Plato said…

            “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

            You just never know what your friends, family, or colleagues are going through, so err on the side of compassion when talking to them or about them.

            Plato didn’t really say that, but it gets better attention than, “Ian Maclaren said…”

Election Guide

The Primary and General Election guides published by The Republican have been said to be the best voter information guides in Central Indiana if not the whole state.

I’ve probably told you this before, but residents of other counties have asked if we could do the same for their county. Of course, we are a Hendricks County newspaper, and all our time is spent on Hendricks County news and stories. Our apologies for those living in Putnam, Morgan, and Montgomery counties.

The financial costs and the amount of labor required to publish these in-depth guides and mail them to every household in Hendricks County (80,500+) are high.

I would like to give a round of applause to everyone in our newspaper family for the tremendous amount of work they do to not only produce a weekly newspaper but to find the time and energy to put together these comprehensive voter guides.

These are the people that make the sausage, as they say: Betty Bartley, Beth Polley, Renee Bowman, Kirsten Simon, Michelle Pritchett, Isabella Zarate, Savannah Shotwell, and Connie McClure. Another round of applause, please.

Side note:

We have reached out to every candidate in contested races multiple times requesting interviews, bios and photos. Please know if these are missing in the Election Guide, it was not due to lack of effort on our behalf.

Public Notices

Every year in Indiana there are legislators in our state that actively try to remove public notices from the local newspapers.

Public notice requirements serve three purposes: transparency, accountability, and participation. They make sure government, and legal actions are not conducted out of public view and give citizens a chance to know what is happening before it affects them.

Public notices tell citizens what their government is doing, what legal actions may affect them, and when they have a right or opportunity to respond.

So, the question is, why would those who are elected to represent us in government want to stop us from seeing their public notices in the newspaper? Good question.

There are seven state level officials that represent all of us in Hendricks County. Three senators and four representatives. You should ask them if they are one of the legislators that want to remove public notice requirements in local newspapers. And if so, ask them why?

Moonshot Grant ideas

Two weeks ago, we reported that the Hendricks County Community Foundation held an open house to reveal the details of a one million dollar “moonshot” grant. The grant will be awarded to one or more entities that come up with an idea that would be transformational for Hendricks County.

I have an idea or two that could be transformational for the county for a million dollars but wanted to throw this out to our readers.

Do you have any ideas that could transform the county for a million dollars? Email your thoughts to me at: Jerry@therepublicannewspaper.com.

Local Radio

            When I’m driving or hanging out at home or work, I like to have the radio on in the background. And when I have the radio on, I like it to be tuned to WYRZ 98.9 out of Brownsburg. Not many counties are fortunate to have their own radio station, but we have one and we should support it.

            It’s nice to hear local weather and traffic at the top of the hour along with ads from the local businesses you patronize and the non-profits that serve all of us in Hendricks County.

            Local radio along with your local newspaper brings you real news and stories from all over Hendricks County. Not chatter or speculation. Real news. You could say it brings us closer together. 

            If you can not get 98.9 on your radio, it’s easy to stream the station through an Alexa or Google Home device or a radio app like TuneIn or iHeart radio. Now you have no excuse not to tune in to the Voice of Hendricks County, WYRZ.