Monday, May 4, 2009

The Misguided Alarm Ordinance

False Alarms and Peddlers Oh My !

Going back to the March 17, 2009 Fiscal Court meeting...

One has to wonder how effective Magistrate Bob Deibel is anymore. He had taken it upon himself at a previous meeting of Fiscal Court to introduce both the "Peddler's" and "Alarm" ordinances.

Needless pieces of legislation on both counts. Ill prepared when it came time to discuss them both...since no hard facts were presented to the Court. Seriously, he stated that the Oldham County Police Chief Colonel Michael Griffin tells him that the OCPD makes and I quote from the meeting, "thousands" of false alarm runs every year and it's getting out of hand ! Really ? If he wanted to present the true facts, then he should have called upon the police chief to appear before the Court with documentation of his numbers. Furthermore, he repeatedly referred to the police department as the "OCD", and not the "OCPD".

Both pieces of legislation were passed with Magistrates Rick Rash, Bob Leslie and Scott "the fact of the matter is..." Davis voting against the "Peddler's" ordinance and Magistrates Steve Church, Scott "the fact of the matter is... Davis and David Voegele voting against the "Alarm" ordinance.

Thankfully, the "Alarm" ordinance has been called back for a revisiting and hopefully it will be eliminated from consideration...since both ordinances are little more than a way to further tax and impose fees upon the residents of Oldham County in one way or another.

I realize that Magistarte Deibel has served this county many years in various capacities, and don't doubt his love for Oldham County, but it is becoming more and more obvious that he is past his prime. No one wants to hear how things used to be done on the Court...this is now, not then and it's time for progressive leadership...not the same "good ol' boy" way of doing things in the past.

Let's hope he'll seriously considering retiring from the Court at the end of his present term and let some fresh faces and ideas be brought to the Court. Bringing matters before the Court and public, at the least require a Magistrate to be fully prepared with facts and sound reasoning for introducing legislation, whether it be a resolution or an ordinance.

It's the least a Magistrate can do for the public they were elect to serve.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

The 135th Kentucky Derby

Just a posting for fun here...my sentimental pick for this year's Run for the Roses is:

General Quarters

Owned and trained by Louisville's own Tom McCarthy.
A 75 year old life long lover of horses and horse racing.
A one man operation...a one horse stable at this time.
Winner of the Bluegrass Stakes.
And, he was my principal at Seneca High School in Louisville.

Hope that everyone has a wonderful Derby Day !

UPDATE: Congratulations to Calvin Borel and Mine That Bird on winning the Kentucky Derby !
Imagine, a 50-1 long shot wins, a horse purchased for only $9,500.00...how cool is that ?
It's compelling to see an underdog or small operation win something so large...makes it worthwhile to root sometimes for the "little guy" (not referring to Calvin Borel as a little guy in a negative sense, he's a great rider)...now, if only Oldham County Fiscal Court would always do the right thing by the "little guys and gals" of our beautiful county, instead of the "fat cats" and big donors to political campaigns, this would indeed be an even greater county to live in !