News From Terre Haute, Indiana

Editorials

January 16, 2010

TRIBUNE-STAR EDITORIAL: Please — a little common sense on workplace safety

Legislators should firmly stand up to gun lobby

TERRE HAUTE — Unless you work for yourself in a one-person operation, part of your employment is dealing with the personalities, habits, quirks and occasional emotional problems of other people.

How do you feel about all of them being free to keep a loaded gun in their car in the company parking lot?

This so-called right is the latest hot cause of the gun lobby and its many pro-gun friends in the state General Assembly. Not enough that Indiana is one of the loosest, least prohibitive places in the nation to buy, sell, carry, conceal, use and keep forever firearms; Senate Bill 25, and House Bill 1065 aim to move all that freedom closer to the front door of our workplaces.

Frequent flyers of late in the Assembly, bills such as these also have passed in several states and are under consideration in about 10 others. (An Indiana Senate version passed 42-8 last year, but the House did not deliver.) Supporters say the laws are all about personal safety and uniform fairness: Why should a law-abiding gun owner have to take his or her shotgun, rifle or handgun out of a vehicle just to drive to work?

Maybe if Indiana had a few more safeguards in place regarding legal gun ownership, the fairness argument would resonate. But the state does not.

Rifles and shotguns? No permit, registration, license or permit to carry is required to own one — or dozens. Handguns? The only permit required of Hoosiers is a permit to carry.

Background checks for guns purchased from non-licensed dealers at flea markets, gun shows, via classified ads or private sales? You must be thinking of some other state.

Little wonder Indiana is known among pro- and anti-gun folk alike as one of the top “source states” for legal guns that end up being used illegally in other states.

Last week, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce came out, forcefully, against these needless, dangerous changes to existing gun law. Nobody’s idea of an anti-Constitutional bunch of liberals, the 5,000-member Chamber issued a news release stating its position:

“Proponents of these bills emphasize an individual’s right to bear arms, but property owners certainly have the right — and obligation — to provide a safe workplace for their employees. The consequences can become violent, often deadly, when guns and the workplace mix.”

The Chamber cited several studies that show employee safety decreases in workplaces that do not prohibit guns on the premises. The organization then asked: “So, knowing all of this, why in the world are Indiana legislators advocating for guns in the workplace?”

The sorry answer: Because easy access to guns in this state is a political priority that often outranks safety and common sense. It’s way past time for Hoosier legislators to listen to groups like the Chamber of Commerce and change their ways.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Editorials
  • EDITORIAL: Drug-testing bill lacks fairness and decency

    The current session of the Indiana Legislature has produced plenty of initiatives that play well to the majority party’s base.

    February 12, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Keep religion out of science class

    An uncertain fate remains for an Indiana Senate bill that would, if it were to become law, allow public schools to teach creationism and other origin-of-life theories in their classes. But this fight may have already been grounded.

    February 10, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Delivering on infrastructure

    With national, state and local economies showing distinct signs of recovery from the Great Recession of 2008, it is good to hear Mayor Duke Bennett sounding optimistic about Terre Haute and its immediate future.

    February 9, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Volunteer ‘army’ serving the needs of children

    You know, of course, that casa means house. But do you also know that its all-capitals cousin, CASA, means home?

    February 6, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Big dreams do come true

    Consider this Super Bowl Sunday to be proof that anything is possible.

    February 5, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Big ‘kick’ from a native son

    Every player in Sunday’s Super Bowl is from somewhere. But not every player remembers where he’s from and reaches out to consistently help those back home. Not like Steve Weatherford. Make that not like Terre Haute’s Steve Weatherford.
     

    February 3, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Smoking ban good enough

    When it comes to getting things done in the Indiana General Assembly, progress is often measured in baby steps. Indeed, it can take years to achieve even meager accomplishments.

    February 2, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: United Way’s strong reputation helps sustain community trust

    It would be foolish in any community to take “positives” for granted, but it’s easy to understand how a casual observer would assume that United Way of the Wabash Valley will always come through with flying colors.

    February 1, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Nothing sexy about human trafficking

    When kickoff comes at the 2012 Super Bowl, expectations will be high for a fun, competitive, fanatical contest between the two survivors of the NFL’s regular season.

    January 29, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: The law’s good ‘Shepard’

    Under the radar and against the backdrop of the fractious right-to-work battle going on in Indianapolis, one of state’s leading public servants delivered his valedictory in typical understated, even quiet, style two weeks ago. And before Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard slips away into retirement, his work needs to be acknowledged and praised.

    January 26, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Cops at risk

    Indiana lawmakers are playing with a loaded gun in a bill that passed the Indiana Senate Monday, 45-5.

    January 25, 2012

  • TRIBUNE-STAR EDITORIAL: Helping your community, a few mouse clicks at a time

    When you type WabashValleyGives.org into your web browser, hundreds of opportunities to help your local community will open on the screen before you.
     

    January 24, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Raves around the town

    To begin the week, we are raving about these recent pieces of local news:

    January 23, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Let Hoosiers have a say on right-to-work bill

    Indiana legislators, both Republican and Democrat, may claim to know the will of the people on right-to-work.

    January 22, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Thin ice winter’s deadly scourge

    Six-year-old Trevor Wayne Young of Nashville, Ind., and 50-year-old Allen D. Johnson of Galva, Ill., probably had little in common — except the way they died.
     

    January 20, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Meeting needs at St. Ann's

    The caliber of a community often is revealed by its efforts to help its least fortunate citizens.

    January 18, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: A sweet deal for Amazon.com

    That loud lip-smack on the cheek you heard echoing from Indianapolis last week was the sound of Gov. Mitch Daniels kissing off on what amounts to another sweetheart deal between Indiana and Amazon.com, the online retailing giant.

    January 16, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: A new era for growth

    The promised announcement of a major new industry for the former Pfizer property in southern Vigo County turned out to be well worth the wait.

    January 15, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Transparency a worthy goal

    Do taxpayers have the right to know specific details of contracts between elected school boards and superintendents they hire to run their operations?
     

    January 13, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Shakir Bell’s success gives boost to Sycamore football

    Hope inspires progress. It’s the fuel for a better future.

    January 12, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Inspiration for the future

    Hope inspires progress. It’s the fuel for a better future.

    January 12, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Put teeth in public access laws

    Indiana’s laws governing public access, as good as they are, lack something important — teeth. There are no significant consequences for agencies or employees who intentionally violate them.

    January 11, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Time for teamwork in Sullivan

    The beginning of a new mayoral term in any community is — or should be — a time when the talk of the town is rife with ideas, improvements and changes.

    January 9, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Lawmakers should leave IHSAA, high school basketball alone

    In an idyllic world, Indiana could restore its fabled single-class high school basketball state tournament, and thousands of fans would pour into gymnasiums from Angola to Corydon in hopes of witnessing another “Milan Miracle” year after year after year.

    January 8, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: ‘Anthem’ proposal way off key

    Remember Faith Hill’s impassioned rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl in 2000?
     

    January 6, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Back from the access brink

    It took almost a week, but Gov. Daniels finally stepped up and did the right thing on Wednesday, rescinding new rules aimed at restricting the number of people allowed in the Statehouse during this session of the General Assembly.

    January 5, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Poor decision by local Dems

    By a little after 4 this afternoon, Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett will have been sworn in for a second term and City Councilman-elect Robert All will have taken the oath of office for the first time.

    January 2, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Be it resolved …

    Resolutions for 2012 are top-of-mind today.

    January 1, 2012

  • EDITORIAL: Another slice of Classic history

    Baseball is the so-called American pastime, but to Hoosiers and to our Illinois neighbors, it’s basketball that gets a community’s blood pumping. And no form of roundball does that any more intimately than high school basketball, whether boys or girls. College hoops is great, but nothing quite beats the packed, overheated confines of a high school gym when a tight game turns on every possession, every shot, every rebound, every pass, every defensive position. The sing-song of cheerleaders, the shrillness of a ref’s whistle, the squeak of gym shoes on hardwood, the shouted instructions from the benches, the aroma of popcorn — those form a Midwestern tableau unlike any other.
     

    December 30, 2011

  • EDITORIAL: A strategy for growth

    There are many ways to market an area in order to spur economic growth. Some may work better than others, but there is no perfect approach. The essential thing is to have a strategy and to implement it.

    December 29, 2011

Latest News
Multimedia

Like us on Facebook!
Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com
TribStar.com Poll
Join the Conversation
Helium
Front page
AP Video
Raw Video: Kim Jong Il Statue Unveiled Authorities: Houston Found Underwater in Tub Raw Video: Hearse Arrives at N.J. Funeral Home Trial Opens for Ala. Man in Bride's Diving Death Baltimore's 'Crime Stopper' Is a Basketball Star Arm Wrestler Not Guilty Plea in Wife's Death Raw Video: Houston Body Flown From L.A. to N.J. Bacteria Keep Swimmers Off Some Fla. Beaches First Person: Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show Police: Houston Found Under Water, Unconscious Raw Video: Biden Greets Chinese VP for Visit Raw Video: Whitney Houston's Last Performance Obama's New Budget: The Winners and Losers Israeli Diplomats Targeted in India, Georgia Gregoire: Marriage Equality Is Right for Wash. Raw Video: 5 People Injured in Bangkok Blasts Attempted Bomb Attack Stopped in Georgia Reaction to Houston's Death at Clive Davis Party Raw Video: Israeli Embassy Car Attacked Sandusky Can See Grandkids, Have Local Jury
NDN Video
Watch: Whitney Houston's Golden Hearse Kate Upton MLB 2K12 Commercial Olympic Swimmer Proposes on Podium After Big Win Scarlett Johansson's Bikini P-D-A Man Allegedly Drowns Wife While Scuba Diving Sports Illustrated Cover Leaked Wash. becomes 7th state to okay same-sex marriage Romijn's 60 Pound Weight Loss The 'Celebrity Apprentice' Cast Meets Donald Trump Kissing contest heats up Hugh Hefner's Son Arrested Jacqueline Kennedy's personal papers released Did Tyler Perry Have a Secret Wedding? Baltimore's 'Crime Stopper' Is a Basketball Star Police: Houston Found Under Water, Unconscious Iran denies Israeli embassy bombings 'Bachelor' Free Falls into the Ocean Facebook Parenting: Father Posts Video Responding to Daughter's Post Bobby Brown on Houston's Death Arm Wrestler Not Guilty Plea in Wife's Death
Parade
Magazine

Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.
  • -

    March 12, 2010

activity
Real Estate News