The Republic from Columbus, Indiana • Page 8

I NDIANAPOLIS The calls keep coming. teachers happy. On Election Day with the help of parents and other Hoosiers they knocked off the education czar, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett, with an unknown and underfunded Democratic candidate, Glenda Ritz. Teachers thought changed the dynamic in the discussion about education reform and won themselves a seat at the table. It appears they thought wrong.

Within hours, Gov. Mitch Daniels, Mike Pence and Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma Republicans all delivered their own message to teachers. They said that candidates had won in other races and that those victories constituted the real mandate on education reform. They said that the reforms were not going to slow down or be altered in any fashion. Daniels even said that he appointed a board of education that Ritz would report to.

Translation: Teachers and parents who happy about some parts of education reform and voted for Ritz, talk to the hand. The reaction from teachers has been quick and profound. (Daniels, Pence and Bosma) even care what the voters one teacher fumed in a phone call. That true. Daniels, Pence and Bosma all are hard-nosed guys.

Successful politicians pretty much have to be. But they get into public service because they wanted to thwart the people. They are trying to do what they think is right. One of the great tragedies of the debate over education in this state and country is that advocates on every side care about children and about schools. They want what it is best for students.

They even agree, in some cases, on the means to achieve their goals. Most advocates for education, regardless of where they fall on the ideological divide, agree now that improving schools occur in a vacuum. They know that the task of setting expectations for student performance and reinforcing the support system for student achievement now has to be more than just a or a responsibility. Parents and communities also have to shoulder a share of the load. What they disagree on is how to achieve those goals.

Many conservative education advocates believe that vouchers, grades for schools and teachers and other forms of establishing accountability will get the job done. Many perhaps most teachers disagree and argue that more than a bit inconsistent for the people preaching accountability not to accept an verdict. As is so often the case in fights as bitter as this one, there is plenty of blame to go around. The intransigent resistance of many unions to every education reform idea going back to merit pay made education reform advocates particularly conservative ones see teachers as an obstacle to progress. And most teachers saw the refusal of those critics of their performance to acknowledge any responsibility for failed reform experiments the Select Schools public choice project in Indianapolis, for example as disingenuous at best and bad faith at worst.

The one indisputable truth out of the 30-year war over education policy in Indiana and America is that the folks on every side of the battle have spent a lot of time, energy and money fighting with each other, resources that could have been better devoted to helping children. The irony and the tragedy of this incessant fighting has been that all too often it has moved education warriors on both sides away from the goal they share making schools better for kids. This latest round of bitterness could have the same effect. Fortunately, there are sane voices. One teacher who voted for Ritz told me, want to stop education.

We just want to be part of the discussion. We want a seat at the My grandfather was a school teacher for more than 50 years. He taught me many things, not the least of which was that it is the responsibility to be gracious and extend the hand of peace. The Republicans Daniels, Pence and Bosma are the victors here. They should try to find a way not to make the students the rope in a giant game of tug-of-war.

They should pull a few more seats up to the education reform table and expand the conversation. not just the right thing to do. the smart thing to do. John Krull is director of Franklin Pulliam School of Journalism, host of WFYI 90.1 FM Indianapolis and executive editor of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. OR something more than a decade in the making, the planned replacement of outdated two-way radios for Columbus firefighters is much more than long-awaited and welcome news.

A pledge by Mayor Kristen administration to allocate more than $250,000 to the Columbus Fire Department will pave the way for the purchase of 60 new digital radios, which will enable firefighters to communicate, not only among themselves, but directly with other emergency responders without having to go through intermediaries or cope with garbled traffic. It can resolve a situation that should have been addressed much earlier. The problems of incompatible communications between, and sometimes within, responding agencies was raised as far back as 1996 when Bartholomew County deputies and Indiana state troopers complained they would be unable to monitor Columbus police transmissions if that department went ahead with plans to purchase new megahertz radios. The differing methods of communication posed a number of problems for the individual agencies with equipment that allowed their officers to communicate among themselves but had to use dispatchers to pass along information to other agencies that might be called to the same incident. The Sept.

11, 2001, attacks on the United States focused attention on the problem and ironically paved the way for local governments to get help from the federal government in bringing all agencies onto the same wavelengths, so to speak. Local responders were able to tap into Homeland Security funds for a number of protective steps, one of the most important being the transfer from analog radios to digital systems, which had wider capabilities and provided clearer transmissions. Even the volunteer fire departments were able to get grants totaling $885,556 for the purchase of 800-megahertz digital radio systems in 2006. The Columbus Fire Department has had a digital system in place for several years now, but the two-way radios used by firefighters operate on the analog system. Newly appointed Fire Chief Fred Allmon noted that some of the equipment used by the department today is inoperable in some buildings with metal walls that act as a reception shield.

Firefighters standing within a few feet of each other but separated by those walls talk to each other. The acquisition of the new equipment is intended to remove those communications barriers and enable all of the responders to have clear and direct communications with each other. about time, especially in emergency situations when faulty reception or the need to go through third parties to relay messages can be costly, not only in time, but in the ability to save lives. Chuck Wells Publisher Email address: Harry McCawley Associate Editor Email address: shall endeavor to make our paper the champion of the people of Bartholomew County and we shall advocate, irrespective of political considerations, all measures that have for their object the good of the community. In short, we hope to make our paper such as no intelligent person in the county can do Isaac T.

Brown, Founding Editor, 1875 OLUMBUS veteran George DeLay has put a lot of effort during the past two years into arranging a simple reunion with two friends he served with in Vietnam. Finding one of them occupied most of his time. Working around the physical infirmities of both of them has taken up the rest. Friends and family in Columbus have noted the extent to which the Cummins Inc. retiree has gone in his single-minded quest and more than a few have asked him why.

As far as George is concerned, the answer is simple. buddy asked he said. DeLay, Michael Carlson and Randy Campbell followed different paths to their first meeting in 1967 at Fort Knox, where they were assigned to the same Army unit going through Advanced Individual Training. They met as strangers, but for the next two years they were practically inseparable. through the training at Fort Knox together, got some more training at the old Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis together and shipped out together to Vietnam on the same day, July 4, George recalled last week.

were in a finance unit, but we still had to go on guard duty and go out on patrols. We got shot at, maybe not as often as some of the other ground-pounders, but it was enough to scare The three friends were separated when their tours ended in Vietnam. Randy and Michael elected to go back to the United States, but George decided to stay on for an extra two months in Vietnam. enlistment was up after that two- month period and extending that stay meant that I could be discharged as soon as I set foot on home he explained. All three got on with their lives and eventually lost contact with each other.

George took a job with what was then called Cummins Engine where he worked for 40 years until his retirement in 2010. It was in the first few months of his retirement that he decided to reconnect with his friends from the Army. my wife gets the credit for starting the George said. brought up the time that we had spent together, and she just looked at me and told me that I should try to look them Finding Randy was relatively easy. A friend helped with a Web search and came across a newspaper article that had appeared in the Salisbury (N.C.) Post about his old Army buddy.

He contacted wife, Grace; and in 2011 he drove to North Carolina. Things had changed in the 40 years the two men had been apart. Randy had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and was confined to a hospital bed in his home. Still, they were able to spend several days together. That was the first of a number of visits George made to North Carolina.

On a visit this past March, Randy asked George if he had heard from Michael. told him that I had lost contact years earlier and have any idea on where he might George said. Randy said that like to see him again and he asked if I would try to find George have any trouble with the answer. already had that in he said. Randy put it that way, finding Michael became a personal mission for It was not an easy mission.

George tried several avenues, but none of them had any results. Finally, a few months ago he contacted the Veterans of Foreign Wars and provided officials with the information he had about his wartime buddy. That was enough for VFW officials to find an address for brother in Kent, Ohio. Once again friend who had helped find Randy came to his aid. An Internet search yielded the obituary report, which provided George with the name of sister.

From the sister George obtained address. That led to a visit to Ohio; but at the address, knocks on the front door were unanswered, and he went back to the sister. On meeting the sister George discovered why his knocks went unanswered. Michael had been deaf for several years. It took his sister to gain admittance to house and alert him to his caller.

had a good visit because his hearing aids enabled him to make out a lot of what I was George said. talked about the old times, and I told him about wish to get back in Randy has been trying to get in touch with Michael through emails, but that has proved a difficult process. It might not matter in the long run. George has something even better in mind. Sometime early next year he is going to drive over to Kent, Ohio, and pick up Michael.

Then the two of them will drive to Salisbury, N.C., to spend time with Randy. All because a buddy asked. Harry McCawley is associate editor of The Republic. He can be reached by phone at 379-5620 or email at John Krull The Republic, Columbus, Tuesday, November 27, 2012 A8 Tom Jekel Editor Email address: New radios for firefighters: about time Students at risk in political tug-of-war Harry McCawley On July 3, 1968, Army friends (from left) Randy Campbell, Michael Carlson and George DeLay posed for a photo in the front yard of Greensburg home. The next day they shipped out together to Vietnam.

The trio renewed their old ties more than 40 years later through efforts. Carlson, left, and DeLay are shown at top at a meeting earlier this year at home in Ohio. Campbell, at a 65th birthday celebration, lives in North Carolina where he is being treated for multiple sclerosis. UBMITTED bond becomes mission VETS REUNITED CONTACT YOUR LAWMAKERS State Sen. Greg Walker, R-Columbus District 41, Commerce and Economic Development (ranking member), Insurance and Financial Institutions, Pensions and Labor, Tax and Fiscal Policy.

Contact: Senator. or 317-232-9400 or 800-382-9467. State Rep. Milo Smith, R-Columbus District 59, Government and Regulatory Reform, Select Committee on Government Reduction, Ways and Means, Tax Subcommittee for Ways and Means (chairman). Contact: or 800-382-9841.

U.S. Rep. Todd Young, 9th District. Jeffersonville 279 Quartermaster Court, Jeffersonville, IN 47130. Phone: 288-3999.

Fax: 288-3873. Bloomington 320 W. Eighth Suite 114, Bloomington, IN 47404. Phone: 336-3000. Fax: 336-3355.

Washington 1721 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. Phone: 202-2255315. Fax: 202-226-6866..