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Columnists

SCOT BELLAVIA: Am I Proud to Be an American?

How proud are you to be an American? I posted that question on Facebook a few years ago on the Fourth of July. I wasn’t asking how proud or embarrassed...

BOB BROWN: “Portraits of the Human Person”

On the night of June 21, 2025, President Donald Trump said all seven B2 Bombers...

BECKY MAUPIN: The After Bedtime Search

Picture this: You manage to get everyone fed and the dinner aftermath cleaned up. Then...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Israel’s Second Sum Of All Fears

I first heard about a dirty bomb in early September 1993 when an IBM coworker,...

BOB BROWN: What Happened to Happiness?

We can quibble about the origin, even the definition or meaning of “happiness,” but I’m...

JOHNNY ROBINSON: Doc Jones and Dental Anatomy Class

“Note to incoming dental students: You are expected to collect a quantity of extracted teeth from your local practitioners for use in Dental Anatomy...

SCOTT DREYER: RBG Gave Us ACB 

Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare,...

PATRICK BAILEY: Is There A Heroin Problem In Roanoke?

According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, West Virginia topped the United States in opioid deaths and overdoses in 2018. Many people wonder...

JOY SYLVESTER-JOHNSON: When Peace Seems Too Lofty A Goal

They used to say Roanoke was about ten years behind the rest of the east coast in social trends, fashion, design, etc. A year ago...

SCOTT DREYER: Pro-abortion Warner is Wrong on Judge Barrett

As a licensed history teacher since 1987, I try to “practice what I preach” and demonstrate active citizenship in keeping with the belief: “democracy...

MIKE KEELER: For These Troubled Times, A Little Medicine

There is only one sport played by people that wasn’t invented by humans. That sport is called Tewaaraton, and the people who play it...