FEATURE STORY - What makes Honda have such a good reputation?

Above: Trickett Honda, top, and the 2016 Honda Pilot, bottom.


Over 1.5 million people buy cars made by Honda and its luxury brand Acura every year, and the company’s market share is growing over time. In 2015, Honda’s sales hit record highs, even asoverall car sales were down for the year.  Since 2002, Honda brand sales have risen by over 30 percent in the US.  Today, one in every 11 cars sold in the US is a Honda.

The auto journalists have heaped praise on Honda models for many years. Kelley Blue Book has named Honda the Best Overall Brand for three years in a row. Car and Driver has crowned the Honda Accord one of its 10 Best cars for 30 of the last 32 years – a record for any nameplate. Six of eight Honda models are the number one vehicle in their class according to US News & World Report’s car rankings.

Robbie Payne has sold Hondas since 1990; prior to that, he sold Toyota for several years. He calls Honda “the highest quality of all cars”.

A recent round of redesigns means that Honda will have the freshest (newest designed) lineup for the period of 2016-2019, making the current time a great time to buy a Honda. Honda has significantly updated or redesigned five models – the Accord, Civic, CR-V, Fit, and Pilot for 2015 or 2016, as well as introducing a sixth model, the HR-V. The new models have earned great reviews. For example, the 2016 Honda Civic is the North American Car of the Year, a very prestigious award given by a panel of around 50 automotive journalists. All but the HR-V have received Edmunds.com’s “A” rating – only about a quarter of non-luxury cars receive an A rating.

                 

Reliability

One of Honda’s biggest selling points is reliability. Honda’s reputation for reliability began in the 1970s. At that time, they emphasized reliability and mechanical simplicity, factors which won them customers from the then-dominant American carmakers. Over the years, Hondas were top performers in reliability surveys, which further cemented their reputation. Hondas are still very reliable cars to this day.

According to a recent Consumer Reports survey, Honda, along with Toyota, has the best long-term reliability ofthe major carmakers. Honda’s three best-selling models (Civic, Accord, and CR-V) were listed on Consumer Reports’ list of “10 Best Cars to Get to 200,000 Miles and Beyond” (8). A Polk/IHS Automotive study conducted in 2013 found that three out of four Hondas sold in the last 25 years are still on the road. 

Ballie Hart, 19, and Doug Lewis, 44, both drive older model Hondas – Ballie has a 2003 Accord coupe, and Doug has a 2003 Accord V6 sedan. Ballie received the Accord as a hand-me-down from her dad, and it now has nearly 200,000 miles on it. She has reported no major problems with her Accord. Doug, who has 183,000 miles, bought his Accord new in December 2002. The only problem he has recorded during that time has been a minor leak in the air conditioner hose. He did research in Consumer Reports before buying the Accord, and says it has “held up really, really well over the years.”

Driving experience

Hondas have long been considered to have a “sportier”, more engaging driving experience than many of their competitors, while still maintaining a comfortable ride. Car and Driver, a car publication which emphasizes “fun to drive” qualities, calls the Accord “engaging”, says the Civic “exemplifies automotive excellence and underscores Honda’s commitment to blending fun with efficiency and practicality”, and says the Odyssey “has charmed our staff for years."

Doug Lewis says that his 2003 Accord has good handling and “really good pickup” from its V6 engine, and also cited its excellent cruise control system. He also stated that even after 13 years of use, the car still provides a very smooth ride. His wife Rhonda, who owns a 2014 Odyssey minivan, says that it doesn’t feel cumbersome to drive despite its large dimensions. She said that the van drove much like the Accord. Traci Humphrey, who drives a 2013 CR-Z two-seater, said that her car was “fun to drive” and also appreciated the 35 miles per gallon.

Safety

Hondas are known as safe vehicles, with their crash test results typically being stellar. Robbie Payne called safety the “biggest strength” of Hondas. The 2016 Honda Accord, Civic, CR-V, and Pilot won the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s prestigious Top Safety Pick Plus award; in addition, the Odyssey won the Top Safety Pick award. Top Safety Pick means that the vehicle is a top performer in frontal, “small-overlap” frontal, side-impact, rear-impact, and rollover crash tests. Top Safety Pick Plus means that the vehicle contains state-of-the-art technologies accident avoidance technologies such as autobrake, which uses radar sensors to automatically brake the car if it senses that a crash is likely.

Traci Humphrey owes her life to the state-of-the-art safety built into Honda vehicles. Three years ago, she was in a 2008 Accord sedan when it was T-boned directly in the driver’s door by a Chevrolet Impala traveling at around 40 mph. She was able to walk away with only two bruises and no other injuries. The strong structure, side airbags, and seat belt saved her life.

Beginning with 94 percent of 2013 and all 2015 models, all Hondas have a backup camera standard. Backup cameras increase visibility when reversing and can help prevent tragic accidents if a child is directly behind the car. Honda committed to standard backup cameras years before the government announced in 2014 that backup cameras would be a required feature for all 2018 cars. 

In Conclusion…

Honda is a car company with a wide range of top-quality models. While Honda isn’t the only manufacturer that builds a good car, they are definitely an option worth considering for almost anyone looking for a new car. 

Writing Assignment 11

                Men use the men’s restroom, and women use the women’s restroom; this is a rule we’ve all accepted for many years. In recent years, however, the issue of which restroom that transgender people use has become a hot button topic. Some believe that people should have the right to use the restroom of their identified gender; others think that restrooms that are exclusive to one gender should remain available. Several states have considered laws that would restrict people to using the restroom of their biological gender, and one, North Carolina, passed such a law on March 23, 2016, which applies to public buildings.

                Those who believe that transgender people should be able to use the restrooms of their choice often call it an issue of civil rights; those who believe that bathrooms should remain gender separate cite safety issues. Ted Cruz said “Men should not be going to the bathroom with little girls.” (source: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ted-cruz-supports-hb2-north-carolina)

                Alternative, gender-neutral restrooms, allow either gender to use designated restrooms.

                I asked two female WKU students, Rachel, 19, and Cory, 21, and one male student, Devin, 19, their opinions regarding transgender people using the opposite restroom from their birth gender.

                All three agreed that a third option of gender-neutral restrooms were a good idea, with Cory saying that “Gender neutral restrooms are a good solution.” As for use of the opposite restrooms, all three agreed that if an actual sex change operation had been performed, it would be acceptable, but expressed reservations about other cases. Rachel called it “a grey area” but said that people who haven’t undergone a sex change should use the restroom corresponding with their birth gender. Cory agreed, saying that it “could be scary if a man chose to use the women’s restroom claiming to be transgender.” Devin said that “people should use the restroom of their birth gender.” 

Writing Assignment 8

The third annual Football FrenXI, a flag football competition, was held at the Western Kentucky University Intramural Fields on Saturday, November 14, 2015 by Alpha Xi Delta’s Epsilon Kappa Chapter at Western Kentucky University. The event raised $5,547 for Autism Speaks.

Autism Speaks was founded in 2005 by Bob Wright, vice chairman of General Electric, and his wife Suzanne after their grandson was diagnosed with autism. It is an advocacy group that aims to help people of all ages on the autistic spectrum live happy, productive lives. It conducts research on autism as well as awareness campaigns to educate the public on the issues that autistic people face. In 2014, it raised more than $60 million for its causes and has helped people with autism in more than 100 different countries.

One in 68 children is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.

Alpha Xi Delta is a national sorority founded in 1893. It has had Autism Speaks as its primary philanthropic organization since 2009, and has raised more than $2.5 million for them since then.

Teams had to pay a $100 registration fee to sign up for Football FrenXI. The teams played flag football in a play-off style to determine a winner. With one exception, the 19 teams were fielded from and represented WKU fraternities and sororities. 13 fraternities and five sororities fielded teams. The winning team was the only non-Greek team, fielded from staff at the Preston Center.

For more information on 2015 Football FrenXI or information on participating in a future Football FrenXI, call (000) 000-0000 or email example@example.com. The event is typically held in the fall; the exact date and registration process will be announced at some point at least a week prior to the event.

Visit Autism Speaks at https://www.autismspeaks.org/.

Visit Alpha Xi Delta’s WKU chapter at http://wku.alphaxidelta.org/. 

Writing Assignment 7

ISIS destroys cultural artifacts

May 5, 2016, Jimmy Humphrey

The radical Islamist terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has destroyed at least 41 major cultural heritage sites in Iraq, Syria, and Libya since June 2014, because they believe they represent “an erroneous form of creativity, contradicting the basics of sharia law”, as well as to cause shock to the world.

The heritage sites, some of which had been around for over a thousand years, include religious sites that are Christian, Yazidi, as well as from branches of Islam that ISIS feels do not agree with their ideologies. Other sites that have been destroyed include libraries, various ancient monuments, and even ancient cities such as Nimrud, an ancient Assyrian city built over 3,000 years ago. The destruction of heritage has been called the “most brutal since WWII”.

Most sites have been destroyed by bulldozing, but explosives have been used to destroy some sites. The rate of destruction is increasing, with twice as many sites destroyed in 2015 versus 2014.

A Western Kentucky University student, Chandler DeGeorge, said that it was “sad that it was happening”, referring to the cultural destruction as well as the activities of ISIS at large.

In addition to destroying cultural heritage, ISIS has looted items from these heritage sites to sell on the black market in order to finance their operations. This looting has net ISIS over $300 million. In efforts to weaken ISIS, the United Nations Security Council has passed Resolution 2199, which calls for a concerted effort to end trade in looted artifacts.

ISIS is well known in the West for their terrorist activities, which include acts of insurgent warfare, beheadings, and even inspired acts of terrorism beyond Iraq and Syria. For instance, one of the two shooters in the December 2015 San Bernardino shooting pledged allegiance to an ISIS leader. 

Image from here.

Sources:

http://time.com/4065290/syria-cultural-heritage/ 

http://www.artnews.com/2015/11/07/isis-destruction-graphic/ 

http://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/1876232 

http://savingantiquities.org/isis-cultural-heritage-destruction-largest-since-wwii/ 

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/22/ISIS-systematically-destroying-heritage-sites.html

Writing Assignment 6

Shirley Anne Hall has until Dec. 8 to clean her Garden Grove house of rotten oranges, cobwebs, vehicle parts, musty newspapers and a year’s worth of dirty dishes. 

On Wednesday, superior court judge Randell Wilkinson ordered Hall, 54, to remove overgrown weeds and other debris from her yard, which is located in the 12000 block of Barlett St. in Orange County,

 If she fails to comply with the order, the city will bring in work crews and send Hall the bill for the work.  The city has been trying to persuade Hall to sort through her mess since 1988, said city attorney Stuart Scudder.

 Hall, who has chronic depression, said that the stress that the city has caused her by harassing her has prevented her from making any progress.  The Dayle McIntosh Center for the Disabled in Anaheim is looking for volunteers who will offer to help Hall to clean up. 

Adapted from a story in The Orange County (Calif.) Register.  Used with permission.  

Writing Assignment 5

Inverted pyramid: http://news.yahoo.com/ugandan-police-arrest-opposition-leader-124653017.html

Martini glass: http://www.euronews.com/2016/02/06/at-least-five-dead-as-powerful-quake-hits-southern-taiwan/

Circle structure: http://moneymorning.com/acq/vr/silicon-valleys-biggest-ceo-just-shocked-everyone?iris=472636&ad=zb1-cm21bbnt-gstr

Writing Assignment 4

Patrick Nix, co-pastor at Grace Park Baptist Church in White House, TN since 2013, has been very passionate about being a minister to God for nearly 25 years. He is originally from Louisville, KY and was first called to the ministry around 1991, at age 16. He was at Shawnee Baptist Church in Louisville when he felt "an invisible tug on his heart" as he was attending a church revival. In the late 1990s, he helped to start Lighthouse Baptist Church in Taylorsville, KY, and was the sole pastor there. Lighthouse is still a thriving church today, with a congregation size of around 70-80 members. He stayed at Lighthouse for 14 years before leaving in 2013. On the advice of a friend, he called Bob Cook, the lead pastor of Grace Park. Cook interviewed Nix, and hired him as assistant pastor in 2013.
Nix enjoys working at Grace Park. Grace Park is a much larger church than Lighthouse, with around 400-500 members, and has a team of three pastors and several staff members. Although he says it can be challenging, Nix enjoys the teamwork aspect. He says that in the three years he has been at Grace Park, the church, which was founded in 1976, has grown by about 40-50 members. "It's exciting to see how we can affect other people, lead other people, and help them along their journey." says Nix. Nix says his "heart is in it for the long haul" and that he intends to stay at Grace Park for the foreseeable future.
Patrick Nix is a man who has accomplished a lot in his 25 years in the ministry. Here's to the next 25.

Writing Assignment 3

1- A cat who went missing three weeks ago on a Germany to England flight was found in the cargo hold of a United Airlines passenger jet yesterday. It will be flown back home.

2-A 23-year-old man was killed early this morning when the car he was riding in went off the road and crashed into a canal.

Writing Assignment 2

Jimmy Humphrey, Lifelong Car Enthusiast

Jimmy Humphrey was born in Nashville, TN on Christmas Day, 1992. Over the years, Jimmy, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, has held many focused interests including weather, classic video game collecting, old magazine collecting, and many others in diverse fields. The longest lasting interest Jimmy has had has been cars. The start of Jimmy’s car enthusiasm was very early, probably when he was age 1 or 2. His first ever word was “Datsun”, read out of a phone book at the age of 15 months; this also showed that Jimmy was a very precocious reader. As a toddler, Jimmy would say what kinds of cars he was seeing when he was in parking lots, which impressed many bystanders. He watched car commercials with enthusiasm and grew most interested in the safety features. Several mid-late 1990s issues of his grandparents’ old magazines, mostly Reader’s Digest, were written in by Jimmy as a small child; a 1997 Consumer Reports Buying Guide, for instance, was found to have the words “WITH AN AIRBAG” and “DUAL AIRBAGS” written in it, along with a basic drawing of what inflated dual airbags looked like.

The years from age 5 to 8 were a step back for Jimmy’s car enthusiasm. Amid reports of airbag dangers, Jimmy became fearful of the devices, resulting in him becoming fearful of car commercials. For several years, the car enthusiasm died out.

Around age 10, Jimmy’s car enthusiasm came back. He began to collect car magazines in summer 2003, quickly growing interested in cars again, as well as car safety and crash testing. Jimmy decided he wanted to become a car safety engineer. He enjoyed his trips to Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, TN, where the old cars fascinated him. On the car safety front, Jimmy kept track of new crash testing releases and did hours of research onto what makes cars safe.

On August 5, 2008, Jimmy got to fulfill his dream when he was able to go to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to see a frontal crash test of a 2009 Hyundai Genesis.

Through high school, Jimmy took many math and science courses that would help him in his track of being an engineer. He then went to Tennessee Tech University in 2011. It was during the TTU era that Jimmy began to question his desire to be an engineer; he found the subject matter dry and difficult and decided that his calling was in a different field. During this time period, he began to get more interested in cars themselves, and specialized in Honda after his first ever ride in a 2008 or newer Accord on August 31, 2011. By the time Jimmy left TTU in 2013, he was known as the biggest Honda enthusiast there. During his 20-month time at Tennessee Tech, Jimmy rode in 585 different cars. Upon leaving TTU, he decided he wanted to enter the automotive journalism field.

Jimmy, despite being a car enthusiast, was late to drive; he didn’t get his first car until age 19 on May 4, 2012, a black 2008 Honda Accord sedan. On April 22, 2013, the Accord was totaled, and on May 4 of that year Jimmy got his current car: a white 2011 Honda Accord V6 sedan.

Jimmy “restarted” college in August 2013, enrolling at Volunteer State Community College as a journalism major. On May 9, 2015, he graduated with an associate’s degree in journalism and enrolled at Western Kentucky University from August 2015 to pursue a further degree.

Jimmy has also made his first forays into actual automotive reviewing. Since the start of the 2016 model year, he has test-driven every Honda that has been redesigned or introduced. The first of these test-drives was on May 26, 2015 for the new Honda HR-V. Jimmy has plans to expand his test-drive program to Acura (Honda’s luxury brand) and other brands of cars in the near future. 

Writing Assignment 1

If it were me writing the 1^st Amendment today, I would say:

“The right to freedom of speech, religion, association, or the press are considered fundamental rights and shall not be restricted or abridged to any person on US territory by any governing authority, excepting of cases in which the safety or well-being of others is proven beyond a reasonable doubt to be placed in jeopardy. There is also a right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

                The freedoms of speech, religion, and the press are some of the most fundamental freedoms we have in the United States, and the placement of the amendment as first signifies its importance. It was a struggle for me to think of a way to re-write the amendment, because even after nearly 230 years the original amendment still works as well as the day it was written. The 45 words in the original amendment were forward-thinking and serve as a blueprint for democracies to this day.

                With that said, there are some flaws to the freedoms of speech that have developed often hundreds of years after the amendment was written. In relative terms, these are merely blemishes on a foundation of free speech that remains rock solid. For instance, the “redress of grievances” includes the right to sue, a right in which in some circumstances is and should be limited. For instances, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), lawsuits filed against critics that are deemed to be typically unwinnable, but burden the defendant with the cost of a legal defense. While this is not an issue with the First Amendment per se, it is an issue that has cropped up relatively recently. Thankfully, states are adopting anti-SLAPP legislation.

                There are some issues that are, and need to be, restricted under free speech. Threats, speech that compromises national defense, speech that compromises safety, child pornography, and obscenity in some situations (such as in K-12 schools) are prohibited and should be. However, the government is not a censor. Still, I am blessed to live in a country where there is very limited censorship.