Independence Day celebration at the Arena was great fun

Although I have seen slightly larger crowds in the Corbin Arena parking lot for Independence Day festivities, I still thought there was a good turnout for the event and a nice fireworks show last week.

Mark White is Editor of The News Journal.

The event featured a lot of things aimed at children, including bounce houses and an inflatable slide with water running down it. There were also a nice variety of food trucks on hand.

My only suggestion for next year would be to be to bring back the foam party that they had a few years ago. The foam dance floor was pretty well packed anytime that I saw it with no line to speak of and lots of children having a good time all at once.

Maybe you could have the Corbin Fire Department on hand with some type of sprinkler system to hose them off afterwards or for the children to simply to play under.

Even without the foam party last week, everyone seemed to have a great time and the emergency services personnel did a good job of getting everyone out of there fairly quickly. It helped to have the new access road open for those of us heading back towards town rather than going towards the interstate.

My congratulations to the organizers of this year’s event.

Now for a few other random thoughts before I conclude this column.

• Speaking of events, it sounds like the 2024 Whitley County Fair is shaping up to be a good one. In addition to regular events, such as the mud bog, demolition derby, horse show and mule pull, the fair is adding a few new events this year, including: a mullet contest, Whitley County Fair Idol, a dinosaur encounter and hot air balloons. Sounds fun.

• Commonwealth’s Attorney Ronnie Bowling announced recently that he hired former longtime Williamsburg Police Chief Wayne Bird as the new detective for his office, which is a great hire. Few officers anywhere know more about criminal investigations than Bird. News Journal Reporter Timothy Wyatt probably summed it up best when he said “what took him so long?” in regards to Bowling’s hiring of Bird for the job…LOL.

• I don’t ordinarily get into national politics when I write this column, but sometimes certain things need to be said.

It’s been nearly two weeks since President Joe Biden’s shall we say painful to watch and at times incoherent performance in the presidential debate with former President Donald Trump. In the aftermath, many are asking whether Biden has the mental and physical fortitude to serve as president for another four years, and have called on Biden to step aside as the Democratic presidential nominee.

While there has been much talk about whether Biden should continue as a candidate to be the next president, there has been woefully little to no conversation about whether Biden should continue to serve as president for the remainder of his term in office and more importantly whether he is mentally able to do so. Whether you love or hate Biden, in light of his debate performance, these are very legitimate questions that need to be asked.

Congressional Republicans and Democrats are so busy trying to win the White House for the next four years that they have both been largely derelict in their duties in not calling for the president to undergo cognitive and neurological tests by an independent professional so we know if he is cognizant enough now to continue serving as president. (Kudos to Senator Lindsey Graham, who did on a national news show Sunday morning.)

There should be a unanimous resolution passed by both branches of Congress calling for Vice-President Kamala Harris and the president’s cabinet to insist that Biden undergo cognitive and neurological testing by a panel of independent experts to see whether he is mentally fit to continue serving as president.

If Biden refuses to undergo such tests, then Harris and the cabinet should give Biden 72 hours to either resign from office or have the 25^th Amendment invoked with the vice-president serving as acting president for the remainder of the term in office, or until such time as Biden is proven cognizant enough to resume his duties as president.

I don’t write this to beat up on an 81-year-old man, who has spent most of his adult life in public service. However, in addition to being the chief executive officer of the country, Biden also serves as commander-in-chief with his finger on proverbial nuclear button.

Think about that and his debate performance for a minute.