Poop-Scoopin’ Paul
In response to the “Shitty Dog Owners” segment in Loserville (LEO Weekly, Dec. 11): Hey, we know our side of the Big Four Bridge wasn’t finished on schedule, and it’s a dog-gone shame. But it isn’t our pooches dropping deuces on it, either. So, you can keep the poop on your side of the bridge, thank you very much! Better yet, maybe you can get Rand Paul to do some shit shoveling on the Big Four instead of in Washington. You’re welcome.
Penance: Four more years of Rand Paul.
Bruce Herdt, Jeffersonville
Ignorant Efforts
We have heard all the prior rhetoric why a crackdown on prescription drugs was warranted — rampant abuse, fraud and overdosing. Surprisingly, Detective Robert Puckett actually came forth to admit the “turn of events caught a lot of folks off-guard” (LEO Weekly, Dec. 11). Another way to clearly express the sentiment, one you won’t hear from the legislatures, lawmakers and bureaucrats who institutionalized the crackdown, was their short-sighted complete and utter ignorance of their “efforts.” While they well know the law, they know nothing of opiate addiction. And the voice of addiction — rest assured — is a silent one.
While the reform may prevent would-be experimenting youngsters from raiding the bathroom pillbox, it hasn’t done much to curb the long-term opiate abuser or addict. Now, thanks to recent emerging heroin, we have rampant abuse, fraud, terminal overdosing … and add increasing robberies to the list. This is reform and social progress?
At least we have matters back to correct perspective — the drug pushers are no longer the white-vested of the medical community, rather the black-coated-on-the-street-corner variety.
Lance Crady, Clifton
No More Shutdowns
I would like to thank the founder of LEO Weekly, John Yarmuth, for the vote he cast on the federal budget that will hopefully prevent any future government shutdowns.
In casting his vote on this budget, he and several other Kentucky representatives, many of whom are Republicans who have military installations within their districts, gave a clear signal of how they feel about the men and women who spent a good portion of their adult lives defending the United States of America and going in harm’s way for both Republican and Democrat presidents.
Gee, Representative Yarmuth, that was a real show of class that you can be proud of, especially next year at the Louisville Veteran’s Day parade.
Me, I am a nobody, just some slough who spent 27 of my 47 years serving in the U.S. Army.
John Wingfield, Shively
Opportunity to Act
A number: $176 million — that’s how much money North Carolina’s electrical ratepayers are projected to save by 2023. That’s $176 million that will stay in the pockets of hardworking Americans.
The reason for these savings? In 2007, North Carolina passed a piece of legislation that established a Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (REPS) that set a minimum amount of renewable energy that utilities in the state must use in their energy portfolios. North Carolina now has the fifth largest renewable energy industry in the nation, and tens of thousands of full-time jobs have been created, with thousands more on the horizon.
Kentucky has had a similar bill, the Clean Energy and Opportunity Act, introduced every year since 2010. Never heard of it? That’s because your elected official has probably not supported it. The Clean Energy and Opportunity Act is going to be introduced again this year, a year that marks Kentucky electrical rates having gone up nearly 50 percent since 2007. Wouldn’t it be great if the bill passed and Kentucky could revel in the energy savings and economic growth that our neighbor to the southeast is experiencing?
Tyler Offerman, Kentucky Student Environmental Coalition, Lexington