2024 Columns

I have a new hero.  His name is Mike Chitwood and he is the sheriff of Volusia County, Florida, which includes an area known as Daytona Beach.  I assume you have heard of the place. Sheriff Chitwood is tired of a bunch of brats calling schools and threatening to shoot up the place, like it was some kind of joke.  For the 2022-2023 school year in Volusia County, Chitwood said … [Read more...] about October 6, 2024: Florida Sheriff Walking Tall On School Shooting Threats

Hello, Hurricane Helene.  Goodbye, Hurricane Helene.  Please pardon us for showing a lack of Southern hospitality, but you were not welcomed to come in the first place and we are glad to see you go.  Speaking of hospitality, you didn’t show much yourself.  You just roared in and made a pluperfect mess of things. You were referred  to as a “Monster Storm.” That is what … [Read more...] about September 29, 2024: Goodbye Hurricane Helene And Good Riddance

Can we do it?  You and I?  Can we be kind?  More importantly, can we be kind at least once a day for a whole month?  I didn’t think this idea up but I wish I had because it is a great and much-needed one.  I got it from a daily devotional courtesy of Northside United Methodist Church in Atlanta and Nancy Jeanne Chadwick, the Children's Ministry Associate.  She may work with … [Read more...] about September 22, 2024: A Reminder That Kindness Is Needed Daily

Are  you happy?  If so, I am happy.  But you and I might be exceptions.  I just read a report by WalletHub, a personal finance company, that ranks the 50 states on a number of metrics to determine which states are the happiest.  Georgia is listed as the 20th happy state. The criteria for determining how happy we are include things like our emotional wellbeing, do we get … [Read more...] about September 15, 2024: Happy To Be Living In Such A Happy State Of Mind

Since we last discussed efforts to drill in our Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge for titanium dioxide so that mankind will never experience life without toothpaste whitener, nothing has changed – except a lot. What hasn’t changed?  Gov. Brian Kemp, state Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega, Rep. Lynn Smith, R-Newnan and bureaucrats in the oxymoronic … [Read more...] about September 8, 2024: The Drill Continues in The Okefenokee Drag-Mining Controversy