opinions
Let The People Speak — By Tommy Purser
The Georgia Press Association this week shared with its members an editorial that appeared in The Intelligencer, Wheeling News-Register, a newspaper in Wheeling, W. Va. I filed it in my Boy-I-Wish-I’d-Said-That box. The editorial should be required reading for members of the Jeff Davis County Board of Education and the Jeff Davis County Commission. Board…
Read MoreNew Year’s Resolutions — By John Reed
New Year’s Resolutions ‘Tis the season. With the new year comes declarations that usually don’t last long. My own failures to keep such promises shouldn’t surprise those who know me. Here are some other people’s resolutions I’d love to see but don’t expect them to keep: -Donald Trump: I resolve to say less and do…
Read MoreFun While It Lasted — By Tommy Purser
I suspect that I get more unsolicited emails than most folks around here. I suspect it for two reasons — I get a LOT of unsolicited emails and, as a general rule, people wanting to spread the word about things generally think the news media route is a good one to take. For decades, as…
Read MoreChristmas Past — By Tommy Purser
Christmastime got me to thinking about my Christmases past — in particular, my favorite Christmases. There were a lot of fun Christmas mornings in the days of my youth. In particular I remember some of those occasions that happened during my years as a youngster growing up in Palatka, Fla., along the St. John’s River…
Read MoreOur Loss Of Community — By Tommy Purser
It was fun Saturday afternoon to gaze down upon the young ladies with beaming smiles, smiles so big they seemed destined to leave stretch marks on the young girls’ faces. A lot of people in these parts don’t give a hoot about those girls. In fact, I suspect most folks around here wouldn’t care if…
Read MoreSeason’s Greetings — By John Reed
Season’s Greetings Every year around this time, the debate about the commercialization of Christmas starts up. As predicable as “Nutcracker” jingles in Walmart, the sanctimonious grumble about losing the purity of the season. Churches selling CD’s of their latest musical production certainly sends mixed messages. And now a new wrinkle as manger scenes become political…
Read MoreVenting — By Tommy Purser
The good wife and I went on what has become our annual Thanksgiving shopping spree at Wal-Mart over the weekend. Wal-Mart …. the place with low prices. Prices so low that local, home-owned businesses cannot compete. Prices so low that, decades ago, one by one, locally owned stores shuttered their doors …. gave up. The…
Read MoreYou Can’t Fight Human Nature — By John Reed
You Can’t Fight Human Nature With the recent election in New York City, we’re hearing a lot more about socialism and communists. Once regarded by some as the future of all human governance, the last half century has seen it in decline. A thousand years ago, when I was in high school, Florida required us…
Read MoreOffice Redecoration — By Tommy Purser
I think I’m due for an office redecoration. The things I have hanging on the walls of my office and displayed on the shelves of a cabinet in my office haven’t been changed in decades. The cabinet, by the way, is built of walnut. Not just any walnut, but boards hewned from a huge walnut…
Read MoreRelatively Absolute Absurdity— By John Reed
Relatively Absolute Absurdity A recent birthday brings me closer to my eighth decade, and the view of our world from that lofty height is increasingly absurd. More on that later, but first let’s talk opposites: relativism and absolutism. Just about any debate these days seems to be defined by one or the other of these…
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