Another shutdown order will fail

While announcing a cumbersome set of guidelines for schools to reopen in August, Gov. Roy Cooper pointedly made no promises about whether he will, in fact, allow North Carolina’s schools to open at all.

The summer of our discontent

The great American author John Steinbeck wrote novels that captured the angst and suffering of disadvantaged people.  The Grapes of Wrath was about the extreme poverty of farmers leaving the Dust Bowl and being held in camps at the California border.

Worldwide leader in news

These last four months have been brutal to the local news cycle. Government meetings were reduced to either Zoom or teleconference, sports were canceled and community events were put on the back-burner, as almost everyone rightly opted to practice social distancing and isolation protocols.

TP shortage … from TP’s perspective

My name is Rolla Teepee.  My life began in Brazil, where melaleuca trees grow in abundance, in an area formerly known as the Amazon Rain Forest. Pulpwood made from the trees is abundant, because my parents grow nearly 100 feet in seven years.

Don’t worry; it always cools down

It’s the heat that defines us this month.  It greets us at daybreak with its promise, but in an hour or so, it bears down on our shoulders, and makes us dream of shade and something cold to drink.

‘I wanna be forever young’

Most of us want to be forever young, no matter what.  We do several ways to keep our youthful looks as much as we can. So let’s start beating the clock right now by doing the natural ways of keeping everyone young.

Jesus loves the little children

Over the years, I visited a number of African-American churches.  At times, I was the only white person present.  I learned there is a tradition of visiting ministers sitting in the chancel area in one of the pulpit chairs. This is a great honor.

Sportscaster’s message worth hearing

Little bowls of blackberries sat on every table, as supporters of Eagle Ranch filed into a banquet hall on Sunday, March 8, just ahead of a pandemic that surely would have canceled or postponed the event. Eagle Ranch is a residential school in Flowery Branch, Ga.

Go-slow reopening may be costly

Over the first two months of the coronavirus crisis, our labor-market cratered.  The number of employed North Carolinians dropped by 820,000, or 17 percent. Only 56.3 percent of working-aged residents were either employed or actively looking for jobs.

Racial injustice within U.S.

I always told my son that if he ever ran into a problem to find the closest law enforcement officer. The person in uniform is there to protect and serve. You can count on them to help.