East.

We started to do it in Japan in 1945, but the Japanese surrendered as soon as they saw we were serious.

It will also mean collateral damage in the form of innocent lives, which is the primary reason we don't do it.

Complete, and utter annihilation.

Indeed, it is the only thing that will truly defeat ISIS, and Al Queda, and the Taliban, for that matter. We must wipe them from existence. It is the only course of action that will truly defeat them, once and for all.

We have the capability. We just don't have the stomach for it.

The problem is simple: these little mamby-pamby bombing raids do little more then flush them out of their holes and force them to move elsewhere. We're celebrating France's response to the horrible attacks they suffered last week as "heroic" and "massive" and so forth. But the truth is that the United States has been bombing Muslim terrorist outposts for years, and it has done little, if anything, to stop them.

And diplomacy... please. Not with these neanderthals.

France will drop their share of bombs because they're pissed off -- right now. In a few months, this will all blow by and we'll all be standing around for whenever and wherever the next terrorist attack will occur.

President Obama -- capitulation and weakness personified -- is on the news this very moment telling everybody how awful these terrorists are, but almost in the same sentence attempting to justify why going after them with any real force is not the best course of action, saying that putting boots on the ground would be a "mistake."

In a way, he's probably right. Because if we did put boots on the ground, we would very likely not send anywhere near enough to actually get the job done.

And they're not needed anyway. We have the technological -- and superior -- firepower to wipe them from existence once and for all, possibly without losing a single American life.

But it's that pesky collateral damage we can't get past.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not heartless enough to want to see innocent lives, especially women and children, mowed down just to get the bad guys. I also am not naive enough to not understand the international ramifications of such an endeavor. (Although I'm not sure not being "liked" by other countries is deterrent enough not to take such action.)

But I also am not blind. And I understand that when you're in war -- which we are, make no mistake -- that sometimes innocent people have to die.

I find it interesting that in the Bible, when God would order His people to make war (which He did, frequently) He often commanded His people to wipe out every living thing, including the livestock. (See I Samuel 15, and Deuteronomy 20, wherein he tells His people, "Do not leave anything that breathes.")

Why did God make such commandments? It's fairly simple, really. You cannot risk leaving behind anyone who might take up the cause against you again. You cannot risk not getting every single possible enemy. Often, the bad guys would hide behind their innocent loved ones in attempts to save themselves. And you certainly can't leave the message that you might be soft, and not fully committed to achieving your objective. You have to say, "We will win, at all costs."

Surely there are peoples in those lands who are innocent, and not supporters of the evil of ISIS, and yet, the vast, overwhelming majority are Muslim, a religion at its very core that is at enmity with God, and a Christian nation like ourselves. (Yes, we are a Christian nation, founded on the principles of the God of the Bible, despite what some numbskulls are trying to convince everyone of these days.) And it is a political ideology that by its very nature hates America and everything it stands for. When you see on the news hundreds and thousands of Muslims rioting in the streets shouting and holding signs that read, "Death to America!" what do you think they mean by that?

How are we to weed out the innocent lives anyway? There are most certainly female and child suicide bombers. Yes, forced, perhaps, in some cases. But not all. How can we tell?

You see, that was a major problem in Vietnam. In our efforts to try to weed out the good from the bad, and with all the shouts of "Baby Killers" over here, we often passed over sometimes entire villages that would claim to be "innocent." Often, like cowards, parading their wives and children out front as a ruse. Only to see them take up arms against us later. And we all know how that whole Vietnam thing turned out for us.

We have no real way of knowing, of course, which is why nothing but complete destruction will work. As was the case with Japan, the loss of innocent lives today would save the loss of millions upon millions of innocent lives in the future.

Beginning likely with Afghanistan, it must be wiped from the map. Which we are capable of doing, even without nuclear weaponry. If they don't give up then, you move to Syria, Iraq, and so forth.

Until we are willing to do that, attacks like 9/11 and now in Paris will continue, and it will be OUR innocent lives that continue to be lost. Because it is only a matter of when -- not IF -- another attack hits here on US soil.

You know it's true. It is the only way.

What is an Independent?

You realize, politically, there really is no such thing as a "moderate" or an "independent." You know that, right?

I realize that's going to ruffle some feathers, but it's true, nonetheless.

Oh sure, there are those who are frustrated with aspects of their chosen political party. Indeed, I couldn't be more frustrated with the Republican Establishment right now, who have gotten a little too comfy in their government careers here lately.

But the concept of a "moderate," or an "independent," only exists within the confines of liberalism or conservatism. While we don't have the time or space here to go into the specifics of what defines each of those ideals, what we can say is that we all fall into one of those two camps. Each of us, deep inside, aligns ourself with one side or the other.

To be sure, there are those among us who agree or disagree with various tenets that cross the line of a particular platform. In fact, it would probably be more accurate to say that very few of us agree 100% with every party line that gets drawn.

But that's not the same thing as being a "moderate" or "independent."

Those ideals are born out of the idea of not wishing to be labeled. An "independent" is nothing more than a Liberal who doesn't want to be labeled a Liberal.

You see, Liberals are really the only ones who don't like the term "liberals." That's why they created alternative terms like "progressives" and "independents."

Every time I've ever had a discussion with someone that involved classifying someone as liberal, almost without fail I've had someone who jumped in offended because they didn't like being "labeled."

But I've yet to hear anyone who identifies as being conservative ever be upset by being "labeled" a Conservative. In fact, I don't think I've ever heard anyone -- outside of professed Liberals -- who's been called a Conservative be offended by it, even if they didn't think they were one.

It's precisely why, every election cycle, one hears stories about how the Conservatives are going to be able to sway the "moderates" and the "independents" to vote for them. One never hears liberals needing to get the "independent" vote. It's presumed in most political circles that Independents are going to vote Democrat by default unless they can somehow be swayed to vote Republican.

That's because they are by default liberal. And more precisely, Liberals who don't like being called Liberals.

Moderates and Independents are not necessarily the same thing, although those who identify with either rarely know the actual difference between the two.

As I've mentioned, an Independent is a Liberal who doesn't "like" being labeled a Liberal. A Moderate, on the other hand, is an Independent who is "afraid" of being called a Conservative. Simple, yeah?

The bottom line is, Conservatives are virtually without fail proud of being conservative, and have never "needed" Moderates or Independents to win an election. In fact, if our last two Presidential elections have taught us anything, it's that the more "moderate" our Republican candidate is, the worse he get's beat. John McCain and Mitt Romney have been two of the most "moderate" candidates we've ever run, and they got their butts handed to 'em both times.

The last "ultra" conservative we ran won his two elections in landslides, and if we'd run one again, I think the results would be the same. There are a lot of Conservatives out there who are aching for their candidate to be proud to be conservative again.

It wouldn't matter what the Liberals or Moderates or Independents do.

The Hard Part of 9/11

It's easy to say we remember... that's the easy part.

It's easy to post some meme or picture on Facebook or some other social media site each anniversary. You can Google "9/11" and come up with literally hundreds of pictures from that day. Or even easier, just "share" somebody else's post or picture.

It's easy to ask yourself, "Where were you that day?" Or, "What were you doing when it all happened?" There's even a very popular song that asks those questions.

Yes indeed. That's the easy part.

The hard part is far more complicated, but so much more vital.

The question today, 14 years later, should be, "What are you doing to help make sure things like this never happen again?"

Some of us had small children when this happened, who are now all grown up. We talked with them. We tried to explain there are bad people in the world. People who hate us, and who hate everything we stand for. Yes, even people who hate God. And they hate us so much that they are willing to kill thousands of innocent people just to get their point across.

But what about you? What about those who have had children after those attacks? Have you had that same conversation with them? Have you taught them that it is important to stand up for what they believe in, and that sometimes there will be people who might want to kill them for those beliefs?

And what about our emergency responders? The people who would rather die than walk away and leave someone in danger? Do you support them now? Have you thanked a policeman, or hugged a firefighter? Or are you one of those who are spreading the idiocy that they're actually the enemy, out to get us at every turn, just waiting for some innocent victim to shoot? Just like the venom that is being spewed by our very own President now? Are you that person? Or do you really "remember?"

Speaking of our President, do you realize that in some ways, we all have George W. Bush to thank? He took the fight to them, you know. Yes, those people who every year on this date we claim we want to hold responsible... President Bush actually did that. Are you one of those people now who blame him for "two, unnecessary" wars, even as you post something on Facebook asking us to "never forget?"

Are you one of them?

Do you remember that during Bush's remaining years as President, while we took the fight to those who knocked down those towers, not another innocent American life was lost on our soil? There were no gruesome videos released almost daily of some beheading of an innocent hostage. Do you know that all those barbarians we see on TV today were all off hiding in a hole somewhere fearing for their lives because they knew the American Military was looking for them?

Are you someone who cried for a terrorist because we had to get tough with them in our interrogations, or cried because they were "mistreated" in one of our prisons? Did you cry for them when you posted your picture of the Pentagon this morning?

And how do you vote? Have you voted for leaders who truly do remember, and who want to once and for all defeat the thugs who killed 3000 people on 9/11, or have you voted for leaders who claim the whole thing was our own fault? That it's our fault those thugs don't like us and that its better to run away and leave the barbarians to their barbarian ways, rather than to stand up to them and fight them? Do you vote for leaders who believe it's better to try to negotiate and appease these people?

Is that how you've shown your children that you "remember?" Is that what you've taught your kids?

You see, posting a pic on Facebook on this date every year imploring us all to "never forget" is pointless if you've forgotten. Our world is vastly different today than it was prior to September 11, 2001, and isn't George Bush's fault. And everything you do that enables any of our leaders to somehow appease these murderous monsters, everything you do that somehow portrays us as the bad guys, betrays any attempt you make to "always remember," and worse, dishonors those innocent people and hundreds of heroes who died on 9/11.

Every time you blame a policeman for doing his job, every time you vote for a leader who doesn't absolutely promise to take the fight to the bad guys, every time you try to strip those around you of their right to stand up for their belief in God, every time you tell a citizen he doesn't have a right to pick up a gun and defend himself, you are in turn supporting the kind of people who attacked us on 9/11.

So please, if it makes you feel better to post a picture on social media on this date every year, if you feel more patriotic when you post a picture of a flag and an eagle flying around the twin towers, then great, I'm happy for you. But if you really want to do something that matters, something that shows you "never forget" and will "always remember," then do something really meaningful: Support your police force. Vote for a candidate who will stand up for America, instead of tearing it down. Teach your kids about a true, loving God, and teach them to stand up for Him even in the face of adversity. THAT'S how you "never forget." THAT'S how you honor those 3000 people who gave their lives on 9/11.

Because if you don't do it soon, our next "9/11" will be right around the corner.

The Round Hotel

My favorite hotel in the entire world sits near the bank of the Ohio River in Covington, Kentucky. It’s a round hotel that’s had five or six different names since I first stayed there in 1984. I’ve stayed there what seems like 100 times since then, although the real number is probably far less than that.

If you’ve ever been in Cincinnati, and paid attention, you’ve seen it. Heck, you may have even stayed there yourself. If you have, and you’ve stayed on the side of the hotel that overlooks the river and the Cincinnati skyline, then you may know why I love it so much.

What’s so special about this hotel, you might ask? I mean, there’s thousands of other hotels out there that are probably nicer, swankier, priced better, I don’t know. The Covington that sits below is nothing to shout about. There’s a couple other hotels I see, a Waffle House, Wendy’s, Frisches, and a Lexus dealership. There’s two Speedway gas stations, literally right next door to each other.

But I have to admit, for a Reds fan like me, the view is spectacular. And a city lit up at night is always a pretty cool sight. But it’s not the hotel, or the view, really. It’s so much more than that. It’s the memories.

I fell in love for the first time at this hotel. That very first stay way back in 1984, I had a picture of a little freckled-faced girl I’d just fell for in my pocket. I took it out and just stared at it for hours as I sat out on the balcony for the first time. I had no way of knowing then that it would never work out, but I fell anyway. And the memory has never left me.

Over the years, countless times I’ve literally taken the mattress off a roll away bed and slept on it out on the balcony, (more than ten stories up, with nothing but the railing between me and a plunge to the ground) with the roar of the traffic from the nearby interstate as my lullaby, and the wail of a fire truck as my morning alarm clock.

Many has been the time I’ve sat out on that balcony and smoked a cigar with a friend, or chatted until the wee hours of the morning, or watched a storm rage around us, with the balcony above as our only umbrella. Or just sat and stared and let the view and noise take me away.

Many times (notice the plural, again) has a wiffle ball and bat been employed as entertainment in the room, with the goal of hitting the ball out through the open balcony door to see how far it would travel in the parking lot below. On the river side, the goal, of course, was to clear the pool on the first floor. Some shot, that. This was with adults, you know, like me.

Me and most my family watched the demolition of Riverfront Stadium from the top of that hotel. The day they announced the date of the demolition, I booked two rooms in that hotel for the perfect view. I have it on video of you want to watch it.

There are names: yes, there are lots of names. Friends, family, partners in crime. Scott Moore, Paul Shupe, Danny Bradley, Scott & Ted Johnson, Kevin Uhls, Bryce Mansfield, Tammy Cooper, Tony Wilson, and so many more. All who have ventured to join me on a Reds excursion, this hotel serving our overnight stay.

I’ve stayed here when the Reds weren’t even in town. A great place for a few days getaway. The other side of the hotel offers a view of Old Town Covington. The Mainstrasse as it is known, for it’s German heritage, complete with the Clock Tower that shows the story of the Pied Piper every hour during the day.

I’ve stayed in every type of room they offer: double, king, the suites with the hot tub! I’ve dined in the revolving restaurant above, the one that offers a 360 degree view of Cincy and Covington. And I’ve looked longingly at the hotel from the windows of other hotels in which I’ve stayed in Cincy over the years. Yes, I come to Cincinnati a lot.

But the best memories I have — oh, the best of all — are the ones with my family. My wife, and my two boys.

I’m sitting out on the 11th floor balcony as I write this, in the desk chair I’ve moved out here with my laptop on my lap. It’s 1:02 in the morning. The interstate is busy as ever, and the river is as calm as I’ve seen it in a long time. It’s an absolute beautiful night. We watched the Reds win tonight, and Great American Ball Park is still lit up with a faint glow across the river. In the room, directly in my line of sight, the absolute love of my life is asleep in the bed, still in her #19 Joey Votto t-shirt. This is rough livin’, let me tell ya.

My wife and my two sons have stayed here with me more times than I can remember. And for every memory I have with them, I’m sure there are a hundred I have forgotten. And for every memory here at this hotel, there are a hundred more associated with it around the city on one of our trips here.

In the early days, before the kids, it was our go-to vacation getaway spot. Often was the time Ginger and I would sneak away for a couple days, stay in the round hotel and watch a couple Reds games. When the boys arrived, things didn’t change. They just got packed along!

As the hotel is round, as I’ve noted, the hallway on every floor goes in a complete circle. Every time we’d leave our room, the boys would run one direction, and I the other, to see who would reach the elevator first.

I bet me and my kids have splashed more water out of that pool over the years than it actually holds. And if management knew about the pillow fights, the ball playing (yes, me and the boys hit wiffle balls out of the balcony doors too — not to mention off the walls of the room) and the jumping and wrestling on the beds, they’d probably kick us out for good.

And I can’t even tell you about the memories with my wife — those are just for me and her.

I miss my boys immensely tonight as I sit out here on the balcony by myself. But I’m also boundlessly grateful for this time together with my wife. I’m excited my kids are moving on with their lives, and so looking forward to the time I will now get to spend with my wife in the coming years, God willing.

But I miss those times of the past, and a little part of me hurts. What I wouldn’t give for one more swing of the wiffle bat, or for one more pillow fight, or one more wrestle on the bed with my boys.

Perhaps they’ll find a place to make memories of their own with their own friends and families someday. And Lord willing, there will come a day when my grandkids get to hit wiffle balls out the balcony door with me. I’m looking forward to that, and so much more.

And as for me and Ginger, well, there’s more memories to be had. (A few on this excursion, already!) Because that’s all I’ve really ever wanted to do, was to make memories with her. And I intend to continue to make it a priority. Soon, we’ll be moving to a place well south of here, and home. And there will be a beautiful ocean nearby, and we will make memories there watching sunrises and sunsets.

But there will always be a place and a time for a particular round hotel. And it will be as cherished to us in the future as it has been in our past.

P.S. Thanks, Bob, for setting this up for us. We needed this one.