Recent editorials from Kentucky newspapers:
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Dec. 9
The News-Enterprise on how students at a community college in Kentucky are learning to operate tractor trailers:
The nation’s roadways are one of America’s most plentiful employers.
Getting goods to market is essential to the economy and the Census Bureau says 3.5 million truckers are employed in the U.S. It also consistently is one of the 10 toughest jobs to fill because of the unique skills and special licensing required, according to multiple job sites.
Recognizing the need for qualified workers and in keeping with its mission of preparing students for a fruitful future, Elizabethtown Community and Technical College recently acquired a truck simulator.
Using three video screens, students can sit behind the steering wheel and learn to maneuver a massive tractor trailer in highway conditions, delivery venues and other real-life scenarios including variables such as weather, wind, terrain and even road rage.
The dashboard, heavy brakes and gear shift provide realistic situation – not a video game environment, according to Michael Franklin, ECTC’s coordinator for the commercial driver’s license program, who has 23 years of tracking experience.
Franklin said the simulator can be unforgiving. While driving in a simulated town complete with traffic lights, stop signs, driving lanes and other motorists, it will indicate on screen violations and mistakes made.
ECTC also now can offer another unique service to employers thanks to the simulator. In the hiring process, a company can check simulator scores when evaluating new hires.
ECTC is not the only place you can learn to become a truck driver. Within roughly an hours drive, Franklin said six to eight qualified trucking schools. The simulator gives ECTC a unique tool in student recruitment and hopefully another way to get people on the road.
The U.S. Labor Department says the median annual salary is $40,000 but private fleets are known to offer considerable more because the skills of a CDL driver are in such high demand.
This equipment is a valuable investment and will help ECTC provide avenues to brighter futures for many in our region.
Online: https://www.thenewsenterprise.com/
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Dec. 7
The State-Journal on a property purchased by the city of Frankfort in Kentucky:
The incoming Frankfort City Commission will get to decide the best use for the former Pic-Pac building, which has sat vacant for more than a year, after outgoing city leaders voted unanimously to purchase the property during a special meeting Thursday. But we believe the decision to buy the property should have been left up to the future commission, which will take office in a few weeks.
The locally owned neighborhood grocery store closed in July 2019 and was bought the following month by Rebecca Ruth owner Charles Booe and his wife, Risa, who paid $300,000 for the property - the amount of its latest PVA valuation. The city purchased the property from the Booes for $390,000, the value of a November appraisal of the property.
The optics of the city’s purchase are bad.
City leaders acknowledged they have no specific plans for the piece of prime real estate on the Second Street corridor, which is currently undergoing a $12 million overhaul of the roadway and streetscape largely funded by a federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant. The goal of the massive facelift is to help boost economic development.
However, neither of the primary ideas tossed around during Thursday’s commission meeting - using the property for additional shelter space for the homeless due to its proximity to ACCESS Soup Kitchen and Men’s Shelter or constructing a new firehouse - promotes economic growth and an invigorated tax base, which the corridor sorely needs.
Charles Booe said that the couple attempted to attract another grocery to the West Second Street property but were unsuccessful due to the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
While we prefer that the former Pic-Pac not sit empty, the grocery store’s departure has created a food desert - an area where people are unable to gain access to healthful foods - for a large swath of Frankfort. Using this property for additional homeless housing or a new fire station does nothing to help solve the problem.
During a global health pandemic, when taxpayer funds are tight and will remain so for the foreseeable future, dishing out nearly $400,000 for property without a plan of use for it isn’t the best use of tax dollars and raises more questions than it answers.
Online: https://www.state-journal.com/
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Dec. 4
The Daily Independent on having patience during the coronavirus pandemic:
We are sure our readers are as tired of hearing about the COVID-19 pandemic as we are of writing about it.
Regardless of how tired we are of it, the virus continues to ravage the country and we must demonstrate patience until we get through it.
A physician in the Tri-State told us that COVID-19 “is everywhere,” and we must take it seriously if we want to survive.
He said it would be a shame to have come this far and be so close to getting a vaccine just to give up and return to normal.
It’s been almost a year since the United States began isolating, creating our “bubbles” of family, wearing masks and generally protecting ourselves from a virus the likes of which we hadn’t seen since the early part of the 20th Century. Still, there have been 14 million cases and 276,000 deaths. This week, the United States recorded its highest death toll in one day. Hospitals are overwhelmed.
While a vaccine is definitely on its way to the American people, many have already said they won’t take it. Often, these are the same people who refuse to wear a mask or limit their activities in public. Their reasoning isn’t sound. They say their rights are being violated when asked to wear masks. They fear the vaccine has an ulterior motive.
Clearly, these assertions aren’t true.
Mask-wearing isn’t an infringement on their rights. As we’ve said before, to enjoy freedom in this country, one must take responsibility and respect the freedom of others. Wearing a mask is considerate and respectful. Worries that the vaccine will alter one’s DNA or implant a tracking microchip are unfounded. The technology doesn’t exist to alter one’s DNA, and we already allow ourselves to be tracked via cell phones.
There will be a return to normal, sooner or later. It will be sooner if we all follow the guidelines.
Online: https://www.dailyindependent.com/
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