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Columnists

BOB BROWN: “Portraits of the Human Person”

On the night of June 21, 2025, President Donald Trump said all seven B2 Bombers had safely returned from an unprecedented successful attack on Iran’s fortresses of nuclear weapon...

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...

FRED FIRST: Homeward Bound

It would happen: the trip back to Floyd. And then it wouldn’t. And then it...

DICK BAYNTON: What’s In A Name?

Shayom Debopadhaya, a graduating senior at Salem High School has won an award of $500 from a local informal group named ‘The Big Lick...

MIKE KEELER: There Never Was an Age of Brass

When the ancients first started digging in the ground, they collected shiny metals like Copper and Gold, and learned that these could be melted...

JOY SYLVESTER-JOHNSON: I’d Like to Put in a Good Word

When my children were small my husband and I tried to teach them the social pleasantries of saying "thank you" as a response to...

DICK BAYNTON: The Increasingly Slippery Slope of Identity Politics

Politics has gained an overwhelming presence throughout the world. Politics can’t be breathed or eaten but it can be bought and sold just like...

DICK BAYNTON: The Race to the Bottom

This is an expression that is often used as a negative description of a contest to see who can be the worst at whatever...

DENNIS GARVIN: Abortion and “Hypocrirony”

I have a neologism, a ‘new word.’  HYPOCRIRONY combines hypocrisy and irony. Here is the basis: The theme song of the feminist movement is...