Recent editorials from Kentucky newspapers:
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June 8
The State Journal on removing a statue of Jefferson Davis, the only president of the Confederacy, from the Capitol Rotunda:
It seems every time racial tensions reach a boiling point, Kentuckians engage in an age-old debate over whether the statue honoring Jefferson Davis, the only president of the Confederacy, should be removed from the Capitol Rotunda - a space it shares with a sculpture of President Abraham Lincoln, who helped end slavery.
The last time the hotly debated topic bubbled to the surface was in 2017 after an Ohio man deliberately drove through a crowd peacefully protesting the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing one person and injuring 28.
At the time, then-Gov. Matt Bevin likened taking down the Confederate symbols from government property to “the sanitization of history,” comparing it to what the Islamic State group does “with the destruction of any kind of history or a different culture when they move into a new territory.”
Instead of relocating the statue from the Rotunda, a plaque declaring Davis a “patriot-hero-statesman” was removed.
However, stripping the 15-foot marble statue of words doesn’t change the fact that it still towers over the Rotunda with Kentucky’s heroes, including Lincoln, celebrated statesman Henry Clay, Vice President Alben Barkley, who served in the Harry Truman administration, and Ephraim McDowell, a surgical pioneer.
It is time, in our opinion, for the divisive symbol to be taken down from its place of prominence, and we aren’t the only ones who think so. Late last week, following days of demonstrations demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, a black Louisville EMT who was shot and killed by narcotics detectives enforcing a no-knock search warrant in March, and George Floyd, a black Minneapolis man who died after an officer held his knee to his neck for nearly 9 minutes, Gov. Andy Beshear joined the ranks of those calling for the removal of the Davis statue.
“Even if there are those who think it’s a part of history, there should be a better place to put it in historic context,” the governor said, adding that what the Davis statue symbolizes is hurtful to many Kentuckians. “And doesn’t that at least justify it not sitting where it does now?”
We believe so. The Kentucky History Center a mile away can preserve the statue and provide full context for visitors about Davis’ Kentucky roots and his role in the Civil War.
The first statue honoring a woman is set to be unveiled in the Rotunda later this summer before moving to a permanent location in the west side of the Capitol. The statue of Nettie Depp, an early 1900s educator who became the first female public official in Barren County after being elected superintendent in 1913, a full seven years before women were granted the right to vote, will be added in August. We think the Depp statue is a great addition to the Rotunda and should find a permanent home where the Davis statue now stands.
Online: https://www.state-journal.com/
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June 7
The News-Enterprise on a family’s request for safer railroad crossings after they’re 19-year-old son was killed when a train struck the vehicle he was in:
The pain felt by Tanya and Robert Serna won’t ever go away and they know it.
Not since the night of April 28 when the youngest of their two sons, Hunter, died from injuries suffered when the vehicle he was in was struck by a train at a crossing in the Rineyville area.
A 2018 graduate of North Hardin High School, Hunter was 19 when he died about two hours after he left his Vine Grove home for the final time.
Since then, life for his parents, family and dozens of friends, many who have honored him in a variety of ways such as a balloon release and by getting tattoos, has been unbearable.
Tanya and Robert won’t let their son’s name “die in vain.”
So they will, in time, attempt to do something about the railroad crossing on Kraft Road where Hunter was struck. The driver of the vehicle, Jasper Noe, is recovering from injuries suffered in the crash.
There are no crossing bars where the crash happened. There also are no lights to flash that an oncoming train is approaching.
Of the 60 railroad crossings in Hardin County, 17 have the same warnings motorists see when approaching the train tracks on Kraft Road - a yield sign and a customary black and white railroad crossing sign.
The Sernas want motorists warned with more emphasis with lights and a crossing bar. They also are hopeful that the heavily wooded area is trimmed back to improve, they say, the line of vision when crossing the tracks.
They want, as Tanya says, “something besides a yield sign.”
What the couple wants amid their grief is simple: a change to make that railroad crossing safer. The family wants it outfitted like many others in Hardin County, including one less than a mile away from the crash scene that has lights and a crossing bar.
The cost is high to have what they want with a fully equipped crossing costing nearly $300,000, according to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
They say they will approach Hardin County government about it and state legislators. Anyone with a role in determining which railroad crossing gets a cross bar and lights and which ones don’t should expect to hear from the Sernas.
They’re on a mission to have something good come out of the deep pain of their son’s death.
“We don’t want someone else to go through what we are going through,” Tanya says.
Nobody should.
Online: https://www.thenewsenterprise.com/
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June 5:
The Daily Independent on protesting during the pandemic:
Protests spurred by the death of George Floyd while in police custody might make one feel as though we’ve returned to the civil rights protests of the 1960s, but we have not.
It’s unfortunate timing that U.S. citizens feel compelled to demonstrate while the COVID-19 pandemic continues, but that is the case.
In our region, peaceful protests have occurred in Paintsville, Huntington and Charleston. Protests are planned for Ashland Sunday and Ironton on Monday. We believe those, too, will be peaceful.
Protesting is a valuable tool for social change and it’s a basic right for Americans. We applaud Americans who care enough about an issue to demonstrate and pray they will remain safe and the event will be orderly.
But it isn’t the 1960s.
There is an additional threat to protestors in 2020 and that is the COVID-19 virus.
Even though we are tired of social distancing, we miss our favorite restaurants and social activities and we are uncomfortable wearing masks, the virus exists and it lingers, even here, where we have been relatively lucky with fewer cases and deaths than many parts of the country.
If we want to continue that trend, we must protect ourselves, even as we protest.
Health officials in the area have reminded us to continue wearing masks, keep our 6 feet from one another and wash our hands with soap and water (or with hand sanitizer if soap and water aren’t available). We’ve also been reminded to shower and wash our clothes if we’ve been in close contact with others. Certainly, those who have any symptoms of illness and those with health conditions that weaken the immune system should not participate, do matter how strongly they feel about the issue.
There is no doubt protests such as the ones planned for Sunday and Monday will put participants closer together than is safe. That is why every other precaution must be observed, not only to keep protesters safe but to keep the virus from being transferred from protestors to those they will come into contact with in the coming weeks.
Online: https://www.dailyindependent.com/
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