W's Hawkish Policy Raises Concerns

It is really difficult for me, generally a supporter of W, to discuss some of his administration's policies without squirming in my chair. And now with the North Koreans plumbing their mothballed reactor with fresh nuclear rods and throwing out the international inspectors, it's getting even worse. It's like a return to the Cold War or something.Not exactly what the world needs right now. But I know why North Korea is doing that.They're playing a little one-upmanship game with us because of the whole Iraq situation.And they're probably not really fond of the recently approved Missile Defense System, either.Not to mention our research into Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator missiles. And then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld tells the world that the U.S.is perfectly capable of carrying on a war against Iraq and North Korea at the same time if need be.

Raiders Gain Revenge Over NorthWood In NLC Contest

NAPPANEE - The game between Northwood and Northridge was a rematch of the Goshen Holiday Tournament.That night Northwood came out on top 45-43. Northridge turned the table and handed the Panthers a 58-49 loss Friday night. The Raiders jumped out to a seven-point lead to start the game.Their stingy defense and Northwood's sloppy play kept the Panthers from scoring until 2:48 in the first quarter when Panther forward Bobby Brown hit 1 of 2 free throws. The Panthers played Northridge even for the rest of the quarter and trailed 11-5 . Northwood came out in the second quarter and looked as if they would take over the game. Led by Brown and Aaron Huber, who led the Panther surge with 11 and 8 points respectively, Northwood posted 23 points in the second quarter to take the halftime lead 28-27.The Panthers led despite shooting less than 40 percent from the field and 4 of 11 from the charity stripe.

Clinton's Bridge Under Construction

It looks like President Bill Clinton's "bridge to the 21st century" is going to start out with some new construction. A week or so before the election there were rumors flying around about lots of Clinton cabinet members bailing out of the administration. On Thursday, we got the story from Associated Press. The list of those either going or likely to go includes Hazel O'Leary, energy; William Perry, defense; Warren Christopher, state; Mickey Kantor, commerce; Federico Pena, transportation; Henry Cisneros, housing; Robert Reich, labor; ambassador Walter Mondale; and senior adviser George Stephanopolous. Also, the administration is trying to convince Attorney General Janet Reno that she should leave, but she wants to stay. I'll bet FBI director Louis Freeh, under fire recently because of the Olympic bomber case and other FBI flubs, might be under pressure, too.

Oil Drilling Plan Makes Strange Bedfellows

There's an old saying about politics making strange bedfellows, and the issue of drilling for oil in Alaska is a perfect example. The Democrats have long been the champion of organized labor, and labor unions traditionally support Democrats. But W's plan to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is drawing support from organized labor and criticism from the Democrats. Teamsters president James Hoffa recently said his union's support of the plan isn't creating a rift with Democrats, but one must wonder. Hoffa has been working on Sen.Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., to try to convince him not to block the drilling measure when it comes up in the Senate. The plan narrowly passed the House in July.

Pilots Maintain Mastery Over Lancers

WINONA LAKE - The Bethel Pilots men's basketball team entered Thursday's game with Grace experiencing something coach Mike Lightfoot is unfamiliar with: a slump. "This is the first time in my 13 years we have lost four of five," Lightfoot said."We lost three in a row once, in 1993." The Pilots, ranked No.6 in NAIA Division II, had lost four of five and were 16-4 overall and 0-2 in the Mid-Central Conference. They also entered experiencing something Lightfoot is familiar with: a winning streak.In this case, against Grace College.The Pilots had won 14 straight meetings with the Lancers. Would the slump continue? Or would the streak against Grace end the slump? The streak won out as Bethel beat Grace (9-12, 0-3 MCC) 77-65.

Parents Lose, Schools Win

You really have to love the 9th U.S.Circuit Court of Appeals in California. Honestly, if their decisions weren't so tragic, they'd make great comedic material. There are some pretty enraged parents of elementary students in the Palmdale School District in California. See, the three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit ruled against the parents with regard to what the school district was asking their children about sex. The judges rejected the parents' claim that they should have a right to control when and where their kids are taught about sex. Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote "no such specific right can be found in the deep roots of the nation's history and tradition or implied in the concept of ordered liberty." In other words, the school can say what it wants about sex and you as parents, well, you just have no rights. Here's what happened. The school obtained permission from the parents to conduct a survey of its students.

You'll Hear About Term Limits, Campaign Finance

A couple issues sure to come up during the George Bush years are term limits and campaign finance reform. One will come up a lot quicker than the other, but I would guess we will hear about both before long. I have mixed feelings about both issues. I am not opposed to campaign finance reform, but I'm not thrilled about the particular brand of campaign finance reform John McCain is pushing. McCain really doesn't like soft money.That's the unregulated money that can go directly to parties.There are limits on how much you can give a candidate, but not on how much you can give a party. His bill would halt the flow of soft money to the national political parties from corporations, unions and individuals.Further, his bill would instruct state party organizations that they couldn't use their unregulated funds on federal elections.

Tippecanoe Valley Slays Dragons In Second Half

MENTONE - Sometimes the best timeout a coach has is the halftime period. Tippecanoe Valley coach Gregg Sciarra was definitely happy about the time between the two halves as the Vikings were able to adjust against an upstart Argos squad Saturday. After trailing 33-27 at the break, the Vikes outscored the Dragons 51-32 in the second half to run away to a 78-65 win on a cold and blustery night. Not only were the Vikings shooting bad at halftime (7 of 26, 27 percent), they were also getting burned on defense for easy layups as the Dragons got their offense going on two plays.One was a high post game that saw Argos players get easy uncontested layups and the other was the release of a player on the fastbreak also for easy layup opportunities.

Winona Amends Deer Hunt Ordinance

WINONA LAKE - Deer hunters now will be allowed to hunt in town limits in tree stands in Winona Lake. The Winona Town Council approved an amendment Tuesday to an ordinance the council passed in October 2005 stating a limitation on bows, arrows and slingshots in the town. The council voted in support of amending the ordinance to allow hunters to hunt from a tree stand with a minimum height of 12 feet according to state guidelines for deer season.The hunt must be permitted by the landowner and the hunter is not allowed to discharge a bow and arrow from the ground. The ordinance previously stated it was unlawful to discharge or cause to be propelled any arrow or other missile from a bow or slingshot, except at a practice target designed so as to prevent the ricochet or exit through such target of any such arrow or other missile.

Wawasee Girls Outlast NorthWood

SYRACUSE -ÊThe Northwood Panthers Wawasee Friday in a match-up of similar teams.Both teams went into the game with identical records (7-5), and both have looked at this season as a transition after losing major contributors and four-year starters to graduation. Northwood standout, Carol Duncan has taken her game to Purdue University while Wawasee's Shanna Zolman is at the University of Tennessee. While those two are gone, the rivalry certainly remained and it was the Warriors who came out on top 67-58 in overtime. Wawasee coach Kem Zolman has emphasized all season the need for his team to play consistent basketball for an entire game to be successful. However, the Warriors had another "dead spot," relinquishing an 11-point third-quarter lead before picking up the overtime win. A hot-hand propelled the Warriors to an early lead. Wawasee made six of its first seven shots, but only led 13-11 before stretching the lead to 23-15 at the end of the first quarter.

Supply-Side Might Work

I'm glad to see Bob Dole picked Jack Kemp as his running mate. I would say I'm surprised, but hey, this is politics, so the hypocrisy just flows and flows. It was not too awful long ago that Bob Dole was joking about how a busload of supply-siders (Kemp) going over a cliff was a good news, bad news situation.Good news that it was going over the cliff.Bad news that a few seats were empty. But now Dole has happily embraced the supply-side theory of economics and has chosen one of its champions (Kemp) as his running mate. And to top it off, Dole has proposed a giant tax cut as the hingepin of his economic revitalization plan - a classic supply-side tactic. So there you have it, a giant supply-side waffle smothered in tax-cut syrup. And you thought President Clinton was a classic flip-flopper. Frankly, I'm glad Dole waffled.I like supply-side stuff.I think it can work.And so does Kemp.

Goshen Redskins Edge Warsaw Grapplers

GOSHEN - In a Northern Lakes Conference battle, Warsaw's wrestlers were narrowly edged by Goshen, 39-37, Thursday evening. "It never feels good to lose, but our guys have heart," said Warsaw head coach Tony Boley.He went on to stress to his team the importance of every match, noting, "If just one of us does not get pinned we win." Wrestling commenced at 215 pounds with Evan Readle falling victim to Ben Shrock in 1:50, then Nate Wilson (275) was pinned in 1:25 by Jason Edlund.At 103, Johnny Mattson battled Zac Bechtel but came out on the short end, losing 6-1.The Tigers were down as a team by a score of 15-0. Freshman Kent Nielsen (112) got a win for the Tigers when he pinned Sean Roberts in 2:31.Nick Missos (119) was dispatched by Goshen's Braden Barkes in just 38 seconds, and then Andrew Lauster (125) fought into the third period but wound up pinned by Goshen's Justin Hernandez in 5:49.The meet score was 27-6.

One-way Dubois Drive topic again at city

Discussion on making Dubois Drive a one-way street westbound between Parker Street and Provident Drive continued at Monday's Warsaw City Council meeting. The Warsaw Traffic Commission approved submitting the traffic recommendations to the city council for approval. The council discussed the proposal at its Nov.20 meeting and tabled the request to allow comments from neighbors who would be affected. Mayor Ernie Wiggins said he, councilman Joe Thallemer, councilman Bob Morrison, Police Chief Steve Foster and Lt.Kip Shuter met with Indiana Department of Transportation Friday to discuss the proposed project. Wiggins said INDOT will conduct a traffic study in Spring Hill to determine if making Dubois Drive one way is necessary. Thallemer said he suggested to INDOT slowing the speed limit from Sylvia Crossing to Parker Street.

Erickson Scores 33 In Win

Many basketball teams have their "go-to guy" to score, rebound, steal and spark team spirit.For the Kosciusko County Homeschool Eagles Tuesday, that guy was Jon Erickson. Erickson scored 33 points, pulled down 10 rebounds and grabbed five steals as the Eagles defeated the Lakeland Christian Academy Cougars 71-58. Eighteen of Erickson's 33 points came on free throws, and nine of those came in the final quarter of play. KCHE jumped out to an early 6-1 lead in the first two minutes of play, but the Cougars tied the score when Tim Buckholz netted a three-pointer with 5:20 on the clock. LCA then built a 12-7 lead until Erickson scored eight consecutive points in the last 1:02 of the quarter to give KCHE a 15-12 lead going into the second frame.

Is Now A Good Time To Go Into Debt?

If I was a member of the Warsaw School Board I think I would be hard-pressed to launch into a major building program right now. It just seems like a bad time to go $41 million in debt. I understand that there is a need for facilities.No doubt about that.Schools are in need of repair or replacement. But one must wonder if this wouldn't be a good time to make do with what we have for a while. The school board says this is a good time to forge ahead because interest rates are low. That's true, but even if you float a $41 million bond at 4 percent, that's still more than a million-and-a-half dollars a year in interest. And this at a time when Gov.Frank O'Bannon is talking about the state budget being in crisis and floating the idea that there might have to be cuts in education funding.

Where Are All The Conservatives?

Although I generally tend to be conservative, I must admit some of the things I see going on in W's administration are a bit unsettling to me. First, there's the budget. You know, it's as if a conservative can get onlyÊhalf of the equation right. Remember Ronald Reagan? What is he remembered for? Deficits.Why? Because of his tax cuts? No, because of his spending. The Reagan tax cuts worked masterfully at stimulating the economy and generating more revenue for the treasury.In fact, revenue streaming to the Treasury grew each year and topped $1 trillion for the first time in the nation's history during the Reagan administration. Wonderful, you say.Yes, that part of it - the revenue side - was OK, but the other half of the equation was out of whack. That's the spending side. Government spent every dime and then some.

On The Court

Poll Shows Demo Strategy Not Working

I must admit to being a bit of a CNN junkie. We have it on all the time in the newsroom here at the Times-Union and I check in from time to time at home. So I am pretty in tune to CNN's programming.Many times I have seen political analyst/correspondent Bill Schneider on American Morning doing what he does best - analyzing the latest Gallup poll. Lately, at least for the past few months, he has been analyzing how poorly W is perceived by the public. He would explain that W's job approval ratings were in the low 30s - according to the latest poll numbers - and then tell us why. That, certainly, is legitimate news. Usually, you see this a couple times a month, which is when the polls come out. These programs on CNN are out-of-sight, out-of-mind for me.I notice them when they're broadcast, but I don't anticipate them or remember when they're supposed to be on.

Kesler's Return Helps Settle Tigers

The date was Oct.8, 1999, when Ross Kesler knew he had injured himself. The Warsaw senior athlete knew because he had injured his back two years earlier, and now he had injured it again after taking a hit in a football game against NorthWood. And, oh yeah, the pain told him. "I knew I had hurt myself pretty bad," Kesler said. Kesler fractured his back his sophomore year and refractured it again as a senior, in a different spot. The back injury kept Kesler out of sports for nine weeks, until he returned for the Dec.10 basketball game against Wawasee. After returning, the toughest part for Kesler, as it is for most athletes after an injury, was adjusting and trusting.The doctors told him his back was healed, but he needed to clear a mental hurdle, getting over the fear that banging around on the court would reinjure him.

Patrick's First Superstar Recalls 1963

High school boys basketball in Indiana has seen the winds of change, but at least one thing has stood the test of time: Bill Patrick. How things have changed since Patrick, the gray-haired 61-year-old who commands the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings, took his first varsity coaching position some 30 years ago. Patrick, a 1956 graduate of Sidney High School, began his coaching career in a time when heroes came to be by putting a leather ball in an iron hoop, a time when most boys knew two things: basketball and farming. Patrick picked up his first varsity win Nov.1, 1963, at Sidney High School, a school with 69 students in grades 9-12, when his players were named Jerry Walther, Henry Whitaker, and the Leiter boys, Tom and John.Today he will guide Tippecanoe Valley, a school of 700, against Northfield with players named Craig Kuhn, Noah Silveus, Dax Snyder and the Eaton Brothers, Brandon and Trey, as he searches for win No.500.