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Columnists

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Bring Back The War Department

President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a prescient and heartfelt speech in Chautauqua, New York, on August 14, 1936, about the tragedy and horrors of war.  Reflecting upon his own experience as...

FRED FIRST: Changing of the Guard

The theme for the Lenoir Words Writers Group this month is AUTUMN. And since I...

BOB BROWN: The Truth About Lying

Everyone lies! That’s the truth. Most people are relatively honest most of the time. The average...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Hurricane Erin Is Our Future – Part II

Unfortunately, the U.S. is not the only country experiencing climate change. It is a global...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Hurricane Erin Is Our Future – Part I

I read a prescient and depressing article in the Associated Press written by Danica Coto on August 16,...

BOB BROWN: “The Government Shall Be Upon His Shoulder”

To maintain fairness and minimize bias, this column deliberately attempts to refrain from critical judgment of President Donald J. Trump, who has been in...

FRED FIRST: Lonesome Highway: First Steps

Sunday 6 Apr 2025 2:18 a.m. What I want to write about here over the coming months will be harder than anything else I have...

BOB BROWN: The Spiritual Mind

It is challenging but informative and even encouraging to discuss what some have called the “vague term of spirituality.” William James (1842-1910), anAmerican philosopher...

FRED FIRST: Sapsucker Economics

This longer-than-usual piece was bound for “book three” that Covid extinguished. The working title was going to be “One Place Understood” with a dozen...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Tesla Terrorists Should Do Hard Time In Prison

There are presently only five Tesla dealerships in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The closest one to Roanoke is located in Richmond, which is 189...

DAWN CUSTALOW: Language Learning in an Expat’s World

Ex – “out of”; patria – “country.” Expat – I didn’t even know this expression until I had left my native land of Virginia,...