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Page 4 • The News-Banner • THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 2012
Remain vigilant to keep
children safe from harm
The tragedy of just one innocent child dying from
neglect or abuse should horrify us all.
In 2010, there were 25 Indiana youths who died from
injuries they suffered at the hands of parents or guardians
who clearly lack the skills necessary to handle a crying
infant, a seemingly defiant child or a baby who won’t go
back to sleep.
The number of fatalities
is down from the 38
reported last year and 54 in
2005, according to a report
released by the Indiana
Department of Child Services.
The department’s annual
review is a valuable document
that tracks the fatali-
ties and notes whether the Department of Child Services
had previous contact with the victims or their guardians.
Four of the fatalities in fiscal year 2010 had previous DCS
contact, though in two, the contact was with siblings of the
children who died.
The document also gives caseworkers and the public
insight into the mindset of those responsible for the deaths.
Over and over again, the document mentions the words
“mother’s boyfriend.” Of 19 fatalities due to physical
abuse, 11 were inflicted by the mother’s boyfriend. In 15
cases, the caregivers were living together; in three, the child
lived with a single parent and in one case, the parents were
married.
The report also notes that a majority of the attackers had
less than a high school education and few were over the age
of 35.
Clearly, more young adults who decide to have children
need to be prepared for the realities of parenthood. Relatives,
churches, neighbors and schools can all help in this
effort.
To the other end, those same groups and individuals
should call authorities when they suspect abuse or physical
abuse. The Department of Child Services and Prevent Child
Abuse Indiana offer a 24-hour hotline at (800) 800-5556.
Don’t hesitate to call local police, too.
Relatives, it should be noted, play an important role in
helping achieve stability for children who are in unsafe living
conditions. Over the past five years, the number of children
temporarily placed with relatives has increased 160
percent. In January 2012, 3,453 children in need of services
were placed with relatives. That’s a more comforting statistic
than one suspects — knowing that a child’s life won’t be
completely uprooted as his or her parents receive guidance
or treatment.
While cases of abuse and neglect of children will sadly
continue to fall through the cracks, this study gives critical
statistics to develop ways to tighten the gaps that currently
exist and to provide measures in preventing these unnecessary
fatalities.
THE HERALD BULLETIN, ANDERSON
Telephone
Number
260-824-0224
THE NEWS-BANNER
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George B. Witwer, Chairman of the Board
Mark F. Miller, President, Publisher and Editor
Dianne Witwer, Secretary/Treasurer
Hoosier
Opinions
Excerpts from recent
Indiana editorials
Letters to the Editor
A Leap Year birthday
Wow, another four years
has passed and it’s once
again leap year. A belated
Happy Birthday to Rod
Heath (9th birthday) and
Kelly Sommers (6th birthday),
and I celebrated my
17th birthday. Being born
on February 29 and only
having a real birthday every
four years to many would
seem like being cheated out
of three birthdays, but let’s
review the positive side of
leap year.
On February 28, 2004 a
very nice article appeared
in the News-Banner picturing
Kelly Sommers, Mayor
Ted Ellis, Rod Heath, and
myself. Mayor Ellis was
honoring the three of us for
our unusual birthdays. How
many people do we know,
beyond presidents, who are
publicly honored for their
birthdays? Not many, so this
was a very nice recognition
by Mayor Ellis and the City
of Bluffton.
That same year State
Senator David Ford sent a
certificate of congratulations
out to me, and I am
sure Kelly and Rod as well,
to acknowledge our special
day.
On February 27, 2008,
I wrote an article to the
News-Banner sighting the
“wow” factor with mind
boggling statistical information
about the “why” factor
of leap year and leap day.
Now a new update is in
order to celebrate the leap
year of 2012. We who were
and those still to be born,
had and have a one in 1,461
chance of being born on
February 29. For those who
like to celebrate their birthday
on a Friday so they can
get together with friends,
it happens fairly regularly
for those celebrating annual
birthdays, but February 29
only falls on a Friday every
28 years. It was on Friday in
2008 and the next time will
be in 2036 so take the 29th
and celebrate it all day.
For all who were and will
be born on February 29th,
do not be saddened by having
only one birthday every
four years, do as I do, start
celebrating on the 29th of
February and celebrate it
each day until four years
have passed and you are eligible
for another real birthday.
Life is a gift from God,
don’t waste it, care for it
well and celebrate each day,
for it is a precious blessing.
My birthday this February
29th was as follows:
many cards and e-mails, a
family gathering for cake
and ice cream, singing, hugs
and well wishes. Then there
was a trip to Fort Wayne to
a large furniture store where
there was a leap day celebration
from 2 to 9 pm. For
going to the store and showing
my birth certificate and
drivers license I received a
$400 gift card with which
I quickly picked out a new
recliner for $399 plus tax.
After dinner at one of my
favorite restaurants it was
back home to receive more
phone calls from grandchildren
off afar.
Wow, what a day! I can’t
wait ‘til the recliner is delivered
as I need to kick back
in it and take a nap from all
the excitement of the 29th of
February 2012.
Sincerely yours,
(for another four years)
JERRY DILLON
Bluffton
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Who’s the true conservative?
The theme for this year’s primary season was
set back in May 2011. Recall that the Republicandominated
House of Representatives had just done
something that cynics said would not and could not
be done. They voted for a budget -- the Ryan budget -
- that actually began to tackle the problem of limitless
entitlement spending.
The cliche about entitlements (the “third rail”) had
been largely true. Neither Republicans nor Democrats
had shown the courage to tell middle-class voters that
Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security would have
to change. But on April 15, all but four Republicans
(and zero Democrats) voted for a budget that would
block grant Medicaid to the states and gradually
transform Medicare from the whale-shark entitlement
that threatens to swallow all other federal spending
into a premium support program.
Naturally, the Republicans got no credit for this
principled vote from the usual suspects (the press,
the liberal commentators, the professors). But you’d
think fellow Republicans and conservatives would
offer at least a clap on the back. Nope. Just a few
weeks later, former Speaker of the House Newt
Gingrich, appearing on MSNBC’s “Meet the Press,”
labeled the Ryan budget “too radical” and “rightwing
social engineering,” which Gingrich explained
that he opposed as much as “left-wing social engineering.”
As Rep. Paul Ryan said at the time, “With allies
like that, who needs the left?”
It set the tone for what was to come. While claiming
to save the Republican Party from the supposedly
“moderate” Romney, one after another of the Republican
presidential candidates has seized the slogans
of the left -- even of the Occupy movement -- to
make his case. Judging by campaign rhetoric, there is
really only one conservative left in the race, and that’s
Romney.
A few weeks after “Meet the Press,” Gingrich
reversed himself on the Ryan budget. A spokesman
said, “There is little daylight between Ryan and Gingrich
on Medicare.” But Gingrich was soon sounding
like Michael Moore regarding Romney’s career at
Bain Capital. “Is capitalism really about the ability
of a handful of rich people to manipulate the lives
of thousands of other people and walk off with the
money or is that somehow a little bit of a flawed system?”
asked the self-styled “Reagan conservative.”
Romney’s wealth, Gingrich said, came from a model
of “leverage the game, borrow the money, leave the
OPINION
Angelkeep vegetation assessment month
The damage done to
vegetation at Angelkeep
during cold, blustery,
days in wintertime gets
a review typically in
the month of March. Finally the
weather is warm enough, but not as
warm as desired, to do a bit of walk
about through the yard and path
around Angelpond. God provides a
calculated method of controlling the
vegetation on earth, causing a season
for everything, like the Bible says.
A March day will soon initiate the
spring season, the one devoted to new
beginnings, new growth, new life,
and a renewal of Angelkeep outdoor
life by humans, animals, and plants.
Can’t wait! So a review of the previous
season is the order of the day.
Spring, also known for birth, follows
death, or winter. Death is largely
considered to be a less than desirable
part of life, but not always is that true.
If some of the weeds of Angelkeep
were not killed off during a Hoosier
winter, the continual growth would
soon have Angelkeep’s beauty and
delight looking more like an impenetrable
jungle forest capable of devouring
even humans who try to inhabit
a wee segment. Little more than a
decade ago, the center of Angelpond
was such an impenetrable jungle of
grape vine that literally stopped a
bulldozer from pushing through its
entanglement. Without a winter to kill
weeds, Angelkeep might now possess
Queen Anne’s lace plants, as tall as
Florida palm trees, as thickly barked
as California redwoods, and as plentiful
as this year’s Angelkeep dandelions
already discussing their lawn
carpeting intent among each other.
Come to think of it, hundred-foottall
wild carrots would make interesting
firewood for the spring’s patio
campfires, soon to come. Instead of
smoke smelling of pine tar or burning
maple sap, it might smell like cooked
carrots or stew.
Winter ice plus wind serves as
Angelkeep’s tree trimmer of choice.
Apple trees, crabapple trees (God
Angelkeep
Journals
Alan
Daugherty
debt behind and walk off with all the profits.
... I think it’s exploitive. I think it’s not
defensible.”
Rick Santorum, to his credit, resisted
the Occupy Wall Street-style Bain bashing.
But on the day of the Michigan primary, he
sponsored robo-calls that urged Democrats
to cross over and vote for him, saying,
“Romney supported the bailouts for his
Wall Street billionaire buddies but opposed
the auto bailouts. That was a slap in the Mona
face to every Michigan worker.”
Really? Was opposing the bailout of Charen
GM and Chrysler a “slap in the face” to the
Michiganders who work for Ford, a company that
declined to seek a bailout? And, by the way, every
Michigan worker paid for that bailout. Is Rick Santorum
now adopting the left’s posture -- and of President
Obama -- that being pro-worker means favoring
government bailouts of companies that make poor
business decisions? And doesn’t Santorum feel even
a twinge of embarrassment at making these arguments
when 1) he claims to be a free marketeer, and
2) he himself opposed the auto bailouts?
To hear Gingrich and Santorum tell it, Romney is
a plutocrat and a dreaded “Massachusetts moderate.”
But the former Pennsylvania senator voted against
right to work legislation and voted in favor of a vast
new entitlement, the prescription drug benefit, as well
as No Child Left behind. Newt Gingrich’s apostasies
gush forth like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Mitt Romney backed an individual mandate in
Massachusetts. OK. That’s a demerit. But the individual
mandate (which is perfectly constitutional when a
state, as opposed to the federal government, imposes
it) is only a fraction of what’s wrong with Obamacare.
That 2,000-plus page monstrosity deforms onesixth
of our economy, imposes countless new regulations
and mandates, and intensifies everything that
is wrong with our current health care mess. Romney,
like the others, is committed to repealing it.
So he’s for a free market reform of health care,
cutting spending, tackling the soaring debt, reducing
taxes, simplifying the code, eliminating regulations,
drilling for domestic energy, appointing conservative
judges, and keeping our military the strongest on
Earth. And Romney has not attacked his competitors
from the left but from the right because that’s where
they, far more than he, are vulnerable.
© 2012 CREATORS.COM
planted them, He
prunes them),
corkscrew willow,
dead ash, and other
varieties get annual
pruning without
human assistance.
Fallen branches
and twigs get collected
in the March
days before the
lawn’s grass asks
for “a little off the
top.” Those twigs
become patio pan
kindling, dry and
efficient. It’s much
easier finding
good aspects to winter in the month
of March. Knowledge that the worst
weather is past makes the natural reasons
for death and dormancy acceptable.
Angelkeep has a persistent newgrown
attempt toward forestation
via volunteer evergreens, crabapple,
ash, and oak trees. During late spring,
after peas are setting bloom and onion
sets display pungent green tops, many
of the young ash get clipped off to the
ground. It doesn’t kill them, and they
will re-sprout, providing next winter’s
ash saplings as food for deer. In winter,
when farmers’ fields are bare, and
leaves impossible to find, deer turn to
eating the tenderest of wood.
New apple tree branches are deerdelectable.
So much so they sometimes
are seen standing on hind legs
reaching upward into the tree after all
lower limbs have been stripped of the
newest twigs. Next on the tree/shrub
most-enjoyed deer menu is arborvitae
and small soft-needle evergreens.
The ash saplings are often devoured
almost totally. Only the lowest foot of
a small trunk remains in March, often
indicating the depth of a snowdrift
during a severe winter storm.
Deer were also watched and photographed
close enough to the house
that, as wife Gwen states, “They
are close enough to count their eyelashes.”
Many women would give
much for eyelashes the length of a
doe’s. Deer prune the leaves and newest
branch growth off of Abraham
Darby. Old Abe is a three-year-old
rose climber now six feet tall standing
at the southwest corner of the patio.
That’s was eaten in the bottom half
down to the main stems. Apparently
that portion was too thorny for doe
munching comfort.
The March damage assessment
discovered a ball arborvitae in the
flowerbed behind the garage so
devoured on the east side, away from
the house view, that it looked as
though the bush/tree was leaning at a
fourty-five degree angle to the west.
Other arborvitae tall-slender varieties
were also winter treats and the
remaining shape looks like early stages
of intentional topiary artistry. Ivy
vines, fall clematis, and honeysuckle
(located on the southeast patio corner)
all were chew-pruned by the deer.
Angelkeep considers deer viewing as
delightful as flower viewing. After
all, the deer are enticed to Angelkeep
by piles of corn kernels daily replenished.
That feeding act protects the
deer from being Angelkeep hunted,
but also puts Angelkeep vegetation
at risk.
As the deer damage is evaluated,
including a 2 inch diameter corkscrew
willow tree trunk debarked by
antler rubbing, another March occurrence
is noticed. On the far side of
Angelpond’s bank the first signs of
abundant daffodils are rising. These
are Angelkeep’s second flowers of
spring, closely behind crocus. They’re
in an early stage of growth, but soon
will burst forth with yellow color as
welcomed as the golden warm spring
sun’s rays. They will thrive their full
season of life. Deer do not eat daffodils.
But deer will return for the daylilies
currently leafed about the same
March daffodil height.
Mr. Daugherty is a Wells County
resident who, along with his wife Gwen,
enjoy their back yard and have named it
“Angelkeep.”