Letters to the Editor

The Comet welcomes letters to the editor responding to articles and events in the news. They must include the author's name, address and telephone number. The letter writer's name and city/town will appear in the paper - no exceptions. Letters must be 400 words or less in length. Please send your letters to: editor@carrollcountycomet. com; Letters to the Editor, Comet, P.O. Box 26, Flora, IN 46929 or P.O. Box 179, Delphi, IN 46923; or fax 574-967-3384 or 765-564-2010. By submitting a letter or opinion article, the author grants the Comet the right to publish, distribute, archive or use the work in print, electronic, on-line or other format.

Let's get inspired

Our county is experiencing some tough times - the loss of homes due to the floods, loss of industries and several retail businesses, the county's financial situation. It is easy to be overwhelmed and become discouraged. In such times of stress, not knowing exactly what to do, it is easy to point fingers and blame others for the situation. However, this is not a useful choice as it spirals us downward even further. Our character, as a community, is being tested. Are we up for the challenge?

Our community's situation reminds me of the film, Apollo 13, one of my favorite films because of the inspirational lessons it teaches us. Based on a true story of the 1970 trip to the moon, the doomed flight met with one disaster after another. Shortly after lift-off, an explosion (which led to the famous line, "Houston, we have a problem!) caused major malfunctions of the spaceship, putting the lives of the three men on board in serious jeopardy. Most of the film focuses on resolving one problem after another to get the men home safely. With great discipline and competence, both the flight and ground crews solve the almost insurmountable problems, demonstrating the power of human abilities and teamwork.

In time, however, the limits of human endurance are met and even the best-trained people in the world become tired and grumpy. When the ground crew starts to squabble with each other, Gene Krantz, Chief of Operations (played by Ed Harris), reprimands them to "work the problem." (Not a bad reminder for all of us.) But perhaps the greatest lesson is toward the end of the film when, after all the other problems have been solved, they learn there is a severe weather report for the area where they are to splash down. An engineer at NASA, pacing back and forth and rubbing his crew cut head, laments, "This is a disaster - this will be the worst disaster in NASA's history." Gene Krantz looks him straight in the eye and says, "Ah, I think this will be our finest hour!"

So, what can we do in Carroll County? First, go rent Apollo 13 and get inspired. Second, come to the "Community Connections" meeting sponsored by Carroll County Focus on the Future Inc. on April 30 at 7 p.m. at the Community Senior Center in Flora. The purpose of the forum is to bring people together who are leading new, exciting and positive efforts in Carroll County. Everyone is welcome, but all negative comments will be checked at the door. Come and be a part of building a better community.

Let this be our finest hour!

Janet Ayres
Carroll County Focus on the Future, Inc.

Invite to DCSC patrons

The members of the Delphi Community School Corporation Board of Trustees, The superintendent, building administrators and teachers are constantly striving to improve the education opportunities for our children. We are also committed to the goal of making the Delphi Community School Corporation one of the Top 10 school corporations in the state within the next ten years.

To do so, the board of trustees has in the last four years and particularly in the last two years, since the arrival of our new superintendent, approved a number of initiatives to make this happen.

We invite you to visit our web site at www.delphi.k12.in.us to view the entire web site and particularly the area entitled Educational Initiatives. As you will see this corporation is taking many bold strides to improve and add to the educational opportunities for the children of the Delphi Community School Corporation.

Feel free at any time to visit our schools and to meet with the superintendent, building administrators or our teachers. As always the members of the board of trustees welcomes your thoughts and comments.

Robert R. Resler, president
Delphi Community School Corporation Board of Trustees

Time for change

Who, what, when, where and why these are all good questions, however now is the time to act and stop pointing fingers. If we do not - how can we breathe new life into our county - its cities and towns? It is all to easy to point fingers and pass the blame but that will not solve our problems. We now need people who are willing to step out of their box. We all need to work at making our county, cities and towns a place where people want to build a home or start a business. No improvement will be had until passing the blame has stopped and we all start working to make things better for all of us. Our home values are dropping and businesses are closing. Our young citizens are moving away to follow their dreams. We need to work toward having a county where our children desire to live and raise their children.

We can have growth and create new jobs, but it will take us all to make it work. You can do something as simple as becoming familiar with the many opportunities this county offers - visiting our historical resources, shopping our stores - speaking with the business owners then going out and promoting our county to others.

I was surprised and impressed when I started to get involved with the local organizations and their leaders. I stepped out of my box. Attending the Leadership Carroll County Course opened my eyes to all the good work that many of our citizens are doing for this county. The work will continue, however goals would be accomplished much faster with a greater number of citizens working toward them. I hope that everyone would agree it is time we stop reading about ourselves in the newspaper and being the butt of surrounding county's comments. There is a great need for us to create a unified front in saving our county's cities and towns. The Hoosier Heartland Corridor brings us just that opportunity. I would challenge all of us to get involved wherever you can. The time to act is now. As more jobs are lost, stores close and people move away we must act with a sense of urgency.

I would like to encourage all of you to step out of your box and get involved in some way. Help build our county, cities and towns back to a place we are proud to call home. I am confident that when people get involved and truly care about the issues it creates positive results, not negative.

I hope there is enough desire left in our citizens to tackle this obstacle, as we need to pull together and start to correct the issues at hand.

Brian Garrison
Delphi City Council member

Supports Zirkle

This past Thursday evening I was given the opportunity to attend a town hall meeting at Carroll Jr.-Sr. High School where U.S. Congress Republican candidate, Tony Zirkle was speaking.

As the week leading up to the town hall meeting drew near, I began to do research over the two front-running Republicans for the District 2 Congressional seat. While looking at Luke Puckett's webpage, I saw many things I liked and ideologies I associated with myself. Then I took a look at Tony Zirkle's webpage. As I looked at the website there were a couple of things that really drew my attention. The first was his eye for detail on the issues. His webpage meticulously breaks down all the concerning issues facing our district, state, and country. Mr. Zirkle has left no stone unturned and really has shown his knowledge for the problems that face our society.

The second part of his webpage that caught my eye was his educational background. By education standards alone With two economics degrees, along with his military training, he is the most qualified. He also carries a law degree.

While at last Thursday's meeting I was able to ask many questions with no sidestepping involved from Mr. Zirkle. He was direct and sincere and I believe that is what we all look for in a candidate.

I encourage you to look at the issues and what a candidate stands for before making your assessment. I encourage you to go out and vote on May 6.

Quincy Cunningham,
Delphi