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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,...

The Grand Old Men Of Medicine

by Lucky Garvin I attended a medical conference a while back, and was agreeably surprised to hear a younger physician speak of ‘bedside manner,’ and...

Hummingbirds: Pugnacious and Bejeweled Sun-Angels

by H. Bruce Rinker, Ph.D. Having recently returned from a two-week expedition into the rainforests and mountains of Peru, I have come back once...

The Most Important Man That Never Signed

by Mike Keeler Charles Thomson was born in County Londonderry, Ireland, in 1729.  When he was ten years old, his mother died.  His father...

My Four Hundred Dollar Soap Carving

by Mary Jo Shannon When our son Harry was in elementary school, he became interested in soap carving. His first effort was a crude...

In Praise of the “Wolf Peach”

by Fred First It is, in fact, a giant berry, technically a fruit. And it has been variously misunderstood, feared, loathed and praised during...

Skateboarding in the Olden Days

by John Robinson Barry and I, both 12, had hiked the path of the old incline railway straight up Mill Mountain, skateboards hanging from...