I’m feeling a little emotional right now and want to ramble, so bear with me.

 

The wedding was today.  In spite of being rained out and having to stage the ceremony indoors, it was lovely.  The bride was—as most girls on that special day are—simply luminous.  The fact that she is just cute as a button made her even more precious.  The bridegroom is a cutie pie himself, and they made the sweetest couple.  As the groomsmen and bridesmaids lined up and began walking down the aisle, I had to smile. They were so very young, so very darling.  And in the midst of the ceremony, I turned to another wedding-goer and remarked, “Isn’t it something?  All that youth?  That freshness?   That promise?”  At the reception it was fun to watch the groomsmen and groom dancing, blowing off steam and having such a good time together.  Their energy was absolutely awesome.  While sitting there enjoying them, my mind floated back to the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.  And I started thinking—if we were re-living those times, those boys would be blowing off steam because they’d know that the majority of them would be heading at some point for Nam.  And some of them might not return, and others might return but still be lost to us.  I guess that’s a blessing of an all-volunteer army.  Only those who opt for it (for whatever reasons—wanting a college education, lack of jobs, poverty, promise of travel, training, etc.) get sent to war and risk their lives, their sanity, their futures.  I think a part of me is still visiting the Viet Nam era, and that is a big reason for my sadness right now.

 

Several attempts were made to bring off the outdoor wedding, but Mother Nature refused to cooperate.  Certainly that must have been a disappointment to the bride and groom, but I figure that over the years to come in their marriage they will have to weather other, much worse storms.  I just hope they will remember that between each of those downpours today, the sun reappeared (along with rainbows).  It will be the same in their marriage.  Nothing ever stays the same—not the good weather, not the bad.

 

To my friends--the mother and father of the groom--I thank you for having invited me.

 

As a rule, I don’t do weddings.  Nor do I do wedding or baby showers, or Tupperware, candle, cooking, or basket parties.  Perhaps you've already guessed that I'm not much for tradition.    However, I do go to funerals.  After all, I  figure if you don’t go to theirs, then they probably won’t come to yours. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                   Biker moll Halliepena

                Cheesecake, senior style........

 

 

 

 

A dear friend of mine, a several-time survivor, described cancer in the most eloquent of terms.  “It’s a thief,” she said, “It robs you of peace of mind, security, and promise.”  I’m only a cancer novitiate, but she hit the proverbial nail.

      

Cancer as a thief is an apt description.  It was prowling around my body for a good year before I sought medical treatment because I lacked insurance coverage and could not afford doctor visits or testing.  As the year wore on, the symptoms worsened, and I pretty much knew what they’d find once the testing began.  I received the diagnosis on December 7, 2007, after a procedure in which approximately 20 bladder tumors were removed.  That same friend joked with me afterward that the inside of my bladder must have looked like a morocca.  That was a good joke.  I needed the laugh.  Shocky though resolute, I determined to stay as positive as possible.  Instead of the cancer I focused on buying clothes to fit my “new” body that came about because of the associated weight loss.  (And honestly, I’m okay with the thief stealing pounds.)  And I fantasized about falling in love one more time, perhaps one last time.  February came and I underwent another procedure.  There was good news and bad news.  While there were no large tumors present and it still was not invasive, the cancer was widespread and high-grade.  The surgeon advised that most other surgeons would have gone directly to bladder removal, but because of my age and other medical problems, he wanted to try a specific treatment that had excellent results in less aggressive cancers.  The fantasies diminished, once again thanks to the cancer thief.

 

On March 31^st, I started BCG (immunotherapy) treatments.  These were delivered once per week for a total of six weeks.  I felt blessed that I didn’t have to suffer through chemotherapy or radiation.  The treatments were really quite easy and I had to modify my life only one day per week.  But that thief cancer started robbing me of energy.  Was it actually stealing my energy, or was it a mild depression?  As the weeks ticked by and I neared the six-week completion mark, I found my anxiety increasing incrementally.  Now the cancer was stealing my peace of mind.  On May 5^th, the treatments ended.  I celebrated the day by taking myself out to a Mexican meal and doing what I wanted to do for that day.  The next day, I realized that all that was left was promise.

 

Oh, I know that we humans like to fool ourselves into believing we are in control of our destinies.  To some degree we are, through some of the choices we make.  But, think about it.  Here we are, held to a spinning top by a gravitational force, hurtling through space at unimaginable speeds.  So much of our lives are left to chance.  I guess the only thing we have left is promise.  In another few days, I'll undergo yet another procedure to discover whether or not the cancer treatments worked.  My worry now is that the next time the thief comes around, it may use a battering ram and steal my promise.

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow I’m having lunch with a friend of mine and her very young-for-his-age, distinguished-looking father to celebrate his birthday.  Actually, I’m a little giddy about our get-together.  I always enjoy seeing him.  He’s intelligent, entertaining, and an independent thinker.  Has a good sense of humor (a MUST in my book—I like to laugh).  He’s also “quite fresh,” as his daughter tells him (in my presence).  Sometimes the flirtations are outrageous, even to my sometimes bawdy way of thinking, but for an “old guy,” he has some pretty good lines AND moves.  Perhaps on his part it is a game.  On my part, it sorta’ is and it sorta’ ain’t.  I gave up on men many years ago, but within the last year I’ve experienced a re-awakening.  Maybe it’s because I realize that the end is drawing near.  In the best of circumstances, I’ve already lived more years than I have left, for certain.  And, now, with the cancer…well, who the heck knows?  Maybe I’m looking for my last hurrah.  Anyway, I enjoy the attention, and even with my white hair, the extra weight, the wrinkles, the sagging (for you youngsters out there…after a certain age, the skin starts looking like melting candle wax at best, or a mud slide at worst), I am more confident than ever in my womanhood, my sexuality.   Now, if only there were a man as confident with himself, and himself with a woman my age….

 

I never married.  I saw no need for it.  Oh, at one point in my life, I did want children, but then I realized that I’d only pass on my neuroses.  Why would I choose to do that to an innocent creature?  Before arriving at that point where I considered legal binding ‘needless’, I considered marriage several times.  A mistake.  My very first ‘fiancé’ left me to fend for myself in the A&P parking lot on a cold, misty night.  Back then I was a good girl (still am, only in a Mae West kinda’ way) and intent on “saving” myself for marriage.  He was not at all interested in marrying a good girl.  So, fed up with my resistance, he told me to get out of the car.  Said, “When you come to your senses about it [giving up my virginous ways], give me a call,” and then he drove off into the night.  I was absolutely heartbroken and not prepared to deal with that.  And I decided that would never happen to me again.  So the next boy who came along got the “goodies,” and, as luck would have it, I became pregnant.  When I told him about the pregnancy, he offered to pay for a backstreet abortion (they were illegal back then).  I told him to cram it, and walked away.  Fortunately--harsh as that sounds, I mean it--I miscarried several weeks later.  Then there was this other fellow who proposed to me after a several-year courtship.  I asked him one day what he wanted out of marriage.  He said, “I want somebody to take care of my things.”  Things.  Things.  He did NOT say, “I want somebody to take care of ‘my thing’.  That would have been no problemo.  But, no, he said “take care of my things.”  I told him he needed to get a maid, and then I departed (but not before he tried to strangle me.  Evidently he had abandonment issues).

 

Things got so bad at one point in my life, as to the choices I was making in men, that I decided to let my miniature poodle make the decisions whom I should date, and whom not.  I figured my dog had to have more sense than I.  That actually worked for a while, and then the dog's judgment became as faulty as mine, and a few slippery eel-like males made their way into my life.  That was when I gave up dating.  Now, years later, I am coming out of that self-imposed deep slumber brought on by those miserable choices my dog and I made.

 

I’m convinced that we humans either seek out or repel those who remind us of our opposite gender parent.  I really don’t know what the hell I was doing for the 25 years I dated—seeking or repelling.  Fortunately, for my mental health at least a couple of relationships were healthy.  I enjoyed being IN relationships, but not OF them.  Hated the way a relationship complicated my life.  I never wanted to “belong” to anybody, like a material possession.  And I didn’t want to “own” anybody either.  I do think a lot of people view relationships in just that way—they stake a claim of ownership—they slip the bit on.  I always chomped at the bit.   I heard a line the other day that it takes an untameable man to recognize an untameable woman.  I guess I’ve not yet met that individual, if he does exist.  I’m wondering if the very young-for-his-age, distinguished-looking gentleman knows an untameable when he sees her.

 

 

Old Halliepena with young friend-January 2008

 

 

 

 Some CDCPTR folks--my family......

 

 

 

KEEPING TABS ON SPENDING THROUGH TAB

In 1819, in the landmark case of McCulloch v Maryland, Supreme Court Justice John Marshall wrote an opinion in which he stated, “The power to tax involves the power to destroy.”   Here in Delaware County, at the Crossroads of America, we citizens find ourselves at another type of crossroads, whether to survive by implementing new paradigms or be destroyed by excess taxation driven by out-of-control spending.

 

On April 1, 2008, in a special meeting called by Delaware County Council President Brad Bookout, the Council adopted a new paradigm by voting in favor of re-establishing the Tax Adjustment Board (TAB—also known as the County Board of Tax Adjustment).  The motion passed 4:3, with dissenting votes cast, largely down party lines, by Council members Ted Bowman, Mary Chambers, and Chris Matchett.

 

Although state government touted the passage of the most recent property tax bill (HB1001) as a “sweeping change,” this was nothing more than a temporary fix.  And we all know about temporary fixes.  After all, state government attempted a fix of property taxes in 1933, then again in 1963, and once more in 1973.  In the ensuing 25 years, property taxes swelled by some 450%, sales tax rose from 4% to 6%, income tax increased from 1.9% to 3.4%, and two more LOITS were brought on line.  The main question here is, how much time do we have until the next new tax or the next tax hike?

 

The upshot is that the focus—now more than ever—is on reduction and control of local spending.  Fortunately, legislation included in the bill allowed for the County Board of Tax Adjustment (TAB) to play a significant role in limiting spending.  This was particularly significant in that the Capital Review Board that was supposed to begin 1/1/09 was abandoned.  In its place, the TAB would be charged with review, possible revision and reduction of the budget, tax rate, and tax levy of each political subdivision filed with the county auditor.  Such entities would include townships, schools, city, county, library, airport authority, etc.  The statutory deadline for reinstatement of the TAB was April 1 of each year.

 

It was with foresight that Citizens of Delaware County for Property Tax Repeal (CDCPTR) began requesting the County Council to reinstate the County Board of Tax Adjustment three months prior.  On February 25, the Council rendered a favorable vote of 4:3 to reinstate the TAB.  On March 25^th, the ordinance required to reinstate the TAB was introduced, and that resulted in a favorable 4:3 vote as well.  Following that, however, a motion to suspend the rules so as to adopt the ordinance failed for lack of unanimous vote.  The dissenting votes, again, were cast—in ALL instances—by County Council members Ted Bowman, Chris Matchett, and Mary Chambers.  In a blatantly obvious attempt to become the eighth member of the Council, Don Dunnuck--acting far beyond his scope of responsibility and by way of making off-the-cuff remarks--asked questions, proffered observations, and questioned the authority of the County Board of Tax Adjustment to perform assigned duties without being an elected body itself.  Following the failed vote, and in concert with the law, Brad Bookout, acting in the best interest of taxpayers, crossed strict party lines and called for the special meeting.

 

There was, by some elected officials (Chris Matchett, to name one), outward resistance to the appointment of citizens to the Board.  However, it is essential to realize that the County Board of Tax Adjustment will be in a position to make economic decisions that individual political subdivisions often will not, leading to improved efficiency of the local taxing unit.  After all, such judgments can be made by the Board without undue influence of special interest groups.  In the pursuit of greater transparency and accountability in local government, citizen input might help defuse possible adversarial approaches and allow for greater nonpartisan participation.  The presence of the Board will also serve to lessen finger-pointing between state and local governments.  Most importantly, TAB can be a constant reminder that it’s the peoples’ money, NOT the government’s.

 

Effective cuts in and control of spending is the goal of the County Board of Tax Adjustment.  One only has to recall the 20-year Center Township Trustee who managed to hoard in excess of $5 million to understand the necessity of this Board’s function.  The discovery of those resources was, in fact, a revelation of a previous County Board of Tax Adjustment.  The Board’s ultimate demise by “political abolishment” could very well have been driven by the fact that certain political entities ultimately grew paranoid of that kind of “oversight” and saw to its elimination when the opportunity presented itself.  Thus, for the time being, the County Board of Tax Adjustment (or TAB) could be a very meaningful way to help keep a lid on escalating tax and spend free-for-alls.

 

Appointments to the County Board of Tax Adjustment (or Tax Adjustment Board, or TAB) were completed April 8.  Those members are:

 

TAX ADJUSTMENT BOARD APPOINTEES

 

Appointed By                          Name

County Council                    Brad Bookout

City of                             Mayor

  Muncie                                 Sharon McShurley

Muncie School Board         Kevin Smith

County Commissioners      Cecil Bohanon

(Citizen Appointments)      Teresa Clemmons

                                                 Doug Eckerty

                                                 Jeanine Lee Lake

                                               

We welcome the new members of the TAB, and know that the Board will act, as it did in the past, as an effective tool against fraud, waste, and abuse of taxpayer dollars.

 

As a citizen lobbyist and volunteer for CDCPTR, I wish to acknowledge Brad Bookout for his willingness and courage to step across strict political lines for the benefit of ALL Delaware County taxpayers.  Thanks also to the other members of the Council for their yea votes to re-establish TAB.

 

By working together we can help make Delaware County a model for the rest of Indiana, perhaps for the Midwest, maybe for the entire country.

 

 

C.A. Bouslog

• Property owners are currently being taxed at greater than the proposed 1, 2, and 3 percent levels for residences, farms, and businesses.  This has led to a migration of citizens out of the county, even out of the state, resulting in an increased tax burden for those property owners who remain. 
• Spending must be controlled and sound governmental practices followed.  For example, unethical and perhaps illegal appointments to Common Construction Wage panels have allowed the fleecing of millions of dollars from local taxpayers.  And in spite of throwing millions of dollars at local school building projects, ISTEP scores have suffered, and dropout rates have increased.  In addition, medical coverage premiums for employees of the city/county are contracted far below those in the private sector, effectively providing almost free insurance coverage to employees.  These contracts need to be re-negotiated to allow for greater employee participation, as far as premiums are concerned.
• Threats regarding reduction of public safety services are commonly used to persuade citizens to continue "business as usual."  Are you aware that 90% of the fireman from the Muncie Fire Department live outside the city of Muncie where they are covered by volunteer fire departments?  Yet, we are expected to NOT diminish the number of FD employees (even though our population has shrunk) or utilize the services of volunteers, nor are we expected to negotiate union contracts to effectively lower costs for such coverage.  The same applies to the police/sheriff departments.
• The argument that the Governor's proposed property tax bill (which combines limits with an increase in sales tax of 1%) will negatively impact lower income/fixed income citizens is simply an untruth.  For example, using the Governor's numbers, my property tax bill would be reduced by $350 per year.  For the increase in sales tax to impact me, I would have to buy $35,000 worth of goods per year.  As a senior citizen whose Social Security AND pension total $1100 per month, I hardly think that possible.  PLEASE--do the math and cease the perpetuation of this lie.
• Special interest funding attached to ANY property tax bill should be removed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you cast your vote, you are hiring someone to run your company (your government). 

So--

• Would you hire anyone without asking for a resume? 
• Would you hire anyone who did not have the appropriate experience to match the job requirement? 
• Would you hire anyone who could not provide references? 
• Would you hire anyone who failed a background check or whose references sent up a red flag?
• Would you hire anyone without interviewing them? 
  

That's all you're doing folks: You are hiring somebody to represent YOU in YOUR government.

• Demand a resume.
• Check their education.
• Check their work experience.
• Do the background check.
• Check references. 
• Interview them.

Then, vote.

Author:  C.A. Bouslog