Bush's Tax Cut Makes More Sense

All right, we've all heard how horrible George W.Bush's tax cut plan would be for the country. So I thought it might be a good idea to find out exactly what Bush is proposing. Here it is: Bush offers a tax cut to every taxpayer, with the biggest percentage cut going to those at the lower end of the economic spectrum. His proposal cuts the bottom rate from 15 to 10 percent - a rate cut of 33 percent for the lowest-income households.For middle-income taxpayers, the rate would go from 28 to 22 percent - a cut of 20 percent.And for the wealthiest taxpayers, the top rate would be cut from 39.6 to 33 percent - a cut of about 17 percent. Bush opponents respond that the wealthiest 1 percent of taxpayers gets most of the tax cut dollars. That's true, but it is also irrelevant. The reason they get the most tax cut dollars is because they pay the most taxes - not because they're getting the biggest percentage of decrease in their tax rate.

Strong Finish Gives Raiders Title

NAPPANEE -ÊThere wasn't a sectional in the state that featured a bigger boys basketball game than the Class 3A NorthWood Sectional.The game pitted No.5 Northridge and No.10 NorthWood at the Panther Pit Saturday night for the sectional championship. At 6:30 p.m., there was a line about a mile long waiting to get into the highly touted rivalry between two familiar Northern Lakes Conference foes.This was the third matchup this season for the two squads.Northridge defeated NorthWood in the Goshen Holiday Tournament, and NorthWood got revenge on its home floor during the NLC game, which helped the Panthers secure the NLC crown. Something had to give.By the end of the night, one of these two ranked teams would be getting ready for a spring sport. In the last meeting between these schools, a NorthWood win, Northridge couldn't control its composure.That was the key, according to Raider coach Steve Austin.

Councilman's Christmas Wish Out Of Line

Warsaw City Councilman Dewey Lawshe could use a little sensitivity training. Don't get me wrong.As an elected official, he is entitled to his opinion. But frankly, the comment, "I'd like a new police chief under my Christmas tree" was a bit much. I suppose it was intended to be clever - a joke. Problem is, lots of people around town didn't think it was funny. I can see why. How professional is it to joke about significantly altering someone's career right before Christmas? Lawshe long has expressed discontent with Warsaw Police Chief Craig Allebach. Apparently, Lawshe's main complaint is that the chief spends too much money. And he doesn't like the idea of personal patrol vehicles.We know that. Now he says that because the chief is on the school board and serves as police chief, well, that's just too much power for one individual.

Johnson Learns About Life On The Other Side Of The Court

AKRON - A true team player will do what is necessary to ensure his team is successful. Tippecanoe Valley senior Josh Johnson is a true team player. A basketball player in is freshman through junior years, Johnson wanted to finish his senior year with the basketball team.However, he knew that he was not likely to see much playing time on the court. "I knew I was not going to get to play much this year," said Johnson."So I went to Coach (Bill) Patrick and asked him how I could help the team." "Josh is a senior and has been part of the program, so we left it up to him," said Patrick."If he wanted to stay on the team and practice, he would see very limited playing time.Or he could help the coaches and become a student assistant.We told him he could practice any time he wanted, and we told him that we would let him dress and get into a game." Then Patrick told Johnson to think it over for a few days and make his decision.

Warriors Knock Off Top-Ranked Vikings

SYRACUSE -ÊAll in all it's been a pretty good week for the Wawasee boys basketball team.Tuesday night the Warriors knocked off 4A No.3 Columbia City 52-46.They followed that up with a 54-49 win over the top-ranked in 3A Valley Vikings Friday night.Those rankings are just numbers to head coach Phil Mishler. "The rankings are for the media," said Mishler after the game."We're not concerned with that." That may be the case, but with two big times wins to advance Wawasee's record to 16-4 the media and those who read newspapers and listen to radio are going to notice the Warriors. The excitement was palpable in the Warrior gym and most were expecting a close game.In the first half it seemed as though Wawasee wasn't going to cooperate and run away with it. The Warriors jumped out to a 23-11 lead after one quarter. Wawasee was hot with a capital 'H' in the first half.

Demos Better Be Careful About Setting Standards

I watch the news a lot.Sometimes my kids even give me grief over it when I flip on CNN at home in the evening. "Dad, stop, you watch that stuff all day, you work at a newspaper, you need to move on," they say. They may be right, but I do like to see how the networks handle the news. I can tell you watching the Trent Lott story unfold over the past three weeks has provided more concrete evidence of an overt liberal bias than I have seen in many years. It was stunning. As we all know - how could we not, it was top-of-the-page and top-of-the-hour news almost every day - Lott was at a birthday party for retiring Sen.Strom Thurmond.Thurmond turned 100 this year. Thurmond, a Republican from South Carolina, ran for president as a Dixiecrat in 1948.OK, that's 52 years ago.

What's Wrong With Tiger Basketball

So this is what Tiger Basketball has become? This is what, in a matter of just four years, the once-great Tiger Basketball program has become? Mediocre. Fewer and fewer fans in the stands. Season-ticket holders not renewing. And maybe most noticeable is the fact that the Tigers aren't winning as often these days. Plain and simple, the boys basketball program at Warsaw Community High School is a far cry from what it was a short time ago. Why is that? I've lived in Warsaw for 27 years, followed the program closely while attending school here and now while covering games for the Times-Union. It was my opinion the program was solidly in place because former coach Al Rhodes had arguably the best feeder system in the state and the instruction trickled down to the elementary school level.

Week's News Brings Sad, Tawdry Irony

This was a jarringly ironic story week in the news business. Two stories really stood out.One story was tragic and shocking.The other was salacious and tawdry.But both were dripping in irony. First there was the Amish school shooting. A crazed Charles Carl Roberts IV barricaded himself in a one-room Amish school.After letting all the boys and grown-ups go free, he lined 10 young girls up along the blackboard.Police theorize his original intent may have been to sexually assault the girls.But when police arrived, he started shooting.Five of the girls died, five remain hospitalized.The killer shot himself. This type of bizarre, inexplicable violence is probably atop the list of reasons the Amish choose to separate themselves from popular culture. They seek a simpler lifestyle, removed from the trappings of our society. No Columbines for them.

Whitko Shocks Valley At Plymouth Sectional

PLYMOUTH -ÊWhitko junior Alan Robbins had something to prove against Tippecanoe Valley in the Plymouth Sectional. After the underdog Wildcats defeated the No.10 Vikings by two points earlier in the season, the Whitko squad wanted to prove that it wasn't a fluke. Wednesday night in Plymouth, the Wildcats, led by Robbins, did just that by topping the Valley team 48-45 to advance to the sectional semifinal against Knox Friday night. "I wasn't the one who did it, the kids did," said Whitko coach Don Zawlocki."They wanted this, and they played hard." Former Wildcat Alex Frantz scord the first basket of the game at the 7:37 mark, but Whitko's Drew Spangle and Brad Walpole hit back-to-back three-pointers to make the score 6-2 in Whitko's favor. Then Andrew Kramer hit a basket and Trey Eaton and Frantz netted back-to-back three-pointers to give Valley an 11-6 lead with 3:46 left in the first quarter.

On The Court Basketball Previews

Panthers Set Their Sight On State

NAPPANEE - All year long NorthWood's girls basketball team has produced some impressive stats. As a team the Panthers shoot nearly 50 percent from the field, make 73.4 percent of their free throws and outscore their opponents by an average of 27.6 points per game.NorthWood connects on 31.5 percent of its three-point attempts and outrebounds its opponents by an average of 11.5 boards per game.The list goes on and on. One of the Panthers' most impressive stats, one fans don't see in a box score, is their averages in the classroom. "We've been fortunate the last few years," said NorthWood coach Steve Neff."We want them to do well in the classroom too.They know the plays better and aren't one-dimensional.They're intelligent." NorthWood's four senior cagers all carry with them at least a 3.9 grade-point average.Two of them, Amy Zercher and Natalie Will, boast a perfect 4.0 GPA.

Both Sides In School Debate Have Merit

I guess I was kind of disappointed that the dispute between Warsaw Community Schools and some of its patrons wound up in court. I really hoped it wouldn't come to that. I don't like the idea of lawsuits, motions, hearings, injunctions and the like when it comes to educating kids. It has been a difficult few months for these two groups of people and I can see why. On the one hand, if I was a parent in a small town, I wouldn't relish the thought of having my kid take a long bus ride to a portable classroom. On the other hand, if I was a school administrator, I wouldn't be too thrilled about budget shortfalls in my general fund. On the other hand (I know, that's one too many hands) I can see where it might be a little hard to take as a taxpayer when the school corporation's telling you they can't afford to maintain schools in small towns and simultaneously approves $30 million worth of sports, auditorium and administrative construction.

Area Baseball Capsules

Triton Refuses To Let Basketball Season End

BOURBON - Just as Triton High School's girls basketball team hosted and won the regional round of the state tournament, the boys will try and so Wednesday night. Triton (15-8) will host 18-5 Michigan City Marquette tommorrow at 7:30 p.m.with the winner advancing to Saturday's Kokomo Class A Semistate. A year ago Triton hosted the sectional, coming away with the school corportation's first sectional championship since 1965.That same year the Trojans won their only regional championship in the school's history. Tuesday morning second-year Triton coach Joe Bennett was asked just how much of an advantage it is for his team to be playing at home.

On The Court Basketball Previews

Penn Track Team Downs Warsaw

Warsaw girls track coach Paul Boyd lays claim to a feat very few high school coaches can or ever will be able to: He coaches sports at two different high schools. Besides his position as track coach at WCHS, Boyd also coaches the soccer team at Wawasee High School. "It's two different seasons," said Boyd when asked if it could be tedious or hectic at times."It works out well." As far as coaching at two schools who are bitter rivals Boyd said: "Kids are kids." He is also fortunate enough to have two family members on the track team with him, daughters Summer and Chelsea. "I'm pretty lucky," said Paul Boyd."Not too many people get to do this." In his first year at Warsaw's helm, Boyd said he just wanted to more or less feed off last year's team and go from there.

Warriors Fall In Regional Final

HARTFORD CITY - Jay County 2, Kosciusko County 0. After defeating Tippecanoe Valley in the morning session of the Blackford Regional, Jay County earned its first-ever regional title with a 69-61 win over Wawasee in the championship Saturday night at Blackford High school. The Warriors held a six-point lead at 51-45 earlier in the fourth quarter before they simply ran out of gas. Wawasee was pushed to overtime against a big and physical Fort Wayne Concordia squad early in the day before winning 62-55. The Warriors, on less than six hours of rest, looked solid for the first 24 minutes but couldn't maintain. After going 8 of 14 from beyond the three-point arc in the first three quarters, Wawasee shot just 1 of 10 from three in the fourth quarter.

Shewman Named Times-Union Girls BB Coach Of The Year

NORTH MANCHESTER -ÊThe year was 1988 and the place Market Square Arena, where a 17-year-old girl by the name of Jody Yochum doggedly searched for a way to get on the floor. Her dreams of playing on the MSA floor had ended when Warsaw's girls basketball team beat her Tippecanoe Valley team in the sectional, long before the state finals.To this day, she tells you, "We choked." Since she was a senior, and since her last chance to play in MSA had disappeared, Yochum needed to find a new excuse to get on the floor.She and teammate Lori Gray brainstormed. "We asked if we could sweep the floor just to step on the floor," she says."We were willing to pay money, and - don't take this the wrong way - do whatever it took to get down on the floor.We almost got down there." Almost. Problem with almost is, it hurts so much.That familiar hurt from "almost" came back this March, 10 years later.

12-11 Wildcats In Familiar Underdog Role

SOUTH WHITLEY - Second-year Whitko boys basketball coach Steve Pickett doesn't mind being in the underdog role.In fact, it's as if he prefers to be in that position. After all, it was his Wildcats that were written off in the sectional but put together three solid performances, including a 63-53 win over No.3 Plymouth, in winning the school's first sectional since 1996. Whitko enters tonight's 3A regional contest with a 12-11 record.To pick up the school's first regional crown since 1991, when current Tippecanoe Valley coach Bill Patrick took a Steve Nicodemus-led team to the final four, the Wildcats have to beat 19-4 No.8 Benton Central. Benton Central coach Pat Skaggs said he isn't interested in knowing that the Wildcats are just above .500.To him, Whitko is 3-0.

Triton Trojans Tops In 2000

!photo=N0306007.JPG Photo by Gary Nieter, Times-Union The state champion Triton Trojans take questions during the press conference after Saturday's 57-54 overtime win over Rising Sun in the Class A state championship. INDIANAPOLIS -ÊTriton's girls basketball team won Saturday's Class A state title, and the unlikely heroine was a 5-foot-7 dimple-faced, black-haired, soft-spoken, sleepy-eyed sophomore who attempted one shot. That sophomore - Amber Feldman - hit her third three-pointer of the year as time ticked off the clock to give unranked Triton (20-7) a 57-54 overtime win over No.4 Rising Sun (25-3).The state title is the first for Triton's girls basketball team, which also won its first semistate and regional titles this season.