The title atop the column in this space two decades ago was, “The rollercoaster ride begins.”

It was my first column in the first issue of this newspaper — Feb. 10, 1993.

Most of the names on that first masthead are gone, including one signally important one — Dave Hamrick, the first managing editor of what was then called The Fayette Citizen.

He died in 2002 at age 51 as he was playing soccer in a local over-40 league, after getting the paper out earlier that Tuesday. After getting the paper out. Read More»

For weeks there has been a weight I have felt regarding our school systems and a fear of what I see taking place in our community.

With the pending decision regarding school closures and our $15-20 million deficit, I don’t think our county has ever faced such a drastic financial and social challenge as this one.

Groups of citizens are threatening and pleading for their schools, which they presume are on the “chopping block.”

Subdivisions are fighting to protect their district borders and keep out others. Read More»

An unsigned and undated Justice Department white paper, obtained by NBC News, reports The New York Times, “... is the most detailed analysis yet to come into public view regarding the Obama legal team’s views about the lawfulness of killing, without a trial, an American citizen who executive branch officials decide is an operational leader of Al Qaeda or one of its allies.” Read More»

In those days — the ones of my cherished youth — my cousin, Ronnie, a year older than I, worked for my daddy. Ronnie had cotton-colored hair and a face that, like mine, was smattered with freckles. He had what the lucky ones on Daddy’s side of the family inherit: a quick-thinking sense of humor that is succinct, clever and smart.

While I remember many good things about my sweet-spirited cousin in those days, the thing I remember most — and admire beyond explanation — is how he trailed around behind Daddy, hanging on to his every word and carefully processing his advice. Read More»

Pastor Gerald Harris was working on a sermon on love. With sermon preparation on his mind, Harris stopped by a Waffle House. As he sat there with his coffee, an elderly couple drove up in a pickup truck. They came into the restaurant and sat near him. Read More»

Everyone I know gets spam like the following and deletes it ASAP. When it has my cousin Dwight’s e-mail address on it, however, at least I look at it. And this one hit my memory buttons spot on, with an authenticity unmatched in the years I’ve been checking e-mail.

Dave and I have ongoing conversations about these very memories. I haven’t showed this to him yet, but I know he’ll feel the same nostalgia. He, and a thousand close friends in Dwight’s address book.

Someone asked the other day, “What was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?” Read More»

A senior Defense Department official said the ban on women in combat should be lifted because the military’s goal is “to provide a level, gender-neutral playing field.”

I’d like to think the goal of the military should be to have the toughest, meanest fighting force possible. But let’s look at “gender-neutral playing field.”

The Army’s physical fitness test in basic training is a three-event physical performance test used to assess endurance. The minimum requirement for 17- to 21-year-old males is 35 pushups, 47 situps and a two-mile run in 16 minutes, 36 seconds or less. Read More»

Now that the federal government is playing an ever larger role in the economy, a look at Washington’s track record seems to be long overdue.

The recent release of the Federal Reserve Board’s transcripts of its deliberations back in 2007 shows that their economic prophecies were way off. How much faith should we put in their prophecies today — or the policies based on those prophecies? Read More»

Male or female, those of us who’ve been around for a while can recall clearly the objectives of the feminist movement as it geared up in the early 1970s. Workplace fairness was the goal.

A lot of manufactured indignation attended the feminist rising; e.g, who says we have to wear bras? Basically, nonetheless, what the rebels said they wanted was opportunity too long denied them by chauvinistic males. Opportunity they received from government, and in a larger sense, from the hand of a culture they prodded or embarrassed into agreement with most of what they said. Read More»

Question: What do you get if you add together one research paper on early education, a handful of mixed nuts, and not following your mom’s advice?

Answer: A seven-day stay in one of Nashville’s finest hospitals, a room full of angels, and two weeks being unable to write a newspaper column.

Confused? Yep, so was I. Never saw it coming. So climb aboard, fasten your seatbelt, and hang on, Dear Reader. This is gonna be one crazy ride, and how it all ended surprised even me because the ending of this story was supplied by none other than The Boy. Read More»