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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,...

Listening When It’s Easy—and Listening When It’s Tough

Tell me:  What happens to us as a family, a community, a nation—or a world—when the only people we talk with are people...

An Encompassing Empathy Brings Miracles

I met a lady in the ER. “You’re Erin’s dad, aren’t you?” For years my children were `Dr. Garvin’s kids’. As they make their...

Ah, The Price of Beauty…

Maria Gunning was born in 1733 to a humble family in central England.  But the family soon moved to a meager rental house...

Put Some Clothes On!

I had to laugh recently when a teenage boy asked me, “Did you see what the girl was wearing?”  Now, one might wonder...

Written in Stone – Bound in Brass?

If you’re ever looking for a challenging and interesting evening, count yourself fortunate if Larry Sabato happens to be giving a lecture in...

What My Mother Knew

Like other adult children with aging parents, my siblings and I were concerned when our mother insisted on remaining independent, refusing to live...