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Columnists

A Life Well-Lived: Shirley Padgett Lester (1947-2025)

Shirley Padgett Lester of Vinton went to her heavenly reward October 4. Below is the powerful eulogy her daughter Kelly Kiser wrote and calmly delivered at the memorial service...

BOB BROWN: How the White House Functioned With a Diminished Biden “Presidency”

Permit me to think out loud as an old-fashioned person who respects authority, history, and...

JOHNNY ROBINSON: The Gratitude Perch

On the old road up Mill Mountain, part of Roanoke’s fabulous greenway system, there’s a...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Sometimes President Trump Needs To Think Before He Speaks – Part II

Contrary to what President Trump believes, I think that Lakanwal was adequately vetted before September 2021,...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Sometimes President Trump Needs To Think Before He Speaks – Part I

I read an article in the New York Post written by Ryan King on November 27 entitled...

LUCKY GARVIN: A Long-Life Living Lesson Learned In Fire

Dad was tough as a pine knot, and brave as a bear. We grew up in a very rural setting. Dad felt the need to...

MIKE KEELER: Bottled Water – What Are We Thinking??

It's poetic that the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day took place while Earth was completely shut down. Suddenly, with minimal industry going on, we're...

JOY SYLVESTER-JOHNSON: A Visceral Prayer

I had forgotten that one of the best gifts you can give yourself is a good, red eyed, sniffling nose, breath catching, shoulder shaking...

SCOTT DREYER: Governor Continues To Name Winners and Losers

By their fruits you will know them (....)  -- Matthew 7:16a The Roanoke Times did us a service, I believe, with its May 5 editorial:...

JAMES FINCK: Historically Speaking – Marxists vs. Fascists

Happy Memorial Day. Here is my latest Historically Speaking. With some of the name calling going around I am looking at the difference between...

LEE H. HAMILTON: Exceptional? Only If We Get To Work

Like most Americans, I have always considered the United States an exceptional country.  We possess a political system built on checks and balances, an...