Columnists

The power of ‘hush’

Ronda Rich's picture

A while back, a transplanted Yankee sat down beside me at a luncheon and proceeded to explain what had compelled her to uproot herself from generations of Northern influence and move South.

“I was visiting a friend here and one of her neighbors had stopped by to visit with her 3-year-old in tow,” the woman recalled. “The little girl started to act cranky so her mother leaned down and said softly but firmly, ‘Hush.’ I decided right then and there that I wanted to live here.”

I looked puzzled and tilted my head. “I don’t understand.” Read More»

On the edge of forever

Rick Ryckeley's picture

She’s finally resting quietly now. The starched white hospital sheets, void of any warmth or comfort, slowly rise and fall with each wonderful breath.

If she awakens, she will want her blue blankie, the one she’s had since high school. Old and tattered, it has seen her through many a crisis. Hopefully it will see her through this one.

Before the surgery, she said don’t bother to bring it. Then again she said a lot of things before the surgery — the surgery that was to save her life. I have her blankie with me. Read More»

The dirt road

David Epps's picture

Over the past several years, I have heard a number of country songs referring to “dirt roads.” Usually, the singer is remembering his or her childhood with fondness and especially the friends and family that lived along the dirt road. Dirt roads seem quaint and reminders of a better time.

In the song, “Red Dirt Road,” Brooks and Dunn sing of walking to church, racing barefoot, finding Jesus, drinking that first beer, wrecking a car, and learning profound lessons of life on the red dirt road. Read More»

Lessons to be learned from the July 20 vote

Cal Beverly's picture

Fayette County Republicans Tuesday ended the one-term political careers of two well-connected county commissioners and extended for another four years that of a late-blooming school board reformer.

In the process, voters resurrected the electoral fortunes of a twice-defeated former Peachtree City mayor, elevated a political novice to the county commission and sent a nearly invisible school board candidate back to civic club functions. Read More»

PTC budget talks: Double-dipping a non-issue

Terry Garlock's picture

Peachtree City’s budget crisis has its citizens debating — a charitable description — the appropriate mix of cutting city staff, cutting city services or raising taxes. Amidst the verbal rock-throwing is an assertion that city employees will double-dip into taxpayers’ pockets at retirement since they have both a defined benefit pension and a defined contribution 401K plan.

As usual, the deeper the passion of the argument, the more quickly facts get trampled. Read More»

The blood of the Tea Party

Dr. Paul Kengor's picture

I’ve never participated in a Tea Party rally. My natural habitat is a classroom or behind a keyboard. That said, I’ve had a lot of contact with Tea Party people, and, of course, I hear the angry charges from those doing their worst to discredit the movement. For what it’s worth, here are some personal experiences and observations:

The first time I was contacted for a Tea Party event was by a Pittsburgh woman named Patti. She called last spring. I asked: Who’s behind this Tea Party business? Is the Republican Party running this? Read More»

The American voters have made a big mistake

Cal Thomas's picture

The latest Washington Post/ABC News Poll tells the story: Nearly six in 10 voters say they have “just some” or no confidence in President Obama to make the right decisions for the country.

America — or at least the part of it that voted for Barack Obama for president — has made a big mistake. Some of those teary-eyed people in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood on Election Night 2008 would probably admit it if they were interviewed. Many bumper stickers still display fading “Obama ‘08” stickers, but you’d find fewer that read, “Yes We Can!” Read More»

The power of a thank you note

Ronda Rich's picture

When Dixie Dew got a box full of doggie treats from one of her fans, she wagged her tail and jumped around the kitchen, eager to dive into them.

“Now, Dew, you know you’ve got to write a thank you note for these,” I lectured as I permitted her one of the treats.

There was no argument. My child knows that acts of generosity require a hand-written note. We sat down together, she laid her head on my lap and we decided what should be written. Dew is a girl of few words but we got the thoughts down on paper and she signed off with a paw pressed into an ink pad and then stamped on the note. Read More»

Helpfest needs you

Michael Boylan's picture

This is a column for everyone involved in a civic group, non-profit or volunteer organization in the area. It doesn’t matter if you started one in your neighborhood, you participate in one in school or in church, or if you belong to one with national backing or a huge presence in this country or abroad. There is an event coming to Fayette County on Nov. 6, 2010 that needs you and it is one you will certainly want to be a part of.

Helpfest. Read More»

Some things I don't understand

Sallie Satterthwaite's picture

For the life of me, I don’t get why technically savvy people recommend dusting the insides of a computer with propellant-driven canned air. Maybe it’s because they’ve never been household engineers, a.k.a housewives.

Any household engineer knows that blowing air into dusty corners merely stirs up the dirt and drives it into other nooks and crannies. Why did they invent vacuum cleaners but to pull dust up into a canister, safely secured until it could be emptied outside the house? Read More»