“Soon he’ll be there at your side with a sweet bouquet...then he’ll kiss your lips and caress your waiting finger tips and your hearts will fly away...” Tommy Edwards, 1958 July, 12,1960. The day before my seventeenth birthday. Daddy had a store clerk call in sick and asked me to work that … [Read more...]

“FIRST LOVE’S  AGONY AND ECSTASY” “Many a tear has to fall/but it’s all in the game/all in the wonderful game that we know as love...” --Tommy Edwards, 1958 Love, when it touches a young heart for the very first time, is probably best pictured in this song by Tommy Edwards. It was the #1 song the … [Read more...]

Small Town Values Well, if you live in China, you might think of a small town population as being around a half million, but this is not about China, it's about Arkansas, so I'm going to call any town population under 25,000, a small town. In a nutshell: I choose to live in a small town because it … [Read more...]

One-Armed Softball Star Shines Part II Last week you read the first of two columns featuring 17-year-old Katelyn Pavey, a one-armed, fastpitch softball phenom from Lanesville, Indiana. You learned she made All-Conference her junior year at Lanesville High School, batted .411, played centerfield, … [Read more...]

Sorry I bid "No Trump"   The upcoming presidential election has created a confounding scenario for many people: the possibility that Donald Trump might be elected has stirred up a mountain of unbearable fears. Some see Trump as fascistic by his identifying scapegoats as causing certain … [Read more...]

One Arm Softball Star Shines Part 1 I feature Katelyn Pavey of Lanesville, Indiana, this week and next. She and her improbable, feel-good story are well worth the read—and her can-do attitude over the telephone was infectious. Besides having been born 17 years ago missing her left arm from the … [Read more...]

Unprincipled Clan (s) Someone asked the other day if we’re close to another depression. I’ve done research on the Great Depression and things got quite bad. The Great Depression not only affected the United States, but spread worldwide - sound familiar? Commodities had to be rationed, banks … [Read more...]

Losing those Last Five Pounds There it was in the mail...totally unexpected and leaving me totally unprepared. Two of the old gang from college had decided we needed to get together for another “reunion weekend” since we’d not seen each other forever. After graduation, we’d vowed to get together … [Read more...]

"The End is NOT Near" Over at the VFW last Thursday night, Fernando Smedley drew some unnecessary attention to himself by planting his forehead into a large pile of mashed potatoes, nearly missing the Brussel sprouts and the chicken fried steak sitting on his dinner plate. Fortunately, it wasn’t a … [Read more...]