Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Two longtime Kosciusko County Republicans were honored Thursday for their efforts in furthering the party.
Janet Knispel and Steve Foster were named the 1998 entrants into the County GOP Hall of Fame at the annual banquet honoring past and present inductees.
"This banquet tonight is to honor two people who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in their work for the party," said Jean Northenor, former county GOP chairman, in announcing this year's inductees.
"I'm truly speechless," Knispel said. "I didn't think I had worked hard enough for the party to get this honor."
Foster thanked the party leaders who have gone before him in accepting his induction.
"I would like to thank all those who have helped me for their mentoring," he said. "This is a tremendous opportunity for me to become one of us."
The evening's keynote speaker was Fort Wayne Mayor Paul Helmke, who thanked the Kosciusko County Republicans for the strong support in the May primary and highlighted his campaign mantra of returning power to local governments, reducing taxes to allow people to keep more of their income and maintaining a strong national defense.
Helmke also expressed concern for the public's view of the role of government in light of recent scandals in Washington.
"I'm concerned for the country and our system of self-government," he said. "I'm afraid that if we continue to see the cynicism - the disgust, the disillusionment - we're going to lose our system as we've come to know it."
Helmke said the American public needs to be reassured that government is essential, but that it should be limited; and that leadership that will set the example by doing what is right.
"Every civilization in history has had some form of government. The opposite of government is chaos and anarchy," he said. "But government is best when it's limited. By returning the power to local governments, you can see that what you pay for is what you get."
And governmental bodies should rely on other resources within the community to help meet the needs and provide the services required to ensure that a society is the best it can be, according to Helmke.
"Government can't do it all. It works best when it's done in partnership with the organizations within the community - private, faith, social and service," he said. "Citizens have a role, too, to make their communities better. Each of us working with our neighbors can do things (for our communities) better and cheaper than government can do."
Helmke said that for local government to be effective, it also requires elected officials to provide strong leadership and not just bow to the variable whims of public opinion.
"We need people who do the right thing. The great politician isn't the one who does the popular thing, but the one who does the right thing and then explains it to us," he said, concluding, "Our system can work only if we push for local control, push for limited government and push for leadership."
