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Columnists

FRED FIRST: Approaching the Longest Night

Yes, you’re right—if you’ve even noticed—that this space has been neglected for some weeks now, and it has been hard to figure out where and how to jump back...

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

Shirley Padgett Lester of Vinton went to her heavenly reward October 4. Below is the...

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,...

Celebrating Marriage

by Keith McCurdy We have just celebrated Thanksgiving and are now upon the very Eve of Christmas.  How about celebrating a little marriage in...

Another Christmas Tree War

You can always tell what you think of the giverby how well you take care of his gifts.        -- Rev....

A Few Thoughts at 63 and Counting

by Lucky Garvin Flying across the highway in front of me was a crow; and in its beak, a long piece of limp brown...

Cornish Hens with Cornbread Stuffing

by Leigh Sackett I love giving a Christmas dinner recipe to all of you. The problem I always find is that I make the same...

Extra, Extra! Christmas Stolen – Grinch Exonerated!

by Fred First Granted, his methods were nefarious the year he stole Christmas. But his tiny heart secretly was—and is—in the right place. He...

The Family Seamstress

by John Robinson I grew up in Roanoke in the 1960’s, in what was normal at the time; that is with a dad who worked...