James M. Redwine

Dave Pearce

The Public Forum

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I have subscribed to The Posey County News and its progenitors for about forty years. At the request of the then editor and owner, Jim Kohlmeyer, in 1990 I began writing “Gavel Gamut”. Current editor Dave Pearce continued to publish my column after he and his wife Connie took over the paper. Neither Jim nor Dave nor Connie ever sought to censor any of the more than 1,000 columns I have written.

Gentle Reader, you are undoubtedly aware of how rare it has become for news outlets to provide a true forum for the exchange of differing views. The Posey County News provides such a forum. The Posey County News is a beacon to the First Amendment at a time that such beacons of illumination are under attack from several powerful and diverse sources. Our republic will not survive as the America our Founders envisioned if our citizens cannot freely express conflicting views, especially on deeply felt issues. As newspapers throughout our country continue to be subsumed by major news outlets, we need more than ever the courage of such local papers as The Posey County News.

Our republic’s free flow of ideas has been the major driver of our desire for “a more perfect union”. There was a time only 21-year-old, white, male citizens could vote. Due to the most vigorous of public debates, now 18-year-old citizens can not only be sent to war, they can vote on who sends them. My first vote for president was when I turned 21 even though I had already earned my honorable discharge from the Air Force.

My grandmother could not vote until 1921 after millions of Americans had demonstrated for her right to do so. It took a Civil War to get Blacks citizenship and many Native Americans are still in a struggle for the right to self-determination; but public outcries are forcing progress.

Therefore, when I opened my October 15, 2025 edition of my Posey County News and saw that Reverend Norman Martin had written a respectful and measured disagreement to one of my columns I was elated. There were no aspersions or threats, just calm opposing views. Thank you, Reverend, for reading my column. I am truly grateful you and I both have the right and, thanks to The Posey County News, the ability to publicly state our views without fear or expectation of favor.

We are all aware of our current climate of uncivil behavior among citizens of differing viewpoints. It may just be my age but I believe our culture was at one time able to discuss without cussing and disagree without canceling. Reverend Martin and I may never have the opportunity to have a cup of coffee and vigorously and respectfully exchange views, but thanks to one of America’s bedrock institutions, The Posey County News, if we ever have the chance, I bet we can do so.

News On Our Doorsteps

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According to our new Bible, the Internet, local, independent newspapers are rapidly going the way the American bison did in the 19th century. I researched these facts via the Internet. The last time I entered a public library was about the time Ted Turner unleashed CNN in 1980. However, the last time I received a non-amalgamated view of the news was only today when my October 01 and October 08, 2025 editions of The Posey County News arrived in my post office box.

Some cynics might opine that my view of our fine local newspaper is colored by the fact this column appears every week. Maybe so, but I submit my long-time personal friends, Editors and Owners Connie Redman Pearce and Dave Pearce, are upholding one of America’s essential building blocks of our republic.

At a time when Rodney King’s 1992 plea of, “Can’t we all just get along?”, is belied by the facts of societal anger and hate-speech, America needs its local newspapers to help bind us together in spite of strongly held opposing views. Talking heads on television or Facebook might as well be artificially unintelligently generated. We do not know nor can we evaluate their information. But in local newspapers writers are both known and accountable. We can weigh the pros and cons.

I have been writing the “Gavel Gamut” column since 1990. Over 1,000 of my columns have appeared in Dave and Connie’s paper and not once have they censored, or approved of, one word. I write what I think and it appears for the reader’s analysis, acceptance, rejection or lack of interest.

On the Opinion Page, Dave and Connie explicitly state the content of the columns and cartoons are solely those of the contributors. When I saw the cartoon by Joe Heller in the October 08 edition about “local news” and “community spirit” and the October 01 cartoon by Andy Singer about America’s shameful abetting of the Zionist genocide against Palestinians, I knew the tradition of Benjamin Franklin and Will Rogers was still vibrant.

Thank you, Connie and Dave, for helping to preserve one of our essential liberties!

Affirmation Finally

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I wrote the first of my over 900 “Gavel Gamut” columns in 1990 at the request of my friend, Jim Kohlmeyer. Jim was the Posey County, Indiana Republican Party Chairman and the owner of the New Harmony Times newspaper (now The Posey County News owned by my friend, Dave Pearce).

Jim had recently purchased the paper and was desperate for filler. He asked me, the Democrat, elected, Posey County Circuit Court Judge, to write a column about “legal topics.” Jim did not care what I wrote. Since 1990 and every week since April of 2005 I have written about topics from local heroes to national issues as I saw fit. As those of you, Gentle Readers, will note, in several of my burnt offerings my wife, Peg, had to bear the brunt of my ramblings. However, most of “Gavel Gamut” has dealt with legal topics. A major theme has been the legal system, particularly judges. The federal courts and especially the United States Supreme Court have been the recipients of my chagrin over these thirty-two years during all of which I have served and am still serving as a judge myself. Although after thirty-eight years on the Bench as a partisan-elected judge I term-limited myself and now serve in other judicial venues, such as the Country of Georgia and the National Judicial College.

As I have written numerous times, my belief is that our American democracy is in danger from non-elected, life-tenured judges. I have stated this position frequently and I hold to it firmly.

However, even though I have often expected returning brickbats from those who champion appointing judges and granting them life-tenure, almost nobody has seemed to ever take umbrage from or stated their agreement with my position until October 3, 2022

Then, voila, along came that great journalist and philosopher, Fareed Zakaria whose excellent Sunday morning CNN show, GPS The Global Public Square, is the only national news program I find to contain news. On October 3, 2022 at 8:00 p.m. Fareed aired his special, “Supreme Power, Inside the Highest Court in the Land.”

Now, Gentle Readers, I am not claiming, although I wish I could, that Dr. Zakaria has ever heard of, much less been influenced by my analysis on any subject. However, his special clearly stated one of the greatest current dangers to our democracy is life-tenured members of the U.S. Supreme Court and the totally politicized method of their selection process.

            Let me say this about that (as President John F. Kennedy used to say), AMEN, brother Fareed!

Who Does What?

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On Wednesday, December 26, 2018 at 12:30 p.m. in our historic courtroom in the Posey Circuit Court in Mt. Vernon, Indiana you have the opportunity to see the people whom you have chosen to help run your life take an oath to perform their public trust. On November 6, 2018 you voted for a new Circuit Court Judge, Craig Goedde, another term for Prosecuting Attorney, Travis Clowers, and a new Sheriff in town, Tom Latham, to oversee your legal and law enforcement system.

They will be working with new County Clerk Kay Kilgore, Auditor Sara Beth Meighen, Assessor Nancy Hoehn, Coroner Bill Denning, County Commissioner Randy Thornburg, and four elected or re-elected members of our seven-member County Council, Tom Schneider, Dave Pearce, Stefani Miller and Marilyn Brenton.

Further, each of our ten county townships: Harmony; Black; Point; Marrs; Lynn; Center; Robb; Robinson; Bethel; and, Smith has an elected Trustee and a three-member Advisory Board.

Each of the major office holders has the duty and authority to appoint staff such as Court Reporters, Probation Officers, Deputy Prosecutors, Deputy Sheriffs, and numerous assistants. While it would require more pages than your newspaper has to name all the support staff for those offices, the inability to mention each one does not mean their roles are not important. In fact, some of the public functions the deputies and admin-staff perform are where the rubber meets the road if you or your family need government services.

You may have never thought about all the government employees you hire and pay or you may have wondered: “How do I get that done and who does it where?” Well, on the day after Christmas you have the opportunity to see in person many of the people who will be sworn in to help you.

If you have questioned whether our democracy is alive and well, come to the Courthouse and see it in action. It will make you feel good.