Columns

April is Child Abuse Awareness Month, and at Champions for a Drug Free Carroll County we see the unfortunate connection between substance abuse and child abuse. According to The National Council of Child Abuse and Family Violence, “Substance abuse exists in 40 to 80 percent of families in which the children are victims of abuse.”

To bring awareness and spread knowledge on this issue, Champions for a Drug Free Carroll County sponsors the annual Carrollton Child Abuse Prevention Event every April.

Over the last generation, Kentucky has seen a lot of success when it comes to boosting the education level of our workforce.

Since 1994, according to the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, the number of those employed who have a bachelor’s degree has jumped 80 percent, while those with a high school diploma or less has dropped by more than a one-tenth.

That’s a trend that needs to continue because CPE estimates that, by the year 2020, more than half of Kentucky’s jobs will require at least some college experience.

Charles William Osborne was born in Carroll County July 4, 1934, to Brack and Malinda Riley Osborne. Many of you may know him as Charlie, the proprietor of a used-car lot and auto repair shop in English, where he and his wife Frances still live.

Nearly all of Charlie’s family is gone. His parents died when he was young, and his three older sisters, too, have passed. He recently asked me to help with research into his family tree – so he can know about his past and can pass that knowledge on to his twin sons, Charles Timothy and Mark Anthony.

April is child abuse awareness month nationwide. Last year in Carroll County there were 44 cases of physical abuse and at risk of physical abuse on children that were assessed or investigated. There were 207 cases of neglect or children at risk of harm investigated or assessed in Carroll County. Lastly, there were 15 cases of children who were sexually abused or at risk of sexual abuse in Carroll County.