To Brian and Thomas Yarbrough and Nicholas Wansley: My annual correspondence with you is now entering its second decade. We started when you were gap-toothed, giggly moppets. Now one of you is married and a father, one of you is about to graduate from college, and the third is winding up high school. Even after 11 years of dispensing grandfatherly advice, I still don't know if … [Read more...] about January 4, 2010: Annual Letter to My Grandsons
Dec. 28, 2009: It Is A New Year But Don’t Tell The Corn-Fried Shrimp
IT IS A NEW YEAR BUT DON’T TELL THE CORN-FRIED SHRIMP You can stick a fork in 2009. It is done. I can’t say I am sad to see it go except that it puts me one year closer to the ultimate conversation with my Maker, who can’t wait to hear my excuses for a life not lived as well as He and I would have liked. Only three things of note happened this past year. First, we swore in a … [Read more...] about Dec. 28, 2009: It Is A New Year But Don’t Tell The Corn-Fried Shrimp
Dec. 21, 2009: There Are Some Treasures That Money Can’t Buy
I am a rich man, a man of incalculable wealth. Had I read these words through some magical process several decades past, I would have assumed that my bank account would be overflowing and my estate large and prosperous. Not so. Time has given me a new value system. I now know that what makes you rich is not what is in the bank. It is what is in your heart. There is no … [Read more...] about Dec. 21, 2009: There Are Some Treasures That Money Can’t Buy
Dec. 14, 2009: I Wish I Had Been There. In Bethlehem.
I WISH I HAD BEEN THERE. IN BETHLEHEM. I wish I had been there. In Bethlehem. I wish I had witnessed the birth of the baby Jesus in that humble setting in a lowly manger. Was it really as cold that night as it is sometimes depicted on our Christmas cards or was it a cool and comfortable evening as it is predicted to be this year in Bethlehem? I wish I could have seen … [Read more...] about Dec. 14, 2009: I Wish I Had Been There. In Bethlehem.
Dec. 7, 2009: Investigative Reporter Turns State Politics On Its Head
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER TURNS STATE POLITICS ON ITS HEAD Dale Russell is the best investigative reporter in Georgia, bar none. With a single interview, he has turned state politics on its head. It was Russell, head of the investigative unit at WAGA-TV in Atlanta, along with producer Mindy Larcom, cameraman Mike Carlin and editor Travis Shields (“Be sure and tell your readers … [Read more...] about Dec. 7, 2009: Investigative Reporter Turns State Politics On Its Head