By Ray Tincher | For The Times-Post

The swearing in of a U.S. president is always a noteworthy affair, as it was on Jan. 20, 2013. President Barack Obama was sworn in for a second term, the result of an election in which he won 332 electoral votes to Mitt Romney’s 206. Obama received 65,915,795 votes, almost five million more votes than Romney.

Most of us never pay much attention, or never know about meteors falling from the sky. I am told, dozens of meteors fall into our atmosphere daily, however, most burn up in the atmosphere before they reach the ground. On Feb. 15, 2013, a meteor exploded above the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, resulting in injuries to about 1,492 people and damage to thousands of buildings. It was the most powerful meteor to strike Earth’s atmosphere in more than a century. Makes you want to look up more often?

Also, in February 2013 American scientist used a 3-D printer to create a living lab-grown ear from collagen and animal ear cell cultures. By now, there are similar body parts that can be grown to order as transplants for human patients. In May 2013, Nature Magazine published an article describing the first production of human embryonic stem cells by cloning. Just think, maybe by the year 2050, they can clone a whole body and you can live forever?

Do you remember Edward Snowden? He had a great job working for the CIA. He was trusted to handle very sensitive documents for our government. One day he decided on his own to release a bunch of operational engaged surveillance programs to the public, and then he fled the United States. Yes, he landed in Russia, where they immediately granted him temporary asylum. Snowden has been living there ever since. He probably has a penthouse with butlers and maids.

The largest tornado ever recorded in the United States hit El Reno, Oklahoma on May 31, 2013. The rain-wrapped, multiple-vortex tornado was the widest tornado ever recorded. Luckily, the huge tornado didn’t damaged many structures because it went through open farmland. However, measurements from mobile weather radars revealed extreme winds up to 296 mph within the vortex. Those are among the highest wind speed ever recorded on Earth. In 1999, the state was hit by another tornado called the “Bridge Creek-Moore” tornado, which had wind speeds of 301 mph. That area is not tornado alley, but perhaps it should be called tornado speedway?

In February 2013, the Catholic church experienced something which had not happened since the year 1415. Pope Benedict XVI resigned as pope. In March of 2013, the Catholic church elected its 266th pope, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, from Argentina. The new pope takes the name of Francis and becomes the first Jesuit pope, the first pope from the Americas and the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere.

Now, for those who we lost during the year of 2013: Patti Page — singer, Stan Musial — baseball player, Ed Koch — mayor of New York City, Chris Kyle — Navy sniper, Van Cliburn — pianist, Dale Robertson — cowboy actor, Bonnie Franklin — actress, George Jones — country singer, Jean Stapleton — actress, Roger Ebert — film critic, Annette Funicello — actress, Margret Thatcher — Prime Minister, Jonathan Winters — comedian, Ester Williams — swimmer and actress, James Gandolfini — actor, Tom Clancy — writer, Scott Carpenter — astronaut, David Frost — broadcaster, Ken Norton — boxer, Walt Bellamy — basketball star, Nelson Mandela — President of South Africa, Peter O’Toole — British actor, and Ray Price — singer and songwriter.

Let me begin the Lapel High School Class of 2013 part of this column by revealing that I have two grandchildren in this senior class. I cannot be prouder of how they have developed. One is a pharmacist and the other is a medical doctor. Life cannot get much better for me.

And now here are the names of the Lapel High School faculty who supervised, listened to and counselled members of the 2013 Senior Class: Michele Amos, Justin Anderson, Julie Baer, David Barker, Molly Bays, Mark Boudrot, Ronald Buckner, Dorinda Cassiday, Richard Cassiday, Anita Casterline, Donna Caudill, Diane Clark, Nick Clarkson, Justin Coomer, Pam Eckstein, Jenny Gerber, Greg Granger, Shelly Green, Robert Helvering, Cheryl Hensley, Denise Hersberger-Gray, Homayoun Honarmandian, Jerry Hoss Sr., Jimmie Howell, Danita Huntzinger, Deborah Johnson, Marianne Julius, Chad Kemerly, Jerry Kemerly, Gayle Kepner, Barrett Key, Lindsey Knee, Sherry Krause, Sharon McDermit, Tim Miller, Brenda Mills, Tonya Mills, Jennifer Morgan, Kim Murdock, Tami Paddock, Larry Shuler, Julie Schwinn, Greg Scott, Rebecca Sears, Jane Shively, Cindy Stephenson, Julie Storm, Jeannine Terhune, Melisha Troxell, Kristina Wagner, Stacy Wainscott, Andrea Westphal, John Willis and Tina Wilson.

The Class of 2013 students were: Logan Alberts, Geoffry Allen, Stacy Bauer, Ryan Beamer, Cody Blythe, Skylar Beamer, Damon Bodenhorn, Devon Bodenhorn, Katie Boldman, Jean-Luc Boone, Clayton Bouslog, Caleb Brown, Nicholas Browning, Brandon Buck, John Camp, Zackary Campbell, Quentin Coppock, Derrick Dubuque, Makayla Eicher, Cameron Ellerman, Meg Fields, Zachary Fite, Jacob Flowers, Emma Gallagher, Joel Good, Ashley Gray, Natalie Griner, Kendall Hall, Brendon Hardwick, Madison Harmon, Ian Hays, Peter Helm, Brandon Hensley, Rebekah Higgins, Taylor Holsinger, Catherine Hooley, Phillip Horstmeyer, Jessica Huffman, Samuel Hufhand, Emily Imel, Kaitlyn James, Jamie Jarrett, Adrienne Jones, Brandyn Jones, Cameron Jones, Caulin Jones, Sheila Kuss, Gabrielle Leith, Bailey Lovett, Thomas Nares, Abigail Maxey, Jordan Meister-Wile, Bailey Mills, Darrick Mills, Samantha Montgomery, Kevin Moreland, Grant Mountcastle, Gregory Mountcastle, Heather Mountcastle, Baylor Mudd, Baylee Munson, Richard Neff, Preston Norrick, Andrew Norton, Steven Ohlheiser, Gregory Perkins, Jacob Perry, Dalen Phillips, Kelsie Poland, Kyrsten Poland, Jack Powell, Stephanie Pritchett, Sarah Purdy, Kylie Richwine, Jacob Riley, Joseph Rundquist, Prisca Sakeuh, Jacob Sanzone, Samuel Schilke, Rachael Sherwood, Scott Silvey, Destany Smart, Thomas Snell, Alicia Sprague, Devin Springer, Kaleb Spruell, Andrew Stecher, Nicholas Stewart, Madison Stis, Karlei Stohler, Jessica Taber, Morgan Tarlton, Adam Taylor, Shawnee Taylor, Cody Teague, Kennedy Teegarden, Austin Thompson, Katelynn Troutman, Jacob Troxell, Mason Walker, Tanner Watkins, Hannah Webster, Savanna Weins, Shantoria Wills and Jacob Young.

Jimmie Howell is listed as LHS athletic director of 2013. He certainly has to be proud of the accomplishments of all sports in 2013. With the exception of LHS football (2-9), the other LHS teams finished with winning seasons; girls golf 14-1, girls and boys cross country teams advanced to regionals; boys tennis 13-7; girls basketball 13-4; boys basketball 12-10 – boys JV 16-2; Ian Lamb wrestled his way to semistate; varsity cheerleaders finished fourth in ICC cheer competition. What a year for sports at LHS.

LHS Senior Philip Horstmeyer received the Lilly Scholarship, which granted him full tuition to the college of his choice and $900 for books or supplies. What a wonderful gift.

Ray Tincher attended Ball State University and retired from Indiana Department of Correction in 1997. He worked at IDOC for 30 years, serving in a variety of roles, from correctional officer to warden. At retirement, he received the Sagamore of the Wabash Award from Gov. Frank O’Bannon. He wrote several training manuals as part of his employment and is a published author: “Inmate #13225 John Herbert Dillinger (2007).” He and his wife, Marilyn, live in Lapel.