Columnists

October 12th is National Savings Day. It serves as an important reminder to plan for your financial future. Social Security is a vital part of any financial plan. We have online tools to help you understand your potential benefits and how they fit into your financial future. Regardless of your age, you should periodically review…

For National Newspaper Week, I thought it might be an opportunity to explain why I chose — and continue to choose — to work in newspapers. It isn’t because it’s easy. It is not. It isn’t for the money. This job doesn’t come with a golden parachute. It isn’t for the notoriety. I still meet…

Are you eligible for Social Security retirement benefits or already receiving them? Did you know that you can also receive healthy meals and other nutrition services through the national Senior Nutrition Program? Local meal programs in communities across the country are waiting to serve you. As we age, we have different needs, different ways we…

My dad listened to Rush Limbaugh’s radio show every day while riding a tractor on our family farm. It was a different time back then. Before the internet. Before social media. Before Rush went off the rails and his more controversial views became public. Instead, he was simply a radio personality who echoed many of…

I was talking with a friend earlier this week, an individual who was unable to hide her frustrations with the political climate of these current times. She leans toward one direction on the political spectrum – as most of us tend to do – but she also has the strong desire to maintain her positive…

Dad and I closed up the pool hall one late summer night, noting that we had only accumulated a total of $16 as a result of the entire day’s business. That wasn’t a good day, but it was a good day to float the Piney rather than play pool. Today there are few 13-year-old kids…

Do we see a direction for our country? Do we vote based upon the trajectory we see our nation moving, or do we instead cater to our immediate wants/fears? Perhaps most importantly, do we see the President of the United States as the most important figure in shaping our nation’s future? This is the question…

Elections raise the question what kind of country do you want? Do you want a strong nation grounded in tradition but forward looking, or do you want a country following a disproven doctrine that will continually test your rights and freedoms? Those are our options in a nutshell, like it or not. I think most…

Tuesday night, we killed somebody, you and I. Well, you, me and everybody else in the state. We killed a guy named Marcellus Williams. Do you feel any different? I don’t. I would tell you more about Marcellus Williams, but really, I don’t know anything about him. Oh sure, I’ve seen headlines, so I was…