Editor:
Moores Hill School PTA is getting ready for their Spring Carnival/Silent Auction on May 17 from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

The students are looking forward to the many fun activities such as the dunking booth, 71-foot obstacle course, bounce house, face painting, mystery buckets, and much more.

It’s 7:30 a.m. at the P.A.W.S. Humane Center. Eager dogs and cats greet staff and volunteers with “good morning” choruses of howls and meows.

Like a well-oiled machine the day’s routine begins. Cleaning, feeding, walking – toys, blankets, and treats. With breakfast over, morning exercise begins and behind the scenes chores of laundry, dishes, and second-round cleaning (affectionately called “poop patrol”) get underway.

As noon approaches, final touches are taken care of – floors mopped, rugs vacuumed, paw and nose prints cleaned from windows. Everything is spic and span. The animals take their places.

The P.A.W.S. Humane Center doors open. Excitement builds as each pet prepares to put their best paw forward to capture the hearts of arriving adopters. “See me!” “Look at me!” “I can do tricks!”

P.A.W.S. adoption counselors assist each person or family in meeting and selecting their new furry friend. The warm and friendly atmosphere encourages comfort. People who were never able or willing to visit an animal shelter have commented that they are at ease here.

The pets tell a tale of love, not sadness – of hope, not despair. This is a happy place. . . a happy place built on love.

Since the Humane Center opened in October 2011 (eighteen months ago), 1458 dogs and cats have been placed in loving forever homes.  Stand in our lobby for just a short time, and you will get a glimpse of the joy found when “love at first sight” turns into “happily ever after.”

As the end of the day approaches, the Center is filled with peace and quiet. The animals are tired, but content. Tomorrow is another day – maybe THEIR special day. But until then, each and every dog and cat knows they are loved. They are in a happy place.

What makes P.A.W.S. Humane Center so special? The people! The staff and volunteers . . . Who cuddle old dogs and coo over kittens - Who address each animal’s needs individually and lovingly - Who celebrate love every day by making the animals feel special and surrounded by people they can count on.

Helping save lives is infectious. Whatever your skills, regardless of how much or little time you have, you can be part of this magical happy place.

Volunteers are from all walks of life, but become kindred souls with their mutual love and respect for animals. By becoming a volunteer, you can do good and have a good time by sharing talent and time toward a cause you believe in wholeheartedly.

Visit P.A.W.S. Humane Center, 200 Charles A. Liddle Drive, Lawrenceburg, to see for yourself what a happy place it is. Our website, www.pawsofdearborncounty.org, has all the information you will need to find out ways you can volunteer or donate to help our animals.

Becky Foster is director of the Dearborn County P.A.W.S. Humane Center.

Last week we witnessed a lot of events that caused the loss of life, injuries, and millions in damages to property.

The Boston blasts, the West Texas explosion and the northern floods have all exacted a toll on our country. In our area we have been very fortunate, but this is tornado season. From March through June is when tornados most frequently occur. 

Southeastern Indiana also has the potential for floods, as the spring rains overflow our tributaries, and earthquakes and many other potential disasters are lurking around the corner.
 

It is not a matter of if, but when the next disaster event strikes our area.

Are you and your loved ones ready?

With an aging population in the United States, there has been much talk about the situation in Texas regarding the nursing home that was affected by the blast. I have been asked what nursing homes do in the event of imminent danger to their residents.

Every nursing home has a plan for evacuation. This includes accounting for every patient’s specific medical needs as well as seeing that they have a place to go. If you have a loved one in a nursing home you should have access to these plans.

But what about the senior citizen that still lives at home. They have special needs that should be addressed in the event of a disaster. Many senior citizens do not drive anymore so they are reliant on others to get anywhere.

The older population generally has multiple medications, therefore it is important to make sure they take them wherever they are going.

At the very least, it is important to know what medications they take. In the event of being evacuated quickly, information like drug, dosage, pharmacy, and doctor are extremely important. In the disaster situation it is easy to forget what drugs you need. Pharmacies keep good records, but you don’t want to be totally reliant on them.

 Another concern with senior citizens is that they can become disoriented more easily.  They are used to having a steady routine. When that routine is changed it can have a negative effect on their mental health. This can become more pronounced if they memory issues. 

 If your loved one is able to stay home after a local disaster, make sure they have one gallon of water per day per person and adequate food.

The power may be off so food needs to be something that can be eaten without being cooked.

Also make sure they are going to have warmth in the winter and a cool place in the summer. Remember how hot it got last summer? Make sure someone is able to check on them at least once a day. If you don’t live close by, ask one of their neighbors to help.

 If you are the caregiver for a senior citizen it is important that you have a discussion with them.

Plan for evacuation, their specific medical needs, prescription information, and make sure they have a familiar face near if they are forced to stay in a shelter or are forced to remain in their home.

This conversation should be to enlighten and reassure the senior citizen, not alarm them. People that are prepared have less stress in the event of disaster than those that don’t prepare.

As technology and medical practices continue to improve our population is living longer. We are blessed with our parents and grandparents being a part of the family much longer.

We can learn from their wisdom and experiences. But what they have gained in these categories comes at the loss of physical abilities and sometimes mental capacity. Let’s be there for them.

Remember, it is not if, but when, a disaster strikes! Be Ready!

The American Red Cross is committed to helping people in a disaster situation. We can provide shelter, food and clothing in the event of a disaster. We also work to help people prepare for these disasters. If you would like to get more information regarding disaster preparation, please feel free to contact us.

The Southeastern Indiana Chapter of the American Red Cross covers Dearborn, Ripley, Ohio and Switzerland Counties and is at 539 Main St., Lawrenceburg, IN 47025. Our phone number is 1-812-537-9036.

We also have a satellite office at 639 South Buckeye Street, Osgood, IN 47037. Phone 1-812-689-6308.

The American Red Cross is an organization led by volunteers and is funded totally by donation.

If you would like to learn more about disaster preparedness, take a class such as CPR, volunteer, or make a donation please feel free to contact us.

Editor’s Note: The following is part of the speech given by student Jake Griffin to the Sunman-Dearborn School board  Thursday, March 14, about the impact of Disabilty Awareness month activities at East Central High School, St. Leon.

?As you know The Unity Group wanted to bring awareness to its classmates about disabilities and held Disability Awareness Week not only for our high school but also the corporation’s middle and intermediate schools. Banners, posters, and brochures were distributed to each respective school in conjunction with each daily topic.

In addition, each school was given video clips correlating to each day’s topic so that kids had a better understanding of what some disabilities entail. They were also given a bracelet bearing a phrase created by Mrs. Pettit’s marketing class declaring that those with disabilities are, “Willing and able, not disabled.” 

Given that children with disabilities represent more than 19 percent of Indiana’s population, disability awareness is important for all of us. Each day we had table sponsors set up to educate us about different disabilities that people face.
?

Our table sponsors included the Unity Group, The ROD Special Education Cooperative, ARC of Dearborn County, NAMI of Southeast Indiana as well as the Special Olympics. The Unity Group kicked off disability awareness week with facts about the wide range of disabilities that individuals are faced with.
?

The Ripley-Ohio-and Dearborn County Special Education Cooperative joined us on Tuesday and focused on Autism.

They told students that Autism is NOT who a person is. It is something that affects the way they may act, talk, feel, and learn. They also demonstrated the ripple effect meaning the attitudes that we present towards those with disabilities correlates directly to how they will behave.
?

The third table sponsor was the Southeast Indiana National Alliance of Mental Illness. Since mental illness affects 4 out of 10 individuals, bringing this table sponsor in brought a lot of interest to the student body. 

 ?The fourth day ARC of Dearborn County joined us for their ongoing community awareness campaign that aims to raise and maintain the recognition of people who have developmental disabilities and to routinely provide opportunities for enrichment and dignity to occur within their lives.
?

The final day we had Special Olympics of Dearborn County with us, and they had students pledge not to use the words “retard” or “retarded” to mean “stupid”, and to understand this word is hurtful to kind, productive, inspirational people.

After they pledged to take responsibility for the power words have on others and coming to the realization that we all have the power to open hearts and change minds, they were given shirts and backpacks.
?

I wish to thank Mrs. Kichkler at the Middle School and Mrs. Venemmeier at the Intermediate school for their support in making DisAbility Awareness Week a reality across the upper grade levels. Also those apart of the DisAbility Awareness planning committee at the High School who volunteered all there precious time.

Jake Griffin is a senior at East Central High School, St. Leon.

Editor:
For those who will read no further than the first few lines let me state this simply: a federal act or mandate passed by Congress does not stand as the ‘supreme law of the land’ if it claims powers not delegated by the Constitution.

Yes – even if the federal employees on the Supreme Court say so.

The Constitution and the 10th Amendment guarantee individual states the right to nullify or void unconstitutional acts in their state. That would apply to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), Common Core, gun control legislation and other federal laws claim powers not delegated.

A large crowd listened as Michael Maharrey, National Communications Director of the Tenth Amendment Center and author of One Last Hope -Rediscovering the Lost Path to Liberty and Scott Landreth of the Tenth Amendment Center in Ohio outlined the authority that we the people have as residents of states in protecting our rights and freedoms as per the US Constitution.

Maharrey explained the process of nullification as provided in the 10th Amendment. The 10th Amendment simply states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, not prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Nullification is the process that allows states to declare void unwarranted federal or judicial pronouncements not provided for by the Constitution. Maharrey further explained that the powers granted to the federal government by the Constitution are few and limited. The people of the states determine the limits of federal power as a last resort, since they created the federal government in the first place. He pointed out that allowing the federal government to determine the limits on its own power simply makes no sense.

“This is not a rebellious act by the states, it is, the States preventing a rebellious act by the Federal government,” he said “This is how the system was supposed to work - a check and balance of federal power by the States. A government without checks on it is bad. Nullification is not a challenge to Federal authority; it is recognizing that the Federal government is exceeding its authority.”

Scott Landreth complimented the state of Indiana on its efforts to attempt to nullify laws such as Obamacare Care, use of drones on Indiana residents and to uphold the 2nd Amendment.

He discussed SB 0230, which would nullify Obamacare for the state of Indiana. Rules Committee Chairman, Sen. Long, who refuses to bring the bill forward for voting, is currently holding this bill back in Committee. He urged concerned citizens to contact not only their own State Senators, but also Sen. Long and urge that this bill be brought forward.

Mr. Landreth also urged Indiana citizens to visit and look under ‘law and justice’ for information on all pending legislation.

The information presented during the evening helped illustrate how removed most of us are from knowledge of our rights and guarantees as provided in the US constitution.

The meeting Thursday, April 11, 6:30 p.m. at the Lawrenceburg Fire Department, Tate Street, will be an entertaining presentation by member of Defenders Liberty, Duane Ott “Threads of the American Spirit” which explains the Constitution and our Flag.

Too long have we been convinced or told that what Washington does is how it is. Our Constitution and its Amendments currently guarantee us rights and freedoms that are been slowly taken away. Now is the time to decide - Freedom and Rights or Dancing with the Stars?

We The Hoosiers is a group of concerned citizens including Dearborn, Ripley and Ohio County residents. The Mission Statement of We The Hoosiers is to adhere and defend the Constitution of these United States of America.

 We will protect and defend our God given rights, our individual rights and freedoms, and the sovereignty of the Republic against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

As citizens, we will become directly involved in the legislative process through education, work within the law to insure compliance to the Constitution, to hold elected officials accountable, and support Constitutionally minded candidates and elected officials.

Tom Carrell
Chairman,
We The Hoosiers