The drumbeat for more public transportation by planners and policy-makers rises in inverse proportion to the public’s enthusiasm. The reality of the steady decline in Americans’ use of public transportation fades into the background, overwhelmed by transit-oriented hype.

It started with “smart growth” and “new urbanism.” Now this elitist focus on public transit as the solution to congestion now has a frightening hold on the U.S. Department of Transportation. Read More»

In looking back at photos, I am left to wonder if I have ever had a truly good hair day. I’m amazed because when I see the snapshots, I think, “Now, I’m sure that when I left home that day, I felt pretty good about my hair. How could it look like that?”

Mama was notorious for grumbling comments about my hair. “You know,” she said on more than one occasion, “I liked you hair a lot better back when you used to comb it.”

Maybe she was right. Read More»

Pastors get the most interesting questions from people in their congregations and people they meet. Here are a few that I have gotten over the years and via email for this column.

Dear Father Paul: A very close friend of mine is a very dedicated vegetarian. She often urges me to adopt this eating style, but I love a good hamburger or steak. Does the Bible speak to this question? — No Name Please

Dear Friend: Whether or not we should or should not eat meat is not a moral or religious issue for Christians. The Bible does not specifically endorse or forbid one or the other. Read More»

Running is all well and good but it helps to have a destination.

Once I started my running regimen with the Couch to 5K app, I knew I wanted to have a 5K race to enter at the end of it. Luckily, there was the All-American 5K in Peachtree City coming up close to the end of the program. I knew that I would be ready and wouldn’t embarrass myself in the race. I wasn’t going to win it or even win my age group, but I wouldn’t be clutching my side and walking across the finish line dead last either. Read More»

“One day is just like another when you’re retired and it’s too hot to do anything outside.” Dave speaks from the couch, where he reads between naps. His daily outing is Driving Miss Sallie to work out at Curves, by golf cart.

So when he said he wanted to drive to a small airport about 25 miles south, I felt obliged to keep him company. After all, it was Saturday and I was tweaking the column I had started, due Friday. I was practically done. I could afford to take a break. Read More»

Cell towers back, Amphitheater Survey, Book Sale, Leadership Fayette, and more. Read More»

Like most, every morning I have a certain routine. By 6:30 I arrive at the quaint corner coffee shop an easy mile walk from our house. Not that I walk there in morning, mind you, or any other time of the day, for that matter. But if I did, I presume it would be easy, and just about a mile.

The owner greets me by my first name. I like that. I like to think that makes me special, but it doesn’t. He just has a great memory and greets everyone by their first name. Read More»

Jean Masengill was an imposing presence at Dobyns-Bennett High School. It wasn’t that she was harsh or mean — quite the opposite. But she was serious about the subjects of English and literature.

The fact that I was a jock, a center on the school’s football team, impressed her not one whit. Neither was she impressed by my attempts to play the cool guy or the class clown. Any charm that I may have possessed was lost on her. She was there to teach and she assumed that you were there to learn. Read More»

Something different this week, something that may prove uncomfortable for many of you.

I expect some of my readers who profess different faiths — or no faith at all — to disagree, discount or otherwise disregard this particular installment. To you who disagree, I mean good will toward you, and I hope you will re-join me at a future date.

This will be a column of “what ifs.”

But first, some background — ancient background. Read More»

This week marks 65 years since the United States dropped the atomic bomb. On Aug. 6, 1945, President Harry Truman delivered a “rain of ruin” upon Hiroshima, Japan, with Nagasaki hit three days later, killing 100,000 to 200,000.

Truman’s objective was to compel surrender from an intransigent enemy that refused to halt its naked aggression.

The barbarous mentality of 1940s Japan was beyond belief. An entire nation lost its mind, consumed by a ferocious militarism and hell-bent on suicide. Read More»