http://www.kentucky.com/139/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2008 Kentucky.com Merlene Davis 60 Sat, 19 Jul 2008 04:15:34 EDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/463348.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/463348.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:02 EDT
Most of us are blissfully unaware of the trouble some families have in maintaining parental contact with children.

Not all parents are modeled after June and Ward Cleaver of Leave It to Beaver fame or like Dr. Cliff and Clair Huxtable of The Cosby Show.

Some real-life parents have violent histories.

Yet most children want contact with both parents, even if there is risk to themselves or a parent because of acrimony between adults. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/461303.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/461303.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:37 EDT
I remember skillfully hula-hooping on various parts of my body in my youth. I could do two around my waist and one around each arm.

Of course there is a distinct possibility that my memory has blurred with the expansion of my waistline and the passage of time.

But I do know I could hula hoop and hula hoop well. That's why I bought one a couple of years ago and abandoned it two days later when I couldn't get the thing to twirl anywhere near my midsection.

When my boss strongly .suggested I attend a hula-hoop class and write about my .experience, I knew whatever dignity I have been clinging to would fall as quickly as that hoop. Please note, however, there are no photos of me with this column. I was able to keep a smidgen of my dignity intact. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/459819.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/459819.html Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:32 EDT
Lucille Holman, 69, is dying of cancer.

It's her second bout with .ovarian cancer, which had been in remission, but now has spread to her lungs.

She endured a couple of .chemotherapy treatments earlier this year, but decided in April to take a pass on any more.

Holman had accepted her fate, but she wasn't truly at ease with it until she made a trip to Florida recently. Now, all is well. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/457348.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/457348.html Thu, 10 Jul 2008 06:30 EDT
It's that time again. Time for back-to-school shopping.

This will be the first year in nearly two decades that I don't have to shop for school supplies, but I found myself checking out prices nonetheless and picking up a few things the last time I visited a local discount store.

And it's OK. I don't have to seek out a support group or be rehabilitated.

Folks like me, almost-empty-nesters, can buy school supplies and give them to one of the many groups collecting for needy children this year. Or we can simply send $10 to LexLinc to help defray the cost of one of 6,000 backpacks filled with school supplies for elementary school .students. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/455138.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/455138.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:34 EDT
Dignitaries from several countries and entertainment stars from all genres gathered in London on June 27 to wish former South African President Nelson Mandela a happy 90th birthday.

He was honored for the statesman he is and was given millions of dollars toward his fight against the spread of HIV and AIDS in his country.

The big bash was held in England because that country loves him. Had it been thrown in the United States, there would have been a lot more paperwork and .bureaucracy to wade through.

See, until Wednesday, six days ago, Mandela was on our terrorist list. He couldn't get a visa to visit this country without special .dispensation from our .Secretary of State. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/453620.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/453620.html Sun, 06 Jul 2008 04:28 EDT
Advertising companies have tried for years to paint clients ranging from insurance companies to pharmacies as good neighbors. They know we all have a warm and fuzzy image of what a good neighbor is and that we'd all like to have one.

They also know most of us think that kind of relationship disappeared with the advent of automatic garage door openers, ending that brief moment of interaction with people as we walked from the driveway into our homes.

Somebody forgot, however, to tell Roger and Katheryn .Kibby. Kidwell that those days are gone.

Families living along one street in the Copperfield subdivision in south Lexington know the Kidwells have reinvented the good neighbor policy, and they are eternally grateful for it. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/451120.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/451120.html Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:01 EDT
Whether Barack Obama becomes our next president or not, he has changed how a lot of people in America see black people.

I know. I know.

He's only half black. But he hasn't changed the .perception in America that if you are biracial, you must claim the darkest race as the category you check. I hope that will end soon.

Until then, however, Obama is changing how black people are seen in America, especially in the media, liberal and conservative. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/448706.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/448706.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:23 EDT
Although James and Jeanette Robinson did not have a fairy-tale romance, they nonetheless think their marriage will have a happy ending.

.I kept thinking this is puppy love,. Jeanette .Robinson, 75, said of her feelings for her new husband before their wedding in May. .But it wasn't. It was a special love. It really was. He never ever was completely gone from my mind..

That's a good thing, because it took the couple 60 years to finally get together.

James Robinson and .Jeanette Baylous had their first date when he was 14 and she was 12, and they both lived in Parkersburg, W.Va. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/446937.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/446937.html Sun, 29 Jun 2008 02:21 EDT
Just as the sun was setting in Lexington last night, Shawn E. Okpebholo was in Cincinnati watching a world-famous euphonium virtuoso, Steven Mead, perform a concerto Okpebholo had written for the concluding celebration of the International Tuba Euphonium Association's weeklong conference.

It was only natural.

The euphonium is a brass instrument that is an integral part of Salvation Army bands. And it was at the Salvation Army in Lexington that Okpebholo (O-peb-o-lo) discovered his love of music and his talent for composing it.

.From a very young age . I started taking lessons when I was 8 . I loved making music,. Okpebholo, 27, said. .It was fun. It brought out the creativity in me. I have always wanted to be a musician.. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/444211.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/444211.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:44 EDT
I think I'm pretty transparent in my beliefs. I have no problem saying what I think when asked.

So it really irritates me when people lean in closely to whisper something .negative about individuals or a group of people just because they assume I think as they do.

They might be right sometimes, which, I think, negates the need to lean in and whisper. Say it out loud. That's what I do when I have an opinion.

But most of the time, they are wrong. We don't share the same belief and we are not kindred spirits. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/442032.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/442032.html Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:27 EDT
On Father's Day, .Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama spoke at Apostolic Church of God in Chicago, giving what I considered a speech of the rude-awakening kind.

He pointed out to the largely black audience that some black men, those who are absent from the lives of their children, have not been pulling their fair share of the familial load.

Obama pointed out that the problem is not exclusive to black fathers. But because he is a black man who had an absent black father and who was .speaking to a .predominantly black .audience, Obama put a .spotlight on black men.

I didn't have a problem with that. There are far too many men of all colors and cultures who duck the .challenges of fatherhood. But, as Obama pointed out, .We know that more than half of all black children live in single-parent households, a number that has doubled . doubled . since we were children.. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/440602.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/440602.html Sun, 22 Jun 2008 02:06 EDT
I didn't know either, until now. And what I've uncovered, although not exactly new, was news to me and is well worth sharing.

The United Way of the Bluegrass has a help line for non-emergencies. It can be accessed by dialing 2-1-1.

I know. I've seen it on billboards, too, but either I really didn't fully understand it, or it simply didn't register long enough for me to designate a place for that number in my brain.

So, here's the deal.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/418020.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/418020.html Thu, 29 May 2008 08:29 EDT
My husband and I, like many other folks in .Lexington, have been looking for a used vehicle that sips gasoline sparingly.

We planned to allow our college-bound son to use it until he heads out this fall, and then my husband would use it to get back and forth to work.

I truly didn't think it would take a long time to find a vehicle, but that was because I had forgotten how frustrating it can be to mix a miser like me with a used-car salesman who hasn't noticed the tight economy.

Plus, it didn't help that we started out looking for a small pickup so I could get mulch whenever I wanted, then .decided we needed a small car. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/409836.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/409836.html Mon, 19 May 2008 19:36 EDT
One of my sons' friends dropped by recently to proudly tell us he had joined the Navy and couldn't wait to start basic training.

I paused, waiting for the .gotcha. moment that never came. He was serious.

But what about the war in Iraq? I asked. How is your .grandmother taking this news?

.Everything will be OK, Miss Merlene,. he said. .When was the last time you heard of .anyone dying in the Navy?. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/405121.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/405121.html Wed, 14 May 2008 19:42 EDT
During the summer of 2006, .Lexington's Adam Rector traveled to Kenya and spent two months living in a mud, stick and dung hut .without the luxuries of running water and electricity.

He loved it so much, he left .Monday to return to the area.

This time around, though, instead of focusing on teaching math to Masai sixth-graders in Kimuka, Kenya, Rector, 22, will be studying Swahili in Zanzibar and working with a non-governmental .organization to improve the lives of residents there.

.You appreciate what you have and want to give more, but more in a sustainable way,. he said. .Don't think you can go to Africa and not be touched if you see the cities and the actual people and not just the safaris.. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/391781.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/391781.html Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:37 EDT
Nearly 47 years ago, a group of students from various .Southern colleges and .universities, probably without telling their parents, climbed aboard buses for a violent .destination in the history books.

Called Freedom Riders, the group of young white and black students decided to test the new 1961 U.S. Supreme Court order that banned segregation on interstate transportation.

Integration laws didn't go over very well with the entrenched powers of the South back then. And having blacks riding in the front of the bus and whites in the back, as the Freedom .Riders often traveled, didn't go over well at all.

There was nothing in our country's history that would have indicated to those college students that these trips, set up by the Congress for Racial Equality, would be any different. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/382911.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/382911.html Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:58 EDT
Susan Burgess Laux looks .normal..

She wears normal-looking clothes and shoes, and her hair is beautifully cut and maintained.

There are no torn jeans, no hair going every which way, no tie-dyed T-shirt . images we are given to conjure up when thinking of people passionate about saving the Earth.

Nothing about Laux, the owner of The Woodlands Salon, would indicate that she long ago embraced our need to treat the Earth better so that it would be here much longer. She's been a cosmetologist for more than 30 years and has been environmentally concerned for most of that time. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/376327.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/376327.html Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:36 EDT
Something comes over me in the spring that compels me to dig in dirt and to plant and transplant things and throw mulch wherever I can.

I know. My family thinks I'm crazy, too. It's beyond my control.

Recently I've even been scouring the classifieds and car lots looking for a small truck that doesn't cost more than I've saved for my last child's college fund just so I can go get mulch when I need to and have it on hand. My husband hasn't filed for divorce yet . that I know of.

This overwhelming urge to garden has been with me as long as I can remember, but once I left home, there was a decade in which I could only dig at the roots of a small houseplant. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/371576.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/371576.html Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:13 EDT
This is very short notice, ladies, but there is an event this evening at Victorian Square that you really ought to attend if you need a Derby hat.

The Lexington Cancer Foundation Inc. is hosting Hats for Life, a silent auction .featuring at least 100 new or gently worn hats.

I have a friend who just got chills .reading that sentence. Buying hats and shoes does that to her.

Kristi Martin, executive director of the foundation, said that the hats have come from milliners throughout the country and that some have been donated by women who wore their treasures only once. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/364652.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/364652.html Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:37 EDT
Friday marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

We will again live through the endless repetitions of his inspiring speeches about having a dream of eventual racial equality, about letting freedom ring from all corners of this nation, and about not reaching that point in history with us.

What we won't hear are the thoughts he expressed in the 18 months or so before his death, words that then were considered unpatriotic, and that would still be characterized that way today.

.I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice,. King began in what has become known as his .Beyond Vietnam. speech. ]]>